View source for Inception (Euphonia)

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2015/07/19
|Location=Chrysalis of Eternity-1
|Synopsis=Euphonia broods over her first interactions with the Multiverse.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=839
|Tinyplot=
}}
Some hours after the initial meeting between Euphonia and the first of the Multiverse to humor her, a hollow sort of silence suffuses the observatory at the highest floor of The Needle. Euphonia's head is hung low, and her eyes survey the various corners of her world carefully. It's a standard nightly ritual, for her -- coming up here to gaze out, and to think. Certainly, she has not had such a volume of things to contemplate in quite a while. Not only have several worlds of similar technological and cultural advancement appeared in the immediate vicinity of Chrysalis, but an entire -Multiverse- is out there now. If her sources are correct, there are two large factions with the resources to destroy her world a thousand times over apiece, and...

She exhales, inclining her head further. This was unprecedented. A glitch -- yes, a glitch; such a loaded phrase is perfect to describe such a fantastic anomaly in the procession of things. If she is to surmount this, she will have to resurrect all the initiative and wherewithal she had /before/ she rose to power. She will have to regress to an older mindset which was more sure of itself, more exacting, more capable. Time has worn her down, and worse still, made her complacent. Still, it is far better that she realizes this now rather than after the encroaching realities have beaten down her door and ravaged all that she has worked so long, so hard to create. Chrysalis is her -home-, and these are her people.

So she will not falter.

She will not fail.

She can not fail.

In that moment, the overseer draws a breath... and a hand meanders to touch her shoulder. She recoils at the sensation, turning about. An orb of blue-tinted static forms in the palm of her left hand... before dissipating, the muscles of her face easing back into their normal, neutral state. Then she lets go of a breath she had not even known herself to hold.

"Clive," She greets the figure with a nod. "Did you have something else to say?" The man in the eyepatch strolls to her right side, hiding his hands in his pockets. Then smoothly, casually, he says,

"Nah. Just thought you could use a friend right now. I know this whole 'Multiverse' dealie wasn't exactly in the plan."

"No," She answers swiftly enough to express irritation, "it was not. But it is of no consequence, and we do not need to be comforted. The only 'comfort' we seek to attain now is in knowing that Chrysalis will be safe. We need to know that this does not change things, and that it will not undo all that we have done." Clive's arms stretch languidly to his sides before his hands link together, cradling his head. As always, his expression and manner remain absolutely casual.

"If you really wanted me to believe that," He says, straightening his expression just faintly, turning his eyepatch up on to his forehead, "then you wouldn't have programmed me to be a ladykiller who knows exactly what you're thinking. So spill. You can trust me, hey? Just because circumstances have changed doesn't mean that I have." Euphonia turns to face him now, albeit with a certain degree of reluctance. She opens her mouth to speak, before --

"Leave her alone, Clive." Another figure, a silver-haired woman with a sleepy expression and a long robe, appears at Euphonia's opposite side. "She'll tell us when she feels like telling us." That elicits a whistle from Clive, whose hands go straight back into his pockets.

"Y'know, Note, sometimes you can be a real stick-in-the-mud. How often do we get to press Eu for anything, anyway? I mean, she makes us 'human', gives us this basic need for affection and friendship, and then she's constantly giving us the cold shoulder. That hardly seems fair, amirite? So ease up a little. A bit of interrogation ain't gonna kill --"

"Enough." Euphonia's face now is the closest it has likely come in many, many moons to anger. "We do not have enough time now to remain idle and indulge this purposeless chatter. There are things you could be doing to help us, if you truly wished to do so -- you could be sending someone to survey morale within Glitch's largest camps. You could spread a rumor that would predispose them toward a violent response when the Multiversals arrive. If you wish to 'comfort' me, then take precautions. Make moves. Or --" She stops herself suddenly before adding, "Wait a moment. We have conjured an idea. Perhaps it would behoove us to communicate with them more directly. Most of those present seemed to be members of the 'Flotilla'. If they possess a private broadband of some variety, it would likely be the easiest medium to access, and the zone where listeners would be most trusting and impressionable. Later, we should attempt to contact them again and establish more direct, sustained communication." Finally, she looks to Clive more directly. "That will be your job, for the time being: be our voice. Do all that you can to humanize us. Make their perceptions of us favorable as much as you are able. Understood?"

Clive is stiff for several seconds, reeling at how he has inadvertently given himself more work. Still, he eventually sighs, raising his arms and hands in a shrugging gesture. "Fine, fine. Whatever. If that's what you want, Eu, that's what I'll give ya." Euphonia nods her approval before looking to Note.

"And Note, you will do all that you can to hinder Glitch, as usual. Also, if you could compose a list of territories of the least concern for us to suggest to the outworlders as places of cultural merit, that would be extremely helpful. As you know, they will be returning soon, and I wish to have things in full readiness beforehand." Note bows her head faintly in response. "Understood, Euphonia." Immediately after, she seems to vanish. It only takes one more, narrow glare from Euphonia before Clive does the same, albeit with a roll of his eyes. Then, finally, she is alone again.

Her eyes close tightly -- more tightly than she would normally allow any other sentient creature to witness. She lays a hand on the sill of the observatory's window before she hears a smooth, quiet chime from the direction of the elevator. Then her eyes dart open. Is it...? Are they...? She turns about.

"Clef? Is that you?"

A small girl with long, platinum blond hair and glittering azure eyes is standing there, smiling wide. Euphonia soon makes her way over to her.