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| 2017-01-13: Exercising Agency |
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Posted by: Bob Schroeck - 4 hours ago - Forum: Stories
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Exercising Agency
by Robert M. Schroeck
Private home somewhere in the Washington DC area
Friday, January 13, 2017
7:00 AM
William Carstairs, director of the Operations Department of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, came to full wakefulness when the phone at his bedside rang. As he sat up in bed and picked up the receiver, he glanced at the clock-radio. Seven A.M., just fifteen minutes before its alarm would have woken him.
"Carstairs here," he said into the receiver.
"Bill, thank god." He recognized the voice immediately, although the speaker was more agitated than he had ever been in Carstairs' recent memory. "I wasn't sure who I'd get. It's Bishop."
"Wasn't sure who you'd get?" Carstairs frowned. "What's wrong? You sound shaken."
"Bill, what's today's date?"
Well, that was an odd question. "October 20."
"The year, Bill?" Bishop pressed.
Carstairs frowned. "1993, of course."
"Bill, I just brought in my copy of the Post, and it's dated January 13, 2017."
"What?"
"There's a headline about the inauguration of President Trump a week from now. Donald Trump." Bishop took an audible breath. "Not only that, but most of the cars in the street below my apartment look like nothing I've ever seen before."
"Huh. Let me take a look." Phone still in hand, Carstairs stood up and crossed to the window which looked out at the street. He pulled aside the curtain and glanced out.
The familiar street greeted him, although after a moment he noticed that, apparently overnight the trees had completely lost their leaves, the Petersons' house had acquired new siding, and the Schwartzes had repainted. The few cars he could see, including one that drove by as he watched, were... different. More rounded, more aerodynamic than anything he'd seen before outside of a car show. They weren't quite as alien as Bishop's description had suggested, but were still unfamiliar. He brought the receiver back to his face. "I'm seeing the same, plus a couple houses on my street have changed, too." A thought struck him and he padded across the house to the door that led to the garage. He opened it and flipped the switch just inside to the right.
His '92 silver BMW 325i was gone. In its place was an unfamiliar vehicle, also silver, with the same smooth, rounded lines and a Lexus logo on the grille. "Hmm," he said.
"What is it?" Bishop demanded.
"I seem to have a new car," Carstairs declared. "Looks like quite a nice one, at that. Hold on." He stepped down into the garage and to the passenger side of the vehicle. He tugged experimentally on the handle and the door opened - not unexpected, he normally left his car unlocked in the garage - and reached in to open the glove compartment. He nodded to himself when he found the owner's manual by touch, then pulled it out and glanced at its cover. "All right. I am, apparently, the proud owner of a 2016 Lexus LS 460."
Bishop gave a low whistle. "LS? Not bad. And it confirms the year."
"That it does." Carstairs slid the manual back into the glove compartment and pulled out the paperwork. "Registration is in my name. Expires in July 2018."
"Hm," Bishop replied. "I just thought of something, give me a moment." As he climbed out of the car and left the garage, Carstairs heard footsteps and then rustling of some sort over the line. Then Bishop spoke again. "Bill, check your license and your Company ID. I just looked at mine, and they both give my birth year as '76 instead of '53."
"Really," he replied as he padded back to his bedroom. His wallet, ID and keys were atop the silent valet where he'd left them before going to bed... when? Last night? Twenty-three years ago? Carstairs suddenly suspected that he might know how Rip van Winkle felt after waking up. He flipped open his wallet and a glance confirmed Bishop's obvious suspicion. "Well. Month and day are right, but I seem to have been born in 1938 now." Another glance at his Agency card showed the same date.
"Bill..." Bishop began. "What's going on? This isn't time travel, or not just time travel. I mean, we still have our homes and our lives. It's almost as if it all just got ... transplanted into the future. Or a future."
Carstairs nodded to himself. "It does seem that way." He took a deep breath. "Look. Let's both head in to Langley. If we have future versions of our home lives, it only stands to reason that we will also have future versions of our jobs - especially since we have the IDs."
On the other end, Bishop laughed. "There is that, yeah."
"So that's what we'll do," he continued. "We meet at the Agency in two hours, find our offices if they're not in the same place, and go to work on figuring out what happened."
"That sounds like an excellent plan." Bishop almost sounded relieved.
The Central Intelligence Agency
George Bush Center for Intelligence
Langley, Virginia
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Bill Carstairs studied the frame full of book covers which took up a not-too-small portion of an "I Love Me" wall that was only partially recognizable as a reflection of his career with the CIA. Whatever phenomenon had plucked Bishop and himself out of their native time and place and then inserted them in this strange future world had done an extensive and detailed job of translating their personal histories to match. His own World War II-era experience with the OSS had, in this time and place, instead become Cold War espionage along both sides of the Iron Curtain, for instance. And Bishop's early Cold War experience had become a hodge-podge history of operations in the Middle East and various Third World nations.
The truly disturbing thing was, if he concentrated, he could bring up memories of these experiences which had never been his. They had a strange gray flatness to them, almost as though they were simple reference copies for his convenience. It was enough to make him wonder if there had been a who behind their move to this time and place instead of an impersonal what.
That, and the contents of the frame in front of him. A brass plaque attached to its bottom edge read "The Great Coincidence". Under the glass, neatly arranged in a grey mat, were the covers of fourteen paperback books - books which all bore a familiar name that should be all but unknown to the rest of the CIA: Mrs. Pollifax.
Emily Pollifax (more recently, after her remarriage to retired judge Cyrus Reed, Pollifax-Reed), was an elderly grandmother whom he had been calling upon for certain special missions an average of once a year for the past decade. Originally an untrained amateur whom he had tapped by mistake for what was supposed to be a milk run courier mission (and which had turned out to be anything but), she had become his go-to choice when he needed someone completely off the books. After her first assignment, Emily had quickly grown into a surprisingly skilled agent with a track record of spectacular overachievement whenever dispatched on a mission, and although it drove his anxiety levels through the roof whenever he used her, he had to admit that she always delivered results beyond anything expected, even when accounting for her history.
In exchange for her services Bill paid her generously out of the "black" portion of his department's budget, classified her identity at the highest level and referred to her as little as possible in after-action reports (and then only by the codename "AUNTIE MAME"), while insulating her from the parts of the CIA that were unsavory, excessively political, or both. Besides Bishop and himself, only a few other members of the group with high enough clearance even knew she existed; no one but Bishop and he knew the full extent and impact of her activities.
To find her name plastered across a series of book covers on the wall of his office in this new time and place was a shock so powerful he was thankful he hadn't had a heart attack at the sight. Bishop had stopped short upon spying the frame for the first time and uttered an uncharacteristic obscenity when he saw its contents. Most disturbing to both of them - at least at first - had been the number of books. The first ten they could map to the missions he had given her, from the initial courier run to Mexico City which had gone so wrong, to the case only a few months earlier by their memories, which had taken her to Sicily and had resulted in the return of the assassin "Aristotle" to jail. But there were four more published between 1995 and 2004, and even now Bill was hesitant to learn their details.
The details they'd found in the first ten were disturbing enough as it was.
According to the first book, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, Emily had originally approached the CIA in or around 1966. Which would would make her birth date just past the turn of the century - the turn of the last century, he reminded himself. But Bill and Bishop both remembered first meeting her in 1983, a decade or so before the two of them had found themselves in this new time and world. The book implied that he had been at least ten and maybe as much as twenty years younger than her at their first meeting when to his recollection he'd never been anything but ten years older than his most unconventional agent, who'd been born in 1920.
The tenth book, Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief, matched his recollections far more closely. It recounted Emily's most recent job for Operations in Sicily; the book had been published in 1993 and its events presumably took place in that year, just as his own memories said they had. The plot summary he'd read matched the facts as he knew them, as well.
But the wide disparity between an Emily who'd started working for him in 1983 and the Emily whom a version of him first met in the mid-Sixties left him doubting his own memories and sense of identity. He was inclined to accept Bishop's suggestion that, since it was obvious that they were for whatever reason now in a different universe from their "native" one, perhaps each book described one of a set of slightly different universes, where a version of Emily (born later and later in the first third of the 20th century) came to the CIA in her early sixties.
If only some of the later books didn't have sly and disturbingly aware comments shared between the characters how everyone seemed so much younger than they should be. Bill shook his head. He needed to just let the problem lie. Worrying at it... that way lay madness.
And the world was mad enough already.
Bill shook his head as he mentally reviewed the summaries of the international scene he had consumed since (re)discovering his office. The Middle East was an even worse mess than it had been in 1993; he was honestly shocked it hadn't exploded into a region-wide war yet. And the Commonwealth of Independent States, which had been so promising in its first years, was now little more than a tail wagged by a Russia that was a dictatorship in all but name, ruled by a former KGB agent with blatantly imperial aspirations.
And the United States - something had happened since the 1990s, or at least their version of the 1990s, that had begun to change the nation into something almost unrecognizable. One political party was all but in open warfare against the other, which manfully strove to keep the nation running in the face of what amounted to constant, deliberate sabotage. And the election of Donald Trump of all people as president just two months before their arrival only suggested things were poised to get worse rather than better, judging by his rhetoric.
If he didn't take the Company's mandate to stay out of domestic affairs as seriously as he did, Bill would have been tempted to take some kind of action. Just what kind of action he had no idea, and he refused to allow himself to speculate, lest he find himself yielding to that temptation.
Better to focus on finding out if Emily had somehow been brought to this madhouse of a future as well.
As he continued to study the frame and its book covers, he heard the door of his office open behind him. "Bill?" Bishop asked.
"Come in," Carstairs replied, turning away from the wall to sit on the edge of his desk. "What have you got?"
Bishop carefully shut the door behind him and waited for Carstairs to activate the room's various anti-eavesdropping measures before responding. "I've finished going through the personnel records for the department like you asked," he said, brandishing the olive-green folder in his hand.
"And?"
Bishop grimaced. "Just as we suspected, we're the only ones who got transplanted. There's no one else in Operations who shows any sign of being from, well, before."
"Pity, that," Carstairs said, shaking his head. "Still, if there had been, I suspect we'd have found out by now."
"I'm not so sure about that," Bishop replied. "I mean, if it were just me, I'd sure as hell be staying quiet about it, just to keep myself out of the rubber room. But since there are no familiar names or faces in the staff I think we can probably eliminate the chance that someone else is hiding that they've been shifted with us."
Carstairs nodded. "Perfectly reasonable deduction." He stood and crossed back to the "I love me" wall. "All right. Expand your checks to as much of the Company as you can look at while avoiding tripwires or raising any questions. I don't expect you to recognize every name or face, but if you come across anyone whose history even suggests they've been plugged into this world like we have, I want to know. In the meantime..." He raised a hand and waved at the frame full of book covers. "This is not a coincidence. This is a message. Emily has to have been transplanted with us." He turned back to Bishop. "We're going to find her."
Washington, DC, USA
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Over the next few days, Carstairs and Bishop performed a quiet, circumspect investigation, keeping as much of their efforts as possible separate from the Agency. It wasn't hard for a "civilian" to search a complete list of the faculty at Yale at will, for instance, especially in this almost obsessively networked future. Unfortunately, Cyrus Reed didn't appear on the University's "online" faculty guide as they had hoped he might, given his position as a part-time lecturer in their original time.
Other searches made with resources available to the average citizen were just as fruitless, and just as frustrating, so they had finally resorted to old-fashioned legwork. "You and I both have complete histories here," Bishop had pointed out, "and however false they are to us, they're 100% genuine as far as this world is concerned. If Emily and Cyrus are here, it only stands to reason that they're going to have legends as thoroughly backstopped as ours. We just have to look in the right places to find them."
Carstairs nodded. "Judging by our experience, they should still be in their house in Connecticut."
"Reasonable," Bishop said. "So that's where I'll start. Give me the authorization, and I'll use the Company cut-out to search the Connecticut DMV records for them. Cyrus definitely had a license." He chuckled. "God knows how many vehicles Emily has commandeered at one time or another on her missions, but I don't actually know if she ever had a license of her own."
"And if that turns up nothing?"
Bishop's amusement vanished and he grimaced. "Fall back to New Jersey, I suppose. I know New Brunswick is Emily's old home town, but I honestly can't imagine why they would end up there instead of Connecticut. Still, it's the only other lead we have."
Frowning, Carstairs turned to the computer that occupied the corner of his desk to his left. "I agree. I'm not happy about it, but I agree." He fell silent as he moused and typed for a minute or so. "All right. I've set you up with authorization to access the Connecticut DMV and New Jersey's MVS." He sighed. "Let's hope this pans out."
Connecticut, as it had turned out, had been a wash. The DMV had no records, current or expired, for anyone named Cyrus Reed anywhere close to the right age. There was a Cyrus Reed to be found in Pomfret, but he was only 25 years old. Bishop immediately dismissed him as a possibility. A little research with Google Maps and a couple of phone calls later to satisfy his curiosity had confirmed that the house in Orange that he had known as the Reed-Pollifax home did exist in this future world, but had never been owned by anyone named Reed, at least in the last four decades.
Disconsolate, Bishop turned to New Jersey, which he expected to be an equally fruitless search, only to be stunned with the almost instantaneous appearance of Cyrus Reed, age 74, 462 Hamilton Street in Somerset. He opened a new browser window and typed the address into Google Maps. Somerset was the town next door to New Brunswick. And the address - identified on the map as Douglass Gardens Apartments - was only a mile from the Hemlock Apartments. For the first time in weeks, he felt a surge of hope.
"You're sure about this?" Carstairs demanded.
Smiling, Bishop nodded. "Absolutely. Once I got the MVS hit on Cyrus, I started searching for confirmatory info. He passed the bar in New Jersey in 1968, and he's been a member of the New Jersey state bar association since then. Beyond that, his history in this world matches the one we know in broad strokes - becoming a judge, serving on the bench until his retirement. And!" His smile grew into an almost manic grin. "I also found all the records for his marriage to one Emily Pollifax, widowed, five years ago!"
"You have?" Carstairs asked. "Excellent!"
"I've got their phone number," Bishop added, "but I think it'd be better if one of us drove up there and contacted them in person."
Carstairs smiled, for the first time in weeks, it felt like. "And by 'one of us' you mean you."
"Well, yes," Bishop confirmed, still grinning.
Carstairs slapped the top of his desk with his right hand. "Do it. Head up there tomorrow."
"You better believe I will," Bishop affirmed.
New Brunswick, New Jersey
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Just in case it took longer than he expected, Bishop booked a room at the Heldrich hotel on Monument Square in New Brunswick. It was, not coincidentally, the closest hotel to both Emily's former home in the Hemlock Apartments and the Douglass Gardens Apartments - the latter was just a mile and a few minutes' drive away, while the former was was only four blocks. Bishop had arrived and checked in around mid-afternoon, still mostly fresh after the drive from Langley, and decided that, while he was certain that if Emily were anywhere to be found she would be with Cyrus at Douglass Gardens, taking the short walk to Emily's old apartment building would do him good.
Fortunately, it was warm for February in New Jersey, almost 50 degrees, and if it hadn't been overcast it would have felt almost Spring-like. As it was, his overcoat was sufficient to the task as he stepped out. Bishop chuckled to himself as he glanced around Monument Square - to him, it hadn't been all that long since he'd last visited Emily in her apartment - five years, if that. But the difference between the late-1980s New Brunswick he recalled and the mid-2010s version he was now in was very noticeable. New buildings everywhere, including a few for Rutgers - and his own hotel, which had replaced a dreary 1920s-vintage building that he recalled with some distaste. Despite the gray sky everything looked brighter and cleaner than he remembered. He was impressed with the transformation thirty years had wrought to the area.
Bishop turned left onto Livingston and began his walk, past the Elks lodge and the library, taking in the Victorian homes on the broad avenue, most of which had long ago been turned into professional offices of one kind or another. To the best of his recollection, this part of the city hadn't changed, although to be fair, he had only ever driven the route before. Looking ahead just a couple blocks Bishop could spy the red brick silhouette not quite towering over nearby buildings on the other side of the street. He smiled to himself at the sight.
To be honest with himself, this little side excursion was completely unnecessary. They were already certain that Emily and Cyrus would be found together at Douglass Gardens - although Bishop had to admit a certain curiosity as to why and how. After all, he and Carstairs had arrived in their own homes with most of their possessions - Bill in his house and himself in his apartment. It was laughable to call anything about their situation "typical", but if he and Bill were "typical" - whatever that meant - then surely Emily and Cyrus should have been found safely ensconced in the former farmhouse in Orange. Failing that, then in Emily's old apartment in the Hemlock.
So why were they living a mile away in a garden apartment complex that had never figured into either of their histories? Bishop supposed that simple curiosity about that question drove his walk to the Hemlock as much as anything else, as though standing in front of the building and looking at it would reveal the secret reason for their new home.
And then again, he realized as he came to a stop in front of his destination, it just might. The red brick apartment building before him was an unfamiliar design, and the sign next to which he stood proclaimed it the "Brunswick Arms".
He glanced around. The other buildings at this intersection were at least vaguely familiar. This one, however... it was not, nor had it ever been, the Hemlock Apartments.
That was probably why Emily and Cyrus weren't there.
As he stood there staring blankly at the entry to the building, he was surprised to hear a girl's voice call out, in an achingly authentic Estuary British accent, "Crikey! It's the Bishop!"[1] He sighed to himself. He enjoyed Monty Python as much as the next man, but there were only so many times he could hear that line around the office before...
He froze.
Other than Emily and Cyrus, no one within two hundred miles should have had any idea who he was.
As he stood there, a girl stepped out of a shadow that was far too small to have concealed her as thoroughly as it had. She was a very pretty girl with long blonde hair and longer legs, with a bright red bow perched on the back of her head, wearing a belted woolen coat that managed to reveal more of her figure than by all rights it should have. Her blue eyes seemed out of place amidst her otherwise Asian features. She would have been exactly to his tastes, he noted, had she been a decade older. As it was she couldn't have been more that sixteen or so, if he were any judge.
"I beg your pardon?" he said carefully.
"William Bishop, right?" she chirped as she stepped close enough to hold out a hand to shake. "I'm Minako Aino. I'm here to take you to Emily and Cyrus."
Bishop moaned, eyes closed, as he savored the chocolate éclair. "You remembered," he said once he'd swallowed and opened his eyes again.
Minako giggled from where she sat sprawled in an armchair, petting the extraordinarily well-behaved white cat sitting in her lap. "He's as bad as Usagi." The cat, Bishop noticed, had an odd marking above and between its eyes, an upward-pointing crescent that seemed almost metallic gold in color.
"Now you know better than to think I would forget," Emily Pollifax chided him gently, a smile on her lips, as her husband Cyrus chuckled in a seismic rumble. "You are one of my dearest friends, after all." She glanced over at the girl. "And you, dear, are exaggerating."
Minako giggled again. "Just a little. But I've never seen a man react to a pastry like that before, Mr. Bishop." Like so many other details about her, her so-very-British accent seemed both out of place and inarguably authentic.
"Just 'Bishop' is okay, Ms. Aino," he said as he resisted the urge to lick chocolate off his fingertips and instead wiped them carefully on the one of the paper napkins a smiling Cyrus handed to him. "And it was quite a good éclair."
