2018-09-25: Finding Your Wings
- Log: Finding Your Wings
- Cast: Shalune Amira, Lily Keil, Riesenlied
- Where: Yggdrasil
- Date: 25th September 2018
- Summary: Shalune continues to tinker with Diablo, and voices her concerns to two people with different outlooks...
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune has been spending a surprising amount of her time on board the Yggdrasil after her return to Filgaia - the Fereshte is well in hand for the time being, and besides she's kind of missed being on board, splitting her time between trying to help out with the engines, learning as much as she can about how the sandship operates... and working on Diablo.
The escape from Lunar gave her a Eureka moment of sorts, a potential massive leap forward in her understanding of Diablo's construction and the means with which to repair it, but a Eureka moment with a very Shalune sort of flair.
That is to say: she found some Elw technology and stole it.
The arm that Big Shal recovered now sits on a tarpaulin just in front of Diablo. Shalune is much too cautious to have tried stripping the thing down for parts - she kind of assumes that would break whatever magic holds the thing together - but she's been trying to gingerly take stock of everything there, and is starting to wonder if it might just be best bolting the thing on and seeing what happens.
There's a nagging feeling at the back of her mind that stops her, though - and every time she examines that feeling she can picture Sado at the back of her mind, razing the desert sands.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily, on the other hand, spent most of her time immediately after the return in Adlehyde and then Petra; she had some recovering to do, and other business... But now it's time to work, and there is a lot before the sorceress. An important part of preparing to face Mother is to secure possession of her Gear again, and Leon's--but also...
She hasn't forgotten that they have a Golem of their own, damaged as it may be. Can they really unleash this sort of power, after what it's claimed happened the last time?
Regardless, even without being officially affiliated any longer, Lily has some familiarity on the ship and its crew with her, and the fact that she brought a /guest/ is fine. It's fine because she says it's fine. And now...?
Now she happens to walk into the great chamber with Diablo in it, and to step forward, looking up at it without looking down at Shalune. She's dressed in dark attire, still has the eyepatch, has an ARM at her hip--
"Strange to look at it again, after all this time. Isn't it?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It's genuinely been a while, but Riesenlied remembers when she tried to reach out to the Yggdrasil following the battle of Adlehyde to try to surmise what they were going to do with the Golem they'd managed to secure - Diablo.
She remembers giving Shalune a talk almost a year ago about it -- about responsibility and at the same time, to not shy away from it just because... it's not the kind of talk she feels qualifies to give, perhaps, given how her allegiances have shifted over time, but...
Riesenlied is accompanying Lily, feeling a bit awkward as she says, "Is it... really all right for me to be here? But..." She glances up. She still feels a pang of trepidation, a bit of regret.
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"... yeah..." Shalune mumbles to herself, all apparently without noticing Lily's presence. By now she's resting both arms on the piece of Elw machinery, her chin sunk low as she gazes at Diablo and lets her thoughts gently turn around in circles. "... I feel kind of bad for it so beat up like this, but..."
It takes a long moment, and then she jolts upwards. "Miss Lil--" Bonk. "--owww..." she whines as she clutches her head, having just bounced her head off an open panel of metal in her surprise. Both hands clasp her bobble hat for a moment, quietly thankful she's got something to take the shock of the impact, though her eyes bead with adorable tears for a moment.
"M-Miss Lily, hey! Are you okay?" she tries again, and then straightens up a little at the sight of Riesenlied as well. "Oh, Miss Riese! Um-- welcome to the Yggdrasil, I guess?" she grins foolishly, scratching at her cheek. "I figure if Miss Lily's with you it's probably okay, just make sure the Captain doesn't flirt with you."
It's a welcome distraction from her thoughts, and she embraces the chance - but still glances back at Diablo every so often.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily has been thoughtful, maybe a little melancholy, but overall quiet. ...Except when she's been asking Riesenlied how she's doing, looking after her, of course. Now, however, on the Yggdrasil--
She can feel what Riesenlied is feeling, and shakes her head, starting just a moment before Riesenlied even speaks up. "...It's fine that you're here." She sounds certain... But also a little punchy, like part of her wants trouble over it.
