2023-11-09: Someone's Got to Lower the Crane
- Cast: Chloe, C.C.
- Where: Augmented Shibuya
- Date: U.C. 0097 11 09
- Summary: The depths of Augmented Shibuya, one of the world's many behind the scenes. Two stagehands - the puppeteer who made herself a doll, and the witch with the face of a maiden, play a game over their lines of the script.
<Pose Tracker> Chloe has posed.
The city of Augmented Shibuya is, somewhat confusingly, actually situated in Central Africa. Specifically in the middle of a desert. It's not a LONG flight from the La Tour Orbital Elevator. But one might see why they don't get many tourists. Even more so when one realizes that their main entrance actually sits beneath the sand dunes and only pops up on request.
That said, there are likely old ways, secret ways into the underground city that not even its designer remembers. Two centuries, give or take, is a long time to remember every little detail.
Once inside, there's not a lot of issues in the way of running into people. Security cameras, both of the fixed and drone-mounted variety, might be a bit more difficult to get around. But not impossible.
That leads us to the lab of Augmented Shibuya's designer, founder, and head researcher for the Prometheus Organization. The main room is quite large and quite empty, metal plating making up all the surfaces. A few massive screens are positioned on the walls around the lab. For the most part they show complex sciency stuff. A couple show wireframes of giant robots. One labeled 'Ship 9' with the status of 'Standby' while another is labeled 'Ship 11' with a status of 'Construction: 71%'.
The lab's owner herself is standing at the far end, looking over some more screens while musing out loud, "Hmmm... The connection between the subjects appears to have weakened due to their distance. It's only a drop of 0.4% though, nothing to be concerned about. I'm sure it'll rise again once they are back in proximity. Assuming the second subject returns. Gah, that stupid King of Ruin. Things were going so well, I'm close, I can feel it! But then that stupid sorry excuse for a existential threat had to show up and throw out my timing..."
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
"You had so long to prepare, but weren't ready for a threat so predictable it's been waiting since the dawn of the universe...?"
That cool, dispassive, but slightly teasy voice calls across the lab, and its source - why, it's none other than that incorrigible witch, C.C., bundled in that cozy straitjacket Britannia fashionably let her have, lazed across her front atop a ledge in a structural pylon, a good 10 feet up in the air. How the hell'd she get in Augmented Shibuya? (Psychic suggestion on security staff and general well-prepared research into anywhere she's interested in.) How the hell'd she get up here? (She's just very good at climbing things.)
A leg lazily dangled down, C.C. stares at Julie's ominously puppet-like form balefully, chin propped in her hands. "Hmmmm. Did you change your limbs since the last time we met, all those years ago? I guess to someone like you, that's about as big a change as fashion. Then again, you always were erratic and forward thinking. I kind of envy your ability to change, you know."
<Pose Tracker> Chloe has posed.
"What!? Who's there?"
The sudden critique of her foresight causes Julie to spin around on her spindly legs. It takes her a few moments before she spots C.C., "Who are you and how did you get in here without my security systems alerting me?"
However, a flash of memory finally processes in Julie's cybernetic brain. Eyes open a little wide in recognition before she says in mild disinterest, "Oh, it's you."
Julie waves one of her long hands at the critique, "It's not like I didn't see it coming. I just forgot what the current decade was! The years just fly by so fast when you've having as much FUN as I have been."
Julie actually does perk up ability as C.C. admires her limbs, raising her hand to do the same, "Ah, yes. I got bored with the human form. Plus, those thick digits... So imprecise!" Julie bends all but one of her long fingers, bringing the tip of it up close to her face, "Who needs a scalpel when my own finger can do the trick?" It does indeed look very pointy and potentially sharp! Julie holds it in C.C.'s direction and grins, "Care to try it out yourself, my dear... Deedee, was it?" Was Julie inviting D.D.-erm-C.C. to try modifying her body?
Or to experience that scalpel like finger in action?
Either way though, Julie snorts, "Speaking of fashion though, whatEVER are you wearing? No, actually. On second thought, the looney bin probably is a good place for you."
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
"Just so you know, I've had a falling out with the Directorate, as you can see," C.C. murmurs, waggling her hand in the air, the tassels on her straitjacket loose and flowy. "Oh, they put me in this to confine me and keep me around, like any oh so toxic relationship, but they made their suits of punishment kind of comfy. And everyone's attention is turned conveniently to where it accentuates. Not that you'd be jealous, or else you'd make that a charm point, wouldn't you?"
The prominent rise in her hips gives a teasing little sway and shuffle in repositioning herself to be cozier in the least cozy place she could possibly perch.
There is, predictably, very little of a rise in C.C.'s expression at being either threatened to be cut apart, or offered to be modified - her lips maybe purse a little, but that cool judgmental look in her eyes is ceaseless. She doesn't even follow the trail of Julie's finger. (After all, sleight of hand is a useful trick up C.C.'s sleeves - she'd use such gestures herself to slip something by someone, drawing their attention where desired. "...Oh, don't waste something as valuable as bespoke cybernetics on those of our ilk. You know perfectly well it'd be like painting a caterpillar and expecting a portrait to blossom when it melts down to goo in the cocoon. On second thought, you're probably so wrapped up in what you're up to that you maybe don't remember..."
