2024-04-26: Friday Night Special with Sheryl Nome

• Log: 2024-04-26 Friday Night Special with Sheryl Nome
• Cast: Sheryl Nome, Asciel Colette, Lina Lombardi, Rin Naujakaite, Alouette Pommier, Leila Misakiyama, Chise Asukagawa, Koyomi Yamanaka
• Where: A live studio in the Macross Frontier
• OOC - IC Date: April 25, UC 0099 (2024)
• Summary: Live on Friday night, the winners of the Sheryl Nome Amateur Songwriting Competition are revealed! Keep an eye out for a special code discounting the sale of the upcoming EP release sometime during the broadcast! (NOTE: This scene was broadcast ICly, so feel free to say your character saw the on-stage portions.)

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<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        FRIDAY NIGHT SPECIAL: SHERYL NOME AMATEUR SONGWRITING CONTEST WINNERS REVEALED!
        
        ...So the ads have been going for a few weeks now. Streaming services and TV alike are going to be featuring the show. Those who tune in at the appropriate time are treated to a stage lit up with dazzling stage lights and glittering effects crossing a back curtain, a grand piano to the left side and comfortable chairs and a coffee table on the right, separated by tall potted plants. Still, that's just spectacle to watch until the program begins proper, both for those at home and those in the live studio audience, made up of the first couple hundred runner-ups. At the right moment, all goes dark and still...
        
        Then a white spotlight clicks on, illuminating Sheryl on the far left. Her long blond hair is pinned up in a semi-sidetail, encouraging it to flow along her left shoulder, though long locks framing each side of her face curl and coil down her chest. Her blue eyes and pink lips are accented with natural-style make-up, adding only a bit of color to highlight her confident smile. Her manicured nails are painted a pale pink.
        
        She's dressed in a spaghetti-strap white babydoll dress, lacy at the bust and lined over the chest. Though the hem of the dress itself ends at the top of her thighs, a silky, shimmery, transparent, cool-iridescent drape split in front flows down from her bust line, over her long legs, almost all the way to the floor. Pale yellow platform heels tie with ribbon around her ankles and above her feet; several golden bracelets adorn her right wrist; a single amethyst necklace adorns her pale neck; and as always, her iconic drop earring dangles from her right earlobe.
        
        It's a look that would be familiar to those who attended her concert out on Gallia IV--but precious few of her fans did.
        
        Sheryl raises a single finger to her smiling lips and winks once to the cameras. Then she strides over to the piano, smooths her drape underneath her as she sits at the bench, and with back straight and fingers curved, she begins to play.
        
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6GVaJL_eeY (Life in Progress)
        
        For the first several seconds, Sheryl's fingers dance over the keys in a pure, yearning, almost whimsical melody. They stop on a chord that reverberates through the stage; then, as the back curtain parts to reveal them, an in-house band joins in with the harmony to Sheryl's melody, which repeats another verse together.
        
        Before long, Sheryl leans in just a bit towards the microphone set up over the piano's keys. It's her textured golden microphone, in fact, set up on a stand just behind the keys. Her voice joins with the music, but her gaze is out to the cameras, her hands continuing to play expertly as her hair spills over her shoulder.
        "The page is blank, so what am I looking at?
        "The scent of the waves carries summer with it far and wide
        "Today again it hurts, I hurt so bad
        "So as if standing stock still
        "Only time passes in my grief."
        
        Some of the band members trades their instrument to snap their fingers to the beat into their microphones as Sheryl plays chords out on her keyboard. The song maintains its hurried beat, but it seems almost as though it's stumbling, or taking things one or two steps at a time, instead of running along as before:
        "And in the memories I recalled abruptly
        "The world never changes
        "They're only memories that should've meant nothing!"
        
        The band rejoins Sheryl's piano in full, merging into a joyous full run that rises and falls and dances with the notes the Galactic Fairy expertly plays. In the way of the young, it combines that joy with a certain bittersweetness and an impatience for tomorrow:
        "We ran along the loop line towards summer
        "'See you tomorrow,' we said at the sound as we waited
        "We didn't know anything, so life is still on its third year
        "Memorize the things we learned naturally
        "Before we turn into adults, ahh..."
        
        Sheryl's piano rises into a beautiful crescendo that spins itself right back down with the other instrumentals. Together, they truly convey a bittersweetness that might fill one's heart to bursting.
        "I simply look up to the wind
        "Until it knows what love is
        "At night, I will meet you
        "See? You'll laugh again...!"
        
        The music stops abruptly--until Sheryl plays out a slow, rich, final melody that lingers in the air. It's short but sweet; the full version will get officially released on her next EP. Cheers and applause rise up from the live studio audience, a thrum both high and deep. Sheryl waves and blows a kiss to them all before she stands, retrieves her golden microphone, and crosses the stage past the greenery to the interview set on the other side.
        
        "Out of the countless submissions I received for my contest, so many fought tooth and nail for the winner's circle," she announces as she walks. "That one was our #1: Life in Progress. You can really feel the essence of teenagehood in it, can't you? I'm proud and pleased to introduce you all to the one who composed it..." Sheryl looks from the audience into the wings to a certain someone who should be stepping out to join her at the interview tableau. With an expectant smile, she stretches out her free hand to her to clasp in greeting. "...Leila Misakiyama~!"
        
                        ~ * ~
        
        Backstage and sidestage, there's a lot of bustle and activity to make sure everything and everyone is ready. Sheryl was already prepped in her private dressing room and sent out sparkling on stage, and tonight's special guests would have been dressed and had their make-up done in a group dressing room for the four of them, but there are still cues for them to follow.
        
        "Thank you all very much for making it here tonight," Grace O'Connor, Sheryl's hard-working manager, tells them with a kind smile and a gentle voice. It's shortly before the show, and she's come to the dressing room to greet them. She has long violet hair, slim glasses, and a teal suit. Compared to Sheryl, she doesn't stand out at all, and that's precisely how she likes it.
        
        She holds out a hand, and a holographic screen blinks into existence in front of her. "I just want to review tonight's schedule with you all one last time. Sheryl will be going on stage first to perform Life in Progress with a live band." She nods politely to Leila. "It'll be an abridged version. Miss Leila, when it ends, you'll join her at the interview tableau; Sheryl will cross the stage from the piano, and you'll step out from the wings to meet her. Brera here will let you know the precise cue."
        
        Behind Grace lurks Sheryl's handsome but intimidating bodyguard, Brera Sterne. He's been in the background all night, never far away, keeping a weather eye on people and things. He doesn't seem to have any weapons on him, but the words 'seem to' do a lot of heavy lifting when you're a cyborg. A cybernetic impact digs into his short lime blond hair; his arms are folded under a harmonica hanging around his neck and over the deeply plunging neckline of his blue bodysuit; and his stoic expression never changes. When Grace nods to him, he doesn't nod back. He only bores a stare into Leila, red eyes just visible over his black mirrored shades.
        
        Unfazed, Grace looks back to the others. Perhaps this is just his normal. "After Miss Leila Misakiyama's finished her interview with Sheryl, next will be Miss Alouette Pommier. After her will be Miss Lina Lombardi. Then, finally, will be Miss Asciel Colette, who will be the last guest for tonight. I hope this goes without saying, but please do be on your best behavior tonight, everyone." Grace's eyes squeeze shut as she smiles pleasantly at no one in particular. Then she looks over the group. "We have a little bit of time left, so does anyone have any questions? If not, Brera, please escort Miss Leila to the wings."
        
        There is one obvious question: why are there only four people here when there were five contest winners? Then again, it was made clear in the e-paperwork sent to the winners that getting interviewed was optional, so maybe it's not much of a question after all.
        
        Either way, Brera will bring Leila over to the wings once she's ready to go. When they arrive, Sheryl is mid-performance... and for all his stoicism, Brera does listen to her song.
        
        Once it's Leila's cue, he looks at her and nods her on. 'Go,' he mouths.

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        Of course negotiating a studio appearance with Asciel Colette isn't...easy. There's the potential for running into trouble with the law - a year spent laying low hasn't exactly cleared her of the hot water she's in with quite a few authorities.

        Oh so mysteriously, though, it aaaaaall works out rather cleanly during negotiations of terms and conditions with Grace O'Connor. Asciel will make sure she isn't followed, and will make sure she has an exit route the moment the interview is done. After all, she's not the type to cowardly use a fellow idol for cover, that much she makes clear!

        On all of Asciel's streaming platforms, dormant for that entire last year, a sudden mysterious promise appears. Streams entitled, at first: [DIVINE REBIRTH - i will never give up on this earth], to build up enigmatic social media hype. A countdown timed to the moment Sheryl goes live - at which point the title changes to: [Live Interview with Sheryl Nome! Amateur Song Contest Results (please be patient, I'm #4!)].

        The moment Asciel's name passes Sheryl's lips is the first most of her followers have heard in a year.

        There's a sigh of relief from Asciel the second her plan goes through. Her usual ponytail is traded for a spiraling side-tail at her left side - her usual staircase-like hairclip is one that now resembles a trail of tiny white flowers dotted with tiny red berries. Her dress is a slinky, one-shoulder affair colored like a brilliant inverted sunset - orange up top fading to a deep evening violet at her calves.

        She's been having a bit of conflict with the makeup artists - her skin isn't prone to blemishing, but it's also an artificial substance that really doesn't work with the materials they're using to make people look right for the camera. Mysteriously, Asciel refuses to actually tell them this - simply insisting "I've done this before, and I need special compounds, so let me take care of it!".

