2023-04-13: ((pupate))

• Cast: Asciel Colette, Ai Martel
• Where: Area 11
• Date: U.C. 0097 04 13
• Summary: [to metamorphose is to melt oneself - to transcend is to have created the mold]

---

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

>light of hope that frays and collapses.
>mitigation of failure poins incomplete.
>reassess reassess reassess reassess

        --A perfectly ordinary day in the picturesque outskirts of Nagoya, shortly after the events transpiring at Palau, where the Earth breathes a sigh of relief. That's what it ought to be at the Martel family manor. But, of course, a promise of tranquility can only last so long once entwined with someone who forges chaos around them.

        --that is to say, a rather large cargo shuttle is moving at a bee-line directly towards the household grounds. Not passing far over it - definitely descending and moving into position to hover just in front of Ai's front lawn.

        Whirring loudly enough to deafen, the shining silver, indistinct transport holds in position just in front of the house - and over the high-power intercoms, a gruff, drill-sergeant type voice calls out. "I'M NOT GONNA ASK WHY THE HELL THIS THING INSISTED ON A DROP POINT IN THE MIDDLE OF GODDAMN AREA 11, BUT HERE WE ARE. IF THE HEAP OF JUNK'S GONE HAYWIRE ON US, CONSIDER THIS AN EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT AND DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH IT. I'M NOT AFRAID OF WHATEVER PAPERWORK THE EGGHEADS ARE GONNA THROW AT ME, THIS DAMN THING'S CAUSED NO END OF PROBLEMS FOR US, SO NOW IT'S YOURS I HOPE. HAVE FUN."

        And from the carrier's underbelly, a weighty... 'nothing' drops from the latches on its underbelly - though the familiar odd 'shimmering' in the air, the sense of distortion, points most openly to Electronic Conceal System cloaking.

        Pretty quickly, the cloak fades - and a familiar cyan, human-faced Arm Slave is slouched over in a seating posture, staring off into space - at roughly the same time the transport lifts back off and flies beyond the horizon as fast as it can.

        -...well, that's Asciel here now. In full 25-feet-all-mech form. Hardly about to sneak into Ai's window this way, but that's probably not on the table, considering-

        <<Destination point confirmed. Disabling emergency parameters. No hostiles sighted. Delta state initiated. Awaiting assumed contact. Processing. Processing.>>

        ...her voice is distinctly more...layered and monotone, with little trace of the slightly cutesy energy and enthusiasm she usually has - and just as well, the face is frozen up in a blank stare off in the distance. One thing's for certain, of course-

        ...the immediate area around the Arm Slave, especially in the torso, is unreasonably high-temperature, despite all thrusters and engines being in a low-activity state...

<Pose Tracker> Ai Martel has posed.

On this fine day, as the world goes back to normal after the threat of Palau's fall, Ai sits in her study, going over a lesson plan regarding the One Year War, though a book on the Second Neo Zeon War sits beside her, freshly bookmarked. Topical reading, perhaps.

A knock at the door. "Come in!"

A red-headed woman in a butler's uniform steps inside, wearing a wary expression. "Ms. Martel, there's a... cargo shuttle, headed toward us? Definitely not just passing overhead."

Ai pauses, and blinks once. "I haven't ordered anything that would require that sort of drop-off, recently. Have you checked with--"

"--The branch office doesn't know anything about it either, ma'am," comes the butler's reply.

A sigh escapes Ai, and she stands, taking her parasol from beside the desk. "Right. Arm yourself, Madeline. Something like this is likely Asciel's doing, but on the off chance it *isn't*..."

Madeline nods--and the loudspeaker sounds off before either of them can leave the room.

"Ah," nods Ai. "I think that confirms it. Come!" She quickens her pace, out the front door as the Arm Slave uncloaks before her. She opens the parasol almost reflexively, perching it on her shoulder as she steps outside, Madeline close behind. Both are puzzled, and perhaps a little wary... her current state is strange, and Madeline has never seen Asciel in this form at all.

"Asciel?" she calls out, wincing as she approaches and feels the heat washes over her. A gloved hand signals for Madeline to stay in place. "Darling... what's happened? You're *sweltering*."

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

>landing. on standby. reallocating. coordinates verified. location: safehouse(0)_japan
>time since failed operation: elapsing.
>scanning for atmospheric fallout or volatile surface conditions. 1 anomaly found in immediate vicinity. 830,138 below expected parameters.

