Scene #9235: The Fruits Of One's Labors

Owner	Pose
Angela	Angela: Phony. Angela:If you are not busy, can you pay a visit to my Library? I owe you an orange. Angela:And I could use some advice. Angela doesn't actually have a way to just ''summon'' Persephone to her at all anymore, not even a Warpgate. So she can't just invite Persephone to take the Warpgate anymore. This means that it's easiest to just teleport directly to the gate. The City is STILL suffering from a blackout, even in the Nest where this particular Warpgate leads. There are Syndicates and Fixer groups moving in to provide aid where they can but it's a slow process, but most of them are staying far away from the tower. The people are too. It gives them bad vibes and it's not entirely just because it is a symbol of the dire straits that the District has fallen under. Nobody messes with Phony one way or another but there does seem to be a thick fog and golden barrier barring easy entry for most people. But Phony doesn't have to break it or anything because moments after she arrives, the mists seem to just...part for her. Angela asked for Phony and so she is actually wholly just...invited. Angela has elected to meet Persephone at the lobby which is just inside past the main gate. The lobby is lit by hanging pendant lamps and Persephone will certainly notice the area no longer smells like blood and disinfectant the whole time. Tall book shelves line the walls and remnants of fog frequently pour in through here. She can spy a service elevator and winding staircases leading up to the next floor. But Angela is here, dressed in her Librarian Outfit (the feathers adorning it seem to be part of an EGO) and carrying a book (which is also an EGO). The psionic presence in the air is heavy, though it doesn't come from any particular individual, rather the air is thick with a collective unconsciousness vast enough to make it essentially mindless. And it's traveling, faintly, up to the sky--like the world's strangest river, a river of golden light faintly drifting upward. "Phony." Angela dips her head. "Thank you for coming." She hesitates, suddenly anxious. She caused Lilian a lot of trouble even if Lilian told her to--and she chose herself over The City. There's a nascent worry that this may have harmed her relationship with Phony herself. "...I promised you an orange from the tree but it is now closer to the top of the tower rather than at the bottom floor. You don't mind taking the elevator rather than the stairs, do you?"
Persephone Kore	PKore: of course, angela!! it grew already?? PKore is typing . . . PKore is typing . . . PKore is typing . . . PKore: you have a library? A soft light shines, then recedes, leaving the white contours of the Queen in Veils behind. The thirty-foot-tall toy-goddess looks back at the blacked-out District, a thoughtful melancholy in its posture, and then cranes its neck to look up at the Tree. Why are you the way you are? She doesn't need, and isn't asking for, the Tree's full story. Just the broadest emotional strokes: what hope, wish, yearning is its shape expressing? I'm not sure I like this. I'm happy for Angela, aren't I? Of course I am. I like her. I like you! And yet... The Queen's chest opens, and I clack-clack my way down the arm, stepping off the palm just outside the main gate. Approaching... "Of course I came, Angela. You're my friend, aren't you? And I promised, way back then." And I smile, but there's still that troubled note behind her eyes as she follows Angela inside, and no, I finally can put the words to it: "Hey. A year ago... you told me that you wanted revenge on the City, didn't you?" Gentlest, softest concern. "And I told you, I don't know how you can say that, when the City is just people, and most of those people never hurt you." "Is all this still your revenge, Angela? Or is it something else?"
Angela	Angela: It has been nearly two years, though we used the T2 Protocol to speed it along periodically. Angela:... And I do now. She hadn't really checked in with Phony in a while, Angela realizes, and hasn't explained plenty. But first, Phony asks the Library why the Library is the Library. What hope does the Library express, what wish? What yearning? ''Freedom...'' The Tree answers. ''Life. Book. Librarian. Star. City. Something we don't understand yet.'' Angela is well accustomed to seeing something uneasy behind people's eyes but that's all she really notices, since it's there. And she expects that's all it'll be, because what she's not accustomed to is people actually bringing it up to her directly unitl they've already made up their minds. Angela opens up the elevator with a keycard and steps inside, glancing over back to Petra at her words. The Library didn't mention 'Revenge' amongst its general sense of desire, but that doesn't mean revenge isn't a part of it. Revenge has been something on Angela's mind, always, but it has never been the forefront either. "I do want revenge." Angela says. "...But I hadn't forgotten what you or Lilian said. ... It is not that most of them haven't hurt me, as a Society they've hurt me plenty. But..." She frowns. "Lilian has informed me that there are people in this City that would show kindness to me if given the opportunity--and some Agents did stand by me when they had the opportunity to, so it feels ... correct. That is actually why I asked you to come." The elevator starts pulling up. It's going to be going up for a while. "Your home seems a kind place, a haven even for those who would have it nowhere else on Earth--at least, that is my understanding of the purpose of these space projects? ... I have absorbed some simply by interacting with them, but I do not really know much of their true history and your facility is the only one I've ever visited." She tilts her head. "But I have little expertise in helping people, or building society, so I was thinking of asking you for advice on the matter." But then she turns away, thinking about the question more directly. Yes, she wants revenge. Yes, she intends to use a more cautious approach than she spoke of back at the dinner but... is THIS, is ALL THIS for her renenge? "...But no, this tower is not for revenge." Angela still believes. "I am still figuring out the shape of it, but my goal remains the one book I need to complete so that I may leave this place, that I may understand humanity and claim it for myself--so that I can see, objectively, the form and nature I wish to embody." She glances back to Phony. "It is Lilian's demand that I do what I can for the people of The City, particularly the ones who have space to be 'like us'. Though I will not sacrifice my chief goal, while I will do what I have to, I have to do what I can to obey her command. It is the least I owe her."