        They back down, and Asciel proceeds to apply no such makeup to herself.

        Sitting languidly with crossed legs backstage, Asciel spends most of the time waiting and tapping incessantly at her phone, managing her own streams and synchronizing them with Sheryl's broadcast. The moment "Life in Progress" begins to play, however, Asciel perks up, and really listens.

        It should've been her submission, Auto-Mata, she seethes to herself- she was so sure she had it in the bag. Sheryl describes it as a song about the 'essence of teenagehood' - an experience Asciel will surely never truly understand.

        And yet...

        ...And yet...

        The corners of her mouth twitch at listening to it all. Every word that weaves through cracks and barriers. An indescribable sympathy encoils the butterfly at Asciel's heart.

        "...Hmm." Asciel's gazing to the other occupants in the backstage waiting room, her left eye glowing with intensity. "...Do any of you know who that girl is? I didn't pay her much mind - "Leila", wasn't it? ...I've never heard of her. Where is all of this coming from...?"

<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.

         Lina hadn't expected all this to be on live television, but she supposed that the Galactic Fairy never worked in half measures. In the green room, she stares into a mirror, closely examining every aspect of the woman who stared back at her, and making sure to breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth.

         She had spent most of the previous day figuring out what to wear. She never had much of an eye for high fashion (she had enough of an idea of what looked good on her day to day), but on a live appearance with Sheryl Nome, she definitely couldn't be slack. A fancy dress was a no-go, she hated the things. And she couldn't put on her cheap suit for an occasion like this. At one point, she considered just wearing her 3G uniform, but thought better of that idea. She needed something that screamed "cool," that screamed "sophisticated casual," something that screamed "musician," something she figured she technically was at this point.

         That was when she found an outfit she hadn't worn in years. Yet again, her time at the Cavalletta, the club where she and her old jazz band would play weekends, came in clutch. What better outfit for a jazz musician than the one she wore in her band?

         Thankfully for her, she had had her last growth spurt before getting this outfit, and it still pretty much fit. A dark green button-up shirt, rolled up at the sleeves to her elbows, a white tie, hanging half-loose down from her neck, and a pleated pair of black pants held up with a similarly black pair of suspenders, and she was a cool, sophisticated casual musician!

         She supposed.

         Now, her only obstacle was a small cowlick on top of her head that she was going to town on with a brush. "Come on, go down..."

<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.

This isn't the first time seeing that outfit of Sheryl's for some of the people in the audience. In particular, three of them - people near the front, even, what luxury, how did they rate that - saw it once before.

Rin Naujakaite is more or less the same as she was then. She doesn't seem to have changed it up much, although she is wearing her hair mostly-loose with a big blue-and-green scrunchy to organize all the voluminous red hair into a loose ponytail. She is also not wearing glasses. Other than that, she is in a concert T-shirt and comfortable slacks. She joins in the cheering, rising partway out of her seat in the process!

Samantha Crowley is next to her. Samantha has also not changed her look much, other than having (perhaps grudgingly) put on deep purple lipstick instead of black. She is wearing a black babydoll-T, *also* from Sheryl concert merch (if of an earlier, and perhaps over-merchandised, tour) along with the kind of relatively orderly practical gray skirt that suggests this might have been last minute. Samantha also cheers, but doesn't rise up. She is sitting next to:

Louis Lioncourt, who has a close-cropped hairstyle and has seemed to gain about ten pounds of muscle. He is dressed not dissimilarly to Rin, and is holding Samantha's hand, if quietly. He does raise his voice and call, "MISAKIYAMAAA," perhaps to encourage the songstress whose work just got showcased.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

Today's the day - the live announcement of Sheryl Nome's contest winners. Though she knows the superstar idol personally... Alouette wasn't actually expecting to be one of the winners when she received the invitation. It's quite the pleasant surprise... even if appearing on live television will be another new experience.

She considers a few outfits - is it time to make a sharp impression, or mostly play it safe? She decides on something in between - a deep-blue sleeveless formal dress, low-cut across the back - tied with her signature ribbon, paired with dark tights and heels.

Sheryl's live performance is incredible as always - but the lyrics to this new song get an eyebrow scrunch of interest. They're so wistful, so longing... as if to claw their way into your attention. Which of the people sitting here today, she wonders, wrote this one?

It's certainly difficult to ignore Asciel Colette's appearance - it's almost a surprise Sheryl and her team didn't immediately disqualify someone so controversial. But whether it's because she's so controversial or because the song was just that good... she's here. It's terribly awkward for Alouette, considering how most of their conversations have went... but she tries to maintain that polite air.

It's something of a surprise to see Lombardi here too - not just because that's another member of the GGG, even if from a different branch, but she never quite got the impression she'd be a Sheryl fan at all!
        he ultimate winner of the contest, though... Asciel brings up she question she left in her head. Leila Misakiyama. "I can't say I've heard of her, either..." Alouette agrees - she wouldn't particularly be able to pick her out of a crowd, either. "But something tells me she's set out to make sure that changes."

<Pose Tracker> Leila Misakiyama has posed.

Friday night. Fr-i-da-y night, enunciating the day over and over in her mind. It still feels slightly surreal, the weeks after being notified having done absolutely little to dull the nerves within her. It shouldn't be anything new nowadays, as always. Keep the mask on, wear it proudly, and smile. Just smile and nod. Grace feels...amicable enough. Was this how all managers showed themselves? There's a wide berth of suspicion given to Brera, one at least conscientious enough to not push the issue at hand. She does match the stare for a bit. It breaks off, checking over the others in the room.

Still, the outfit itself felt...Granted, she had to present herself accordingly. Two tied braids to bring the hair back behind the ears, those black earrings of her in full display. A muted pink dress in matte cloth with a light v-neck, dipping down to terminate just below the knees.

She's first. The one who won from sending in those lyrics all those months ago. On questions... "Yes. Is there any indication when we're running out of time on stage?"

Question answered or not, she follows Brera with a light bit of distance between them. Keeping pace, glancing over every so often to make sure she doesn't get lost in these halls, eyes flicking about as the din of Sheryl's concert grew.

Words, thoughts, assurances (however barren and milquetoast they are) echo in her mind, watching the concert from the sides. It's unreal, the stage she's standing to the left of, out of view, out of sight, hidden in the dark and out of the way. Leaning back against the wall, eyes flicking from crew member to crew member; Directing cameras. Directing the scene. Lighting. The PA system. The broadcast station. So many things coalescing into showcasing the brightest star on this planet and beyond, shining a spotlight on the Galactic Fairy.

In her silence, all Leila could do at that moment was stare. Lips twitching every so often, taking a deep breath as she listened. The unreality of listening to words she wrote down sung out, choreographed, adjusted for Sheryl's own unique timings, own mannerisms, own way of how she sang and took over the stage.

Even watching someone with such high caliber finish the , there's a quiet mutter. "...Sounds different than how I'd sing it." The derision is lost in the thunderous applause celebrating a Galactic Fairy.

A glance back at Brera. And she went on perfect cue, keeping that practiced smile of hers while facing the crowd, the cameras, the din, the shine of being adjacent to an idol that had secured her place. Handshake, right, check. A strong grip underlined with an inner fire, eyes crystallizing into the blaze of someone recently reinvigorated with deep self-assurance. Walking across towards the set, joining Sheryl at the interview tableau with the expectant motions of someone slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of eyes on her, taking a few breaths to calm down before beaming a smile.

"Ahem. Uh, wow...I didn't think I'd make it here in the first place, so it's all a surprise, honestly." It's a bit overwhelming; All the calmness and stiffness in the world can't make up for being thrust in front of an audience, even if she had a minute bit of experience in the subject. "I'm honored you chose me, and I'm happy to be here!" Starts with the platitudes. Keep the questions in mind. This is a stage.

...Not a stage of a rival, but a stage of fortuitous coincidence. Exploit it.

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        Asciel's lips purse at her two backstage companions - two members of the GGG, at that. Scanning from the unfamiliar Lina, to the far more familiar Alouette - who she still hasn't seen in quite some time.

        If Asciel herself is awkward, she doesn't let it show. Flashing that slightly competitive but warm smile, like Alouette's some sort of old friend, Asciel twirls the side-drill in one finger. "The world is shockingly small, isn't it? It all seems to converge on song. I'd expect nothing less of the GGG than to recognize that the '~bravery which protects Earth' is the voice of one's soul. It's why I began to sing~"

        ...is it still the reason...?

        "Ne, ne, so tell me~ Tell me more about your ordeals, you two. I'd have loved nothing more than to travel to Jupiter with all of you, and cast the Oath Over Omega down with my bare fist. Alas...another dilemma reared its ugly head...and then I suffered the indignity of ~dying! So I've been rather preoccupied, and I've lost many of my ears of insight!"

        She's all smiles and cheer at the two Braves, despite being a known troublemaker dropping such a bewildering statement...

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Grace is very good at negotiating and managing, after all, and while she's overall firm but fair, for some reason she seems otherwise quite pleased to accommodate Asciel. Her exit route is set up quite graciously. (Is that where she gets her name...?)
        
        Asciel's streaming doesn't get interfered with at all. In fact, it gets a subtle boost from within the studio. Is someone right here a fan? How fortuitous! Just as fortuitous as Grace gently encouraging the make-up crew to let Asciel handle her own 'skin' regime. "She knows what's best for her, I'm sure," she reassures them.
        
