Scene #9209:

Owner	Pose
Timespace Riders	Woz seldom asks others for guidance; when he does, it's only those that he respects utterly. His correspondence with Tamamo had been brief but characteristically polite. Esteemed Tamamo, There are concerns which weigh heavily on my mind as of late, following recent events. I would request your ear and your counsel. I believe you are particularly well-suited to address these concerns, as they are to do with matters of the heart. Woz arrives at a place of Tamamo's choosing in the usual vortex of gray fabric. Sougo is not with him, but he has come with a gift; a wicker basket containing a carefully wrapped lemon cake, offered up with a bow of his head. "Hail to you, Tamamo-no-Mae," he intones. "I hope the season finds you hale and happy."
Tamamo	Tamamo's choice of locale up a gentle mountainside, outside of town of no obvious importance. Near to this wooded overlook, there's an empty shrine, something with the look of having been well kept just a generation or two ago. But now, it might be more of a picnic location. She has a couple of a small baskets on a table next to her, both containing eggs. How mysterious. She receives the cake with both hands, placing it near at hand with a "Thank you, Mr. Woz." There's a rustling of small animals in the near distance. "It is quite well, I should say, even if the colder months are a time of... less activity, for me." She's wearing an oversized scarf, even though it's past being coat weather, here. "I would ask, but I suppose you must be troubled, if only recently, to write for advice. Or, perhaps... have you come to ask for advice, even when not personally troubled? My, come to think of it... though there is nothing at all wrong in doing so, it is a practice vanishingly rare. Hm, no, but you did mention a 'weight'... shall you reveal who has placed it?"
Timespace Riders	"I must say, your choice of meeting place is quite picturesque," he says, taking a seat at the table. "Hokma," he answers, after a pensive moment. "Or Benjamin, if you prefer. Whether I am troubled..." He frowns. "I do not believe so. I think I have done what is right, according to what I believe." His brow knits in thought. "However... perhaps it would still do me some good to discuss it with you, and to hear your thoughts." Reaching idly for one of the eggs (the wrong basket), "To what lengths would you go, for the person you love the most in the world? Would you break oaths made to others? Would you trod upon the love that others had built to save your own?"
Tamamo	"Hokma..." Tamamo starts, musing. "He identifies more with that name, it seemed, when I asked... in any case -- oh, that basket is for raw eggs, Mr. Woz -- for the foxes, you know. Do raw eggs agree with you? If I had brought rice, I would offer them together." She takes one from the other basket, and gives it a half-roll in salt. "Mr. Hokma," she says, on being able to return to the point, "asked me something similar. He wished to know 'how far is too far,' I suppose, though he spoke not of oaths broken." Tamamo looks out over the town. There's further mountains, blue in the distance. Little enough wind, thank the trees. "It seems a bit unfair, perhaps, to ask that of me. 'Were the world to stand in the way of love, I would rather destroy the world, than lose my love.' Were I to say anything less, could I claim 'love' to be the most important? Could I stay true to myself, if I let there be something greater? Ah, but 'oaths,' and 'the love of others...' could such be weighed against one's own?" A little more time to chew, literally and metaphorically, though she covers her mouth with her sleeve for the former. "If I say, 'I shall be selfish. I allow this of myself, that I would tread upon any and all others, for the sake of love,' would that make me a villain? In another's story, perhaps. However, for myself, I break no vows in doing so. I would ever, from the start, make my priorities known, that none should be betrayed when I act. For him... I wonder. It seems as if a betrayal is something expected of each sephirah. Is that not contradictory? A betrayal is so because it 'goes against.'"
Timespace Riders	Woz blanches and utters a soft 'pardon,' placing the raw egg back. "They do not, generally, no." He follows Tamamo's gaze, then, past the horizon, over the slightly faded shapes of the town, over to the blue peaks. Helping himself to a cooked egg, he chews chastely, gradually returning his attention to Tamamo. Dabbing politely at his mouth, he nods. "Moreso than the betrayal, it is personal growth which is needed. If it were not genuine," he says, "The necessary Enkephalin would not be provided." "Benjamin asked me for my counsel," Woz continues. "He wished to know if there were any way that Ayin would live, and still complete the Seed of Light. Therefore, I consulted the book, and began my research." With a sigh, "And gave my answer." "In thousands of futures, there was not one where the project did not ultimately cost Ayin his life. At the time, I imagined this to be that which Benjamin needed to overcome, to break through to the other side of his Meltdown and be sublimated into a better version of himself." "But this was not so. Why do you suppose that is?"
