May Activity - Super Robot Wars: Unlimited Generations Alpha
[The following letter can be found on Sora's desk, with a small black book open next to it to show what appears to be a summary of events and interactions. Feel free to review both, though she'll be angry, bordering on indignant if you're found with the book. The handwriting is... notably worse than the last sample of Sora's writing, for some reason, and there are a number of balled-up pieces of paper near it... ((This letter is IC; there's a standard, AC-friendly list of activity below it.))]
Professor Himesaki,
This month has been a terrible experience for me. A lot's happened and... I feel so wrung out, it's not even funny. Sometimes, I wonder how I got into the middle of all this. How I became a pilot, how I came to be on the Chalice... I keep telling myself that the good times balance out the bad. That's all I can do. In any case... I owe you a report for the month.
I was away from the ship for some time as part of Dita's little outing I mentioned last month; she called it a walkabout. It turned out to be a mountain climb, and though the cliffside was worn enough as to be reasonable, I had something else entirely to deal with. Spirits representing my fears, my worries... I had to look hard at myself, and figure out what I wanted from life. Why I'm a pilot. I'm still not totally certain, but... I found my answer. And knowing my answer is keeping me going, no matter what happens. I made an oath, before Dita, and with the world as my witness. I'm not going to give up. Never again.
On our way back, we fought some bandits... It was a rough time, and Hana and I were injured, but we were victorious; Hana was more seriously injured than I was. I don't think either of us did more than sleep once we returned to the Chalice, though, for a little while. When I woke up next, the alarms were blaring; we'd deployed for an attack on a large academy the Chalice had arrived at while I'd been away, and I jumped into Desu Itsuki to assist in defending the academy. I found Kamille having trouble with a number of enemies he'd been surrounded by, and jumped in to help. I think there was some resonance between his unit's Biosensor and the Hold HANDS system in Desu Itsuki... we were able to take down the attackers with very little effort. I was surprised, but I'm not going to complain about good results! He did do most of the work, though, to be fair.
Some time after that, Laura and her partner Devon received a communication regarding a crystal of sophium, a substance that controls their abilities. The other party, the Thoughts of Ascension, made a deal with the Chalice: Devon and Laura, plus some of the rest of us, would come to a specified area, and we'd fight. Whoever won would take the crystal, plus if Devon and Laura lost, their smaller crystals. We agreed to the terms, and I was on the team deployed for the battle, codenamed "Knightly Dealings". While I was happy I could do something useful in combat, I took a lot of damage... and that's before considering everything else that happened. Once we defeated the Thoughts of Ascension, they handed over the crystal to Laura, and her and Devon's boss appeared before us, one Roger Dantoinne. Dantoinne then spoke to Laura and... said something. I was too far away to hear, but the next thing any of us knew, she was handing the crystal over to him against all our wishes, and he told us he was the actual leader of the Thoughts of Ascension, before taking the crystal and leaving. During the fight, Devon and Laura's comrade, Frank, was seriously wounded; despite Laura healing him and most of us trying to keep more hits from coming his way, he barely survived the battle, and passed on as a result of those injuries shortly after our return to the Chalice.
Upon our return, Laura checked herself into the brig, worried she might hurt someone else; it turned out Dantoinne had implanted her with some kind of command, that made her hand over the crystal. I went down to reassure her that we'd be behind her, and that we'd make Dantoinne pay for his crimes. After that, I took some time in my room to reflect on the mission, as well as the walkabout before it. I was happy that I got a lot of support from everyone after the mission went south; Hana helped me keep my head and not just go hunting for Dantoinne to kill him myself. Dita and I debated how we could help everone on the ship, though we didn't really figure anything out. I explained to Werter that the only thing keeping me moving was being too tired to grieve. The weird conversation I had that day, though, was with PRIME, Alexei's partner. Both of us were there for the sortie, but I don't think he remembered me; even so, he was surprisingly pleasant to talk to. I think he might have noticed I was feeling down... but I'll remember it.