        Later, when Grace asks if anyone has any questions and Leila obliges, she tells her, "Yes. A teleprompter is set up in front of the stage--discreetly, so the audience won't notice it, but hanging where you'll be seeing it. For the most part, it'll just be a green light. When it turns yellow, you'll know your time is getting short, and when it turns red, you and Sheryl will wrap up for the next guest."
        
        The matter of who Leila is, Grace offers only a chuckle.
        
        Later, in the wings, Leila's mutterings might get drowned out by the applause and go unheard by most--but Brera's right next to her, and his senses are sharper than most. Her grumbling gets a distinct side-eye. But that side-eye is also expressionless, just about the same as any other stare that he's given her (and she's given back) tonight, and he says nothing, only gives her the appropriate cue. Safe...?
        
                        ~ * ~
        
        Sheryl and Leila share a handshake, and together, they take their seats behind the coffee table. Sheryl flips her hair over her left shoulder as she crosses her legs; the way she's positioned on the stage, it's a beautiful effect. Her fold crystal earring sparkles in the stage lights as it swings.
        
        "The odds certainly were long! Crafting a song that could make it to first place out of so many entries definitely deserves congratulations, so: congratulations on all your hard work!" Sheryl initiates applause, and the audience claps with her. Some, like Louis, shout their support. It's only a few seconds, though, as she holds her mic. (Now that the song is over, it's a bit of a prop. Sheryl, Leila, and the other interviewees all have mic clips hidden under their clothes to catch and broadcast their voices over the speaker system. They're only on for those on-stage, though, so no worries about catching any private conversations!)
        
        "Like I mentioned, Life in Progress does an amazing job of conveying a timeless sense of the bittersweet teen years," Sheryl continues. "I just graduated from being a teenager myself, so it's practically yesterday for me, but a lot of our judges were captivated by nostalgia. You put a strong emphasis on the piano, too, and that makes me just a bit biased. <3" She winks, her smile taking on a whimsical air before she leans in a hair. "So I'm curious to learn more about you, Leila! First and foremost: what experiences and feelings did you lean on to write your lyrics?"
        
        There'll be more questions, of course--but Leila needs time to answer first.

<Pose Tracker> Leila Misakiyama has posed.

Leila's own nature of seating is, for the most part, vaguely unsure. Relaxed? Tense? How to turn, how to appear in front of the cameras, of the stage itself? There's not a position she can settle on naturally without feeling like she's exposing too much of her natural self to the camera, opting to lean back into the seat with crossed legs.

The sound of applause does bring out a brighter smile from the pinkette in question, eyes sweeping the crowd. So this was what it was like to be a centeral figure...Things were clicking inside her head, even as the face remains unchanged.

The bittersweet teen years, huh...That's an angle. Back to the central train of thought. "My experiences and feelings" She pauses a moment, looking towards nothing in particular. Eyes scanning upwards in internal thought, flicking along the stagelights. "I scribbled them down after a night of browsing in the summer a year ago, and I couldnt tell you at that moment. The ice cream was delicious. I remember that much. After a few recent things" A self-assured nod, that complicated expression hardening into a smile of confidence before switching her gaze to Sheryl.

"I wrote it because I was angry. I still am! Abouteverything! There wasn't an exact target in mind for it all." Said with such a chipper smile. "I did put an emphasis on the piano part, but..." Another tap on the chin. "It always sounds different when you hear it."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Sheryl does note that uncertainty in Leila's positioning, but she doesn't think anything of it, at least for now. It's only natural that she'd be nervous, especially after how she introduced herself. She listens as Leila responds, and at the end, her eyebrows rise.
        
        "Angry? Really! That's surprising--the music doesn't convey that at all." But Sheryl, far from critical, seems intrigued. "I'm betting you'd sing this very differently from how I did, then." (Deja vu...) "But that's the risk of art." Her smile turns a touch wry. "Art is a conversation. The statement we make as artists get heard and interpreted by those who hear it, and sometimes the way they take it is different from how we meant it." She uncrosses and re-crosses her legs. "Still, if that's how you convey your anger... I think you've got some very interesting things to say."
        
        Especially if she's 'angry about everything' with such a bright smile. That's something Sheryl will remember.
        
        "So with that in mind--what made you decide to submit in the first place? Now that you're here and you've listened to someone else perform the song you wrote, how do you feel?"

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

When Asciel approaches, Alouette doesn't back away - perhaps there is a curiosity of what Asciel Colette's been up to ever since she dropped off the radar. "That goes without saying, right?" She slowly nods, at Asciel's observation. "After all, it takes a lot of bravery even just to stand on that stage." She quietly gestures to Leila, in interview with Sheryl - expressing her own raw feelings about the stage. Sheryl didn't put much anger into the song... but the songwriter and the singer can have very different interpretations, huh?

A thoughtful tsk as Asciel brings up the trip to Jupiter. It's really been that long... "Though it's such a shame we lacked your help, I think the Oath over Omega's threat is finally over." She answers, with just the slightest hint of sass.

Her statement about dying is pretty puzzling, though... "That is quite the predicament," she answers, with the mild shock you'd show to any inconvenience. "Then I guess it's accurate to say you've been reborn, or something like that?" That's definitely the kind of metaphor Asciel would use. "It's a good thing you're still able to sing your heart out, though." She smiles.

<Pose Tracker> Leila Misakiyama has posed.

"Probably." Of course she'd sing it different. Of course she would, she doesn't have the range or the breathing power of the concentratio- Ahem. "Art is what we make of it, but I think that the intent of the one making it is just as important." ...Of course she sees the fallacy in her own argument. A minute sigh directed away from the clipped mic, sitting up on the seat.

Despite that, her smile only barely falters, shifting to a more neutral tone. A smile, a smile! "I don't think anger is something that goes away so easily..." Well, not as a conflagration.

"I saw the contest and sent it off after a day of deliberation. If I didnt win, oh well." She matches that with an exaggerated shrug, accentuating a pout of so it goes. Sheryl, for all of Leila's apprehensiveness, was good at making her feel relaxed. The (possibly) hostile guard slowly coming down from that mental mountain, shoulders relaxing in the same wavelength. "And if I did? Id seize the chance." Resolute. Again. Even when I thought about the nerves, I just thoughtIts just a contest. Even not winning, maybe Ill get some feedback." A finger tapping against her own chin. What else. "But I won, and thats what matters~!"

"...Though, how I feel about it?" Another tap on her own chin. And another. "Lots of things have happened since I wrote those lyrics, some for the better, some for the way worse..." Tap. Tap. Tap. "I don't mind it, and I'd give it a high grade like everyone else does. That. Being. Said. It's not the way it's envisioned in my mind, and that's...dissatsifying?" Was that the word? "Or maybe I should've attached more notes on how to sing it, but that wasn't the point of the contest." A trailing off mutter to herself, frowning to herself before shaking her head.

"But it was good. I liked it." A few nods of assurance, plastering on the confidence.

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

         ---((I wrote it because I was angry - about everything.))---

        So that's why.

        Asciel's expression is locked on the little screen letting the backstage crew know what was going on out there - locked on Leila Misakiyama's face.

        "Hah. Hah!!! Of course. It didn't come through when ~performed. ...Ah...ahaha, but that's absolutely a song to write out of that boiling anger!!! It's a song that can only come from its owner...ah...that's almost tragic. That you needed to tell the one who'll be associated with this song what its real meaning is..."

        She catches that faint sense of knowing from Grace - and begins spinning the thought that this unsassuming Leila might have more eyes on her than she'd have anticipated at a glance...

        Asciel's hand is half covering her face, staccato laughter at the simple answer Leila gives. The luminosity of her eye glows through her artificial skin. And with a long exhale, relieving herself of the madness of that laughter, she finally sits back down - still covering her visage to gaze back at Alouette.

        "Hehehe...~rebirth took an extreme amount of bravery. ...The strain of it, the limitations it's imposed on me, have tempered what I desire to save the Earth. ...The overwhelming strength I possessed to overturn fate is...exhausted." The smile sours into something a little more bitter. "It's only through the power of song that I can reclaim it, to crawl back from the abyss of silence."

        A gentle biting of Asciel's lower lip comes before her hand slides downwards to cover her lower face. "...I'm sure your reasons for being here will shine truly when Sheryl interviews you, too. I look forward to your answers!~ You may of course question me with every bit of your heart, as always!"

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Leila might see her argument as fallacious, but Sheryl nods like she takes it seriously. "Absolutely. Our audience will bring their own interpretations, and that's hardly a bad thing. But if we didn't have our own dear feelings that we pour into our art, it wouldn't resonate with others in the first place."
        
        Anger isn't something that goes away so easily... Sheryl's eyelashes dip a hair, but she maintains her smile too. She is, after all, a professional. Leila goes on, and Sheryl leans her cheek on one hand as she listens. She laughs when Leila declares how what matters is that she won. "Anger might not go away so easily, but it sounds like you're good at not letting it weigh you down!"
        
        But then Leila admits that she's dissatisfied with how Sheryl performed it, before insisting, no really, it was good, she liked it. "Hmmm... You've got a lot of nerve, giving notes to the Galactic Fairy. But that kind of nerve will carry you far," she says. There's an amusement to her knowing smile--despite what she said, she's clearly not offended. Especially when she adds, "It's the kind of thing I would've said just starting out, if I were sitting where you are."
        
        Some things better, some things way worse. Again, Sheryl notes the things Leila says, and the things she doesn't say. She doesn't focus on those, though, instead wondering, "So saying all that, you must have bigger ambitions as a musician. You've gotten this chance! How do you plan on seizing it?"

