Rapt0r & Lacus

[killerwaves]

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[idologue]

[ Moon race...? Just how far back is this...?? ]

My, it looks as though my home is quite ahead of yours there! I live in a space colony, as it happens. It's quite normal to me.

Is Ho-Oh's time even earlier than yours, then?

[rapt0r]

[ Space colony... ]

He might as well be. He's the kinda guy who's living in the past no matter what he says.

[idologue]

That must be rather exhausting.

[ For Rapt0r, but also for Ho-Oh himself. ]

[rapt0r]

Yeah.

[ There's kinda of a shrug in this. ]

I was like that before, but it's different now. Not in the same way he was, cuz he's stuck in the stone age cuz he wants to be. In his glory days or whatever.

But with me I was stuck on the same level cuz I never cleared one of the first ones.

[idologue]

Moving forward is a difficult thing... Every step you take is a step you might find yourself tempted to reget at a later point. Unless you're resolved to accept the consequences, it's often more comfortable to stay right where you are.

But dwelling on the past can easily hurt both oneself and others.

I like your way of thinking about it. Clearing a level is not something one wants to take back, right? Wherever the path leads, a higher level is a good thing to reach.

[rapt0r]

Sometimes you can't either. First clear rewards and all that. There's no point in repeating something if it doesn't get you anywhere.

[ ... ]

You know—usually the people I gotta talk to about this don't like terms like that. Or they don't really get it so it's gotta be said all grand like.

[idologue]

Well, I can't say I know a lot about video games... I've watched my friends play sometimes, but I'm more of an outdoorsy girl.

But I get the basics! And if it's the words closest to how you really think, then why would I ask you to change them?

[rapt0r]

Presentation?

[ It's half a question. ]

Just look at Ho-oh and his stupid palm tree. He could've just used a bot too.

[idologue]

I'm a very formal person because I'm a public figure.

Speech like yours is a nice change of pace.

[rapt0r]

I think I'm pretty famous now too. But I'm gonna do what I want, my influence speaks for itself.

And suits suck anyway.

[idologue]

Some positions make that easier than others.

[ If she sounds vaguely resentful... that's probably just your imagination. ]

[rapt0r]

What do you do again?

[ He could check the profiles but eh. ]

[idologue]

I got my start as an idol.

[ Which doesn't actually clarify her current position at all. ]

[rapt0r]

And now?

[idologue]

Chairwoman of the PLANTs' Supreme Council.

[ Except nobody here knows what the PLANTs are, so: ]

I'm acting head of state for my home country.

[ A lot of things happened in this career. ]

[rapt0r]

That's a big jump. What'd you do to the old head of state?

[idologue]

My, why are you assuming I did anything to him? I'm an elected official!

[ ... ]

Though... he did perish while engaged in battle with the forces I was leading, so I suppose your intuition isn't totally off.

[ Background Mr. Pink input: ] Let's play!

[rapt0r]

[ There's some static, perhaps a sound of amusement? ]

Cuz I know how things go. No one really gives up power like that unless they bite it. You have any ideas about doing that to us?

[idologue]

I don't exactly have the means, do I?

[ Having military equipment on hand is a privilege and having people willing to fight and die for her is an even greater one. Neither of these privileges carry over to this place. Here, she's just a girl with a little pink orb. Even the power vested in her through the power of propaganda is null and void now.

That part, however, comes as a relief. ]

Right now, all I want is to talk. However... I can't guarantee that I won't become your enemy in the future. I trust that isn't much of a surprise.

[rapt0r]

It'd be weirder if you said the opposite. I was just gonna say that I don't fight with words like you do. That's what my partners are for.

[idologue]

I'd prefer not fighting at all.

But once more... the word isn't that convenient.

[rapt0r]

You'd prefer peace? Or golden ages?

[idologue]

That's right.

[ Lacus pauses for a moment, staring out over the sea as she chooses her words. ]

It's possible that complete peace will never come. Even though mankind could surely exist without war, people have taken up arms again and again through history. The wounds from those acts of violence have not healed, and it's possible that conflict will arise again and again.

But still, I dream of peace. Even if it may turn out futile, I believe that part of being alive is having the right to that dream. After all, living is striving forward, even against adversity.

[rapt0r]

That's the thing.

Everyone's dreams are different. There will always be a group that's left out, pushed aside, or conveniently locked away for the "peace" of everyone else.

[ There's weight to that where that wasn't before, a noticeable difference in volume and not heaviness, though it's far from a shout. ]

It's all garbage, just polished to make it look real nice.

[idologue]

[ Even if the weightiness is a change for the worse in the tone of their conversation, Lacus can't help but feel glad for it. He's meeting her head-on with his disagreement, and if he's doing as much then there's value in speaking at all.

Her fingers dig into her skirt as she keeps speaking. ]

There are no easy answers. We've agreed on as much, haven't we?

I can't offer absolutes. The idea of peace I hold in my heart is an imperfect paradox - a world in which you are free to strive towards your desired future is a world that allows you to keep seeking destruction. What happens to the world then? Or what must happen to you for such a world to exist?

I don't have the answers. In my efforts towards peace, I have left dead bodies behind. Those who have passed away can no longer enjoy peace, even if we should succeed in establishing it.

But does that mean there is no value in existence? Does that mean that every struggle the world has gone through was meaningless? Does the impossibility of a perfect future negate the efforts of reaching for it and improving bit by bit?