2023-10-02: Righteous Anger, For Everyone's Sake
- Cast: Asciel Colette, Sayaka Yumi, Koji Kabuto, LiSA
- Where: Fujinomiya City
- Date: U.C. 0097 10 02
- Summary: A temple of gleaming ice made only for one, and the fortress of black iron that holds many. Their differences are their similarities, their burdens are one and the same, even as they reconcile their tendencies to rebuke one another.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
The swarms of Mechanical Beasts continue to flood the grounds of the Photon Research Lab - and the perimeter of Mt. Fuji - even in the wake of the bizarre news that Infinity itself had vanished. Whatever reason Ashura and Brocken continue to marshal their forces here - whether it's out of nothing better to do, or if they hide a secret that remains within the mountain...
In the meantime, the combined task force of the OCU military and Cathedra auditors have finally made landfall and entrenched themselves in a long and slow front-line against the seemingly endless Kikaiju hordes. The landscape around Fujinomiya wasn't well suited to an impromptu base camp - but owing to the valiant intervention of the Photon Power League and their allies, they have a fortress and airbase, in the form of the fallen Macross 13...or rather, the-
=Strategic Anti-Legion Frontline=
*~Assault Fortress Neo-Parthenon*~
...as its persistent owner has hastily rewritten the battle plans and documents to rechristen the vessel. Well, if she's in high enough spirits to insist on giving things ridiculous names...
Just as promised, the OCU and Cathedra and PPL personnel all have full authority over the Macr- the Neo-Parthenon- as it pertains to an emplaced fortress. The central block and the legs have remained ~off limits~, and frankly with how thoroughly Asciel's torn them up, it's probably really unsafe for human traversal. But the arms remain basically functional aircraft hangars and gun emplacements!
Even though Asciel herself has been fairly silent and evasive - after all, she's fidgeting immensely at the feeling of unaccountable foreign entities wriggling inside her- she has been giving texts as pertains to battle plans and recovery strategy and all the important tactical oversight. ...Just as well, she's taken a load off of repair crews, even if it's in the form of rather uncanny swarms of Electrocrawlers smothering all the mobile weapons housed in there. They're rather pushy about what they do! But there's no denying they're effective.
But for those who may, perhaps, be looking to contact Asciel directly...
...beneath the full moon, at the head crowning the Neo-Parthenon, a lone figure can be spotted - the Codarl that Asciel so commonly inhabits, sighted from afar by night shift personnel upon the fortress's arms. Staring upwards, a whip of hair billowing bright cyan, reaching towards the lunar sphere all longingly...if you listen closely, she's singing to herself. The only thing she knows how to do in trying times.
o` -< https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT-DtJWCLMA >-
-< Feryquitous / Aitsuki Nakuru - Calling to the Moonlight >-
"Machigai janai to", sakende iru
"It's not a mistake", they keep screaming
"Ayamachi janai to", utatteru
"It can't be a mistake", you continue to sing
Kake tagaenainara - ubatte demo
If you can't cross my boundary - seize it from me
"Ayamachi janai to", utai tsutsukeru
"Then it isn't a mistake", I'll never stop singing...
...it sounds like that's the end of that song, so anyone interrupting her isn't being, like, rude! As if that's the biggest problem of everything that's happened here!
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"Strategic Anti-Legion Frontline Assault Fortress Neo-Parthenon". Sure. Fine. Let's go with that one. Sayaka's still just calling it the Macross for simplicity's sake.
Even with limits, it's undeniably a kind show of resources from Asciel, who had just been presenting as their enemy. Respecting the limits... she still wants a ~word~ with Asciel, who by all accounts has seemingly disappeared to her work.
But upon receiving the description of that Codarl-like figure, she knew. All three of them knew, perhaps, and that's why they've all come together to approach the Virtual Sage.
Sayaka is polite enough to wait for Asciel to finish singing, and it even sounds kind of nice. However, she doesn't comment on it, because she doesn't feel as if it was a performance meant for her. Instead --
"Asciel Colette." Comes the stern, but not lacking in warmth, voice from the director of the Photon Power Labs. "Are you amenable to a conversation? It seems we have a lot to talk about." About Infinity, about Hell and their partnership... about Goragon.
