Description: Cammy is trying her best to be a good little Dalek, but those pesky emotions keep sticking up! Rose comes (psychically) and bothers her about it, to her annoyance... but is not annoyance an emotion as well!?
Though resistance still runs rampant throughout Thailand, you'd be hard pressed to find it here in the capital, Bangkok. Though there are flare-ups, most of the remaining citizens have setted down under the blanket of curfews, armed patrols, and Shadaloo's more bizarre elements. Case in point: the Killer Bee. She often stays out of sight - those aware of her, though, are keen to avoid her attention. She has a lot of frustration lately with the hard-headed invaders.
A case in point would be one Fiolina Germi. Though Cammy beat her rather handily, the woman refused to give the name of the woman who'd aided her. And though extended interrogation might turn up more, the Doll's patience had run rather thin. More than likely, it would just attract more irritating Ikaris and more pointless fights.
It's a rare moment to catch the Killer Bee in as she thinks about all this, as she sits down atop a parked tank near a city square. In her lap is bowl of noodles which she gathers up in a pair of chopsticks and eats away. There's no need for her to keep swaggering about with the soldiers at this point and playing Vega's murder machine. They all know better than to interrupt her bowl of pad thai, in any case.
At least conquest gets you better food than Shadaloo MREs. Yeck.
Rose knows that what she is doing is risky. She also realizes that it may well have repercussions if she is captured. Never the less, the attempt must be made, and that is why she has travelled to Bangkok...
Of course, she was not enough of a fool to walk.
Things grow suddenly very quiet as Cammy looks into her noodles. She may recognize the faint tingle of something effecting her mind, but it's light, deft, and distant. If and when she raises her head, she will discover that the entire area has frozen in time.
And, of course, that there is someone sitting on the other end of the tank's turret. This woman, Rose, may be recognizable. Her arms are folded and her head tilted slightly forwards, as if pensive.
It's good not to just try walking in. I mean, see how well that worked for Guile. Or Heidern. Or Alex. Something about guys thinking all they need are a pair of fatigues and a snappy line...
Freezing along with the world for a moment - though more out of surprise than mental whammy - Cammy then takes up her bite of noodles. Chewing just like the program says to chew. The programming, however, does not account for temporal stasis. Or at least the seeming effect of such.
Putting down the bowl beside her, she stands up and turns around, staring at Rose for a long moment. "I do not believe I have to inform you of how many rules you are violating. Stop this." She flexes one hand at her side, closing it into a fist as she emphasizes. "/Now/."
At least she's coping well enough.
Rose is much sneakier than they are; also, her pumps would have just DIED after a few days' marching.
Rose tsks her tongue once and shakes her head. "Stop what, Cammy?" she says, turning her head to look at the young woman. "I am not even certain what you are telling me to do."
She straightens up, although she doesn't stand; instead, she gestures to a patrol sitting several yards away and smoking cigarettes. "Do you believe that time has stopped? Think, Cammy; it should be clear to you what I have done."
It might take some thinking. The obvious answer is some kind of sensory illusion...
"You are quite aware of 'what'... and as for the other query.", Cammy replies simply. She pauses, thinking, and then finishes. "Insufficient data. But..." She steps atop the turret. "... what does it matter? If you have come to talk to me, it is pointless. If you have come to fight me, I will defeat you."
Glancing around, she looks wary, nonetheless. It's disconcerting, certainly, but she does an rather good job of hiding that fact. Not perfect, mind.
"Is it?" Rose says, raising an eyebrow as she looks around. "I can hear your words, and how you are speaking now like a machine once again. Insufficent data; it is pointless... but it is fading, isn't it?"
She looks up towards Cammy as she glances around. She can pick up these details even if they are faint, perhaps -- or at least, she can tell which parts are which. "And yet," she says, gesturing back towards the noodle bowl. "Did you choose that because you were /ordered/ to, Cammy? Or were you hungry for something different, and wanted it?" A minor example, but a concrete one too!
"It is more efficient than... it is important to become familiar with local customs in order to proceed with the occupation." The Killer Bee can crank out excuses for her actions pretty easily. She has to, really, to keep from running into places where her programming conflicts with... her feelings.
Then, she gets an irritated look on her face of realization. "This is meaningless; I do not need to explain myself to you. I have to make decisions all the time in such a chaotic environment. I am Vega's hand, I do not need to justify anything I do save to him." She looks away slightly to the soldiers, frowning deeper.
"Why not simply force yourself on them?" Rose asks as she tilts her head, still looking up towards the 'Killer Bee'. "After all, is that not what he would do? Or do you seek an accomodation, rather than absolute submission?"
NOW Rose stands, balancing carefully on the edge of the turret. "You say that you must make decisions. What KIND of decisions? Does he truly wish for you to have this latitude...?"
The soldiers haven't moved. There doesn't seem to be /any/ motion (other than Rose's, naturally) as far as Cammy can easily see. Rose continues in a slightly gentler tone, "Do you wish to justify these things to him? There is no wrong in having your own choices."
