2023-10-01: A Friendly Lunch Meeting
- Log: A Friendly Lunch Meeting
- Cast: Cascade Vermilion, Koji Kabuto, LiSA, Sayaka Yumi
- Where: Boss Ramen, Fujinomiya
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-10-1
- Summary: Cascade reaches out to the Photon Power League to indicate that she wants to help with Dr. Hell and please don't treat her as an enemy. Well, she sort of reaches out.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Boss Ramen is under attack!
Or that's what an early, slightly panicked report said. The truth is that no such thing is happening, but it was easy to make the mistake at first.
What actually happened is that the bulky form of Androktasia X2 descended toward the place... lowered... carefully maneuvered until it wasn't above any cars... and very gently touched down in the parking lot, where it crouched, and someone got out.
Androktasia is currently collecting an audience because it is a twenty-two meter robot (when standing; right now it's crouching) almost completely concealed by its cloak, which wraps around it in a way that anyone who has seen a Gamia will be well-familiar with. Approaching it is impossible, because it has a barrier - not a dangerous one, to all appearances it is completely harmless, but anyone who tries to get close to it is repelled, the intensity of which gets stronger the closer you get to it. Nobody who's only human strong can get within about three or four meters of it without it being too hard to push in against it any further.
And as for the person who got out of it...
Cascade Vermilion is inside Boss Ramen. Actually Cascade; she looks familiar to LiSA from GUTS, though wearing a sleeveless green vest-like top and a black skirt rather than any school uniform. Every instinct says she should dislike the place, dislike the people running it - she's here because she *wants* to be found by the Photon Power League and not by Dr. Hell, but she's been taught as long as she can remember that Koji Kabuto is the enemy. She cannot bring herself to actually ask to talk to them. Hence, this very obvious trip.
Unable to decide what to get while she waited to be found, she has three distinct bowls sitting in front of her: one tonkotsu black garlic ramen, one spicy shoyu ramen, and one crispy salmon bowl with a sesame sauce. She is switching between them at random and, despite her original judgement, is showing every indication of enjoying all of them, judging by her surprised and delighted expression.
She has, in other words, been a perfectly reasonable guest aside from having parked across too many parking spots, but really, it's not like Androktasia fits on fewer.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
After a certain point, Androktasia is not the only machine occupying Boss Ramen's parking lot - three Ichinanas have taken up station, two with their weapons actively trained on the Mazin-like construction and the third, with a Mazinger-style paintjob, currently shut down, its Pilder touched down on the asphalt as Shiro Kabuto attempts to shift the crowd away from gawking at the intrusion.
... The sight of two more control vehicles in the skies brings the youngest Kabuto a sense of relief, as Koji brings the Hover Pilder in for a careful landing ahead of Sayaka's. (He's relieved that, of the damage dealt to Mazinger Z by the Goldion Hammer, the Pilder was the easiest part to repair.) He pops the canopy, the upper half of the Pilder sliding backwards to expose the copilot seat as well, and swings himself out of the pod, heading over to check in with his younger brother. "What's going on, Shiro?"
"Apparently the pilot just... landed it here and walked inside?" Shiro seems a little bewildered. "We haven't breached the building yet, we don't know if this is a hostage situation, or..." he shrugs. Koji thins his lips, thinking. "... She helped us with Asciel." He glances to Sayaka, to see if she agrees with his thinking. "I'm inclined to take a chance here - if you take point, at least." She is, after all, slightly more familiar with the Gamia pilot of Androktasia than he is.
With that said, he keeps his Photon Pistol holstered rather than drawing it, before sliding open the door to Boss Ramen. Taking in the scene, he immediately relaxes and steps in. "Boss. Three house specials, please."
"Koji!" The big man perks up immediately. "Nuke, Mucha, three House Specials, on the double!" He makes some frantic hand signals to Koji - completely incomprehensible, of course, causing the thinner man to sigh. "Don't worry, Boss, we'll handle it. She's just been eating so far, right?" ... Pretty different to the last Gamias they encountered, of course.
The seat he chooses at the counter is tactical - close to Gamia NX-2, but not so close as to crowd her and force her into the defensive. Once he's settled in, and once the bowl of ramen is in front of him, he nods to Sayaka to take the lead talking to their 'guest'.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
Lisa is brought to Boss Ramen whether she likes it or not, which is OK, she likes it.