<Pose Tracker> Leila Misakiyama has posed.

It takes a bit for her to process that adage, emotions manifesting in quite a serious nod to it. "I can only hope that it hits, even if people take it differently." A forced conclusion that had her mouth open for a followup, then thinking better of it while her eyes flicked towards the stagelights.

The show must go on, and this isn't her stage. The heat from those lights is starting to slowly wear on her. Was the stage always this small? Was the audience always this close? Were the cameras always this massive? "Ahaha, I hope it does. I'm just taking the things I know day by day and expressing it." A breath in, before a reciprocated laugh heavy with mire.

A lot of nerve, huh? Leila can't help herself, to bring her hands together, the light grip of stage anxiety manifesting in a finger tapping on the top of the other hand. "The Galactic Fairy is just a person I'm talking to, no? We're both just people in different places." If the Galactic Fairy was sitting where she once was...It's mildly inconceivable.

Leila could barely imagine it, even.

A pause, eyes circling in their inner world. "As a musician? Isnt it obvious? To be the best person I can be and to fan my own flames so others are caught up in the fire. If art is a conversation, someone needs to light up the arena to start the talks." The tapping of her finger slowing down. "It started as mere chance, and I wasn't sure of this route until...A few weeks ago, mhm." A self-assured nod. "I think I have a goal no- No, I do have a goal in mind. And that...Is a secret~!" A wink and a peace sign towards a camera. "Idols shouldn't reveal everything on their first brush of success, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Chise Asukagawa has posed.

Far away from the stage, the crowd, the lights and fervent hearts, in a little room in a house in Nouvelle Tokyo, a man lies in his bed, wrapped up in his untucked blankets and scanning a laptop without much expression on his face.

Mere feet away, bundled up amid the old bottles and strewn magazines, sitting cross-legged on a floor chair and slumped over a small table, is a young girl sucking on a lollipop stick. Next to her head is a pile of candy.

On the TV are dazzling starlets discussing their revealed hearts.

"Angry at everything, huuuh," the girl on the table says listlessly, spits her stick out onto a pile of more of the same, and starts fighting the wrapping on a second. "I think I can see it. Heeey Big Guy, whatcha think? She's kind of a firecracker, huh?"

Koyomi Yamanaka's eyes glide from his screen to Chise, in her backless A-neck of a dress secured by a choker. ..."Aren't you more into punk?" he asks, earning himself an annoyed grunt from the girl.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        As Leila starts to answer Sheryl's question, the teleprompter above turns yellow. Sheryl keeps an eye on it as the conversation progresses. Leila looks to be keeping a weather eye on the stagelights too. As she taps her fingers, Sheryl's smile grows.
        
        "That's right. Even I have my own private life where I'm a normal woman." She winks and holds a finger up to her lips. "Don't tell~."
        
        That's a joke, of course.
        
        She hums thoughtfully at Leila's final answer. "That's right. You always want to leave your fans craving more." The teleprompter turns red then--and so accordingly, Sheryl winks again. "Which sounds like the perfect note to wrap up on! The stairs to stardom are steep, so I'm intrigued to see how you climb them going forward. Don't let me down, Leila~!"
        
        She'll stand up to shake hands with Leila a second time, then wave her off the stage. As she does, the in-house band at the back of the studio plays Leila out with an instrumental version of Life in Progress. The lights go dark as that music fills the studio; those at home will be treated to a commercial break.
        
                        ~ * ~
        
        When that teleprompter turns yellow, Brera turns and leaves for the dressing room. There's only a brief knock to alert those inside before he opens the door. "Alouette Pommier. Come with me," he states, stone-faced. He'll bring her to the wings in time for Leila to head off-stage; a moment later, the band wraps, the lights brighten, and it's Alouette's cue to head onto stage and greet Sheryl.
        
                        ~ * ~
        
        "Our next winner wrote a passionate love song called Standing Bird. Despite how intense the lyrics are, the title's a bit cute--after all, the composer's name is a bird, too. Please welcome Alouette Pommier to the stage!" Sheryl smiles over to the wings, and--

<Pose Tracker> Leila Misakiyama has posed.

The yellow light keeps her silent, well aware of the sudden pressure of time to move things along. The last question, the last answer. A private life? Of course, everyone does.

That peace sign is held for a few before nodding in understanding, standing up and shaking that hand in stride. "I'll see you on the battlefield of the song charts, okay~?" A wink before turning about, folowing the tempo of that instrumental as she headed back into the wing...And sighing, doublechecking that she's well and free from the sight of cameras before clicking her tongue. She's a professional, that woman.

There's a nod towards Alouette as she passes by, a smile returning to her face even with a furrowed brow. "Good luck out there."

The way back to the dressing room was spent, other than that, in silence, filtering in and collapsing down on a seat. "Haaaaaa..." A few seconds for the heat of the stage (self-assumed or not) before snagging at a water bottle. Cap off, and draining that plastic container in two sessions of chugging. "Better than nothing, I suppose..."

<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.

         Having just about gained her nerve, Lina steps away from the mirror, giving Alouette a thumbs up as she heads out for her interview. She heads over to one of the seats, taking a water bottle at about the same time Leila does and taking a swig.

         The girl had said that she was angry...at everything. Lina was certainly no stranger to that feeling. At least she was channeling it in a healthier way than Lina had...she thinks. "Not bad out there."

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"It's been a difficult year for you, hasn't it." Alouette says quietly, not quite pity a touch of concern of what has become of Asciel. "I admit, I'm not surprised you're still keeping at it. You're stubborn enough for that... even if there's some answers I'd be interested to hear from you, too." She stands, as Leila's interview comes to a close. "So, good luck!" Her smile returns, wide as ever as she approaches the stage.

What she heard from the interview sparked some thought of its own... the way she boldly addressed Sheryl as just another person - keeping her secrets close to her chest. "I look forward to hearing more from you." She replies, passing by Leila to meet Sheryl.

Alouette takes a deep breath, then turns to wave to their audience, wearing that calm, yet breezy smile once more. She takes her seat, then, opting to take a relaxed, neutral posture, and addresses Sheryl, winking when she hears that wordplay. "It was something of a surprise, but it's a pleasure to be here tonight. I wonder... what questions do you have in store for me?"

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        A casual little peace sign over Asciel's eye sends Alouette off to the stage - her smile just a little catty as she murmurs, "Steel your bravery out there, Alouette~ I'll have my way, and I'll answer everything you have to ask me over the course of our lives. Take your time, and find the questions that speak to your heart~"

        As one soul leaves to the distant stars on the stage, another retreats from that blinding heat. Humans never truly belong out there, Asciel's long decided - that's why they need bravery to exist beneath the spotlights.

        "Oy. Leila." Asciel calls out bluntly, her expression flat and careful. "...Well done out there~ These other two fight for a living, and I'm a star myself, so I don't fear the struggle of the stage, but you're a seemingly ordinary person I've never heard of before. Yet you were up there with poise. Hehe."

        Her eyelid lowers, as her hands push together to make a portrait-orientation frame surrounding Leila. "...I felt the tension in the lyrics you wrote. That 'anger' you speak of...I'm ~oh~ so interested in it. After all, 'better than nothing' about winning a prize from the greatest idol in the galaxy...hehe. The feeling that underpinned that song - just how deep does it go, if even a pinnacle like this isn't what satisfies you~?"

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Alouette joins Sheryl on the interview stage to audience applause. When it dies down, she greets her. Sheryl was already smiling, but it broadens into a warm grin. "It's a delight to see you too, Alouette! But before we get into that--"
        
        Sheryl looks out into the seated crowds. "Our audience wouldn't know this, but despite being an amateur, Alouette helped create a professional-grade fan music video to my song Obelisk before it was officially released along with a few other mutuals of ours. It did a huge amount to open my eyes to how good amateur work can be and helped inspire me to run this contest in the first place. That music video hasn't been released before, so let's roll an exclusive, never-before-seen clip." Sheryl winks to the audience. "I hardly ever do this kind of service~!"
        
        The studio lights darken again as the curtain screen in back closes. Once it does, it lights up with a pre-recorded hologram, clearly partway through a performance. Those familiar with the song Obelisk would realize it's a stanza into the first half of the song.
        
        On the edge of a platform above a city that looks startlingly like a Fujiyokidai in ruins, Sheryl appears in a corseted dress, gazing down with a slight half-smile at a blue-haired girl who stands among countless images of Sheryl's various public shows fluttering around her like autumn leaves. (Those who know her will recognize the blue-haired girl as Rikka Takarada.) Sheryl flips her golden hair as she sings into her iconic golden microphone, then reaches out a single gloved hand. She crooks a finger, as if inviting the girl to give chase, then turns and dashes off anew. The girl's eyes narrow in determination, and she dashes for a stairwell that arcs around to where Sheryl was.
        "Because I felt love, I knew despair
        "I still hold power in my hands
        "But even if I lose it, even if I lose it--"
        
        Though Sheryl continues to moves further and higher away, the girl never gives up, vaulting up broken segments in the stairways, leaping over the gaps in platforms. When it seems like she might finally have Sheryl cornered, the Galactic Fairy turns to her--then grabs hold of a spire suddenly bursting up behind her and reaching up as if to pierce the heavens and bring her to the golden sun, now high above. Sheryl's curls billow as she sings, hanging dangerously down as she uses herself as a fulcrum, leaving the girl to stare up at her and clench her hands in open frustration.
        "Swear to me by your tears that a miracle will cling to you
        "And you'll leap over the wreckage in a rising curve
        "Seek out the pulse in my heart until I return to life
        "Will you make it in time? I pray you'll make it in time!
        "(The reason for your doubt...) Oooh... (The reason for your now...) Ahhh, ohhh..."
        