"Bishop it is, then. And Minako, please," she said with a cheerful nod. "And yes, Scala makes wonderful éclairs."[2]
He returned the nod, then focused on Emily and Cyrus again. "So... you clearly knew I was coming. How?"
"Well," Emily began, with a sheepish look crossing her face. "When Cyrus and I arrived three months ago, we tried to find you and Mr. Carstairs, but there was no sign that you'd been displaced with us - the usual contacts and drops, including the law office in Baltimore, simply didn't work or weren't there at all."
"Drove Em fair to distraction," Cyrus noted.
She nodded. "It did, yes. We didn't give up hope, though, and when our... hosts made it known to us they had ways to keep an eye out for you, we took them up on the offer." She glanced over at the girl and the cat, then back to him. "They detected your first searches for us, but it wasn't until just a few days ago that they confirmed it was actually you and Mr. Carstairs."
He shook his head. "Whoever your hosts are, their methods are disturbingly effective."
Minako erupted in a peal of musical laughter, disturbing the cat in her lap, who gave her a glare of feline displeasure. "You have no idea."
"So," Bishop frowned slightly. "Who are these hosts of yours?"
"That," a new, male, voice said, and Bishop spun in shock to face the cat, who continued, "is one of the things we wanted to talk to you about."
"You..." Bishop stammered, then turned back to stare at Emily and Cyrus, "That cat..."
"Spoke, yes," said the cat. "I am Artemis." It leapt off Minako's lap, and halfway to the floor, it transformed into a tall human man with waist-length platinum hair, dressed in an all-white outfit that looked vaguely Sixties, with heeled boots, tight slacks and a top that seemed like a cross between a turtleneck sweater and a Nehru jacket. Unlike any man's top Bishop had ever seen before, it had a cutout, crescent-shaped, in the center of his chest, and another round one at his navel. A golden crescent moon pendant hung from his neck. When Bishop finally tore his eyes from the eccentric ensemble, he realized the man was the kind of handsome that verged on effeminately pretty — and he had yet another golden crescent on his brow, just as the cat had had.
"Wha...?" he managed to get out.
"Artemis! Was that absolutely necessary?" Emily snapped. "Poor Bishop was already off-balance enough simply from you speaking." She rushed to Bishop's side and led him to a chair, into which he shakily lowered himself.
"Emily..." he rasped. "What the hell is going on here?"
"I think," she said as she turned and picked up a slender volume from the end table next to him, "that maybe you should read this, first."
Numbly, he took the booklet and stared at cartoonish image on its cover before reading its title aloud. "So You Just Arrived from a Parallel Universe."
Private Home
Washington, DC area
Friday, February 3, 2017
8:12 PM
William Carstairs had settled himself down after a good dinner in his favorite armchair (brown leather, dime-sized bronze nail heads, slightly overstuffed) and, bathed in the warm yellow light of the floor lamp positioned behind his right shoulder, spent an hour going over the small book that Bishop had given him on his return from New Jersey. So You Just Arrived from a Parallel Universe was not quite as comprehensive as he would have liked, but it certainly answered many, if not most, of the questions he and Bishop had come up with over the past few weeks.
Of course, if he had read it before their arrival in this world, he would have dismissed it as fantasy or self-delusion, but there was something about being transported nearly a quarter-century into the future that made even the wildest speculation palatable. Not to mention it gave him some hope that their native world, should it survive whatever cataclysm was going on out there, wouldn't necessarily descend into the political shambles that plagued this one. In fact, should they be able to return to their home world, Carstairs thought he just might take it on himself to do what he could to make sure events would take a different course there.
He had gone over the book twice, the second time through jotting notes in the margins — more notes in the margins, he mentally amended with a smile at the recollection of some of the comments by other displacees that had been dutifully reproduced. Whoever Baroness Tomo Takino was, she seemed to have taken it upon herself to help her fellow refugees keep their spirits up. Carstairs could respect that.
He was double-underlining a casual mention of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey when his attention was seized by an out-of-place rustling noise. He closed the book, set it on the end table and stood, turning to face the hallway at the far end of his living room; it had been from that direction which the sound had come. Defying stereotype, he didn't have a gun, but he was still fit enough to engage an intruder in hand-to-hand combat if he needed to. "Who's there?" he demanded.
To his surprise a girl appeared out of the hallway. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but she appeared to be a teenager, blonde, in a tight minidress, knee-high boots, and a leather trench coat, all in midnight black. She had an equally black eyepatch over her left eye.
"William Carstairs," she said in a British accent. "You've discovered that you're not the only displacee in the world." She paused a moment, a smile playing across her lips. "Mr. Carstairs, you've just become part of a bigger universe."
Carstairs frowned. "Who the hell are you?"
"Minako Aino. Sailor Venus. I'm here to talk to you about the Bells and Whistles Initiative."
Aino? He recognized that name from Bishop's report, which would mean...
"Mina!" The white cat — the talking white cat — that Bishop had also mentioned stepped out of the shadowed hallway, padding silently between the girl's legs and sitting down before her. "Please forgive my associate, Mr. Carstairs. Her sense of dramatic whimsy frequently gets the better of her." Carstairs was amused to see the cat shoot a dirty look over its shoulder at the girl. She ignored it as she pulled off the eyepatch, revealing a perfectly intact eye. The cat sighed, then turned its — his — attention back to him. "My name is Artemis, and I represent the Crystal Millennium Naval Office of Bells, Charts and Buoys." Somehow Artemis managed a narrow little smile on his feline face. "We're somewhat more than our name would indicate."
- RMS: Yes, we know it's a misquote.
- RMS: One wonders if they have a Sweets Spirit in residence...
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| Clockwork Law |
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Posted by: Dark Seraph - 03-01-2025, 07:20 PM - Forum: The Legendary
- No Replies
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Kings Row.
Paragon Police Department.
Jasmine Briar, cat girl/Devouring earth hybrid was standing before the chief of police, wondering what he could want with her as he coughed and leaned on his desk.
"Detective Briar, it has been two years since the passing of your partner.... We think it is about time we assigned you a new one." He said, pulling out a file.
She chewed her lip, the death of her old Partner Purrfect Detective had been hard, who knew someone with hyper regeneration could suffer a heart defect? She missed her deeply, PD had been her maid of honour.... Hell, she wouldn't be the cop she was now without her.... But she had to move on, if that meant a new partner, then so be it.
The door of the chiefs office opened and in stepped a towering woman in Praetorian Police armour, apparently Vanguard had finished reverse engineered it for public use. As Jasmine started at the new comer, she realised she was a clockwork. "Er,,, Sir?" She asked nervously.
The chief nodded. "This is Sigmar Seven, she originally worked for Longbow, but after her awakening she wanted to work in law enforcement. She will be your new partner Briar, teach her the ropes."
Jasmine got out if her chair and offers her hand to Sigmar, the Clockwork staring at it before gingerly taking it. "Hand shake." She said in a flat tone, shaking Jasmin's hand.
King's Row
Jasmine decided to break Sigmar in with a simple patrol, it was beat cop work.... But she was unsure if Sigmar's level of experience, she did not the clockwork had holstered long barrel revolvers at her side.
"Okay, soo... How long have you been awakened?" Jas asked curiously.
Sigmar turned her head left to right, scanning. "I have been active and in service for over five years, but my awakening only came about November last year, after passing the Turing test, I was given the freedom to choose my own job." She said in that same flat tone.
Jasmine nodded, then paused as she heard a scream, looking across the rose, she saw a Skull trying to snatching a purse. "Time to ac-" Jasmine started, reaching out with her powers to summon plants to restrain the thug, but Sigmar was faster, quick drawing a pistol and firing it, the Skull dropping and screaming in pain.
Jasmine ran over to the goon as the woman he was trying to rob ran. "What the hell Sigmar? Who said to use lethal force on a purse snatcher?" She drops to her knees and checks the Skull.
Sigmar walked up, her pistols still trained on the goon. "I did not use lethal force, I use rubber rounds, no skin penetration."
As Jasmine checked the skull, she saw that indeed there was no bullet wound. "You could of still warned m-" she was cut off as Sigmar fired into the Skull again. "What the fuck?"
Sigmar leant down. "The perp was reaching for thus." She picks up a knife. "I prevented you from being stabbed."
Jasmine just stares, before removing the skull mask from the goin and attaching a zig porter to him. "We need to talk about communication...." She muttered.
Later.
Steel Canyon.
Stogers residence.
Jasmine opened the door to her home and sighed, letting out a long breath, her body rippled as she reverted to her plant hybrid form, gaining a few feet as her skin grew a green moss like fur, she only reverted to this form at home, less strange glances at her.
Walking into the lounge, she saw her husband reading the paper, Captain Erstaz, Reves Stoger, and collapsed into his lap.
"Long day kitten?" He asked, rubbing her ear.
She told him about her new partner and the troubles she was having with her.
Reves tilted her head. "Wel, normally I say what do you expect from a Praetorian construct, but sounds like she was made in the good old USA, maybe she is a bit of an old west gun slinger?"
Jas was about to criticize him on his casual racism, but stopped herself, Reves was from a different time, the time of the Red Scare, his patriotism streak was a mile wide.... Sure it clashed with the world view of twenty twenty, but it was also part of what made her fall in love with him, that old time charm.
She nuzzled him. "Just... Frustrating, Sigmar said she passed the Turing test, but she comes off very robotic, uncaring."
Reve stroked her hair. "Well could be worse, could be a Commie."
She sighed and lightly bapped his nose. "Anyway, where are the kids?"
He smiled. "In the sun lamp room, apparently they have a trick to show you kitten."
Curiously, she got up from his lap and padded to the sun lamp room, bring part plant, she and her kids used it to get some much needed UV rays, opening the door, she squinted in the bright light and looked down at her twins, smiling as they where playing with a potted plant. "Hey Ruby, Jade, dad says you have a trick to show me?"
The five year old girls look at her, their plant like nature slightly more obvious than their mothers as Jade gave a gap toothed smile. "Momma look." She help up the potted plant, screwing up her face as the flower inside exploded into bloom. Ruby then demonstrated the same trick, Jasmine kneeling down and hugging them.
"You two are growing so quick... But he careful, making some plants grow fast can be bad for them, okay?"
The two girls nodded, their tails lashing behind them in excitement.
Jasmine stands and dusts off her hands. "Now for dinner, who wants Mac and Cheese?"
The two girls cheer before running out of the room to get cleaned up, Jasmine smiling as she followed.
(Purrfect Detective belonged to Ran-San who sadly passed away.)
(Reves Stogers belongs to Fox, thanks for letting me use him.)
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| Tiny hero. |
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Posted by: Dark Seraph - 02-24-2025, 08:36 PM - Forum: The Legendary
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Skyway City
Tina's motors.
Tina sighed as she got her step stool and climbed upmto the counter, grabbing her tools, being a mouse girl in Paragon blew when you barely pushed four feet, she would of thrown in the towel on her job if not for the Praet invasions giving her a helper in the form of Bob, a towering bulking clock work she rebuilt.
Looking over her shoulder, she smiled watching Bob easily lift the engine out of the car they where working on, moving it to one side before his hands unfolded into a series of tools as he started disassembling it.
She grabbed her wrench and climbed down, walking over and looking at it. "What do ya think big guy?" She asked, patting his calf.
"At least one, maybe two faulty pistons, the fact they drove it into the shop is a miracle." He rumbled.
Tina nodded when she heard footsteps, turning around, she saw three Trolls enter the shop, their beady eyes looking around as they held a variety of clubs, taking a breath, Tina looked up. "Howdy, welcome to Tina's motors, how can I help ya?"
The lead troll grinned. "Little lady, protection." He growled.
Tina frowned, backing up to Bob. "I'm sorry, but I'm not on any gangs territory, I don't owe protection to no one."
The troll grunted. "New gang, new rules, pay mouse." He swung his club at one of the benches, scattering tools and parts. "Now."
She sighed. "Bob, open up."
The large clockwork nodded and bent the knee, his chest opening up as Tina jumped in, quickly situating herself in the command cradle, Bob's chest swung closed as he stood to his full hight, towering over the trolls, Tina's voice coming from a loud speaker. "Right, I'll make this simple cuz you lot aren't to smart, I'm not paying protection, so get the hell out of my shop."
The Trolls growled and charged, time for her to test out the modifications she did to Bob, in theory he would move like her and she had earned herself a few belts in martial arts classes.
The first troll swung, Bob sliding out of the way like quick silver according to Tina's input, lashing out with a large metal hand in a palm strike that sent the green thug dealing, before Bob did a snap kick, sending the troll out the door.
The two other gangers charged, Bob weaving and ducking their simple blows, new gang alright, these guys had obviously never been in a real fight before as Bob pulled off a round house kick, cracking their skulls.
As quickly as it begun, it was over, Bob's chest opening up as Tina looked out. "Holy shit, it worked big guy, we did it! Now you go get some chain while I call the cops. Tie them up by the light poll." She clambered out, dropping to the floor and running inside as Bob got some thick chain.
Later.
Officer Jasmine Briar looked over the scene as her partner attached Zig porters to the unconscious trolls. "So let me get this right, these trolls harassed you for protection money.... So you maned an unlicensed suit of power armour and took the law into your own hands?"
Tina nodded nervously, not just because the cop was a cat girl and she was a mouse girl, but because the way she said unlicensed sounded serious.
Jasmine looked at her notes. "Look, I don't want to be a baddy here... So I will write that you are a registered hero, waiting on your paper work, but that only works if you register within the week., okay?"
Tina looked up at Bob. "Er.... If we don't register?"
The officer sighs. "Then I have to fine you for an unregistered suit of power armour."
Tina nods. "I guess we got no choice then Bob."
The next day.
Atlas Park.
City Hall.
Tina sat in front of the desk, dressed in her best suit, Bob wedged into a chair next to her also dressed up, because she knew how some people got around naked clockwork, as the government official read over their paper work.
Noelle Minette (Paragon version) looked over their paper work. "Well it has been a while since we have had a duo join, you say Mr Bob is your power armour, but also has his own free thinking AI?"
Tina nods. "Three years of work miss... Um, is that a problem?"
"Not at all, you are signing up as a singular hero, so I'll just make sure your paper work is in order, please give up to five business days for your hero licence to arrive in the mail... I just need a name?"
Tina grins. "We will be known as Tiny Bob."
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| 2016-11-20: They go to the land of the ice and snow |
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Posted by: robkelk - 02-23-2025, 10:17 AM - Forum: Stories
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Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
November 20, 2016
12:03 pm ET
Rob's phone started playing Science Genius Girl. "Sorry, I'd better take this," he said as he stood up and left the table.
Once he was in the hall, he answered the phone. "Hello, Washuu-chan."
"What took you so long?"
"You pulled me away from Sunday luncheon with everyone."
"Not everyone."
"I assure you, all fourteen of my human roommates and all three Mau are enjoying a roast beef dinner - a meal that I made for the very first time since moving into this building, and that I'm not enjoying because I'm talking on the phone." Rob emphasized those last five words just slightly.
"Sorry. But you're missing a half-dozen boarders. No, you called them roommates. So you're getting to be a family over there."
"We are, and we're happy about it. And I'm glad Milady Skuld dropped that hint when she was over so I'd know enough to get some rooms ready. You've finished treating their pre-existing medical conditions, I gather."
"That saves a lot of exposition. When do you want us to drop in?"
Rob thought for a quick moment. "Give us two hours, to finish lunch and clean up the place a bit."
2:05 pm ET
Rob had unlocked the security door that they'd installed in front of the portal in the mail room – nobody wanted a lucky Unseelie invader to gain access to the other residences – but hadn't yet opened it when he heard the telltale hum of power flowing through the portal. He did so, quickly.
Rob smiled. "Welcome back to Ottawa, Washuu-chan. And welcome to your home away from home, everyone else. Come in, please; we have a busy afternoon ahead of us."
"Busier than you might expect. Last stop, all out!" Washuu stepped out of the doorway, followed by four girls who looked just like Mikoto (one of whom was carrying a cat), a girl who appeared to be their younger sister, and a thin pale white-haired teenaged boy. All of them except Washuu were wearing backpacks and carrying duffel bags.
The albino looked around as they walked across the hall and into the common room. "So, this is where we'll be staying from now on. Tch. Whatever."
Makoto leaned over to Rei. "He reminds me of my sempai. The one who I dumped."
"Oh, that jerk. Maybe he'll be better."
Everyone else ignored them. The apparent quadruplets turned to Rob. Amazingly, the one who was also carrying a cat smiled slightly. "Thank you for being willing to take us in, Misaka Niiko says with genuine warmth," she said almost tonelessly. The cat meowed, which made her add, "Hush, Schrödinger, Misaka Niiko instructs."
Rob was impressed. Considering that the last time he had seen the clones, they hadn't learned how to show any expressions, this was a major step forward for them. "Thank you for being willing to live here. I should warn you now that Ottawa is nowhere near as warm as Vancouver is."
"The cold never bothered me anyway, Misaka Rei quotes."
"This cold might. The temperature outside is near the freezing point of water, and in two months you'll be wishing it was this warm again."
"We have warm weather gear in our bags, Misaka Kokoro reassures you."
"You'll need it," Kuroko assured them. (She thought that she was hiding her reaction to the sudden long-term presence of four people who looked just like her oneesama living in the building, but everyone else could see the dreamy smile on her face. The Sisters also noticed the almost-predatory look in Kuroko's eyes.)
The other sister looked around. "None of you are wearing skirts, Misaka Nana comments in wonder, leaving the obvious question unspoken."
"It's far too cold outside to not wear slacks," Usagi explained.
"Where will we be sleeping, Misaka Rei asks? We have belongings to unpack, Rei adds in explanation."
Rob motioned toward the stairs. "We have some apartments waiting for you on the second and third floors of the building, all with a minimum of furnishings so that you can at least put your belongings away and get some sleep tonight. Accelerator and Misaka Misaka, I made an assumption that you'd want to share an apartment, so the two of you get one of our precious two-bedroom units. There are four more one-bedroom apartments ready for the rest of you."
"What's in them?"
Rob didn't expect Accelerator to be polite, so he took comfort in the fact that the esper was at least asking questions. "Kitchenette, chairs, table, wall-mounted television set, bed, and closet with clothes hangers. Two beds and closets in the two-bedroom place. Toilet, sink, and tub with shower in the washroom. We've already provided some menstrual products in the girls' washrooms, just in case, and everybody has toilet paper, towels, and shampoo. If you want to soak, I'd suggest using the sentou in the basement."
"You have a sentou in the basement, Misaka Rei asks in disbelief."
"We do! Wait until you see it!" Ruiko almost grabbed Accelerator by the hand to pull him along, realized at the last moment what she was doing, then dropped her hands to her sides. "Er... if you want to see the bath, that is."
"Later, Rui-chan." Rob turned his attention back to the newcomers. "I'll help you choose some better furniture next week, if you want it."
Washuu looked puzzled. "Didn't you set up a sixth apartment?"
"I already did, as a guest room. But why would we need it now? Are you staying over?"
Washuu slapped her own forehead. "That's right, I forgot to tell you!" She pulled a wafer-thin device out of her pocket.
"What's this?" Rob asked.
