2023-08-22: Spin-Zero Entanglement
- Cast: Harmony Chord, Rita Bernal
- Where: The Science Fortress Laboratory
- Date: U.C. 0097 08 22
- Summary: No one outside the trusted circle should know about the PPL's ruins, and the unlikely companions taking refuge therein. Yet, an unusual visitor still charts a course directly among the rubble.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Just off the coast of Japan, the old Photon Power Labs' land looks undisturbed. Several hangars and laboratories are slowly being reclaimed by nature. Nothing has been disturbed for decades, or so it seems.
Within one specific hangar, however, several mobile suits rest, battered from an all-too recent battle. Most notably, perhaps, is the Phenex. Somehow less damaged than her companions, if one were to watch it for any length of time, they may notice how cracked armor slowly, millimeter by millimeter, fills itself in. Dents ease, paint is restored... Seemingly by invisible hands.
Soft pop music floats through the large space, one of Sheryl Nome's more recent hits. In the center of the room is the least-broken table the Secret Labs had to offer, accompanied by a few chairs. Upon one of them rests a glowing personage -- the hard light avatar of Rita Bernal. Today, she's clad in a pleated navy skirt and a pink tanktop. Scars can be seen layered over practically every inch of exposed skin.
Rita hums along with the music. A pencil-like tool in one hand, she draws birds across a container with a layer of sand. The hard-light picks up the sand-drawing far better than traditional pencils. She wishes she had access to more colors, but this is enough. It's more than she ever thought she'd be given.
And there's so little time left for her.
<Pose Tracker> Harmony Chord has posed.
It was an ordinary shuttle, by any measure. So how the hell did it get here? The LIDAR and Minovsky emissometer should have picked it up long before it raised alerts. The inside, the outside, it appeared no different from a commercial-grade shuttle. Entirely mundane. Yet something about it nagged at the consciousness. It decelerated more smoothly, somehow, than a standard model might. Even those attuned to the ebb and flow of human hearts might find its contents... muffled, like light through frosted glass. Even the blemishes marring its folding wings seemed uncanny, or perhaps a better word might be, 'contrived'.
It was an ordinary person, by any measure. So how the hell did they get here? It wasn't on any contemporary industrial manifests, had no supply lines or traffic records, and for all appearances, it had been abandoned by its masters more than once. Any heat signatures were baffled by the wild growth, and no one would bother to watch for changes at a place like
this. Yet, something about this person seemed utterly peculiar. It seemed neither right to address them as a lady nor as a gentleman, yet, the dignity in their bearing and the cut of their suit made both seem appropriate. They disembarked, and exiting the shuttle, their presence was brilliantly clear, as though in an instant the baffles were cut away. One Rita Bernal, in particular, would have noticed the approach of something unusually vague, and would certainly feel their revealed presence, drawn to Rita's heart and mind like a lodestone.
They didn't, of course, know how to get underground. This person, stepping away from this shuttle, merely waited, as though patience was the only business they had.
"May I be guided in, Ms. Bernal?"
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
"Hmm... hmm hmm..."
All seems quiet. There's no reason to be on alert. Anyone, aside from Yuliana, who gets close to the Secret Labs will be sensed by Rita long before they could do any harm. Which is why it's all the more shocking as awareness slowly creeps into her heart.
Dropping her drawing tool, Rita stands, following the presence, as if she could see the shuttle through the ceiling of the hangar.
"Phenex," Rita says, softly.
It's enough for the golden Gundam to hum to life, her shields lifting and hovering in a large orbit around Rita's avatar form. There's no malice in this new presence, Rita believes, but it's better to be safe. After their failure near Denver Colony, she can't take any chances.
Of course, Rita can hear them, even this far away. Their heart is open, inviting Rita to listen, now that they've landed. Perhaps Rita should wake Michele -- or even Zoltan, but now that she's had a moment to listen...
She can handle this. Rita is sure of it. Any violent intent would've echoed out before this strange newcomer for miles.
Instead of answering, Rita simply raises a hand. Shimmering with golden light, a canary-sized bird breaks away from the Phenex and soars through the hangar walls, cutting a path through jungle and debris alike to find the visitor. Once there, the illusory creature hovers before them long enough to be seen, then begins to fly back to the hangar -- this time showing the most opportune paths through the plant life.
A side door is open at the least-broken hangar. Light can be seen within. Once this new person steps through, they will see Rita waiting for them at the table -- her sand art hidden away somewhere, and the Phenex's wing-like shields once more settled at the Gundam's back.
"Please, sit down if you like." There are several chairs available around the table. "And call me Rita." Green eyes take in the unusual grace of her visitor. "How have you found me? And what is your name?
<Pose Tracker> Harmony Chord has posed.
