2024-07-04: Confidence Games

• Log: 2024-07-04: Confidence Games
• Cast: Ranka Lee, Gilbert Durandal, Grace O'Connor
• Where: Side 2
• Date: U.C. 0099 07 04
• Summary: The decision is yours, Ranka. In fact, it always was. Be certain to remember that in the days to come.

---

Ranka Lee fidgeted, as she sat, waiting. She didn't actually want to be here, but Grace asked that she at least hear them out. Just face to face, one on one this time. Grace herself even offered to sit this one out, because 'While I feel it's a good PR move, ultimately, you don't want to do it, and it's your decision. I don't want you to feel pressured otherwise.'

"I'll just tell him no, flat out. Then, that'll be the end of it."

Still the longer things stretched on, as Ranka waited outside his office, the more nervous she got. The minutes trailed down until-

"Miss Lee."

Ranka didn't quite leap up from her seat, but her hair did. "Yes!"

"The Councilor will see you now."

Stepping into his office, Ranka saw a man with long black hair, wearing elegant robes, his eyes upon a chess board of hollow glass arrayed against another against the black.

However he soon looked up, to smile.

"Miss Lee. I'm delighted you were able to come and have this sit down with me. My name is Councilor Gilbert Durandal, of the Space Assembly League... I admit that I've quite enjoyed your releases over the past few years."

"It's very nice to meet you Sir. From everything I've heard of your reforms... I'm quite a fan of yours as well."

"Is that so? Well, I believe we're off to a fine start then, I invited you here because I was hoping we might come to an understanding..." He motioned to a seat, as Ranka sat down, and rather than taking a seat at his desk, he sat in another chair, at a more personal distance.

"Sir, I really don't want to lead you on and waste your time. I simply don't believe my voice has any effect on the Vajra. And even if it did, I just... hate fighting. I don't like it. I never have!"

"I see." The man nodded at her, thoughtfully, "So that is your answer." Ranka's face became an expression of confident resolve, "It is." "Well. Would you mind indulging me with a conversation anyway, as a fan who recognizes the true strength of your talents?" Ranka eased up with this designator of 'fan' because as an idol, she'd dedicated herself to not letting them down, "... Alright, I don't mind talking of course." With a dip of his head, he asked her, "Thank you. Tell me Miss Lee, what do you believe your calling is?" Ranka smiled, "Well that's easy, to sing on stage, as an Idol from the Macross Fleets. To spread my music everywhere, to everyone who wants to hear it."

"And thus far you've stayed quite true to that, I'd say, if I'm not overstepping. What one calls oneself is often the measure of their existence. Thus, would you say a 'Macross Idol' is the measure of yours? Or perhaps, to be more specific: The 'Super Dimension Cinderella.'"

Ranka takes a moment to think that over, before she nods in firm agreement, "Absolutely." "So then as a Macross Idol - and one who has chosen the title of 'Super Dimension Cinderella' for themselves, what historical figure are such words meant to invoke?" Ranka smiled and shook her head, "You're going to say Lynn Minmay, but I'm nowhere near her level."

"Why is that your belief?" "Well, I've only been doing this for a few years, and I'm nowhere near the legend that she is." There's a shrug of her shoulders, "It just feels, factual?" "And how did she become such a legend, Miss Lee?"

"She..." Ranka Lee trailed off, because she realized where this was going, and fell silent for a moment before continuing. "... her music affected the Zentradi so much during the final battles, that it stirred their hearts and began a decultural revolution."

"Do you believe then that Miss Minmay 'enjoyed' fighting? Violence?" "I... no! Of course not, anyone who knows her music would ever think that." "But she became involved, and because of that made a 'Macross Idol' something of legend?"

"I... that doesn't mean that I have to follow a similar path." "Indeed it doesn't. Though it is notable that you chose that title for yourself, one that brings you so close to her tale." He agrees, causing her to look uneasy, "And unlike the Zentradi, the Vajra are not an intelligent species. They are more akin to powerful beasts, propagating and expanding their territory, then aggressively defending it, unable to be negotiated with, and uncaring about the lives they take. Even at the height of the Bloody Valentine War, the people of PLANTs lost people to Vajra aggression."

Standing up, he began to walk away, hands laced behind his back, facing one of the windows on the edge of his office, "And now when we have found tenuous unity in the years following the war that aggression still threatens them. Just like you, their yearning for peace, to lose no more of their sons and daughters is strong. And we have strong evidence to suggest that just like Lynn Minmay, your voice holds the power to protect them all who would be called upon to fight the Vajra.

Ranka fidgeted for a moment uncomfortably, pinching her thumbnails into her skirts, as she recalled Ozma in the hospital from a Vajra attack, all the times Alto came back with his Messiah messed up after an attack before bowing her head and murmuring...

"... What are you asking me to do?"

"No more than what your calling asks of you, Miss Lee." The man allowed himself to smile, as he turned just enough to glance her way. "To spread your message of peace, through your music."

-=-=-

Grace O'Connor met Ranka Lee in the linear car from the Governmental Building, as it started off towards the hangars. "You turned him down?" She asked with a tone that seemed to expect the answer 'Yes'. Her fingers working a phone as if she were engaged in five other matters all at once. That she was actually engaged in four hundred and thirty six, was something that Ranka was blissfully ignorant of. "The League has been rather pushy after all. No matter what kind of a career bump their offer holds for you- you've made your stance clear. And no woman likes a man who can't take no for an answer."

"Actually..."

Grace tried her best not to smile, as Ranka began to explain her mind being changed.

-=-=-

"So tell us then Ranka, your fans have been up in arms ever since the news leaked that the League was pressuring you into joining their latest defense initiative. Why the sudden change in heart?"

"Well, I hate war, and violence, and everyone knows how I was kidnapped by the Vajra. But then... someone got me to thinking... Lynn Minmay must not have either..."

In his office, with folded hands, Gilbert Durandal smiled openly as he watched the interview, at yet another piece finding contentment in their proper place.