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SATURN, EPISODE FOUR - "what id like is to be a toy"/400 MM KISS II

Sorry for the delay, holiday stuff got in the way. Plus this one is a bit longer than usual, since it's a whole mission at once.



Day 4 emails:



There are still things to learn about Luna-Terra, despite us being past her route. (She being the “top one” referenced.)



I'm going to whip up a character list as soon as I have the chance. There's a few important minor characters that never show up in the story proper, or only show up briefly. Dr. Nix being one of the big ones.


Day 4 Comms:

quote:



I guess there's no point in asking what you want them for?

:>

How afraid should I be.

im just trying to fulfill our mission mercury

you know that

I'm going to tell him you're as inscrutable and petulant as ever.

aw pls i dont want your hubby to hate me

why do u always call ganymede 'the captain' anyway lol

Because SOME of us have a sense of discretion.

aw captain's pet is so well behaved

You're one to talk Saturn.

You're going to end up at the pound one of these days if you go through any more superior officers.

no its cute you both tidally locked that quick

you're making all the lesbians jealous

Then ACT like it, Saturn!

And I will not apologize for locking it down.

I've had my fill of being a pet.

i dont really want to be a pet either

Maybe you are learning to love yourself.

what id like is to be a toy

That's even worse.

no its better

plastic and metal can be molded into any kind of shape

you can smooth over and change whatever you want

you only have to accept the interference youre designed for

A toy never gets to DO anything.

It just sits there looking pretty.

mercury what do you think I want

dont you love how our ship-selves evoke so much

just by being plastic in the silhouette of a human

these beam weapons are my fingertips

this chassis is my tits

but they're also beam weapons and impenetrable chassis

they can shred the plastic all they want but they cant touch me

Plastic can't get hurt.

But you still can be, don't forget.

people fawn over objects they worship them

i want to be the product they obsess over

I thought you were tired of getting thrown away.




Well, that seems problematic. Probably going to come back to that one...

So now it's time to do 400 MM KISS again, this time from Saturn's perspective.





>LAUNCH

Music - Fog Screen



"We're not dying yet or anything."

"You know, fighting officially on Ares is a lot less fun than I was promised it would be."

"It's real work, Saturn, I thought that's what all of that getting back on our good side was all about."

"They shouldn't have done such a good job of hiding in the Oxygen Ocean, then? You could maybe stage an attack from the Olympus ruins, but not even Cradle's Graces is precious enough to defend them."

"Memorial Foundation is thorough enough to watch over it."

"Of course, only they would be that annoying."

"There's recent activity there, and they want an investigation."

"They're just being paranoid. That's a stupid plan, and they're only sending someone there to waste their time chancing we're dumb."

"Or baiting us."

"Would they really send their ace if that was the case?"

"Wait, that old Memorial Foundation warhorse you mean?"



"Saturn, I really hope you are not actually--"

"Yeah, I'm feeling like... you know, Command is right actually."

"That area needs some really thorough investigation. Just to be sure."

"What's with the sudden enthusiasm, it's really not--"

"No, wait, it's EXACTLY like you. When you said you fought off the Mare Crisium pilot, what were you ACTUALLY doing?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Mercury!"

"I was so dutiful and brought this back in one piece, so that means I won, so don't worry about it."

Impeccable logic.

"Why are you like this."








We chose a point blank encounter last time, so now we'll see what happens when Saturn gets 720-no-scoped.





Correct for wind; it's skittish and powerless.

Correct for gravity; there's still too much of it.

Correct for the nuisances of this infant planet that will never be.

Skirting along the abandoned roads of the city that never was is like being an exposed nerve. A thrilling place for Saturn to fight.











"That one was so close."

"That was really really really close."

"Tell me I'm getting better, right? No way it's just luck?"



"That's better, but what you want is to be hit none of the time."

"Don't tell me what I want!"

"Maybe I LOVE being shot."

"You wouldn't be the first."

"Wow! Weird! You must fight some really problematic people."

"Some pilots find interesting ways to pass the time."

"I kinda get the appeal. What else is there to do?"



"If that's true, why did you come here to fight?"

"If that's true, why did YOU come here?"

"There's nothing left to fight over on Ares for anyone. Give me one thing to do more fun than look demure and get shot at."

"Someone has to do the shooting."

"Hmmmmm that tells me what position you favor but it doesn't answer my question."

"I'm taking evasive maneuvers."

"If I dodge the next one, answer my question."

"I won't answer the first one. But I'll answer a different one."

"If you dodge."



But now, suddenly, she isn't so sure. She isn't sure if she knows where Luna-Terra is. Or if she knows anything about her at all.

What did her face look like, again?















"I've heard that before too."

"You sure are having fun."

"What makes you think that?"

"Wanna know how I know?"

"When correcting for gravity, the impression you leave in space, feels a little for a second like..."

"Well, someone might say it's like an eyeroll, but I think it's kind of like a giggle too."

"Haha."

