Scene #8746: Everyday Poetry

Owner	Pose
Petra Soroka	<B-anter> Gilgamesh says, "Machines focus only on results. Machines don't understand the value of dreams and failure. Machines believe that nothing can be learned because there is nothing else relevant to their goals. That is not the trait of a human, so why would I call it a human when it hasn't grasped that?" <B-anter> X says, "Mm. Anway Angela's muted for now. Picking fights with demigods is against company policy. I'll let her back on in a few hours." PHONE: Phoning Angela, Petra Soroka physically walks over to her office after she's muted. "Angela? Mind if I come in?" PHONE: Angela, after a moment. "I am not grounded from visitors. My apologies for worrying you. One moment." She unlocks the door. PHONE: Phoning Angela, Petra Soroka says, "... Fuck that guy. Seriously." PHONE: Phoning Angela, Petra Soroka says, "He doesn't know shit. Obviously you know that you can learn from failure, you've just been stuck here so long--" PHONE: Phoning Angela, Petra Soroka says, "I wanted to, you know, check if you were okay. Or not." PHONE: Angela has thrown Solty's bear against the wall and lies. "I am fine. I have heard this all before. And besides. I ''have'' barely lived." PHONE: Angela says, "Who am I to speak about dreams. Or even results. I have no results." PHONE: Angela says, "...I'm sorry." PHONE: Phoning Angela, Petra Soroka says, "... We'll get you out. And we'll make him, and Ayin, and every fucking other person hurt for it." PHONE: Phoning Angela, Petra Soroka says, "You're working towards something you need. Harder than practically anyone else. They don't get to judge you. None of them do." PHONE: Angela says, "I ... do not want to drag you down, Petra. I am grateful you spoke up for me. And Xion. I should thank Xion, later." "There's been a lot of talk about that today. About, dragging down." With the door shut behind her, Petra flips up the cap of the Silver FullBottle. Droplets of morphmetal rise out of it as if in zero-gravity, and then dart away at each corner of the room, sticking on to each security camera. A humming electronic signal resonates between all of them, then the cameras, and then the Manager only sees looping footage of Angela's office. "Me and Meika. Me and Lilian. Now me and you." Petra edges in a little farther into the room, putting a hand on the long desk and leaning on it slightly. Just signalling that she's not planning on leaving immediately. "I think I-- I'm totally over it. I don't even believe in it anymore." "Whichever one of us is-- is 'down', compared to the others-- it doesn't matter. They change it around arbitrarily, based on whoever they think is more fucking disgusting that moment. They just want to use us as weapons against each other. So if they hate it so much, if they don't like that-- that dragging down and corrupting, and ruining, then we're probably better off doing it more." PHONE: Lilian Rook says, "That's very likely. She's grasped that I'm important to you, and in her own, dull-eyed way, dreamed up that attacking that bond would be more effective than attacking you." PHONE: Lilian Rook says, "But I am of course, everything that humanity ever warned you about." PHONE: Lilian Rook says, "I'm the girl you were never supposed to talk to. And I made you unfit for society." PHONE: Phoning Lilian Rook, Petra Soroka says, "... Yeah. I guess her fucking mistake was thinking I'd feel bad about it."
Angela	This is the sort of behavior that makes Petra the best employee. It's so easy to forget about the cameras. Angela doesn't forget about the cameras. Sometimes she stops caring but she never forgets because those cameras are often also her eyes and ears. Of course it's not just that, but that is a sign of the level of surroundings-awareness she tends to have. Today, Angela had forgotten that X might damn well be watching her. She'll never know for sure if he saw her in such a dejected state. Xion, she thinks, why did Xion... She isn't sitting at her desk--she's actually spun her desk chair around and pulled back and is leaning her head against the head of her chair. She doesn't usually sit in this chair, usually she prefers to sit on the desk when visiting people. But there's no need for that sort of theatrics in front of Petra. "...When you say it like that," Angela admits. "That seems to be the theme of the evening." Ruin, she thinks, she likes the sound of Ruin. She pushes that thought out of her head. "You've been a good friend to Vermillion." Angela says. "As far as I can tell, you two are the best friends she has. They're probably just ... jealous of you." She finds that this often comes back to Envy. She raises her head and adds, "You've been a good friend to me."
