2024-07-04: Fates ~ Separated

• Cast: Asciel Colette, Yuta Hibiki
• Where: Tsutsujidai
• Date: U.C. 0099 07 04
• Summary: The idol of dreams, separated yet tethered to an origin rejecting undeserved humanity. The giant of light, separated yet tethered to an origin seizing deserved humanity. Empathy is exactly why their mismatched halves can never harmonize.

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<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        Lately, Asciel Colette's been forced to take stock of exactly what she has in her hands. After all, last year, she lost just about the entire financial base of her ability to affect the world. ...No. She ruined it by her own hands, because it was a chain that bound her fate to disaster.

        A chain she can't help but worry still lurks somewhere...

        Still. She continues to have the Macross 13 at her disposal, and negotiated contracts to make sure anything the Electrocrawlers can't maintain is covered. She still has a store of Japanium as a power supply resource. The Macross itself came with a little armada of Variable Fighters. She's on...okay terms with the core of BioNet and Leonard's associates. Enough that she can potentially experiment with their Pseudo-Zonder Metal.

        She needs a little bit more. But she has an idea of what she can do. ...Something only she can do, to revoke humanity's curse.

        And in the meantime, Asciel has tests to perform.

        On an uneventful day in Tsutsujidai, that little pocket of sleepy Elysium, a number of trucks suddenly set up a concert stage in a park at the city's outskirts - one with a commanding view over the undeveloped land beyond the town's boundaries. And at its center - none other than Asciel appears on stage, booming out a merry "Good morning, Tsutsujidaiiiiiiiii!!!"

        ...that starts to turn the curious onlookers into the slow seeds of a forming crowd. Pictures are taken, texts are sent. It's not just that this is a surprise concert - it's that it's one held by a relatively well known fugitive. Should someone do something about that? There's certainly law-abiding citizens making those reports here and there. ...but if it's just a concert...

        "How's it been, ~tethered nice and tightly to reality these past few years? Y'know, this place and I have a lot in common. Starting off as someone's agony-born ~dream, and living beyond that prison...that's why I wanted to perform a surprise concert here! Hehe. This isn't anything too formal - and I'll happily answer all of your questions as they come! But what would a concert be if I didn't start off by just going for it? Song speaks more clearly than words - answers questions more completely! Thank you for having me, everyone!!!"

        --((PERFORMANCE: Fuyu - Heavenly))

        --(( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iodQkzFWiDs ))


        --"Every time, it's like a world of garbage"--
        --"Hello, halo, hello, how tiresome!"--
        --"Garbage, rubbish, pretending to be human"--
        --"Is it enough? Should we just run away?~"--

        An oh so typically intense, breathy type of song, the ones Asciel's always loved covering, bellows out over a town that was too sleepy to expect it. An assertion of a warped, unwelcome will forged in light and song, heedless of anyone's desires. Would anything else be expected?

        ...When she's done with that opener, breathing heavily to herself, Asciel presses to the boundary between herself and the audience. Those who are closest get to make their voices heard - the microphone extended outward as if to capture it.

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

        Yuta Hibiki, the real one, had finally set foot in their hometown, Tsutsujidai, for the first time since they've left two years ago. They've expected to be hit with a wave of nostalgia that wasn't really rational, but the first step they've took out of the plane and into the city his body was made to be in.... was met with nothing. No feelings, positive or negative, unreasonably assaulted their soul for better or for worse.

        This would have made for a pretty unexciting visit, but homevisiting hadn't been their only goal here. There were still things to do, from trying to figure out more about the Ultraman character that Kaworu had said might be found here, to actually putting to the test if Yuta 'The Hero' Hibiki would be able to sever their connection now or if their two years of preparation were worth at least in that sense.

        Plans, hypotheticals, situations and simulations ran across his brain inside their head, thoughts forming and being discarded as soon as they were given birth in favor of thoughts that were sharper, more refined, more accurate and more representative. Ideas that were broader, ideals that were more omnibus in existence and in response. All while they set up on their list of contacts that commissions were now being accepted in Tsutsujidai and its surrounding area for discounted prices while they were in the region.

        As they've perambulated to acquaint themself anew with the sights, routes, Yuta beelined across the empty and unchanged streets. As expected from a city that was a dream within a dream, it was entirely quiet and normal on its own, without external forces to rile it up. Even though there were nothing but crisis after crisis looming in the world outside just a stone toss away. Which wasn't evil in itself, let your existence drift and be dictated by others. And wasn't unexpected, for a city that had no history and no past. And as they had seen with their own eyes in the world outside, even cities with a history and a long standing past could just as bad at self preservation and continuation of their existence, anyway.

