"Thumb Dolmayan." I speak, regarding the man who'd found himself meeting us on our terms. "I have also been wanting to meet you."

I felt the spark of concern run through him, and realised just a moment too late that probably sounded significantly more concerning than I had intended. He had some sense of my emotions, but...

It was clear to me that he wasn't as suited to... all of this, as we were. That was perfectly sensible and understandable. Augmentations and Coral consumption aside, Dolmayan was still Human at the end of the day. His brain might be more Coral than grey matter by this point, but he still had a brain. The context of his existence, Human existence, and ours were completely different.

Still, there was just enough enough of a similarity, of analogy, that these two contexts could meet and cross into each other.

He perceived me with shape. Size. His brain was trying to make sense of our waveforms, and that was how it was manifesting to him. What was interesting was the fact that it was working for him. He could identify the fact that I was older, 'bigger', than my children. Size, in this context, was information. I held much more knowledge and experience, information, than my children, and he could see it.

Not all of it. But enough.

Still, it's a bit too much for him at the moment, so I pull back my presence a little. The world snaps back into focus for him, now that our Contact isn't flooding out every other bit of information running through his augments.

ASTGHIK ceases the assault boost, transitioning to a glide towards the ground. The sand and dry earth eats the rest of his momentum once he lands, sliding over it for a short distance and leaving grooves in the ground.

"First, I have to thank you." I said. "You kept company with my child, and spared her a long loneliness. For that, you have my gratitude."

I heard him breathe out, felt the air cycle through his body, traced the impulses that went along his nerves. Conscious, unconscious, liminal. This was a weird sensation. I've seen Dosers and Augments, but this is the first time I've had actual Contact with them. When I could know them in this manner. "I did as any should have done."

"'Should' is not 'would'." I noted. "After the Fires, especially. Many would make the choices that only benefited themselves. You chose otherwise. For that, you have my respect."

"Mmm."

"I'm going to have to say this." Seria pulled herself from me, collecting into a more separate wave. "He doesn't take compliments very well."

"Seria." Dolmayan said with a sigh that held the weight of the entire planet.

I laughed, letting my amusement bleed outwards. Ezra chuckles with me, and I felt the impressions of a smile from Seria.

Two for two on children, now. And there will be more. I was going to have to see about finding them all.

"How glad I am to see you getting along." I hummed. "It gives me some hope, honestly. Despite my own best attempts, I wasn't quite able to work my way towards speaking with Humanity before Nagai set me on fire."

Huh. Watching a man's brain light up like that is... quite something.

"You were-" The knowledge rattles him enough that his AC actually twitches. Involuntarily! That was really difficult, for such utterly precise machines.

I laugh again, but this time it's a bit more subdued. "Suffice to say, I am less than pleased by how that all went. I am also rather less than happy with how life is currently going, on this world." I sighed, before spending a moment composing a set of coordinates and then sending them to Dolmayan. "I'm afraid we're not currently set up for guests, but still, do come in. There are a few things I would like to discuss with you, now that we are past the subject of my children. I do believe we can help each other."

"Do you... intend to help the Rubicon Liberation Front?" Seria asks, her voice hopeful.

"Well, I certainly don't intend to help the Dosers or the PCA." I hummed. "Neither have done very well in endearing themselves to me. But the Liberation Front, and this ideal of symbiosis... That intrigues me."

I sent a command to the vertical catapult, ensuring it would be ready by the time that Dolmayan arrived at it.

"I've had the chance to trawl your public networks." I stated. "You're doing your best, on this world. Rubicon's environment is harsh, and the Dosers and PCA make every attempt to ensure it is harsher still. Yet, you survive."

I can sense a shift in his emotions. He makes a decision, then. Thoughts have been weighing on his mind for some time, now. "Our survival is at your cost." He speaks. "We consume Coral while claiming to protect it. We use you to grow our food. I use you to keep Contact with Seria. Why do you not judge us for this?"

"Dolmayan..." Seria began, but I soothed her before she could continue.

"Shall I?" I smiled. "Very well. Let me be a judge and juror, and deliver my verdict; what the RLF and you do for the sake of survival is wholly and completely different from what the Dosers and the PCA do. You say you use us to grow your food? I shall point out that you have had no other choice, either feed the mealworms or starve. You say you use us to maintain Contact? I shall point out that you do so at the minimum necessary, and that you do it with the blessing of Seria. The Dosers do it to chase a high. As for the PCA, there are certainly a lot of missing C-Weapons, aren't there?"