Washuu-chan grinned. "Based on my detailed and repeated studies of your boarders from Academy City, Accelerator, and the Misaka Sisters, I have created an AIM Concentrator and Manifester!"
Two puppets popped up, one on each of her shoulders. "You're a genius, Washuu-chan! You're the greatest, Washuu-chan!"
Hey, that's from a different continuity, thought Rob. In the most deadpan voice he could muster (which was nowhere near as deadpan as the Misaka Sisters' speech), all he said was "What."
"Misaka Misaka likes them, and she was my lab assistant during the design phase. Back in your cages, you two!" The puppets returned to whence they came. "As I was saying, this collects and concentrates the AIM fields that your espers give off, focuses them, and allows them to manifest in an anthropomorphized state."
"You're kidding. You're not kidding. Who was manifested?"
"When I tried it with just Misaka Misaka in the lab, it manifested a one-inch-tall version of her. When I tried it with all of the Misaka sisters in the lab, it manifested a three-inch-tall version of Misaka Mikoto. I want to try it out here, with every esper on the planet within range."
Rob reached out and covered the activation button before Washuu could trigger the device. "How long did the manifested personality remain in existence?"
"Until I turned off the manifester. Yes, that means the personification remained even after the Misaka sisters left the area."
Rob thought for a moment, then moved his hand away.
"You're expecting somebody in particular, too. Let's find out whether we're right." Washuu flipped the safety cover open, pushed the button, and flipped the cover back over the control. Everybody watched as the device hummed, then quieted down. Then a light appeared above the device, resolving into a human shape - a teenaged girl in a Japanese school uniform, with a ponytail on the left side of her head, glasses over her eyes, flawless skin, and a build that even Mii would be hard-pressed to match. Washuu looked at Rob. "Am I good, or am I good?"
"You're good, Washuu-chan. I'm surprised that she's twelve inches tall, though."
"More espers being present means there's a larger AIM diffusion field to work with."
"How many espers are there on Earth right now?" asked Rob, completely unaware of some people who were even then keeping a very low profile in Chicago.
The girl suddenly moved, then smiled and cleared her throat. "Er... hello?"
Rob immediately turned his attention to her. "Hello, miss. My name's Rob Donaldson. I'm pleased to meet you."
"Kazakiri Hyoga. [1] I'm pleased to meet you." She looked around. "Oh, I was hoping to see Index."
Washuu and Rob looked surprised, since neither of them were expecting her to have continuity of memory from her home reality. Rob wasn't even sure that she was the same person, considering Washuu's comment about manifesting copies of Last Order and Railgun, but he had no reason to doubt her.
Mii noticed and replied, "You aren't in Academy City at the moment, Hyoga-san."
Rob grinned sheepishly. "We don't know where Index and Touma are, but we are looking for them. Sorry."
"It would be nice if we could find them."
Hyoga turned to the speaker. "Hello! I know who you are. You're Railgun."
"Please don't call me that. I have a name: Misaka Mikoto."
While Hyoga, Mikoto, and the other espers talked, Ami leaned over to Rob and Washuu. "What's an A-I-M diffusion field?"
"Something that espers from Academy City give off simply by living. AIM stands for 'an involuntary movement'. Please don't ask me for specifics, because I don't have any. Hyoga is... well, you've seen the anime, haven't you?"
"I must have missed the episodes that she was in. I'll have to watch them later."
She'd missed the climaxes to both seasons of A Certain Magical Index? Rob didn't push the matter, but made a mental note to find out later whether Ami had watched any of the shows he'd made available to everyone. "Washuu-chan, how long will the power last on that manifester?"
"Until my lab collapses in the heat death of its pocket universe. You don't need to worry about her disappearing because the power ran out."
"Oh, good." Then Rob smiled and chuckled.
"Care to share the joke?"
"If Hyoga ends up dating someone, that person's going to have a real-life imaginary girlfriend." (Rob had no idea how right - and how wrong - that statement was.)
"Not just that," Washuu-chan pointed out. "She'll be a girlfriend from Canada, too."
Ruiko grinned at Rob's remark. "The Imaginary Number District actually exists? I knew it! Is it true that I could get there if I crossed between districts in Academy City at 4:44 pm? Oh, and I'm Ruiko Saten. Hi."
"Hello. No, Saten-san, real people can't enter the Imaginary Number District. Only monsters like me."
Mikoto interrupted before Hyoga could continue. "We don't care what Academy City intended you to be. We care who you are, not what you are. From what I read in the novels, Kamijo-san and Index-san think you're a person - a good person - so that's good enough for me."
Hyoga smiled a shaky smile. "Really?" She started crying. "You really think so?"
"Hey! Please don't cry, Misaka Misaka asks with tears about to fall from her own eyes!"
Off to the side, Rob leaned toward Washuu and whispered, "Is it my imagination, or did Kazakiri just get bigger?"
At the same volume, she replied, "I think she just grew, too. The espers might be responsible, with their sudden belief in her existence. Their esper powers are based on belief, after all."
"She isn't Tinkerbell."
"And nobody's clapping. I need to take some measurements."
4:18 pm ET
"You have no doubt noticed that my clone sisters and I have a verbal tic that involves identifying ourselves when we speak, Misaka Rei points out. As long as I continue to do that, I do not see any possibility of confusion here, Misaka Rei adds."
After a moment, Rei Hino nodded. "I suppose that would work. You don't mind being called by your complete name?"
"It is what I am accustomed to hearing, Misaka Rei answers."
November 21, 2016
7:22 am ET
Rob nodded to the three girls who walked into the common room. "Good morning, Chibiusa, Misaka Misaka, Hyoga!" He noticed they were all roughly the same height, and Hyoga was wearing the manifester on a filigree chain around her neck. "You might want to get a more substantial chain for that necklace, Hyoga."
"Good morning, Rob! Thank you for worrying about me."
"Hi, Rob-oji-san!"
"Good morning, Rob, says Misaka Misaka as she walks to the refrigerator. Do we have any juice, Misaka Misaka asks?"
"Orange, apple, and pineapple. Take your pick."
"Orange, please, Misaka Misaka decides."
Hyoga poured herself a cup of coffee. "Why do you always use your full name, Misaka?"
"So nobody thinks I'm one of my sisters, Misaka Misaka answers! I have lots of sisters, Misaka Misaka adds in explanation."
"The number of Misaka Sisters! It's over nine thousand!" Everyone else ignored Rob.
"My name's Usagi, just like my mom, but everybody calls me Chibiusa. It's a nickname!"
"Misaka Misaka wants a nickname too, Misaka Misaka insists!"
Rob smiled as he brought a plate of toast over to the table and sat down beside Hyoga. "Well, then, let's see what we can come up with. How about 'Chibi-Misaka'?"
"That's too close to my nickname," the pink-haired Senshi said with a pout.
"What's wrong with Last Order?" asked Hyoga.
"The connection between us isn't something people should know, Misaka Misaka replies with foreboding while buttering a slice of toast."
Rob nodded. As far as Academy City was concerned, the 'last order' that Misaka Misaka was ever intended to give was to activate Hyoga; it was only because Index could undo what was done to the girl that both Misaka Misaka and Hyoga were still themselves and sane.
"Call her 'needlessly genki girl'."
Rob didn't look up. "And good morning to you too, Accelerator. Coffee's on the side table, toast is on the big table."
"Whatever."
"Misaka ... Misaka ... Misaka ... Misaka Misaka. It's hard to come up with a nickname, Misaka Misaka announces! Misaka Misaka Misaka Misa Misa...."
"Misa Misaka? That's not too bad." Hyoga tilted her head and lifted a finger to her chin. "No, wait, wasn't there something about a magical girl named Misa somewhere?"
"Misa Misa Misa Misa Misa Mi Mi Mi ..."
Hyoga thought for a moment. "Mi Misaka? That could work."
Rob shook his head. "That could cause some confusion if Mii was ever to adopt her."
"Why would Konori-san adopt Misaka Misaka, Misaka Misaka asks? Besides, Mi and Mii are two different names, Misaka Misaka adds. Mi Mi Mi Mi Mi MiMiMi..."
Rob blinked. "Mimi?"
"Mimi Misaka?" Chibiusa almost sang the name.
"Misaka Misaka likes Mimi Misaka, Misaka Misaka announces! No, Mimi Misaka announces, Mimi Misaka corrects herself!"
"This is bull-"
"Thank you, Accelerator," Rob interrupted as his phone chimed to indicate receiving a message. "Mimi it is. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take this."
After Rob left, the newly-christened Mimi turned to Chibiusa. "He never told us why Konori-san might adopt me, Mimi Misaka comments in a confidential tone."
"Eat your breakfast, brat."
"That's Mimi brat, Mimi Misaka insists!"
In the hallway, Rob checked the text message, noting it was from Washuu-chan. "Measurements analyzed. Hyoga should reach her full human size within 24 hours. I'm making ID for her now. Do you want to foster her, too?"
He sent back "List her as 17, and we can keep her out of the foster system altogether."
"That means you won't get fosterage money from the government."
"We'll manage somehow."
----
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
November 21, 2016
10:13 am ET
"You should be asking the RCMP. They're the ones who are responsible for this."
Rob sighed. "I don't want to lie to a police officer, and how would they react if I said 'I have four fictional characters living with me who need firearms licenses'?"
"I can see where that would be a problem. Okay: first, I absolutely cannot let you practice at the range at the police station. Second ... you said four. Some of the Misaka clones?"
"I can see why you made detective so young. Yes."
"The minor's license is good for non-restricted rifles and shotguns only. And you'll need a possession and acquisition license, too, since they're living with you."
"I expected as much. What's required for these?"
"Each of you has to take the Canadian Firearms Safety Course - the RA Centre has a shooting range and can find you instructors. Once you pass that, you can apply for your PAL and the girls' licenses."
"And what will that let me buy?"
"I assume you want to buy weapons for your own use, not for theirs. No, don't interrupt me. That will let you purchase non-restricted firearms only. If you want something else, you'll need to take the Canadian Restricted Firearms Safety Course as well. And don't bother asking for a license for those automatic rifles I saw them use in the anime, because those are on the prohibited list. Oh, and do me a favour, will you? Let the shooting club keep your weapons under lock and key. I don't want the girls walking around with weapons in their gym bags. If they did and I knew about them, I'd have to arrest them."
"That shouldn't be a problem; I don't want the girls walking around with weapons, either. Thanks for the help."
RA Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
11:48 am ET
"It's somewhat unusual for the RA Centre to include foster children in a family membership, Mr. Donaldson."
"I'm not surprised, but my foster daughters are the only family I have. Would you allow children to become members on their own?"
The desk clerk thought for a moment. "I think I can see my way clear to setting you up as a family, then. What are the children's names?"
"Niiko Misaka, Kokoro Misaka, Nana Misaka, and Rei Misaka." Rob spelled the names for the clerk.
"Ages?"
This wasn't the time or the place to tell the truth. "13."
"What, all of them?"
"And they're identical quadruplets, too. Identical down to their interests, which is one reason why I'm fostering them all. They want to join the Gun Club."
The clerk was shocked. "All of them? At age 13? My God, what happened to them?"
Rob looked stern. "Even if I had been told that, I wouldn't be at liberty to repeat it. But I'll point out that they've been given a male guardian."
"Oh. Yes. Of course. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that." Somewhat embarassedly, the clerk cleared her throat. "Are you interested in the Gun Club as well?"
"Not really, but I'll have to get a license if the girls are going to be allowed to get their licenses, so sign me up, too. Sign me up for the Photography Club as well, please."
The clerk grinned, happy to have something else to talk about. "You're interested in a different kind of shooting."
Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
6:11 pm ET
"I don't eat onions, Misaka Niiko points out."
Makoto immediately put down the casserole dish that she was about to pass to the newcomers. "Oh. This potato dish has onions in it."
"I'll make do with the chicken breast and the corn, Misaka Niiko reassures everyone."
Mikoto looked at her clone, who was sitting across from her at the big table in the common room. "Why won't you eat onions? I know I'm not allergic to them."
"It is a moral choice, Misaka Niiko admits. So many of my clone sisters were killed for a project that ultimately failed that I have trouble accepting the idea of killing a living thing just for my own benefit."
Rei Hino nodded. "That's similar to why many Buddhists don't eat onions. I can respect that, even if I don't live that way myself."
"But you eat meat," Rob pointed out.
"I am not the only one who benefits from a chicken's sacrifice, Misaka Niiko explains. Killing an onion plant only feeds one person for one meal."
Usagi nodded. "I think I see what you're saying. And that means you don't eat carrots, either." She turned to Makoto. "So no more serving carrots, Mako-chan!"
"You just don't like carrots," Chibiusa muttered as she helped herself to some carrots.
7:14 pm ET
There weren't any instructors at the gun club that evening to give them their introductory exam, so the Misaka sisters decided to give the building's bath a try instead. Once they stepped through the portal into the dimensional pocket and then down the hall to the sentou, they noticed two doors, labelled "Ladies" and "Rob" - the latter obviously having recently had "and Mamoru" added with paint and "and Accelerator" added with a sticky note. None of them expressed any interest in seeing what the men's side of the baths looked like.
It was almost normal for a sentou, the most obvious difference being that all the signs were in English. Nothing was floating, there was only one level to the bath, the floor and walls were tiled, and there was a mural of Mount Fuji painted on the rear wall of the room. Most importantly to the newcomers, Washuu-chan had installed a teleport shield; Kuroko Shirai couldn't teleport in while the Misaka Sisters were naked.
The sisters stripped, washed, and entered the bath in complete silence. Not that they weren't communicating; they were taking the opportunity to use their mental connection when nobody would be freaked out by it.
After a while, they heard the door open. "Is anybody in here?"
So much for not freaking out anyone else. But they remembered from the memories Last Order - Mimi - had shared that Hyoga wasn't just anyone else. Looked at from a certain metaphysical viewpoint, she was almost one of them.
"The four of us are currently soaking, Misaka Niiko answers."
"You are welcome to join us, Misaka Rei adds."
After a few moments, Hyoga walked in, wearing only a towel - which she slipped out of as she slipped into the water. "Oh, this feels good! I've never been in a communal bath before."
The others looked at her for a moment. After consulting with each other mentally, they decided who would ask the question on their shared minds. "If I am prying, please ignore this question, but why are your breasts different from ours, Misaka Niiko asks?"
Hyoga blushed. "Well, some girls just have larger ..."
"That is not what we meant, Misaka Rei interrupts in order to save time." She pointed to her own chest. "We have aureolae and nipples." She consciously left 'Rei adds in explanation' unsaid as obvious.
Hyoga took a closer look. "Is that normal? I've never seen a person naked before, either. Even when Index and I were having our photos taken while cosplaying, we still wore underwear when we were changing."
"It's completely normal, Misaka Kokoro answers."
Hyoga said nothing for a moment. "Then... why don't I have them?"
"We don't know, Misaka Nana answers."
"Perhaps Mr. Donaldson knows, or could find out, Misaka Rei suggests."
"I don't think I want to show him my naked chest. We just met each other yesterday."
"We can describe the differences between us without showing him anything, Misaka Niiko suggests. Are there any other anatomical differences between us, Niiko asks while standing in the bath."
Hyoga looked at her, nodded, and stood up herself.
8:27 pm ET
"... and the first thing that came to mind was a Barbie doll, Misaka Niiko finishes."
Rob thought for a moment, then turned to Hyoga. "I'm not surprised. Aleister and his people designed you to be an artificial angel, after all, and angels are traditionally described as being sexless."
"I'm obviously female, though."
"True. Aleister Crowley imagined angels as something quite different from the usual description - although you don't match that description, either."
"What did Aleister come up with?"
Rob looked Hyoga straight in the eye. "You really don't want to know."
She shivered in fear, then recovered. "I wonder whether that's why I fought so hard against being activated."
"Could be. I think we need some expert help here. I'll call Washuu-chan... no, I'll text Milady Skuld and ask her to ask Milady Belldandy."
8:44 pm ET
"Milady Belldandy's reply was, and I quote, 'I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to tell you'."
"That sucks, Misaka Kokoro mutters in annoyance."
"I'll say. Why couldn't I have a body like everybody else's?"
"Do you want me to ask Washuu-chan whether she can do anything?"
Hyoga thought for a long moment. "I don't know." Then, after another moment, she added, "No. Don't go to any trouble on my account."
November 22, 2016
7:41 am ET
"Do we get to go to school any time soon, Misaka Mimi asks with curiosity between spoonfuls of cereal. Everybody else gets to go."
"I'm stuck here, too," Chibiusa replied while reaching for the milk.
"Be glad you don't have to waste time in boring classes, kid."
Rob looked up from his bacon-and-eggs. "The school board won't take you until the beginning of the next term, which starts after Christmas, although we'll get your placement tests in before that. Be patient for a month. And do you want to attend classes, Accelerator? I can ask for them to give you a placement test at the same time the Misaka Sisters and Chibiusa take theirs."
"May as well. What about the meganekko with the big -?"
"I have a name," Hyoga interrupted. "Please use it."
"Fine. What about Kazakiri?"
"I'm taking a high-school-equivalency diploma exam later today."
"Maybe I should do that."
Rob nodded. "I thought you might want to, so I made arrangements for a possibility of two people taking the test, just in case. I'll let them know you are able to attend after all. Here's your student ID card."
Accelerator read it. "'Axel A. Rayder?' This is bullshit."
"Then tell us your real name."
"I guess this works."
There was a moment of relative quiet as everyone ate, which Mamoru broke by asking "Do you need any help around the building today, Rob?"
"Ordinarily, I'd say yes, but you have something more important to do today."
"I do?"
"Take a look out the back door. Somebody at one of the other buildings was granted a wish yesterday, and it was worded broadly enough for the megami to do you and Mii-san a favour while they were granting it. You need to go visit the license bureau, and I need to go buy some winter covers for your vehicles - maybe a prefab carport." As Mamoru bolted for the door, Rob turned to the others. "You should check your own rooms while you're at it. You just might have some personal belongings in your dresser drawers that weren't there yesterday."
Just then, a very loud squeal of delight came from Mikoto's apartment, followed by "My collection of Gekota toys!!!"
Rob smiled and continued. "Maybe you should go look now."
"It can wait, Misaka Rei announces, deciding to be polite and finish breakfast first."
Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada / The Masaki residence, Vancouver, BC, Canada
8:33 am ET / 5:33 am PT
"I'm sorry to disturb you so early in the day, Washuu-chan."
"What do you need?"
"What makes you think -?"
"You're only this apologetic when you want something, Rob."
"You know me too well. We need a gun vault that the local police won't be able to find. It seems that Milady Belldandy granted a wide-area wish last night, and as a side-effect the Misaka sisters have their fully-automatic rifles again."
"That explains the gun vault, but not the undetectable part."
"Private ownership of fully-automatic weapons is illegal in Canada."
"I'll be there in three minutes."
3:21 pm ET
"Congratulations, Hyoga! Congratulations, 'Axel'!"
"They marked our exams very quickly."
"Why wouldn't they? They had a very advanced computer marking the tests."
Chibiusa looked up at Rob. "You didn't...?"