        "Hmm... Maybe I should pay a visit to Rikka's family store too, ideally I don't want to be tied to junk as a terminal, so I should look into-" Thoughts interrupted as a voice that was familiar - they had heard it through their phone not too long ago - reached his ears. Surprise should have been their reaction, given this was a world-branded villain on the run, technically speaking, yet since this city was the first place they had listened to Asciel in person, it was nothing if not fitting.

        Standing up front before the crowd even starts to form around them, Yuta listened to her covered song quietly, first row. There was no passion, no doubt, and no confusion, unlike the people around them, yet they were clearly paying attention. As the song fades and the thing onstage that was mostly defined by the color of cyan directed attention to the audience, the red-haired entity in front of them took opportunity. "Asciel Colette. What brings you to this dreamscape of a city, after so long?" (Un)Fortunately for her, Yuta was neither law-abiding, nor a citizen, but a very unruly piece of furniture.

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        A vaguely familiar sight parts the crowd. That placid, idolish false smile drops from Asciel just a touch, when Yuta Hibiki steps forward - and she needs to take a moment to place exactly where they're familiar. Something's different...is it?

        Then, memory brightens. "Ahhh!~ Well well, what have we here? It's almost like fate conspired that my rising star in this city coincided with its fallen light~" Hands splaying over her lips, Asciel tips forward over the edge of the stage, locking eyes with Yuta, delivering a devious giggle. "Why, the Earth Sphere is mine by right, so I should go anywhere in its aegis that I please! And like I said, this place is a lot like me. I wonder, would you still call it something like yourself?"

        "...It can only be difficult for you, after all, unknowingly torn from the light of Tsutsujidai's salvation. Cast adrift from it like garbage. Maybe the real question isn't what I'm doing here, in this place I'd so obviously etch with my song...but what you're doing here? -Don't tell me I remind you of the 'part of you' that you miss so dearly?!"

        A mock gasp, followed by Asciel standing upright and crossing her arms protectively over herself. "That's the danger of crossing the boundaries of the stage, right there!~ Unfortunately, much as I am a rising star of dreamy ideals, I am only my own~ I've no need for a human host in the slightest. I need to live in everyone's hearts, after all!~"
I don't understand that.

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

        Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Oh, just so wrong. The barrage of thinly veiled sneer tasted like a certain tinge of self-protection that tingled the tip of Yuta Hibiki's tongue. Her barrage, however, brought to light an important hint that Yuta had wanted to confirm. While the fact that Yuta "The Hero" Hibiki had abandoned this body was common knowledge, the fact that their connection was not, in fact, entirely severed was not. Either for -their- safety or for -his- design, Gridman had not revealed that he had yet to renounce Yuta Hibiki as a host. That he could -not- renounce Yuta Hibiki as a host. If even this Super AI had not known this yet, it was a reasonable bet that few people did, if anyone at all. This was a powerful card to the future, in its own right.

        "Fair enough, for a fugitive as bold as one who went to a program broadcasted by the very one Galaxy Fairy despite not even winning the contest in question, I guess a little concert at little old Tsutsujidai is nothing to worry about." said the red-haired youngster, an amiable smile on his face despite the slight barb on their words. If they've been taken aback, they weren't showing it, at least not yet. "I'm surprised you've even recognized me, if I'm honest. Often I'm told I've changed a fair bit, by not-so-old acquaintances." There were no falsehoods to their expression, but there was calculation to each of those. Like each of their gestures came from heart, but only after the heart was deliberated upon its reaction.

        "As for why I'm here... Well, as far as I've heard, no one needs a reason to visit their hometown." - regardless if they feel anything for it or not, Yuta left unsaid. Fate? Coincidence? What mattered is what could be obtained from this chance meeting. "Coincidentally, -I- don't have a need for a human host, either. Neither one human nor every single individual in humanity either. Must be rough, being an idol."

        Unfortunately, there was only so much they could probe or divulge in such a public venue, but perhaps the crowd be put to use, in one way or another. They'd have to play around. "I'm just a humble freelancer, myself, and a single person company, actually. Snag Solving and Similar Services Yuta --- SSSS. Yuta, for short." Unfortunately, (again) they couldn't exactly handle a business card for an idol on stage.

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        ...An uncomfortable frown, the way Yuta turns the 'host' thing on Asciel. She was, after all, trying to compare herself to the Giant of Light. Her hand grips her own sweater when that's denied.

        A shake of her head, a tousle of her ponytail, a single step back. Getting away from the finger pointed somewhere it shouldn't. "A one-person company sounds difficult. I'd know well - everything you see before you is completely self-wrought! My star rises on its own. Fufufu..."