From there... everything got worse. We received intelligence that Dantoinne was gearing up for one final battle, using the crystal he'd stolen from us to summon great Shifting Entities, capable of phasing out of the material plane, and amazingly strong. We had no choice but to engage him, and the remains of the Thoughts of Ascension, in one last battle for the fate of the world, codenamed "It's Safe Now". Desu Itsuki wasn't repaired in time for me to do anything to help, so... all I could do was watch. I found out later the terrible cost that, at the time, we'd paid for peace. The pilots were unable to readily combat the threat of the Shifting Entities; it took a huge price to damage even one, that one formerly being Dantoinne, with almost none of their units able to continue combat. Devon and Laura, in a last-ditch effort to save us all, fused with that Shifting Entity, and used the remains of the control crystal to drive them all into the Earth's core, sealing their return path behind them. The two didn't return, and eventually there was no choice but for the pilots to return, horribly demoralized.
Of course, I didn't know any of this, so when I went to check in on Seiren after the mission... let's just say things didn't go well. She was a wreck, Desu Ellen was totalled, and there was nothing I could do, to say nothing of my own sadness that Laura was gone. I don't blame her for the things she said, or slamming me into a wall rather painfully. She... Seiren was hurting, and there wasn't - still isn't - anything I could do. Of everything that's happened, that's the thing I most regret. That I can't help her. But... talking to Seiren that day finally drove it into my head that, no matter how much I want it, there will be people that don't want my help. It's hard to accept, but I don't really have a choice in the matter.
After I left from talking to her, black rings at the edges of my vision from Seiren's rage and grief, I eventually found Kamille in the arboretum, musing over documents. He was the one that told me that the girls hadn't died... they'd only disappeared, and Kamille's Newtype senses still detected them as they left. That gave me hope again, that I'd see them again. I was so relieved, I relaxed completely... and I let my guard down a little too much. Kamille spooked me with part of the information about the Shifting Entities, and I think I made a sound. He found it cute, and from there we somehow got on the topic of my fashion sense, and that caused him to drag me off somewhere; eventually he dropped me off with Eri, and asked her to design clothing for me to get back in touch with my inner cuteness. I didn't complain too much, honestly, but... I don't know how his mind works. I could tell I was getting closer to him, too, but... you probably know this by now, but I need people. I need contact with others, or I go insane. Kamille... even if he doesn't know it, him letting me in is a huge help for my sanity here.
Shortly after that, the Chalice arrived over Old Seattle, and shore leave was declared for the pilots, as a festival was going on. I went down to explore, and eventually met up with Kamille again in the city; we ended up looking around for a while before stopping for a cup of coffee. Evaluating my actions days later, I... um... flirted with him quite a bit. At the time, though, I wasn't worried about that; I was just having fun, and he was being shy, I guess you'd call it. Eventually, though, the two of us realized what was going on, and after trying and failing to talk to each other, he ran off, and I didn't chase him. I felt so bad... I thought I'd been teasing him all day for no reason, and I just shut myself in my room, not talking to anyone. I got the sense he did the same.
Two days later, the Chalice was largely empty, everyone down in Old Seattle for the tail end of the festival and what would become the sortie codenamed "Megamax". I hadn't really left my room, and I felt horrible. I was starting to accept that I felt something for Kamille, but mostly I just had an aching need to apologize to him. I eventually decided to try and find someone to talk to about my situation, but... I found Kamille. He'd been trying to find an answer too, but I showed up right as he thought he'd found something, and... after he realized it was me, neither of us said anything for a long moment. Then I got my apology out... and he asked me why. I'd thought it was all my fault the whole time, but no, Kamille told me himself it was just his inability to face his problems. I... I was so relieved then. I thought I'd pushed him away that whole time! And then he started trying to say something to me, but he couldn't get it out, and I finally realized what it was. What he was feeling, what I was feeling. Before I could say anything, he stopped trying to be subtle. And he kissed me.
I can't really describe how I felt then, but everything felt right with the world, for those few minutes. Laura's death, not being able to save Frank, Seiren, Hana... none of that mattered. It was just him and I, and that moment cemented it in my mind. I love him. There's nothing else to be said. And with that one thought in mind, I kissed him back. I admit I lost track of time during that process... we met with a number of subsequent interruptions. I think we broke Hana at the time, and Eri was with a whole group of people that had to be sternly asked to leave before they did something I'd regret. The Red Comet... He scared me a little with his sudden presence, let alone reaching for a bottle of vodka immediately after, but I don't think he was angry. No, the real problem was Seiren. All the joy of the previous moment left, and the truth of the incident with Alexei last month came out. Seiren was... displeased, to say the least, and sentenced me to a day of her "special" training, which I still haven't been called to serve. I'm not looking forward to it, but... honestly, even if it was a special case, I'm not going to complain. I messed up, I'll take the penalty. I just hope I don't get too beaten up.