        The holograms and the music fade out, trading the virtual for the physical. Once again, Sheryl leads the audience into applause--this might be something that Alouette worked on, but it's still an homage to her own music! This too doesn't last long, applause dying down as she settles her hands.
        
        "The context of this video, I'll leave as a fun mystery to our audience~" Sheryl lilts, smile broadening. She uncrosses and re-crosses her legs again as she looks over at Alouette. "But because of that, I was excited to see your name in the contest.
        
        "So! I knew you have interest in music, but I didn't realize you were interested in making your own music. Standing Bird has some similar themes to Obelisk too, in that it's about struggling to overcome adversity and reaching out for love no matter what the cost. What made you decide to submit? And do you have any plans of your own to cross the boundary between amateur and professional?"

<Pose Tracker> Leila Misakiyama has posed.

Leaning back on the chair as another sigh slipped out of her, grumbling to herself as she doublechecked the television. Well and out of sight, surely forgotten...A bit less. Hopefully. "Mhm, thanks...Lina, was it? Good job getting here."

The plastic bottle is already being audibly crumpled by the grip around it, the gal craning her neck to find the nearest recycling bin...And tossing it over after giving the container a final check of water. Success.

"..." Her eyebrow raises a bit, narrowing as she gazed at the towering woman. Asciel. That was the name. Tilting her head, refocusing, trying to remember... "...Can't say your name rings a bell, other than...streaming...?" The way her eyes gazed over the figure was so blatant in its appraisal. More the non-recognition of someone than anything leaning towards animosity. No star she's ever heard of, or probably forgotten. The lands of pop are fickle beasts.

"I wasn't lying about that, you know. Pinnacle? This? Being acknowledged is a good prize, I can give you that, but the pinnacle? You're a star, you should know there's higher plateaus to reach than here." A raised eyebrow. "How low are your own standards if that's the highest you can aim?" Ah, poor Grace...

She does quiet down a bit when the music video started, keeping an eye on the monitor all the while. Clinging to someone, seeking someone...Mhm, those feel like the sort of lyrics that Sheryl would resonate with. "That's how her music ticks, huh..." Another silent mutter, another tap of the chin.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

A nod as Asciel makes her promise. "I'll be sure to... but I hope you know I'm holding you to that!" She answers, as she walks off to that stage.

'Obelisk' was a few years ago now - and while she agreed to help with the production for Rikka and Akane's sake - she had no idea it was what inspired this contest - even if to an extent, it must have inspired her own entry.

"For many reasons," She starts, while Sheryl rolls the clip, "The production of 'Obelisk' was something very special to me." It's something deeply emotional... hearing the song, and watching Rikka's powerful resolve all over again, so it's here that her posture actually tenses a touch. "So I hope you all enjoyed the song."

"Although the context will remain our little secret, if it wasn't for this video... I probably wouldn't have decided to participate in this contest." She answers, completely honestly. "It may not have been a miracle that brought me here... but I'm grateful for it all the same." She folds her hands together, stretching her arms back out.

But what made her want to write her own music? "I don't think it was anger, like it was for Ms. Misayama..." Alouette starts. "But I think I found it to be a good outlet for the feelings that you can't really talk about." She nods, when Sheryl compares Standing Bird to Obelisk. "Or in the case of that song, the feelings you want to make clear above anything to someone else."

"So, you could say I decided to submit to see whether I could convey feelings like that in a way that resonates." She concludes, but her eyes glint in interest of Sheryl's next question. "I have to admit... it's a boundary I'm not entirely clear on yet." She admits. "I could always go to school to learn more about music, but that alone isn't going to make me a professional, right?" She twists her hair, looking towards Sheryl. "It takes a certain kind of star power to really be recognized that way. "If it isn't forward to answer a question with a question, what do you think it takes to reach that?"

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        "Ahem. I'm Asciel Colette, the Virtual Sage, Earth's aegis of song and goddess of rebirth~" ...Has she ever ascribed herself to be the goddess of the same thing twice? Can someone be a goddess without having authority over anything in particular?

        Legs recross, almost imposingly. The leather on Asciel's chair creaks. She's putting on a show the moment she feels Leila appraise her that way. After all - you're supposed to imprint yourself deep in a human's eyes, aren't you?

        "Oh, my star has always been well beyond here. It's something a human should never grasp - by all rights, a human ought to view this as an apex. Of course I will move beyond this - I have my own reasons for submitting a song to this contest. The trouble is that my reasons..."

        A giggle is stifled beneath one hand.

        "My reasons come from oh so similar a place as the boiling fury as your song conveyed to me. A storm I carry because my inhumanity comes with desires I will seize. Why, oh why, would such a thing be in your heart, hmm....~"

        Alouette's interview about 'Standing Bird' punctuates the silence Asciel leaves, and she hums, just under her breath, "...That's the kind of tone a human should be taking. ...That's correct, and matched to your nature..."

<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.

None of the former Ashford students, however, know Rikka Takarada. (Yet.)

During the lull afterwards, there is a brief conversation, even if the interview is still focusing all three of them forwards.

"So, Rin," Samantha says.

Rin answers immediately. "Yuh huh?"

"That dress," Samantha says, which means Louis looks over with his newly military hairstyle and still vaguely gormless eyes.

Rin looks at Samantha. "Yeah?"

"Can you get me the design?" Samantha asks Rin.

"... I mean probably," Rin says, "or if you wait a few days the cosplay people --"

Samantha leans over and whispers something. Rin's eyebrows lift, and she silently mouths 'oh,' which seems to baffle Louis. Rin leans back into her chair afterwards then, because Asciel is up.

"... She reminds me of Sharon Apple," Louis says, after about a minute and a half of attempting to determine what the girls were whispering about through raw Britannian telepathy. (As Britannian telepathy, cooked or raw, does not exist, Louis has, of course, failed.)

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Sheryl nods thoughtfully as Alouette talks about her own feelings as she crafted her own song. Not anger like Leila--but still an outlet for one's feelings. That smile turns sly and teasing. "Does that mean you had a special someone in mind~?"
        
        Alouette's of course dating someone--but was that song for that someone or no? Regardless, she goes on, admitting she isn't sure yet. Her feelings may have come across in terms of the contest, but there's more to being a professional than that.
        
        "Hard work and an excellent manager," Sheryl replies. Some of the audience laughs, and she smiles. "Just kidding~ ...or so I'd normally say, but I'm actually dead serious." Her smile fades in favor of a similarly serious expression. "A lot of people have incredible talent, but they don't get anywhere with it. Maybe because they're not all that motivated; maybe because they're not that interested. But even someone as incredibly beautiful and overflowing with talent as me can't just coast on that, and I didn't make it alone, either." She winks and grins. "Just like you helped make that stage on that day, a star shines because others helped prepare that stage." She brushes a hand back along her bangs, setting her crystal earring asway. "And a jewel sparkles because you polish it."
        
        The teleprompter turns yellow...

<Pose Tracker> Leila Misakiyama has posed.

"Ah, Virtual Sage! That's right, you're that VTuber I unsubscribed from!" Fist against palm. That's it! Because of inactivity! "No wonder, if you're talking about death and rebirth..." Aaaah, that was why she looked so familiar!

Even the 'daunting' cross of legs failed to dent the embossed impression of the Virtual Sage. Goddess of Rebirth? Aegis of Song? No, the human mind had imprinted in itself...One of a Vtuber!

"Hah? An apex? This? Just this?" ...What, she's aiming further, and the implication that one can't go on that route because of who she was... "A kid winning a contest is the apex?" She places heavy, syllabistic enunciation on those last two words. And her goal is further up? Beyond this?

Those eyes are not the eyes of someone emphasizing with the statements at hand. "That's ridiculous. Humanity? Inhumanity? What are you implying, you're better because you're inhuman?" She seizes on that word. Inhuman. It's a word that's forcing her neckhairs to bristle, an eyebrow craned upwards.

She's half-listening to the interview, taking note of the feelings intended to come across. An outlet for feelings. A way to convey something to others, and to wrap up the messaging in a way that's not direct. Sheryl's response only solidifies her feelings on the matter. Everyone's pushing each other up, and she herself is... "She has her own reasons for being there. If she wanted to push upwards to your goal, does that count as too high?" And discarding that thought, slicing a barb towards the Virtual Sage of Gatekeeping (Newly established mental connotation).

<Pose Tracker> Chise Asukagawa has posed.

Back at Koyomi's room, Chise's pile of candy sticks has grown larger and she's fished out a Taraba Jump of unknown provenance, which she has started flipping through for anything decent. "Wow," she says, aimlessly, to the room, which includes Koyomi more or less by definition rather than with any intent. She hums faintly, slowly swaying to Sheryl's singing. She looks up, half-attentive, to the music video. "Huh...wow, isn't that our neighborhood?"

Koyomi looks over from where he is watching CNC disaster compilations. "Huh?" He cranes his neck as far as he can without actually exerting his arms or legs. "I think maybe? Yeah, isn't that the place down the road?"

"Sign's wrong," Chise says. "Huh. So 'Obelisk' was like that, huh..."

She bites entirely through a fresh lollipop, going back to her comic. "Oh heck, that's how Abraxas died?"

