2024-06-24: What's in a Name

• Log: 2024-06-24: What's in a Name
• Cast: Marian Cross, Cagalli Yula Athha
• Where: A test site in Orb
• Date: U.C. 0099 06 24
• Summary: Are names just what people identify us as? Or are we destined to become that which we are named after?

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        The air here in the test site is filled with energy. Not from the bustling activity on the ground, with engineers and scientists running around and working their equipment. But the air is filled with energy in a literal sense.

Arcs of lightning flies across the air, missing a balloon target set up a distance away from a white Gundam. The mechanical figure has its hands held up and palms opened. Its gold plating crackling with static as excess energy naturally makes its way into the surrounding air.

Marian is seated within its cockpit, just another day of capturing data and calibrating its prototype weapon system. Her seatbelts are on, but surprisingly not in her pilot suit. It is definitely against protocol, but she didn't care. After all, who's gonna stop her? She outranks everyone here as a commander.

Not until she sees in her back facing sensor, a significant person of interest stepping off a car and simply walking past the guards without being stopped. The men even saluted the figure as she passed them by.

"Um... Commander, I think Lady Cagalli's here to see you," the speakers in her cockpit sound out.

Sure enough, Cagalli Yula Athha, the Chief Representative and Supreme Commander of Orb, is making her way towards Marian's Gundam.

Marian sighed audibly. Her displeasure making itself known on the other end. Officials and aristocrats have been trying to get in touch with her ever since she returned to duty. No doubt in an attempt to increase their faction's influence by having the 'hero of Orb' in their pockets. She has largely ignored them given her shared ideals with the Athha faction, and not wanting to be a pawn in their political games.

But when the Chief Representative herself shows up on your doorstep... Well, you can't just close your eyes and pretend to be asleep.

"I see her," Marian replied over the comms. The joints of the Gundam screeching to a halt as she put it in a kneeling position before shutting it down. Then steadying herself to be reprimanded and making her way out to meet her royal guest on the ground.

Cagalli watches Marian intently as she makes her way down the machine and towards her. "This is the Hero of Orb...?" She thought to herself, noting Marian, not in a pilot suit, and her opened uniform jacket fluttering in the wind. Her casual demeanor ill fitting of a disciplined soldier. At that moment, she felt as if she's found a kindred spirit.

She raised a hand at Marian, gesturing her to stop when she tries to button up to make herself presentable to the Chief Representative. "It's alright! I don't like the stuffy formalities anyway," Cagalli seemingly beamed at her to her surprise.

"...is that so? Then I'll speak casually," Marian replied and let her hands fall to her sides a little awkwardly. Unlike Cagalli, she didn't share the same feeling as Cagalli did on her first impression. The Chief Representative and Supreme Commander shouldn't be acting like this, she thought. Even a little disappointed she wasn't disciplined for her conduct when the tension started leaving her body.

"Yes! Just call me by my name, and I'll call you by yours, Marian!" Cagalli beaming once more. Her tomboyish attitude on full display.

"Alright then, Cagalli," Marian said, to the happy hum and nods of Cagalli. "Let's...take a walk. I'm guessing you're not just here for a casual visit."

She started leading her away from the crowd and out of ear shot. But not before barking some orders at the men and women behind them watching curiously. "Stop staring! Get back to work! And I want that colloid tank full when I get back!"

Cagalli watches the crowd scrambling back to work and gives off a little chuckle. She's elated to find the hero of Orb reintegrating herself well back into Orb's forces after her injuries. And that she's such an easy person to talk to, not like those stuffy old fools at the Senate or some of her other retainers. She's always prefered people she can talk to casually. People who treat her like a friend rather than a princess who needs to be coddled.

"I'm glad to see you back with us, Marian. With everything that's happened...we could use your help again." A hopeful note in Cagalli's voice as she spoke. Orb's situation has worsen since her father was assassinated. With no one influential enough to keep them in check, the aristocracy has been engulfed in nothing short of a political war. The five families each trying to get a leg up over one another, with smaller families seeing this as a chance to shake up Orb politically. Even officials putting in their lot with one of the families, further dividing the country.

If she could get Marian, a decorated hero from the last war, to support her faction, it would increase their influence and perhaps even keep the other families in check.

"I'm just a soldier, Cagalli. I can't help you with the Senate, or the other families," Marian responded. Even without the Princess explictly saying it, she knew what she was here for like the others have. Marian doesn't want to be involved in politics, even if she instinctively understood the military is married to politics to some degree.

Cagalli ran forwards and stopped Marian in her tracks. She understood Marian's hesitance. Cagalli isn't a politician either. She was born into this role. Circumstance she was set upon on birth. It's a role she despised and wouldn't wish upon anyone else.

But it's precisely because of that, she wished Marian would understand her, and encouraged her to take on the role in spite of it.

"That's not true! You're the Hero of Orb! If you weren't here, our defense might be crippled, and...Orb might be destroyed!" Cagalli pleaded, "You saved a lot of lives that day. And you can save more by my side. I... I don't want Orb to be caught up in another war."