A little while after that were two other small incidents. In the first, there was a commotion as two human-sized objects crashed onto the deck; they turned out to be two suits of armor, which in turn resolved into Devon and Laura, miraculously back from wherever they'd gone. I hurried to talk to Laura, but she was quite tired from her ordeal; I didn't stay long, just enough to confirm she was all right. As for the second, I came across Eri, who had finished the dress Kamille had commissioned for me. I like it, actually, but Eri asked me something that kinda shocked me. I mentioned that I was impressed with her skills at design, and she offered for me to try... I don't have the skill for that, I think, so I ended up not really saying anything. Maybe I'll try later, but... not now. For now... I'm content with keeping on top of things.
All things considered, the last month was eventful, but... things are going better than I could have hoped, considering everything that's happened. Our team's morale is weird; between Seiren's command, Hana's personality quirks, Eri's general aloofness, and my... relationship issues, we're all in weird personal places, but... it's working out. That said... I think I need to go find Kamille. I could go for something to cheer me up after having to relive all that. Take care, Professor.
Sora Myoudouin
[The pages are stacked neatly atop each other; a new pen rests near them, and an envelope is addressed to Professor Himesaki at Fairy Park. Next to those is a well-worn pen and a piece of paper with some writing on it, then what looks like writing without ink; apparently Sora got caught up in writing and her pen was empty. Sora herself is missing; more than likely she went to find Kamille for a while, as discussed.]
===
Activity list:
- 8 in Walkabout: Journey's Middle and End with NPCs and Dita
- 4 in the Eihwaz combat log with Kamille
- Mission: Knightly Dealings
- 3 in Phase Eight: Recrimination with Laura
- Shine 5 | Journey's End, Hero's End (+5), and 14 in threads with Hana, PRIME, Dita, Kamille, and Werter
- 17 in Fifth Note | Memories of Tragedy with Seiren
- 12 in Mourning with Kamille and Eri
- 10 in the Festival [before Megamax] with Kamille
- 17 in the Sora/Kamille post during Megamax with Kamille, Hana, Seiren, all of Shaun's characters at once, and Char
- 2 in This is the beginning with Laura
- 3 in Reports and Stuff with Eri
Professor Himesaki,
This month has been a terrible experience for me. A lot's happened and... I feel so wrung out, it's not even funny. Sometimes, I wonder how I got into the middle of all this. How I became a pilot, how I came to be on the Chalice... I keep telling myself that the good times balance out the bad. That's all I can do. In any case... I owe you a report for the month.
I was away from the ship for some time as part of Dita's little outing I mentioned last month; she called it a walkabout. It turned out to be a mountain climb, and though the cliffside was worn enough as to be reasonable, I had something else entirely to deal with. Spirits representing my fears, my worries... I had to look hard at myself, and figure out what I wanted from life. Why I'm a pilot. I'm still not totally certain, but... I found my answer. And knowing my answer is keeping me going, no matter what happens. I made an oath, before Dita, and with the world as my witness. I'm not going to give up. Never again.
On our way back, we fought some bandits... It was a rough time, and Hana and I were injured, but we were victorious; Hana was more seriously injured than I was. I don't think either of us did more than sleep once we returned to the Chalice, though, for a little while. When I woke up next, the alarms were blaring; we'd deployed for an attack on a large academy the Chalice had arrived at while I'd been away, and I jumped into Desu Itsuki to assist in defending the academy. I found Kamille having trouble with a number of enemies he'd been surrounded by, and jumped in to help. I think there was some resonance between his unit's Biosensor and the Hold HANDS system in Desu Itsuki... we were able to take down the attackers with very little effort. I was surprised, but I'm not going to complain about good results! He did do most of the work, though, to be fair.
