2022-11-24: A New Partnership

• Cast: Michele Luio, Leina Ashta
• Where: Luio & Co Headquarters, New Hong Kong
• Date: U.C. 0096 11 24
• Summary: Leina meets with Michele to discuss the Phenex and a potential Shuffle partnership. Both let off more than they knew, and yet, keep enough secrets in the end.

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<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

Luio & Co's headquarters is a marvelous affair. A large building in New Hong Kong, an OCU autonomous territory, chairman Stephanie Luio reigns from her throne here. But she's not the only one with an office - if the other heir's office is a bit strange.

Michele Luio has a meeting with the Yumi Foundation, tonight. That's the official reason, at least. Brick Teclato, bespectacled assistant, is waiting in the lobby for Leina Ashta, and escorts her personally and politely towards the 'Divination Chamber'.

Michele Luio is here. She is currently stripping out of an...unusual red ceremonial outfit into her underclothes, with no care that someone may walk in - her appointment doesn't require her to actually divine, annd they're not comfortable *or* fashion.

As Leina Ashta finally arrives, Michele is putting her loose jacket over her jumpsuit, and untying her hair to let it fall down her back. "Brick, close the door, please." He obliges, though he stays in the room, as Michele does not take her seat at the ceremonial shrine, the centerpiece of the office, tools in boxes on the desk. Instead, she gestures to a side room, where a table and some couches are for 'less ceremonial' meetings.

"Please, take a seat. My entire office is soundproofed for privacy reasons, so don't worry about holding your tongue."

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

BGM - Regression (Instrumental) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xZ81Z-Dj4g

Leina spent transportation time reviewing the dossier on Michele Luio again. "The Miracle Children..." Leina murmurs, as she reviewed the rumors, and scanned the history of all of her correct predictions throughout the ages. At some point she found herself staring out the window, remembering how excited Elpeo was for a bath. How accurate her predictions became after she climbed into one, played in one excitedly.

However even she couldn't see the future as far as Leina knew, only moments of opportunity, distant glimpses and sensations of people.

What if she could though? Did she see it? The end of her life? And make that choice anyway...

Leina stepped in front of Judau and managed to live. Elpeo did the same only to die. These are thoughts which haunt her every so often.

"... Where was her miracle?"

If she sounds a touch bitter, it's because she is.

-=-=-

When Leina arrives, she's in a smartly tailored Burgundy pantsuit worn with the hint of a dark blouse showing, a pair of black flats, and a purse slung over her shoulder. There's a floral hairclip in the left side of her fluffy short brown hair. Besides that, she's carrying a datapad, but not much else.

Upon greeting Brick, she offers to shake his hand, not treating him simply as 'her assistant'. "Good afternoon, I'm Leina Ashta, of the Yumi Foundation. Very nice to meet you, sir."

However, eventually she's escorted up to the 'Divination Chamber'. Not seeming perturbed at all by her stripping out of that outfit, as she moves towards the couch, waiting on her to come over and... offering a hand, "Ms. Luio, it's a pleasure." The gesture has meaning beyond simple pleasantries.

After all, she's wondering if it might establish something from the get go. It's only then that she takes a seat. "Don't worry about speaking my mind? Alright. I'll take you up on that."

While she has the datapad on her lap, she doesn't even refer to it, "You put out the call when it comes to this Golden Gundam, so I doubt its escaped your notice the similarities to another Mobile Suit that both the Federation and Neo-Zeon are hellbent on capturing. So let's not mince words." She's still smiling, but the look in her eyes is sharp, analytical, "What exactly is your interest in it?"

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

Brick shakes Leina's hand firmly but politely, smiling briefly at the nod. "Good to meet you as well, Miss Ashta. Brick Teclato, personal secretary to Michele Luio."

When Leina's sitting, though, Michele's slower on the uptake for the hand. She does shake it, briefly and gently, but it doesn't appear that Leina's the reason she's touch-shy, at least. It's likely her job doesn't call for much of it.

Taking a seat across from her, with Brick standing, Michele nods. "Yes. The White Unicorn. I have no interest in the first sibling, if it matters. No, the Phenex-" She knows the name. "Is very important to me. Luio & Co's official stance is that the Phenex may be able to accomplish our previous chairman's - my father, Luio Woomin's - dream of uniting humanity as one. A search for...immortality, if you will."

