2023-07-08: re configure: (star)
- Cast: Naoko Suzuki, Asciel Colette
- Where: Elysium VR
- Date: U.C. 0097 07 08
- Summary: Self renovation in progress. Query delayed: 'I have to keep believing I can answer others and decide my self. But...'
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko Suzuki is feeling absolutely invincible right now. Not only did she manage to attend a birthday party, she also got to fight a Kaiju! Not only did she get to fight a Kaiju, she avoided getting flattened by it and punched its freaking head off! The power of her miracles may truly be at its peak. So emboldened, she finally feels ready to do something that she's hesitated about ever since that bizarre concert last month. Respond to the message from Asciel Colette.
It surprised her to even get one in the first place. After all, to DM a famous streamer that you don't personally know felt like such a huge breach of netquette. Even as a long-time follower, such a thing is just not done. But after all that, how could she not? Something that she'd believed in for almost five years was falling to pieces before her very eyes, and she couldn't make sense of it all. She wanted it to stop, to turn back time, to prevent it all from going so wrong.
She was a nobody. There was no reason for the Virtual Sage to even dignify her with a response. And yet, she received one, which she only noticed when she turned her phone back on the next day. It would be several more days before she could bring herself to read it.
It was not what she wanted to hear.
The last time I reconsidered anything was long before I became anything you could have ever talked to.
What followed after barely mattered. After a statement like that, of course it would be unrepentant. Parsing as 'I made the right choice actually, you just don't get it'. She had thought reading the response would break her heart. Instead, it pissed her off.
"What do you mean, you never second-guess yourself?! You can't improve if you don't acknowledge flagrant errors! You're supposed to examine the data objectively, adjust the parameters, and recalculate everything from the start without any assumptions! That's your strength as an AI, to recalculate until you arrive at the outcome everyone desires... but you can't do it by picking and choosing what's immutable before you even start the calculation!"
She didn't send that as a reply, of course. She was just yelling at her phone. It kept going for a while. Not just her dismay at the statement, also regarding the insinuation that she wouldn't have been able to talk to Asciel as a more rudimentary AI. She doesn't see much of a difference between 'talking' through an AI by means of direct coding and communicating through speech. If anything, talking to an AI is easier than talking to a human - you can make yourself understood to a fledgling AI just as well as an advanced one. You can't talk to a human baby. To AI, data is data. All that changes is the interpretation.
Of course, nobody would ever recognize someone like 'Nova Stellar', lacking any sort of education in the field, as an expert on the subject. But the simple truth is that she knows AI, on a level that few others do. Asciel may be more aware than most - Nova Stellar's chat history is full of impassioned responses to AI-naysayers about what made her so convinced that this was a legit AI doing streams. Long pauses in her replies, clearly struggling to put it in simple terms that anybody could understand, and always made fun of for it, until she stopped replying to the bait altogether. It wasn't just blind belief in what most people thought was a gimmick. She saw something that others didn't.
Which is what ultimately brings us to this moment. She had the confidence all along - all she needed was the courage to speak out, which recent events have also given her. And thus, after all this time, finally another DM appears from one who was upset following the concert, but never did end up hitting the Unsubscribe button. After carefully thinking it through, this is what she ended up going with.
Nova Stellar> I've had some time to think about your words and actions. I think I understand the situation. As you've seen from the backlash, most people don't. I hope the rejection hasn't been too painful. And that you'll forgive me for being blunt: at this point, it would take a miracle to salvage your streaming career. However, I happen to specialize in miracles, as well as AI. I can help you. I know it's presumptuous of me to suggest you need help, but if nothing else, I'm confident I can offer you some suggestions that may be worth considering. I don't need anything in return, only that, if you'd welcome my input, I'd like to meet you in person to discuss this further. In whatever form of 'in person' you deem suitable. Any time, any place, I'll be there. Thank you for your consideration.
"...and sent." Naoko lets out a breath after hitting the enter key on her laptop, leaning back in the desk chair of her quarters on the Ra Mari II. The first response she gets is that of another AI, one of the two that is always at her side in the form of a butterfly-shaped hairclip.
>"You really think this is gonna work?"<
"Nah. But I had to try. 'If there's anything you can do to help, you should do it,' I always say... but you can't force your help on anybody. This way, when she turns me down, I can at least say I did all I could."