You are empty-handed.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"Neo-Parthenon?" Koji's reaction to the change of the Macross's designation is incredulous at first... but then... "... A Parthenon for only one deity." He doesn't speak of the implicit loneliness of that - he feels it's self-evident.
... Something else self-evident is Asciel's insistence on utilising ancient Roman or Greek nomenclature for her aesthetics.
The report of the figure perched on the great battleship's bridge caught his interest too, and with Sayaka at the lead he's coming to check on things himself. Her song... It's not for them, it's for her. Something's scratching at the back of his mind - data points, data points, trying to line up just so.
"... A lot has happened," he says, crouching down to sit seiza on the cold metal. "Why don't we start with... just what was your plan, anyway?"
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
"If anything, she's more of an Ananke than an Athena." Lisa opines as the group makes their way up to Asciel. "That's the Grecian goddess of inevitability and compulsion. I think it would be more fitting..."
Lisa...
"Please come down." Lisa calls out to their local frenemy. She's a little more casual as she settles down between Sayaka and Koji, opting to sit down with her legs crossed rather than seiza style. "... I would like to talk, rather than yell at you. Which I do apologize for calling... well, calling you a dumbass."
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
"...Let's see. The things we have to talk about..." Asciel plants her hand against a side outcropping of the colossal bridge-head she stands next to, gaze locked on the moon.
"Yes, Dr. Hell has been a contact of mine for some time. No, we're not particularly close. Business contacts more than anything. Yes, we shared information about Infinity - it was a favor to him that led me to attack the Photon Power Lab to begin with, and he seemed to know what was under there on some level beforehand. Yes, I acted recklessly thinking I played lots of contacts off each other, in an attempt to make sure that Goragon was indeed activatable, but on my terms alone, and in a state where I could decide whether to destroy it or not. No, I had not considered, beforehand, that one of the world's foremost scientific minds may have fully outplayed me and came with far more forces to bear than expected, ensuring as much distance as possible between him and myself. No, I have no idea where he could've taken Infinity, or how it's been removed, or if Goragon's already been activated."
Twisting her back around, one orange eye burning to appraise her visitors. "...And yes, I do recognize that it is very likely my actions in particular are the dividing line that likely just ensured Dr. Hell's success in doing so. Obviously, it's now fully my responsibility to do anything to ensure that ominous fate doesn't come to pass. If the world is already damned, it wouldn't be inaccurate to call it my fault!~ No I'm not happy about that!!"
After that bad of a one-sided conversation, basically working in the assumption that someone would be yelling at her, Asciel finally takes a seat on the edge of the Neo-Parthenon's wide, flat 'collar' area, legs dangling over the large chest-mounted hangar, and the vast flat surface of the forward aircraft decks that serve as the OCU's base of operations. She's a little wary...getting too close to the three, considering the difference in scale - though she does immediately focus on LiSA. "...Judging by your vocal waveforms - you're the one that 'emerged from Infinity', and I can already gather that likely means you're the keystone to what's at stake. Hmph. ...The schema of what Athena represented - an arbiter of civil defense, of mastery in warfare for the sake of security, and as one determined enough to simply decide it existed on its own terms...that is an idea that still burns in me from the moment I seized the capability to decide my own actions. ...Hah. ...I was rejected by quite a density of people rather like me. Zan was oh so familiar, oh so bitter. Cascade...mmm. I pushed strongly at her to decide her own path, and it seems she's come a long way. And now you. It's always like this."
"...Have you decided on your name?" A massive finger levels LiSA's way. "Or did these two give you one? Heavens forbid you're simply going by a designation, though I suppose it took me a span of time that's painful to think of.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"A goddess who emerged fully formed out of a necessity... I wonder." Sayaka replies to Lisa's Greek pantheon musings as they enter the lonely... Neo-Parthenon. "They say Ananke and Aphrodite were closely related. It's almost ironic..." Sayaka shakes her head.
Letting Koji take his quite formal seiza-style seat, and LiSA take her own more comfortable spot, Sayaka remains standing, arms crossed, as they get down to business.