There's a pause, and a firm smile. "While I, of course, support my father's dream, I know much more than anyone else here does about that machine. Now, before I divulge *my stance*...I need to know what the Yumi Foundation's interest is in this machine. Is this related to your connection to the White Unicorn's pilot?"

Even in a soundproofed room, she doesn't say a different group's name. Tact, though it doesn't seem Brick is unaware at all.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

Leina's head tilts just slightly off center as she listens to Michele's explanation. Indeed, that is in part what piqued her curiosity. Without the La+ program, the Unicorn or one of its sister suits is mainly an extremely advanced mobile suit to most people.

Thus, why its sister suit? Is it simply because it is easier to obtain than the other?

When she mentions immortality, Leina's eyebrows shoot up, and there's some obvious skepticism there. However, she has a job to do and takes it seriously, rather than merely dismissing it.

And then she asks flat out, and there's a thin smile, "Related, yes. You'll understand my reluctance to say too much of that subject. I've already been illegally detained once by the Vist Foundation - and at times, under their surveillance. However, one might say that this isn't of interest to the Yumi Foundation, per se, but that I have a personal investment, after all - we're a charity."

Her smile becomes broader, "But knowing what you do - then you might understand implicitly that I have friends who could be convinced to intervene in this matter on your behalf, should I be convinced its in our best interests to do so."

Without missing a beat, or hinting further - only implying perhaps that its the pilot of the Unicorn, without committing him to it, she tells her, "Immortality is quite the lofty goal, one that many people would go to any length to achieve."

And without saying so, she distrusts anyone who would seek it. Prolonging the lives of the Federation's elite? That would be horrible for everyone involved, "So tell me, why pursue this suit in particular? Is there something unique about it that would assist you in achieving that goal, that its 'first sibling' cannot manage?"

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

Michele can sense the distrust. It's not hard to distrust - it's a supervillain's goal. Michele is aware her father wasn't a good human being.

"I understand. We all have our secrets, and as I said previously, I care little about him myself. However - are you familiar with psychoframe?" Michele suddenly drops. "If not, it'd be difficult to explain in a...safe manner. But if so..."

Michele considers how much to divulge right here. But, the organization her family has ties to is supposedly quite useful - and they fund them, so they'll help if they think it's right.

"Do you believe it's possible for a soul - let's say, a Newtype - to be trapped within?"

Michele knows this to be true. She's gauging the reaction, to learn how to modulate her next.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

Leina Ashta's smile does not change at all. "I'm familiar." She tells her, without telling her how familiar, however Leina sits up straight, and there's an uneasiness that's plain when she mentions a soul, to be trapped within one.

An aperture is what Nanai Miguel called it to Banagher and Mineva.

An opening, a window into that space. A space she knows exists, after all, every so often someone from it visits her.

 I was born of the psychoframe, torn apart and put back together piece by piece, hollowed out and emptied to become a vessel of the people.

The hairs stand up on her neck, getting goose pimples as she becomes more and more unsettled. What does it mean that Banagher is surrounded by Psychoframe? What does it mean that she has been?

"I would hope not." Leina Ashta says evenly after a few moments of contemplation, "However I cannot deny the possibility, given what a Psychoframe is."

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

"I apologize, then." Michele says, evenly.

"Because the pilot of that golden Gundam, the Phenex, is no longer human. They are trapped in a birdcage - a hell of the Federation's design."

Michele's emotions suddenly ramp up to Leina - she's been able to hide them, but there's a clean sense of rage at this concept.

"I plan to grab the Phenex before anyone else - Federation or Zeon - can. Brick?"

Brick nods, pulling out a folder of files. Leina has her own datta, but...he leaves it on the table, openning it to a file marked 'THE CANARY'. It's missing a lot of pieces - Michele only brought the partial, for now. The pictures are what she points at. "You've seen the White Gundam intimately, so you must recognize a sibling unit."
                                                                              

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

A bird in a gilded cage. A concept she can understand entirely. Save that it was only in life. And this keeps her trapped in death too.