Only part; these people were her allies. But how long until they, too, think better of it?
Lily waits for Shalune to notice her. "...You all right?" she asks, and does not fall immediately for /adorable tears/. Instead, "I'm fine," Lily answers with a shake of her head. "Or as fine as I'm likely to be. And you? You seem well enough to be tinkering, at least."
A pause, as Lily looks back up to Diablo, and sighs. "...We have to decide what to do with this thing. I remember when I thought it was easy, when it all seemed clear."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied nods very quietly and-- turns just a little bit red. "I've met the Captain before. I think Noeline's made the message very clear," with a quiet sigh as she tilts her head and puts her hand to her cheek as she looks to the piece of Elw machinery... she can tell by the glow running along its sides.
She gasps just for a moment to go, "A-ah, are you all right, Shalune?" as she pats her on the head and starts doting immediately.
A pause, as Riesenlied looks to Lily, then to Diablo. "... I wish we could speak to it..."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"Ah, yeah, I mean, I'm healthy enough," Shalune responds as she puts a smile on her face, though she does still clutch at her head for a moment as she rubs what will probably become a fine bump. "Still kinda shaken by everything, I guess? I know myself enough to tell when I'm kinda throwin' myself into work. There's been a lot to worry about, and trying to fix something just sorta helps keep my mind off things," she admits rather plainly, scratching at her cheek sheepishly.
She's quick to bob towards Riesenlied, though, letting the Hyadean fuss over her with a light laugh. "Aww. I'm glad. He seems responsible enough, then he goes and does somethin' /real/ dumb. I swear, it kinda feels like a theme amongst Drifters, huh?" she adds rather cheekily, but draws back a little to peer at Riese in turn and check she's alright.
When she looks back at Diablo, it's with something of a sigh. "I've managed to fix up some parts of it, mostly through trial and error and bein' real careful, but I think we're a ways off being able to speak to it and have it listen. To be honest, though, I was kind of thinking the same thing. It'd be nice to just-- figure out what it wants, if anything. Maybe Diablo just wants to curl up and have a cup of tea, or maybe it wants to explode absolutely everythin'."
Her grumble might be a little uncharitable, but she doesn't look apologetic. "I'm used to fixing stuff I made myself, or stuff that doesn't think and feel. ... not knowing what it'd be like to turn it on is kind of hard."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Healthy enough; it'll do. Lily looks over Shalune just long enough to decide that she's sure that's accurate, and then attends to the matter of what she's saying. ...She does not interrupt the doting, because, well, that's adorable. "The Captain..." Lily sighs, shakes her head. Her opinion of his irresponsibility is a factor.
"Well, I'm not free from doing something stupid either," Lily admits. "...Mm, I see. If anyone can, I imagine it might be you, but..."
"What it 'wants'," she repeats thoughtfully. She considers immediately, thinks--
"Riesenlied, don't... try it."
Instead, "But what a weapon wants isn't usually what matters. I can see where it would feel difficult. ...To be honest, I'm not sure whether we even /should/ fix it. Maybe we should just try to get some of its systems to upgrade Gears we can actually /control/. Who knows what this thing would do, given the chance? And..."
"...Well, I have a lead on another Golem at least. Regardless..." She looks down. "You don't call something 'Diablo' that's meant to be kind."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied lowers her head again and pats Shalune in that doting manner of hers as she comments that she's shaken. "Me too," she fully admits, thinking to that time she kinda just bawled about a pauldron of Siegfried's when she... probably wouldn't have really wanted to.
She steps back for a moment and drapes her arms around herself. "... I might have done something terribly foolish not yesterday, even," she admits, before biting her lip and thinking a little harder on the topic of the Golem.
"... even if a weapon is not able to communicate, the intent of its designer tends to carry through, much like how a child inherits the thoughts and feelings of their parents, I think," Riesenlied expresses.