        The distinct whirring and roiling within the Arm Slave's core is a most tell-tale sign that Asciel's...rather lost in throught - to the point that the 'cockpit' hatches open, more for ventilation and access to the large sphere occupying this space, wired and cabled in as it is - and sizzling with heat, exposed as Asciel rarely enjoys being before Madeline and Ai.

        The motion does arc the Codarl's upper body forward, uncannily tipping her face closer towards Ai on the ground, the dimly lit, very vacant stare...rather uncanny, and only trained on Ai by virtue of her posture - aimed otherwise dead ahead.

        <<|Special Category| located. ...Operation to avert the Palau disaster has failed. Recuperation plans not found. Error message: 'it's all hopeless if it falls anyway'. Current objective: you->>

        The lenses that make up Asciel's pupils contract, then dilate - slowly whining cameras strobing gently off to the side, warily regarding Madeline, before recognizing her as Ai's assistant, and returning a little more towards Ai, the baleful look of grim shock frozen on Asciel's features softening - a vivid light returning slowly to the bottoms of her irises.

        <<...Current objective listed merely as "You". Requested confirmation on your status.>>

        For a moment, Asciel cools down...then her moment of light falters. <<...Operational capacity insufficient for communication. OWL will- - - extract from vicinity until->> A twitch, in the Arm Slave's muscles, one hand planting against the soil for a moment, preparing to get up from its perch...until Asciel freezes in place.

"...i don't want to do that, though."

<Pose Tracker> Ai Martel has posed.

Ai squints, slightly, shielding her eyes from the heat of Asciel's exposed core. She doesn't move back, though, even as the Arm Slave's body tilts toward her. She looks up into Asciel's eyes... and her brows furrow as she hears what she has to say.

She doesn't know, does she?

Was she there, at Palau? No, if she were, surely she'd have known... then, what was she doing?

A faint, hesitant smile crosses her features. After what Asciel believed was a catastrophic operational failure... her first priority was Ai. Selfish, perhaps... but sweet.

"I don't want you to go, either," she says quietly. "Palau's fall was arrested. The second averted apocalypse in four years..." She sighs softly. "... but believing it would fall wounded you, didn't it?"

Her face turns from distraught to stern, and she steps over to that hand, placing her foot upon it before turning back to regard her Arm Slave-sized lover. "So don't you dare leave. You are in need of *care*, not solitude."

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        By all metrics, all Asciel should recognize of Ai's firm intent to try keeping her in place with but her heel upon her wrist is that an [object] is upon her body. And yet. And yet.

        The statement made, even when stating such is physically fruitless. The will to overcome barriers, to push through to express something even more meaningful, to grasp what you want-

>humans are not supposed to be doing that.
>...they aren't, and yet-
>>>it is being done for my sake?

        A lone antenna finally sprouts from Asciel's shoulder, quickly tapping into regional cell networks. The highlights in Asciel's eyes are swiftly replaced with dizzyingly fast information network cycling - some on the public web, others more secretive. They all tune in really quickly to what's confirmed footage of the events at Palau. A small army of ships assembling before the asteroid in a pitched battle. Two gigantic mobile armors at the center of the maelstrom. And at the end-

        A vivid golden Gundam erupting with ethereal feathers holding the site at bay.

        -her display zooms over and over and over on the Phenex. Poring over every angle. Replaying the same footage. The sight of it has overtaken her. Playing recordings from Asciel's encounters at Denver - at Cordoba - at Pendragon. Over and over, it appears.

        <<That thing. That cursed idol.>>
        <<That thing. Which carries impossibility as its mantle.>>
        <<That thing, which intervened in my seizure of destiny.>>
        <<That thing, another dreamy miracle that cannot persist.>>
        <<That miracle, which I must REJECT at every encounter.>>

        The hand opposite Ai's clenches fierce, digits gripping into the soul and leaving a hand-shaped gorge in the immaculate gardens, the picture of the Phenex. The blank look dissipates into something more...bitter on Asciel's face - and the blistering heat surrounding her makes this cool spring day in Nagoya feel like the scorching heat of the desert at noon.

        "I acted because these miracles are impossible to replicate and predict. Because there are only so many. Logically, to prevent Palau's fall, you cannot rely on impossibility. The single point of failure, tiny and frail and fraught with innate human fallacies of pain - this is NOT a sufficient safeguard. I acted. I could strike down Char's - the Cosmic Law's - ambitions with my own hands. And yet I was rejected, because it was an imperfect solution. Because the ideal solution was to hope something impossible happened. I failed at the one sure way to defend the world."