Rob shook his head. "All I asked HAL to do was make sure the tests were graded accurately. It's the province's standards that are lax." He turned to Hyoga and Accelerator. "Now that you have your high school diplomas, there's no way I can apply for fosterage money for either of you. I can carry you for a couple of months, but you'll need something to bring in an income soon, whether it's a university scholarship or a job. Time to think about what you want to do with your lives."
RA Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
7:16 pm ET
The five of them walked into the RA Centre's Gun Club, drawing attention immediately - and not just because the Misaka sisters had all chosen to wear their school uniforms. "Hello, we're the Donaldson/Misaka family."
An instructor walked over. "Ah, you're the new members! Welcome to the club. Please, call me John."
"Pleased to meet you, John," Rob said as they shook hands. "I'm going to be honest with you: the only reason I'm here is because I'm the girls' legal guardian."
"We can work with that. How much do you know about guns?"
"I know enough to always treat them as if they're loaded, and to not point them at anything I don't intend to shoot, and that's about it. The girls know much more."
"Those are two good baselines to start with. Let's get you a rifle and see how well you can handle it." Ten minutes later, Rob had gone through a dozen rounds and managed to put one in the outer ring of the target. John said, "I've seen worse first tries."
"I really don't have the eyesight for shooting. Keep the glasses on and the sight path's distorted; take them off and I can't make out the rings."
"Sight path? Oh, yes, I think I know what you're saying. Who wants to go next?"
Three minutes later, Niiko had put five shots in a tight grouping in the centre ring.
Three minutes after that, Kokoro had put five shots in a tight grouping in the centre ring.
Three minutes after that, Rei had put five shots in a tight grouping in the centre ring.
The range official called a stop to shooting (which momentarily disappointed Nana, who wanted to show off as well), then walked over. "Are we sure that isn't the same girl trying out over and over again?"
"I think they're different girls," answered John. "But I'm not sure. Clear four lanes for them; I want to see them all shoot at the same time."
Four minutes later, the girls had given their targets "five rounds rapid", shooting out a identical × on each bulls-eye.
"What the hell..." John was flabbergasted.
Rob quietly walked over to Niiko, who was using the outermost lane. "Girls, if you don't stop freaking the mundanes right now, then I won't pay your range fees."
It took them less than two minutes to shoot different patterns of three shots into different parts of their targets.
"Much better." Rob turned to John. "They had the same teacher and took the same classes."
"Even so, they shouldn't be that much alike!"
"Are they in?"
"Yes! I want to learn how they did that!"
Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
November 23, 2016
11:12 am ET
"Nice work."
Mamoru put down the hammer he was holding and looked at the gutters he had just installed on the new prefab carport. "Thanks. It's too bad I have to keep my car in here over the winter."
"Trust me, you really don't want to drive a convertible in the winter in Ottawa."
"Oh, I agree; I don't want frostbite on my face, either. It's just that I just got my car back..."
"And Mii-san just got her bike back, too. At least you can drive my car when I'm not using it."
"You drive an automatic with left-hand drive. Why did we install a bucket at the end of the downspout? We have city water."
"The city water's fluoridated. Rain water and snow meltwater is better for the plants out in front of the building."
"We don't have any plants out in front of the building."
Rob smiled. "Not yet, but I'm sure Mako-chan and Chibiusa will want to plant some flowers come spring time. Now, let's rig an overhang to cover my car over the winter, and then we can get an electrician in to install some more floodlights to keep unwanted visitors away from our cars."
November 23, 2016
1:01 pm ET
Rob had wondered whether he could put Mamoru on the building's payroll. While Mamoru didn't need the money, Rob could use the help with the maintenance work. He figured calling the higher-ups was worth a shot.
"Look, you've got me acting as a corporate official and a building manager. ... Yes, I know I signed two contracts. ... You're damned right that it's a Hell of a job. I need some help with it. I need either an administrative assistant, a housekeeper, or a handyman. ... Or I'll hire one on my own and pay him out of the corporate funds. ... Yes, I can do that. Section 19, paragraph 3. ... Fine. Email me the list."
After he hung up, Rob thought, 'Of course Sebastian has a list of housekeeper candidates. So much for getting Lord Phantomhive to slip Mamoru some money as a live-in handyman; he'll have to find work elsewhere. Or I can pay him out of my own pocket, if he'll let me.'
1:33 pm ET
Rob thought that he should have asked for an administrative assistant and a housekeeper. None of the people on the list were going to be able to help with the paperwork. He realized that he'd made a Hell of a choice in who to ask for.
There were three names on the list that Sebastian had forwarded to Rob. He recognized all three.
As much as he thought Taeko Minazuki might be a good choice, he realized that if Taeko moved to Ottawa, the rest of the major characters from Ai Yori Aoshi would follow sooner or later. He already had teenage angst to worry about; he didn't need unrequited love issues as well. Better to let her and them go elsewhere, he thought, maybe New Jersey or Venice. They'd probably like Venice. Besides, it was Taeko - the one character from that story that Rob could see himself falling in love with ... and for whatever reason he already had two smart and lovely ladies filling that role in his life. He didn't wonder why he suddenly already had two smart and lovely ladies filling that role in his life.
And he thought that it would be an even worse idea to hire Mahoro Ando - at least, not until Washuu-chan could extend her lifespan and she could engage in combat without worrying whether it would kill her. The building was still being attacked by the Host on an irregular basis; he didn't want Management to attack them as well.
And when did he start thinking of the household as a paramilitary force? That was the opposite of what he had wanted a month ago.
The third name ... Yeah. It was a Hell of a choice that Sebastian was giving him. Then Rob realized he might be able to use that choice to his own advantage.
5:14 pm ET
"Mr. Donaldson, could I see you for a moment, please?"
"Of course, Ms. Konori." Rob walked into Mii's apartment, and she closed the door behind him ... then stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
Once his tongue was available again, Rob asked, "What's that for? Not that I'm complaining." For some reason, he didn't wonder why he wasn't complaining, given their age difference.
"That's for setting up a place for me to keep my bike over the winter. Thank you."
"Mamoru helped."
"I'm not giving him a kiss. You might get jealous. Usagi almost definitely would."
Politely but out of character for him, Rob replied, "I choose to remain silent on that matter. Now, is there anything else, Ms. Konori?"
"I could use your help with these..." Mii reached for her blouse's buttons and smiled, which should have but didn't set off alarm bells in Rob's thoughts.
Rob sighed. Finally back in character for him, he replied, "Not before your eighteenth birthday."
She mock-pouted, then grinned and took a step back so he could see her figure better. "Then I suppose that's all."
"I'll be on my way, then." Rob turned and opened the door, to discover Ruiko waiting in the hallway, grinning. "What, are we that obvious?"
"I don't think Kazari, Mikoto, Mimi, Chibiusa, Diana, or either of the Reis have noticed yet," Ruiko replied.
"Actually, I had noticed, Misaka Rei interjects from down the hallway. It's Misaka Kokoro who hasn't noticed, Misaka Rei adds."
Rob looked over his shoulder at Mii. "Should we tell everyone?"
Mii shrugged her shoulders. "The two of us can't make that decision."
6:51 pm ET
As everyone was about to leave the dinner table, Ami said, "We have an announcement."
Two minutes later, Usagi and Kazari had Ami and Mii in a group hug; Kuroko was rolling her eyes at Mikoto's puzzled expression; Mimi, Diana, and Chibiusa were grinning; Ruiko and Minako were talking about bridesmaid's dresses; Luna and the Misaka sisters were wondering which reality the happy trio would be calling home once the time came to leave; Makoto was thinking about wedding cake recipes with a dreamy look on her face; Mamoru and Artemis (in human form) were smiling as they cleared the dishes from the table; Accelerator wasn't interested at all... and Rei Hino was scowling.
Ami had always been interested in men who were older than her father,[2] so everybody who knew her thought that this was perfectly natural... whatever they might have thought if it was somebody else who had made the announcement. Rei's concerns were in another area.
The first chance she had, Rei grabbed Rob's arm and walked him out to the corridor. "Why?"
"What?"
"Not what, why? Why do you get to be open about your love now and I have to wait?"
"You have to... Is that what Inara told you during the Halloween party?"
"Yes!" she hissed.
"You're sure? That doesn't sound like her to me at all."
"I'm sure... No, I'm not sure." The fire in Rei's eyes dimmed, but didn't completely disappear. "She told me about love, and appearances, and ..." She trailed off; the rest of what Inara had told her was none of Rob's business.
"Appearances. Of course. She's protecting you, and it sounds like she did a good job. Have you talked with whoever it is you love about this?" She shook her head. "Then you need to talk with them before any of you make any decisions. One thing that I'll tell you, and I'm sure it's the same thing that Ami and Mii are telling everyone else right now: We don't want word of this to leave the building yet. Polyamoury is still rare enough that it would put both of my loves' careers at risk if anyone found out before they have professional reputations of their own, although I'm sure they aren't mentioning that to anyone in our common room."
"But... that's... Why should anyone else care what your personal life is like? You're not..." She trailed off again, as if she had run out of lines to read from a script.
"Don't ask me. Other people's love lives don't affect me, and ours doesn't affect anyone else, and the three of us are facing our futures together with love and mutual respect and clear and informed consent from all three of us. That should be enough. But it isn't, not according to the law."
"The law is... the law is..." Rei fumed while trying to figure out how to finish her sentence.
Rob finished it for her. "The law is an ass." At her shocked look at his vulgarity, he continued, "George Chapman, 'Revenge for Honour', 1654. If you want to change the law, you could run for office once you're 18."
"No, thank you," she replied coldly.
"Or you could help Usagi run for office, and advise her once she's elected."
"Isn't she going to become Neo-Queen Serenity anyway?"
"If I recall the canon backstory correctly, she'll be elected to the position after she saves the world from a disaster of some sort. Assuming the same disaster happens here or you go home, of course. Either way, she could use the experience of running for office in a few years, and I can't think of anyone better suited to help her than you. Oh! Is she...?"
"Yes."
"Then I'd best let you go talk with her. And I think that I have to make it clear to a few people that Ami and Mii and I aren't getting married just yet, nor are the three of us about to share an apartment."
"You're not going to live together? Why not?"
"We're not going to live together yet. Because the law is an ass. Legally, I shouldn't be interested in them until they're 18, because legally, I'm still Mii and Ami's foster father."
For some reason that even Rei didn't know, that statement sounded perfectly reasonable to her; it fit the narrative of their three lives so well. "We have to do something about that."
"There are plans ready to go as soon as it becomes possible for us to be open about our relationship. Until then, we continue the way we are."
Rei sighed. "I never would have guessed you were the type to only pay lip service to laws that you didn't like."
"We're already ignoring some laws. Those automatic rifles that the Misaka sisters own are illegal in this country, but I'm not going to tell the girls to surrender them. But before you start comparing me to some Diet members that I suspect you've been introduced to back in your home universe, I'll point out that I'm ignoring laws that are detrimental to other people, not to myself."
Rei frowned. "Can I tell you about something called the slippery slope?"
"Can you trust that I have three times as much life experience as you, and know all about the slippery slope?" Forsome reason, that age difference didn't seem to matter in the case of his relationship with Mii and Ami. "I'm not happy about being a lawbreaker, but I'm not about to risk your lives or Ami's and Mii's happiness. And I'd appreciate it if you keep telling me when you think I'm making a bad moral or ethical call."
"Why me?" she asked, surprised.
"Because I trust you to not want to spare my feelings when you call me out."
Rob's phone pinged, then pinged twice again in rapid succession. Even before looking, he knew what the texts would say. As he reached for his phone, he wondered who didn't keep the secret. "Excuse me."
"Congratulations! -Tenchi"
"You'd better treat them well, or you'll feel my hammer! Be happy. -Skuld"
"What took you so long? -Washuu"
He showed the phone to Rei. "So much for keeping things secret."
And back in the common room, Mikoto was still puzzled as to why everybody else thought a relationship between a middle-age man and two teenage girls was a good thing, even with Ruiko telling her about Studio CLAMP's works and Usagi telling her about Tenchi Muyo! While she knew from experience that it was possible for Misaki Shokuhō to control so many minds at the same time, she was pretty sure that Tokiwadai's other Level 5 esper was nowhere nearby. Maybe she was just being paranoid, she suddeny thought.
But before Mikoto could say anything about her concerns, the Good Neighbour System's alarm went off.
And by the time that the situation in Montreal was resolved, everybody was too tired to continue a discussion about three people's love lives... and, the next morning, Mikoto completely forgot why she had been concerned about it in the first place.
November 24, 2016
4:42 pm ET
"Now that I have you alone: How long have you been dating Konori-sempai, Donaldson-san?"
"About a month now, Kuroko. She told me her feelings the night that she was attacked by the Host."
Kuroko relaxed slightly. "That was a hectic time for everyone. No doubt you simply forgot to tell us at the time, being more concerned with whether Mii-sempai would survive." Rob knew better than to disagree; he simply nodded. "As for the matter of hiring someone to help here, I don't understand why you want me involved in the process, Rob-san."
"Because Mikoto's busy. If this is who I think it is, you'll understand as soon as she walks through the door."
As if on cue, the office door opened, and a Japanese girl who looked to be about Usagi's age walked in. She was wearing a blue dress with an apron and a maid's cap, and her short hair was pulled back from her face. Amazingly enough for Blossom Apartments, she wasn't drop-dead gorgeous, or even cute. "Hello, the Funtom Placement Agency sent me about the maid position that you contacted them ab... Shirai!?"
"Maika?"
"And I'm Rob Donaldson. Now that we know each other, the job's yours if you want it." Both girls looked at Rob; he turned to Kuroko. "Is there some reason why I shouldn't hire Miss Tsuchimikado?"
"Her brother ..." Kuroko started, then stopped.
"Yes, we know her brother is a spy for Necessarius." Maika gasped in surprise. Rob ignored her. "And so is she. I'd rather Necessarius has somebody inside sending reports back than have them attack us because they don't know what's going on here, which means they need an information conduit out of our building." Rob turned to Maika and smiled. "Also, I've been assured that you actually are a competent maid."
"I'm a maid in training, actually," she replied somewhat unsteadily.
"Good enough for this building. Your room is downstairs - immediately below my office."
"So I'm to spend my nights on the floor under you?"
Kuroko snickered.
Rob frowned. "No. I don't appreciate the double entendre. And I really hope that Necessarius isn't expecting you to use Mata Hari's techniques."
"They aren't. And Motoharu would get upset if I did."
Rob relaxed a bit. "Good. Although now I'm wondering whether I should still offer you the job."
"You need somebody to help you," Kuroko pointed out.
"I don't have much choice, then," Rob replied. Turning back to Maika, he continued, "The job does not involve sex. Ever. And we're not asking you to become a double agent. As I already said, I'd rather that Necessarius knows what's going on here than have them guess incorrectly."
Maika thought for a brief moment. "That makes sense. What do you get out of this, besides your housekeeping done?"
"Well, as long as you're asking, are you able to contact Necessarius now? On second thought, don't answer that. When you are able to contact Necessarius, I want you to ask them to help us find two people that I expect they want to find anyway."
"Who would these people be?"
"Index Librorum Prohibitorum and Kamijo Touma."
"Oh." Kuroko groused. "Him."
Rob turned to Kuroko. "You know how she feels about him, even if she isn't willing to admit it to herself."
"Does he return her feelings?"
"Does she return yours?"
"I ..." Kuroko wouldn't continue.
"Then it doesn't matter." Rob turned back to Maika. "I apologize for the digression, Miss Tsuchimikado. If you accept the position here, your duties will involve house cleaning, laundry, memorizing the Wikipedia pages about Academy City and Necessarius - Kuroko will give you the URLs - and whatever Necessarius wants you to do that doesn't put anyone here at risk. Remuneration, at least from us, will begin at $600 per week plus room and board. We will review the contract after three months to determine whether this will become a permanent position."
She thought for a long moment. "I accept."
Rob extended his hand. "Thank you, Maika." They shook on the deal. "And if your brother shows up... well, try not to keep me awake."
5:16 pm ET
"I thought that I was the main chef here. Why hire a maid?"
Rob chose his words carefully. "She isn't here to do the cooking, Mako-chan. She's here primarily to do the laundry and general housekeeping. If you or whoever is on cooking duty needs help in the kitchen, you'll need to ask Maika whether she wants to help. Besides, I thought you wanted to be a pâtissier, not a restaurant chef."
Makoto calmed down. "I still haven't made up my mind whether I want to be a pastry chef or a flower shop owner or both, but I'm leaning toward being a chef." She thought for a moment. "All right, as long as I get to say who does or doesn't touch my kitchen gear, I don't have a problem with her being here."
"I won't hold you to that, Makoto."
She was suspicious again. "Why not?"
"Because she's also a spy for a group that has an uncomfortable relationship with Academy City."
"When did you know that?"
"Since before any of you showed up in this reality."
"And you hired her anyway?"
"Of course. This way, we have some control over what Necessarius learns about us - Necessarius is the group she works for - and we get our cleaning done, too."
Makoto's eyes narrowed. "That's awfully manipulative of you."
"She wants to be a maid. As for manipulative, espionage and counter-espionage is rarely free of manipulation. If Usagi is going to become Neo-Queen Serenity and you're going to become one of her advisors, you'll need to come to terms with that."
"Maybe. I still don't like it."
"Besides, this is nothing compared to how government intelligence agencies act, if the declassified reports and what Artemis has mentioned in passing are anything to go by. She knows that we know who she works for, we know that she knows, and we let her in anyway. If she's at all intelligent, she'll be expecting us to give her a mix of truth and misinformation to send back to her superiors."
"That's true," Maika replied from just inside the kitchen doorway, the door closing behind her. "Who else is going to know who I really am?"
"Everyone who's read the Wikipedia articles that I said you have to memorize. What can we do for you, Ms. Tsuchimikado?" Rob asked.
"Please just call me Maika while I'm working. I'm here to familiarize myself with the kitchen, so that I can keep it clean. I was told Kino-dono was here?"
"I'm Makoto. I'll show you my kitchen now, so please pay attention to what I say I don't want you to touch. ..."
As Makoto started the tour, Rob quickly got out of the girls' way; the kitchen really wasn't big enough for three people. He still had to tell Mikoto and Usagi about Maika, and that conversation was going to take some finesse.
And since when was the common room's kitchen Makoto's property?
7:27 pm ET
"Artie, a moment of your time, if you please."
Rob's expression showed he wasn't likely to take no for an answer. And so it was that Artemis and Rob were alone in Rob's office a moment later.
Artemis sat on Rob's desk and played with the computer mouse. "If this is about the maid you hired this afternoon, I already know that she's a sleeper agent for the group that Index-san belongs to."
"That saves us some time. I've already told her that we won't ask her to become a double agent."
"You're tying my paws here with that kind of promise, Rob. But I agree that she wouldn't make a good double agent. Everything in her source material indicates she's a living prop for her brother's cover story, not an agent in her own right. If I hired her, I'd have to train her."
Rob smiled. "So, no harm, no foul?"
"Not this time," Artemis replied. "But I might want to recruit the next spy that we meet, so please don't make that kind of promise again."
November 25, 2016
10:06 am ET
"Maika, would you ... Maika? MAIKA!"