"Maybe that counts as a hit."

"Ehehe."



"Except somehow you do. You're good at making people not follow their own better instincts."

"You shouldn't be getting me to teach you to fight fair. You do much better like this."

"Aw thank you! I don't fight fair 'cause I have absoluuuuuutely no idea how to fight."

"But this is why I hate you, Luna-Terra. You just don't get it."

"I want to beat you at something you're good at."

"You're really tough. Not your sniping, which can't stop me at all, but how you're totally impenetrable. You're doing something tricky. What are you doing?"

"It's still my question, my hit, that's the rules."

"Why are you here?"

"Firstly, because I refuse to ever be bored, just like you."

"Secondly, wiping that smug expression off your face is my deepest desire, so teach me how to weave through your fire and sink my claws in you."

"What's the third reason?"



"Nice dodge."

"My question then!"

"Dodge a real one, first."



"How's that!"

"Good work."

"But you have to keep it up."

Luna-Terra lands a bullet straight through her legs, and Saturn crumples.

But the moment her limbs heal, Saturn leaps again.



She's ready for the next bullet, but not the one behind it, but that one's a clean shot, right through her--no stopping power at all--and she leaps through again, and is gone in the rubble before Luna-Terra can land another shot.

"Hmm, is that more dodges, or more hits?"

"Counterpoint: here's my opinion on getting shot so far:"

"It fills my brain with overwhelming information and barely stops me from doing anything at all because I'm in control of an impossible space war machine."



Saturn absolutely DESTROYS liberal mech pilot with FACTS and LOGIC.

"Am I losing? Can I ever lose, no matter how much you shoot me?"

"I don't think so. I don't actually think so!"

"This machine is never going to lose. You can pin me down, you might be so much better than me I couldn't beat you in a million years, but I will keep trying and beat you with dumb luck."

"Haha."

"Maybe that is true."

"You never hit me. Why are you here?"



"You can break as much of them as you want, but the gravity engine will always pull it back into shape."

"As long as you're sufficiently tenacious, you can survive anything, and try again, until you get it right."

"So you do get what this machine is for. My least favorite person in the world came up with that theory, and this is the Ship-Self to test it, so naturally I know all about it."

"But it's true that no one has died! That's why they get to say that there's still no war in space. Dodging my question again?"

"But in practice, wrecking a Ship-Self until both the pilot and the ship give up is indistinguishable."

"Because you can become so broken continuing is impossible. Even if they can't kill you, you can be changed."

"You think you can do that to me? Or is that what you want to have happen to you?"

"I have. To people who have much more fun with this than you do."

"HA!"

"This don't-call-it-a-war is nothing but play fighting."

"All it takes is someone not playing along to ruin it all."





"Oh, you are getting better."

"It's DEFINITELY my question now!"

"I'm still answering. That theory has not been disproven. It's more than likely true."

"But this is something you should know first."

"Your body can't be killed or destroyed, but it can be changed."

"When you are hit, truly hit, you're bent into a different kind of shape, and through that you can change."

"I think you should ask yourself if you're ready for that before you say you want to play with me for real."

"Speaking from experience? About that always-bleeding wound on your Ship-Self?"




Luna-Terra does a good job breaking this down, but I'm going to repeat the point because it's important. I think a scene like this should be unmissable in all three routes, but the other ones close to it are either missable or a bit opaque.

A common complaint I’ve seen about this game is that there are no stakes. Because of the nature of tidal combat, no one is really risking anything, and the story would be better if the characters were trying to kill each other. I see where this is coming from, but I think it’s misguided.

Ship-Selves may be able to stitch themselves back together from wounds suffered in tidal combat (eventually), but this is not the same thing as being invincible. When they break apart, they have to lose or give up something. They have to change until what the winner wants has more gravity than what the loser wants. And while change can be a good thing, it isn’t always.

Think about how much it takes to completely eliminate someone from a conflict like this. You have to break them, over and over again, until they don’t want to continue anymore. Luna-Terra has both caused this in her enemies and seen it among her allies many times.

I’m not saying war isn’t plenty terrible, but that has its own kind of terror.

(Of course, this is all purely a textual read. When viewed through the subtext of fighting as a metaphor for flirting and sex, the acts of hurting and killing like in a war would probably correspond to some really ugly relationships that are nothing like the ones the pilots have with each other. Those weren’t included directly for good reason.)


"Last one. If you can't dodge this, I don't think you're ready."

Once again, Saturn feels Luna-Terra slipping away. She's not here. She's not anywhere. She never was.

"Once, again, it's my--"

"Hit."



Electricity explodes from the target point and connects back to the origin. It starts from where Luna-Terra is and when it connects back to Saturn, fast as light, the course correction defines the pathway retroactively.

"Wow."

"Ahahahahahhaha!"

"I'm an idiot! This is great!"



"Sorry, sorry."

"But I was condescending before."

"Next time we fight, it'll be for real."

"What if I don't want to fight?"



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