For the Sake of Cheap Sentimentalism

[empress_without_a_throne]

[1]

[So many revelations brought on inside of the Lady's Good Men's base of operations.  Ingram and that impostor Calico.  The Lady herself.  But on a more personal note...]

... He... was right.

On our own, the Savior machines have done decently enough, but whenever we've combined things have rarely gone well.  And it's getting worse and worse...

[Sara nearly disabling the machine with such ease.  SolEraser trashing the machine once, and her own self-destructive attempt to defeat it the second time.  And now SolSavior's strongest attack more a threat to its pilots than anyone else.  The cuts, bruises, bandages, and bloodstains on Mizuki's clothing do not paint an uplifting picture.]

[2]

[video]



Everyone... I've made a decision.  It's entirely mine and mine alone, but...  In light of what we did... what happened out there I mean...

I'm stepping down from being a member of the Savior team.  I won't be leaving the Unity Group or Solaris, but... but I've gone as far as I can, done as much as I can to make the idea work.  But I guess the Lady's Good Men weren't the only ones at odds with the laws of reality.

Also, just to test the water... do you think "DawnBird"... would make a good name?  For a replacement machine?  Solaris's already made two new mechs... one more should be doable.

Comments

[actuallyselfish]

"But it did work out, sort of!" Dido protests "That attack at the end...you and Ken combining your attacks, directing your energies in parallel instead of opposition..."

Her voice trails off. "I know how much SolSavior matters to you, Mizuki." Dido says at last. "And that's why I want to see this work! Maybe it's sunk cost fallacy, but I don't want to see the system we've created go to waste!"

[empress_without_a_throne]

Dido, it's not... about SolSavior. It's about Solaris.

[And her hands fall on her copilot's shoulders.]

It's about you, me, and Ken as people. It's knowing there's still a place in the world for us. And there is. We've been proving it.

But the world's been proving right back that our machine was good at the start, not so much the long haul.

[actuallyselfish]

"...perhaps." Dido says softly.

She snorts. "Gods. Just last year, I was convinced SolSavior was just a propaganda stunt, a flagship vehicle that wouldn't see action."

She shrugs. "Then stuff happened. Horrible stuff. So many assholes came crawling out of the woodwork, and it sucked. But...but with you and Ken, I could do more than just hang back and pray. The three of us together could...can change things. 'Fight the Hurricane', like that Yancy guy said."

She rests a hand on Mizuki's. "Maybe I'm scared of things changing again. But it's like you say. Even if we have to scrap SolSavior, we can still fight together."

[empress_without_a_throne]

We're not "scrapping" SolSavior.

[Even if she's lost confidence in being a pilot for it, Mizuki's tone makes it clear she hasn't given up on things as a whole.]

You did plenty of fighting out there all on your own, more than anyone would've ever thought or expected of you. Ken too. And I'm not going anywhere either; we just... have to put SolSavior as it currently is off the table. At least until there's a proper, third component finished for it.