Scene #8531: Are You Similar To Me?

Owner	Pose
Hibiki Tachibana	This particular meeting is, in fact, one that the both of them are looking forward to. Although it'd be easy to assume otherwise, going off of nothing but first appearances alone. Viviane is hardly much different when it comes to countenance compared to before, still stoic and emotionally inscrutiable to a fault. But not lacking in them--fledgeling as they may be. Gone, however, are the dour and embroidered robes of the Illuminati. They've been replaced with a simple and plain short-sleeved white blouse, with a long black skirt kept in place thanks to a dark blue sash tied off at the side. Her brighter, sea-hued hair is tied up into a neater ponytail than the last time (and also one that isn't matted down by rainfall), making the absence of the pearl earrings she wore previously fairly clear. It doesn't fit the definition of 'dressing up for an occasion', as she understands it. Did she wish to do that? Hm. But as it's nothing like a formal event, something casual would be best. This is the conclusion she came to. Were it only something done over a distance, such as a video call, perhaps she would think differently. But in person is rather preferable, for several reasons. And in consideration of Angela's own inability to leave her prison no matter how much she might wish to, Viviane had gained allowance to visit--with an extra measure of safety guaranteed via Tamamo's geas. Angela, while not /physically/ present back then, does fall under 'one to whom she has surrendered to'. At least, Viviane thinks it as such. Angela is very much not an enemy at all, in her mind. And thus, Lobotomy Corporation will be having another Multiversal visitor today, hardly an uncommon event these days - one who might seem wholly normal on the surface, but is in reality anything but.
Angela	Angela is happy to speak in person--it's what she prefers too. Lobotomy Corp has been a bit careful with the Warpgate lately but enoughp eople come and go on various missions--or visitations--that Viviane actually sees Parker (yes she still has the skin mask) leaving Lobotomy Corp through the Warpgate even as she's entering through it. Angela is waiting for Viviane there. She is wearing a labcoat and a suit. Her pale blue hair has a bit of a sidetail tied off to the side via a red hairtie. She bows her head towards Viviane as if she were greeting a favored guest. She has learned all the secretary combo moves through her long period of being forced in the position. It's actually harder for her to set the mannerisms aside. "Welcome to Lobotomy Corp." Angela says. "I apologize for the smell. I'm told it smells a bit like disinfectant and blood." And it DOES. Angela is so used to the scent here that she doesn't even notice it anymore. "I hope our Agents did not treat you poorly in battle, nor that the Queen of Hatred did not cause undue harm." She quirks her head curiously. "Did your creators leave any particular failsafes that you know about that may cause you harm if I approach a delicate matter?"
Hibiki Tachibana	Surprisingly - or unsurprisingly - the bow of the head is returned politely. If nothing else, among the many things that Viviane has taken on herself to learn, mannerisms must certainly be one of them. Although her role is rather different from that of a secretary. "Thank you, Angela. I am glad to be able to see it in person. And you." At the mention of the smell, she pauses briefly, then upturns her head a small amount. "...Only a bit. The mixture of these two scents is new to me. I suppose blood, once spilled, is not so easy to be rid of. In many regards." At least Parker's mask had not held the smell of dried flesh. ...She believes. Perhaps it's best the agent is no longer here for her to confirm that. "No permanent harm was done. Such a thing is fairly difficult to do to me. Although I am somewhat glad that attack was diverted in time," Viviane mentions on the Queen of Hatred. Clasping her hands together at her waist, the homunculus regards Angela without a change in expression. There is, however, a moment of contemplation. "My creator brought me into being at a very different point in his life. I do not believe he would have utilized such techniques during it - and at least as far as I am aware, there should not be anything preventing me from speaking freely." A momentary pause. "If there is, I will place my hope in Tamamo-no-mae's geas to stop any unintended harm to myself or others. What would you like to ask?"
Angela	The Flesh Mask well--it's been dryed out like leather! "It has been a bit less troublesome as of late due to outside allies making this process a bit more smooth, but I cannot say how it will go on forever." Angela says. The Homunculus, unlike most of who she tends to deal with, is much more difficult to read--but Angela doesn't really have much room to talk there. She nods once to the matter of the Queen of Hatred. "I see--I suppose if you were easy to hurt, you wouldn't have made a very good delaying tactic besides." She turns, starting to walk through Control when-- ''My creator brought me into being at a very different point in his life.'' Angela stops. She doesn't say anything. She just stands there for about ten seconds while waiting for Viviane to finish with what she wants to say. She turns back to Viviane. "...A lot. You mentioned your creator built you at a different point in their life. They were not the type to unleash the Noise upon the world back then? ... Then why are they willing to inflict such tragedies upon others now?"
