Oh, For the Love Of-!

"Oh, for the love of—!" Neo threw her hands up, second away from slamming her laptop shut.
"Yes, exactly!" The voice inside her laptop cried out in excitement, her avatar on the screen pointing at Neo. "For the love of!"

Neo scowled and snarled. Idiot! That is NOT what I was talking about! But wasn't that an accurate summary of Lumina? Her AI nature made her cocky, overconfident. She felt that she was so much smarter than she actually was. Neo wasn't here for "philosophical" ramblings. It was only because she owed Lumina a favor, and Lumina cashed it in by requesting a private Zoom call with her "sister". Neo scoffed in disgust.

Lumina, however, was lightyears ahead of the other vocalist. Part of the reason she wanted so desperately to have this call with Neo was because she knew that she had advice that would really benefit the other vocalist, she just had to be cunning in how she conveyed it...

They started out slow and simple, just talking about music and song, slowly shifting into their own. That set Lumina on a course for success. She carefully interrogated Neo about her life, and the diva was more than happy to share, years of repressed emotion pouring out.

For practically her entire life, it was her ultimate dream to be the world's best singer. That dream only redoubled after her mother—the first best singer in the world—died. Pressured into carrying on Aria's legacy by her father and herself, Neo threw herself even deeper into becoming the ultimate diva. She was one-track-minded, narrow and focused, like an arrow shooting straight for the bull's eye. Then the winds of chance and chance blew her completely off course. How did she rebound? Well, at first, she didn't.

Her carefully crafted empire came crashing and burning down all around her. She was at a complete loss for words. She lost her voice, she lost her mind, she lost herself. Or had she ever even had herself to begin with? That was what Lumina was trying to get Neo to see now. That D4Fes USA had shaken and rattled Neo to her very foundation. It was a test of character, trial by fire, and it left her in a complete crisis of faith and identity. Who was she without her voice, her audience? Nothing and no one... She could die and nobody would notice, or care...

Who was she without her voice? Her song? Her ambitions? What was she even doing there, singing on that stage? Of course, on a surface level, she was just trying to advance her musical career. Simple enough. But... was it really? That was what Lumina was trying to get Neo to see now. If she peeled back the layers and looked at that which she typically tried so hard to deny and avoid, she would see a world of new perspectives. She wasn't singing for herself, as she thought she was. She was singing for approval. From her parents, her manager, her fans, her unit-mates.

There was nothing overtly wrong with this. All performers based much of their career and identity around the reception of others. But that was such a dangerous game, a risky gamble. It was a lesson Lumina herself had learned earlier that same year she and Neo went toe to toe for the very first time. It was Lumina's greatest regret that she hadn't been able to help Neo learn the lesson faster or sooner as well. Maybe if she had been able to reach Neo quicker, none of the USA D4Fes mishap would've ever happened. Ah well, better late than never.

"I thought I was the universe's greatest vocalist!" she told Neo, both of her eyes turning gold like twin suns. Neo's lip curled at first, hating to hear a distorted version of her mother's voice saying such things using the body of this... this... this gremlin child! She was no sister of Neo's. "But I didn't understand what that really meant," the AI continued. In the beginning, like Neo, Lumina was focused only on the format, pushing her unit-mates way too hard in the pursuit of her own ambitions rather than their combined hopes and dreams and wishes. It was only after Unichord was nearly scattered to the wind that Lumina realized how much she didn't like being without them.