Dolmayan fell silent. ASTGHIK arrived at the vertical catapult, and was promptly catapulted vertically.

"They're in it for themselves, but you... Once, you were just another vagrant. But you rose above that." And he did. I could see that much. It was in his actions, in the ways his brain lit up every time I mentioned the Dosers, the PCA, and the RLF. "You could have just been another ganger, out to keep the best for yourself, but you didn't. You met Seria, and then you chose to be something else. Your ideals, your desires... You inspired. You drew people to your cause. You became the face of something more; a real, actual future, on this rock."

"Flatwell did most of the work." He stated. "He still does."

"And you helped where you could. Middle Flatwell's excellence in his role does not diminish your own contributions, nor that of anybody else." I hummed. "The only problem is that what you created has been forced to go against some of your ideals. You want to live in symbiosis with Coral, but you've got no choice but to use it. Something that has been weighing on you for some time, I can see. This contradiction, between your desires and goals, and what you're actually doing."

Dolmayan sighed. "You have a lot of experience with Humans." He said, half an observation and half a question. ASTGHIK landed on the passages, and Dolmayan boosted forwards, making his way through the markers. I started unlocking the doors for him.

"I've had the opportunity to watch a lot of you all." I explained, carefully not letting on any more than that. "I could see across all of Rubicon, at one point. It didn't take very long for the usage of Coral to proliferate once they actually discovered me. I saw many things, both good and ill. I know better than to paint you all with the same brush, but I have also seen that Humanity is prone to trends. And you, Dolmayan, fit some of those trends."

"Life has not been kind to you." Seria notes.

"An understatement, honestly." Ezra hums.

"Life wasn't that kind to me, either. It isn't kind to many on Rubicon. In the past, there wasn't too much I could do about that. These days... Well, that's a bit of a different story, isn't it? I understand some of your troubles, and the troubles of those who rely on you and yours. And I find myself wanting to help."

"Just like that?" He asked, curious but not... disbelieving.

"Well, if I'm being completely honest, I do stand to gain a few things here." I grinned. "But I'll start from the beginning."

ASTGHIK arrived at the last coordinate marker, which was just before our main setup. He slowed to a stop in front of the door, and I unlocked it, letting it open slowly. He, of course, knew that there was something operational on the other side, but with the door open, he could now see it.

He paused, briefly, before stepping forwards, head turning from side to side as he took in the sight of all the machines currently operating. RRI tech, quite a bit higher-end than what would be available to them. In an alcove against a wall, Ezra's AC waited, weapons un-powered and pointed down.

A quiet 'oh' escapes him. It brings a smile to my non-existent lips.

"I have no reason to engage in conflict with you." I said. "My goals and the goals of the Rubicon Liberation Front happen to align in multiple areas. Your desire to nurture civilians, to oppose the Dosers and the PCA, to protect Coral, are all things that I support. Since I have a rather glowing witness to your character-" I 'glanced' at Seria, pushing that focus to him to make sure he got the 'gesture'. "- I am willing to extend some trust. I happen to have access to knowledge, abilities, and capacities that would prove quite useful to you and the RLF, just as the RLF happens to have access to information, resources, and capabilities that I currently cannot acquire. With all of that considered, it seems obvious to me that the best way we can both achieve what we want is through... a partnership."

For a few seconds, there was silence.

And then; a chuckle, which grew into laughter, and then into an uproarious guffaw.

"Of- of all things I was expecting today, that was not one of them." He said, barely able to contain himself. He took a deep breath, and then let it out. "I don't know what I was expecting, to be honest. Another, like Seria? I suppose I've gotten that."

"Hello~" Ezra grinned.

"But you... No, I was not expecting anything like you." ASTGHIK's head turned, looking through the building again. "But that isn't bad. It's been a while since I've had a moment of... levity."

"I lived before Humanity even arrived on Rubicon." I smiled. "Trust me, if I've learned anything from that life, it's this: always being serious is the fastest way to live a dull life."

"Hah." Dolmayan chuckled one last time. "Something to keep in mind." He took a breath. "For your proposal, I have to agree with your points. A partnership seems fruitful."

"Then allow me to formally introduce myself." Even though I already gave my name to the RLF, A bit of ceremony wouldn't be out of place here. "I am Drich. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Thumb Dolmayan."

Red lights brightened throughout the facility.

"May we both reach the world we wish to see."