2024-11-14: Reaching Out To Renewal

• Cast: Luanova Luckwright, Koji Kabuto
• Where: Fujinomiya City - Photon Power Distribution Centre
• Date: U.C. 0099 11 14
• Summary: The facility that Mazinger Infinity appeared in back at the start of UC 0096 is reactivated to power Free Japan, and a young politician approaches Koji Kabuto at the ceremony to offer her aid to the Photon Power Labs. Koji offers aid in turn.

---

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

It's been several years now since a resurrected Doctor Hell attacked the Mount Fuji Photon Power Central Distribution Facility in order to claim Mazinger Infinity for himself - since the Goragon Crisis threatened to rewrite reality to better suit the megalomaniac's vision - since the Photon Power Lab and its allies returned to the battlefield to put paid to their old enemy once and for all.

Today is a day for celebration, though - the official repoening of the mountainside power plant, which had to have extensive maintenance, repairs, and refurbishing in the wake of that climactic battle. Ordinarily, this would be an event spearheaded by the Lab's Director, Sayaka Yumi - but she is absent today, for personal health reasons. This leaves the task up to the Lab's head of the Experimental Development department - famous hero and pilot of Mazinger Z, Koji Kabuto.

Mazinger Z has not been sighted since its appearance defending the PLANT against the nuclear strike spearheaded by the Gaia Sabers, but its pilot has evidently not chosen to go into hiding over it, eyes steely against the flash of photography as he stands at a podium erected in front of the facility gates.

"... in the wake of the Goragon Crisis," he's coming to the end of his speech, "it became clear that the needs of our neighbours in the Union were greater than we anticipated. Prime Minister Yumi has therefore authorised us to reach out to other nations and expand our energy infrastructure in order to support our international friends' needs."

        "Some say this is a ploy by Japan to leverage dominance in the OCU through increasing their dependence on Photon Power!" A reporter calls out. "What do you have to say to these allegations, Doctor Kabuto?"

"... All I have to say to that," Koji says, temple twitching almost imperceptibly, "is that international relationships are a complicated negotiation, far above my pay grade - but if there's an opportunity for us to help anyone who asks, I would be happy to provide mine."

Murmuring fills the crowd in the wake of that, and Koji looks over the assemblage. "... If there are no further questions," he concludes, "then I am proud to officially state that the Shin Fuji Photon Power Central Distribution Facility is authorised to resume operations!"

He lifts a hand, waving it up towards the massive facility - and before long, an electrical hum fills the air as activity lights blaze to life on the structure.

As the cameramen begin taking pictures again, Koji steps down from the podium to let the Lab's PR staff handle the press from here, heading off the access road towards a prefab building set up as part of the access infrastructure.

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.

        Neo-America and the Orbital Ring wish to extend their felicitations at the reopening of the Central Distribution Facility, and their continued interest in the cutting edge of Photon Power technologies and their applications.

        It's a formality. You'd get somebody at the head of business or policy decisions if they really cared. When they're just sending someone for the cameras, they send Luanova Luckwright, the senator's daughter with the edges sanded off, famous in news and tabloids for being attractive, charming, fashionable, and down-to-earth. One notes that this list does not include 'influential,' unless you count talking head interviews as political influence.

        The woman who makes it through the Lab staff to approach Koji in his departure is wearing a smart tam, tilted slightly to the side, and a light dress that contrasts with the smart suits and dark glasses of her own security detail. "Excuse me," she says, holding a small dossier of documents she's carried in her handbag. Bags under her eyes she's tried to conceal belie her well-practiced smile. "Doctor Kabuto? Luanova Luckwright, from Neo-America."

        She holds out the dossier for Koji. Inside is... a list of contacts, each with listed qualifications and a relevant summary of past policy work. All business or political contacts from a variety of nations and corporations, none in top positions, usually technocrats involved with energy policy. They include a handful of names Koji might recognize from papers he's read concerning legitimate, public-minded energy research.

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

Koji straightens up as he's approached, turning to face Luanova and her detail. "Miss Luckwright." He takes the proffered dossier, opening it and flipping through the pages.

He looks pretty worn out, himself. Public speaking takes a lot out of him, apparently.

... He recognises that surname, doesn't he? He pauses for a moment.

"This is an interesting list of personnel you've brought us. Is Senator Luckwright interested in assisting our efforts by recommending possible candidates for employment?" He drops his gaze back to scanning the papers, looking for some kind of catch in the paperwork.

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.

        Luanova doesn't bother trying to hide the sardonic curl in her smile. "Speaking discreetly off the record, Senator Luckwright is interested in the profit line on her budget sheet. This is what I've turned up from my thesis paper." She picks up her handbag and begins to rummage through it while explaining.

        "I had the pleasure of meeting Director Yumi a little while back at a fundraiser, and we had a nice talk. That got me thinking a bit. Energy policy comes up some in my thesis work on political metasystems, but lately..." For a moment, the words fail her, and she reverts to her practiced, pleasant smile to mask the momentary lapse. "Well. I've been frustrated by the lack of practical impact I've been having on things. And I /did/ promise the Director I would try to help her and the Lab with their efforts. So when I realized the reopening was coming up, I decided to comb back through for a list of relevant contacts. I suppose you could use it for headhunting, and if any of these people find themselves free I'd encourage you to support them, but I was thinking more along the lines of collective action. These are all people, I think, working in good faith to better life for people across the Earth Sphere, not just their own little pockets of it. And I'm sure you would know by now that there are also plenty of policy makers who aren't. I thought that any future proposals for outreach and cooperation might benefit from knowing people in relevant policy positions who might be receptive to it, rather than throwing them out to whoever can catch them first."