Rob's shout shocked the newly-hired maid out of her daze, just before she was about to walk into the air at the top of the stairs. "Oh! I ... Thank you, Mr. Donaldson."
"Put that laundry down before you hurt yourself." As she did, Rob continued "The rest of the laundry can wait. What's wrong?"
"Nothing, really."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing that will keep me from doing my work."
"That 'nothing' almost caused you to break your neck. That's a workplace health and safety issue. What's wrong?"
Maika started crying. "I'm... I'm a fictional character!"
"You've been reading your Wikipedia page."
"My Wikia page, actually. Do you know what it's like to have your entire life summed up in one screen of text for everybody to read? You don't! You're not a fictional character!"
Rob winced, then grabbed both of Maika's shoulders. "Snap out of it!"
"I'm not hysterical! I'm angry!"
"Then calm down. Reacting this way won't help you."
"Who are you to say what will and won't help?"
"Your boss."
"Oh." She deflated slightly. "That's right."
"Is it safe to let go of you now?"
"... Yes."
He did so. "Then let's break for coffee, or tea, or something, and we can talk about the nature of reality."
Seven minutes later, they were in the common room, sharing a pot of Earl Grey. They'd almost made a ceremony out of the brewing and serving.
"To answer your question, you're right. I don't know what it's like to be considered to be a fictional character. But I do know what it's like to be famous in certain circles, which is similar; I used to have a reputation in some fan communities."
"What were you a fan of?"
"Let's not go there."
"Japanese cartoons."
"Yes, for their technical merits. Let's not go there."
"Are you still-?"
"No."
"So, you've redefined yourself?"
Not really, Rob thought but didn't say. "You can redefine yourself, too, even if you remain a maid."
"How do we do that?"
"First, we look at what makes up you as you are now, then you throw away some things and build on others. One example: You're not really Tsuchimikado's sister, right?" Maika nodded. "But you feel something for him, right?" She nodded again. "Then, if we find him, we don't treat the two of you as brother and sister."
"What?"
"Wouldn't you rather have a more accurate description of your relationship?"
She thought for a moment. "You're saying I should marry him."
"I was thinking more a common-law relationship, but if that's what the two of you want... Oh, right - you're a practising Christian, aren't you? Never mind the common-law bit. I suppose I was saying that, after all."
"Why?"
"It would bring your relationship out into the open, and make both of you less the fictional characters described on that wiki and more your own people."
"It would, wouldn't it?" She sipped at her tea. "It can't be just my decision, of course."
"Of course. And now that you've read your own Wikia entry, you can stop letting the fandom define you and start thinking about what else to emphasize in your life that isn't listed there."
"That's true. I'll do that, after work tonight." She put her teacup down and picked up one of the sweets that Rob had served with it. "Hey, this isn't a macaroon!"
"Some people are allergic to coconut, and I didn't want to take the risk that you might be one of them. That's a cornflake cluster."
Maika studied it for a moment. "Cornflakes and dark chocolate, and ... what?"
"A hint of orange essence. What do you think?"
She popped in in her mouth and savoured it. "It's ... decadent."
Rob knew from the source material that Maika didn't always show as much respect as a proper maid should, and let her choice of words slide. "Good. Now, let's finish up and get back to work; you can leave the rest of the anger and the decadence for after supper tonight."
- RK: Yes, we know the Funimation subtitles spell her name "Hyoka". The Funimation subtitles also repeatedly misspell "Star of Bethlehem" in A Certain Magical Index III. Don't trust the Funimation subtitles' spelling.
- RK: This is Word of Dante, not Word of God; Aya Hisakawa mentions this part of Ami's personality in an interview published in the October 1992 issue of Animage. Tuxedo Unmasked has a translation.
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| 2016-12-23: Various Ways to Spend Christmas Eve Eve |
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Posted by: robkelk - 02-18-2025, 10:58 AM - Forum: Stories
- Replies (2)
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Various Ways to Spend Christmas Eve Eve
by Rob Kelk
Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan
December 23, 2006
School had let out for the semester, and the students had taken their report cards home. Two of these students, fraternal twin sisters, had dutifully given their report cards to their father and accepted his assessment of their grades: Kagami Hiiragi was still on-track to get a recommendation to a national university, while her sister Tsukasa was still struggling to keep up in the prep school that they both attended. In two other households, two of Tsukasa's classmates were also delivering their report cards to their parents: Miyuki Takara was telling her mother that getting the top marks in her class wasn't a big deal really, while Konata Izumi (having changed out of her school uniform first) was quietly slipping her own report card into the middle of a stack of mail for her father and getting out of the house while she had the chance. Konata knew that her grades were barely better than Tsukasa's.
Having grabbed her rarely-used cellphone on the way out of the house, Konata texted Kagami while she walked to the bus stop. "Want to go sing karaoke?"
A reply quickly appeared: "No anime songs."
"Fine, fine," Konata texted back... although, as far as she was concerned, singing anime themes at the top of her lungs was the best part of karaoke. And she'd almost got her Aya Hirano impersonation perfected, too. [1] "Does Tsukasa want to come along? I'll call Miyuki and ask if she wants in."
A half-hour later, the girls had assembled at the subway station closest to their favorite karaoke parlor. Miyuki looked particularly excited. "I have two songs picked out to sing today!" she announced. "I won't be like last time, only singing once."
"You heard her," Kagami said to Konata. "No monopolizing the microphone this time."
"You'll just have to put songs in, then." Konata answered as the four of them boarded the bus that would take them to the karaoke parlor. "I'm not going to waste time that we paid for and not hear somebody singing."
"Miyuki-san has a pretty singing voice," commented Tsukasa. "I want to hear her sing again."
"Why, thank you," replied Miyuki. But it had been a long day; she nodded off as the bus pulled away from the station, quickly followed into slumberland by her three friends.
Eventually, they opened their eyes. "Where are we?" asked Miuyki lazily.
"I don't know. I think we fell asleep," muttered Konata as she looked out the bus' window.
"And we just talked about falling asleep on the bus a few days ago," Tsukasa added through a yawn.
"There's no point in talking about it," Kagami said with as much conviction as she could manage while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Let's get off at the next stop and get a bus going the other way."
They did so ...
Place Sun Yat-sen, Montreal, QC, Canada, Refuge
December 23, 2016
... and found themselves in a small Chinese-style park, with no bus - or bus stop - to be seen nearby.
"What is this place?" Tsukasa asked. "I've never been here before."
"Neither have I," her sister added.
"Nor I," added Miyuki.
Konata took a quick look around. "It looks almost like a fighting game level backdrop, with that pavilion over there and the murals on the walls."
Kagami sighed. "Everything reminds you of games, doesn't it?" she asked crossly.
"That doesn't", replied Tsukasa as she pointed at the building to the right of the pavilion... the brown brick building with distinctly non-Chinese signs above the doors to the businesses housed within.
"Miyuki, you're better than the rest of us at English. What do those signs say?"
She looked at them for a moment, then turned to Kagami, "I believe that they're the names of the businesses in the buildings. And that isn't English."
Konata asked, "Then what is it?"
After a moment, Tukasa picked up a flyer that has been left on a bench and answered, "It's French. I remember seeing these words in a cookbook," she added while pointing at the phrase "marmelade de sucre" at the top of the flyer.
"Are we in Paris?" Konata asked with sudden delight.
"I don't think so," Kagami replied while looking at the licence plate on a car parked beside the park. "Unless there's a Paris in Canada. That car has a Quebec license plate." [2]
"Oh," Konata replied flatly.
"How do we find out where we are?" Tsukasa asked worriedly.
They thought for a moment. Finally, Konata offered, "We could wait here until somebody who speaks Japanese comes along."
"And how likely is that to happen in Canada?" Kagami asked angrily.
From behind them, an unfamiliar voice (to everyone but Konata, who thought she sounded a lot like Kana Ueda) answered in Japanese. "You might be surprised. And none of you have been speaking Japanese at least since we walked over to you."
They turned to see two black-haired Asian girls, both younger than they were. One was wearing a long dark blue coat and a headband covered with flowers. The other was wearing a scarlet coat over a black skirt with stockings that didn't quite reach her skirt, her hair tied in twin-tails by black ribbons.
The twin-tailed girl turned to the girl with flowers in her hair. "You're going to insist we help them, aren't you?" The twin-tailed girl was the one who Konata thought sounded like Kana Ueda.
"We can't just leave them here." There was something vaguely familiar about this girl's voice as well, but Konata couldn't figure it out offhand. Said girl approached the four and smiled. "I'm Kazari Uiharu. Pleased to meet you."
"Konata Izumi. Hi there." Konata thought she'd heard Uiharu-san's name before, but with everything going on, she was having trouble remembering where.
As Miyuki and the Hiiragi sisters introduced themselves, Kazari's smile turned into a grin. She turned to face her companion. "I knew it! They're like us!" She turned back to the others. "I'm not the best person at this... You're in another world, and we're all fictional characters here. Want to have lunch with us? We were going to get some dim sum."
Konata muttered, "Either that's the worst pickup line I've ever heard, or she's crazy, or... I don't want to finish this sentence."
Kagami turned to the other girl, an annoyed look on her face. "You expect us to believe we're fictional characters? Is your friend always like this, miss...?"
"Not always," the twin-tailed girl replied. "And I'm Rin Tohsaka. Nice to meet you."
"You can't be," Konata stated flatly.
In reply, Rin wordlessly cast a spell, causing her hand to glow for a moment. Since it was the middle of the day, only the six of them could see the effect.
"You are." Konata looked and sounded very worried.
Still puzzled about everything, Miyuki raised her hand. "Excuse me, but who are you? Not just your name, but who you see yourself as."
Konata spun on her heels to face Miyuki. "She's one of the lead characters in an ero-game I really doubt you've heard of because it's too new."
Before Rin could react, Kazari said, "Izumi-san, please don't mention that game in Rin-san's presence. I don't want to have to call an ambulance for you."
Konata stopped cold, all expression leaving her face. After a moment, she said quietly, "Don't piss off the spellcaster. Right. Important safety tip. And now I remember where I heard your name before, miss Judgment officer and Level 1 esper."
"Well, yes, but I'm not part of Judgment while I'm in this world."
Seeing that one of her closest friends wasn't acting like herself, and guessing why, Miyuki quickly acted to defuse the situation by changing the subject. "I wouldn't mind having lunch. But I can't pay for it; all of my money is Japanese."
"Oh, I can pay for a few dishes for you!" Kazari beamed, happy to draw attention away from her esper power.
"And I can cover a few, too," added Rin. "It isn't as if people in my favourite restaurants here in Montreal don't know that I always pay my debts."
"So. We're in Montreal." Konata stated, desperate to rejoin the conversation on a positive note.
"We are," Rin agreed.
"And now I have to finish that sentence that I didn't want to finish. We're in a Narō novel."
"They're called 'isekai' now," commented Kazari. "And, yes."
"And considering how normal you both look, I'll bet we're not getting power-ups right away." Konata sighed. "Let's talk about our quest over lunch. We are getting a quest to save the world, right?"
Kazari looked puzzled. "Not as far as I know... but we could ask our friends whether there's anything like a quest that you could go on."
"No quest? That takes all the fun out of being in a Narō novel - sorry, in an isekai novel." In a quieter voice that she thought nobody else could hear, Konata continued, "Oh, well. It looks like I'm going to miss winter Comiket this year."
Appartements Mont-Royal Sud, Montreal, QC, Canada
December 23, 2016
The girls had enjoyed a late lunch. At least, they had enjoyed the food; the situation they were in still left them worried.
Now, the four students from Ryouou - now displacees in Refuge - and their impromptu guides were walking along Park Avenue.
Kagami, at least, was able to act normally for her. "Could somebody explain to me why the sun looks like it's going to set in the north?"
Konata turned to Kagami. "We're in a different world. We can't expect things to be the same as they were back home."
Rin laughed. "There's a simpler answer, Hiiragi-san. The St. Lawrence River flows roughly east-northeast for the most part, draining the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean, but there's a bend in the river around Montreal Island where the river flows almost directly north. Montrealers call downriver 'east', despite a compass calling the same direction 'north'. It's a local shibboleth."
"What's a shibboleth?"
Before Miyuki could explain the concept to Tsukasa, Rin announced, "We're here."
"Nice place," Konata commented politely. "And you have a coffee and sweets shop on-site."
"It's convenient," Rin replied as she opened the building's side door. "And before you ask, we're only using half of the apartments so far. Cassiopée-ōya-san was wondering why we had so much room for so few people; I think your arrival answers at least part of that question."
Since Rin had called ahead with the news, her landlady was waiting for them. "Indeed," replied a thirty-something white woman with short black hair. "I'm the apartment manager here, Cassiopée Bright. Bienvenue à Montréal!" The four newcomers introduced themselves in turn. "Kazari, will you be staying for dinner?"
She shook her head. "No, I should be getting home now. If anything bad happened while I was here, we would have heard about it by now, so it should be safe for me to go home. I'll see you at the party tomorrow!" And she headed for the portal network in the building's garage.
"What was that all about?" Konata wondered out loud as Kazari left them.
"I'm not completely sure," Rin replied, "but Kazari-san said something about the solstice, her landlord, and his new girlfriend."
Cassiopée turned to Rin. "There will be plenty of time later to explain what's happening elsewhere in the world." Turning to the newcomers, she added, "I assume you'd rather share apartments with somebody you know than have to live alone, so I asked Archer to get futons out of storage and put them in the two apartments on the third floor. I apologize for the lack of comforts and hope you don't mind not having proper beds for another three or four days. It's Christmas time here and the stores are crowded."
"It does make sense to wait for the end-of-year sales," agreed Kagami.
"Thank you for your kindness," Miyuki added with a slight bow, the other three bowing a heartbeat later. Only Konata showed any irritation at the idea of needing to walk up multiple flights of stairs to get to her new home; she thought that she'd hidden her reaction, but she was still affected by everything that had happened in the last few hours.
"We're living together, right, big sis?" Tsukasa asked Kagami worriedly. She wasn't ready to live on her own yet.
Her twin sister nodded. "We're going to have to. If I let you live with Konata, neither of you would get your homework done."
"And you and Miyuki would starve to death, because neither of you know how to cook," Konata added.
Kagami glared at Konata, then turned back to her sister and and continued crossly, "And if you lived with Miyuki, I'd never get my homework done because a certain homework copier would be asking to copy it all the time."
"Fine, fine, I'll make sure Miyuki doesn't starve," Konata grumbled, not willing to let Kagami know just how correct her assumption was. Nothing was going the way she had expected it to happen in a Narō story. "Assuming I can find a part-time job that'll let me attend school and leave time for me to cook. The food and rent here isn't free, I'm sure."
Cassiopée shook her head as she said, "We won't let you starve or go without a place to stay or clothes to wear, as long as you're attending classes. We have resources that we can draw upon."
"Free room and board, and clothes, and manga?" Konata asked happily. "At least that genre convention is happening!"
"Not the manga," replied Cassiopée quickly. "That, you have to earn money to buy for yourself." Before Konata could ask about other things that might be included, Cassiopée added, "We'll shop for the absolute necessities today and tomorrow, fighting the Christmas Eve shoppers for what you need. Believe it or not, an evening gown for each of you is an absolute necessity for tomorrow night's concert; I managed to get invitations for each of you after Rin told me you were here. I'll need your sizes."
"I'll get then for you," Rin volunteered before turning back to the newcomers. "They use a different measuring system here for clothes, so I'll need to get out a tape measure and spend a few minutes writing everything down."
Tsukasa smiled and said, "If you spend your lives going to fancy parties, I don't mind being an isekai character."
Cassiopée smiled kindly upon the girl's statement as she replied, "No, this is a special function. After Christmas we'll buy you more than just basic clothing and furniture, including computers good enough for school work but not for gaming. Oh, I should show you around. My office is upstairs. If you need any help, just ask. This is our dining room," she added while opening the only interior door on the ground floor.
The girls walked in to see what looked like a small bistro-style restaurant with a bar in the middle of the room. Ten of the places had already been set for the evening meal, leaving over half of the room's tables without so much as a tablecloth. While the girls looked around, Cassiopée walked over to the kitchen door and said, "Shirou! Four more for supper!"
The question "We have guests?" came through the doorway, accompanied by the sound of water filling a pot.
"We have new residents," Cassiopée replied.
The sounds from the kitchen stopped, and a moment later Shirou poked his head out. "Hello! I'm Shirou Emiya," he said politely. Then he noticed how attractive the four young women were, and continued with more feeling, "I'm happy to make your acquaintance."
Still standing behind the newcomers, Rin cleared her throat meaningfully.
Shirou went back to being polite. "I hope you'll find your stay here enjoyable." Then he moved to head back to the kitchen, stopped for a moment, and turned back to the newcomers. "I could use some help in the kitchen. I don't suppose any of you know how to make agedashi dōfu?"
Before Konata could answer that, yes, she knew how to fry tofu, Tsukasa said, "I can do that! And if I help with the cooking, it'll repay your kindness for taking us in."
Kagami turned to Cassiopée. "I think we've lost my sister for a while - when she decides she wants to cook, she doesn't stop until the meal's ready. If you don't mind her helping out, I'll sign the paperwork for both of us to move in." Then she turned to Rin and quietly added something she would later regret saying: "And I'm pretty sure that you don't have anything to worry about from my sister."
Cassiopée smiled at that. "Well, Mlle. Hiiragi, you may as well help Shirou, then."
Tsukasa walked into the kitchen while the others headed for the manager's office. As they left the dining room, they heard Tsukasa say, "Nobody else uses this kitchen? And you don't use it every day? Does that mean I can use it? I'm in heaven..."
Rue St-Hubert, Montreal, QC, Canada
December 24, 2016
Cassiopée had called ahead, so they were expected when they arrived at a shop that sold nothing but evening gowns when the store opened at 7 AM. "Yes, Mlle. Takara, we are buying prêt-à-porter gowns. We don't have time to get you anything sur mesure. We need to be wearing the dresses at 18 heures today. And each dress here costs only what I might spend on one or two month's worth of groceries." Three of the girls paled at the thought that they were going to spend that much on a single outfit, while Miyuki took the news in stride. "Although we'll need to pay extra for same-day alterations, and go elsewhere for wraps, shoes, and clutch purses."
"Thank you for your continued patronage, Mme. Bright," the store's senior fitter said in French as they walked in. "These are the young ladies whose bags did not arrive with them?"
"They are, yes."
"We must act quickly if you are to meet your schedule. This way, please, ladies."
Konata and Miyuki ended up in Empire gowns, the former in a dark blue that almost matched her hair colour because it was the only thing they still had in a size 00 (and Konata refused to shop at the children's dress store just down the street) and the latter in red because it was the only thing they had left that wouldn't need drastic alterations to the bustline in order to fit her. The twins wore matching off-white Goddess gowns because they were on sale and each girl felt uncomfortable spending a small fortune on a single dress. While Cassiopée mentioned that wearing the same dress as somebody else was considered a minor catastrophe at most formal events, Kagami pointed out that twins were always allowed to dress alike.
"I never knew how much work it was to buy just one fancy outfit," Kagami said as they headed for a shoe store, fabric swatches the same colour as their dresses in hand for comparison purposes. "And we're going to need jewelry with this sort of outfit, aren't we?"