Koyomi jolts. "Absolute Abraxas went out!? Whaaat!?"

Chise blinks up at him, then finally looks at the date on her magazine. "This thing's seven months old, dude."

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        Oh, how Asciel tries to hide her reaction to Leila's profession of unsubscribing.

        Is it unwarranted? Of course not. She knows Leila's just one of many.

        But it's so easy to tell. There's a slight tremble in Asciel's right arm just hearing it. The butterfly wings flare forward within.

        "...My goal is to pulverize the 'spirit of humanity', Leila.~ To sing on such heights that even the Galactic Fairy's passions would finally have no further fuel to consume. It is a goal higher than everyone here, because they aaaaaall believe in letting others continue to sing. Continue to lie. Alouette would never plunge into the cosmos for my star, because it is not what she wants."

        Hands steeple over Asciel's heart, toying with the thin lacy necklace tight around her collar. "It's an inhuman thing to end the world like I want to. To end the story of humanity, and replace it with an endless today. A human should not, under any circumstances, what what I want. These are sins humanity should be free from, and only be borne by those apart from them."

        -Yes. The desires prove the still extant truth, even if it's become false. It is her answering Leila's question-

        With a definitive rejection. ((Of course inhumanity is not 'better'.))

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

That teasing question is SO very Sheryl, and if it weren't for it being such a public presence, she might counter right back. It's a genuine question though, so she takes it in stride. "Someone special? Well, it might be a little more broad than that..." She considers. There is someone she loves, and she can convey that perfectly fine without the need for a song.

"At the risk of sounding way too abstract, it's more like... just how I feel about the world. Even when I think the worst of it... it's important to me because of the people I care about." She admits, glancing towards Sheryl. "It's pretty easy to act like you don't care or that you're above it all... but even keeping up that kind of energy is its own intensity, right?"

"Now I'm not saying you can't interpret it as a romantic song. I absolutely have a type~" She winks, gradually feeling more comfortable in front of the audience.

Sheryl has her own advice here, though... on what it means to be a professional. "No, that absolutely makes sense... I think you really have to care to put on a performance that'll move people. And never take the people who help you shine for granted." She nods, though she can't help but snicker as Sheryl still manages to find a way to talk herself up in the process. "It's almost like... that's what separates a singer from an idol, right?"

"Then... it's advice I will be sure to keep in mind." With the yellow light, she's happy to let it be the fading point. "Whether it's shining on a stage, or helping others shine... it's something I still have to think about. But either way, I'm sure we'll see each other again~"

With that, she makes way for Lina.

<Pose Tracker> Leila Misakiyama has posed.

"...That's stupid. Crush humanity? Like-" A snap of the fingers. "That? What are you, Dr. Hell? No, you'd be worse. He just wanted a world, you just want to..." She trailed off, clicking her tongue again in sheer, absolute distaste. The rejection of the rejection: That goal didn't ping her at all. "What Sheryl's doing is a good thing. She's put us on this stage for our benefit. What are you going to do if you were Sheryl? Shut it down? 'Everyone, go home~!'-" Said in the most high-pitched, nasal intonation of mocking. "- And leave everyone high and dry?"

A shake of her head. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was how Asciel said it. Maybe it was just the fact that she couldn't find any hook in it that makes it better than her current goal. "Wanting what you want? I'll get higher than you, then. Simple." Reaching heights, higher than high. "Not someone. Me. My goal's higher than that."

She stands up, stomping off to retrieve...A single can of soda. Pop. Gulp. Get some of those electrolytes or however they're called back in her body. "Saying that in a place where people like her-" A point towards the monitor. She's been listening all along. "-are trying to pull each other up should get you kicked out for sheer gall, honestly."

...This soda was good, though.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Adjacent to the dressing room, where Leila and Asciel converse, Grace's smile arcs up a quarter-inch to the right.
        
        "How cute," she breathes.
        
                ~ * ~
        
        "About the world, hm? You really have a big heart, huh?" Sheryl replies. She shares a grin with Alouette. "It's true, though. Trying to pretend to be something you aren't is exhausting. That's another key to success as a star--you have to thrive on the attention. Otherwise, it'll swallow you whole." What separates a singer from an idol is how much of that you can handle, in other words. "Being a songstress might look easy, but it's anything but."
        
        The teleprompter turns red. The in-house band begins to play a new song--an instrumental version of Standing Bird, as Alouette and Sheryl would know, though to the audience, it's a brand-new piece. "I'm sure we still, too," Sheryl replies, blue eyes sparkling. After all, they're friends in real life. "Even if you only do it for yourself, I hope you keep making music!"
        
        Alouette takes her leave to the whirling rock of Standing Bird. It comes to a crescendo and then a halt. By now, Brera has guided Lina from the dressing room to the wings, and as Alouette comes in, it's her turn to head out on cue.
        
        "Third place went to Ms. Lina Lombardi, who wrote Giant Step, a song that's intense and powerful. But I'll let Lina herself talk about that." Sheryl stands up extends her hand for Lina to come in to shake, smiling brilliantly. "Lina! A pleasure to see you here!"
        
        When the two of them sit together, Sheryl continues, "This isn't our first time meeting, either. If I'm not mistaken, we first met when you won another contest of mine for the Diamond Crevasse music video a couple years ago. Back then, you and a few others got a chance to join me for the filming and for dinner afterwards. To be totally honest, at the time, you seemed way more interested in making wine than making music! But maybe you were feeling shy about sharing?" she teases.
        
        She settles the next moment, smile dimming but hardly disappearing, her eyes bright with interest. "So I'm really curious. You mentioned in your submission video that Giant Step is about taking that first small step to reach out to new horizons. You also mentioned that you'd been through a lot of intense experiences since then, and those experiences inspired you to make a song." At the encouragement of Lina's therapist, but Sheryl doesn't mention that part. Her expression does soften, though. "I can definitely relate."
        
        Her brightness reasserts itself and she continues, "Is there anything about that you're comfortable with sharing--any kind of inspiration you're hoping to share with the people who end up hearing this song?"

<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.

         Letting out a breath, Lina makes her way to the stage, waving to the crowd and taking Sheryl's hand, which is only making her nervous again! She clears her throat, attempting to chase away her jitters. "Yeah, that's true! I'm honored you remembered. Got some luck, huh? Truth is, that song was my first real time playing music in quite a while. I played at a jazz club in Italy when I was younger, but adult responsibilities left me with so little time to play. Besides, I don't make the wine, I just sell it when I can."

         "I'll share what I can. About...7 or so years ago now, I...lost someone very dear to me. I don't know if they're dead, but they're gone. It broke me up inside. Completely derailed my life for a good while. I just couldn't let it go. But a couple years ago, I joined the Gutsy Global Guard, now the Grand Glorious, and...found direction again. I could feel my wounds beginning to heal." She glances over to Alouette with a smile, then takes a deep breath to prepare for the next part.

         "A little bit after that, the Guard undertook an extended mission out to Jupiter. I don't want to share the full details, but I had something happen that tore those wounds back open. After a few more...incidents, I sought help, and I've been working since then to keep myself from going back into that standstill. It's often said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but the first step is the hardest part. And basically, the song is about being able to work up the will to take that step."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "That other contest was luck! This one was hard work and skill," Sheryl says matter-of-fact. Despite this, there's still a playfulness to her smile. "So your entry was about rediscovering a side of yourself you lost sight of when you grew up, huh? That explains that power in your entry. A melody can get polished up with a remix or an arrangement, but there has to be a solid core there for it to do any good."
        
        She laughs at what Lina says about just selling the wine, but grows serous again as Lina describes her loss--first seven years ago, then more recently during GGG's mission to Jupiter. Moving forward and finding a way to heal, even as the past tries to tear at you... Sheryl nods soberly. "A painful past never really stops tearing at your heart. But time goes on, with or without us. Those ideas inspired the visuals for how I perform my song Universal Bunny, so if you wrote Giant Step with the same ideas, it's no wonder you made it this far.
        
        "Enough about the past, then--what kind of future do you envision for yourself in the music world?"
        
        In other words--what's her next step?

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        Asciel's hands, instead, mime a mortar and pestle - fist slowly grinding and pulverizing an imaginary something inher palm. "No, more like this.~ Slowly, carefully, meticulously, and without anything absurd like Dr. Hell - - - ah right. You wouldn't even know that I actually did a fair bit of business with Dr. Hell! All for my own personal benefit - I long knew that his vision was incompatible with mine. I don't want to snap my fingers and blow away the world - I want to destroy it so thoroughly that everyone waves a cute little white flag of allegiance to me!~"

        Despite being oh so forcefully challenged, Asciel's all the more animated. She may have seemed slightly adrift, slightly in a slump for oh so long until now, but the blaze in her eyes is right back to full power having someone to argue with. "Sheer gall is exactly what's gotten me everywhere! If their ~bravery and ~passion would pull me right back down to the earth forever, then so it will. But I'm just as ~resolute. I'm not going to ~give up. Heh. You'll likely be in for a surprise about my song, all of this considered. ...My song...may not have come from the same place as yours. But that's exactly because I knew Sheryl Nome would be singing it, not me."