She glances at the Androktasia, and something niggles at her uncertainly, although the sight of Shiro's Ichinana, and Shiro himself, have the young woman brightening up as she gives him a wave.
"I'll make sure that they remember to get you a bowl later." She promises him. It would be rude not too.
In the building, Boss, Nuke and Mucha getting their waves as well. She's particularly fond of the three, shenanigans aside (and including the shenanigans, likely). It's not just because the food is good, darn it.
Her gaze goes around the room, and her eyes settle on Cascade, and her thoughts flicker. "... Oh..." She mutters.
"... Hi." Lisa says quietly, standing at the opposite side of her table, standing back a little bit. She briefly peeks at Sayaka a bit, "... Can I... join you, or would you like to join us?"
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Sayaka's Aphrodite Pilder, a standout among the Ichinana and even Mazinger Z's control cockpit, flies in flank with the rest. It's noteworthy enough that a person of interest is avoiding their sights, but to escape to Boss Ramen... it's definitely worth looking into.
Koji pointing out that she helped them against Asciel, Sayaka nods. "Yeah. If Baron Ashura has a motive turning rank, I don't see it. I'm willing to take a chance if only because... I don't think history should repeat itself like that." And if it's a ruse, well... they know how to handle it.
"Hey, Boss." She greets their old friend all too casually. "Extra chicken gyoza on the side for me, if you'd please." She requests, before taking a seat to the side of Koji... but a little closer to Cascade, or Gamia NX-2. She whispers to LiSA, "That's the girl from GUTS, isn't she? The one with the strange little sister... it all makes sense now." Even if she can now make the connection between her and Gamia NX-2, Cascade seemed an earnest, if shy student. Whether that was a fake persona or something else... she'll take point and see if she can reason with her.
"Hello there. Enjoying the ramen?" Sayaka asks, and it's rhetorical, because it's clear enough from her wonder-filled expression. "There must be hundreds of different ramen places in this city alone... but it's hard to beat the Boss himself." She winks to the man behind the counter, before turning her attention back to the red-haired young android, when LiSA makes her offer. "Yes. You're welcome to join us -- call it a victory celebration."
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Cascade is very aware that she caused a stir outside. As long as nobody shoots at Androktasia, she doesn't really care (and that she is causing Fujinomiya to spend a lot toward defense, well, she doesn't worry about that either).
The door opens. Cascade looks up. Koji, Sayaka... and LiSA. She didn't expect all three. Her expression shifts slightly; tension. But she doesn't leave, she doesn't run, she doesn't even cause a fuss. There's just the edge as if she expects something to go catastrophically wrong.
Also, there are even odds that she heard Sayaka whisper to LiSA. She *is* an android, after all. Even if it doesn't show. She looks perfectly normal at the moment. Her hair isn't doing anything uncanny, either.
"Yes," she says, before: "You can join me." She raises her voice enough that Koji can tell he's being addressed, too; "All of you, if you want." Cascade doesn't feel cornered, because she's seated herself pretty close to the exit - and she's reasonably sure she could break through a wall or window if she really wanted to, anyway. They don't line ramen shops with Super Alloy Z, even in Fujinomiya.
She takes another bite of the salmon, and despite herself her expression softens a little bit before she looks at Lisa again. "I should have guessed you would come, too. I only expected Koji Kabuto." She has a particular way of stating that name. It must be trained. A glance toward Sayaka. "And maybe you too."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Koji nods as Cascade invites them to join her, but he's quiet for a moment, watching her take a bite of the salmon and relax, just slightly. "... No fighting in Boss Ramen," he promises, with a nod to the proprietor, who returns the gesture sternly. "Gives us a bad name!" Boss explains, a dish-towel in one hand and washed ramen bowl in the other.
There's another pause as Koji aligns his words. "... How should - how do you prefer to be called?" She's known to them as Gamia NX-2, but it changes the context of the conversation to give her the choice in this matter. With that question out of the way: "Thank you for helping us with the Macross 13. ... What do you plan on doing next?" He doesn't respond to Cascade's comment on her assumptions about who'd confront her - Sayaka and LiSA can state their own reasons.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
"I like the ramen. But also, they're kind of my adopted parents, and our city is currently being parked on by that Macross, so ... I'm here because it's where they are. We're stronger together." A long look at Cascade from Lisa here, carefully. "That's why you're here, too, isn't it? To help. Otherwise..."