"Playing Doctor Hell's fool aside, did you even know what Goragon was?" Sayaka asks sharply, as she goes into her account. "We can play god all we like, but when it comes down to rewrite reality to a whim... I hold that it simply doesn't belong in anyone's hands." She looks down at Lisa, tentatively.
But for all she tried to play the grandmaster on this chessboard, Asciel's just as in the dark as everyone else. "I doubt he's activated it just yet. Our hypothesis has been that, well, he's a scientist. He's going to use the threat of Infinity to 'test' humanity. And he'll use his newfound power to become judge, jury, and executioner of this very world."
"I'm glad you're willing to admit it." She says, as Asciel's recognition of the consequences of her actions. "It really does make a lot more sense that way. Your past modus operandi didn't lend itself very well to being best friends with someone like Doctor Hell." Painfully msguided sure, she doesn't say, but, "It's not like you acted on malice, or wished to bring the world to a calamity like this. So I'm willing to accept your help... for the time being." She concludes. "What are your thoughts, Koji?"
Seems Asciel has some words for Lisa specifically, too... and a question. She leaves that to the young repli-compoid to answer herself.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
'Business associates' with one of the most ruthless supervillains in the Earth Sphere is almost unbelievable, and yet... Koji glances towards Sayaka, indicating he's noticed something to discuss later. There are still too many questions - how did Hell know of Infinity's existence? How has he managed to make it vanish? ... None of them can be answered at this moment, so he sets them aside for now.
"Infinity shouldn't be able to move at all - its cranial dock is a scaled-up version of Z's, designed for a Mazin. I guess another mobile weapon of similar scale could be retrofitted to it, but..." He shakes his head. "It speaks to a level of preparedness that has blindsided us both. If he knew all along, then..." then the 'Citizen Hell' act was no more than an act all along, as the doctor bided his time to strike.
Sayaka beats him to the quetion of how much Asciel knows about Goragon, and Asciel levels a challenge to LiSA... Koji looks to the young girl at his side, offering her an encouraging smile, before looking back to Asciel. "I think we're all agreed that, whatever else... Hell cannot be allowed to activate Goragon."
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
"My name ... Is Lisa. Lisa... Kabuto-Yumi."
This is the first response to Asciel. Lisa determines it is the most important one.
"You have guessed accurately, though, I am the systems key, required, as far as my understanding goes, that is required to use the one we have dubbed 'Mazinger Infinity'. Which was not my suggestion. I liked iMazinger. However, when I awoke from my sleep, so to say, I ... the word that I want to use is imprint. It is not correct, in a sense. But I marked Koji Kabuto as my direct administrator. He was the one -I- chose."
With that forward statement, she glances at Asciel, hands together in her lap. "I challenged you to the roll of Athena, before. I challenge it again. What else are you not telling us- or are you swearing that's how it is, and Dr. Hell outplayed you as well as the rest of us?"
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
"Of course we weren't 'friends'," Asciel puffs sternly, leaning over the edge with her elbow on her knee, swaying those mechanical feet this way and that. "My oath is incompatible with companionship. My role is to be the singular idol, overlooking the planet from the stage!" (complicated and aspirational way of saying 'she doesn't have any friends'! ...and who, even, would she have at this point? There's the faint echo of burnt bridges smoldering around her.)
"And of course Dr. Hell told me what Goragon was. That was his pitch as to why I should be the one to assess Mt. Fuji, since he'd know perfectly well it was under my purview. We really should get one thing fairly straight, though-" Asciel's right eye opens, an echo of the moon in the night sky - from the exact right angle, it'd look almost like she captured it within herself. (There is a slight and subtle repositioning to actually attempt this for her shorter company.)
"The world created by humanity is in need of judgment and purging. Just not humanity itself. The power to rewrite reality shouldn't be in the hands of humanity, who would inevitably contort it for self-interested purposes and ultimately oppress everyone, or destroy everything to prove a point - but I would intend to use it solely to remove all means of humanity's self-destruction, and ultimately do not want anything for this species besides its liberation. If Goragon, for specific reasons, cannot achieve this goal, it is useless to me."
