2024-02-06: When We Cross Each Other ~ Let's Do it As Equals
- Cast: Asciel Colette, Julia Ampere
- Where: X-Point
- Date: U.C. 0098 02 06
- Summary: The monument to humanity's sins, conveniently beyond the eyes of most humans. Two performers pull aside the curtains and make it their stage, just to be sure that they're reading from the same lack of a script.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
Sydney, Britannia, and here, X Point - these three places which have seen the most viscerally destructive acts on Earth. Including the near miss at Dublin, the sites of Earth's colony drops have long vexed Asciel Colette - the notion that with but a few adjustments in trajectory, the bundles of colonies hanging in Earth's orbit make up society-ending threats to the planet.
Overlooking the vast circular scar atop the deck of a landship, Asciel can't help but wince at the abhorrent, ugly scar carved into this pristine part of the world, virtually unspoiled by human activity owing to its sheer remoteness deep in the heart of Asia, crossed only by handfuls of trails crossing the rolling steppes and stark glaciers.
It's not SO remote that it's utterly out of reach, though - caravans of Vultures and scavengers depart out of what cities are nearby, and this one happened to organize outside of Urumqi to the south. The lead on this expedition is a nuclear reactor rumored to be dormant and largely intact, undetected after all these years owing to its complete lack of radioactive signal. The payload in fuel alone would more than pay off the cost of this voyage, much less the potential treasure trove of electronics to be harvested from an intact energy generation module. It's on that lead that Asciel contacted a meetup with Julia Ampere, one of the few contacts she has left that she can be sure aren't after her skin in some capacity. A profitable surplus of energy in the middle of nowhere felt like a good tip to pass on-
...But, as the convoy of landships rumbles to a halt, and industrial excavation equipment starts getting rolled out encircling the buried treasure, Asciel's own sights are set on the surroundings. Tracking the voyage itself, and how difficult it was to get here - assessing human settlements along the way. To her, who's come here alone, utterly un-disguised and not even recognized among the scavengers, surely her interests are a bit more than just 'adding another hand to the people working to dig this up'. (But she is doing that! A showy performer with a lofty way of words garners looks among the digging crew, but having an eight foot tall mini-Arm Slave for a body doesn't exactly make her a slouch in hauling stuff around!)
<Pose Tracker> Julia Ampere has posed.
X Point... it's quite the unsightly scar, isn't it? Still, maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere, that even a place like this can hide valuable treasures. Treasure-hunting usually isn't Julia's forte - she more prefers to take the treasures that have already been squirreled away for safe-keeping... but an opportunity like this, so fitting for someone like her, and by request, no less?
Well, who is she to say no? She's more well-suited for the situation than most, anyway. She did go to school for this sort of thing, so she knows well how to safely harvest nuclear power.
And so, Julia arrives - and wastes no time in tracking down the reason she's here.
"Yoo-hoo! Asciel, dear! How have you been? It's been far too long." She greets with a wave. Julia herself certainly must be attracting looks, as well - she's certainly not going to to forsake aesthetics in the name of not drawing attention. That would be like forsaking her very self. "I must say, I appreciate the tip... To think, there would be something so fascinating here!"
She's as casual as ever about things - despite being fully aware of Asciel's recent exploits. Perhaps it just comes with the territory.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
Pivoting seamlessly from wrangling a pile driver into position, Asciel twirls on one heel and welcomes Julia with a cheery peace sign over her opened, left eye, the illumination in her gaze almost too bright to look at directly. And getting to do just that to match Julia's pace seems to loosen a bit of the tension and floatiness Asciel's had in recent days, anchoring her to what she does best-
"This place is inherently fascinating. A testament to mankind's sins, yet unreachable to all but the most dedicated of humanity. As far as what ~meaning this spot holds...it is perhaps more important to me than any other. Would it not be fitting if the tree that overturned a sin-stained future gained its roots from a seed planted right upon this soil...?" A smoldering, low little laugh accompanies Asciel covering her lips behind splayed hands, backing away from the din of excavation to rest upon the side of an inactive landship's hovering module.