She can feel her anger at the concept, which at least subtly eases off her suspicion. She doesn't say anything at first, her face distant, the horror over the idea seeping into her skin as her own anger builds.

Leina picks up the file as Brick produces it. And starts reading through it.

After reviewing the file, and what few images it has, she comments, "So there is no difference between it, and its sibling save its armaments. Just like it, it is all Psycoframe."

There's a hollow rasp to her voice, like she's trying her hardest to hold something back, and only partially succeeding. Eventually, she closes the file.

"... Let's start with the basics." Leina says as she looks up, something smoldering within her, however she does her best not to say anything, "Who is the pilot, if you know?"

Not was, which is an interesting choice perhaps to Michele. "The Federation - and not the Vist Foundation? Anaheim obviously created this suit, however I find it difficult to believe that Melanie Hue Carbine and Martha Vist Carbine simply gave it to the Federation. Was it intended to be some conciliatory measure for the current fiasco? An attempt at an Anti-Unicorn suit?"

Leina folds her hands together, and the subtle flex of her fingers might indicate that she's gripping a bit too hard, her nails digging into the skin, "What - did the Federation do, to make this happen? You make it sound as if you know. And finally, who in the Federation is responsible, if you're aware?"

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

"The basics. Alright."

"The pilot was a young woman taken from her home as a child, experimented on surgically, and groomed to pilot this machine." There's obviously MORE to that answer if Michele knows this much, but if she's not saying it upfront, she's not saying it at all.

And then, Michele continues. Leina's played a card she didn't have full intel on. Her face doesn't reveal this. "What makes you think Vist had anything to do with it? The Federation built this based off the White Unicorn's production data, displeased with a rival."

"This was the Federation's crime, plain and simple, and they tortured the poor girl until...mm. Who - there's too many to count. This goes back to the Titans, but it never quite stopped. She only 'died' as recently as last year."

As she recounts the torture, Michele's interruption seems to be for Leina, but there's a pang of vague negative emotion.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

There's this slow blink of Leina's eyes as she discusses the pilot and the grip in her folded hands just, subtly increases. "Of course." There's a definite note of anger and bitterness in her tone. Leina arches an eyebrow, and notes, "Because Vist has a controlling interest in Anaheim. With Cardeas Vist dead, it's a near certainty that Martha has her hand on the reins of power within that family."

Leina doesn't mention more, after all she already mentioned Vist detained her, surveilled her at school. If she knows that much about her being seen with Banagher...

However, what Michele says next, causes Leina's gaze to tip up, furrowing her brow and- "It doesn't surprise me that either the Titans or the Federation were responsible. The Titans and the wing of the Federation that took control of her after couldn't have been grooming her. That would make her a Cyber Newtype in all likelihood. If this goes back to the Titans then she was almost certainly a survivor of Augusta."

There's this distant quality to her right now, like she's not entirely there as she thinks about someone surviving the horrors of the Titans in Augusta only to her to be continued in use to the modern day, however, she dissects the statement thoroughly...

"The Psycoframe was invented just prior to the Second Neo Zeon War. The Titans nor the Federation couldn't have been grooming her for this event in particular, as the technology didn't exist at the time - not even in theory. It'd only be insomuch as the idea they're grooming any Cyber Newtype they created for use of Newtype technology... which is enough of an atrocity on its own."

She keeps going after a time, "It still begs the question of what they did to trap her soul inside of a mobile suit that's all Psycoframe, and why."

Was it as simple as ending her life within the cockpit, after she'd had enough flight time within it? It's a horrific thought. Leina doesn't speculate on that out loud, however.

"Was it merely experimentation because they asked the question of 'could' rather than 'should'? Or did they have a specific purpose in doing so?"

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

Augusta causes a reaction. Tips more of a hand than Michele would like - more rage in her heart. But her face remains stoic, even as she thinks about the Vist knowledge. "You're absolutely correct. This wasn't why they used her, but it was her final fate." She doesn't remark on the Cyber-Newtype, but...

"I'm under the impression, from my research, that they wanted a powerful enough weapon. Imagine a machine with no pilot, who can follow orders and is conditioned to do so."

Michele's lip finally breaks, into a grimace. "Obviously, the Phenex broke from her captors."

