Interlude 1 - A: The Sound of Music
Deep within the Carpathian Mountains lied a Sangvis Ferri installation carved into a mountain face. Originally built by the military as a defensive outpost during the World War Three, it was now repurposed as a forward base by Sangvis Ferri. Deep within the building complex, beneath the small garrison of mass-produced fodder and metre-thick walls, emanated the sound of music. Sitting on a wooden chair in brightly lit room was a doll dressed in a beautiful white dress playing a violin. Her eyes closed in deep yet elegant concentration, the doll wielded her bow with mastery. Her chestnut-brown hair flowed down her back, adorned by her signature bluebell flower placed above her right ear.
Acre looked at the violin-playing doll from a nearby couch. Acre was lying on her back, her arms hugging her rifle close to her chest as she listened to the unfamiliar yet strangely pleasing sounds.
"How was it, Acre?" the violinist asked Acre after finishing her current piece, opening her eyes and giving Acre a smile.
"Uh, it's… It's good, Bluebell," Acre responded. In truth, Acre had no idea what Bluebell was actually playing, but she liked it nonetheless.
"Concerto No. 1 in E major, 'La primavera': 1. Allegro, composed by Antonio Vivaldi in the 18th century," stated Bluebell, "It's a pretty well-known classic, I'm sure you've heard of it before."
"I'm literally 9 days old," sighed Acre, "I don't know anything."
"Right, I forgot," Bluebell laughed, "Alright, here's a more contemporary one..."
Acre listened as Bluebell began playing a foreboding piece on her violin; she had been listening for almost an hour now. The two were stationed at the outpost—Point Tungsten—awaiting mobilization orders from the higher ups. Bluebell, claiming that Acre needed to "get a life" and "touch grass," forcibly removed Acre from her combat simulations and made her "relax" alongside her for "a while." Ironically enough, Acre now found herself unable to get up from the couch she was lying on. For some reason, it was all to easy too just continue lazing around on it, especially with the Bluebell accompanying her. Time seemed blur as Acre lost herself in the moment; Is this what being lazy feels like? Acre wondered.
"What's this one?" Acre asked Bluebell.
"Return to Everon, by Dominik Svoboda," Bluebell replied, "It's from this video game, pretty obscure one at that too."
"Not made in the 18th century then," Acre concluded.
"Nope, this one's from the Postmillennial Golden Age," Bluebell said.
"The Golden Age…" Acre muttered to herself. She found it hard to imagine a world without the devastation caused by collapse radiation.
"Alright, here's a new one," Bluebell said as she began playing a more upbeat tune.
"What's this one called?" Acre asked again when Bluebell finished.
"Cruel Angel's Thesis, or rather my personal violin adaptation of it," Bluebell replied, "The original was composed by this artist named Yoko Takahashi. It's an anime song."
"Anime?" Acre asked.
"You do know what anime is, right?" Bluebell teased.
"Yeah, it's just cartoons, right?" Acre replied, oblivious.
Bluebell facepalmed herself.
"Why do people watch anime anyway?" Acre inquired.
"Because it's fun?" Bluebell responded incredulously.
"Oh."
"Bluebell, do you watch anime?" Acre asked after a moment of silence.
"Well… Yeah," Bluebell responded, "I mean, it's more like I watch an anime, it's called 'Compose Me the Future.' It's one of those lovey-dovey ones, but the music is absolutely stellar. You should try it out sometime."
"Right," Acre said.
"Here, let me play you one of its songs," Bluebell suggested, bringing her violin back up to her shoulder.
Acre started at the ceiling as Bluebell poured her heart into another performance. Although Acre knew nothing about music, she could tell that Bluebell was very skilled at her craft, and very dedicated to it too. She wondered how Bluebell came to like playing the violin.
"What's the name of this one?" Acre asked once Bluebell finished.
"Sweeter Than Sugar, the first season's opening theme by Higuchi Osamu. It's part of the Postmillennial Renaissance movement which aims to recapture the themes and motifs of the Postmillennial Golden Age through the use of…" Bluebell eagerly explained before tapering off after seeing Acre's blank face, "Basically, it's nice."