"The ramen here is very, very, very good. But there are plenty of other places you could have gone."
Lisa is reasonable even as she stares unceasingly until she has her ramen in front of her, opting to sit the closest to Cascade, if Koji and/or Sayaka don't shoo her out of the way. "I have called you Cascade in the past... that is the name I know someone I would like to be a friend. Is that feeling something I can still attach to you?"
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"Excellent. Ramen is better with company as I'm sure the Boss would say." Sayaka nods, pushing her bowl closer once it arrives. Extra gyoza just like she wanted! "Itadakimasu," she announces politely, before digging her chopsticks in.
Koji asks an important question, and Sayaka waits for it to be answered. When he gives his thanks, though... "Whatever your reasons were, your actions helped save the city. You have my thanks, too."
She wordlessly moves over just a slight, when LiSA opts to sit directly next to Cascade. "She has the right of it. It's not like we're literally joined at the hip, but... we can cover our strengths." Looking over her shoulder she adds, "I mean, it's not like I could trust Koji of all people to handle this by himself! He needs a touch of my sensitivity, and maybe LiSA"s earnest openness, too." Despite her words, he isn't doing such a bad job, though.
What will she do next? "I'm sure you've heard talks of 'Infinity', especially during that battle. And its nature... it means that question is going to be more important than anything. Whatever your convictions are, now is the time to hold them close. That must be another reason you stopped by, is it not?"
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
"Itadakimasu," Cascade echoes, even though she started to eat before anyone got here.
Cascade certainly isn't going to be the one to start violence. She's happy with just the ramen, honestly. The rest of this is stressful but not aggressive.
Koji asks what she's called. Cascade isn't sure anyone has *asked*, before; generally people have used the one they've known her by for longer, and while that's usually been right, it's just not been an explicit thing she's had to say.
"My name is Cascade Vermilion," she says, incidentally agreeing with Lisa. "I think you already know what I was made as. Gamia NX-2." She's announced herself that way before, in Androktasia, so she expects it's how they're thinking of her as - except maybe Lisa, since she met her often enough at GUTS.
As for friends... Cascade has so few these days, but she isn't sure if Lisa is - can be - one of them. She has feelings about Lisa - not positive ones, and ones that she's struggled to put a name to, but she knows what they are now.
Jealousy.
So she answers the other questions instead. "I could have gone elsewhere. But - yes, I know of Infinity. I was here when Asciel was scouting." She helped, back then. "But you know more than I do, apparently. I know Dr. Hell is interested in you," that with a piercing look at Lisa. "And Infinity. And - "
This is hard. It's the hardest thing she's had to say, and that includes talking to Rin or Zero or Emilia or Kallen. Cascade scowls at her food instead, not because she's mad at it but because it means she doesn't have to meet anyone else's eyes for a minute.
"Dr. Hell has a plan," she says, voice quiet. "I do not know what it is, exactly, because he did not tell me. But I know he has one, and he wants things to be just so. I don't know what I want to do next. But I want to choose what that is, and there's no place for me to do that with him. One of my sisters is already destroyed." Cascade killed her. She doesn't say that part.
Cascade looks up again - her voice has emotion, real emotion, in it. She can't keep it out. "I want to choose! And as long as he is doing something with Infinity, I don't get to. So yes. I want to... help. Or at least I want to DO something!" For an instant, she sounds younger than she looks, until she recovers a bit.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Koji notes Cascade's... reluctance? Refusal? To answer Lisa, and tilts his head thoughtfully. Sayaka points out that she could hardly trust him to handle this situation alone and he chuckles a little. "Exactly." It's very clear that the way he's being careful with his words is a deliberate effort - being kinder, in how he approaches others.
"What Infinity is capable of... Hell apparently knows already." Why else would he have taken it? "We're still... uncovering the true scope of its abilities - to... 'rewrite reality' according to its user's whim." He looks over to LiSA, double-checking if that's correct.
Cascade hesitates again, and Koji makes a little 'hmm' under his breath. "Part of you still feels like you're betraying him - or, at least, betraying Ashura." It's not an accusatory tone.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
Lisa is politely ignored. This isn't a yes, but it's also not a no. A win for technicalities!