"You will, but I have earrings and necklaces that I can lend to you," Cassiopée replied without taking her eyes off the road. Traffic in Montréal was bad enough to have a negative reputation at the best of times; traffic in Montréal on Christmas Eve day was even worse than normal.
But somehow the dress alterations were completed and they managed to buy everything that they absolutely needed for the evening, despite the crowds.
Appartements Mont-Royal Sud, Montreal, QC, Canada
December 24, 2016
By the time the girls had accessorized, it was nearly time for lunch... which most of them ate at home because they were on a tight schedule.
Tsukasa looked at her new purse while Shirou made sandwiches for everyone. "I can't believe we spent over three thousand dollars today on party clothes!"
"We'll be spending more," Miyuki replied. "None of us have been to a hair salon yet."
"I'm sorry, but I was only able to get one appointment at my usual salon," Cassiopée said. "Your hair ribbon does not go well with your new dress, Tsukasa, so it has to be you who gets your hair styled. The rest of you have hair that's long enough to wear loose and straight with your gowns, although I have a comb-style hair clip [3] that would go well with Konata's dress." She turned to the boy who'd just brought a platter of sandwiches out of the bistro's kitchen. "Shirou, Tsukasa and I will need to take our lunches with us."
"Of course," he sighed as he went back to the kitchen to get a paper bag and two bottles of water.
They came back two hours later to discover a neat stack of documents waiting for Tsukasa. Cassiopée's hair was in the same pixie cut as it was when she left. True to Cassiopée's word, Tsukasa was the one with a new hairdo: an old-fashioned centre-parted bob with a permanent wave and absolutely no ribbons or flyaway strands at all. She was also wearing a pendant necklace that she hadn't been wearing when she left.
Shirou saw her come in as he was putting the finishing touches on the bistro's cleaning. He stopped still for a moment, realized he was staring at a very cute girl who was only one year older than he was, and finally said, "Welcome back, Hiiragi-san. Vár left these for you : school enrolment forms, passport, health card, and such. What sort of stone is that?"
"The one on my new necklace?" Tsukasa turned to her landlady, a puzzled expression on her face. "I never thought to ask. I just thought it looked pretty."
Cassiopée said, "Out of respect for the Sailor Senshi who you'll be meeting this evening, we should call it lavender jade."
"Lavender jade. All right. How is that out of respect for... Sailor Moon is in this world, too?"
Cassiopée smiled as she replied, "She is, and so are her teammates. As for showing them respect, the stone's also called jadeite."
"I don't understand."
Before Cassiopée could reply to Tsukasa, Shirou said to the younger woman, "Rin told me that Uiharu-san didn't accept a gem because it had the same name as one of the Senshi's foes. And Jadeite was the name of their very first foe."
"Oh. That sounds like a silly reason to refuse a gift."
"We can talk about that later," Cassiopée insisted, interrupting Shirou's obvious attempt to look good in front of Tsukasa. "Right now, Shirou needs to start getting ready for tonight and you need to do your makeup."
"I've never worn makeup before."
Of course she's an ingénue, Cassiopée thought, before volunteering, "I'll have to help you with it, then."
They climbed the stairs to the top floor, where the Ryouou students' apartments were. Noticing that Konata and Miyuki's apartment door was open, Tsukasa said, "We're back!"
"Welcome home," Miyuki replied. Then she got a good look at her friend. "I love your new hairdo, Tsukasa. It reminds me of Rita Hayworth's usual hairstyle in the 1940s, but a bit shorter."
"It can't help but be short; the hairdresser didn't have a lot to work with," Tsukasa replied. "Does it really look good on me?"
Cassiopée smiled. "Didn't you notice that M. Emiya couldn't keep his eyes off you? But that's another thing that we can talk about later. Tsukasa, you and I still need to do a lot to get ready."
That took a half-hour after Tsukasa finished her shower, being careful not to get her hair wet, and got into her underwear. At the end of the makeup session, Tsukasa looked in the mirror. "That can't be me... can it?"
"Why do you think it isn't you, Tsukasa?" Cassiopée asked.
"Because the girl in the mirror is so pretty."
Cassiopée quickly confirmed that Belldandy wasn't using Tsukasa's vanity mirror to visit, then replied, "The girl in the mirror is you."
"I don't even see the makeup, but I can see the changes it made. Please teach me how to do this kind of makeup."
Cassiopée smiled, thinking that she might be able to help Tsukasa gain some much-needed self-confidence by helping her with something so easy. "Of course. After Christmas day."
By the time all of the building's residents were in their finery and the gifts that they were bringing were in bags, it was time to leave. "Is everyone ready?" Grahame asked, visibly uncomfortable in his black tie and tails.
"Of course we are," Cassiopée replied to her husband. Nobody mentioned that Miyuki and Konata didn't look quite as pretty as the other women in the group, because Miyuki still looked lovely and Konata's small stature meant she couldn't help but look like a junior-high student cosplaying as a grownup. At least, Konata thought she looked like she was cosplaying, which let her consider her outfit as something that an otaku would wear. And if she told herself that often enough, she was sure that she'd believe it eventually.
While walking from the apartments to the garage and the portal, they passed two of the people who worked at the building's coffee shop – a dark-haired boy with glasses half-hiding his grey eyes and a young brown-eyed blonde woman, both busy moving a delivery into the shop's kitchen. "Oh, I wish we could go to a fancy party," the blonde said with an accent that most of them couldn't place but Cassiopée recognized as Parisienne French, "but we have to be ready for the rest of this week. Have fun!"
"The next time we're invited out, I'll be sure to ask whether you can come along, Miss Tennouji," Grahame replied gallantly.
"Thank you, but I doubt we'll be able to get away from the shop."
"That's a shame. Well, we must be leaving now. À bientôt!"
As Cassiopée lead the way to the portal, Konata muttered, "A hazel-eyed blonde named Tennouji. Why does that sound familiar?"
Kagami glowered at her best friend. "Not everybody is out of a game or an anime."
"Everyone we live with except for the Brights are." But then Grahame activated the portal and Konata forgot what she was about to say. "Is that a Stargate?"
"No, it's something that Washuu-chan put together for us," Sakura answered.
"'Washuu-chan'? From Tenchi Muyo? It's about time this world started looking like a real isekai story!"
"Well, we didn't want to spoil all of the surprises yesterday," Grahame replied with a bit of a smile. "Are you ready to meet other people who have come to this world?"
"Am I ever!"
"Then hold your NEXUS cards [4] up to the scanner so you can enter the United States legally."
The girls from Ryouou did so, and stepped through the portal into their big debut in Refuge.
- RK: For the half-dozen readers who don't get the joke, Aya Hirano played Konata in the anime TV series.
- RK: As a matter of fact, there is a Paris in Canada... but it's a small town, it isn't in Quebec, and nobody taking part in the discussion knows that it exists.
- RK: That's a Canadian and Australian term. Many Americans call hair clips "barrettes", while they're called "hair slides" in parts of the U.K.
- RK: See the 15th footnote in Like Calls to Like
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| What's the difference between a Canadian and an American? |
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Posted by: robkelk - 02-16-2025, 05:48 PM - Forum: Politics and Other Fun
- Replies (5)
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Q: What's the difference between a Canadian and an American?
A: A Canadian knows the difference between a Canadian and an American.
Yes, that sounds like a joke, but it's serious: Canadians know far more about Americans than Americans know about Canadians.
Here are some things that Canadians believe. We might not always practice them, but we believe them: - Immigration is a net benefit to society.
- A person's biological sex makes no difference to that person's ability to do any job.
- A person's biological sex makes no difference to who that person can fall in love with, or marry.
- A person's skin colour makes no difference to that person's ability to do any job.
- A person's skin colour makes no difference to who that person can fall in love with, or marry.
- Religion has no place in politics.
- Religion has no place in criminal law.
- Historical injustices should be rectified.
- What whites did to indigenous peoples is a series of historical injustices.
- Since people contribute more to society when they are healthy than when they are sick, health care should be paid for by society.
- Socialism is not communism.
- "Socialism" is not a dirty word.
- Prisons exist for rehabilitation, not for punishment.
- Firearms are for hunting, not for self-defence.
- Concealed carry of a firearm is something that only criminals do.
- People need to be trained and licensed before being allowed to operate a car unsupervised, just like they need to be trained and licensed before being allowed to operate a firearm unsupervised.
- Alcohol is no worse to society than marijuana is.
- Political cartoonists shouldn't take sides, they're supposed to skewer everybody equally.
- The word "colour" has six letters, and the second-last letter is a "u".
Got any more differences?
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| 2016-11-09: Future Plans |
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Posted by: robkelk - 02-15-2025, 07:47 PM - Forum: Stories
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Future Plans
by Rob Kelk
Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, ON, Canada
7:24 pm, November 9, 2016
"I just had a thought."
Ami put her book down, glanced at Mii, then looked at Rob. "About one or both of us?"
"Yes, and about myself as well."
"Nothing G-rated, I hope," Mii smiled.
Rob smiled back, not remembering that that sort of comment would have worried him and been out of character for her before November 4. "That depends." Then he stopped smiling. "Where are we going to live?"
"How do you mean?"
"Once the Megami have all this sorted out, which of our worlds do you want to live in?" He was assuming that everyone else in the building would be going home eventually.
"Couldn't we get Washuu-chan to set up portals between our worlds?"
"I'm sure she knows how, Ami, but will Skuld let her? And even if she does, we'll have to choose one world to buy a house in."
Everybody thought for a moment.
"This building is comfortable."
"We might not be able to keep living in it once everyone else has gone home."
Mii waved a hand dismissively. "Buy it from Lord Phantomhive, and rent out the apartments the rest of us aren't using."
"Okay," Rob replied, "That's plan A if we can run portals between the realities. What's plan B, if we can't?"
Everybody thought for another moment.
Finally, Mii broke the silence. "There's only one answer to that question."
Rob nodded. "I agree."
"What?"
"I can be a police officer anywhere. Rob can start his retirement anywhere. You can only be Neo-Queen Serenity's daimyo in your home universe. We live with you."
"You'd ... you'd give up your own lives for me?"
"We'd build new lives with you. I think that's worth it."
"So do I. And from what I've learned here, not being under the thumb of Academy City would be a bonus."
Ami drew the others into a close hug, her tears of happiness falling on their shoulders.
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| DW-S Concordance note |
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Posted by: robkelk - 02-14-2025, 05:39 PM - Forum: Drunkard's Walk S: Heart of Steel
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Regarding the final entry (as of this posting) in the concordance for Chapter Four:
Quote:Titan Castle
All the Senshi are supposed to have individual "castles" — more like ornate, luxurious space stations — orbiting their respective planets, but only a few were explicitly named. Those that were usually got the name of the planet's moon (or if it had more than one, one of the larger moons).
More accurately, the castles bear the names of the first-discovered moons of each planet. (Mars' castle is named "Phobos Deimos Castle" because the discovery of both moons was announced at the same time.) In the cases of Mercury and Venus, the satellites that lent their names to the matching castles are man-made.
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| 2016-11-04: Reach for the Moon |
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Posted by: robkelk - 02-10-2025, 11:50 AM - Forum: Stories
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Drosselmeyer's Journal
November 4, 2016
07:20 pm ET
So this is Ottawa. From what I've seen of it, it's a nice place. It isn't so big that it's become one of those wretched hives of humanity, like New York or Montreal are. And it isn't so small that I can't find somebody here to tell stories with!
Which reminds me... now, where was that list... oh, yes, here it is. "Rob Donaldson". What a boring name. He must be either a boring person, or a very interesting one. What does the list say, again?
Oh. He's one of the boring sorts. But he dabbles in writing, and he likes what the kids these days call "tropes". Well, then, let's give him a trope or two! He's so straitlaced that it would be so much fun to drop him into a harem comedy. But with which girls? Honestly, there's an embarrassment of riches here! Twelve lovely young things to compete for his attentions! Oh, wait, wait, wait... Serenity II? No, we can't have her falling for him; she's already starring in her own story. Can't ruin one story to improve another, after all. Bad manners. Maybe I should just watch for a while.
10:03 pm ET
He isn't giving me anything to work with! What a boring character! I'll just have to be creative, then. Now, which tropes should I use? Should I start with the basic "First Girl Wins"? It's been done to death, after all. Oh, but wasn't there something on the list about these people? ... Yes there was, yes there was. The girls showed up in two different groups! So, the first girl from each group wins. Give them a love triangle. Just the thing. Now, what else? He's already their guardian, so there's that added rush of forbidden love. That's enough to start with. Now, where did I put that inkhorn? Oh, right - pens hold their own ink now. Well, isn't that interesting; one of the girls already likes much older men. [1] That saves me some writing...
Blossom Apartments
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
10:46 pm ET
As he was getting ready for bed, Rob heard a voice coming from outside - a voice he'd never heard before. "Let us in! It's cold outside! Don't make us freeze out here!" Of course he had to answer that call, he thought as he put his shirt back on. He wasn't so heartless as to let somebody freeze out here... there.
Then he stopped as he saw some words written in big unfriendly letters, apparently hanging in the air. "WARNING! Your nanoswarm has detected that your mind is being influenced telepathically!"
All right, thought Rob, that's something Washuu-chan didn't warn me about. As for the telepath, he can freeze in the dark for all I care. Then he heard footsteps in the hallway. Grabbing his keys, he stepped into the hall, to find Ruiko walking toward the front door. "Rui-chan! No! We're being mind controlled!"
She stopped just before touching the door. "We are?"
"We are. Step away from the door. Now."
She did, and then she dropped to her knees in fright. Rob noticed that the voice was no longer whispering in his head ... as he heard the back door being opened.
"Damn! EVERYBODY WAKE UP! WE'RE BEING INVADED!"
"Wow, you can shout loud."
A pyjama-clad Kuroko appeared in front of them, having teleported to the lobby. "What's the situation?"
"Mind control to get somebody to open a door and let whoever-they-are inside. Back door's been opened. You're in charge until Mikoto or Usagi are up. Ruiko and I are running for the bolthole."
"Thank you for getting out of our way." Kuroko teleported away.
10:52 pm ET
The main door to the bolthole was located in the basement, between the laundry room and the storage lockers. There was a second door to the bolthole in Rob's office, one floor up. The bolthole itself was located in the same pocket dimension (created by Washuu-chan) as the building's sparring room, sentou, and vault - and could be sealed off from the rest of the building so that any attacks in the rest of the building wouldn't hurt the people inside the bolthole.
At this point, the bolthole held three humans and three cats.
"Rob, what's going on? How did you know this was an attack?" the youngest cat asked.
"Well, Diana, before you showed up here, Washuu-chan re-built my nervous system. Tonight I discovered she slipped in a defense program that helps me resist mind control."
Chibiusa's eyes went wide. "She can do that?"
"She's the greatest scientific genius in the universe; just ask her. Of course she can do that." Luna didn't sound particularly happy.
"Yeah. What else did she slip into my head while she was at it?"
Ruiko put her hand on Rob's shoulder. "We'll get Uiharu-san and Mizuno-san to look at you when all of this is over."
"Yeah. And you're as nervous as I am."
"What? No, I'm not!"
Artemis jumped onto Ruiko's lap. "You slipped back into old habits, calling Kazari-san and Ami by their family names. You're nervous."
Just then, they heard a knocking at the door - one knock, a pause, two quick knocks, another pause, then the pattern repeated. Rob stood up, walked to the door, and asked, "Who's there?"
"The Big Bad Wolf."
He sighed in relief, then unsealed and unlocked the door, opening it to reveal Makoto. "What happened?"
"Mii-san opened the back door and let in a half-dozen people, who shifted into some things that I've never seen before when they saw me coming down the stairs. Rob... she didn't run away from them."
"Oh, no."
"I kept them from hurting her too badly, but Ami's busy performing first aid. They lost interest in her when I zapped one of them with a Supreme Thunder."
"Oh, good," Ruiko breathed.
"Then they came after me. They'd almost reached me when Usagi hit them with a Moon Spiral Heart Attack from behind me. They collapsed and turned into dust."
"So, we've got some new kind of youma or daimon or droid or something to worry about - one that has telepathic abilities."
Rob shook his head. "Not necessarily, Artemis. They could be some sort of attack drones sent by somebody else."
"They targeted Sailor Jupiter as soon as she made herself known."
"That could mean they wanted magic, not necessarily a Senshi. But that's something to figure out later. Right now, I need to call Washuu-chan and get her here to help Ami treat Mii."
Rob's cellphone rang - Science Genius Girl, which he'd associated with Washuu's number in Vancouver. He answered on speakerphone so he'd have his hands free, just in case. "Donaldson."
"Rob, is everything okay there? Something pinged the Good Neighbor system and I wanted to be sure before we all went in, guns blazing."
"I was just about to call. We need a medic, now! Mii's hurt. Everything else is under control."
"Right - I'm on my way. Should I alert the other complexes?"
"It's too soon to tell. No, go ahead - but just DEFCON 4. We'll stay at 3 until we've confirmed it's safe, then drop to 4."
"Right. Alerting the others now. I'll be there in two minutes."
"Thanks. 'Bye."
Ruiko looked at Rob, puzzled. "Good Neighbor system?"
"The sensor system that Washuu-chan created to alert all of the building managers about problems at other buildings, so they could send in the cavalry when necessary. You helped Kazari install it last month, remember?"
"Oh, that's what that was. Okay." Just then, the door to Washuu-chan's lab appeared on the wall opposite the laundry room as Rob was typing a text to Tessa Testarossa in Adelaide: "Situation is under control at Blossom. Somebody attacked us and we've ... defeated them. I was in our bolthole, so I need to debrief the girls to find out just what happened. After-action report will follow."
November 5, 2016
12:01 am ET
Rob cleared his throat as he turned on the recorder. "Debriefing after the incident at Blossom Apartments at approximately 22:45 local time on November 4, 2016. Everyone, are we all safe?"
"I've communed with the sacred fire, and sense no further attacks tonight or tomorrow. But I have very little wood prepared to burn in a sacred fire, so I can't say anything about tomorrow night."
"Thank you, Rei."
"I have the Good Neighbor system reporting to my laptop as well as Washuu-chan's system in Vancouver. If anything does happen despite Rei-san's divination, I'll know about it."
"Thank you, Kazari. We should have that display running full-time on a dedicated monitor in the common room, for when Hino-san isn't available. I'll go buy a Raspberry Pi and a monitor when the stores open - the common room's router's still got a port open." Rob paused for a moment, and continued in a more serious tone. "Washuu-chan, how's Mii?"
"She didn't take any major organ damage. She's going to be fine, but I wouldn't recommend any martial arts or crop-tops for a while. She lost a lot of blood and tissue."
Rob smiled in relief at Washuu's words, then went back to looking serious. "How long is 'a while'? Mii uses a striking style of some sort when she fights."
"She could be up and around after getting a good night's sleep, but the artificial muscles will take another day to sync with her natural musculature. Call it a day and a half to be safe." Washuu looked at Ami as she said that last sentence, who nodded in understanding.
"Wow," Mikoto muttered. "Even that frog-faced doctor back in Academy City can't heal somebody that fast."