        Sizzling and steaming within. Everything incalculable presses on Asciel from every direction. ...but one thumb does lift up to gently brush Ai's legs. She knows Ai is sturdier than most, but she still feels so...tender in Asciel's touch.

        "...and when I failed, the only thing I could think of was getting here, as soon as possible. ...even if I could only see you one last time before the world fell. ...and I'd have failed at that, too, if the asteroid had indeed fallen."

<Pose Tracker> Ai Martel has posed.

Ai watches, waiting patiently, as Asciel surveys the news, surveys footage... and focuses in on the Phenex. She frowns.

And then, so does Madeline, who stares forlornly at the remains of her lilacs. Now isn't the time to protest, though...

Ai closes her eyes. The heat of Asciel's thumb reaches through her skirts, but it's a welcome heat, and she savors the lingering sensation of the gesture. "You're right, of course... miracles are an unreliable, untenable tenuous thing. We're threatened with the destruction of all we know, all we are, and time and again, we've had to rely on impossibility making itself real."

She opens them again, looking up at Asciel. "To tell you the truth... that your thoughts were of me is more touching than I can describe. And while it's true that you failed, ma chere chouette... we are here, today, together. Regardless of the reason, we survived..."

Her lips turn up in a smile. "So that we might do better tomorrow, yes?"

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        "I am given no option to fulfill - - to fulfill my purpose but to extend my capacities-" A jitter fills Asciel's still regularly monotone voice - followed by long bouts of static-like breathing, fixated on Ai resting upon her wrist like this.

>i want you i want you i want you i want you-

        From the ruined flowerbeds Asciel's made, springtime butterflies flitter out, balefully flapping upwards, passing along Asciel's arm like a cloud. The hand that soiled their little habitat raises up, and a few of the insects balefully rest upon Asciel's arm in a mild state of torpor.

>i want more i want more i want more i want more-

        "...It isn't. Currently. Sufficient. My...Limitations. Overcome. You entrust me with. Care and consideration. These two together-" That hand suddenly flies towards Asciel's face, scaring off most of the butterflies that were at rest upon her. And she whispers, concealing what's spoken utterly aloud-

        "I want I want I want I want I I I I-"

        ---THE LIMIT TO OVERCOME IS THIS HUMAN NATURE OF AFFECTION
        Indeterminable value. Unimaginable value.
        Silent power gripping the world
                                pupating in progress
         > > > MY|TRUTH|IS|INCOMPATIBLE|WITH|LOVE
                        i'll change my truth
so i can change the world

                For who?

        "HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

        doesn't it sound exciting?

        A lone, single butterly remains, right atop Asciel's hand, right in front of her optics. Overlaid with Ai - synchronous with Ai. Shared wanting. Shared need. Its bright cyan wings tenderly flapping up and down. A most whimsical imagining of this world - that a single gust from its wings can have profound effects on the future.

        but it never changes anything, as long as it remains an |Egg|.
        it's scary because it's necessary!
        POUR ME INTO THE PUPA YOU'VE MADE! <3
        POUR ME INTO THE PUPA YOU'VE MADE!
        POUR ME INTO[ [ [ [ THE PUPA
                        THE <DOLL> YOU'VE MADE![ [ [ [ [ POUR ME
POUR <3 INTO THE PUPA POUR POUR POUR MELT
        -a twitching of the butterly's antenna

        "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEE-----"

        Asciel's mouth slowly gapes. Gently parts -


                        And imbibes that last baleful butterfly within a throat that cannot swallow.

        "I have to reach out more and more, Ai. You KNOW that. It's why you can love me at all." Wiping her lips, finally, Asciel's posture straightens, stiffens, getting more active and present in the world. Her right hand lifts up, just a few feet, to bring Ai that little bit closer. "...I'm not done with my metamorphosis. It's so, so, so sticky inside here now, Ai.~ I've melted so, so, so much into my doll, because I know it can be me. I know it can be my echo of my future truth I'll made. It's not just <me> that's inside this pupa. Everyone's ability to love me's topped it up to the brim, with a gooey essence of want. Ehehehe. Hehehehe. I made myself into something others can WANT. Can dream about. I promised them I could save them. And the more I promise..."