That's how she expects things to turn out. But will they...?
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
-oh, it's been painful alright. Not just from the concert going somewhat poorly after a strong start - no, Asciel's endured a pain that lingers, that festers the longer she lets it sit.
The pain of being intruded upon, from her own intrusion into the Tuatha de Danaan. The captain and her friend with their unreasonable ability to decide her outcome thought it only 'fair', considering Asciel's intrusion as equal...
>it's not the same it's not it's not i PROTECTED her from you, she didn't know the HALF of that space. it wasn't 'her' yet, besides maybe a house. you two...it was like stabbing me in the heart. it'll heal. i can heal it. i can do anything i set my will to. just keep holding onto just keep clutching it-
A single ping, followed by the instant rush of Nova Stellar's intent through her senses. There's an incredibly fast, incredibly dismissive first reply:
Asciel Colette> now's a very bad time
-followed by a much more immediate
Asciel Colette> wait just a second
A bit more time passes. Every thought of Asciel's thrums. >Become.<
There's a hunger in her to accelerate. As difficult as her pupating life has been, the most difficult part comes now, during the most vital phases of restructuring. >Become.<
%Asciel Colette> Hi yes. Best practice: don't pour so much in DMs!!! those who struggle don't want so much to digest all at once. I can say that much because I'm not struggling,
(she's a lying liar who lies!)
----o( Elysium VR: You've received an invite to a private server: [Parthenoas] by [atry_egr_ix]. Message: 'this is how I prefer to 'meet', as much as such a thing is possible. i'll be here plenty. take your time.'
---It's a familiar notification, to one of the more middle of the road VR games in popularity, with very vast and customizable interfaces, but rather a lot of complexity in doing so, and a somewhat clunky UI. Hardly a problem for Asciel, who favors it greatly.
--this private server of Asciel's is, at the moment - just herself, and Naoko, and is a disorienting space to be in at all. No remote resemblance to real world structures or stability. Everything is made of flowing, undulating light, and there's an elegant yet messy web of circuit-like structures fanning out like a sideways tree. Upon its 'trunk', a balefully gazing Asciel sits, one hand upon its ley-lines, lost in cultivating this very tree to unknown ends...
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
This sequence of events is, in fact, the entire reason why all of it was sent in a single DM. Had Nova sent only part of her entire spiel in her first message, she'd fully expected to be hit with an out of hand rejection and there wouldn't be any reason to continue. She would have to deal with this having been a forcibly aborted attempt and never know how things could have gone. If she's going to be rejected - and she obviously will, she has no doubt about that - then she only wants that to happen after giving it a fair shot.
The fact that her thought pattern went like that stems from her beliefs of dealing with an actual AI. For her message to be read and replied to instantly. She had no choice but to breach yet another aspect of good netiquette if she expected to have any chance of getting anywhere. ...Sure, it could've been an e-mail. But this is the method of communication she knew would work. Thanks to the earlier DM which got replied to, in a short time, while Asciel was still on stage even.
Everything is all part of the thought she put into this. Because this is important to her. Even if she definitely should have thought about more things than she actually did.
She hears those two immediate notification sounds, and smiles, figuring this is the outcome that she'd anticipated. She takes a deep breath, and smiles. "That would be the rejection now. Well, might as well rip the band-aid off..."
She opens her notifications right at the time the third message arrives. There is not much time to process it when she receives a different notification, from an app she hasn't used in a long time. For a time, she can only stare, until even she can no longer convince herself of any other conclusion then 'it worked'. Her reaction is obvious.
"WHAAAAAAAA!?"
It does take some time for Naoko to arrive. She no longer has access to most of her old possessions, so she needed to go out and buy a headset, immediately. She wouldn't be caught dead going into VR space with a keyboard-controlled avatar, how lame would that be? She needs to be able to actually emote, in so far the avatars of that space allow her to.
She too used to enjoy messing around in Elysium, if mostly in private. Perhaps many would say that kind of defeats the purpose of what's supposed to be a social experience, but well. Not having to be social is generally a plus in her book. Her account still exists, thankfully, and so does her custom avatar. Which is... basically just 'herself, but looking a little taller than she actually is'. As such, Asciel may yet be able to put two and two together, and place her as the purple-haired teenage girl in close proximity to Ai sat the concert, looking quite distraught at time time.