"...mn. ...I'd certainly like to make such a move, but...admittedly, the means at my disposal to make that ~dream come true are...few and far between! Ahaha. As one can expect. The fate that was laid out for me has burned away, along with so many of the tethers I attached to it...but a few flames amidst the uncertainty of decision burn clearly. That is to say..." She touches her fingers together, before a single one lands at her lips. "...I'm a liiiiiittle short on contacts who don't want to kill or arrest me in some way at the moment. Seems I made a teeeensy bit of a mess!~ That's why I wanna ask...hmmm."
Craning her head over at the slowly unearthed facility amidst the colony ruins, Asciel taps her heel against the landship's hull, clicking her tongue faintly. (Why exactly does this Alastor frame have a tongue? ...Did she even use it to make that noise?) "Well, consider this outing a testament of what a better partnership can look like. I don't pry away from unusual leads and see the potential in places others would dismiss, and am no stranger to soiling my hands, literally or physically! I wonder, once we wrap up here - whether there's an ambition of yours just aching for one shining star to ensure its success, one idol of dreams whose song will make lies into truth and truth into lies~"
<Pose Tracker> Julia Ampere has posed.
Julia can't help but be a little impressed at the way Asciel switches things up so quickly. She chuckles and waves back - and gazes over their surroundings as Asciel speaks of them.
"My, how poetic. You've thought much on this, haven't you? I admit, to me, it looks like little more than dead rock." Julia remarks - and then chuckles good-naturedly as she admits that the means to make it happen are few and far between, due to recent events. "A little more than a teensy bit, I hear. Still, I'm flattered that you chose to reach out to me, despite your situation."
She folds her arms in front of her.
"No scheme worth undertaking is without risk, and when it falls apart... there's little to do but pick yourself up and start planning the next one. You still have your self, at least!" She says.
She follows Asciel's gaze, then. ...That tongue click does get a raise of an eyebrow, but she'd be the last person who could call someone on doing something entirely for the purpose of aesthetics. She listens intently as she continues, and then...
"My, my... Is this a business proposal, then?" She asks. "My ambitions... Well, let's say they're rather vast. I have a reputation to uphold and schemes to enact, after all! Busy, busy is the life of a dashing, internationally known thief. I'm curious, though, what you would seek to gain."
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
"I still have myself...ahaha." There's a slight stagger in Asciel's gait, chin lowered, a 'breathless' exhale of laughter. "...Oh, how I fought for that. Oh, how it was this impossible ~becoming I burned myself to the wick to attain. At the end of it all, I lost everything - but the thing that I gained was getting to ~become entirely mine. It's only now that I truly, unconditionally have that prize, and regardless of the steep costs..."
Her lips part in an almost wild grin. "Somehow, it's worth every ounce of agony to get here.~"
Reaching to the table at her side, a little refreshment spot for workers off their shift - Asciel tosses Julia some cold bottled sanpaotai tea (well, it's probably more 'water given a flavoring kinda like the real stuff'), holding one to her own mouth - though she refrains from drinking or even opening it.
"Well~ Vast ambitions make two of us. I wanted nothing more than to latch myself up to the top of the world and then cast it down with a thunderbolt from the heavens. Ah, I may have even gotten there, but I let irrational pessimism get in my way." Yes, she realizes, with a bitter taste in her mouth - the oh so logical, oh so cold, oh so planning part of her, who lost hope and resorted to the 'realistic' means of upending the world, is the reason she failed. Only now, embodying her own delusions to transform into a dream she harbored, does the clarity finally hit.
"...I left quite a mess for my employers, who I know for a fact are none too happy with me for how much I exposed of them. Dominicus is none too happy with me either. ...And I likely caused quite a problem for an important associate of mine, throwing away something ~priceless he entrusted me with. Essentially, in a rash decision that ambitions were themselves cancerous, I lost my way quite gravely. And so~"
Hand fanned across her heart as she feels the ephemeral butterfly within flicker, Asciel extends it out to Julia, palm-up. "More than likely, the ultimate end of our ambitions are at odds. More than likely, one day, we will ~decide each of us lacks a place in our ideal world. But until then, we can ~tear apart everyone else who will get in our way. The ultimate truth is that the treasures of humanity - the very valuables they use to tear ~scars into the world and into each other - belong in our hands first and foremost. And then, once we've amassed the treasury between us, then we can fight over them privately to decide who really gets to win. It's much better than foiling both of our ~ambitions from the onset just because the end-goal is incompatible - that'd only act in service to the loathsome wretches who rule the world as it is!~
<Pose Tracker> Julia Ampere has posed.