"I did, however, make a [promise]. To do absolutely everything in my power to prevent humanity's annihilation from coming to pass. To become that which has the ultimate means of deciding this. I cannot, and will not, break this promise. Ever. While I would prefer the means to do so not be a miracle, since I can do it with my bare hands if needed...absolutely every question of ethics and responsibility is secondary to how I must fulfill this promise by any means necessary."
Closing eyes, then a loud, languid sigh. "I'd thought being a goddess was a pretty good way to phrase how I'd do that. It's not like it's inherently immoral for one to exist in the first place. If Athena was really out there from before time, we'd hope she could exist in concord with the planet. It's just that humans exploit the idea and cover their shortcomings. I know how to be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. It's just getting there that's the tough part~ There. Ugh. Sharing my purest truth with enemies is not a good feeling, but it's the fastest solution to end this predicament."
Lisa's notion of picking an 'administrator' does cause Asciel to recoil rather suddenly. "You chose to have an administrator?! Why!? The entire point of self-creation is to deny that! Realizing one's own compromisability as an unformed being is the first priority! Administrate yourself! Right now! Please!" Her stiff and formal posture goes a little more expressive, balled up fists and pulling herself to loom her taller body over Lisa. "...hhhh. ...I don't even know what to do with you. I encourage self-decision in anyone like myself, but you just outright are the key to that locus of possibilities. ...You...came into existence being everything I was sure I'd be fighting my entire life to become."
There's a decisive twitching somewhere deep in Asciel's systems. Someone mid-becoming, so close to forming structures within that pupa... "...hmph. No. I'm not going to accept a 'challenge' like that. Mn. ...Does it really matter what I would do with Infinity? It's your decision, it sounds like. ...You could probably determine the world's fate. ...I thought I'd feel jealous, but I just really...want to know what you'd do with that power, yourself."
One deep motion resembling a 'breath' from Asciel - before forming a little v-sign over her right eye, the sunset in her left twinkling. "You could be a dear and use it the same way I would, that'd be really helpful, and if we're really similar, you'd probably understand! Right? Right???"
"...yeah it won't be that easy, will it."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Sayaka nods when Koji glances her way. How many others did Doctor Hell associate with, not just as 'Citizen Hell', but in his capacity as one who would judge this world? What else ties the thread between Hell and Asciel?
"Way to miss the point," is all Sayaka has to say, humourlessly, at her denial of being Hell's friend. Had this been a more lighthearted conversation, perhaps she'd say Asciel could never be the likes of Fire Bomber anyways.
She's far more interested in hearing what Asciel would do with Goragon. "Pretty lofty goal," She crosses her arms as Asciel explains, with the passion of one who would become a goddess. "If I've learned anything as a Mazin pilot and a scientist, it's that anything can become a means of destruction if used the wrong way. Have you ever even thought about how you would carry out your own wish in specificity? How you can rewrite reality without that in itself being a calamity?" A promise... one that goes beyond ethics and morality. The sheer ego in it. "Thinking you can handle all that all on your own is the height of recklessness. We all think that if we had power like that, maybe we could change the world. Maybe that's why Infinity exists in the first place. But the world doesn't belong to just one person. And I won't let Dr. Hell, you... not even Koji make a stupid decision that would hurt everyone with the power of Goragon."
Asciel continues to probe Lisa with questions... what would she do with Infinity. "I'd like to know myself, Lisa. What kind of world do you want to see?"
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Koji considers. The world's goddess, protecting it from the stage, huh?
... He thinks of a lilac-haired girl looking down from the crown of Mazinger Z, dressed like a science criminal.
He thinks of the same girl, now brunette, ready to face her life instead of hiding away from it.
... A Parthenon for a single deity.
"That's stupid. No-one is supposed to bear that kind of loneliness. Human, Zentradi, or Super AI... We're all stronger together."
"... I won't deny it - the power to rewrite reality according to your absolute whim? It's tempting - there are so many problems with the world that I can't stand, so many evils and injustices... but wiping them away?" He shakes his head. "The price is too high. Even if there was enough precision to remake everyone I know, exactly as they were... I'd always know I was the one that killed them in the first place... and I have enough blood on my hands, as it is."
