View source for 2023-05-23: (ANNOUNCEMENT): About the hiatus.

{{Cutscene
|cast=Asciel Colette
|location=Isaac City
|summary=The world awaits an apology and breakdown, from someone who'd never apologize for baring her most lurid emotions.
}}
{{PhaseAndTurn
|phase=1
|turn=3
}}
==[About the hiatus.]== (34k waiting)

The thumbnail, for those yet to check into the stream, is just Asciel sitting at a table upon a stark white background. Usually, it's a lot busier. A lot more inviting.


But then, 'usually' doesn't really apply here, does it?


After all, a month ago, she abruptly hosted a fleeting view from within NERV's Geofront, violated a lot of Verve.live's terms and conditions in the process, and hadn't been heard from since. Rumors swirled and inflamed in the first week - conspiracies consolidated in the second week - worries mounted that this was an elaborate hoax or that she out and out died breaking into a secure facility for clickbait in the third week - and by now...well. Many have already started to forget or move on.


-The first fifteen minutes after the stream goes live are silence.


>wtf is happening here

>is she really back?

>WHERE'S OUR GOOD MORNING

>how am i supposed to live when i dont know what vegetable i am today

>lmao inevitable mental illness arc?

>we miss you!!!

>stream broken for anyone else?

>I'm not dealing with this anymore, unfollowed.

>asci-sama please come back

>the 'hiatus' is that managers got a replacement lol. she's dead bros

>fam she doesn't have managers that's why we liked her

>yeah the unfiltered shit was the whole point

>it's been like 20 minutes why are we sitting here

>stream dead?

>dude if she genuinely broke into nerv they'd kill her. they don't screw around

>i'm like 90% sure that was a video game or something

>nah there was stuff going down in tokyo-3 that same day

>It REALLY isn't a conspiracy if you find any footage of that stuff with Atrytone. they're the same

>that's fucking stupid who would stream and do war shit also

>dude a ton of people lol

>yeah there's a lot of rando mercs and stuff who make a career of it just not as good

>That weird Arm Slave has her face on it. Fellas, 

>you think she boosted some weird stalker?

>i saw some pictures of her with some lady at a spa resort in japan maybe she's quitting cause she's not a loser and has a gf

>uh dumbass she's a vtuber she's not real

>yeah that's a cosplayer lol

>she's totally quitting though i feel it

>you don't post a whole I'm So Sorry. stream if you dont still want the attention lmfao

>I want to see Asciel apologize and beg me to keep watching! c ^a^ c


...this goes on for a bit, until finally, the tension's at last broken. Plainly, Asciel's model walks in and takes a seat before the table, all dreamy smiles towards the 'camera', cheeks resting in her hands.


"It's so good to see that everyone missed me, hehe.~ I guess I've left all of you so confused and adrift, but it just goes to show how much all of you depend on me. How much space I've taken up in your hearts already. All of you are just a little pitiful for hanging on in this world that moves so fast. Never change that. ♥" A kiss blown at the audience after that degrading statement-


-and it's like she never did anything wrong or ever left, isn't it? Validating adoration overflows the chat - and Asciel forgets just how much she needed that at this point.


Palms bang upon the table noiselessly. "I bet I left all of you with SO many questions! Hmhmhm. I really hoped my little field trip to NERV would go a bit better and last longer, but I came upon some /really/ interesting technical problems. Don't you fear, my little oranges!" - a cascade of orange emotes fills the chat, naturally - "I needed to rest juuuust a little bit after things went a little sour in there. There's a very, VERY important rule I need you all to follow from now on, of course."


"Miss Asciel is NEVER dying pointlessly! I'm with you forever and ever, no matter what. A sage doesn't lose it all so easily!~"


"Buuuut - hehe. Ahaha! It's all true. Yep! Everything about that 'Atrytone' in the news was yooooours truly! I was being /so/ careful and considerate and pent up, but at a certain point, that became silly. After all, the things I was doing out there to change the world are right in line with what Asciel ought to do! I was worried someone might try to stop me, to put a barrier between me and you - but now, at this point, as the world swirls deeper into chaos, I realize the only thing that could get in my way is my own lack of determination."


Fingers splaying over her right side, hiding her closed eye from view juuuust enough...Asciel lets that iris open just a peek. Midnight black and moon silver flash from between those digits, just a little bit. "Besides, I'm the reigning Gundam Fight champion, so what /I/ say goes!~ Really, I went on break to figure out a better and more consistent setup for leading you all into my ~Judgment Expeditions~! That first one at the Geofront was sooooo slapdash, I'm kinda embarrassed of how poor a look you all got, but I'm SO happy to see all my little opadoi picking apart what I did get to show you. And just so you know - I was making sure to guide everyone perusing all that delicious Geofront footage in the right direction, in sneaky little ways~ If it ever felt like an awful lot of providence was happening to inform you all of NERV's secrets, just know Asciel-sama doesn't need luck when ~destiny~ is on my side!~"


A snap of her fingers follows the descent of a banner -  a poster of what else but Asciel's face, splattered with blood on one side, eyes narrowed but glowing, smile broad and fading into the shadows of the vignette. All this beneath a title: "NE_Φ_lim-inal" (it's a pun! that's the symbol for 'phi'! the blood's an allusion to the Eva blood she got on her! she has pictures she's sharing of that! nephilim! get it get it, so artsy)


"This is my first concert in defiance of the world! Side 4, Yunghui colony! That's what all this is an announcement for!~ I'm back in full force, like the resurgence of spring after a long winter, and I'm SO looking forward to taking every~ last~ one of you along for the journey. Be there if you can! It's an experience I have planned that'll make your hearts race like no other. It'll be tectonic.~ The boundary between audience and idol is one I grasp oh so firmly, one I am MORE than willing to sink my fist into and twist to my own desires. To those of you who fear I'll pull too hard, and thrust you beyond the boundary, into the harsh and purifying spotlight that a mere orange can't hope to survive long within..."


"If you're going to be here, that's what you /want/ to flirt with.~ Witness just what someone like me endures for the sake of captivating the world - turning over the mysterious stone that conceals the underbelly of radiance. Fall into this abyss with me, in this world of treasured humans who lust after the ugly and despicable heavens!~"


--and with that, the stream ends as abruptly as it began, a wind that breathed new life into Asciel's burgeoning digital holy empire after an oh so harsh medicine threatened to wither it all away.