Some time after that, Laura and her partner Devon received a communication regarding a crystal of sophium, a substance that controls their abilities. The other party, the Thoughts of Ascension, made a deal with the Chalice: Devon and Laura, plus some of the rest of us, would come to a specified area, and we'd fight. Whoever won would take the crystal, plus if Devon and Laura lost, their smaller crystals. We agreed to the terms, and I was on the team deployed for the battle, codenamed "Knightly Dealings". While I was happy I could do something useful in combat, I took a lot of damage... and that's before considering everything else that happened. Once we defeated the Thoughts of Ascension, they handed over the crystal to Laura, and her and Devon's boss appeared before us, one Roger Dantoinne. Dantoinne then spoke to Laura and... said something. I was too far away to hear, but the next thing any of us knew, she was handing the crystal over to him against all our wishes, and he told us he was the actual leader of the Thoughts of Ascension, before taking the crystal and leaving. During the fight, Devon and Laura's comrade, Frank, was seriously wounded; despite Laura healing him and most of us trying to keep more hits from coming his way, he barely survived the battle, and passed on as a result of those injuries shortly after our return to the Chalice.
Upon our return, Laura checked herself into the brig, worried she might hurt someone else; it turned out Dantoinne had implanted her with some kind of command, that made her hand over the crystal. I went down to reassure her that we'd be behind her, and that we'd make Dantoinne pay for his crimes. After that, I took some time in my room to reflect on the mission, as well as the walkabout before it. I was happy that I got a lot of support from everyone after the mission went south; Hana helped me keep my head and not just go hunting for Dantoinne to kill him myself. Dita and I debated how we could help everone on the ship, though we didn't really figure anything out. I explained to Werter that the only thing keeping me moving was being too tired to grieve. The weird conversation I had that day, though, was with PRIME, Alexei's partner. Both of us were there for the sortie, but I don't think he remembered me; even so, he was surprisingly pleasant to talk to. I think he might have noticed I was feeling down... but I'll remember it.
From there... everything got worse. We received intelligence that Dantoinne was gearing up for one final battle, using the crystal he'd stolen from us to summon great Shifting Entities, capable of phasing out of the material plane, and amazingly strong. We had no choice but to engage him, and the remains of the Thoughts of Ascension, in one last battle for the fate of the world, codenamed "It's Safe Now". Desu Itsuki wasn't repaired in time for me to do anything to help, so... all I could do was watch. I found out later the terrible cost that, at the time, we'd paid for peace. The pilots were unable to readily combat the threat of the Shifting Entities; it took a huge price to damage even one, that one formerly being Dantoinne, with almost none of their units able to continue combat. Devon and Laura, in a last-ditch effort to save us all, fused with that Shifting Entity, and used the remains of the control crystal to drive them all into the Earth's core, sealing their return path behind them. The two didn't return, and eventually there was no choice but for the pilots to return, horribly demoralized.
Of course, I didn't know any of this, so when I went to check in on Seiren after the mission... let's just say things didn't go well. She was a wreck, Desu Ellen was totalled, and there was nothing I could do, to say nothing of my own sadness that Laura was gone. I don't blame her for the things she said, or slamming me into a wall rather painfully. She... Seiren was hurting, and there wasn't - still isn't - anything I could do. Of everything that's happened, that's the thing I most regret. That I can't help her. But... talking to Seiren that day finally drove it into my head that, no matter how much I want it, there will be people that don't want my help. It's hard to accept, but I don't really have a choice in the matter.
After I left from talking to her, black rings at the edges of my vision from Seiren's rage and grief, I eventually found Kamille in the arboretum, musing over documents. He was the one that told me that the girls hadn't died... they'd only disappeared, and Kamille's Newtype senses still detected them as they left. That gave me hope again, that I'd see them again. I was so relieved, I relaxed completely... and I let my guard down a little too much. Kamille spooked me with part of the information about the Shifting Entities, and I think I made a sound. He found it cute, and from there we somehow got on the topic of my fashion sense, and that caused him to drag me off somewhere; eventually he dropped me off with Eri, and asked her to design clothing for me to get back in touch with my inner cuteness. I didn't complain too much, honestly, but... I don't know how his mind works. I could tell I was getting closer to him, too, but... you probably know this by now, but I need people. I need contact with others, or I go insane. Kamille... even if he doesn't know it, him letting me in is a huge help for my sanity here.
Shortly after that, the Chalice arrived over Old Seattle, and shore leave was declared for the pilots, as a festival was going on. I went down to explore, and eventually met up with Kamille again in the city; we ended up looking around for a while before stopping for a cup of coffee. Evaluating my actions days later, I... um... flirted with him quite a bit. At the time, though, I wasn't worried about that; I was just having fun, and he was being shy, I guess you'd call it. Eventually, though, the two of us realized what was going on, and after trying and failing to talk to each other, he ran off, and I didn't chase him. I felt so bad... I thought I'd been teasing him all day for no reason, and I just shut myself in my room, not talking to anyone. I got the sense he did the same.