At hearing that Hell is interested i nher and Infinity, Lisa sighs, and takes a deep sip of her broth out of her bowl before she exhales. "It is because I am the control key for Infinity." She says, simply ... at least if not stopped. If she IS stopped, she'll adjust her wording to be amended to, "Because I know how Infinity works, is all. I'd be useful to have. It's the other reason I stick with those two." No need for her to get kidnapped, yeah ... and also letting them determine how much she can blab.
She looks concerned when Cascade blurts out how she's really feeling, and she can't help but frown, and smile - frownsmile? "Oh... but... aren't you... already chosing? You chose to came here... to help us..." She attempts to point out, very carefully.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"Ms. Vermillion, then. It's a pleasure." Sayaka respects Cascade's wishes, on that. Although she doesn't quite feel comfortable making friends with Lisa... it's understandable.
"Infinity's power is dangerous in that man's hands," Sayaka agrees, both at Cascade and Koji's respective points.
Hearing express that raw emotion, Sayaka looks at Cascade more softly, despite her previous official and formal tone. "I understand. So as long as you're fighting for the right to choose your own destiny... we would be glad to have you. It doesn't matter who or what you came from, it's going to take heart like that." Far be it from her to deny that to Cascade.
Koji and Lisa have their own things to say - Koji about how it feels to betray Baron Ashura, Lisa about how she's already making your own decisions. "Family is a complicated thing." Sayaka says. "While in many cases it can be provided to you like that, without much of your own input... it can be created by your own hands, too. Whatever path you choose... the most important thing is never betraying your own convictions, right?"
"But the fact is that we are Baron Ashura's sworn enemies. And joining with us... is going to necessarily put you at risk. And you would probably have to build a fresh new life from scratch. Is it a risk you're willing to take, Ms. Vermillion?"
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Technicalities and polite fictions save the day!
"The control key..." Cascade clearly didn't know *why* LiSA was interesting. That explains it to her satisfaction. But what Dr. Hell specifically wants to rewrite, she doesn't know. She's never been that close to him. She can't tell the League any more information than they already have.
"You misunderstand," she says, instead. "I don't want to ... I don't want you to 'have' me. I don't want to join. I don't know where I want to go, really. I just want to be able to live. And if that means helping, I can. I've gone too far to go back, anyway." Does it feel like a betrayal of Baron Ashura? Absolutely. But that, too, is hard to say, or talk about, or even think about. It's still raw; it still hurts. "If he can 'rewrite the world' - " Cascade, certainly, would be 'rewritten'. But what else would be?
"Yes, I made a decision," Cascade says, finally answering Lisa directly. "I made it, and one of my sisters was destroyed because she opposed it. And if I went back after making it I don't know what would happen. I might be killed, because I destroyed NX-3. I might be - 'repaired' by Dr. Hell."
With some bitterness, she continues. "How would you understand? I know you're an artificial being, the same as me. But you're here. You don't have to compete with your sisters, every day. You can go to school, and enjoy it. Koji Kabuto and Sayaka Yumi support you. The only life I have ever had was a role I was playing! It was a lie, but a lie I wanted to be real, until it had to end! Amalgam told me to kill the only people I could call a friend - except those friends had only known the mask, I had lied to them too, but I still didn't want to do it! I look at you, and you have what I wanted! And I could never, ever show it! You have never had to do anything like that! Don't talk down to me - I don't need that sympathy!"
Even though that's a grossly unfair reading of how Lisa has treated and spoken to her.
Cascade takes a deep breath in afterwards, then releases it, her lip puffing out. Her hair ruffles, but in a completely mundane way; her bangs blown by her breath, not the shining precursor to using it to kill someone. She reaches for one of the ramen bowls afterwards, covering up her embarrassment at showing all that emotion by finishing what's left in that particular bowl.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Cascade - well, she vents. Koji hides his own expression behind his bowl, sipping a little broth from the bowl. Then, thinking, he sets the bowl down, tapping his chopsticks on the side to punctuate how he's structuring his approach here.
"... I can't speculate as to Baron Ashura's reasons for building new Gamia units. The original three - your predecessors, I suppose - were constructed for the purpose of eliminating me outside of Mazinger Z's protection." Invading his own school, no less.