"Yeah, nice," Acre agreed, before suddenly realizing something. "Oh right, that reminds me…"
Acre sat up and reached in one of the pockets on her ballistic skirt, pulling out a chocolate bar. "Look what I have!"
Bluebell put down her violin and walked over to Acre. "No way!" a wide-eyed Bluebell gasped when she saw what Acre was holding, "Where did you get this?"
"Falcon's team raided a Griffin convoy yesterday, they managed to smuggle some stuff back," Acre explained, breaking off half the bar and handing it over to Bluebell, "Here. Payment for the performance."
"No need," Bluebell politely smiled, rejecting Acre's offer. "Performances are always free."
"Okay, but I want you to have it," Acre insisted, placing the chocolate in Bluebell's hand.
Bluebell took the chocolate, looking at it for a few seconds. She turned her head up to look at Acre, stunned. Acre was beginning to wonder if she did something wrong when a huge smile broke out across Bluebell's face.
"Oh, my, thank you so much!" Bluebell exclaimed, wrapping Acre into another tight hug with her free hand.
"It- it's no big deal!" Acre stammered, her face blushing at the close contact.
"But coming from you, it is!" Bluebell insisted, "When I first met you, you were all tactical and no doll! But now look at you, listening to music, giving me chocolate… You've grown so much!"
"Oh, come on…" Acre muttered as she unsuccessfully tried to free herself from Bluebell's embrace, "You're making it sound like I was like one of those mass-produced vespids or something."
"But you were!" Bluebell asserted, moving back to look Acre in the eye. "I had such a hard time getting through to you before, you used to think about nothing other than fighting. What changed, Acre?"
"Well," Acre smiled, "I guess it's like they say, war changes people."
Interlude 1 - B: A Harrowing Tale of Survival
Tactical doll FNC sat down at a table in the Griffin cafeteria, a day had passed since her squad was shot down by the Sangvis ringleader and things seemed like they back to normal. It took a few hours for FAL to contact the Commander, after which they were hurriedly evacuated by truck without further complications. Fortunately, both the pilots managed to survive, FAL's quick thinking barely saving the co-pilot from bleeding out. When they arrived, the Commander personally performed the debriefing with FAL's squad. He seemed very interested in hearing their story, though FNC didn't really understand why. Besides, there was a more pressing issue at hand, FNC thought as she looked at the tray in front of her.
FNC grimaced, there was only half a chocolate bar on her tray when usually there would've been a whole bar. Apparently, some Sangvis dolls intercepted one of Griffin's logistics teams that morning, and now FNC had to unjustly suffer the consequences. FNC stared at her plate with a sour expression, how was she supposed to finish her veggies now? Well, not that she usually ate her vegetables anyway. FNC quickly ate her chocolate and stared at the rest of her food in despair. Just then, a group of other dolls walked over to where she was sitting.
"Hey, FNC!" tactical doll AAT-52 cheerily called out, "Mind if we sit and eat with you?"
"Sure," FNC replied, shifting her tray and chair to make room for the others.
"How are you feeling after yesterday?" FMG-9 asked, taking a seat next to FNC. "Is it true you met a new ringleader?"
"Yeah!" FNC affirmed, "It was so scary!"
"Wow!" GSh-18 exclaimed, "Tell us the story!"
"Yeah, tell us! Tell us!" The other dolls chanted in unison.
"Alright then," FNC said, a smile appearing over her face. "But you're gonna have to give me your chocolate as payment!"
The other three dolls intently watched FNC as she began recounting her experience, a piece of FMG-9's chocolate in her hands. "…And then the helicopter was like, WOOSH! And there was this big explosion!" FNC vividly described through a mouthful of chocolate, her hands making swaying gestures as she tried to illustrate a helicopter narrowly dodging a cannon shell.
"Woah!" the other dolls shouted, thoroughly entranced by FNC's mediocre storytelling.
"…And then, and then," FNC continued, pausing to take a bite out of the chocolate. "And then there was this huge explosion behind us! BOOM! And the whole helicopter was shaking!"
"Wow!" the dolls gasped as FNC flung her arms around as if she was being shaken by an unseen force.