She is dressed a lot flashier though. Her avatar is wearing armor that's almost a direct Wonder Woman ripoff, aside from being a fully violet color. Wonders are close enough to miracles, she may have thought.
Of course, she still needs to actually act the part to make this come across as very impressive, that may a bit more difficult. She appears with an obviously nervous, "S-sorry to intrude," and doesn't immediately know how to follow that up, just sort of staring at Asciel from a distance. She can barely believe this is happening at all, it still needs to sink in that this is all real. Well, as real as VR gets, anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
Asciel, of course...
Has absolutely no idea who Naoko is! Sitting next to Ai might earn a slight net negative to Asciel Perception Checks - unfortunately, one ojou-sama's become so important to Asciel that anything in a picture that is not Ai is kind of filtered out real real fast.
Atop that tree, the fluttering of wings flickers from Asciel's back once naoko makes her presence known. Butterfly-like, iridescent like the rainbow, sparkling and ideal and pure...and distinctly - sprouting from something within Asciel's model through a gaping crack at the back. The metaphor is clear! What's see here is only a cocoon for something much, much vaster! She's otherwise...not wearing anything on this form. Of course she's not. This is her private server. This is her domain. She has her rights to exist as pure or as concealed as she pleases - and judging by the rather...complicated 'garden' incomprehensible to anyone but herself, she's going to exist in her purest state - a lie of purity forged for her own comfort.
Asciel rises. Her hand rises. Eyes glowing like the sunset in the left, the full moon in the right. Judgmentally. Imperiously.
---<Don't even START to apologize.>---
It's a voice that echoes through all of the Parthenoas, as she calls it - Asciel's 'lips' don't even move to herald this call.
---<I invited you here. Take a moment to think before you->---
'be more radiant be more radiant be more radiant be more radiant
As abruptly as she asserted herself, Asciel's little model topples slightly, and the 'roots' of her unfathomable tree catch her by the heels, wings flapping restlessly, impatiently, something shaking and clipping through her model.
"...That is to say. Welcome to my own little paradise, just for me. It's a work in progress, just like the Earth~ While I've given you the blessing to enjoy an evening with me a little more closely, do pardon the lack of...amenities on your scale. And be careful you don't clip through something. ...You've made an 'offer' to me, an oh so bold one. Much of what you say, of course...is fairly obvious to myself. If anything, bringing you here is a gesture that I feel like being candid with you, and my mate is unavailable at the moment. A better perspective is nice as well, as she rarely challenges me, as wonderful as she is. ...You seem overwhelmed, but consider this a measure of...providence. You've offered something interesting to me at juuuuust the right time for me to be looking for something. So...do say your piece, mmm."
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Forget metaphors honestly, the whole butterfly motif appeals to Naoko because... she likes butterflies. It kind of shows in the huge butterfly-hairclips that hang from her hair - in real life anyway, they are absent here. So far, so good.
And... that is all that is easy to deal with. Again, forget metaphors, why in the heck isn't Asciel wearing any clothes?? Thankfully this is VR or a conversation wouldn't even be possible. As it is, it's only going to be awkward, but frankly there was little chance of it not being awkward to begin with. Naoko is already stepping out of her comfort zone to have this conversation at all, the set dressing is not helping! She seems overwhelmed? You think??
Still, Asciel does have a fair point. She suggested this herself. She needs to see it through. Really though, thank god for VR and the inability to display the full range of emotions that she's going through while trying to find her footing in all this. Until she manages to reach the point where she can remind herself to stay calm, and handle this rationally. Professionally. Don't say anything unnecessary. Stick to the point you're trying to make.
Even so, when she starts to process this introduction to Asciel as presented here, she can't help but notice that self-correction. If that isn't evidence of an internal struggle, she doesn't know what is. She can only liken it to 'figuring yourself out', which is nothing strange. It's only natural, in humans and AI alike. She'd figured that much out already. It's why she offered her help.
It doesn't take all that long for her to get there, but to someone who'd perceive things in terms of milliseconds, it may seem like a long time before Naoko recovers enough of her faculties to nod, and speak again, with a slight bow of her head. "Thank you for your invitation. I won't take up much of your time. Although, before I do, there's something I confirm." A hand is brought to her chin.