A pause. "And much like how a child is free to change and break free of that... I think that, as its most recent handler, you don't have to be restrained to what the Elw thought of Diablo either, Shalune..."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
"Aww," Shalune sounds out with genuine sympathy. "But Miss Lily, we kind of already expect you'll overextend yourself, and Miss Riese overexerting herself is kind of a given, too. It's all about settin' expectations." She says it deadpan - but there's a mischievous look in her eyes, and she sticks out her tongue a moment later. It's been a rough couple of weeks, so maybe she's got an excuse to be a little bit of a playful brat - but she makes a grateful noise towards Riesenlied as well, snickering as Lily vetos the first thought on the Hyadean's mind."
At least she pays solemn attention to the two different viewpoints, furrowing her brow a little as she seriously mulls them over. "H-hmm... I guess one question is whether we actually need it. I guess another question is whether it'd be right to make the call to turn it off forever. If a golem can think, isn't that kind of like-- turning around and deciding that it's not allowed to live?" She chews at her lip. "... I couldn't do that to Big Shal, so what if she'd turned out different somehow?"
She turns that uncertain look on Riesenlied next, tilting her head slowly to one side. "Mm... maybe that's part of it? I guess I don't really feel like Diablo's 'handler', yet. I don't know enough about it or how it's made to really call myself that... it's like I'm just borrowing someone else's work and piggybacking on top of it. I mean, that's somethin' you always do, but-- maybe I'm a little behind on the technology."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily lifts an eyebrow at Shalune's mischief. At that /comment/. And then... she just shakes her head. "Yes, that's true." ...She's not really mad, though. She looks up to Diablo again, thinking. "...That concerns me," she says to Riesenlied, but the matter of a weapon--the designer... a child.
"Mm," Lily answers. She remains silent until after she listens to Shalune's thoughts on it. And they are... rather mature.
"It wouldn't be the first being to be killed for a greater good," Lily points out. "That may not seem comforting, but you could save a lot of lives that way, if that turns out to be what's necessary. ...A child can change from their parents' will, but they don't, always." A look to Riesenlied, as she turns, watches her. Another difference, she thinks; another look in the mirror.
"The logical answer seems to be, then... /if/ you can make this golem... yours, somehow, change it, take control--then it may be worth doing. I..." She considers.
"But your first question. Whether we need it. That, we won't know until the time comes; we can only guess. But I may be able to find a functional Golem for this purpose. ...The real question is... Is using it worth the devastation it might cause? Would we stop Mother, only to destroy the world ourselves?"
"I don't know. I can't imagine that this machine could have that level of power... But how else did this world become as it is? What power do we not understand, already?"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's horns predictably wilt as Shalune comments about how it's expected of her to overexert herself. "I'm... I'm trying. For Noeline's sake, Janey and Mikaia, and... my own too," she whines, though it's rather clear that she's not really listening to her own advice when push comes to shove. Someday, Riesenlied...
She closes her eyes for a moment longer and says, "... it may very well just be as bad that Diablo was unearthed in the first place," with a sigh. "But..."
She opens her eyes and puts her hands behind her back. "You didn't learn everything about Big Shal in a day either, did you? You've not really had the chance to work with Diablo much, given everything that's happened. I think..."
A pause. "I think it's okay if you don't feel certain today. I know you'll get there, Shalune."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune scratches at her hair, letting out a slow breath as she glances up at the pitted surface of Diablo. She's made strides in repairing some of the bodywork, but it's certainly fair to say that the Golem has seen much better days, still marked by the sheer heat of Ethius' flames. "... aww... Miss Riese, I know, I'm just teasing," she promises when she looks back, bobbing in closer - and apparently thoughts of the future are less important than offering a wilting Hyadean a hug in the here and now. "I'm sure they're super proud of you!"
That done, she looks to Lily and slowly nods, rubbing at her chin. "I guess that's really the common thread, huh? I can't go into somethin' like this blind, not when it's something so powerful, so I should be learning more about what I can and can't do to mitigate that. ... to be honest, it feels a little weird for someone like me to make contingency plans," she admits sheepishly, with another scratch at her cheek.