Petra Soroka	"They are. Jealous of us. All of us." Petra twists around and half-sits, half-leans on the edge of the desk, heels propped up off the ground. Her fingers tighten, gripping the edge on either side of her, and her voice lowers with naked loathing. "They can't stand that there's any world but theirs. That we could be or make or think anything else but what they decide." The fact that these words, echoed from Lilian, were directed at Petra doesn't need to be mentioned. That might be why Petra knows that they're true. "So of course they're jealous. We have something they never will, and it makes them insane." Petra falls quiet for a little bit; abruptly, since her fervent tone hadn't indicated she was done talking. In the silence, she scuffs her foot against the ground, looking down at where the wall meets the floor. Deep in thought, and evidently not very happy ones. Eventually, she says, quietly fierce instead of venomous, "So I don't want to lose it. I'll fight anyone and everyone to keep it. I don't want those people convincing you that-- that what you have, and what you are, doesn't matter. It does." A moment longer, and then she slides off the desk with a 'hup', pacing around the room aimlessly, then acquiring a target in Solty's bear. She picks it up off the ground, places it on the desk again, then quietly exhales. "So! Want to do something to take your mind off it? I-if you'd want, we could-- could talk a bit about writing? And stuff?"
Angela	Angela sometimes just plain admires Petra. Flipping off the multiverse comes so easily to her. Maybe in a few years, she too will be more like her and Lilian and would just find it all so dull. It's still new to her, she realizes, even in the ways it doesn't feel new at all. That must be it. Just needs time to cook. It hasn't REALLY been hundreds of years, that is just how she perceives it--and because it is just perception, these conversations can still dig into her. She's only had three real conversations with Gilgamesh, maybe less depending on what you qualify as real. She learned a lesson. Learning lessons is fine. "True comradery. Community. In the vastness of the infinite, its absence is surely keenly felt." Angela describes it that way for a moment. She knows why Petra will fight to keep it. There's no camera work so she tentatively reaches for Petra's hand. She's already been on her back more than once but it's more the admission of need than the gesture itself. "I don't want to lose it either. I think it bothered me because I've...I've said those things to myself." ''Want to do something to take your mind off it?'' She acquiesces to Greed. "I'd like that." She manages a half smile. "Only if you're comfortable."
Petra Soroka	"I don't want to lose it either. I think it bothered me because I've...I've said those things to myself." Petra makes an uncertain, affirmative noise, acknowledging Angela but not immediately coming up with anything to say. Taking Angela's hand is easy and automatic, not even questioned, with the mood that Petra's in, and squeezing it serves as a response. She's about to accept that and move on, putting the heavy topic to rest to get to the one that's merely awkward, but-- "Yeah. That's how it goes, right? Because you've heard all that so many times." Blurting it out suddenly, and late, it's a little disjointed from the flow of the conversation. "Language is just something you pick up from the people around you. Using their words, at the times they'd-- they'd use them too-- when you're surrounded by shitty people, you use their shitty words. The longer you're around Lilian, the less you'll hear it. From-- from other people and yourself." Petra's comfort is demonstrated-- a little performatively; she's willing to talk about it all now to cheer Angela up, rather than because of some big emotional breakthrough, but letting others guide what she's able to do has always worked out better for her-- by tugging on Angela's hand to spin the chair back around to face the desk, then hopping up to sit on the edge of it herself. She leans forwards, elbows on her knees, twisting her phone around between her hands and tapping on the screen with her nails. "Okay. So, like, I guess... you Unified basically right before contracting with the Concord, right? I didn't, I'm-- second generation, from my world. So this sort of thing--" Elites, she means. "--has always been on my periphery. Sometimes-- sometimes closer, than that. The... magic, and the superheroics, and the stories and everything." Petra exhales in an unvocalized laugh, sitting up to wiggle the Silver bottle out of her suit pants pocket again. "So I always thought it was cool! Even, even way before joining the Watch myself. I used to write articles on-- remember that, that wiki, that we talked about a bit ago-- on Wikelite, doing all that silly little work of verifying articles, and going through footage, and editing stuff. I'm--" She actually laughs now, with a mildly self-derisive giggle. "Sector's big enough that I've never bumped into anyone I wrote too much about, thankfully. That'd sort of be embarrassing." "I know that's not really the kind of writing you mean. I did creative writing too, but--" But that's something she's really not going to ever let see the light of day. "But it was always really just other people's stories. It made me happy, though. It really took me off guard when Grier said I'd be a good asset as a journalist."