Tamamo	Tamamo helps herself carefully to a bit of lemon cake, next, though her attention is truly on the question posed. "'Personal growth'... it is a strange matter, this project 'of light' they seek to grow. A great of deal of blood has watered those roots, it seems to me, and yet, it remains unclear just what level of sacrifice is necessary for its blossoming. I do not believe I could have advised its continuance... without reservation." She takes a few more moments with the question. "He already knew there to be no third choice... was it? It was only a question of whether to weigh one thing or another as greater, and when I spoke to him of this, it seemed, he could not make such a choice. Was it different, when you told him?"
Timespace Riders	"I suppose that is where we differ," says Woz, on the matter of the sacrifices. "But that is another conversation." "I believe that between you and I, Benjamin received what he needed to make his decision. That decision was indeed Ayin, and it was in his name that Benjamin's Meltdown began... or so we thought," he says, pursing his lips. Woz's lemon cake is still warm from the oven, the perfect balance of light fluffiness and moist, with the balance of sweetness and tartness carefully managed. "As it turned out, his true hurdle was exactly that which you brought up--the cost of planting the Seed." "Benjamin and Ayin made many promises which could not be kept, in the war to oust L Corp's predecessor. The lives spent, or otherwise forever changed, to secure the... standing, necessary to begin their work, weighed heavily on him." "Though he loved Ayin dearly," says Woz, laying a palm upon the table, "He could not deny the parts of himself capable of loving others. Such was the backdrop of his Meltdown. Ultimately, we prevailed, and he broke through the weight of his past sins with the willingness to live in the present. Now, the project exists in a state further than ever before--uncharted territory." "Thus, with Benjamin having made his choice, I must ask you what is more important to you: the person you love, or those things which are they are devoted to? If choosing one meant abandoning the other, which must one choose? A life with that person, absent the culmination of their mission in life, or a life without, where the world is forever marked and made to reckon with their desires even in their absence?"
Tamamo	"So... he was able to make a decision, and then, to make another, still 'for the sake of love.' That is good." Tamamo seems pleased with this result, though there is a sense of distance, as well, as if her mind is already elsewhere. "To that question... is the love given to the person, or to their desires? One may love another for what they represent, and that for which they strive, but is this not love separate from the person, themselves? My Lilian spoke of her grand ambitions on our first meeting, that she would become a knight more famed than Arthur the king." Tamamo says this sounding proud, and doesn't mention anything about how Lilian later recalled the event with embarrassment. "She has wished to save the world, and to mend it, and to see her enemies destroyed, and to create something better for those who follow after her, to forge a path less thorny than she, herself, walked. All of this is noble, but... one who places such things above a person is not 'a lover,' I would say, but 'a follower' or, perhaps, 'an ally.' Such a one is united not in affection, but in goals. Lilian shall still be Lilian, even if the world for which she wished cannot come to be within her mortal lifetime. How could I ever sacrifice her, yet claim I loved her above all?"
Timespace Riders	"I see." Woz nods, given to a moment of quiet, deep thought. "So, do you think that Benjamin chose poorly, in that case?" he asks, after a hard look out over the mountains. "That, more than Ayin's ideals, he should have been loyal to the man himself..." He frowns. "I must admit, I believe I would answer the same, were it not for the circumstances between the two of them. If your only way to be with Lilian were to relive the past, again and again, what then? Would you rather spend the same day one thousand times with her, knowing that nothing would change or endanger her? Or... would you rather venture together with her into a new day, knowing it might be your last?"
Tamamo	"'Poorly,' hm... no, I would not say so. He chose the possibility of love in the future, and what may be love in the present, no...? To love does not mean 'only once,' I suppose." Unease shows in shifts in her posture, in bracing against a chill that wasn't any worse than the minute before. "Though I rarely have need to speak of it, it is true that there were those with whom I sought love, before finding Lilian. Though each occasion brought only doom, what better did I know, in my youth? I could not find my answer with them, and so, I continued to live... even after the worst of days." '...the same day one thousand times...' '...a new day, knowing it might be your last?' "I would step into that unknown future." That answer comes, strong and immediate. "Did you know this? It was a grand question that brought about myself, asked by She of the White-Gold Face, to be answered by humanity. I could no more cease to walk my path than could you--" Cutting herself off, Tamamo looks into Woz's eyes and asks, "What is it that drives you most strongly, Mr. Woz? I had yet to ask you this. I have seen you at work, and know that 'love' is not foreign to you, but is it your 'most important'? Is there something for which you can say, 'this is the reason for my existence, the single thread throughout my life that pulls me ever forward'? Is there just one thing about which you can say, 'without this, there would be no Woz'?"