Persephone Kore	It has been nearly two years... Oh. I guess it has! Phony thinks to herself, with warm surprise. Their feelings on time are very different. ''Freedom...'' The Tree answers. Then, I think, I am proud of you, little tree? Ahahaha. At the very least, I want to see what your fruit is. The elevator's confines feel like they're reflecting Phony's psychic radiation like a microwave. That sense of being steadied, even before I offer my hand to hold; that eroding-soothing that will unclench your jaw and slow your pulse, if you let it. It's normal, in an elevator, to stare forward. Nobody's accused Phony of being normal, though. Hey! I am too! So instead, I look fondly down at you, hair fluttering with her little giggle as if in low-G. "Lily-R said that, did she? She's really so wonderful, isn't she? She started off amazing, but she's still grown so so much since I met her... and so have you, I think?" "But I have little expertise in helping people..." Persephone tries to smile and frown at the same time, which comes off as a little bright-eyed pout. She looks charmed as she squeezes Angela's hand. "Ahahaha," she says, eyes smiling shut, "why do you think I'd know anything at all about that, Angela?" "Sapient Heuristics... is a little bit like Lobotomy Corporation, you know. And I'm a little bit like you. It's about a million times nicer! And I've suffered about a million times less. But... I'm still trying to help 'everyone, everywhere', in those big sorts of ways. By deciding to be 'selfish', like I've thought about sometimes..." She trails off. For a moment it seems like she might have just zoned out, staring at a point near Angela's head. But I'm still thinking. It's just hard. "... you're helping people, now, in a way that's less like the Project and more like the City, you know?"
Angela	The 'little' tree seems soothed by Phony's approval. Angela's shoulders push down ever so slightly as if in response to that. And all in all, she calms faster this time around Phony. Even before the elevator reaches the top floor, she's calmed. She worries about what Phony will think of her, so sometimes it's hard to be completely relaxed. She worries about how WHITE would think of her too, but she needs to talk to her first. And who knows what calamity will occur before she gets a chance to? She holds Phony's hand, almost without thinking about it first. ''Lily-R said that, did she?'' "More or less. It was a tense situation since she was trying to kill me but she didn't want to kill me. I'm not holding a grudge about it. Even if I wanted to, she's doing worse than me." Though she's still UPSET. How could she not be UPSET. That was supposed to be her ESCAPE, finaly her ESCAPE and she had to COMPROMISE. Not because she wanted to compromise but simply because her goal wasn't achievable just yet after all. Her grip on Phony's hand tightens, slightly, but she seems to startle herself into loosening her grip after. ''Why do you think I'd know anything at all about that, Angela?'' Angela raisaes both her eyebrows up high. "Is that not what you have been doing this whole time?" She asks. "When we visited, it was like you were giving a tour. And you've definitely helped me, rather directly, which is why I'm giving you an ''orange''." She might as well be saying diamonds but oranges are actually far more valuable. When Phony indicates Sapient Heuristics is like Lobotomy Corporation, Angela immediately looks like the Ruler of Skepticism rather than the Ruler of Diligence as WHITE had compared her to. She frowns, like she thinks Phony might be teasing her a little. Especially when she goes so far as to say she's a little like HER too. "I am curious," Angela says because despite her skepticism, Phony has never LIED. #-1 INVALID ANSI DEFINITION: 1532 "How Lobotomy Corp is similar to Sapient Heuristics, and even more so how I am like you. Have you killed anyone, Phony, just to be a step closer to being free?" Can she even say she's been a step closer? ... Yes, she's sure of it. She must've gotten a little closer at least. Phony calls her wish to help everyone as selfish and Angela murmurs, "That feels like an attitude more like Carmen." Although, her mind IS patterned off of Carmen's, isn't it? ... There has to be something that's similar between them, right? And maybe not even just bad things. She's thinking. But it's hard. Angela can empathize with that. It IS hard. She's not even sure it's possible. But she'll entertain it at least because if that's Lilian's request of her, she has to at least try. The doors open up onto the top floor and Angela steps out, looking back to Persephone once more, "...How am I helping people? ... I do not believe I've even done anything yet besides try to make this one place less awful."