Angela	''Language is just something you pick up from the people around you'' Angela hadn't thought much about language before, frankly, but now she's thinking about it. Both foreign languages and the way language is used. The nature of communication. It is as much in the way as Lilian performs a calculated conversational takedown as it is in Petra's fervent and loyal defenses. What is the best way to engage one? The other? Is it acceptable to just change 'languages' as she sees fit, even through one ''Language''? She quirks her head a little. A 'little' disjointed' from the flow of conversation is a blaring beacon for Angela, but she can't conceive of the reason so she sets the thought aside for now. How to step away from the shitty words into her own--but first she needs to find out what her own words can be. She wonders how much of what Petra says has been gifted to her. She is turned to face Petra. Angela's--well she's still subdued. If it wasn't Petra here with her or someone else from the Girls--it'd probalby be difficult to notice it's different from her usual behavior--most of it is in the way her hands are holding each other, a bit in the eyes but only infinitesimally differing from her usual stare. "That is correct. If it was any earlier, it would have had to have been outside the facility--but I have heard of no such thing, not even from Benjamni." She listens carefully, not interrupting--she isn't sure where Petra's story is going until she's near done. "You would be a good journalist." Is the first thing she think of, wondering if she should be agreeing so much with someone considering murdering one of her closest friends. Well, she can't help it. It feels truthy. "I suppose when the greater world seems... Outside of your life, it is natural to be curious, fascinated even." It's not the first time she's heard of people talking about how excited they were to see the multiverse only to end up disappointed in it. Sometimes, why, they're disappointed in her! But she adds, "I remember the wiki. Some agents seem to be...interested in wikis. I suspect they're interested in it for the same reasons you were, or--I would be. And perhaps now that your life is more intertwined with that world ... Well I do not feel there is anything to be ashamed of. It is natural to want to learn and document what you learn about the worlds." ''But it was always relaly just other people's stories. It made me happy, though.'' "I was always interested in The City. Benjamin told me a bit but there's only so much he could--or was willing--to tell me. That's how I got interested in reading and writing myself. It was the only way for me to learn about... ''Life''."
Petra Soroka	"I don't know about that. I mean, the-- the feeling like it's less important, or anything, because I'm actually here myself. I don't think it does." Petra's out-loud wondering is punctuated by a cascading series of clacks of her fingernails on her phone, before she finally sets it to the side. "If anything, it's kind of more important, right? When you're a civilian, you just get-- get whatever you're told. Whatever gets reported on, which usually is like, secondhand, or thirdhand information, for the parts that even get mentioned at all." "And then it's all washed out, and that's what gets recorded, and then that's what everyone believes. Whatever's written down in the wiki, that's what's true for literally trillions of people, because for people that aren't you, or Lilian, or-- or me, now, that's all the access they get to this whole world. And then that gets cited in an article, and the article gets on the news, and then people talk about what they hear there, and it's... that's just the narrative that'll be remembered forever." "Truth is constructed in conversations between people." This is one of those topics that Petra could talk about forever; which is, in itself, proof of how much she cares about it, given how much she struggles to form arguments about topics that Lilian hasn't told her about usually. With the cap flipped open, a tendril of morphmetal stretches out of the bottle of reach towards Angela's monitors, cybersynaptic connection jumping between Petra and the computer to allow her to pull up the website without manually typing. As the WikElite page loads and she continues to lounge on the table, she mutters to herself, "Honestly, this is like, fifty percent of why I wanted to keep this stuff." Pages of Elites flash by on the screen, ones Angela's not familiar with, but Petra clearly is. A blonde woman in knightly armor, a nature goddess with green hair, yet another woman in armor, though Petra doesn't seem to notice the trend. "I guess I'm not really about, like, benefiting the world, in general. But when it comes to, archiving stuff, it feels like collecting and holding on to those stories is the only way to prove they ever happened. That's why I still feel like it's important even-- even knowing that basically every Elite is a fucking glue-sniffing dumbass. Though I'll never be a professional or anything, so..." Petra's scrolling through pages stops on one of a woman's article with a very photoshoot-style picture at the top, posing with a gun at least half again as tall as she is. "It's like the opposite of poetry, kind of. So I don't know how interesting you really think it is. But that's, that's some, a bit of how I think about writing. You'd asked, before. Maybe you feel totally different than all that." Petra turns her face to Angela again, pouting in thought a bit as she tries to assess how she's feeling now. "So if you want to see the City-- I want to find a way for you to. And I don't agree that-- that being stuck in here, makes you unable to write anything, um, meaningful."