To someone like Julia, it's a small thing... but to Asciel, it's something vastly more significant. Julia considers this with interest, tapping her chin thoughtfully - and then, smiles, as Asciel grins that almost-wild grin.
"Then hold on tight to it - and never let go." She replies. Asciel tosses a bottle her way and Julia catches it gratefully, popping it open and taking a drink. Asciel mimes the act - and Julia wonders the significance of that, but doesn't press on it.
"...My, my." Julia murmurs, as Asciel recounts her story. To come so close, only to get in one's way... and, causing quite a stir among one's relations in the process. "...Well, I suppose one cannot make an omelette without burning a few bridges."
(Julia wouldn't know how to make an omelette in the first place. Don't listen to her.)
But Asciel continues and Julia listens intently - and at the very end, lets out a faint chuckle.
"Mm. You know, I'm no stranger to such arrangements. My... colleagues in the field, and I - those are the very same principles we work together by." She replies. "As you say - it does no good for us to fight and squabble amongst ourselves. Why, we'd get nothing done! It would be pure chaos - and not the profitable sort... except to those who, as you say, would already wish to see us fail."
She taps the side of her bottle with one finger thoughtfully.
"Certainly, at the end of the road we might come into conflict - but until then, I see no reason not to enjoy the ride." She says. "If that's all you ask - then certainly, I'd be pleased to work with you."
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
"My my - to make omelets is to demand a ~perfect and ~empty egg to begin with - but what is to be done when the eggs ripe for that task have a ~nascent bird growing within them? Does an egg uphold its inevitable ~fate to be used in its purest state, and kill that which is becoming within...or does it take any means necessary to harbor it, to allow it to ~break free from the shell from within? As you see me today, I was that which was given only one choice, to ~emerge or die~"
Even if you teach Asciel to make an omelette, it's questionable if you should, given her clearly...elaborate...thoughts about eggs.
Despite not intending to actually follow suit - despite always finding food confusing and strange to begin with - something about her lower operant conditions makes Asciel passively follow Julia's actions with the bottle. She's unscrewing it herself, raising it up, taking a sip - and getting quite a bit of it on her face with an inelegant spill. What's more, she absolutely isn't meant to be ingesting anything in this frame - it just sort of pools in the back of her mouth which leads nowhere. What would be sputtering and coughing from a human from that just leads to slightly dissatisfied musing from Asciel - glancing between her own bottle and Julia's face with a mildly narrowed gaze.
...is she...envious...?
"...there's very important things that divide us, even in this state..." she murmurs under her breath, before drawn back to attention.
"I knew I got good impressions from you on our first meetings. You're a truer free spirit than most, even those who claim to live that way. Aaaaah, how refreshing! Maybe you've inspired me all along, maybe it's something like 'you' that I aspired to~ Even in my perilous state, you recognize the star burning within me far more than you respect a world which holds me in contempt. We'll lend our strength to each others' dreams, then. I see far more benefit if we enable each other, and whoever walks away with each prize is fair game."
A shout over the din of unearthing, as the nuclear reactor hub is finally stabilized and opened up, its safety confirmed and special operators signalled to arrive nearer. Asciel's head cants towards the blocky colony component, carefully wiping her own face dry. "It's all yours, in this case, however you want to mark it as ripe for the taking down the line.~"
<Pose Tracker> Julia Ampere has posed.
"Hmm. A fascinating dilemma." Julia considers, once again tapping a finger against the side of her bottle thoughtfully. "Well, by the fact that you stand here before me today, I can surmise you've found your own answer. Myself, well... I've always thought one should seize their own fate, regardless of others' intentions."
Ah, there it is again. Asciel follows her actions - and pour the liquid into her mouth, in what is clearly an ill-advised move. Julia 'hm's to herself - taking note of that and Asciel's envy. It's worth thinking about -
And worth making a mental note to finish her beverage outside of Asciel's visual range. It's only polite not to make her repeat it.