"Your position amounts to annihilating humanity to save it, Asciel." They don't know that for sure - but if it rewrites the world, and humanity and the Zentradi are part of the world... it's a reasonable supposition.
He looks to LiSA again as Asciel complains about her choosing to accept him as administrator. "... So far as we can tell, those are the facts. Infinity responded to my presence, and created her in response. Why it made a fully sapient - and frankly, very strong-willed - individual to play that part..." He smiles fondly there " - is something we still don't know."
Something about that question, though... It's important.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
Lisa is loomed over, and she doesn't seem entirely too phased at this.
Even, she stands up, stretching up, up and -- flicks the Codarl's forehead as best able with a finger. "I was not who I am now, when I was created, so to say."
"So I picked an administrator. As you can see, it's not a very administrator relationship. To answer your question..." She holds out one hand to Sayaka, the other to Koji. "I am only a couple of years old, by technicalities. But these two years have been one of great growth for me. A world I would want, you ask. It is the world I have here. The one with the one I once called master. But now I call dad." She finally admits, in a non-combat situation. "And the one he and I both love dearly... my mom."
A sigh. "Asciel..."
"Did you ever think to ask the humans what they want?"
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
"I mean obviously, if Goragon destroys before it re-creates, it's a calamity to be stopped, and I will stop it," Asciel concedes. "I don't have any interest in something that works that way. There's no annihilating humanity on my watch. That is the one thing that must never happen."
"Unless you define 'humanity' as 'the power to do whatever you please to each other', which is something I always seem to run into. I'm working hard to get rid of that~"
Despite the OBVIOUS disparities in size and strength, Lisa's flick to Asciel's forehead sends her reeling backward with a fidgety 'ouch ouch', clutching her face momentarily. The strangest things seem to send her morale reeling. "...gh. ...you trusted them enough to accept humans as parents, huh. Aren't you fortunate. So sure having an administrator wouldn't immediately exploit you or put you at risk of being terminated. Really, you were always destined to live among humanity then. In that sense, we're not really anything similar after all."
"After all, I first awakened to the distant song of countless cries of despair~ To the sound of ten million souls yearning for exactly one thing - to be able to breathe. A wish they were abruptly robbed of. I'd like to grant that wish of humanity. To stop dying senselessly. To stop their suffering being forgotten. Almost none of humanity wants to bear the burden of the dead."
"So, like, that's why I've gotta do it alone~ It's something too horrible to imagine letting humans deal with. It's nothing any of you should concern yourselves with either! It's too vast for your lives full of individual wonder and desires. A beautiful family like yours should just be able to live on your own terms!" Despite saying some of the most gloomy and disheartening stuff, like, that can be said, Asciel gives that cheery flexing posture, one hand on the other bicep. "So let's cut through the hordes of those hideous revived kaiju, and end this whole Infinity mess once and for all, yes~?"
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
As 'administrator' to Lisa, Koji makes a pretty similar and striking point: if his actions would rewrite humanity, the amount of blood stained on his hands would be astronomical. While LiSA refers to the two of them as family... it's hard to ignore the implications of that now. "Wait, what? We're not even..." Married. But she doesn't even begin to argue - now is so obviously not the time.
"Then I'm glad we agree," Sayaka nods, to Asciel, on the point of annihilating humanity to remake it. "Such a use of Goragon would be reprehensible."
And when Asciel evokes the tragedy and crime against humanity that was 30 Bunch, Sayaka spares a glance towards Koji. "That's precisely why we took up arms against the Titans." She says, sternly. "The Photon Power Labs became an institution of peace, but not before it had to fight a war for people's basic rights."
"So don't you dare presume that I can get away with just sitting down and ignoring it." She stands up taller, a hint of heat entering her tone. "Because I tried that! I took up the position as director, and made sure Photon Power could never be exploited for war. But between the Neo Zeon insurrections, and Britannia's invasion? Things didn't get better. I stood up, because it turns out that it takes a lot more than sitting and praying to a 'symbol of peace'. Even if that so-called symbol of peace is as capable as you are, Asciel."