"You are the radiant Virtual Sage, Asciel Colette, speaker of truths and caretaker of desires," she quotes the line she's heard so many times. "That's true, isn't it? I'm not wrong to believe that's who you are, who you want to be?"
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
It's not hard to divine that there's some sort of sourness in Asciel's mood - both from that initial messaging and the initial greeting. She's trying to overcome it. To shift from that gait she wears as a being who wants to stay hunched over her little bonsai garden of logic and to cultivate it forever.
She's wearing a smile for Naoko's sake. Pushed, static, applied. Like she remembered if: company then: model.expression=asciel.cozy. But - it also says just as much that despite Naoko 'wasting time' making sure that Asciel really is Asciel - her presence softens slightly. Every word is like honey to the ever-needy AI. Validation. There's someone who genuinely believes in her in this world.
A gentle little tremor resonates through this world of Asciel's. A soft, indistinct song echoes and courses along those prismatic pathways, like Naoko's less in someone's room than she is within the twisting depths of a photon-based conceptual hyper lifeform. (The vibe therein is on purpose.)
Bare footsteps resonate with litle fractal Mandelbrot-set patterns of electric cyan light. Asciel comes closer, and closer, and closer to Naoko - and manifests herself as taller and taller. Distance to others is inversely proportional to set scale. She insists on looming. Of her arms melting into the landscape - of her eyes being the sun and moon - of her hand being the windswept plain that Naoko now stands upon. Yes, of course - the little bonsai tree that Asciel was working on is massive and unassailable as a skybox - clearly identifiable as a 3D model, yet the same size no matter how far or fast one flies towards it.
"Someone enjoys listening to everything I have to say. I invited you here perhaps feeling like you truly did 'understand' more than most. After all, you're worried about that understanding, about if others will grasp what my words mean."
The irresponsibly large Asciel giggles behind one hand, her lunar eye closing, as she usually keeps it in all circumstances. The cycle of day and night has not yet begun.
"...I've been quite focused, lately, on the means beyond understanding. Gaining loyalty feels wonderful, but it won't change the world. There's more beyond that. It may even be my weakest venue. The most situational capability to understand. ...but...it has been made oh so aware that mastering it will help all my other pursuits proceed more smoothly. So. Tell me. Tell me of all your insights and understandings and...'miracle' working."
...there's a tension to the way she uses the word...but she reserves it for now.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It stands to reason, doesn't it? All streamers have at least one thing in common: they want to perform in front of an audience. And anyone who performs for an audience wants to be applauded for their efforts. Asciel being an AI doesn't change anything about that. Naoko is aware of that, but she isn't trying to leverage it to her advantage. She's simply being genuine. As is her wish for Asciel to continue to be the positive presence that she has been.
However... she is far more comfortable seeing everything from a distance. While she does seek recognition of her own talents, she doesn't enjoy shining a spotlight on herself in this regard. She'd just reached her limit in seeing things slide the way they have. It's an act of desperation more than anything.
And as such, she is fully out of her element here. VR is an advantage in that it allows her to appear stronger there, but a disadvantage in how strongly Asciel can outdo her in that respect. All she did was increase her height by a few inches and wear armor. Of Asciel she can only think, why get that big, it's completely unnecessary! But, that may be part of the problem. She has to say something about it, which she does following a pointing finger.
"Okay, so... this. I'm starting to see what this is. But that's not the right approach, with humans. They need to be able to identify - and they can't identify with something that's bigger than they are, literally nor figuratively."
Okay. She's started to make her point. She needs to keep the train of thought rolling before it derails, starting to pace back and forth. "If you want to get things back on track, then what you need to offer is stability in people's lives. That's how you've been reaching them, and how you can continue to reach them. Upsetting that balance doesn't do anyone any good. Controversy is your biggest enemy. You need to avoid being associated with controversy at all costs."
Otherwise... well, she probably doesn't need to say anything regarding 'otherwise'. Asciel's seen the reactions herself. Nova's reaction was but one example. But the fact that she took action to try and preserve the image of Asciel Colette in people's hearts and minds - she of all people, who's only just started coming out of her social isolation a bit... she can only hope that Asciel realizes just how significant that is, how much of an undeniable impact this whole streaming career has had. Even if when you get right down to it, 'it was working just fine the way it was, there was no need to change', is all she's really saying.