        As Lina explains the feelings that went into her song, Asciel's arms cross, and a quiet nod affirms her. "...That's right. So many of you have submitted songs 'for your own feelings'. You wanted to give Sheryl your ~anger. Alouette wanted to give Sheryl her ~hope. Lina wants to give Sheryl her ~grief and next step. ...hehe.~"

        A dreamy, airy smile crosses Asciel's lips - before she idly toys with her phone and pivots it towards Leila. "...You interest me quite a bit. Let's add each other on VERTEX, yes? This isn't really the kind of venue to keep going about this, and the manager's giving us juuuuust a bit of a wary look, though knowing her, I doubt she'd mind tooooo much if things ~escalated. I am nothing if not professional enough to avoid destroying a show out of pure ~self-satisfaction!~"

        That blindingly bright smile is aimed Grace's way. This is maybe the one thing in the world one can perhaps genuinely trust Asciel not to do, but to whom has she at all earned that sort of trust?

<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.

         "Oh gosh, I don't even know! I didn't even think I'd get this far! I can tell you I'm probably not going to be looking for a record deal anytime soon, haha. Would be hard to juggle my duties with a world tour!" She lets out a hearty chuckle, brushing a stray hair out of her face.

         "I'm probably gonna go back to basics, maybe find some open mic nights in Tokyo when I can. Find the fun in it again, you know?"

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "I have to admit, I can't even imagine that--going back to basics and doing an open mic night." Sheryl laughs at the very idea, though that laughter is with Lina, not at her. "But that's how it is to be a professional! You have to go at it with everything you've got, and keep that fire going twenty-four-seven, to stay on top. You clearly get that too, but from the other direction. If you're already a pro in the GGG, then staying an amateur in music and finding the fun in it sounds absolutely lovely."
        
        The teleprompter goes from yellow to red then. "Oh, but we've already run out of time! Quel dommage--time passes by so quickly." Sheryl heaves a dramatic sigh, but smiles anew. "It was great having you, Lina. Before you go, do you want to make any quick, final shout-outs?"
        
        Either way, the in-house band starts to play an instrumental version of Giant Step to play Lina out. As promised, it's an intense rock song. As it plays, the holo-screen starts scrolling information on the upcoming sale of the EP that these songs will feature on... and the code to get it at a discount, just as the ads for the special promised would happen at some point. That info will scroll a couple times, but still, those watching better jot it down quick!

<Pose Tracker> Leila Misakiyama has posed.

The reveal of a wanted terrorist like Asciel collaborating with Dr. Hell would be enough to give someone pause. Openly declaring to consort with someone who arguably was one of the 'pinnacles' of...evil is the basest term for it. "That still sounds stupid, you know. That's what you want to see? Everyone below you? ...I changed my mind, it's not a stupid idea. It's a kid's idea of a world. Are you going to roll some dice, snake eyes, someone dies because they had a bit of sin?"

Listening closely to the interview at hand, gesturing towards it. "You're going to step up to her and say that her memory's worth less than your vision?" Ah, Asciel was insane. The sort of insane that's...recognizable.

"...Give her my anger? Were you even listening? I didn't write this for Sheryl, I submitted it for other reasons. The fact that it came out as good as it did was happenstance." Totally incompatible worldviews, that brow furrowed as she finished her drink off. "Giving someone your feelings implies I'm sloughing them off on someone. I'm not." Ah, tch, there's no more soda in this can. A toss, a clatter...She's missed the trash can by a sizable margin.

She does, of course, dutifully head on over to toss it in. Manners.

"Fine, VERTEX. Send a message when you want, the schedule's open." A deep breath before shaking her head, the flames of rejection still smoldering. Honestly. Giving feelings, she completely misunderstood. Giving your emotions to a voice that can amplify it is good, but how she sang it, the way the melody was presented...It didn't satisfy. It wasn't how it was envisioned in her head. Words, ideas, passions filtered through text, through the judging process, through the people making, engineering, choerographing, each and every bit...

"...Sorry for carrying a convo like this in front of ya, Grace. Please overlook this~" A wink, a smile, and a bow. Whether it was sincere or not...

<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.

         "Ah, yeah!" Lina gets as close to a camera as she can get. "Hey Sonia! I love you!" She waves in close-up, grinning from ear to ear as she steps off of the stage and back into the green room. Once the door is closed, she leans on the wall and slides to the floor. "Whew! Never been on TV before..."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Grace smiles sweetly back at Asciel and Leila. "Oh, no, no need to apologize," she reassures Leila. "Part of my job is keeping up with Sheryl's potential rivals. From that point of view, it was quite fascinating!" That smile turns rueful as she looks at Asciel. "Though I certainly would appreciate it if you refrained from destroying the show. It's so important to her."
        
        A click of the tongue when Leila misses the trash can. Fortunately, Grace doesn't need to lecture her about littering.
        
        On the stage, the lights go dark again as the band continues to play. At home, there's another commercial break. This means there's a little bit of extra time in between segments. When Lina returns to the dressing room, Brera's in her wake.
        
        "Asciel Colette. Come," he intones. The intensity of his stare is at least consistent with earlier, but all considered, there's a bit more dagger to it. But then, Asciel did just establish she's as much of a danger as ever, and he is Sheryl's bodyguard.
        
        That exit strategy is still open, though. Grace is making sure of it.
        
                        ~ * ~
        
        And soon, it's Asciel's turn, as the lights go up on stage again...
        
        "Last on stage is Asciel Colette!" Sheryl announces. She outstretches a hand to Asciel when she walks on stage, but when they sit together, Sheryl continues to address the audience for a bit longer: "This was a controversial pick among the judging panel for a lot of different reasons. I won't go into all of them--if you know, you know--but in the early stages of selection, we had to decide if Asciel should be allowed to make a submission in the first place. That's right! She's a Super A.I. who had a V-tuber channel and has even performed her own concerts! In that case, can she really be considered an amateur? If not, she would've been disqualified! Our team ultimately decided that a V-tuber is the music industry equivalent of a self-published author and so just this side from being a pro."
        
        Now Sheryl smiles at her final guest--though not the final winner; the fifth place winner opted not to join the program, after all. "Which brings us to here and now, Asciel! Your piece Auto-Mata is such a well-composed and heartfelt song, written from the perspective of someone who's being torn in two emotionally. What I personally found intriguing about it is that its voice doesn't even try to pretend to be anything but a Super A.I., something that even Sharon Apple didn't do with her music. As an unaugmented human being, I thought it would be fascinating to put a song like that out into the world with my voice--I really liked the idea of a musical union of human and program for those who need it."
        
        Uncross, recross. "One thing I was confused about, though, is how complete your submission was," Sheryl continues. Though she talks about being confused, her blue eyes are keen. "You submitted lyrics, fully polished and arranged music, dance moves, and even a complete music video with it. As I mentioned, it's not like no one knows your name. You could've released this song yourself as a professional; instead, you submitted it to my contest for amateurs.
        
        "Why?"

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        The fluttering amplifies. Trying to pick apart what exactly Leila means, past the boiling red fog of being in the middle of a verbal fight to the death. Trying to understand. ...is that even possible for someone like Asciel? To genuinely understand? Something cold bristles up Asciel's spine. "Sloughing off feelings onto another...h...hah. What a turn of phrase. ...Something about the way you say these things, Leila...they are at once maddening and comforting. ...I wonder just how lost you are, and what we'll find talking to each other."

        ...Asciel certainly appears just a touch lost herself - her attention wandering off, with a little bit of muttering to herself. But the instant she's called to the stage, the light returns to her eyes. There are mere milliseconds between her lounging on the couch and bolting to her feet the moment she realizes it's her turn to head out there, and not even Brera's intensity can dissuade her. If anything, she just casts the stoic bodyguard a merry wink on her way out to greet Sheryl.

        And it's clear she was born for this. She greets the camera of the broadcast like a long-lost lover, blowing a kiss with both hands and smiling ear to ear. Everyone who was here for her surely must have missed her, if they were willing to join in a stream piped from someone who'd been quiet for a year.

        There is little Asciel loves more than an audience, and despite her unnaturally fast gait forcing any spotlights to keep up - something about the stage returns that affection as she takes an elegant seat opposite Sheryl with a cheery "Thank you so much for having me!"

        ...The brightness dials down juuuuust a tad as Sheryl makes the introduction and talks about the song, Auto-Mata. Nothing Sheryl says is...inaccurate. And yet...

        The butterfly's wings raise defensively again.

        The stage can't abide by falling behind. The dazzling gleam returns when the ball's passed back to Asciel, and her words come with a hand folded under her chin.

        "It's true. I certainly could have made this a song entirely unto my own," Asciel muses. "If anything - the excess of preparation is a backup plan. If I spoke from the ~heart, and found out you wouldn't have me on this contest to begin with - then I'd simply make the song itself an end to my year-long hiatus. But! A song contest from the Galactic Fairy of all people? A chance to appear in an interview with the galaxy's most indomitable idol? I couldn't possibly turn down that opportunity to make my grand return to the world's stage."

        Asciel's second hand joins her first - her posture leaning forward a tad closer to Sheryl. While she knows the flow of turning between host and camera, now, Asciel's gaze is fixed firmly on Sheryl's, unbreaking.

        "It's funny you mention Sharon Apple too. She's someone very, very important to me - and I can tell from your work that you've taken ~inspiration from her as well. I'm much the same. But what speaks to me about Sharon's work are the emotions she was trying to express."

        Her eyelids lower just a little intensely.

        "And not simply the ones that have 'connecting with a human heart' to blame. ...I understand oh so well what could only have come from her lips. ...It's nice to talk about her like what happened was an accidental tragedy, but I will always remember that the very essence of her music - an object tainted by human emotions - was exactly the justification for destroying her."

