Steph sighed, her tears drying as she loosened her grip on her. There was no point in arguing, let alone telling her.
"It's fine...can you take me back now?"
"Hmm. Well, I am sorry for whatever bad experience you have had with Ivy, but it does not change the fact that she does demonstrable good in the world, and often."
"Are you implying that Ivy violated your consent, somehow? You weren't in battle, and she just...took control of you? To do what?
I find that beyond hard to believe."
Steph, while still holding onto the muscular woman in front of her, wiped her tears.
"She- well she used me. Used her pheromones and in a moment of weakness...I gave in. The kicker here is that everyone thinks that...enjoyed it."
Aqa lets a soft sigh from her lips. She's not quite sure of the situation, of what this girl is talking about. So she'll ask.
"Explain to me what happened between you two. Explain to me why, in detail, and I might understand it."
know, think of her like that. My one question, my final point, is this."
The tears begin to string down her face, holding onto her tightly.
"Can you see why I don't trust her? After what she did to me? I can hate the 1%, and I do, but I'll never get past that..."
- destroy everything we all hold dear in the name of their profit margins, and you choose to fear Ivy instead.
Do you not understand her frustration at that? Do you not understand 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆?"
Aqa pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration. This girl is so close to the point, 𝒔𝒐 close to getting it, and then at the last second, she swerves. She falls back into learned patterns of what's been told to her about Ivy, of what she wants to see.
-
- all of it. I lived a life free of those constraints, and it was beautiful. Until the progenitors of the very one percent that poisons the land today killed everyone I loved, my family and friends, in front of my eyes.
They will do it again. They will kill, and steal, and -
[ Aqa's brow furrows. She's passionate and can be stern sometimes, but she would never drop someone from this height when they've done nothing wrong. ]
I appreciate your words, but nothing has stopped you from aiding in the clearing of this pollution before. Surely, you have -
others against their will. I already have claustrophobia, but somehow, her pheromones make me feel like that in my own head.
I want to help the world, if you let me I would help you with this pollution.
I just don't want Ivy to hurt more people mentally.
- in them, and do not wish for unnecessary death to occur.
But I promise you, if I felt a 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 of the pain that Ivy does by the day, hour, 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆, if I heard the cries of my people with every breath I take?
-
This is the work of humanity. Thousands upon thousands of pieces of non-degradeable trash thrown into nature, to pollute and destroy. This island of waste is but one of many that have formed from the sheer amount of rubbish created by your corporations. They could come up with -
( Steph managed to get through her fear thanks to the weirdly comfortable body she was holding onto. She didn't need to open her eyes to tell where she was. Her nose did that for her. )
Yes...why did you bring me here?
- material? How many do you know who do this out of the goodness of their heart, while their people suffer?
You call her a villain, but I see only a kind soul, villainised by a race of people whose wealthy elites seek the destruction of this planet, and whose layman does -