Angela	Angela glances towards Petra at the second woman in armor (The third woman in a row). She doesn't recognize any of them though--well--Petra already suggested htat was likely to be the case. She watches the people go by on the screen. Thoughts are flitting through her head, some of which is a surprise to her. She wasn't really thinking too keenly when she had that argument with Gilgamesh--not at the end of it, when she was living in fury again. Every time she is furious she doesn't like how it feels afterwards, but Petra is angry all the time and seems fine with it. And that seems like a greater position of strength than the alternative. Maybe it's an infection her fathers left in her to sap her of strength. Just like those words. It's hard to believe now but... It's inevitable. Even if it does reset, which it won't because Petra said it won't, she'll just try again. X seems stable enough for now.. The real test if the revelations from Tiphereth break him, and if Gebura can eradicate the facility beyond recovery. If he can get past that hump, she can know it to be true. For now, she can rely on Trust instead of Truth. Just a little longer until you know it to be true, Angela tells herself. This is as optimistic as it's ever gotten and that's why she's anxious. If it falls here though ... It won't. Trust. Faith. She is someone who lives in the world of results but this is new so she can try Faith and Trust here again until Faith and Trust turn into results. It's as simple as that. She thinks this through between sentences. Angela says, "Not everyone should be privy to the full story," softly. "But knowledge about important people still has to proliferate to some extent or nobody will know to go searching. I suppose I can't know how it must feel yet. Still in the box but... Hah, a common refrain. But Tiphereth is likely to be next. Usually it is Netzach but he has been quiet but I do not have to set him up, that leaves Chesed and... the last two." ''Truth is constructed in conversations between people'' Angela frowns as she thinks that over. Is that true? Petra is saying it so confidently but Angela hasn't had real conversations until relatively recently. She mulls about that. Truth is constructed in conversations between people. "If the lies win the narrative, that is essentially--the Truth, you mean? They are no longer lies because it is the strongest shared belief?" ''I guess I'm not really about, like, benefitting the world in general.'' "Well I cannot speak as to the world in general, I suppose." Angela admits. "Though I think that the way you help the people I care about creates a world that is preferable to me which I think is better anyway." She may be successfully cheering up a bit. That half smile is lingering and she is probably not going to say she's even getting up to some of her old arrogant flair again. "If the world wished to be treated better it could have done so in turn." That might be from a particularly honest place, even as Phony's warning rings through her ears. But she has time before she has to consider that bridge.
Angela	"I have yet to find a particular brand of writing that I don't care for." Angela admits. "I have preferences, of course, but I don't think I have particularly ever hated information--I suppose once you've gone through all the information you have, any new information is bound to be a bit interesting since you haven't seen it before. It's new." She looks to Petra. "But I am sure you have written with passion even when writing something clinical for the purposes of being informative." The real poetry, after all, is in the wiki discussion pages. ''And I don't agree that-- that being stuck in here, makes you unable to write anything, um, meaningful.'' Angela thinks immediately of the card she wrote Petra and she manages, "Ah... I suppose ... I suppose when I speak like that, it is a bit thoughtless. I'm sorry Petra. I still think I have much to learn but ... I'll keep writing, even here."