Kuroko stood up and turned toward the door to Mii's apartment, then stopped. "Why did you say Konori-sempai shouldn't wear a crop top? I've never seen her wear a bare midriff outfit other than a swimsuit, so it shouldn't matter for a while, but that was an odd choice of words."
"Oh, I didn't have any artificial skin ready in her exact skin colour. There's a few pale areas on her torso where the attackers bit her, but they'll go away as her natural skin grows into place. Knowing the winters here, nobody'll see her stomach and thighs anyway until she's ready to not bundle up next spring, and she'll be fully healed by then."
"Unless she's sharing a bath with us -- wait, 'bit her'?" Kuroko teleported directly in front of Washuu. "Somebody bit Konori-sempai?"
"You're too close. Multiple bites out of her flesh, which the attackers ate as far as I can tell from the DNA markers in the dust I sampled from the fight scene." Washuu looked gravely serious. "Yes. Whatever those attackers were, they have a taste for human flesh. And their DNA shows they're human."
Makoto shook her head. "I saw them transform into monsters. There's no way they were human."
"You transform into a magical girl, Kino-chan."
Rob held up his hand in a "stop" gesture. "Enough. We all know that people have been showing up here from various stories. What we need to do here is go through what we know and figure out which story the attackers came from. And I refuse to do that while I'm exhausted."
"Sometimes the best free associations are made when you're tired."
"And some of the worst free associations are made when you're tired, too. No, Washuu-chan, we need to get some sleep. And I need to write an after-action report first."
"I don't think I can sleep right now, Rob-san."
"That's up to you, Kazari. If you're going to stay up, could you do some research for me, please? We need a closed-circuit camera system watching the building's access points; if you could find some online, we can place an order in the morning. Anything else, anyone?" After a moment, Rob continued, "Then go get some sleep unless you have something more important to do. I'm ending the recording now," he finished as he did that.
After everyone else left the room - Kazari to do some product research; Ami, Kuroko, and Mikoto to sit with Mii; and everyone else to try to get back to sleep - Washuu turned to Rob. "I can add a CCTV system to your Good Neighbor system before I go."
"Thanks, but I want Kazari to stay busy. If I could come up with things for the others to do, I'd keep them busy, too."
"There's a large blood stain near the back door that needs to be cleaned up."
"That's my responsibility. And my way to keep busy."
9:10 am ET
"Transformed?" Mii looked puzzled. "They didn't transform."
"But Makoto said she saw them change."
"I think I would have noticed if the people attacking me morphed into something else, Mikoto."
There was a knock at the door, and Minako walked in with a tray. "Washuu-chan said no solid food until lunchtime, so I brought you a small milk." She passed over a one-litre box of whole milk.
Mikoto sighed. "Minako, that isn't a small milk."
Mii smiled. "It is for me. Thank you, Minako."
Minako turned to Mikoto. "And I brought you some coconut water." She passed it over and kept a teacup for herself, leaning the tray against the closest wall.
"Hey, thanks!"
Minako took a sip of tea. "So, what's up?"
"Mii says the attackers didn't transform. Makoto says they did."
"Well, yes," Minako replied. "We know they had telepathic abilities."
"An illusion! Of course! I wonder which form was the real one. And why did Makoto see them change forms while I didn't? If they were controlling both of our senses, we should have seen the same thing."
They all thought for a moment. "Maybe..." Mikoto started.
"Maybe?"
"Maybe being a magical girl made the difference. The stories about our world -" she gestured to Mii and herself "- says espers and magicians interact with the world differently."
Minako nodded. "And they stopped attacking Mii as soon as they noticed Makoto. They've got to be some sort of magical beings, and they're attracted to our magic." She grabbed the tray and headed for the apartment door. "If I hurry, I can let Washuu-chan know before she leaves."
"She's already gone," Mii commented.
"Oh. Well, I'll let Rob know."
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
11:14 ET
Rob had wandered over to Bank Street and was walking north, trying to put the pieces together.
After Minako had told him her theory, he'd asked Makoto to tell him exactly what she'd seen. Her description was naggingly familiar - people who transformed into walking corpses, bloated as if they'd been dead for a while, but not for very long.
Rob knew that Makoto knew what a dead person looked like - her family had died in a plane crash. (Rob's mind went off on a tangent. Considering when and where Makoto came from, that had to have been JAL123 - hundreds dead, and only four survivors including a girl who would have been Makoto's age. But that survivor wasn't Makoto, and one of the other survivors was her mother ... but there was no reason the casualty list had to have been the same in her universe as it was in his. Then Rob realized his thoughts were running down a blind alley.) Yes, she knew what dead people looked like.
And they'd tried to eat Mii alive.
Zombies, needing the flesh of the living to sate the hunger of the undead? No, that didn't seem right. None of them had tried to eat her brain.
And they'd stopped their attack on Mii as soon as Makoto showed up. That was probably the only reason Mii was still alive. What made Makoto a more attractive target? Was it her magic, as he had suggested to Artemis the previous night, or was it because she was a fresh opponent who'd already shown herself to be dangerous?
Something didn't fit. But it should fit.
And why had he decided to walk instead of stay home to think? Early November in Ottawa is cold.
What was buried in his subconscious, and what was it trying to tell him?
And why did he think that walking into a Dairy Queen of all places was a good idea? Sure, he'd already wandered that far north, past Billings Bridge (both the mall and then the bridge itself), but ice cream? Before lunch? At the beginning of winter?
Then he noticed the car in the DQ's parking lot. The VW Beetle. The old-style VW Beetle.
Suddenly, everything fell into place. "Restless dead", not "undead", and it wasn't Makoto who'd caught their interest - it was Usagi. Or, rather, Sailor Moon. And that explained why they were there in the first place: they were attracted to the power of the Moon like moths to a flame.
As Rob went into the Dairy Queen, he wondered how long they'd been in Ottawa. Sure, the books said that they'd always been in Ottawa, but had they always been in Ottawa a week ago?
He ordered a burger and a strawberry shake. While they were being made, he looked at the tables and saw two young women, sitting at a table. One, who he guessed was about Ami's height, was blonde, with her hair in... a pixie cut? A bowl cut? A short bob, Rob finally decided; whatever it was, it didn't look like a professional cut. The other was a brunette, a few inches shorter than the blonde, with curly hair - big hair straight out of the late 1980s. And they appeared to be in their late-teens or early-twenties.
Rob nodded to himself once. They'd always been here, but they hadn't always been here a week ago.
The counter clerk passed Rob a tray. He took it and walked to the table beside the one the two young women were at. Being one table over, he couldn't help but overhear - especially considering he was eavesdropping on purpose.
"What happened to Lansdowne Park? What happened to the Fat Albert's? What's a Kettleman's?"
That's right - that restaurant was still a sub shop in the 1980s, not a bagel shop. And Lansdowne was still a park surrounding the football and hockey stadium then, not a retail-and-condo development. Rob didn't need any more evidence; he knew who they were. But addressing them by their names before he's given them a reason he knew them would be a bad idea.
He cleared his throat. "Miss, I couldn't help but overhear. What do you think today's date is?"
"October 15, 1988," the blonde replied.
"I have some disturbing news for the two of you. It's November 5, 2016."
"The three of us, but he doesn't need ta know that." He didn't see who'd said that, but he heard the comment.
"And that comment confirms my hunch. I can't see your faerie friend, but I heard him, possibly because I've been living with mages for a couple of months."
The brunette looked him straight in the eyes. "We need to talk, somewhere in private."
"Agreed. Some of the Host attacked my home and my foster family last night, and I could use the advice of the local Wise Woman and the local Jack." They both looked surprised to be addressed by those titles - but Rob knew the surprise was because they were being said by somebody as mortal as themselves. At least his knowing their titles was reasonable given what he'd said. "I'll give you my address - it's just off Kilborn - and we can make our introductions there."
Blossom Apartments
11:14 am ET
They had gathered in the apartment building's common room to talk about last night's events... and to meet each other formally. Rob kept the group small to begin with.
"First things first. I'm called Rob Donaldson. Since that isn't my full name, I don't mind it becoming known by the Court. The less the Horde know about us, the better," he finished with a grin.
"You know quite a lot for somebody who isn't part of the faerie world, Mr. Donaldson," the brunette replied. "You can call me Kate Crackernuts."
"And I'm Jacky Rowan," added the blonde. "I gave that name to people before I learned about the power of names in faerie, so I'm stuck with everyone knowing it. Please don't use it against me."
"Against you?" asked Ami.
"The magic of names is strong," Kate said before Jacky could reply.
Rob added, "You might know it better as the Law of Names - it's related to the Law of Contagion. A name is part of a person."
"And a part has a mystic connection to the whole, no matter how far away it's taken." Ami nodded. "I saw that once in the databases in the Mercury Computer, when I was looking for anything I could use to improve my abilities." She turned to the visitors. "Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Ami. I'm pleased to meet you, Kate, Jacky, ... and you would be?" As far as Rob could tell, she'd asked that of the empty air.
The empty air answered, "Since we're all giving only parts of our names, ye can call me Finn."
"It would be nice if I could see you, Finn," Rob muttered.
Ami blinked in surprise. "You can't see him?"
"I gather that means you can." Rob turned to Mikoto. "Can you see Finn?"
"All I see is you, Ami, and these two women. Oh, yes - I'm... Railgun," she finished, remembering the Law of Names just in time.
"She's not able to see the faerie lands. But you are."
Rob nodded. "Railgun isn't a mage, Finn. And I can only hear you, not see you. I don't know why, but I have a hunch that a treatment I received a while ago gave me more abilities than I expected. I gather Ami can see and hear you just fine."
"I've always been the one to see things first, ever since I met Usagi."
Rob wasn't sure about "always", remembering her reaction to "Mercurius" in canon, but he didn't comment on it. "Ami, Railgun, would you two go get Makoto, please? I'd like her to tell Jacky and Kate what she saw last night." As they left the room, he turned to the guests. "And now that we're alone, I get to tell you what I told them when they arrived. You're fictional characters."
"Your bards tell stories about faerie, but I didn't know I was in any of them."
"That's not quite what I meant, Finn. There's a set of two books that have all three of you as characters in them."
"Major characters?"
"The first is titled 'Jack, the Giant Killer'. Three guesses who the lead character is." Rob looked straight at Jacky.
She blushed and winced. "Oh, no."
"I suppose the other one is about a brave tailor?"
"No, you mentioned the valiant tailor story while Jacky was killing giants. Kate, Finn, you're both major characters in Jacky's story. The second story is titled 'Drink Down the Moon'."
"Let me guess," Finn interjected. "A droichan stole the Host's luck?"
"And murdered their Pook."
"That just happened earlier this year." Jacky's eyes went wide with shock.
"By your clock, yes. By mine, it happened nearly three decades ago."
Jacky looked at Kate. "We look good for women approaching fifty!"
"Don't go to pieces on me, Jacky."
Rob laughed. "For women who were born in the same decade that I was, you're ... no, I'd better not finish that. I live with too many young ladies to start admitting I still notice feminine beauty."
"Rob?"
"Yes, Kate?"
She took a quick breath. "Are these books still in print?"
He nodded grimly. "The last time I looked, they were, in an omnibus titled 'Jack of Kinrowan'. And the books give your full names."
"This is bad. Very bad."
"Thank you for stating the obvious, Finn."
Just then, the common room's door opened, and Ami came in, followed by Makoto and Usagi. Finn gasped. "Is she ...?" he asked in awe.
Usagi walked straight to Finn, placed her hand on his shoulder, and smiled her Neo-Queen Serenity smile. "No, I am not the Goddess of the Moon. But Rob thinks I might be her daughter."
"Lass, please move your hand. I'm too old to feel this young again."
"Oh!" Usagi quickly dropped her hands to her sides. "I'm sorry!"
"Don't be sorry, lass. But it's best you be careful who you share your touch with."
Kate cleared her throat. "That's something for us to look into later. You mentioned that you were attacked last night ..."
While Makoto described the night's events to their three visitors, Rob excused himself and called Washuu, and then Tessa. Everyone else could relax - this looked like a threat specifically to Usagi. Knowing Tessa, Rob thought, she'll keep somebody on alert as a backup force anyway.
1:01 pm ET
"Mind if I come in? I thought I should stop by and see how you're doing."
Mii looked up from her book and smiled. "I'd appreciate the company."
Rob took that as permission to walk into Mii's apartment's front room. "Catching up on homework?"
"More like getting ahead. I can't do anything strenuous for another day, so thinking and learning are all I can do. That and try to ignore what I'm hearing from the apartment below me."
Rob frowned. "What you're hearing...?"
"Nothing bad. Quite the opposite, in fact," she finished with a smile.
"Wait a minute. If you're saying what I think you're saying, there's a problem. Until the day after Usagi's eighteenth birthday, she's off-limits. Which had better mean Mamoru's sleeping alone and the two Usagis are sharing the other bedroom. I hope."
"What are you basing that on? The Criminal Code says 15-year-old Usagi can consent to sex with anyone up to five years older than she is, which includes 19-year-old Mamoru."
"You're sure?"
"I'm a criminology major, remember? Your country's age of consent is otherwise 16, unless the older person is in a position of trust like 'foster father', in which case it's 18. I'm pretty sure Chibiusa has her own bedroom."
Rob sighed. "In that case, I don't want to hear anything more about the two lovebirds in the apartment downstairs. I came to find out how you're doing."
Mii pouted. "I'm bored, I'm tired after my surgery... and ..."
"I know I'm going to regret asking, but: 'and what?'"
"And I have ugly skin now." She started to cry. "I had a good complexion, but now look at me!" Mii lifted her pyjama top, showing Rob that she wasn't wearing a bra.
He looked, quickly, then looked Mii straight in the eye. "What I see is a lovely young woman."
"You didn't look at them for long enough."
"Yes, I did. To misquote Leslie Nielsen in a similar situation, they're quite impressive. And Washuu-chan assured me that the artificial skin will be completely replaced with your own skin before the weather is warm enough for you to wear a bikini again. Wipe your tears, Mii - you have nothing to worry about."
She did. After a moment, she asked, "Rob?"
"Yes, Mii?"
"Remember when we had just moved in, and Mikoto played that love song on her violin?"
"And Kazari offered to do anything to thank me for helping her set up her internet connection, and Ruiko thought I was the best cook ever simply for making sandwiches, and Kuroko apologized for teleporting into my apartment without permission."
"And then you locked your door - I found that out the hard way - and asked Skuld-dono to get rid of the mental echoes that the Juraians had left on this universe." Mii smiled playfully and licked her lips. "Why did you lock your door?" she asked, almost in a sing-song.
"I think you know why."
Mii nodded. "I was going to let you know the difference between the girls and me by offering to do paizuri with you."
"Oh, boy. It's a good thing I locked the door; there's no way I would have been able to say no. And I wasn't your foster father then."
She smiled a more honest smile, then frowned. "I wish you hadn't locked your door. Now I've got these -" she moved her hands to her chest "- and who knows when I'll be healthy enough to make that offer again?"
Rob's gaze momentarily dropped to her hands, then quickly went right back to her face. "Would you please lower your top?" Mii did so. "Thank you. Mii, if you weren't too young, and I wasn't legally your foster father, my answer to the question you didn't just ask would be different. But we can't."
"Not until the day after my eighteenth birthday, or we get that fosterage cancelled."
Rob frowned. "I don't see how we could. The cancelling, I mean."
"Wipe it from the system. Washuu-chan could do it. HAL could do it. Kazari could probably do it, too, but I don't want to ask her."
"You think she wouldn't want to break the law by tampering with government records?"
Mii shook her head. "I think she might wipe her own record while she was at it, and Ruiko's, too. Remember the second opening animation to A Certain Magical Index where we see Kazari and Ruiko walking with the same guy and they didn't even notice Mikoto? Mikoto told me that was something that actually happened. And Ruiko knows what Kazari wears to bed. I think they might be willing to share a lover with each other."
"And you think the lover ... they'd ... the two of them ... with me? But ... too young ..." Rob was flabbergasted.
Oops, she thought. Rob's gone bye-bye. What do I have left, Mii? Then she grinned and pinched his arm.
"Ow!"
"Are you back with me now?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Good. I think this is when I should tell you what Washuu-chan said to say to you when the time was right. If you were a Juraian noble, you could marry all three of us and a couple more, too."
Rob took his glasses off and covered his eyes with his free hand. "Oh, boy. When Washuu-chan said it, it sounded like she was teasing me. When you say it ..."
After a moment, Mii asked, "When I say it?"
He lowered his hand and looked her straight in the eyes. "When you say it... it doesn't sound like teasing. At all. And I'll admit I do like younger women."
"Women as in not me?"
"Women as in not you yet. I'd halfway hoped you might wait until you're at least 25, and then notice me as somebody other than a father figure."
"I've already noticed you as somebody other than a father figure. And I'm willing to share you with the others, if they want you."
Rob chuckled. "I'm pretty sure Kuroko doesn't." Mii laughed at that thought. "And I'm not interested in Ruiko, Kazari, Kuroko, or Mikoto that way. Besides, Mikoto already has somebody she likes."
"That Kamijo boy. Any luck finding him yet?"
"Not yet. But he's a walking bad luck zone; that could be throwing off our search. What we should be doing is looking for Index, or maybe Aisa." He stood up, put his glasses back on, and turned to the door, quite happy to have a reason to leave the side of this lovely not-quite-yet-woman who seemed to be interested in him all of a sudden.
"Rob, don't you dare leave without giving me a kiss."
After a brief pause, he replied, "As you wish." He kissed her quickly on the cheek, then made his way out.
That wasn't the kiss I wanted, thought Mii as she went back to her textbook. But it'll have to do.
In the hall, Rob leaned against the wall and thought. And that Princess Bride quote committed me. What in Heaven's name did I just do? And what am I going to do now? If only she was even a half-decade older... And was that really Mii talking, or just her insecurities after being wounded? This sure seems like it's coming out of nowhere. Then he frowned. And just what was I saying? Was it some sort of spell effect? Who do we know who can look into that sort of thing, if Kate can't? And do I really want to mention this talk to somebody I just met?
Drosselmeyer's Journal
1:20 pm ET
Oh, no, no, no, no, no! She practically threw herself at him, and he said no? Is he uranian? The list didn't say that, and it did mention that one of the girls here is sapphic. Well, I'll just have to throw his other new girlfriend at him right away, then. And make him be interested!
Blossom Apartments
1:38 pm ET
Kazari hung up her phone and turned to Rob. "Rin's on the way. She should be here by dinner time."
Rob frowned. "That's close to sundown; the Host will be active again, if they're still out there. We'd better give her an escort from the train station."
"How soon until Washuu-chan has that permanent portal system running and we don't have to worry about travel time?"
"I was expecting it to be installed by now. You'll have to ask her."
1:41 pm ET
Kate thought for a moment. "From the description that Makoto provided, I think you were attacked by sluagh."
"And sluagh would be...?" asked Kuroko.
"The restless dead. Fae who were killed by the Host but didn't completely die. Please don't ask me how they do this."
"That's terrible," Usagi whispered.
"It's a terrible thing to have happen to you, definitely." Nobody said anything for a moment. Finally, Kate continued, "I'm surprised you could destroy them so quickly, Miss Moon."