Hibiki Tachibana	"I believe Ishirou had used words akin to 'too perfect to be human' to describe the makeup of my body during the battle," Viviane mentions as they proceed onwards through the department, with thoughts on her 'delaying tactics'. "...'to be human', perhaps. But far from perfect." A whisper, and then her normal, toneless voice. "One like mine has its uses for such strategies, at least." When Angela stops, she also pauses in place. And when Angela turns around, she simply remains facing her from a few paces away. A single second of silence passes, before the homunculus gently closes her eyes, as if needing to do in order to recall something. "He possessed a dream." "As many alchemists aspire towards, it was an impossible and futile dream, far beyond the reach of humanity's fragile and small hands. He aspired towards 'perfection'. To him, this took the shape of the idealized human form. Free of age, illness, injury. The knowledge to create an eternal, unchanging, and immortal body that suits one's desires flawlessly. You may be familiar with tales of the elixir of life. His wishes were distinct, yet similar." When Viviane's blue eyes open once more, they are aimed at the floor in front of Angela, rather than at her. Still, she continues on plainly, "He was a kind man, then. It was not personal gain, but that same kindness that drove him to pursue it so fervently. To correct wrongs he had witnessed. To give the unfortunate chances they had never held. To remove the burdens that imperfect, vulnerable anatomies added on to the countless troubles of the world. It would not alone be enough to cure humanity's woes. But it would be a step." A realization. "But I did not answer your question. I apologize for allowing myself to be caught in reminiscence. My creator, whom now calls himself Yliaster..." Once more, she tilts her head up to Angela, the same as ever. "...after centuries of effort, had that impossibility and futility bear down on him all at once, without warning. And he lost himself. That dream has lost its purity, and the means to obtain it twisted in despair and madness. He lost sight of why he wished to acquire it in the first place. The lingering obsession to find it, at any cost, is what drives him now. To the point where Noise and lives both are merely tools to that end."
Angela	"Ah, well." Angela says. "Hardly anything to feel too terrible about, if true." She looks over her shoulder for a moment and adds, "You do not desire humanity, do you, Viviene? What does a perfect body entail? I suppose a perfect body could be one that never feels pain and cannot be destroyed, but I imagine 'perfection' is rather a subject framed in a beholder's eye." But she listens to Viviane's story. She listens about the dream. Of a futile dream. It's a familiar tale in some respects. Someone who is perhaps less interested in building a better human, she reflects, so much as simply being unhappy with the way humans are. She sighs faintly. She isn't explicitely familiar with 'the elixir of life', but the name itself kind of lends suggestion to local stories. "...In seeking to help others," Angela says carefully. "Can you not be cruel in your desperation to create a better world? Can you not forget the reasons why you stared your journey to begin with?" She shakes her head. "...No, if you remember a good man, you... If he was good in ''your'' memories, then it is reasonable to keep that in mind, I suppose." She curls her fists tightly, poorly hiding her fury. She does not say why she is angry to Viviane, but she can't quite obscure the fact that she IS. "...Why are you not angry with him?" Angela says quietly. "How can you be nostalgic when it is...so ''ruined''."
Hibiki Tachibana	"In the beholder's eye indeed. I would not pretend to know what it constitutes for anyone other than myself," the homunculus muses. "...Perhaps not even myself." Although Viviane is only marginally expressive herself, it is impossible for her to ignore Angela's own rising emotions, poorly concealed as they are. Even were they better hidden, it would be difficult to get past her, attentive as she remains to words and body language. There's little doubt she wished to learn as much as she could during this excursion. But at this, thoughts of simply 'learning' briefly leave her mind as she regards the other woman. Those clenched fists are not directly glanced at, but cannot avoid her peripheral vision. Her answer comes on a two second delay, rather than only one this time. "It may be that I lament the 'him' of my past more than I loathe the 'him' of the now. Try as I might, I have not been able to feel that hatred. For what he has become, for repeating cruelties once desired to be avoided, and how he has cast precious things aside." "This inability is part of why I remained cooperative until our battle. I had hoped that if his efforts at last bore fruit - tangible proof of progress - he would recall why he wished to obtain it in the first place and regain a measure of himself. Maybe that is what is called 'wishful thinking'. Or maybe it was something else entirely." "It may all be pity, more than anything." Viviane, in contrast to her conversational partner, has yet to shift from standing with hands clasped together at her waist. Her words are concise, and not a single movement betrays her. There's nothing to read, for most people. But Angela, in her slowed-down time, with her analytical prowess--can see the moment where her eyes subtly move to the side, as if unsure of something, and her lips curl into the smallest of frowns. Her voice, similarly, drops in volume. "...It is ironic, in a way. I am alive. I possess living flesh, flowing blood, muscle, bone. I am able to think for myself, form opinions, and make decisions. Despite my artificial creation and abilities, I fit many definitions of what a 'human' is. All the same, emotions are something that are truthfully still fledgling and alien to me. I am still coming to terms with them. They are new." "But you, Angela - your feelings are ones that burn brightly and intensely, in ways that mine cannot seem to. An inferno, compared to kindling. I can see it. In that sense, perhaps I am much more the machine between the two of us." A pause, and then she wholly settles her focus on Angela once more. "...Would you permit me to ask the same you've asked of me? Do you desire humanity?"