The copper-haired visitor widens their hazel eyes, as the golden bird glimmers into view. It's with a hurried, but even pace that they follow the golden passerine through the flora and rough terrain. Despite their lithe frame, they seem to be athletic enough to leverage themselves over the debris admist the overgrowth. The choice to make a nimble leap, up through a guttered window, over squeezing through a collapsed doorway--was it just to not risk their nice clothes?
Reaching the hidden refuge, they pause at the threshold, looking around the hangar with wonder. Their eyes land on Rita, in hardlight form, and trail upwards from there...to Rita's other, larger body, before returning to the Rita that is sitting (and under six feet tall).
"Thank you for having me," they murmur, bowing before they take a seat, smoothing the fine lines of their two-piece as they settle in. "My name is Harmony, Harmony Chord in full. I apologize to impose on you so suddenly, Ms. Rita. And..." their gaze flicks towards Rita's visible cracks, before returning to her face. "I'm deeply sorry to come when you are under the weather."
Rita, among all people, might have a harder time noticing due to her time away from corporeal humanity, but there is a subtle repeated ratio to the the eye contact they hold. Several seconds at a time, then a pause to glance at the table, or Rita's hands, or the hangar.
"Ms. Rita, there is nothing more important to me than finding you. I've been looking forward to meeting you, for longer than you'd believe. I can tell you the exact details if you need them to trust me, but a coordination of inaccessible data networks and my attunement to your unique psychic resonance. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I may be the only one able to find you the way that I have. Please, forgive me for invading your privacy in this manner."
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Green eyes take in Harmony's appearance. The fine suit, the copper hair, the perfection in their features. It reminds Rita of something she can't quite place, and after unsuccessfully chasing the thought for a moment, she simply chooses to move on.
It's curious. /They're/ curious.
A little smile, as Harmony worries over the state of the Phenex. "Thank you. I can heal her, but it takes time. We'll be ready before the next time we're needed. I'm sure of it."
And that will be very soon. Just a little more than a week.
"I wish we had somewhere nicer to talk." Rita says, folding her hands in her. "But meeting someone so unique is always interesting. You're as strange as I am, aren't you, Harmony?"
It's not a threat, and not quite an observation. Rita's eyes sparkle with active wonder. Being found so simply, and avoiding detection for so long? There's no way Harmony Chord is a normal human being.
A little laugh. "It's familiar to be chased down, but never quite so gently! The last time was very, very violent." Green eyes glimmer as Harmony discusses their purpose. "I see... I'd like to hear the details, but it's not a matter of trust. If you wanted to hurt me, I'd know by now. You can tell me later, maybe."
"I forgive you." Rita says, evenly. "But now that I know /how/ you found me, can you tell me /why/?"
<Pose Tracker> Harmony Chord has posed.
Harmony's eyes sparkle as well--flashing from lapis-injected hazel to a brilliant gold--as she takes in the surroundings in their psychic projections.
"Nowhere else in the Earth Sphere has the resplendent Phenex in roost... No matter the material surroundings, this is the most beautiful place, I assure you."
A mild self-deprecating smile does appear under those cheekbones, as her eyes shift back to their prior hue. "Though, I understand it's customary to share refreshments when making formal introductions, but I wasn't sure what kind of token might interest you, so I've regretfully come empty-handed. I'm sorry. What do you like, as a gift, Ms. Rita?"
Unique... it's an interesting word, for Harmony.
"Unique, that is, 'unlike anything else in this world'... it is almost true. Not to speak overmuch of myself, but there is one--exactly one--like me. I hope you will never meet them." It's a...wave of uncertainty, that emanates admist that sentence, the feeling of imagining something that must never come to pass. "Ms. Rita Bernal, and the RX-03 Phenex, intertwined, yet not identical... I think you, Ms. Rita, are more unique than my ...my twin and I are. Strange, though, that word fits us both handily, doesn't it? Strange indicates a distance, a normal, a break from the mold... The humans of today, the humans of yesterday and of tomorrow... Everyone's eyes are on the present day. They can't help it. That's what they can see. But I, Harmony Chord, can't help but chase down the future--with you."
Harmony pauses, thinking on her words for a moment, tilting her head in an apparent sign of embarrassment.
"That sounded like one of those...confessions, my apologies."
"I'll of course tell you anything you want to know. I've finally found you, finally met you. I hope you'll allow me to speak with you more, and understand you more." A sigh, a shrug—second guessing it, another shrug at a higher angle. Iterating, like a human practicing its smile in the mirror, or like a bird learning to fly. "Why I sought you..." Those eyes turn gold again, threads of rainbow stretching from their center out, like the threads of a soul reaching out into the vast universe. Her next words transmit without the movement of her lips.
"Well, Ms. Rita, I was born for your sake, and for your sake alone. Please... help me save humanity, and prepare it for the dialogues to come."