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[ Neil sticks around until after the meeting is done. It's been good getting to know people a little, a small glimpse at the group they have to work with for the foreseeable future. There are quite the characters among them, but that just makes it feel a little like home. Nobody in Celestial Being is normal either.

But the most noteworthy, most impressive thing here is Setsuna himself. When it's only the two of them left, walking towards their apartment complex, Neil pats Setsuna firmly on the shoulder. ]

Good job. Never thought I'd see you grow into a real team leader.

[ The warm gesture puts a smile on Setsuna's face. If there's any upside to this situation, it's meeting Neil again.

He's wanted to become a person that could make Neil proud. ]

I learned from your example.

[ Setsuna's holding onto three cookies wrapped up in a napkin, courtesy of Aziraphale. He offers them to Neil. ]

Here. You can have these.

[ That's another thing about this older Setsuna - he smiles more easily, now. The amount of times he's seen Setsuna smile while he was still alive can probably be counted on one hand, but now... It's the kind of change that is disorienting but good. It makes Neil feel like everyone really is going to get over his passing and be fine.

Learned from his example, huh? It's nice to have been good for something. ]

Not big on sweets? Maybe we can cooperate with the nice gentleman next time and get a more varied menu.

I can take them or leave them.

[ Which is true, but more than that, he really just wanted to give them to Neil after, well... all of the extremely difficult revelations he had to listen to.

It doesn't change anything about the situation, but little gestures have meaning, too. ]

I get the feeling he'd enjoy that. He said this was the most hopeful he'd felt in days.

[ Neil feels pretty much the exact same way about cookies as Setsuna does - including the part where he'd rather give them to someone else to give them a bit of joy. Funny, he didn't know they had much in common.

Looking at it from that angle, Neil decides refusing is a dick move and grabs a cookie to bite into. They are really good. ]

Mhm, and he's really got a knack for this.

[ And food is good for bonding. Aziraphale made Neil remember as much after he feels like he'd forgotten. ]

'Hopeful' is a nice word.

Yeah. It is.

[ Gathering his thoughts, Setsuna stares off up at the sky, as if looking for something there. ]

When I first saw the Gundam, I felt hope. I believed for the first time that our twisted world could be changed. That kept me going. It's why I'm here.

[ In other words: a little hope goes a long way. ]

[ What an odd scene to think about, now that Lockon has heard all about Ribbons Allmark and the context behind this experience. It feels like tainted false hope to Lockon. If he were in Setsuna's position, would he have turned bitter over finding out the truth? Would he have discarded what the original memory meant to him? He may have.

In many ways, Setsuna is simply a better person than he is.

What an odd thing to think about a former KPSA member. The world is a strange and twisted place indeed. ]

Mhm. I think I get it. When Celestial Being first recruited me and I first heard of the existence of Gundams... Maybe that was the first time I believed I could change the world for real and not just die trying.

[ But the truth is that Neil did die, and the world only changed for the worse.

Does the existence of the Gundams still bring Neil any hope? ]

Right now, this is the world we need to change.

One set of scones at a time, it seems.

[ Neil still means what he said at the meeting - it would be easier if there was an enemy to fight. A source of distortion to go up again. He's been fighting an enemy for as long as he can think and here...? There's nothing so concrete. It's unfortunate.

They're almost at their apartment building now, so a new thought comes to Neil. ]

Speaking of, do you want to come over for dinner?

[ A person like Setsuna seems inherently unsuited to anything as normal as what amounts to going to a friend's house and eating dinner with them. That these apartments are a far cry from anything resembling a true home does little to shake the dissonance of the mental image Setsuna conjures up.

This is not a scenario in which he belongs.

But it's not an invitation he can bring himself to turn down.

He's been cloistering himself away from the people that care about him for so long. It has to stop.

He's finally met Neil again, when he was never even supposed to.

He nods. ]

...It's been a while since I've eaten dinner with anyone.

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action; after the city-meeting

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