Timespace Riders	"Indeed," says Woz, with a note of relief. "Such was the very counsel I gave him. 'One page read one thousand times may have its meaning changed utterly by the first sentence of the next.'" The question of what's most important to him sees him sit up a little straighter, and even brings a slight, proud smile to his face. "I admit with some embarrassment that had you asked me this question when we first met, I would simply say that it was Sougo. And I would be lying, not only to you, but to myself. I was loyal not to him, but to a fictional version of him which the real Sougo could never measure up to. It was Persephone who told me that the person you love must be 'enough;' Xion, who told me that there is no such thing as a Kamen Rider of one person." "What is most important to me is that the Angelas, Meika Kirenais, Lilian Rooks and even Petras of the world have someone who is willing to fight for them. Those who do everything 'right' only to find that the rules were only a formality to demand a pound of flesh. Moreover, that I am an ally to those who toil at the impossible--like Benjamin," he says, with a resigned sigh. "To be devoted to both he, and to Angela, was a challenge. I do not regret how I faced it, or indeed even that it was placed before me. I suppose I simply wished to hear your thoughts about the... surrounding circumstances."
Tamamo	"Oh!" Tamamo's eyes light up -- or, perhaps, they were already that bright gold, and simply caught the setting sun in that moment. "Hm... shall we call that a sense of 'justice,' then? If your 'most important' is for a champion to exist for such people as these, who have been wronged in this way, and for those who toil so. You wish to never give up on this, as the defining legacy of your existence." She tilts her head to either side, eyes sliding off as she considers it, and says, "It is not the same as that for which I would call, but I have no reason to naysay it. My quest requires not that others walk the same." She nods. 'I suppose I simply wished to hear your thoughts about the... surrounding circumstances.' "Has your unease been somewhat alleviated, then? Of these circumstances, not all is known to me, and that for which I can advise another... indeed, that to which I advised him, when he requested my counsel, was not a course convenient to others. I may freely admit this, that I had not an answer for him involving a happy ending -- for, in his place, I would not find happiness. That he should have found some measure of his own is more accomplishment than for which I may have hoped."
Timespace Riders	Hm... shall we call that a sense of 'justice,' then? "I suppose we shall," says Woz with an unexpectedly satisfied smile. "Though I never imagined I might be the sort to have one." Woz watches the treeline, as if hoping to see one of the animals responsible for the noise. When one of the foxes briefly appears in glimpses stolen through thick underbrush, he takes one of the raw eggs in his hand. With a flick of his scarf, it disappears, the garment extenting to the edge of the clearing to gently deposit the egg there, before contracting and returning to its original state. "Indeed," he says. "This conversation has been of great value to me. You struck at the heart of the matter--the difficulty of finding happiness in a situation like his, and the value of what he was able to find. in spite of it. My 'sense of justice' is not always easily satisfied, given those who I aim to protect. Therefore... I had to be certain that I was not mistaken in my assessment of events. To help not one, but two people in such a manner is as dawn after a stormy night, to me." As he says that, he flinches--as if struck by something red hot on his person. The sound of gears moving rapidly steadily grows louder--the noise is almost like the cry of a cicada. Woz procures the culprit, the larger cousin of the Miridewatches he uses. The face bears a tryptych; two thirds, just out of focus, display panoramas of the solar system and the glittering expanse of space. The third in focus, most prominently displayed on the face, is a brilliant white, etching a new scene onto the final third as the light fades-- TAIYO! The sun.
Tamamo	Woz's offering is soon taken, to be quickly secreted away into the woods. Most foxes do prefer to eat alone, though it seems no trouble for Tamamo to finish her portion of fluffy lemon cake in company. "I am glad, then, and hope you shall find more often that the balance of 'justice' may be served, even where 'law' does not." She doesn't need to tell him of the difference. That's a conversation for some other day, if that.