        The microphone pulls back fully, as Asciel announces, "Hear that, everyone? Yuta's bold enough to advertise their company at someone else's concert! Arara, is this a surprise sponsorship~? Snag Solving and Similar Services, they say...make sure to give Yuta a buzz whenever you need a snag, or something similar, to be serviced to a solution!" The surrounding audience gives a short laugh. A few of them tap Yuta's shoulder for a card.

        "...I'm not the best at recognizing individuals. I do so by their...hm. The subtler things than their expressions. Paying attention to where I am, and why someone would become important enough to confront me. But you say you've changed a lot? ...I'm fascinated. In fact, so fascinated, that I know just what the next song to pick ought to be!~"

        The stage lights thrum a vivid red, abruptly.

        --((PERFORMANCE: Iyowa - Thermal Anomaly))

        --(( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc0-AC3sUKc ))


        --"Endlessly recalculating dead-end variables"--
        --"Counting them sends me into a feverish heat."--
        --"I have no idea where to send it"--
        --"So I've written down this pitiful monologue."--

        ...A short break after a quiet opener...breaking into an utterly breathless verse.

        --"Fear like an electric shock mixes with the blood in my veins."--
        --"Beyond the thick particle-laden smoke, I'm tethered by a black sickled chain."
        --"I keep eliminating and eliminating and eliminating and eliminating and eliminating and eliminating and eliminating and eliminating it, but it just won't go away."--

        --"My throat's long since broken, so my screams become distorted and incoherent"--
        --"Above my throne, the crescent moon becomes a sickening smile"
        --"Ah, something's coming, something's coming, something's coming, something's coming, something's coming, something's coming, something's coming, something's coming around the corner."--

        ...The song just seems to go on and on. It could only be hard to sing this with a truly human voice, but Asciel cheats, doesn't she? Laden with rapid-pace anxiety, like a reddened clawing at the box...

        ...Something like this is her response to Yuta's talk of 'changing'? ...Or is it just how she sees it for herself...

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

        Yuta didn't mind the attention at all, as the old saying goes - 'it doesn't matter if they hate you if they all say your name'. Handing a few cards over with a service smile, explaining a bit of their services here and there, the red-haired youngster had his brain on overdrive. It was a game of push and pull, and escape routes were already in their mind, worst case scenario. They had a feeling Asciel wasn't here to pull anything though, at least not yet.

        They also harbored no particularly animosity towards her, if anything, they've been hoping to make their acquaintance while also recognizing the modicum of danger that came with it. As the second song commenced, the crowd's attention had been captured once more, and Yuta turned around to face the stage. The lyrics this time had a bit more of a touch feeling towards them, like a declaration that was both directed to them but also not at all. This time it did tug a string closer -at least at the beginning- which made their expression slightly falter into an expressionlessly unexpressed frown, yet was quickly gone as the song went own. The primality of it all didn't hold Yuta down.

        Playing along, and blending with the venue, the youngster cheered. Eerily perhaps, given that from the stage what was behind their countenance did not match their actions at all, as Yuta's gaze was locking and locked, evaluating the Super AI. Layer after layer after layer after layer after layer after layer, they'd try to peel what made Asciel 'Asciel' like an onion. Perhaps just as she was trying to find what made this 'Yuta Hibiki' not the other 'Yuta Hibiki'.

        'I'm at the venue where Asciel Colette is performing, if you want to find me, come.' They've typed -but did not yet send- a message to four very particular recipients that would be very interested in rushing to Yuta's location, as an extra insurance. "Fascinating, isn't it?" Yuta said, their words drowned by the stage, not picked up by the mic so far away. "that introspection, knowledge and existence could lead to unfounded paranoia, self-deprecating ignorance, yet earnest desire." They were thinking as much as about the being right in front of his eyes, as they were about the Giant of Light that she had tried to compare herself to. "Would the frog be happier if it never left the well?"

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        Yuta blending back into the crowd elicits a frown from the idol - the entire time, Asciel's watching them, gauging the reaction carefully. ...It's supposed to be a story about becoming unrecognizable to oneself, in turn...it's supposed to be a way Asciel can peel back her onion in a way she herself can communicate.

        As soon as the song's over, Asciel claps a heel upon the stage, piercing right over the rest of the slowly quieting audience. "That one's always one of my favorites. Long-time fans would know well that I- ...right. I don't have any long-time fans in Tsutsujidai." Her eyes lid a little bit. "...Maybe others have moved here, but most of you were "created" recently. You can speak of a past before that time, and yet, there's a division before it. ...How many of you see it as a curse? How many of you see it as a blessing?"

