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LUNA-TERRA, EPISODE FIVE: "The worst fights always happen over something worthless."/DEEPER CUTS

Luna-Terra has now fought the other pilots twice each, coming through alive but changed each time. Another pair of missions await.

The factions are in a precarious balance because of our choices, but that won't last long.

Comms for day 5:

quote:

...let's talk about something else.

Oh, is it really so bad these days?

We don't get along because we're too much like each other.

We used to be so different, what happened?

I got older, and learned a lot. That's enough to make me more like you.

You're not giving me enough credit.

Really? Do you think I'd blame you for being too good at teaching me the same lessons that made you who you are?

Well, I'd always hoped.

I'd blame you if I felt like it. There's nothing to blame you for.

Nothing you warned me about turned out like you said, so I stopped paying attention to any of your advice.

I thought I was too smart for the rest. So it's just a coincidence we ended up like each other. I never minded your lessons.

Are you sure? I was a harsh teacher. Are you really glad for it?

I am happy for everything I learned.

Not for everything you taught me.

I mean, it wasn't like you were wrong. Everything you said would happen, happened.

But none of it happened like you said it would.

If I followed your advice to the letter, it wouldn't have helped me at all. It was all just different enough.

So I came up with my own answers. It wasn't until I looked back on them that I realized it was exactly what you would have done.

Fair, I suppose.

I should count that as success for me.

But also, due to your effort, for you.

That's just what I wanted, though.

I certainly never wanted a carbon copy of myself.

I wanted you to improve on what you'd been handed.

Did you think you did a good job?

Shouldn't you be asking yourself that question? Since you're the one in charge of the education?

I was afraid you'd say that.

Day 5 emails:

-"Well, according to your chart, you're bad at that too. So I hope it helps."

-"N: She wants her own machine made. She's ridiculous. She said it would be fine if she died, but if it's just because she flaked out and got bored with space and left her problem in Halimede's lap, she won't do it. Are siblings really this petty and mean?
N: Stop laughing and help."

Now let's get ready to launch.

I think you can tell which mission is whose by now. Since the order still doesn't really matter, then unless there are any objections, I'll just continue alternating. So that means Saturn first.

>LAUNCH

"Can't you see I'm hesitating? Show some politeness."

"It's weird to see you hesitate. You don't do it."

"Then stop making it more weird, if you please. Let a woman be weird, for once."

"I have no problems returning to the colony. I wouldn't have thought you would have more hangups than me."

"You have no regrets? No pain? At any of your training, or your service in the war? About anything that happened there?"

"About the people you met there?"

"I was a real idiot, so I don't mind seeing it trashed. Or trashing it a little more to stop that Celestial Mechanics pilot from taking back the Lagrange Reactor."

"Ah, you've taken an interest in Saturn."

(YOUR FACE.)

"She was in Iapetus's division, but she was, yes, very clever."

"The Lagrange reactor is a worthless shard of nostalgia. Iapetus must be truly egomaniacal to send that prototype unit after it."

"That's a bad sign. The worst fights always happen over something worthless."

"It's certainly a trap. But you know that. It's still a chance to get one over him, and stop that pilot, if you're prepared to be serious."

"I'm always serious."

"Are you serious enough to stop playing?"

"I'm not playing."

"Whether you are serious or playing isn't a matter of how you feel about it, it's a matter of whether you are committed or not. Or if you're playing because you simply can't decide."

"I told you, I still haven't decided. I'm not closing off the future until the last moment."

"Decide what you want about the future when the future comes."

"But you will never move from this point if you don't decide how you feel about that pilot."

"Europa."

"Oh dear, you are feeling guilty again."

"Well, that's to be expected. I don't mind if you lose against that one, or win."

"'Just choose,' right?"

"You don't have to tell me."

"I know what happens if I don't."

Another one where we have to decide early, since the two scenes are quite different very early on. So, how serious are we this time? Or rather, what are we serious about?

--

EPISODE FIVE CONCLUSION

We actually had our first tie for this choice, so I did the logical thing for this game: I let gravity decide and flipped a coin. Heads, Loyal wins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLJAgUEWobg

"And I know I'm not alone, so say something."

"Haha."

"Ah, so you did come."

"You're always close by."

"And you're always hiding something."

"And you're always just out of reach."

"Even though I have seen your face, I feel like I haven't."

"Even though I've shot you through the heart, it feels like I never touched you."

"I felt those plenty."

"I should say that about you, in fact."

"Luna -Terra, maybe you're the one who never came close enough to touch me?"

"Am I just that good? Or are you holding back?"

"You're slippery."

"And you've gotten better, too."

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't already know where you are this time."

"I must have been doing pretty awful before, then."

"But it's still unbelievable that you've gotten so good, in such a short amount of time."

"So I don't believe it."

"Haha. There's no hiding how much I suck, huh?"

"No, the opposite. There's no way you weren't this good before."

"Haha. That's not true."

"You have definitely been trained, haven't you?"

"I never fought other pilots."

"Did you fight something else?"

"That's true. It's also true that this isn't a real fight either."

"You were right when you called it play fighting. These machines weren't ever designed with practicality in mind. They simply aren't made with the intention to kill."

"I've read plenty of Dr. Nix, I don't need the lecture."

"And you're not even explaining it right. They did make Ship-Selves with practicality in mind. They made them specifically in a shape that would not allow for death and war."

"Dr. Nix just didn't want an end to conflict. Because that's silly. You can't be human without it."

"If you know it, explain it the right way!"

"Ha. If you knew Dr. Nix, you might have a harder time taking it seriously."

"I'm not part of Cradle's Graces for a reason, you know. I'm not that dumb."

"Not that I don't get the appeal of wanting to be that dumb."

"...Just kidding."

"No, I do too."

"Ahah, yeah I feel dumb every time!"

"She really makes you want to believe with your whole heart."

"Even if you never really quite can."

"And neither can she, all the way through. She just tries very hard."

"Luna-Terra... why are you really here?"

"To stop me from taking a worthless artifact, to fall into an obvious trap for another chance at stopping me once and for all?"

"To rack up the glory and take all the errant children home for Memorial Foundation?"

“To mess me up?”

"Or to make out with me?"

"Wasn't I just perfectly clear?"

"What's this ship-body for, anyway?"

"I'm here to communicate."

"Aha, Luna-Terra! You're really shallow, and kinda dumb."

"I'm honest."

"Finally! You're lucky that's enough."

"Are you ready for that, though?"

Posted for Saturn giving the extra crazy eyes.

"Well, I think I'm ready."

"Want me to check?"

"I won't give an inch."

"I'm not like you girls. I'm not a cosmic glow of energy in the dark."

"Still, I'm metal. And I'm sharp."

But then there's nothing. The feeling of being so close to being struck that she can't tell if she was or not.

"I'm nothing special, like I said."

"But you dodged it."

"It wasn't real. Nothing to dodge."

"Obviously! That's the part that's hard!"

"I'm fighting for real, just like you wanted."

"You're the one who wants that!"

"And FINE, dodge THIS."

Luna-Terra's vision fills with pink, the neuro-electric toxin melting into her skin. It feels hallucinatory, weird, stubborn, aggressive, vulnerable. Just like Saturn. In the poison-electric haze, Luna-Terra feels a little like Saturn.

"HA. Got you!"

"I like being wrong sometimes, you know?"

"I like not being Memorial Foundation's perfect ace."

"It doesn't seem to really suit you, if I'm being perfectly honest."

"Neither does playing by the rules."

"If Ship-Selves don't play by the rules when you're fighting, it stops looking like fighting."