She offers Riesenlied another grateful smile, then looks up at the Golem once more. "I'd really like to believe that these guys don't want to fight all the time, and do nothing else. That would just be really-- sad," she decides after a moment. "And I don't want to just give up on it, because that'd be like saying the Tainted should've stayed home, or something. But-- yeah," she looks back at Lily with a renewed smile. "At the same time, I promise I won't act too rash or anything."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Poor Riesenlied. "...Trying is one thing," Lily says with a small hint of reproach, though she doesn't press it any further; she just sighs, shakes her head. "I know, you're doing what she can," she says, relenting. She looks up to the markings of those flames again. Proud...
"Yes, I'm sure of that."
It is weird, maybe, for someone 'like' Shalune to make contingency plans, but, "It seems like the best way to go to me. Understand it as well as you can. ...When you're dealing with power, it's important to know what you're getting into as best you're able."
That would be... sad. For some reason, Lily frowns lightly, glances to the side, as if... uncomfortable. Thinking what Riesenlied said about parents, and children...
"...It's all right to keep working. I'll rely on you to learn what you can. You'll make the decision you have to, when the time comes."
"We all will."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has a little, sad smile, trying to perk up again even as her horns remain drooped. "I know so," she can at least say of her family, hugging Shalune gently for a moment and looking up towards Diablo again.
"... keep on learning, keep finding out more things about the past... because if Lunar has taught me something-- there's so much we still don't know, and so many things both mundane and fantastic that will surprise us," Riesenlied quietly chuckles, bashfully.
She looks at the young girl and says, "... the Elw aren't here anymore. We know they did what they had to, at the time, but... it doesn't mean we have to make the same choices they did."
She pauses for a moment as she senses Lily's discomfort... empathising with her a little. She has a lot to think about parents and children too, after all.
"And it may not even be that foolish. Big Shal has a... learning... circuit, doesn't she? I think that was the term Cetiri used. So they have some modicum of 'thought'... and it's about learning the language they speak, even if it might not be something we think of as 'language'."
There's a somewhat bashful look as she says, "I was... built to be a Metal Dragon, after all, originally. Look at me now."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune gives both woman a quiet smile of her own; she looks a bit older these days, like she's actually taking her years into account and learning some life lessons along the way. In the end, the fact that she's hesitating is a marked departure from how readily and easily she turned Big Shal on - though she deliberately avoids thinking of how much worse that might have gone, unwilling to even entertain the thought of an upset and dangerous Big Shal.
"... yes, ma'am," she grins a little at Lily, bolstering herself as she stands up straighter. Her salute is-- not exactly regulation. "I'll see what I can do to learn more, I promise. I don't think either of you are wrong, it's just... this is the first time I've had to put any of it into practice, you know? And maybe I'm still feeling pretty wired from the sight of Sado, but then I guess that one was being controlled by someone, huh?"
She snickers softly at Riesenlied's suggestions. "That's probably an understatement. Nothin' about Diablo makes a whole lot of sense, or at least it didn't when I started looking. I had to borrow a couple of books from a library about how Crest Magic worked, and then try to trace a bunch of mini-leylines with a crystal? But if it's a matter of bein' friendly to something, I can do that in spades!" she declares.
"--aw, Miss Riese, you're still a Metal Dragon! Just a smaller one," she adds, indicating the horns as they bobble.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Much, much they don't know. Leave it to Riesenlied to make that sound somehow inspirational, though, even in matters relating to combat.
Lily accepts the salute as if it were the crispest ever given, though, nodding sharply at her. "Yes," she says. "...And yes," about Sado, "It was being controlled by someone."
Her father, in fact. But she doesn't say that outright; she just looks into nothing for a moment, shaking her head.
"We can at least try to find other options," Lily allows. "I... hmmm." She considers thoughtfully the matter of--well, of Diablo, and of just being friends with it. "Well, if you want to try plugging magic into it, I can do that while I'm here. It... /probably/ won't explode if I do that." She looks a little dubious. But, "If anyone can befriend a Golem into usefulness, I'm sure it's you."
Lily starts to turn--and then looks to Riesenlied with a small smile. "You found your wings," Lily answers her, seriously. "Never doubt that."