        What she's taken out of her handbag is a roll of caffeinated gum. "Here it is. Energy gum?" she offers. "You look pretty tired." Or maybe it really was just the speech that took it out of him.

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

"Ah. Yes. That would be more in line with what I have observed from Neo-Colony politicians." He matches her grin.

"Oh, you've met Sayaka?" Just as him going into 'polite company' mode was observable, so too is his relaxation as Luanova brings up his other half. As Luanova explains, he goes over the documents again, now seeing where things connect in the context of it being the young woman's own research. "Yeah, I see what you're putting together, I think. These scientists are scattered all around the globe, and if I remember some of these names right, surrounded mostly by societal structures that don't reward that kind of philanthropic outreach."

He closes the dossier and takes the gum. "Hey, thanks. This - " here he taps the dossier again - "Is gonna be a big help. You put this together all on your own initiative, huh?"

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.

        Lua takes another piece of gum for herself, looks at it, and then puts it back in the pack without eating it. Living on caffeine is some miserable stuff. "I did. She's refreshing. I wish I could feel as optimistic about our chances to improve the Earth Sphere as she does, but I admire that kind of strength. Can't believe she hadn't seen Die Five Times, though." The classic holiday movie. The scene with the shrapnel tunnel? Cinema.

        "Well. I had to have a thesis on something. And if I'm going to have to do it I might as well do it right." Getting her bona fides in order was not her idea. Few things in her life are. "It happened to be in the research for the paper, so it was something I could put together without a lot of work from there. Honestly, giving it to you here is probably going to do a lot more good than shoring up credentials to better fit in elite rooms full of elite people where I just wish I could get my elite hands around their elite necks and squeeze." The mask is slipping a bit, yes. She's been under pressure lately.

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

"... I think it's more like she and I are both stubborn as hell and that's what keeps us going." He chuckles. "We have a lot of reasons for it, though."

'Die Five Times'? He blinks, and laughs. "Isn't that movie pretty old?"

"... Having credentials can be pretty useful in its own right. Being a politician's daughter opens doors, degrees open others... And sometimes, just being able to go 'yeah hi I've saved your lives a hundred times over' has leverage all of its own." He offers her a sympathetic smile as her mask begins to slip. "... Yeah. I know the feeling. So how are you planning to handle it?"

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.

        "Seeing Centus Chaudhary tear the machinegun off an Arm Slave stands the test of time. Some things never get old."

        "Some of those doors come with contingencies. Sometimes there's a road that only goes places you didn't want to go in the first place." The saving lives gets a brief smirk from her, though. That way tends to feel pretty rewarding.

        "I don't know," she ends with an exhalation. "There are circumstances, and they're about to move very fast... I've done what I can to work within the system using what I have. But that power is inherited from my mother and her allies. They can cut it off if I go too far off script. My mother has set the course of my life from birth. I could continue beating my head against this wall, and there /are/ things I could accomplish for people. I don't begrudge people who can work within the system to make it better."

        A pause that only hints at where that thought is going.

        But if I have to keep it up one more moment, I will scream.

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

"We might have to make a thing of watching it," Koji says with a grin. "It'll probably drive her crazy though."

He listens, frowning, as Luanova vents her frustrations with her life. "Yeah, having to play the perfect politics kid... I can imagine that's real stressful."

He looks down at the dossier again, fishing out a notepad from his pocket and apparently jotting something down - then glances up at Luanova's security detail. "Hey, I think some enterprising press kid is sneaking past the cordon. Probably don't want any pictures of miss Luckwright and I showing up online, right?"

He waits for them to go check on the problem he's invented, then winks at Luanova and slips a scrap from the notebook into the dossier before handing it back to her. "You still need this for your paper, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.

        One of the security detail, a tall dark-skinned man, doesn't look like he's going to check on anything. A skeptical type? The other, a broad-shouldered type, elbows him and pulls him along to take up positions looking for breaches of the cordon. As they go, Lua turns and mouths a silent 'thank you' to the broad-shouldered one. "Thanks," she says aloud, accepting the dossier back. In a surprisingly deft sleight of hand that's difficult to catch, she catches the scrap of paper in two fingers and slides it quickly into a hidden corner of the handbag, before stowing the dossier away elsewhere. "If you need the information again you can contact me any time. I already gave Dr. Yumi my contact. My private contact." The one she doesn't check in front of security. Though it seems at least one of them might be as loyal to Luanova as he is to his actual employer.

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

Koji nods to Lua as her security boys give her the opportunity they need to pass information around. "Alright. Are you expected back home soon? If not, I recommend taking a tour of the city. To take a load off, y'know."

He offers her an earnest smile. "Thanks again. I know we'll get a lot of use out of that information."

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.

        "I have enough time at least to stop in and have a bite to eat," Lua says, looking up into the distance in serious consideration. "I do like to sample what different places have to offer. Do you have a recommendation locally?"

<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.

Lua asks him to recommend a place to eat, and his mouth answers before his brain: "Boss Ramen."

He grins. "One of my friends runs the place with his - " lackeys? henchmen? " - pals. If you need some good food and some time to clear your head, I can't recommend any other place in the city higher."

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.

        "Oh, a ramen place, nice." Greasy, lower class, but authentic food. "I'll track it down. Thanks for talking to me, Dr. Kabuto. You're a stand-up guy. You and Dr. Yumi both." A warm smile, but this one is less practiced, a little more real. And a handshake, almost instinctive from her habitat among the Orbital Ring upper class.

        She'll read the note later, when the coast is clear, after avoiding potential chances for the other security guard to check her bag.