WHO: Heero Yuy/Zero & Viral Sassoon
WHERE: Some out-of-the-way location at the edges of the City.
WHEN: July 9, around 7pm
WARNINGS: Paranoia and BS about giant mecha technology because both muses top their muns at this stuff.
SUMMARY: Viral and Heero meet up to exchange some information. Conversation and other shenanigans may follow.
FORMAT:
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Nodding at the other's confirmation, Heero took another few steps forward; out of arms' reach but enough to speak casually. He hadn't really thought it would be anyone else coming to this obscure location, but it was always better to check. "I'm Zero, though you've probably already guessed that." He glanced down at the object Viral was carrying, and then back up at him. Reaching into his backpocket, he withdrew the case containing the disk slowly, making sure to display completely that it was not a gun or a weapon. He was ready for a fight if necessary, but Heero would prefer not to over something like a misunderstanding that he caused.
"I've taken the liberty of encoding my end of the deal onto a disk for security purposes," he explained. "All you have to do is put it into a computer and input your name."
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"I'm in no hurry to make the exchange unless you are," he said, boldly. "I'm...curious. About things other than just your Ganmen. You said you were a pilot, too... Who were you fighting?"
He moved the cardboard tube in front of him, placing both of his gloved hands on it and holding it against his body, secure until it was time to hand it over. He had to be sure he was giving this to the right person, after all, didn't he? What if even the basic version of Enki was much more advanced than this boy's weapons, and he took that knowledge back to his own universe?
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"We call them mobile suits in our world," he began, his voice just loud enough to be heard by the man standing next to him. He wasn't about to let slip the word "Gundam", after all. His eyes remained fixed on the water and the horizon. Unknowingly, he shared some of Viral's concerns about the technology, however basic, with this virtual stranger. He'd been careful to only include the most elementary blueprint; a reconstruction of the suit could conceivably be achieved with it, especially if their technology really was so similar, but if they differed significantly... well, it was possible theoretically, but Heero was not going to make it particularly easy for them.
"I fight whomever my enemies are." It was not really an answer, and to be sure, it was deliberately vague, but at the same time... it was, in some ways, the only real answer he had. Targets had changed too often and too rapidly for there to be a single, easy answer with which to answer Viral's question. Heero knew; he'd spent a long difficult period searching for it himself.
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After a few more moments of looking into the deep water he finally allowed his feline eyes to return to his companion, observing him as he talked, because he didn't say much, and he didn't seem to reveal much through his actions or expressions, either. It was important that he took everything in -- what little there was -- so that he didn't miss anything important that hadn't been spoken.
His answer was a good one. I fight whomever my enemies are. It was accurate, and honest. It said a lot about the kind of battle Heero was fighting, that the sides wouldn't be clear, and most of all, it sounded familiar.
"The side I started on was everything I knew," he told him, without having to be asked. "I began to question it: Why? I didn't understand why the other side kept fighting... I had to taste freedom myself, and I understood what it meant to want to fight for it, even against impossible odds." He made a derisive sound, then added, "even if you have to fight with people who were once your enemies."
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Making a small sound that might have been agreement, he finally turned and glanced to Viral, meeting the other's strange feline-like eyes steadily. If he found it unnerving at all, he covered it well. "War often necessitates things like that," he said, remembering the people he'd crossed swords with, so to speak, who'd come back and fought alongside him later on. "It helped that we were never on anyone's side except our own. Though, that often meant fighting on even when the very people you're trying to protect turn on you. Eventually, I got used to fighting losing battles. They started to lose their meaning, if you fight for too long." He remembered, with almost painful vividness, the doubts, the weariness of war, but he also remembered the firm, sometimes downright grim determination to keep trudging forward. Toward a peace that he may not live to see, but would certainly keep fighting to bring about until the day he died.
"There are things that you don't forget though. I didn't have any memories of peace or freedom to forget, but I had my mission. And there were the people who did remember peace and freedom and a life free from fear to fight for. There was a future to fight for."
Strange, he wasn't usually so long-winded, but there was something about the situation, and the transitional stage of his own life from where he'd been so abruptly taken.
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And he closed his eyes, turning away again.
He'd spent his entire life fighting to keep the humans below the surface, never questioning why. He'd never been designed to question it. But his lust for the fight had been worn away. Well...the lust for that fight. His curiosity had led him down a different path after that. Life had opened up where it hadn't existed before. He'd become more than just another unit in the Spiral King's army, and his identity, his sense of self had flourished.
His eyes opened once more, guided wistfully to the horizon and the movement of ships he could see on it. He'd never felt small before; but this city had made him feel that way. He was just one of the millions of useless numbers here that could come and go without being noticed. It wasn't an entirely new feeling, but it was an unwelcome one.
"When you were taken from your world," he said, "Did you leave anything unfinished? I'm told we can return to where we were taken... I hope that's true. There's one thing I have to do. One thing I'm living for." He didn't look back toward Heero this time; just listened.
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Similarly, he understood well the feeling of living your life for something, in his case: the mission, and later, peace. But the war was over now; Operation Meteor had just-- finally, finally-- ended only a few days before he found himself here, so ... "No." It was a short, succinct answer, but there was also an ocean of relief and complexity underneath the calm layer of his voice. (Shhh, he hasn't been told about the Mariemaia incident yet.) "I've completed my mission."
Then, because Heero did understand, he offered, "I hope you return in time to complete yours."
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"If my mission were already over, coming here to fight another battle would be my idea of hell."
Viral exhaled, lifting his free hand from the rail to run it back through his hair, digging his clawed fingers briefly into his scalp before dropping them back onto the rail once more. "At least with a reason to return, there's a purpose in all of this. If I get to remember it, then it might make all the difference."
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"If your battles had been won, you wouldn't have a purpose anymore?" He could certainly remember a time when the mission had been the end-all-be-all of his existence as well.
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His purpose had always been to find Simon and fight him again; even after all those years. He'd learnt to turn his attentions to protecting the humans that needed someone strong to defend them. He'd been that someone. But when this was over; when the great existence that threatened his planet was extinguished -- assuming they all survived -- what purpose would there be for him in that future? He was a beastman; a relic of days gone by when the planet was racked with war and humanity was forced to live underground. He had no business living amongst humans after that. Did he?
He didn't want to phrase any of the things he was feeling, so instead he lifted the roll at his side and held it out to Heero. "Take a look. I'm curious as to whether they're at all similar."
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He didn't press the point, however, and took the shift in their conversation without questions. Accepting the cardboard tube, Heero nodded and slipped the paper inside out without a word, unrolling it carefully and studying it in the fading light of the sun. There were similarities in the design, to be sure, and maybe even the technology (though he couldn't be sure of that yet), but there were also differences, both major and subtle. He said as much to Viral at his side.
[ooc: I have no idea how similar they'd be, so vagueness go! XD You can just assume he said something that made sense to Viral? XDD]
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"The Enki was the most advanced Ganmen of its type; the multi-directional sockets and the excess number of joints allowed for more flexibility than in some other types..." He reached down and touched the paper, fondly, then curled his hand into a fist and dropped it aside. What he wouldn't give to have Enki back...
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"Manoeuvrability wasn't the primary design function for the suits on our world. This Leo is the standard mobile suit; there is a space variation, but I figured that the land use model would be more suitable."
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"Did you always fight with barrage weapons?" he asked. "From a distance?"
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He glanced at Viral from the corner of his eye for the other's confirmation or denial of his deduction, in addition to anything the other man might care to add.
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