"Force is necessary at times, but inefficient." The Killer Bee walks off on the edge of the barrel, staring away. "It is unfeasible to achieve control through force alone. People must believe..." She trails off, biting her lip.
She then looks over her shoulder to Rose. "Do not speak as if you know him. He approves of me, and my actions. He trusts me where he can trust noone else." Crouching on the end of the barrel, she looks down the road. "Nobody desires to understand the nobility of his goals. They only see the monster they want."
Rose lets out a long, slow sigh.
She understands, of course. But it is an understanding that cannot be easily quantified - and which is, ultimately, not the business of anyone unless it becomes direly neccessary.
She then decides to take this at its word. She does her best to purge skepticism from her face - to leave only curiosity and sympathy - and says to Cammy, quietly but not so quiet as to go unheard, "What are his goals?"
The Killer Bee falls quiet, frowning more deeply. "He will create a greater order. He will remove corruption and war... and purge such things from the world. It is the nature for people like you to oppose such things... without problems... and crisises... you feel empty. That will change." She stands up straight, and turns to face Rose.
Gesturing outward with a hand, "And that is why fighters come here to oppose us. Without a need for people like them, they will be extinct. There will no longer be a need for the violence they embody."
"Do you think that these things can be removed completely?" Rose says, softly. "The world does not work in absolutes. You can purge the evil, or the good, from yourself - perhaps in the end, though, the result is the same."
She pushes a lock of her hair back, and then decides that perhaps she ought to ask the obvious question. "What," she says, "do you know, regarding my nature - I mean myself personally, vain as it may sound. Do you remember anything about when we have met in the past?"
"Of course not. There will be a need for a few like me...", the Killer Bee replies. "... and I am aware of your dossier. You are nothing more than a charlatan who seeks to decieve others with your flawed version of Psycho Power. Perhaps someday we will find a way to remove your impurities." She steps forward, and narrows her eyes. "And I remember nothing about the 'bug' that was Cammy White."
Rose smiles, slightly, and lowers her eyes down towards her feet. "I suppose," she says, "that we all decieve others, even when we don't mean to."
She doesn't advance, even as she looks upwards towards Cammy again. "I know it means nothing to you now," she says, "but I am sorry that I could not do more - and for when I failed you. I would say that 'I will make it better,' but the best that I can do -"
She looks then up towards the still sky that may not truly be there. "Is help you to manage it yourself."
Meeting Rose's eyes, Cammy shakes her head slightly. "I am tired of all you people who are trying to 'help'... it is insulting and useless. The girl you knew was nothing more than a weak, confused malfunction. I understand who I am now and what I must do."
She closes a fist, holding it before her. "Vega thought you were a danger to me. I see that you are just another misguided..." She falls silent, shaking her head. "You wish to care for somebody that is dead. Perhaps the only way to eliminate the malfunction entirely... is to remove those infected by it as well."
Rose seems regretful as she looks down at her feet once more. This is not the first time she has heard this. Perhaps, she thinks, this is what Vega has found; the seeds of resentment that comes from offered aid that feels, as well, like a burden or an insult. Even if accepted without complaint, is it also a plague? But even so, to poison the relations between people...
And if they are distant, Rose realizes, and unwilling to aid each other, out of fear of offense, or out of fury at the implication of insult, then they are all easier targets... and, of course, fear is what aids him.
"Dead?" she says. Her voice sounds sharper as she lifts her head again. "It is peculiar that you use such a word. 'Dead'." She takes one step forwards. "Death, of course, is when war, strife, and suffering ends. Death is when there is peace - where peace can truly be guaranteed. In death, there can be no crises. Death is where there is no confusion."
Rose breathes in. "Losing your fear, your confusion... and your life in service to something higher is the appeal he gives. But if you open your eyes... the world is not as hostile as you may think. When they bombard you - and I know it is often worse than artillery firing - with their offers... They mean no insult." Sakura, Rose thinks, understood that; hopefully it will spread more easily.
Rose says, "And the world..." Her head tilts forwards. "Will not stop forever."
She vanishes, suddenly, and Cammy would find the world itself shifting around her. Or more properly, shifting back to where it - and she - once was; her body is seated back where it had begun, a plate of pad thai filling her field of vision. The noise of the street has returned.
"....." The Killer Bee looks up. She will have to report thi... no. There is no time for her to undergo psychological evaluations, if she is to serve. Plus, it would be wasteful to leave the food. This is not the time for her to show weakness.
And so, she goes back to eating, comtemplating what has just happened. Perhaps she's thinking too much... or just enough, depending on who's doign the measuring. Pulling up the noodles, she eats it irritably. Perhaps she'll have to pull an extra patrol tonight. Just to be sure.
Log created on 00:00:51 06/28/2007 by Rose, and last modified on 23:00:56 06/28/2007.