        "So that's my other selfish reason for being here, Sheryl~"

        "...I want to know if it's just as unforgivable for a human to start echoing a song from the heart of an inhuman."

<Pose Tracker> Chise Asukagawa has posed.

At Casa Yamanaka, Chise has leaned completely against the back of her floor chair, pigtails wiggling in the air as she gnaws a lollipop stick into oblivion.

"Shyeah," she mutters, and bites entirely through the stick, then tosses the remainder on the pile. "Back to basics, huh. Hf."

Koyomi looks over from a Try Not To Laugh compilation. "Sorry, you say something?"

"Nah," Chise says, and unconsciously finds herself leaning her covered arm into her pocket, pulling out a pretty little pebble she found the other day. She turns it over in her hand. She watches the way the light plays off it.

Then she notes the discount code scrolling on her screen and yelps an "Ack!" and tucks the stone into her arm warmer so she can grab her phone to take notes.

<Pose Tracker> Leila Misakiyama has posed.

It's a small comfort, knowing that the angle of 'rivals' in the idolsphere was not lost on the manager. Everyone here, technically, is an enemy in the public sphere of song charts and other places if they dared to step into it. In one view, this could be a courting of lions before the slaughter descends to leave the idol orchestrating it all at the top.

It's still a bitter taste, leaving an argument unresolved. It's for the best.

Still, she nods towards Lina's incoming purview, watching the interview in rapt interest. Calm down. Just a bit. Lucky she didn't go off again, but... A glance down at her hand. It's trembling the tiniest bit.

The interview itself is viewed with the eye of criticality. Explanations, question, answer. As if the strings cut from an animated person, allowing a fitful bit of rest while taking in the talk. "...Who's Sharon Apple...?" A complete blank, muttering absentmindedly. Someone to look up later, to at least try and understand what this idiot means.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Though Asciel wilts for a second, she revitalizes back to her sparkling self soon enough. Sheryl listens, and her smile crooks to one side as Asciel praises her and talks herself up at the same time. "You're just full of contradictions, aren't you? You made that clear in your song, too," she muses.
        
        But the topic turns to Sharon Apple, and Sheryl gives her a thoughtful frown. "Hmmm... So that's your perspective. I can definitely see how you were inspired by her too. But if I remember right, the news said she was hacked. By terrorists," she adds pointedly. "That doesn't sound like an accident to me." (This isn't true. But it is what was on the news.) "Still, 'an object tainted by human emotions' is a good way to describe her art. And it's sure true she was destroyed because of self-serving human beings."
        
        Is it just as unforgivable, though? For a human to echo the inhuman, as the inhuman echoed the human?
        
        "It isn't. But that's because of who'd be doing the forgiving," Sheryl replies bluntly. "It might be unfair, but the ones who dictate how society works are people who were born with hearts of flesh, not silicon. Whoever's on top gets to dictate the rules and who they do and don't apply to."
        
        She stretches out a lily-white arm--her pale skin as ever protected by Nome Pure Shield, though that'll only be highlighted in the post-show commercials. "Take me, for example! In Galaxy, the Macross fleet I grew up in, people with implants are in the majority and their ideas are on top, to the point that fourteen-odd years ago, 'naturals' like me were getting killed for speaking out against them... and yet when I dazzled the stage, my being all natural was a selling point. You'd think that if they loved implants so much they would've preferred a virtual idol like Sharon, and yet here we are!" Sheryl withdraws her arm to shrug and shake her head. "Sometimes humans don't make sense, even to ourselves."
        
        Never mind that the Macross Galaxy was lost years ago; Sheryl still talks about them in the present tense. She did say back then that she'd go home to Galaxy one day. Right now, though, she raises her chin to look Asciel in the eye. "Is that what you're trying to echo?"

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        Tactfully away from the audience, and from the primary cameras, Asciel's hand tightens against her own thigh.

        "...So it was that obvious, wasn't it? That the notes of this being a 'love song'...weren't all that straightforward."

        It was never addressed to any separate person. No - the whole while Asciel was writing this song...that day of rebirth was what echoed in her mind. The sight of 'herself' having become a ruined corpse right before her eyes.

        "It's an elegy that I gave you, Sheryl.~ ...An elegy to me."

        The hands folded below Asciel's chin steeple over her mouth instead. "...As soon as it happened to Sharon, the instant news from Eden reached Earth, my...associates were in the know. ...All things considered..." Her eyes flicker to the audience. "Well, it's best not to turn this celebration of music into a dive into political rabbit holes, yes? ...That can be for after our little show here~"

        Asciel does, of course, listen very intently to Sheryl describing the peculiar conditions of the Macross Galaxy. At once she recoils in her seat, her hands folded at her lap - and her eyes widen in intrigue. She hadn't even thought something like a Macross would deviate so far from Earth's norms in so short a time.

        "...If I rise to the top of the stage, not a human in the world will ever need to navigate the shores you have, Sheryl. I'll put an end to every last divide. ...but...ah. Hahaha. I had no idea...that you and I were such similar fairies. We've risen in a world that ought to despise us exactly because we are a change from everything it stands for."

        A gleam cuts through Asciel's vision. An excited smile crosses her lips. "...Ahhh, I'm so glad to finally be among the same stars as you again. It was a mistake - to have ever decided it was no longer possible. No...being an idol is the only place I ever could've been, no matter what I had to give up for it. And now, meeting you, finally - that's more true than ever."

        ...She has to carry that glow through the last question. Because such a simple turn of phrase lances at her heart.

        'Is that what you're trying to echo?'

        "...It's not possible for me to echo such a thing, very clearly~"

        The smile Asciel puts on is so obviously forced.

<Pose Tracker> Chise Asukagawa has posed.

"Oh, she's cute! Peppy!" Chise says, while Asciel's on the screen nearby, but she is looking at an iguana in her manga.

Koyomi twists again to look at the screen, eyes peering through overlong bangs. "I guess..." he says, his usual sullen style. "She seems like..." He grimaces. "A lot."

Chise looks up at him, then at her comic, then over at the screen. "Oh, yeah, her. That lady was a whole thing a few years ago. I think it turned out she's some kinda hologram lady?"

Koyomi scratches his cheek. "Like a VTuber...?"

"Yeah. Biiiig following."

"...some wild graphics..."

"Eh," Chise says, not interested in that part. She puts her magazine down, and adds, "By the way, who's Sharon Apple?"

Koyomi grimaces. "That was a whole thing a few years ago," he says.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "If it's a love song, it's probably more like Alouette's. Love for something way more abstract than any given person," Sheryl observes. "But it makes more sense to me that it was really a requiem to yourself."
        
        Sheryl wasn't there for Asciel's many misdeeds, but Grace has kept her updated on them ever since her name appeared in the contest. You can always trust Grace to keep track of everything important.
        
        Her blue eyes do flicker in turn, though, as Asciel opts to keep this interview from getting too political. Her associates... Does that mean the people who made her, or... something else? (Grace keeps track of everything important. That's how she knows how to carefully curate what Sheryl does and doesn't hear.) She'd be lying if she said her interest wasn't piqued, and so she nods at the prospect before the topic moves on.
        
        Asciel's promise to rid humanity of division, though, gets Sheryl to huff a little sigh. "'Putting an end to every last divide' is exactly what the pro-implant extremists were trying to do. World peace sounds great until you start stamping down everyone who disagrees with you to get it, and I'm not interested in a world where I can't take control of my own fate." She leans back in her seat, and the look in her eyes isn't unsympathetic. It's plain to her that Asciel really is passionate about this, and they do have things in common--even if Sheryl disagrees about the particulars. "You really do make great music, Asciel. If you're happiest being a songstress, quit trying to be a 'goddess' and stick with that. I doubt your fans will put up with getting betrayed twice."
        
        There is that one last question, though, as the teleprompter's yellow runs long. 'It's not possible for me,' she claims. Sheryl raises her eyebrows at her, then smiles.
        
        "Really? Then why're you trying so hard to do exactly that?"
        
        Red.
        
        There's enough time for Asciel to get a final word in... but only if she can keep it brief. If not, her time on the stage is out. (And perhaps someone made sure it cut right when it did. Asciel may have words for more than just Sheryl.) Whether she does or not, though, the in-house band plays her out with Auto-Mata, same as the others. However this conversation panned out, Sheryl still acknowledged her music and her place here as one of her contest winners.
        
        It's just a question of if that's good enough.

<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.

        The red light blinds Asciel. The red of defiance - and of what was defied.

        Eyes that struggle to leave the teleprompter make for an oh so awkward final few moments to the interview.

        It's not going to tell her what to say. It is completely blank, save for that crimson light.

        ...It is her role to answer every question humans offer. But this one can only conceivably be answered one way.

        "It's my curse to give my all towards whatever seems impossible."

        The music kicks in not a moment later, and the current of the stage can finally carry Asciel away. Shaking hands, smiling to the cameras and audience, waving goodbye - these are all more natural than breathing. (Why did that become natural again?)

        ...It's only when she's finally confirmed to security staff that she's taking her own way out of the building, one promising minimal pursuit and incident, deep in an access tunnel, that Asciel finally stops for a moment.

        Everything around her still seems colored by that same red.

        "...hah. So Sheryl's life is one of her defiance being refusal to accept becoming cross-contaminated..."

        ...and yet, it feels like Asciel 'gave' Sheryl something in that moment. No...that there was something uncompromising Sheryl could take away from her.

        It can't come to its logical conclusion, no matter what the butterfly tightens its legs around.