"You're angry at Lisa for having what you don't... but she has it because, as you yourself say - Sayaka and I chose to support her. To treat her as a person, not as just 'a control key'. When a person comes into your care - a developing mind, with its own will and wants, then... I believe that that brings with it a responsibility to encourage that will, rather than to try to shackle it to your own."
"... I'm sorry that Ashura and your siblings have treated you so unfairly. You deserve your own life." A Super AI Gamia, functionally no different from a person... Did Ashura understand what they were building?
Did they care?
"If you want our help in securing that life for yourself... then Sayaka and I are willing to support you, too."
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
"We accept your choices for what they are, today." Lisa thinks out loud. "That's how it always is. We may not, any of us, ever make the best decisions, but if we're in the right reasoning for it... then we'll support you, as you suppo..."
Cascade starts talking.
"... Ah..." Lisa sounds surprised. She is, actually, surprised.
That ferocity of emotion, especially when she's sitting right next to her... Lisa blinks a couple of times, eyes wet in the corners like she's been scolded, even if that's really not what has happened. She looks down and takes another sip of the broth, contemplating a piece of noodle before she's putting down her chopsticks.
"I don't understand... you're right. I'm not trying to talk down to you, or have... sympathy or pity! I'm just trying to understand. If I was a Gamia - which I am -not-, I'm an original even if I have my core coming from somewhere similar..."
"I'm lucky, right now. I know it." Odd phrasing...
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Cascade points out that she's misunderstood, as Sayaka taps her chopsticks against her ramen. "I see... well, I wasn't expecting you to formally join us. But I would like to hope we have an agreement... even if you find where you want to 'go' is elsewhere."
"Yes. The original Gamia sisters never piloted mechs of their own. They were assassins through and through. So that 'Androktasia' you pilot... I was certainly intrigued to see it. But I promise my team will absolutely not touch it without your permission. ...It makes me wonder what Ashura had in mind, though." She adds, more thoughtfully. "From now on, your purpose is your own."
Cascade's well of emotions begin to run deeper, though, as she reveals those insecurities and jealousies she had against Lisa. Sayaka places a hand on the young Repli-Compoid's shoulder as she vents.
"...That's right. That's one thing - that Koji definitely articulated better. In Dr. Hell's war, I did many things I've regretted, and I don't want to support you just because I want to make them right somehow. But because it's a right you deserve as much as anyone."
"Lisa is still a young woman, adjusting to the world in her own way. Even if what she said sounded foolish, though... I think she really does want to understand."
Finishing her ramen, and the gyoza with it, she turns back to Cascade. "Thank you for sharing the meal. We'll keep in touch, okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Cascade feels...
Guilty, honestly, for going after Lisa like that. She didn't deserve it... but sometimes it's hard to hold back when emotions boil over. And now that she doesn't have a 'mask' to hide behind... well.
But she can't quite bring herself to apologize out loud. She does give Lisa a slightly apologetic nod, letting her hair frame her face. And she lets it pass without going after the other girl again. It's the least she can do. She might have to talk to her later... but not now, and not in front of Koji and Sayaka.
"My sister is happy to be like that," she says, instead, agreeing with Koji and Sayaka. "Gamia NX-1... she admires them. She thinks that obedience to some, and dominance with others, is enough. I..." I'm not, she thinks. I can't live like that. It doesn't feel like me. Cascade is competitive enough - she can't hide that. But she doesn't sort the world into her inferiors and superiors like that.
The difference between them is more stark than that - and revealed by Cascade calling her 'Gamia NX-1'. She doesn't have another name and, as far as Cascade has ever been able to tell, doesn't want one. Nor did NX-3, but for different reasons. Cascade was the one who didn't fit, in more ways than one.
Was that on purpose, too? Was Ashura trying to make something new? Or was it accidental?
"I need to find my purpose before it can be my own," she says. "But I can't let Dr. Hell take it away from me before I have it. So in this, I will work with you."
Cascade abruptly rises and walks toward the door. She has left a collection of gilla coins (when did she put them there?), enough to pay for the bill and then some. All her bowls are empty. And there's one other thing, a slip of paper that she drops in front of Lisa as she passes without slowing.
It has contact information: a VERTEX and an email that look like strings of random characters, and a comms code that is probably for Androktasia. This is her way of apologizing - by giving it to Lisa, to share with the others.
Cascade does not look back as she sweeps toward the door, her nearly floor-length hair billowing behind her like the cloak she's not wearing.