Two days later, the Chalice was largely empty, everyone down in Old Seattle for the tail end of the festival and what would become the sortie codenamed "Megamax". I hadn't really left my room, and I felt horrible. I was starting to accept that I felt something for Kamille, but mostly I just had an aching need to apologize to him. I eventually decided to try and find someone to talk to about my situation, but... I found Kamille. He'd been trying to find an answer too, but I showed up right as he thought he'd found something, and... after he realized it was me, neither of us said anything for a long moment. Then I got my apology out... and he asked me why. I'd thought it was all my fault the whole time, but no, Kamille told me himself it was just his inability to face his problems. I... I was so relieved then. I thought I'd pushed him away that whole time! And then he started trying to say something to me, but he couldn't get it out, and I finally realized what it was. What he was feeling, what I was feeling. Before I could say anything, he stopped trying to be subtle. And he kissed me.
I can't really describe how I felt then, but everything felt right with the world, for those few minutes. Laura's death, not being able to save Frank, Seiren, Hana... none of that mattered. It was just him and I, and that moment cemented it in my mind. I love him. There's nothing else to be said. And with that one thought in mind, I kissed him back. I admit I lost track of time during that process... we met with a number of subsequent interruptions. I think we broke Hana at the time, and Eri was with a whole group of people that had to be sternly asked to leave before they did something I'd regret. The Red Comet... He scared me a little with his sudden presence, let alone reaching for a bottle of vodka immediately after, but I don't think he was angry. No, the real problem was Seiren. All the joy of the previous moment left, and the truth of the incident with Alexei last month came out. Seiren was... displeased, to say the least, and sentenced me to a day of her "special" training, which I still haven't been called to serve. I'm not looking forward to it, but... honestly, even if it was a special case, I'm not going to complain. I messed up, I'll take the penalty. I just hope I don't get too beaten up.
A little while after that were two other small incidents. In the first, there was a commotion as two human-sized objects crashed onto the deck; they turned out to be two suits of armor, which in turn resolved into Devon and Laura, miraculously back from wherever they'd gone. I hurried to talk to Laura, but she was quite tired from her ordeal; I didn't stay long, just enough to confirm she was all right. As for the second, I came across Eri, who had finished the dress Kamille had commissioned for me. I like it, actually, but Eri asked me something that kinda shocked me. I mentioned that I was impressed with her skills at design, and she offered for me to try... I don't have the skill for that, I think, so I ended up not really saying anything. Maybe I'll try later, but... not now. For now... I'm content with keeping on top of things.
All things considered, the last month was eventful, but... things are going better than I could have hoped, considering everything that's happened. Our team's morale is weird; between Seiren's command, Hana's personality quirks, Eri's general aloofness, and my... relationship issues, we're all in weird personal places, but... it's working out. That said... I think I need to go find Kamille. I could go for something to cheer me up after having to relive all that. Take care, Professor.
Sora Myoudouin
[The pages are stacked neatly atop each other; a new pen rests near them, and an envelope is addressed to Professor Himesaki at Fairy Park. Next to those is a well-worn pen and a piece of paper with some writing on it, then what looks like writing without ink; apparently Sora got caught up in writing and her pen was empty. Sora herself is missing; more than likely she went to find Kamille for a while, as discussed.]
===
Activity list:
- 8 in Walkabout: Journey's Middle and End with NPCs and Dita
- 4 in the Eihwaz combat log with Kamille
- Mission: Knightly Dealings
- 3 in Phase Eight: Recrimination with Laura
- Shine 5 | Journey's End, Hero's End (+5), and 14 in threads with Hana, PRIME, Dita, Kamille, and Werter
- 17 in Fifth Note | Memories of Tragedy with Seiren
- 12 in Mourning with Kamille and Eri
- 10 in the Festival [before Megamax] with Kamille
- 17 in the Sora/Kamille post during Megamax with Kamille, Hana, Seiren, all of Shaun's characters at once, and Char
- 2 in This is the beginning with Laura
- 3 in Reports and Stuff with Eri