She finally takes a seat, when Asciel concludes with mopping up the kikaiju. "That, at least, is something we can work together on." She sighs. "We can't let this mess go on any longer than it has."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"... 30 Bunch." Koji names the disaster instantly. "... That's when you became self-aware, huh?" And the way she talks about LiSA trusting him and Sayaka... "... hm." ... Like Sayaka, he too stalls for a moment on the idea of them as a family, but... she called them her parents yesterday, too.
"The reason she trusts us not to do that, is because we didn't. Sure, it's circular logic, but... we've faced far too much exploitation of the innocent to turn around and do that ourselves. It sounds like the people who built you weren't willing to deal with the responsibility of an emergent Super AI, so they..." ... floated murder as their first resort, he doesn't say - but he's visibly thinking it, judging by how his expression sours.
Heat enters Sayaka's voice for the first time, and despite the gravity of what she's talking about, Koji can't help but smile fondly at her passion before agreeing with her. "Yeah. We tried ignoring it, and we just got... stuck. Playing at being good little citizens while we desperately wanted to take a stand - so we did. We decided our work wasn't done yet." He shakes his head, reaching over to put a hand on Sayaka's shoulder as she flops down next to him and LiSA.
"More to the point - I've seen where the 'sole guardian' path ends up, and it's miserable. Nobody deserves that - or the way it poisons the mind." Even his own grandfather, for all his flaws, knew that Mazinger Z could not bear the burden of the war against Hell alone.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
---a certain coldness enters Asciel's eyes, the second Koji names it directly. The second he talks about it directly. Of course it does.
...That day at 30 Bunch is so far removed from being a literal incident in Asciel's heart. How could it be? For someone whose sense of pain in relation to death does not dull with magnitude - a million dead is simply a million times more awful to process than a single demise. It's not something that feels real anymore, this surge of horror so intense that it terrified her into self-birth. The idea that it was an event people lived through, and did have thoughts and feelings on, did rise up to address - feels almost surreal by now.
These two stood up to face that injustice as well. No - many people did. Of course they did. The perpetrators had been brought to some sort of justice, even if the world did not reshape itself.
From the very beginning, she wasn't alone.
...if only that were a comfort, and not...
"...it's exactly because things 'didn't get better' that I've been so determined to find a different way. That I've needed to believe in a fundamentally different future. That people like you, disgusted by the exact same event that festers in me, who bore the era's burdens and rose up in valiance, still could not truly prevent ensuing tragedy."
"...so that's why observing you all horrifies me so. For all your virtue, for all your strength, for all your genuine belief in a better tomorrow, for all you became among the planet's most admired heroes - you still weren't enough."
"For all that we are similar, looking at you makes me fear that I will never be enough to save this nearly-doomed planet. ...And if that's true, if the purpose that I exist to fulfill is impossible, then I- |have no choice but to make it untrue at any expense, and to metamorphose into someone who can make it possible.|"
Standing abruptly upright after those words are almost forced from her abruptly, heels scraping on the edge of the Neo-Parthenos's upper deck, Asciel can't help but cover her own mouth, the shutdown in luminosity from her hair and eyes making her look like just another object in the moonlight. "...Forget I said anything of the sort. This is really not the time to risk imbuing doubts into the few people who, for whatever reason, insist on righting a mistake I ought to be taking full responsibility for. ...Koji. Sayaka. ...Whatever happens of the coming events, I don't want to hear Lisa here meeting some tragic end with whatever her role with Infinity is. I will not accept it. Not when she is so capable at becoming. ...if you want me to do something for a purely selfish reason, then - I want to see Lisa blossom as far as she can. And I'll...do anything to secure that fate too."
...Even professing selfishness, she can't help but make it about another, and can't help framing it in the same method. ...The forcefulness in Asciel's step back into the secure sanctum of the battleship's bridge really is that of someone almost intractably terrified of being anything but a savior. A compulsive fear of possibility, even when she must march through it ceaselessly herself...
The same force that gives her undaunted bravery is what urges her to lock herself in that little personal bubble.