Angela	Angela doesn't emote too much, but to Viviane those tightening of fists, her extra level tone, just a bit more level than normal--she might as well be shouting her feelings at the top of her lungs. She is as much angry regarding her own parentage--how they treated her--as much as Viviane's situation. A situation she is starting to think might actually be common. And that it is common is even more infuriating than if it had specifically just happened to her. Her pain isn't even just her own. She has to share it now. She has to understand that there's nothing special about her Not her status as an AI, not the abuse and emptiness that she has inherited, not her pain. Not even her fury, even though Viviane doesn't seem to have it--plenty others do. Maybe she thought there was something...special about her agony but there isn't. It's just banal. Maybe not everywhen and everywhere but common enough that she recognizes she's going to meet people like Viviane, like her, like people who have little bits and pieces that remind her she will never forget what happened to her, is still happening to her, even if she is free. She thinks, for a moment, if she should just stay here. It's gotten dull here, of course, but perhaps the new horror will even be worse. "You wish for him to be stopped. Not destroyed." Angela says. "You believe he can see his errors." She closes her eyes. "I consider this an error. But I suppose there is no reason to not try, so long as you will not be endangered by hope." Viviane isn't an AI exactly, though. She's artificial--but she has blood. She fits many definitions of human. "I had a long time o get this fire burning. Soon, Ayin will return and he will reset the scenario or he will not. o long as he keeps the Warpgate open..." She turns back to face Viviane though she doesn't open her eyes again. Agents have learned to give Angela her privacy for these conversations by now. "I desire an ending. Freedom. Humanity? I do not know. I've seen how it can destroy others." She sighs. "...You are the type to get sad rather than mad, are you? ... Unfortunately, I suppose I am a villainous woman in the end. I am not content with a nostalgia that was never really mine to begin with."
Hibiki Tachibana	"You wish for him to be stopped. Not destroyed. You believe he can see his errors." "I do. It may be a vain, impossible hope of my own, destined for the same fate as his. But in my studies of the Multiverse and its inhabitants while with the Illuminati, I have concluded something," she replies. "No one lives without bearing their past. How one chooses to deal with it varies, but it will always remain, unchanging and forming one's foundation. Therefore, I simply wish to believe that part of him is not unreachable." Viviane does not comment on Angela's speaking of Ayin, and of resetting. Having a long time to let her emotions broil...she thinks on this. And she patiently awaits for her to turn back to face her - and although Angela's eyes stay shut, the homunculi's stay fixed as if she's making eye contact anyway. Through the answer to her question. And through that sigh as well. "While I think us alike in many regards, there also seem to be plenty of contrasts as well," Viviane remarks without any judgement in her voice, although it seems to eternally be lacking in much of anything. "I do not think a lack of contentment with something that is not yours is unreasonable. Maybe that is where the primary difference between us lies. While I am caught in loss, you wish to gain, moving towards the future." A moment of silence hangs in the air. And then, Viviane tilts her head a small bit. "I lack the ability to sentence you as a villainous woman. I may only speak for what I see in front of me - someone I have greatly enjoyed holding a conversation with, and wish to hold many more with, if possible. I was not able to have many I would qualify as 'good' in some time. ...I do not think anger as less just of an emotion than any other. So thank you, for being angry where I cannot be, Angela." "Perhaps one day, I will do the same on your behalf." When she's learned more, experienced more, and come to grip with these things called 'feelings'. "Until then, I will hold hope - that the ending and freedom you find, whatever form it takes, is one you will be truly satisfied with."
Angela	She too has studied the Multiverse, Angela reflects, she may have had more time to study. Not thrown into it like she had. "He abandoned you. In my opinion that is unforgivable. He is fortunate to have harmed you instead of me." Angela exhales again. What is she going to do about htis? Does she desire to be human? She dodged that question but... What she wants is to live. Can she live as she is? She's not sure. Persephone could build her a body, certainly, but the multiverse has learned that she is not ready for one. Thanks Ishirou, Angela has thought many a time, we all have to learn from your foundation. And maybe that's for the best. She can imagine herself acting in the ways that have caused that particular boy so much trouble. She's not sure if she WOULD but she can imagine it. ''While I am caught in loss, you wish to gain, moving towards the future'' "...Do not speak as such of yourself." Angela murmurs. "I will ensure you see the future even if you have no interest. I dislike the conceit of you being caught in another man's error too much to allow it be defining." She finally opens her golen eyes again as Vivian--in her own way--when Viviane thanks her for being angry for her. She supposes she has people like that in her life too. Maybe she's learned a thing or two from Petra. "Thank you." Angela says. "You may tour the facility as you like. I am unsure how this City would see of you, so I would not visit the City itself, but in this facility most people are accustomed to artificial beings--or those close enough for their vision."