Angela	The top floor has one more giant staircase leading up with golden light specks constantly floating up. Any feeling the 'Tree' gave before is intensified up here. Angela's old desk is here, with Emeralda (the teddy bear) sitting on it and watching Persephone carefully because that's how the teddy bear looks at everyone. Old L-Corp style cell doors are up here too, leading into the familiar Silent Girl chamber--though Silent Girl is no longer present. ... And the tree seems to be upside down (though there ARE oranges growing there), and...the river is on the roof now. The grass has grown down to the floor. There's a window here too, open, and allowing a small breeze inside. The mini-sun is here too, though it seems to have managed to stay up in the air rather than tumble to the floor despite the repositioning of the Cell. Angela finally smiles. "The tree you gifted me. ... The room you gifted me. I can feel the breeze up here. It's nice." She glances back to Phony. "I owe you oranges. How many do you want?"
Persephone Kore	Walking up the staircase, Persephone collects golden motes in her cupped palm. They swirl over it, like snowflakes or fireflies. Do they like her, somehow? "'Happiness for everyone, and no-one left behind'," she says, "or 'enough Light for everyone in the City'," "or 'mankind's new Apple'," "those are the sorts of things, I think, that you can only say when you're way above the Earth's surface; or way below it?" With a little breath, like puffing a dandelion, she blows the firefly-motes away and smiles after them. There's something a little sad in her eyes, too. "Lily-R lives on Earth. And so do you, now. And so does everyone else, who talks about 'stay thy hand not for unnecessary persons', or about 'killing anyone to be free'." Clack, clack, down the familiar hallway. More familiar to you than me, but Persephone lights it up with the warmth of a different sun, and it's hard to remember that this hall ever smelled of blood at all. "I don't understand why people talk that way, about killing and all. I mean, I do understand," because I understand everything people feel, "but I don't understand why they don't just stop," because I don't understand everything they don't. "But all my helping-people practice is in helping from above." "So, if I'm a human, but not on Earth; and you're on Earth, but not a human; maybe we can help the humans of Earth if we put our hearts together. What do you think they need, to be better people? Let's start there!" In the orange-tree room, she takes a deep breath; then smiles; then takes one, and disassembles it perfectly with a wish. Four jewel-like slices float to Angela. "One-half. I want one-half an orange. I won't be satisfied with any other number," she beams.
Angela	Angela doubts she could ever be so casual as Lily-R. It takes active willpower to go for something as casual as Phony. Less now than before, but she's had a lot of practice with Phony and none as Lily-R. "I had thought about how our--how Lobotomy Corp's goals were not so disimilar as yours, except our methods were rotten. That is how I saw it." Does she think Sapient Heuristic's methodology is like that? How could she when Phony is right there, and she's seen other members of Phony's community now and they didn't exactly seem an inch from snapping either and she highly doubts they carry the scent of blood with them. But she was able to get that smell out of her at least. ''I don't understand why people talk that way, about killing and all.'' Angela looks uncomfortable because there are so many things she's stopped feeling. There's barely a flicker at all in her expression, but it's obvious to Phony right? But it isn't all discouraging. What DOES Angela think the people of The City need as someone who was never a citizen and will, likely, never be one. Something she's seen only in microcosm by watching her Agents. She's seen Parker grow from a madwoman to someone closer to who she used to be. She's seen Shajo and Nonon form community with the outside world. And Cinder... Don't think about her. You let her die for a breeze. To eat an orange slice. SKILL CHECK....SUCCESS Angela puts it out of mind. "Of course." She tells Phony, collecting half of the jewel. "My appetite is still slow so I may not be able to finish them but I'll make sure to get through them all eventually." Angela says. But she can't delay answering that question and she thinks she does have an answer. "...The City has rules that make people follow its rules. But in this space, I can make my own rules." She looks to Phony. "...Admittedly, I may not know the perfect rules immediately but rules can always be changed in this place. They are far more malleable in here than they are out there. Berislav would say that the world outside is so cruel that people cannot even imagine better, but here--at least--I can provide meals and shelter for no payment--at least not the traditional sort demanded by The City. I do not know how to call them, but there are no monsters wandering the halls anymore. It's... almost safe here, if I weren't an enemy to this world." By her very nature. "If I go along htis line of thinking--what do you think?"