"My, my... if I've inspired you, then I find that rather flattering." She replies, shutting her eyes with a pleased smile. "It's quite the compliment."
"But yes, let's! A toast, then, to future collaboration - let us worry not about the spectre of future conflict, before the scope of the game has even been decided." She says, raising the bottle. "There's a world out there waiting to be dazzled."
And then, a shout - the hub is stabilized and opened. Julia looks toward it with interest, before returning her attention to Asciel.
"Most excellent. I'll take what I need, then - and leave the rest to claim once there's a display to be made of it." She decides.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
If she doesn't have to drink the bottle, then raising a toast is at least acceptable. Asciel at least knows that gesture well enough, it's in so many movies! Her arm extends...forward, owing to the sizable difference in height, to tap bottles together.
"...My, and even those who stand against us will be scarce able to help but find an artfulness in our ~triumphs. I've felt it before, and I can tell, with how you carry yourself, that even the likes of the Braves and their ilk can't help but find you impressive."
A flash of her iris illuminates Asciel's glasses with a haze of pale orange. "Oh, and before you worry - when I said I lost quite a bit in the process of my...~remaking - the Macross is still secreted away, and the crawlers I purchased from you are still doing fantastic work ~reshaping and maintaining it. That said...it'll be a bit more difficult now that my interfaces are ~different, slower than before. Hardly a fault with what you provided me - neither of us foresaw that I'd...~change my fundamental architecture."
Twisting the bottle sideways in her grip, Asciel gives Julia just a touch more serious a look. "...Say. If you ever feel a ~boundary within yourself that you do not know how to cross...I'd find that tragic for someone like you. And I'd raze the heavens to ensure you can leap ~beyond it. Hardly an assumption that you harbor something like that...but if you ever find yourself in that position...do talk to me. I can't stand to see people who seem ~trapped, especially because they fall under strange illusions about what constitutes an ~escape. Like those who believe the vast expanse of space, owing to its vastness, is somehow greater ~freedom, in spite of existing there being confined to tight little cylinders..."
Waggling her hand and sloshing around the tea in her bottle, Asciel reaches up to a rung on the side of the landship's access ladder, hanging from it for just a moment. "...Well, it seems a great deal of thoughts run through my head talking to you. It's wonderfully uncomplicated whenever we're together, but it puts me at the risk of taling your ear off. You know who to call if an incident comes up with your treasure~ I have something else I really came here for, anyway.~" And with that, Asciel's clambering up onto the deck - and getting her hands more on reconaissance data trying to slip into the bridge...
<Pose Tracker> Julia Ampere has posed.
Julia seems pleased by the effort, at least, so she must've done something right. She doesn't drink after the toast, either - the gesture is good enough on its own.
"That's the goal." Julia replies with a fond chuckle. "The key is playing to your audience - knowing what they like and dislike, and carefully tuning your scheme to match them. To push them, without pushing so far you reach a point they cannot accept. It's much like staging a performance... but I suppose that's something I scarcely need to tell you about, hm?"
Julia looks on with interest, though, as Asciel changes the subject.
"Ah, the Macross..." She murmurs - and then nods. "I am pleased to hear that. But, yes, that does pose an issue... Still, learning to adapt is an important skill. I'm certain you will learn and adjust, in time. Perhaps it may be worth practicing with them?"
Asciel's gaze becomes more serious, then, and Julia meets her look. Julia considers her for a moment - and her expression softens, just a little, that 'I don't have a care in the world' look fading just a bit in the face of her words. It's clear the idea means a lot to her - and even Julia has to take it seriously, even a little.
"...Mm." She murmurs. She offers a small smile. "I appreciate the offer, truly. Certainly, should anything come up, I'll ask you. Thank you."
But, Asciel reaches up for the ladder, and Julia chuckles.
"It's no imposition, I assure you - but yes, we're both rather busy, aren't we?" She replies. "Certainly. I wish you luck on your own endeavors."
She watches Asciel leave - and, once she's no longer in sight, finishes off her bottle before heading off in her own direction.