Michele now needs to clinch it. She's lead Leina away from 'immortality', so now she needs to tell a good enough lie.

"Do you believe such a person could be saved? Isn't it worth trying, or at least granting peace?"

Whether or not she knows if it is one.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

Leina feels the second hand rage, and... she feels no sense of triumph for being on the mark. The Federation - Neo-Zeon, both destroyed so many lives just to define the concept of 'Newtype' as a weapon. All she can think of is Elpeo - and what Zeon Zum Deikun had hoped for them all.

"It makes a certain amount of sense, as horrible as it is, that that was their aim." She admits at first, "Tireless, unbound by human limitations. However... its prohibitively expensive. And if they wanted that, then they'd have to be confident the conditioning would remain even after her death. That's an expensive gamble to take - without any guarantee of certainty. If it were to study the soul..."

She hates thinking like this. It makes her feel dirty, logically analyzing everything the Federation does, these awful old men and the cold calculus of human lives. It's the way Glemy Toto taught her to think, for better or worse - and usually much worse, "... they might consider it potentially worth it, in the same way that you're hoping to achieve immortality."

Michele then tries to clinch it, offering the idea of trying to save them, at least to gain peace. She thinks of Full Frontal, and the kind of life he lives right now. Could this mysterious pilot be saved, if it were done by someone who simply didn't want to make her a pawn?

"I believe it's possible, and if it could be done - I would want her either saved and given a new life, or freed to pass on."

Leina admits, even though admitting such things in the business world might be considered a weakness, showing compassion in that way...

... however...

There's a shrewd, steely eyed look in those seagreen eyes as she bores into Michele, "That wouldn't be until after you achieved the key to immortality, am I correct? Which might mean years of research, while she remains trapped within that birdcage - her suffering prolonged?" After a moment, she adds, "Am I wrong?"

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

"Did I not tell you immortality was company policy?" Michele replies, after a long moment with her eyes closed, thinking through her response.

Her emotions are strong. Leina can't read her mind, but each word after has a backing emotion that makes her answer feel genuine - anger, guilt, sadness.

"I don't plan to prolong anything. She deserved better. I may say otherwise to others - I have to get my funding for this project somehow - but 'the Yumi Foundation' is much more trustworthy than any Federation source."

"Better they think I'm playing their game than 'hero', right?"

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

"I understood your implication." When she says, immortality was the company policy, "... However, adopted daughter or not, the Luio name is still attached to you, and that carries a certain weight. People do not survive long in the corporate world without meeting certain expectations."

And in that is her own implication. Is Michele really willing to sacrifice that much, to defy 'the board' of her company? Leina can feel that mix of emotions within Michele. And indeed, she can believe she's being genuine. However, when the time comes to make a decision, can she look power in the eye - and let it go for the sake of principle and sentimentality?

It's a difficult thing to assess in a single meeting. She's seen how power can hollow people from the inside out, like termites carving through rotted wood.

"Yes, she does." Again, she does not refer to the pilot in past tense, curious. However she knows what lies beyond exists. To her, they are still people in existence. Even if they are in a different state, even if they are so far away in that boundary of separation as to still feel so much loss and grief in their absence.

Leina closes those sea green eyes, and weighs her options here, and eventually opens them, and smiles at her, "I'll present this to my 'friends'. I think we can be your ally in this, Miss Luio."

Is this not what the Shuffle Alliance has done since the beginning? Overseen the course of war? Leina agrees, because she wants to watch Michele Luio here, very, very closely and if need be... to become a check against any hidden ambitions.

Leina stands after a moment, and holds out her hand to her again as if to seal a deal, her smile tenuous, feeling a certain melancholy over this whole situation, "We'll see what can't be done to find her, and help her in her present situation."

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

"I've fucked over my sister enough times. What's another?" Michele smiles as she jokes, as Leina agrees to help. "I appreciate this, Miss Ashta. I assure you, I know you cannot trust me, nor do I expect you to. It's a mutual road - but at the least, my information is good. I've divined enough to move forward."

"Keep the file." It's a redacted copy, so. "We'll be in touch."

Once Leina's gone, Michele slumps into the couch, and turns on her side. Brick shuts the door and leaves her be. A little piece of her she can't share.