"And then the pilot was like, "WE'RE GOING TO CRASH!' and everything was shaking and the helicopter was like VRRRRRR and, and," FNC manically gestured in front of her wide-eyed audience.
"And then what happened?" GSh-18 eagerly asked.
"And then we crashed!" FNC exclaimed, "BOOM! And we were like rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling…"
The other three watched FNC in rapt amazement as she made the rolling motion about ten times (the helicopter only actually rolled 270 degrees). "Wow!" AAT-52 gasped, "So when did you see the ringleader?"
"I was just getting to that part!" FNC replied, "But you gotta give me more chocolate first!"
With AAT-52's chocolate secure in her grasp, FNC continued her animated recollection. "After we crashed, Five-seveN told me to go help the pilot, and then I looked up, and then I saw this HUUUUGE flying thing in the air!"
"No way!" the other dolls exclaimed in amazement, "How big was it?"
"It was sooo big!" FNC said as she spread her arms out (her arm span was only about 1.4 metres), "I think it was a big as one of those huge military bomber planes!"
"Wow!" the other dolls gasped in disbelief.
"I know, right?" FNC agreed, "She was holding this HUUUGE cannon, and then she pointed it straight at me!"
"Waah! That's so scary!" AAT-52 shouted, her hands covering her eyes. "Did you see her face? What did she look like?"
"She was flying straight at us, and I got a good look at her when she came close!" FNC proclaimed, "She looked like some sort of vampire! She had blood-red eyes, and she had this evil, angry look on her face, and she had like three rows of razor-sharp teeth, and there were these things growing out of her arms, and there was fire coming out of her back, and-"
"Nooo, stop it!" AAT-52 cried out, "Stop describing it!" The group erupted into chaos as each doll talked over each other, discussing how much of a monster this mystery ringleader must be.
"Wait, so how did you survive?" FMG-9 finally asked after the commotion died down.
"I dunno," FNC replied with a shrug, "She flew super low at us, and then she just flew over our heads and never came back!"
"Huuuuhh?" GSh-18 asked, "But why?"
"I have no idea," FNC admitted, "FAL said maybe her gun jammed or something, but I don't know. I don't think a ringleader's gun can jam."
"Wow! You got really lucky then, didn't you?" AAT-52 said in amazement.
"Yeah, we sure did," FNC agreed, "Maybe it's all the chocolate I eat, doesn't eating chocolate give you good luck?"
"No, you idiot!" GSh-18 replied, "Anyway, can you draw this ringleader out for us?"
"Sure thing," FNC smiled, "For the right price, of course."
With GSh-18's chocolate in one hand and a pencil in another, FNC began drawing a picture of Archangel from memory as the other three dolls stood behind her, intently watching over her shoulders. When FNC finished, she held up the paper and proudly showed it to the other three.
"There, all done!" FNC announced.
"Woah! It's so detailed!" FMG-9 praised her, "Oh yeah, you should write the ringleader's name on the paper, like on a 'Wanted' poster!"
"Yeah! That'd be so cool!" FNC agreed as she scribbled Archangel's name on the bottom corner, "Come on, let's go show this to FAL!"
Inside a Sangvis Ferri base, two dolls were in an underground command room. Brushing her dyed hair away from her eyes, Venator—Archangel's adjutant—was taking a break from photoreconnaissance analysis and idly scrolling around on social media using the computer terminal.
"Pffft," Venator laughed as she stopped at a particular post, "Archangel, you gotta take a look at this."
"What?" Archangel tiredly replied as she lifted her head up from her arms, revealing several data cables connected to her shoulders and wrists. As she looked up at the screen, she saw a post made by an 'MDR' on Grifchan. The attached image was what could only be described as a poorly made drawing of some sort of eldritch abomination, one with wings sprouting out of its back and a big stick dangling from its arms. Beneath the grotesque creature were the words "ARCH ANGLE."
"Fuck me," Archangel grumbled, rolling her eyes before resting her head back down upon her arms.
"Hey, it's pretty cute," Venator teased, downloading the image into her neural cloud. "Never thought I'd see the day Griffin dolls made fanart of the almighty Archangel."
"That is not me," Archangel mumbled, "I don't know who this 'Arch Angle' person is, but I am so glad that I am not her."