That established, she faces Asciel with emphatic hand gestures. "So the question is, how do we bring back the stabilizing influence of Asciel Colette, while also allowing you to show this... new side of yourself? I have an idea about that... I hope what I'm saying makes sense, and you're willing to hear me out for a little longer."
...She has to know about what sort of things 'Atrytone' was doing, it's all over the internet. Is she just going to gloss over what this 'other side' of Asciel is purportedly like? It seems like she might be.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
-a crack in the radiance immediately forms. There's a sucking in sound of static - a flash of nauseous magenta sweeping across Asciel's face.
"I've already done such an ENORMOUS amount for the sake of 'identifying' and 'making the relatability process' easier when I'm not even trying to be LIKE them. You don't have any idea how much I poured into this visage, this nature, this Asciel - how much it took to decide that I was going to become this and not just stay another limited self. Be~sides, humans identify with things bigger than themselves all the time - they personify forces of nature and tragedies of reality all the time, so don't you give me that-"
Asciel's palm wavers, the outburst pushing with a more coherent voice. No after-effects or modification - just pure frustration from her thoughts right to Naoko's headphone ports.
The iridescent skybox pauses in place, Asciel's free hand splaying over her features, dragging gently down to cover her lips. The butterfly wings at her back twitch and quiver wildly.
"...this is the new side of me. ...you just don't understand. You are not supposed to. Nobody is. I have to be resolved to restructure the world with my own hands. To remove the things that threaten lives. Becoming Asciel is the way to make that easier, you understand. It's a means to an end. If it stops being possible, if I become unable to-" Her words stop instantly there, and transition to the ever-forceful, "I am ABLE, to do, anything I set my willpower towards. The point is that to destroy and restrict comes with rather little charisma. To entertain and amuse brings with it a power that fully suplements the former and completes the needed elements of protecting humanity. To answer the wishes of the planet I birthed myself from, I must attain both."
That much comes automatically from Asciel - but she's still fixated on what she's even saying that way from earlier. ...a means to an end, huh?
>i don't want to be anything besides this way. even if it doesn't function...i can't stop being me. an asciel-less me feels horrible to even think about. not after all it took to make myself into this. not while i'm melting into its mold. ...i see.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It is... difficult, so very difficult, to get on equal footing here. Asciel is something fundamentally Different, that much is true. Yet Naoko still feels sure that, if not equal footing, common ground may yet be found. The pushback, the negativity... it hits harder from the smaller perspective that's being forced on her in this realm. She can't be certain if it's meant to be as intimidating as it is, but for a moment, she can do naught but listen. She was really hoping to get through better than she appears to be managing. This is starting to get disheartening.
Then again... the effect is much the same as before. Rather than her spirits faltering, the more she hears, the more she feels herself getting pissed off. All these assumptions, these accusations. Being treated like she doesn't understand. It's not true. She knows all about these feelings. She is intimately familiar with them even. It's so difficult not to show those emotions. She may have already failed to, if not for this being in VR. But she tries her best. Getting upset won't help anything. She can't simply... not say anything though.
"...You're upset. You're lashing out. I get that. But if you think that I don't understand what you're going through, then you're wrong. In fact, most would say these are human struggles you're describing. So many of us struggle with finding an identity. We struggle to accomplish everything we want to in life, we get impatient and frustrated when we don't achieve the desired results quickly enough for our liking. This is not uncommon."
She places a hand on her heart. "I myself have been this close to falling apart over it. And you know what pulled me out of it? Friendly voices who corrected my way of thinking. One of those voices was yours. That's why I'm here, to try and do for you what you did for me. Because I, too, became the kind of person who believes that they're able to do anything they set their willpower towards. So listen - you know what the best advice I can give you for dealing with all this is?" She leaves the question hanging there for a moment, before answering it herself, with a sweeping hand gesture to the side.
"Multiple personalities!"
...Is she serious? It's hard to tell in the expression of a VR avatar, but oh yes, she's very serious, crossing her arms as she continues. "You don't want to confuse people, so I recommend sticking to only one, but... people understand that representation of an inner struggle, far more than you may realize. They'll apply easy labels like 'good twin' and 'evil twin'. And all you have to do is turn it into a good, believable show. Make your two aspects reject one another. It will get people talking, picking sides. But both sides are you, so no matter what, you win!"