C.C.'s eyes do, however, navigate over the Julie's monitor screens, her own fingertip trailing the lines where she reads. "You've been busy, for sure. I thought you'd only need a handful of those ships, but you've escalated your plans. NERV pressuring you with their own Evangelion rate? ...was it you who pressured them? Or maybe it's just happy coincidence."
-There's a hesitance at the misnaming, but at the end of the day, C.C. knows perfectly well who's talking about what. For the sake of others, though- "People who matter to your plans do, in fact, know who I am, and they're calling me 'Shirome Shiranui' usually. I'm a little tired of that name, it was only clever in one context, but it's what stuck for now."
<Pose Tracker> Chloe has posed.
"Shirome Shiranui, huh? Yawn."
"I don't blame you though. Those old codgers-" You're one to talk, Julie, "-at the Directorate are so far behind the times. Still clinging to that mystical mumbo jumbo. Or at least I assume they are... It has been a while since I've bothered to turn my attention towards them. Regardless, you're better of without them."
C.C. questions Julie's memory a little bit. She actually giggles a little bit, before saying, "Yes, yes, I suppose I do get a little... Excited in my work that I put everything else out of mind."
Julie takes a few steps closer to C.C., leaning forward a little as if getting a closer look, "But no. I haven't forgotten. For all the useless research that Directorate tries... I do think the likes of you and your kin have promise..." Julie leans back again, waving a spindly hand, "Nononono. As much as I would LOVE to go down that path. There is far too much for me to do already."
But she then crosses her long arms, managing to do so with grace despite their extreme proportions, "Hmph. Don't compare my wonderful designs to those of NERV's toys. To think they'd go the route of using organics! Messy. There's no elegance to them."
Julie raises a long finger to her chin, "Though I will give little Gendo credit for managing to keep those annoying pests at bay for as long as he has." Julie grins in amusement, "Though he seems to be floundering lately. Besides, he got LUCKY. Having those 'Children' of his practically handed to him on a silver platter. I actually put in the WORK. And the result, is perfect..."
Pause.
"Though I admit the Meteora are proving harder to capture than I had expected. So it's taken a few prototypes to get to this point... But, the next one. Once it's complete and my dear, perfect Chloe is inside it-"
Julie catches herself and smirks, "Ah! No spoilers~"
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
And of course, this kind of divulgence is exactly why C.C. keeps even lunatics like Dr. Julie on her list. As much as it's an interesting divergence - she's also listening oh so carefully, filling in the gaps with her own knowledge.
"Oh, it's hardly like I'm without them, given how much they still harass me, but it's mostly just the new director. You haven't had the displeasure of meeting him, have you? Take my advice and don't bother. No, I'd say it was better when it was old codgers. This one's a brat." Aaaand C.C.'s one to talk.
"...The Children aren't as impressive as who you've found, you say..." C.C. muses - recalling the time she briefly saw Chloe alongside Asuka, Rei, Mari, and Shinji. "I wouldn't say that. I think a fair amount of work went into all of them, in ways you wouldn't expect. Two of them conditioned oh so carefully to be ideal puppets. One an extra ambitious project to make puppets. And...a rather exceptional face among them. She wouldn't have come if they weren't worth the while - is Chloe really that special or useful by compare?"
A catty smile crosses C.C.'s lips, twisting over onto her side, head craned and twisted backwards, hair drooping down the side of her shelf. "You're still relying on an organic element with her, silly. That's the fault in every last one of these wretched machines of fate - they demand a living, beating heart pulse at their core. You tired of it and got rid of yours, but never forget the universe has an awful bias in favor of the living."
<Pose Tracker> Chloe has posed.
"New leadership, huh? Well, it's not really my concern. Especially if this one is as you describe. I can't stand brats... Honestly, you should probably do something about that group. I think they've been around long enough... And that's coming from ME."
Julie is listening only somewhat intently as C.C. describes the Children. Though the more C.C. questions whether Julie's Chloe matches up-and as C.C. goes on to point out that Chloe is flesh and blood too-Julie's sly smirk grows.
Until finally, "Ahhh, my dear C.C." She did remember her name, if you can call it that. Julie continues, "I didn't 'find' Chloe..." She spreads her arms out wide.
"I created her!"
A quick flick of a long hand brings up a screen containing the all to familiar layout of human DNA, "Every. Single. Chromosome. Meticulously chosen to be perfect! All to form the greatest Makhia pilot, for my greatest Makhia. They are both my ultimate creations. And there's an aspect to her that I think even YOU would be surprised by..."
But Julie once again says, "But, I'll not spoil that one either. Where's the fun in that?"
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
There's the quirk of a smile on C.C.'s lips as Julie gets so theatrical. This right here is the state she's so eager to invoke. Stoking that pride of theirs. Rewarding and goading it just a little.