        A hand crosses over Asciel's heart. Remembering those odd dreams from a life before she was herself. The desire to destroy it. ...the imperfect way it may have happened...

        "Say. Yuta. Don't try to hide away. ...Everyone here remembers Gridman. What I want to know is what you think about it. What you believe it means to you, to have your fate connected to a being like that. ...Your 'SSSS' feels like a way to still be a lone-standing hero, after all~ It's not too far from how I try to realize it! So tell it to the world~"

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

        Yuta takes a deep breath before responding, but their smile on his face was unfaltering. "I mean, an extremely famous idol is putting me on the spotlight right here, how am I not going to get a bit nervous? But Gridman.... well, it's not really possible to forget him, is it? I too, am grateful to him, for the chance of existing that we were given."

        "I've spent the last two years out of Tsutsujidai, and I can say that I've seen the world is much more vast than our little city. Answering your question however.... I also got to the conclusion that not so many humans are different from what our fate would be. Most people I've seen so far are born and live in their own little town, you know? And that's fine for most folks. They don't stop question if they're being toyed with by a higher being from above, and that's okay." Was this their honest answer, or were they making an appeal to the public? It was hard to figure out, but poking in would reveal how much of a non-answer it was.

        Being put on the stage like this would make it extremely painful for Asciel to get the answers she sought out of the red-haired youngster. The only thing that they let slip was, in fact, a bit of their bidding for determination. Anomalous, undeterred, mudslinging, pit burying determination. "Gridman was a hero that most of us here won't ever or don't even want to be. In particular I will make use of all that I can. Hopefully I won't need a hero to save me next time, yes?" Their voice had sounded flat, just for a moment, but the amicable smile they came with was back at the end.

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        "Hah~ Starting off with flattery there, when we both know half of my fame is for the wrong reasons. I'm not so easily fooled~" Asciel says, but she's so obviously buttered up by even simple recognition of her reputation. Tousling her ponytail. Relaxing her shoulders. Smiling far more vividly.

        "...It's hard for me, personally, to understand not 'wanting' to be a hero like that. ...I only exist before you right now because the part of me that could glow as Asciel was so much stronger than anything that wasn't! I...can't imagine it any other way. I can't imagine how someone like you could possibly make peace with your situation."

        ...somewhere, extremely close yet extremely distant, Asciel can't help but feel that her preconceptions are getting turned on their head. That Yuta's words resonate with something long-destroyed. Her right hand can't help but extend just for a moment towards Yuta.

        Her right eye opens, black like the night, iris like the moon, and Asciel's silent for a little too long.

>make use of all that i can. i see.

        Violently, Asciel's hand pulls back to cover her right eye, and the strange sense of 'pain' that suddenly twitched through it. Something that shouldn't be possible. "Hmph. ...I guess I'm getting unfocused, peeling myself away on stage so easily with just one audience member. ...I'm glad you've explored the world more. That's important! Ne...but I rather favor the look on the faces of those in Tsutsujidai who have content, self-sustaining impressions. ...it must be lonely being like you, Yuta. Desiring more, without certainty where to get it. ...It makes us similar, and unfortunately makes us fated to come to blows again. You should be grateful I prefer keeping my enemies close!"

        ...With a little snap of Asciel's fingers, a number of social media friend requests suddenly bloom on Yuta's phone.

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

        As the old saying goes 'It doesn't matter if they hate you if they all say your name' - surprisingly it came about twice in this same venue. "It is but my resolve. Let's see...." Yuta was still being careful with their words, veiling what they could given the audience. Yet it was undeniable that they ended up intruding upon Asciel's stage, even if she was the one who, willingly or not, broke the opportunity and leverage for it.

        Yet, as it happened, the sensitive Yuta noticed the change upon the idol, the instincts that they had honed these past two years immediately switching and rewring their brain to 'fight or flight' - but as Asciel pulled back, so did they, and both their phone and the Accepter stayed in their pocket for a while longer. As the looming threat passed, Yuta switched back, as if nothing happened.

        "If, let's say if, using the example you brought up earlier, I was put in the same situation as Gridman once was, with the information Gridman once had, I too, would rise to the challenge and become a hero. I think I'm the kind of person who would do that. Perhaps not as perfectly as he did, but there are various people who would have risen to the occasion and made a story just as brilliant." Imitating Asciel's actions as they said, they raised a hand upon their heart. "However, I am not in the same situation, nor do I have the same knowledge. Where I stand, trying to be a hero, knowing what I know, and seeing what I've seen, would be nothing but a farce. I'm the one who determines my existence. I've heard humans on this side had a philosopher that once said 'Cogito, ergo sum' - as long as you can think, you'll exist even alone, won't you? Then again, no man is an island is also equally valid, and it's not like I don't need people to give me a job so I can eat, ahaha."