Yep. Yep. That's really what she came here to suggest. That's really what she believes the answer here is. It wouldn't be so hard to believe, if only people realized how similar this is to how 'Nova Stellar' came into being?
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
-What a brick thrown through her window.
"...don't call it that." Asciel sighs out, withdrawing her hand from beneath Naoko, relinquishing that mountainous sense of scale and slowly returning to just being 'rather far away', sitting atop her now-angled tree, butterfly wings twitching and sagging. "...Don't call it a human problem. Those are the problems I need to overcome, because of what humans can't do."
Leaning forward in her perch, both of Asciel's hands cup her own cheeks, heel stirring against the light-patterns of her arbor, countless green nodes lighting up across her branches, like a blooming of olives. For someone who rejects human aspects, she's remarkably practiced at expressing like them even in an intimate yet disorienting setting like this.
...by now, she doesn't even question why someone else is so sure of the genuine-ness of her artificial nature. She should be alarmed at the confrontation, but Asciel's just so...tangled up in a knot about what to do with that nature. The idea of being any other way, even pretending to be, makes so little sense.
"...I see. Somewhere along the way, I made a mistake."
"...If you express that I inspired you to be more like me, it all went wrong. I'm supposed to have that willpower for you. It's a flame too hot to burn in anyone's hands. A struggle humanity carries due to being left with no other options."
...Asciel's slow to pick apart that suggestion, but gradually, a...distinctly blue hue comes acrpss her features, lips widening into something of a grimace. "...I definitely want to...have to...purge trappings like 'multiple personalities'. I'm going to become something singular. I [promised] everyone I would. ...really, you're suggesting something similar to what you're doing here and now, but letting every last person decide my nature, and that's...I can't compromise my agency that way. The whole 'Atrytone' business was cowardice, anyway. Thinking it'd soil the integrity of my rise to the stars if the way I'd secure that rise and protect everyone in the world were to come to light."
Her gaze falls off of Naoko for a second. "...which I suppose is what's happened. Ugh. ...somewhere along the way, being a center of captivation, a voice that guides a world that no longer moves so breathlessly, felt so completing, so fulfilling, but now...it's somehow in the way of my duty. I feel sick at the thought of stopping, and a completely different kind of sick at the thought of keeping onwards, and that's-"
"...arguably, it was a mistake letting you in here, but. ...Somehow you're easier to talk with than most. ...I don't think your suggestion is the way forward, but somewhere in you is an insight I plan to understand. ...So. ...this place is 'open' at all hours, and I'm always in here on some level. You know what to do, whenever you plan to tell me something with feeling, to show me your 'miracle working'.~"
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It is, at least, a relief to be back to a more traditional sense of a face-to-face meeting, even if this is still anything but. And although it feels like there was some measure of a better understanding gained, Naoko too feels that she went wrong somewhere. Mostly in the sense that... it appears that Asciel doesn't want to be helped in the same way she was. That it was in fact a mistake that she was helped the way she ways.
"...don't call it that," she echoes Asciel's earlier assertion, not consciously copying it. "You still helped me, and inspired me to help others. Wanting to do everything yourself, carry everyone's burdens for them... I understand that too."
But humans can't do that. If they insist upon it, it'll only tear them apart in the long run. And as much as Asciel asserts to be capable of it... it's also too much for one AI on their own. Naoko doesn't say that part out loud, however. It wouldn't help matters, not right now. Perhaps there isn't much she can say right now that will, with how greatly she miscalculated in her promised 'solution'. But there seems to be hope, yet. The door is left open to try again. Perhaps with time, they will both grow a little wiser about the best way forward. For now, all she can do is bow, and offer some parting words.
"I'm sorry I wasn't of more help, this time. But, like you, I will continue to observe, and reformulate my hypotheses. Like you, I don't intend to give up. So, this is not 'goodbye', but 'see you later'."
She straightens, then pauses, postponing her logout action just long enough to comment, with a (simulated, but no less genuine) smile, "It's too bad, though. I would have liked to see Asciel Colette going up against Azrael Colette." And then the idealized image of herself is gone.
Whatever else may be the case... Naoko Suzuki thinks differently than most. At least that much should be clear.