Persephone Kore	You let her die for a breeze. Persephone's warm, near-orange eyes don't waver. She must have 'heard' that. She couldn't possibly miss it, could she? Is it just mercy to not drag Angela over the coals? . . . She takes a little bite of her orange slice. It's nice. "You know, I'm embarrassed to say it around you, because it's so small. But I used to want to run away from the Project, too. Just a tiny bit. To have a 'normal life', before 'normal' stops existing. Ahahaha, isn't that so awful of me? When I already had it so good." "I didn't ask for everyone's hopes to be on me. They just made me that way. It's wonderful, and amazing, and important, and I'm so so lucky, but..." Distant. Persephone sighs fondly, and shakes her head to clear her thoughts; and then she walks up the grassy wall, to sit on the ceiling as if she were perfectly right-side-up 'under' the tree, and extends her hand to lift Angela up too. Don't worry! I'll be your new gravity. I've got you! "'Environment is everything'. Ahaha, I think you're right? I'm the way humans turn out when their environment is perfect. And they're the way humans turn out when their environment is the City. If you can get them even a little closer to 'perfect', then..." Trailing off fondly. But importantly: "So what are your rules, Angela?"
Angela	Angela would've had a horrible reaction in the moment even if she could leave. The fact she didn't even get her freedom just makes it worse and so she shouldn't think about it. She shouldn't even care. She's seen her die literally thousands of times and she knew better than to care one whit about an Agent, let alone the Clerk she began as. but the orange slice IS nice. The breeze IS nice. The grass IS nice. The tree IS nice and the sun is even better than nice. And what good would it do anyway? 'Sorry your girlfriend died for me, sorry I didn't bring up going through it all again to try and save, specifically her.' She's not thinking about any of thuat, she already thought it all and it's there forever because she did think about it once. But she can pretend it isn't there. She is an expert at closing her eyes. ''I'm embarrassed to say it around you, because it's so small.'' "...The orange? The tree is still young, I suspect with practice I can get bigger oranges out of it--" Oh, but, no, she means that she also thought about fleeing. Angela supposes even Paradise is stifling if the gate is locked and the expectations large. It makes sense, she doesn't find the idea alien to her or anything, but she's not sure immediately what to say. What she can do is take Persephone's hand and let herself get lifted up. Phony is definitely a superior gravity to what it was before. A friend kiss is, on some levels, better than a romance kiss. She wouldn't know where to begin with the latter, so the former's been a bit of a relief. Lilian had said that she was surprised she even had any thoughts of romance at all and Angela understood why but she doesn't think the desire is absent in her but friendship by itself still feels terrifyingly big. Angela is relieved to hear that she's onto something. She nibbles a little on one orange slice, she's still not sure if it is a matter of her current form or just a matter of flavor gripping her too strongly but it feels like a lot even just chewing down on one of the slice. "When I first tried peeling them, it was jsuch a mess." She says of the oranges, thinking, thinking, thinking. What ARE her rules? She's still figuring them out. "The first rule is that this is my space--I cannot allow it to become a 'facility' anymore. So the one who makes the rules is me." A repeat of what she just said, but in rule form. "The second is that it is a Library. A Library collects knowledge in a variety of forms, primarily books, and it also acts as a social space, particularly for those who do not have other places of comfort. To those that stay here it should be comfortable, a safe space away from the rigors of The City. But interlopers--those who would steal books or harm the locals..." She frowns. She doesn't want to mention killing in front of Phony again but isn't sure how else to stop thieves or people just trying to kil her. "The City oftne employs surprise clauses or rules to trick its citizens so the rules here should be clear and easy to explain." She adds. "If violence is inevitable, then it should be handled in a relatively orderly--and fair--manner. Or at least as fair as violence can be." She cups her chin with her free hand, looking down at the grass. "...And those who work for me should not die." She says. "...The Librarians should be safe. And the Sephirah should not be stuck in their rotting bodies. I'm still working on that, though I should be finished with Malkuth soon." She quirks her head at Persephone. "Do you have any suggestions or ammendments?"