2022-06-20: Happiness
- Cutscene: Happiness
- Cast: Kaguya
- Where: An unidentified laboratory in the Veruni Control Zone.
- Date: 06-20-2022
- Summary: Another day at Kaguya's laboratory, working on the Demetrioi...
Bright, sleek surfaces reflect the fading sun outside the facility, Kaguya's laboratory repurposed from a less-prominent scientist--but a tall edifice of Veruni power no matter who's running it. Deep within is the hiding place of the Demetrioi, a powerful device from the stars themselves. And out here...
Inside, too, are gleaming halls and glittering platforms, all done up in glass and steel. And of course, there are the researchers. Deeper within, past a corridor and past the entryways with their security, two scientists stand by a water cooler, talking.
"So you think she's cracked?" the one asks, lifting an eyebrow as she looks back towards the central window, where Kaguya is inside working with the machine.
"Probably. Either the VR Factor or spending all that time among humans, but /something/ is strange. 'Be nice to the machine'? Who does she think she's talking to?"
"I hear she was in stasis for over a hundred years. Maybe that's why. She was a brilliant prodigy, back on the Locus Solus, but now..."
"Stuck in the past, huh? Crazy to think of a girl that young as an 'elder' among us. But we've lost so many already..."
"Eh. It's fine. The science is good. You've /seen/ what this thing can do. With this, we can control everything about the climate--can finally move out of these damned Control Zones and take the rest of the world."
"True. And she's leading us to that. So I guess it's fine if she has weird instructions..."
"...Yeah. Don't tell her or anything, but I don't bother treating the machine like a person when she's not there. It's just sentimental nonsense."
"Heh. Me, either."
Meanwhile, deeper in the facility...
Kaguya stands before Demetrioi, and tries to keep the frustration out of her expression and her voice. "...Sorry about them. They really will be happy once we finish our work here. They just..."
She can't hear the scientists, of course. But she's not stupid. And Demetrioi...
Demetrioi's strange reply is as strange as ever:
- ) i cannot wait to make them happy kaguya :D i cannot imagine they will be upset :)
Kaguya smiles faintly, but her heart's not really in it. "...Yeah," she says. "It'll be... great." A pause. "...So, the mineral content of the nearby water..."
She has to keep trying.