Such a shame, when C.C. tries to take the wind out of those sails, with oh so simply murmuring out in that deadpan tone: "I mean they did the same to one of those Children, you know. Or perhaps you don't. If you see them, take a guess as to which one of them is the carefully genetically crafted one. You're not ahead of the race there - and if your'e talking about perfection..."
A yawn covers C.C.'s face. "Sorry, but I think only imperfection unlocks the secrets of this world. Because you see, I learned something really important on my long travels. It's a secret between you and me, so keep it hushed, okay?"
Building up to a dramatic revelation, even repositioning to stand upright with a single agile spring up to her feet, hands 'bound' behind her back. C.C.'s certainly oh so imperiously mysterious (impsterious? wait, that actually works). "I've been to so many corners of the world, in search of wisdom and insight - the kind to change the world, to change my regrets - mmn. Or maybe none of that. Maybe just to change it. You seem like you're in search of alleviating boredom, and I know it all too well. But every time I touched the bell that'd ring for daybreak, you know what I heard..."
"That tragically, I'm kept in an endless state of perfection that'll never break."
...oh no the humblebrag
<Pose Tracker> Chloe has posed.
It does appear to be news to Julie that one of NERV's Children was genetically created. She humms thoughtfully, "Perhaps I should give Gendo more credit then... Could have sworn he failed one of his tests on the human genome. Maybe I'm thinking of someone else..." She simply dismisses the news though, "I know genetic engineer is hardly new. Though I wouldn't be surprised if I at least got there first... How old are those Children again?" Pause, "How old is Chloe, for that matter?"
"Annnnnyway. Her genes aren't really the most glorious part of her creation though. You'll just have to wait and see!" Mad scientist trying to one-up the competition much?
C.C. laments her perfection. To which Julie counters, "Well, perfection is relative. You don't seem perfect to me... Close, maybe."
Julie actually frowns though, "But don't think you know who I am. Yes, I do despise boredom. But ridding myself of it is not my goal." What is her goal? She doesn't say.
Instead she smiles, "But, that does make me wonder. Is that what you're after? To break your cycle? What IS IT you have been up to these past few... Decades?" Pause, "Yes... That sounds about right."
Julie waves her hand, "It only seems fair, I've already talked SO MUCH about myself already. As much as it is my favourite subject."
<Pose Tracker> C.C. has posed.
Aaaah darn, that type of question, 'haven't I talked enough about myself', is the signal that Julie's expecting the kind of equivalent exchange C.C.'s rarely interested in providing. How to get out of this specific jam - and then out of this as a whole...
"Oh, don't worry yourself about how old anything is, doctor. We both know that's immaterial to anything besides saying 'who's first' - and that's unimportant, compared to the far more important question: 'who's last?'" C.C. taps the heel of her boot along that little ledge, skirting slightly backwards in a dance that'd have her fall, were she not so balanced.
"I've learned a lot of important things since last we met. For example, the cheapest fast food in Nagoya, the devious behavior of penguins, and the fastest way to commandeer a sub-orbital descent shuttle if the cops are on your tail in Neo-Mexico." All said with only the faaaaaintest quirk of a smile - which quickly fades to the quiet imposing slight frown. "Has it gotten me any closer to what I want? The 'final page' of the book, the happily ever after everyone wants for everyone, which I only want for myself? Oooooh...not really."
"At a certain point, caring too much about progress stops being despair, and starts being ennui. Like how you probably don't even realize just how long you've been at this, and shelved aside any notion of worrying about how much longer it takes. ...It's a little ironic, maybe. You're capable of change, even still - but your unwavering determination's never faltered. I've long since learned I wouldn't count as 'alive' enough to change, and yet I can't be bothered after giving it an earnest attempt."
A simple hop down from that rooftop-like height, C.C. braces in ways that tell she's fallen from much further. Hardly worried about injury, but it'd be inconvenient to let it happen here. She picked a perch fairly near the main door - and it opens once her toe crosses the boundary a foot away. Craning her neck over her shoulder to Julie, the witch muses out, "Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on that girl. Maybe be nosier than even you have, if you're so proud of her. Ah, but don't take it personally if I 'save' her. It wouldn't be to foil your plans, or even to change her destiny. It might just be something fun I did on a whim."
<Pose Tracker> Chloe has posed.
"Boo. Well fine, keep your secrets. I wasn't really interested anyway. Just being polite given we're such old 'friends'." Julie smirks, "Ah, but if you do change you mind on trying to change. Do stop by. I'm sure I could up with something that would suit you wonderfully." Again, she could be talking about some cybernetics. Or something else.
Though as C.C. speaks of 'saving' Chloe, Julie giggles a little, "Ohhh, my sweet C.C. If Chloe really is in danger, it's not from me. But rather the universe itself. Do you really have the power to save her from that? If so, then by all means. I'm sure I'll learn something incredible from witnessing THAT feat."
Julie then clacks her fingers together. Her version of a finger click. A pair of hovering drones suddenly appear, disengaging their active camouflage. Were they always there, protecting Julie?
Julie explains, "These fine gentledrones will escort you out. To make sure you actually leave. I'm a busy woman after all, I can't afford distractions."
Julie's spindly fingers wave as C.C. heads out, "Ta-ta!"