Marian scoffed inside. She didn't want to interrupt the Princess's heartfelt little speech, after all. She never considered herself a hero. It was just a bullshit title people gave her when she emerged from her coma. But it was convenient one, even if she would never admit it.

"I'm not a hero, Princess," Marian denied. Probably for the first time ever since she was called one.

"I'm only called a hero because I was the only one who survived that fight. If the fight was won without any casualties on our side, do you think I'd still be regarded as a hero? No, I'd- We'd just be doing our job. Wouldn't even get a pat on our backs for it. I'm a hero because they died, and I lived."

Cagalli twitched the moment the words 'princess' came out of Marian's mouth. She could almost hear the capital P when she said it. Just like Marian, the title Princess was never one she enjoyed. It was yet another part of the role she was born into. She hated it.

"What about my squad, Princess? What about the rest of the people who died there? Did you call them heroes?" Marian continued as if to prove her point. "And what about the Nadesico? They were here at the battle. They successfully fended off the Federation. Did they ever get a title as grandiose as heroes?"

Cagalli was called a Princess yet again. She did so much before she was the Chief Representative to distance herself from the title to the dismay of her father. Going to Africa, joining the local resistance forces. Then the Archangel, and even some other adventures when she could manage.

Even after she became the Chief Representative the title of Princess seemed to have followed her.

"Stop calling me Princess!" She suddenly shouted. She thought Marian wasn't like the rest of them, but here she is, treating her like a princess. It's one thing if she's teasing her, but she's not. There was no hint of that in Marian's voice. Marian was completely serious when she spoke, and she felt as if she was betrayed.

Marian's little monologue is an afterthought at this point as onlookers glanced curiously at the two. They couldn't hear them at this distance, but they could still tell things were getting heated.

Her outburst caught Marian off guard. Not in regards to her quick temper. She knew about that from rumors and gossips. But that she's been calling her Princess unknowingly.

The headstrong Marian didn't want to back down from that. Not after her monologue was seemingly brushed apart. She was also feeling a little challenged as well.

"Then stop acting like one," she said like she's reprimanding a child. No one would talk to the leader of a country like this, but she did give her permission to talk casually. So she's taking advantage of it and doing precisely that.

"You- Then how about you start acting like a hero!" Cagalli retorted to Marian's dismay. Cagalli is definitely acting more like a spoiled princess than the leader of a country right now.

"I'm not-"

...


          It's getting nowhere, Marian thought. The dumb argument between the princess and a stubborn veteran continued for some time. The crowd behind them is already idling their hands, worried if a fight's gonna break out between the two.

"Alright, then tell me, Princess. What's in a name?"

"I... What? I'm not playing this game!"

"Titles, names, nicknames. They are what's given to us when we were born, when we got a job, when we achieved something."

Marian continued against Cagalli's insistence. She wanted to end the argument and starts coming up with some random philosophical crap on the spot to distract her. She would normally do this in a fight, but somehow, a situation like this is just as appropriate for this little trick.

"Most people don't get to choose what they are called. Our names assigned at birth, for one. But princess? Hero? They're things people call us for how we behaved. What we achieved. That's something we can do to change."

She monologued as she started to circle behind Cagalli.

"If you stopped acting like a Princess and start being a proper leader...you would stop being known as the Princess."

Marian leaned in behind one of her ears as Cagalli stood, a little confused, but mostly from struggling to come up with a counter-argument.

But something stirred within Marian as she saw Cagalli's expression. Her furrowed brows, gritting teeth, dipped head and clenched fist...

"If I started killing everyone in Orb, I would then be a criminal. Maybe even a villain."

She paused for effect and circled around to her other side, still observing her keenly.

"Are names just what people identify us as? Or are we destined to become that which we are named after? Will you continue being the Princess of Orb? Or will you become the Lion of Orb as your father had?" She posed the question. Of course, she intentionally only gave her two options. If there was a third option, she almost certainly wanted Cagalli to come to the conclusion herself.

Cagalli opened her mouth to say something, but she was stopped by Marian with a hand on her shoulder. Marian wanted to have the last word, but especially because she didn't want the Princess to make a snap judgement in her agitated state. She wanted her to sleep on what she said.

At some point in her monologue, she found herself sympathizing more with Cagalli. It was that damn expression of hers... She even started believing in her own bullshit. Cagalli's expression adding to convincing herself with her own words.

"...fine then. You'll have my support. Because I believe in Lord Uzumi's vision and ideals for this country," she said, her eyes now not looking at Cagalli, but at the Gundam. Finally relenting to be a part of Orb's political games.

"But if you want me to stop calling you Princess... Then you'll have to be more than just one."

The hand that was on Cagalli's shoulder removed itself after a couple pats. She started walking back towards the crowd and her machine, and left Cagalli to her own device.

If she said something, she didn't hear it. Or at least pretended to not hear it as she shouted over at her men.

"You had enough of a break! Back to your stations! We're gonna run a few more tests!"