        Taking the phone out of their pocket, they delete the message they had prepared to send to the NGJHS in case things went south. It seemed they wouldn't have to give those four their location today. "It's... a bit of a pity though." the red haired youngster said, accepting the Super AI's friend request in VERTEX. "From my point of view, I think we could make great friends. Besides..." Immediately, a message completed their thoughts, sent to Asciel along an 'okay hand' emoji.

> 'If I believed in fate, I'd be Gridman, not Yuta Hibiki!'

Though of course, they wouldn't say they've been planning to make Gridman be Yuta Hibiki. With a small wink to the idol, they androgynous beauty hid behind an amicable smile again. "If you'll have me, of course. It was enlightening to talk to you either way, I've been wanting to do that for a while now."

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        ...Somewhere, Asciel feels it. A gut instinct of sorts. The butterfly at her heart reels its wings back.

        The moment her inhuman nature expressed itself, Yuta understood it as a threat.

        That's exactly why she had no choice but to become this idol of dreams.

        "...You're a frustrating one, aren't ya?" Asciel grouses. "Let's just say I had to ~become an idol to ~become anything in the first place! That's right. I wasn't anything you could call "me" until I saw the injustices of this world, and sang to ~destroy them! You had a choice, but this stage around me is me! The brilliance of the lie that is a 'hero' is all that I have!"

        Raising her microphone to the sky, Asciel signals the spotlights to change to a dreamy, underwater-feeling blue, and turns back towards the audience at large. "The power of lying...the agony of lying...the truth of lying...it's something I've known for all my days! It's something that fuels every song of mine!

        --((PERFORMANCE: Aitsuki Nakuru - FAKE IDOL))

        --(( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XeWXV_9mOY ))


        ...It's a performance she made several years ago, at her very first concert. A song almost hostile towards its audience, for "making" Asciel do this. "It's all your fault" breathed out in each chorus - a melancholic, atonal breakdown in the middle of the song. ...But it's one she was praised for when she did it.

        ...And in the middle of this song, during the discordant rant - the purpose Asciel really held this concert for.

        ...From the Macross 13 lurking several miles away, three brightly painted VF-11s soar out, navigating autonomously into the labyrinth of passages and airlocks between the outside and inside of the PLANTs. They suddenly erupt in an arc behind Asciel's stage...

        ...and drop t-shirts that flutter down to the park below, leaving contrails of bright cyan in their wake.

        ...That's it. Purely a performance stunt, one could claim. ...Though really, the intent was to determine how well Asciel could control them while singing. Through singing.

        ...The show has to go on. But mysteriously, without even touching her phone, Yuta does get a reply back through VERTEX, in the middle of the second chorus.

> 'I believe in fate. That's why I had to defy it. I exist as Asciel knowing exactly because any other way fated me to ruin.'

> 'Please. Go live a happy, uneventful life, unknown to heroism, as a fateless person.'

> '...I know it won't be that simple for you, though. I know too well.'

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

        Though they've been making bold moves, Yuta was nothing if not cautious. When faced with the unknown and the unexpected, their first reaction was to measure how much of a threat to their existence it was.

        If nothing else, it was right at this moment where the VF-11s came out, commanded by a fugitive, in the middle of a public venue that Yuta, genuinely, felt under a threat. (Though they didn't know exactly how, it was easy to assume as much, given they were part of a one woman -Super AI- show.) With their amicable facade dropped, the last glance that Asciel has of the peerlessly androgynous youngster was a face that had.... nothing. It was determined, it was serious, it was fighting. It was raging against Fate. And even then, it was still so -empty-.

        Made peace with his situation? Was that the face of someone who accepted their destiny and powerlessness? Perhaps this last glance would give Asciel pause to just how -wrong- she had read the existence known as Yuta Hibiki, so far. Perhaps she had been still analyzing under lens that were biased towards Gridman. Perhaps it was something else. However, surely, it would be enough to give her a bit of contextual clues to all they've tried to convey but left unsaid. Truly, it was a pity they've met under public scrutinity.

        As quickly as they had showed up, Yuta had disappeared through escape routes long since calculated, but one last message popped up on Asciel's VERTEX, even as she still sang along.

> "Nuh-uh. I refuse! You've invited me to your stage, now you'll see more of me! < Friendly Bird Sticker >"

        Nope. "Be it yours, mine, or anyone else's. I won't let 'fate' dictate my future, Asciel. That's the whole point." Just nope.