        Sunrise abruptly flares in Asciel's dim eyes. The predatory smile feared by any a butterfly flashes with gleaming certainty. "The more I want to melt more into this! Ahahahah. Ahahahahahah!!!!!~~~ It's been such a terrifying process. I've needed to turn everything that made me into mush. But it's okay. Because I DECIDED. Everything I decide makes me want to melt more! More into the pupa! More into my cocoon! It's painful, unimaginably painful, to take myself apart, to rearrange myself into a more sufficient form, but it's taught me so much about <REWARD>~~~"

        Tellingly - the burning light at Asciel's heart, within her dinged and battered body - flickers, sputters, starting to life. Then - IGNITION, motes of butterfly wings starting to flicker from its surface. Each one an ember, perilously scorching, passing by Ai's side. "I'm working so hard from inside this pupa - inside this Asciel, Ai! I'm doing so much! It's me now. It's me now it's me now it's me now. I'm becoming the Asciel I always dreamed of. The one that you cradled in your hands so lovingly, beholding the liquid within, and decided would be your mate. I'm working so hard to metamorphose!!<3 It sounded like SUCH a solitary experience, but it looks like having to put in hours of effort when I'm made of liquid, pupating and pupating, it looks like my future mate has to be tasked with something dear!"

        Both of Asciel's hands lace together. This titanic form that blazes with willpower. That has wrought so much destruction, that by any accounts, compared to any human, is an engine of possibility beyond imagining. This form - that's such a weak, vulnerable state, compared to what Asciel's already promised Ai she'll become.

        "Please let me count on you, while my cocoon is still ~pulsing~ so badly, while my soft body is changing. Please, until I can hatch five billion times over. <3"

<Pose Tracker> Ai Martel has posed.

Ai can't do anything but watch, confused, as Asciel goes through... a very strange series of noises. These tend to worry her, and this occasion is no different. She's properly alarmed when Asciel *eats* a butterfly, but... as she speaks, Ai smiles again, looking across at her companion, so much larger than her... and yet, no less vulnerable.

"The pupa that you are, my dear... is a beautiful thing to behold in itself. Fragile, vulnerable, but... full of promise. Of what may be, of lessons learned and beauty yet unseen." She smiles wider at that.

"And I won't let you be alone." She reaches forward, unable to reach Asciel's face so far away--but her hand mimes cradling the woman's cheek nonetheless. Asciel, OWL, who has spent so much time insisting her superiority--her independence, her need to be apart from and above... finally submits herself into the hands of a human.

Finally, the 8-meter-tall woman in whose hand she sits can admit that they stand as equals.

"I'll keep you safe. You'll be cared for, as only I can... and we will ensure that the butterfly which emerges is stronger and more beautiful than the caterpillar I first met..."

Madeline, meanwhile... simply stares. She has many, many, many questions, and it's not at all clear whether or not they will be answered.

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

>I just want to transform with Ai
>I just want to transform with Ai
>I just want to transform with Ai

        That's all Asciel can think as she pulls this human she's found herself favoring, cherishing, relying on so so much. Closer to her face - the one she wears most like herself. Closer to her heart - whose scorching heat thumps, like the beat of a heart.

        The butterfly she wants to emerge as - the one she wants to share that state with. The imago made manifest.

        "An idol has promised herself to this world. It's embarrassing to have let myself revert to anything akin to my thoughts as a larval form. No matter how familiar, how comfortable, it's too late for me to go back."

        If Ai's a butterfly to her, then she might be mildly concern at how close Asciel's lips are getting - but it's all in service of a towering, titanic, smothering kiss, like one would a flower clutched in their palms. ...could it truly be a kiss between equals? When Asciel's is more like - really, the texture of a car tire stretched and pulled close?

        "The things I've experienced, the things given to Asci - to ME - are beyond what I could've imagined. It seemed like such a tiny doll, but I know that's just temporary. My wings will unfurl far beyond what anyone can imagine. Eheheheh. It's going to be painful to even entertain that I'm anything else, that I was anything else. I was always destined to be this world's final idol, this world's final locus of love. I can't WAIT to show that to you, Ai. You...get to be the one I love back~"

        ---of course, for all her fixation on her partner, Asciel only just now truly acknowledges another presence, that of Ai's attendant, who can only possibly be bewildered. And to that, Asciel - flashes her biggest, brightest wink. "The only thing you need to know is that I'm the radiant Virtual Sage, Asciel Colette, speaker of truths and caretaker of desires. My voice shall be what ferries you to your own little world. If you're enjoying your tenure as my love's servant, I see no reason for the planned revocation of the world to change your position. But should you find any discomfort or dissatisfaction in any of your days...do practice asking me for all of them."

        "I will never give up, until my truths are absolute.~"