003 — handwritten [graph paper]

[argents]

[ July 1st.

This time, Banagher's number is copied down on graph paper. What appears isn't anything handwritten, but a rough technical sketch. An empty jumpseat of some kind, crowned by three screens and what looks like an impossibly advanced panoramic HUD. The rest is left sparsely detailed — no buttons, concrete controls, or clues as to what this cockpit (what else could it be?) belongs to. Save for the odd one-on-one occasion, he's been tight-lipped about what exactly has splashed itself uninvited across his memories, never knowing for sure what to trust when it came to himself. Never quite believing he could have been this... thing's pilot.

Off to the side, around some messy notes, is a scrawled out line of text in another language: À mon seul désir. There's a poetic ring to it, nearly romantic.

It's odd, placed next to a piece of technology so futuristic. ]

It's weird. I had to wrack my brain to remember this thing enough to put it on paper, even if I can't forget it. [ A pause, possibly to tap his pencil. ] If you asked any kid when they were younger what they wanted for their birthday, a giant robot probably ranked pretty high, right? Not so much when you're 18, though. When things like this aren't even supposed to be real...

[ Let alone crazy brain powers. At least he was getting used to those. And more importantly: ]

...it could have come with a better name.

[ Which he is hoping like hell wasn't his doing. ]

Comments

[argents]

It chose me.

[searchforpeace]

The Gundam did? Itself?

[argents]

Someone told me that. That it was inevitable.

[ Then he seems to think better of it, saying that so easily, and doubles back. ]

But I don't know how.

[searchforpeace]

[On her end, she falls into a contemplative silence. A few dots appear as she taps her pen, considering.

Then the writing returns.]

It may be then that the Gundam has a form of sentience itself.

Or perhaps whomever told that to you meant the Gundam chose you in a figurative sense, not a literal one. If so then somehow that Gundam might have been intended for you, thus making it inevitable that you would use it.

[argents]

[ Her words bring truth and clarity to his doubt, but there's something that lingers beyond doubt. ]

If it's a weapon?

[ Fright. ]

[searchforpeace]

Anything can be a weapon, can't it? I could likely brandish this pen if I felt like it. Instead I'm writing with it.

It is the user and not the object that makes a weapon.

[A beat, then the quick scrawl of:]

In my opinion I mean.

[argents]

[ Silence persists for a long few seconds. ]

I hope so.

[searchforpeace]

[Unfortunately, Audrey can't think of much more to say. Comforting is something she sorely lacks talent in and now more than even she realizes it.]

I do as well.

[argents]

[ Though it's something small, he's still grateful for it. Hoping with someone was always better than without. ]

Thanks, Audrey.

[searchforpeace]

You're welcome.