Makoto nodded. "She's always been more powerful than the rest of us, but either I've gotten very weak or she's gotten very strong."
"You haven't gotten weak, Makoto. We fight every day; I know exactly know how strong you are."
"Thanks, M- Railgun. How did Moon destroy six of them at once?"
"Their power and luck comes from the Moon," Kate replied. "It's possible that they were overloaded so much that they just exploded."
Kuroko nodded. "That sounds reasonable. How do we defend against them?"
"If I knew that, I would have defended the tower against them earlier this year. By my time. If you don't let them enter, they can't come in, but they're very good at getting you to let them in."
Kazari walked in at that point. "We have a specialist coming up from Montreal," she replied. "She might be able to help. She knows a different kind of magic from what I've heard you describe."
2:08 pm ET
"She what?"
"That's what Mii told me. And Rob-oji kissed her!"
"While she had her-?"
"No, after that. Are you okay?"
"I... don't know." After a moment, she asked, "Do you know where Donaldson-san is right now?"
Ruiko noticed that Ami didn't call him 'Rob'. "I think he's gone to buy that computer gear he said he was going to buy today. He should be back before Rin-san arrives."
"Thank you. Do you know whether Konori-san is busy?"
"Mii-san said she'd appreciate some more company. Why don't you bring her a snack?" Ruiko reached into the fridge and pulled out a box of milk.
"Oh, I couldn't ..." Ami stopped when she realized Ruiko was glaring at her. Being glared at by an underclassman wasn't a pleasant experience. "All right."
"Good!" Ruiko smiled. "I'm sure the two of you will have a nice, long talk."
2:16 pm ET
"... and he was always ... so kind to me and I thought ... I thought maybe he thought of ... me as more than just a ... a child and ... and I was trying to ... get up the courage to ... to talk with him alone ... and you said what I wanted to say but you said it first!" Ami's tears overcame her completely.
Having no way to know that Ami was acting directly opposite to the way she had when she was alone with Rob on October 30, Mii simply gave her a moment to cry. Then she reached for the box of tissues beside the sofa. "Please don't cry, Ami. Neither of us have said we love each other."
She looked up. "You... you haven't?"
"Maybe we're stupid that way. Or maybe I just overwhelmed him with what I did tell him and he wasn't ready to say it to me. But he did say he wasn't interested in any of the other girls from Academy City that way. But I'm happy he didn't say what he thinks of me. I know I'm not ready to face rejection that way again. I guess I'm as afraid as you are, Ami."
"You're afraid? Of this?"
"I was rejected once before."
"Oh."
They sat in near-silence for a moment, Ami drying her eyes and Mii waiting patiently.
"I'm willing to share."
"What!?"
Mii smiled. "It was Washuu-chan's idea."
"Oh. I've heard stories about that household."
"That doesn't make it a bad idea, Ami. I've noticed how much he dotes on you. He might be interested in a threesome."
Ami couldn't reply - she was too busy gasping for air as her face went beet-red.
"Did I say too much?"
2:32 pm ET
"Most of the Host are only active at night," Kate said. "We should be all right as long as the sun is up."
"The nights are getting longer as we get closer to the solstice," Kuroko pointed out.
"Which is why you have to be extremely careful. Some missing-person reports are because the person that went missing was kidnapped by the Host."
"What happens to mortals who are kidnapped by the Host?"
"If they're lucky," Kate replied, "they go straight into the stewpot."
Kuroko's voice trembled. "And if they're unlucky?"
"They're played with first."
Usagi's eyes were like ice. "We must do something about this."
"I'm open to any ideas you might have."
2:39 pm ET
"I'm sorry, Ami. I shouldn't have dropped that idea on you so quickly."
"You're right! You shouldn't have! I'm still an innocent maiden!"
"Innocent? How many youma have you killed?"
"That isn't what I meant."
Mii smiled. "I know. We're still young, and they do things differently here than they do in Japan. There are laws about what they call 'sexual interference' - you could knock Rob out and have your way with him, and he'd be arrested because he's your foster father and you haven't reached your eighteenth birthday yet."
"That doesn't make sense."
"Oh, you'd be arrested, too."
"That makes more sense."
"Maybe I should have phrased it this way: I'm willing to share my life with just Rob, or with both of you. The three of us need to decide what our future is going to be."
"I'm not bisexual."
"You're sure? Most people are at least bi-curious."
"Well... maybe. But I don't have those feelings around females, and I do have them around males."
"I don't know whether I like women that way either. But I'm willing to find out."
"Washuu-chan said you need to rest!"
Mii smiled. "Not now, Ami. Later. After we've had a chance to talk with Rob."
Ami sighed in relief. "Oh. Okay. No, not okay!"
"Ami, not all lesbians are like Kuroko."
"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm friends with Haruka and Michiru, after all. I know that they're interested in other women, but I don't know whether I am."
"If you aren't comfortable with the idea, then we won't explore it at all."
"Thank you, Mii."
2:50 pm ET
"You can see giants coming, if you can see into the faerie realm at all. They're easy to spot, since they're giants. They're also difficult to defeat, because they're giants."
"Unfortunately, Kate, I cannot see into the faerie realm, and neither can Railgun or Mr. Donaldson."
"We might have a way around that, Kuroko. Finn can add some stitching to your clothes to give you the ability to see into the faerie realm."
"That might not be a good idea. Has anyone explained the concept of Personal Reality to you yet?"
2:54 pm ET
"Did you ever ... you know?"
Mii shook her head. "There are only two men I've ever been interested in that way. The first was Kurozuma Wataru - he's the one who rejected me. We're still friends, but not that way."
"And the second?"
"The second is Rob-san. And I only told him that today."
2:59 pm ET
"Your 'personal reality' sounds to me like a trance state that you go into to work magic."
"There are some important differences between a trance and a Personal Reality, Kate. A trance would only let you do things that mundane science books say are possible. My Personal Reality is exactly that - my reality. I can teleport because my reality allows for teleportation. Onee-san is an electromaster because her reality allows her to create and use electricity at will. The other espers's realities here aren't nearly as fully formed as our two realities, so they aren't as powerful as we are."
"I'm sorry. Who is 'oneesan'?"
"Mi- Railgun. The important thing is that our realities don't have room for what you call magic. We can be affected by it because Consensus Reality is still a big part of our personal realities, but we can't use it ourselves. And espers are always in our personal realities."
"So every esper is a solipsist?"
"That is a crude but accurate description, yes."
3:07 pm ET
"I'm home!"
"Welcome back!" Ruiko rushed to be the first one to meet Rob.
"I know that look on your face. What's the big news?"
"Ami's been in Mii's room for the last hour. And she didn't take the first-aid kit with her. I think you need to go interrupt whatever they're doing."
For some reason he didn't know, Rob thought so, too. He passed the bag he was carrying to Ruiko. "Give these to Kazari; she'll know what to do with them."
A few minutes later, he knocked on Mii's door. "It's Rob. May I come in?"
"Please do," replied Mii.
"The three of us need to talk," Ami added.
3:09 pm ET
Rob was sitting on the room's only chair, which Ami had placed near the door.
Ami and Mii were sharing the couch. There was some space between them.
He looked at both of the girls, then looked at Ami's face and saw the tracks of her tears. "What's wrong, Ami?"
"Maybe nothing, and maybe everything. That's why we need to talk."
"Should I excuse myself?" Mii moved to get up, only for Ami to put her hand on Mii's arm.
"No, please stay. I might not have the confidence to say this if I'm alone with Rob-san."
Rob started to become worried. "What do you need to tell me, Ami-chan? Is it anything I can help with?"
"Oh, I hope so. Rob-san, you've always been so kind to me, so caring, so wonderful... And I've always thought boys my age or even Mamoru's age were immature... Rob, I think I've fallen in love with you."
Mii smiled. "I knew you could tell him! And, Rob, I didn't tell you earlier because I thought it was obvious. I've fallen in love with you, too."
Rob didn't say anything for a moment, although a smile played on his face. The fact that he would have been extremely worried if he'd heard these two people confess their love to him even one day earlier never entered his mind, nor did his conversation with Ami the day they had found Setsuna and Hotaru in the Refuge reality; there wasn't room for them when he was about to be out of character as well. "Oh. Oh, this is... I'm luckier than any man has a right to be. Ami, I've been in love with the idea of you ever since I first saw the anime you're in, and getting to know you and all of the delightful little parts of your personality that never made it into the story has only deepened my love for you. I love you, Ami. And I love you, too, Mii. You're a wonderful and wondrous person, and I know I can trust you with my secrets and my life."
By unspoken agreement, everybody stood up at the same time and moved into a group hug as if they'd been choreographed.
Rob was the first to speak. "I could stand here with you for years. You both know that you're still too young for anything more than this, don't you?"
"Mii explained the laws to me," Ami replied. "I can wait."
"I have to ask. What do the two of you think of each other?"
The girls looked at each other. Mii started. "Ami's a bit of a bookworm and tends to be a wallflower, but she's such a kind and gentle person that I can't help but like her. You."
"Mii's a bit too eager to follow the rules, and I'm never going to be as big as her around the chest, and she'll be old enough to share your bed before I will ... but Mii's a rock that I can rely on, and I like that about her. About you."
"Ami, most of the women in my family were big that way. I won't say I don't notice them, but it isn't that important to me."
Mii smiled. "So, what do you notice about a woman first?"
"Well, I'll admit to being attracted to women who wears glasses."
Ami immediately pulled her reading glasses out of her pocket and put them on, then rejoined the group hug. Everybody giggled at that. "Now we're all wearing glasses. Could life be any better?"
Rob bent down and gave Ami a quick kiss on her cheek, matching the one he'd given Mii earlier. "You don't need to do that just for me."
"I know. But I want to."
Rob sighed with contentment. "How are we all so lucky to have found each other so quickly?"
Drosselmeyer's Journal
Same time
You can thank me for that, you three characters in my newest story. It's so good to be appreciated.
I'd better watch them for a while, just in case somebody says something that they shouldn't, though.
Blossom Apartments
3:14 pm ET
"Moon, if Mr. Donaldson is right about his guess about your ancestry, then you could literally be an embodiment of the Moon's luck."
"I don't think that I'm lucky, Kate."
"You're too close to any effect you might be having. Kuroko, have you noticed any increase in good fortune since you met Moon?"
"Two of the people who live here received university scholarships as soon as they applied. That's good fortune. And Railgun and I aren't sharing a room any more, which I thought was bad luck until I realized our being apart for so much of each day has actually deepened our friendship."
3:15 pm ET
"I need to be serious for a moment."
"What's wrong, Mii?"
"To quote you, maybe nothing, and maybe everything. What are we going to tell everyone else?"
Ami gasped. "That's right! It's not normal for one man to have two girlfriends."
Rob shook his head. "It's not usual, but it happens. Isn't there a Japanese character that's read as 'wife and mistress under the same roof'?"
"Not a single character, but the word 'saishoudoukin' does exist." Mii smiled. "Who gets to be your mistress?"
"Woah! Back up a minute! We were talking about what we tell everyone else, not about who gets to sign a marriage license with me. That can wait."
"Rob's right, Mii. Are we agreed that we don't tell anybody outside of the apartment building?"
"That's probably a good idea. Except we should let Washuu-chan know."
"Do we have to tell our doctor everything?"
"No, but is there any chance she won't figure it out anyway?"
"And from what Mii told me, us getting into a group relationship was her idea to begin with. I'll need to thank her for giving both of you the courage to confess to me." Rob bent down and kissed both of his girlfriends, again on their cheeks. They both kissed him back at the same time, Ami standing on tiptoe. "We're getting distracted."
"I like this distraction."
"So do I."
"What do we tell Usagi?"
Ami's smile melted away. "We have to tell her everything. And Minako, and Makoto, and Rei, too."
"Rei doesn't need to know the particulars."
"I have to agree with Rob. She'd only get upset. I agree that we have to tell Usagi. Do we tell Kuroko?"
"She might be the best one to tell. Kuroko wouldn't be interested in turning our trio into a quartet."
"But would she tell Ruiko? Because Ruiko can't keep a secret."
"Mii... Rui-chan is the one who sent me up here." They separated from the group hug, and Rob quietly walked to the door - then yanked it open. "Hello, Rui-chan."
Ruiko looked up from where she was kneeling, still holding a glass to her ear to amplify the sounds from the other side of the now-open door. "Uh... hi."
"Get in here, Saten-san. Now." Ruiko saw the anger on Mii's face, quickly stood up, and walked into Mii's apartment without making a sound. "You say nothing about this. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I mean it."
"Yes, ma'am."
Rob put a hand on Mii's shoulder. "Rui-chan, there's a difference between gossip and eavesdropping. You crossed a line."
"I'm sorry, Rob-oji."
Ami took Ruiko's hand in her own. "Do you understand why we're all upset, Ruiko-san?"
"You aren't sure you want everybody to know about this yet, and I took that decision away from you?"
"That's right."
"I won't say anything. I promise."
"Thank you, Rui-chan. Could you get Usagi and Kuroko, please?"
"They're still talking with Kate. I think they're close to making battle plans for tonight."
Drosselmeyer's Journal
3:30 pm ET
There, that's much better. I think it's safe for me to let this story write itself for a while.
Now, who's next? Maybe I should look in on the other group of refugees in Ottawa... No, they're quite able to tell stories of woe on their own. Off to Montreal with me, then.
Blossom Apartments
3:33 pm ET
"How do we use everything that we've discussed to our advantage?"
"One of your friends mentioned that a specialist was coming here this evening. Perhaps we should wait for him," Kate suggested.
"Her."
"There are a lot of women in your lives, aren't there? Let's wait for her."
VIA Rail station
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
5:35 pm ET
"We appreciate the ride, but you didn't need to pick me up at the station, Donaldson-san. We could have taken the bus to your building." Rin showed Rob the sheet that she'd written the directions on.
"Please keep that sheet safe and destroy it once we're some place safe, Ms. Tohsaka. I can't have it be seen by anyone else."
"The situation is that dire?" He nodded as he unlocked the car's passenger-side door and opened it for her. "Then I'll make sure to obscure our tracks, as well." As her travelling companion got into the car, she drew a few gems from her pocket, selected one, and returned the others to safekeeping before she got into the car.
"I appreciate that. Give us a moment to get past the parking gate, then I'll bring you up to speed."
"Thank you, Mr. Donaldson. Ms. Uiharu told me only the most basic information when she called."
Rob made his way through the line to clear the parking lot, then drove away from the train station. "How much do you know about European mythologies about faerie?"
Blossom Apartments
6:15 pm ET
"Dinner is served!"
Everyone came to the common room in response to Makoto's call. It was a tight squeeze around the table; despite it being a Saturday night, nobody was out for the evening, and the household had four guests. (Finn had excused himself earlier, saying he wanted to see more of the changes that Ottawa had gone through in the last three decades.) Rob resolved to buy a few more, smaller, tables for the common room, once the current situation was resolved.
"What's this?" Kate asked.
"It's called katsudon," Rob replied. "Breaded pork cutlet, egg, and vegetables on rice."
"It's also a good-luck charm," added Ami, who was helping Makoto serve the bowls. "The Japanese word 'katsu' can be translated as 'to be victorious'."
"And if we're going into battle tonight, we want to be victorious. This is a simple application of sympathetic magic," Rin continued.
"We usually eat katsudon before a big test, to invoke victory over the exam," Mii commented. "This is a more literal victory than I'm used to."
Rob smiled for a moment. Rin and Mii had very similar voices, to the point that he had to revise his theory about displacees sounding almost like their seiyuu. He wondered idly whether he'd ever get a chance to meet Kana Ueda and compare her voice to theirs.
Then Rob frowned. Makoto was holding back his bowl. He looked at her, to see a stern look on her face, quickly replaced by a neutral expression as Ami served him. What is this, a police drama? Is Mako-chan hinting she wants to interrogate me? he thought. Then he realized that Makoto and Ami had been alone together in the kitchen for a while.
The two ladies finished serving dinner, then sat at the table themselves with Makoto at the head. After the traditional thanks for the food, everyone started eating. Discussion of the night's plans was off-limits, at Rin's request - dinner was a time to relax and enjoy food, not a time for serious discussions. There would be plenty of time for that later.
Once dinner was finished, Rob said, "I'll take care of cleaning up the table. Ruiko, would you help, please? Let's do what we can while those of us who are combat-capable discuss plans for tonight."
"I have something to take care of in the kitchen as well," Makoto said before Ruiko could reply. "I'll do that, then join the rest of you out here."
The three of them collected bowls from the table, then Rob pushed the loaded-down waiter's cart to the kitchen, Makoto following him while Ruiko stayed to finish cleaning off the table.
After the door closed behind Makoto, she locked it, then looked at Rob.
"Ami told you," he whispered.
"Ami told me," she replied at the same volume.
"I thought we weren't going to tell anyone other than Usagi and Kuroko."
"Ami and I are second-closest friends with each other, behind Usagi. Of course she's going to tell me. She also made me promise I wouldn't tell anyone else."
"Thank you, Mako-chan."
"I'm keeping quiet for her, not for you or Mii-san. And I'll tell you right now: I think you're making a mistake. The age difference between you is too great. But I can't dissuade her. If you make Ami cry, I will make you regret it."
"Makoto-san, if I make Ami cry anything other than tears of joy, I will already regret it. But I'll let you add to my sorrow."
"Then we understand each other. Good."
After a moment, Rob said, "You said you had something to take care of in here?"
Makoto smiled. "I just did." She unlocked the kitchen door and headed out to join the others.
That went better than I expected, thought Rob as he moved the first load of plates to the sink for washing. He thought for a moment more, then shook his head. No, that isn't happening; she just said that she thought we were making a mistake. Besides, I'm already the luckiest man in this building.
If Rob was thinking straight, he would have agreed with Makoto instead of thinking he was lucky.
7:10 pm ET
"It will take me more than one day to ward this building properly, and that is work that is best done in the daylight. It will also take more magical power than I have stored in my remaining gems."
"Would this help?" Usagi asked Rin, opening her brooch.
Rin gasped. "Is that the Lunar Silver Crystal? I thought that was a myth!"
"I just call it the Silver Crystal."
"Yes! It will most definitely help! If I was to use all of the power in this, I could ward this entire block in a single night!"
Usagi closed the brooch. "The Silver Crystal is linked to my soul. If you drain it, you'll kill me."
"Oh. I understand, and I apologize. Let us ward only this building, then, and I will use half of my gems in the process."
Kate cleared her throat. "Is this something you could teach me to do?"
Just then, the building shook.
"What was that?"
"Earthquake?"
"No, we're under attack again!"
"So early in the evening?"
"And by what?"
"Senshi, transform and roll out!"
"Minako!"
"Just do it!"
A half-dozen mystic light-shows later, the Sailor Team and Tuxedo Kamen were headed for the door, followed by Rin.
Kuroko watched them go. "So, should we bother trying to help out? We can't see the opponents."
"I'm going," Mikoto announced. "Even if I can't see them directly, I should be able to detect their electrical fields."
Kazari and Mii exchanged glances. "She can sense somebody's nervous system?" Kazari asked in amazement.
"Maybe. And maybe I can see them with my esper ability. I'm going, too."
"No, you're not, sempai. You're still recovering from the last attack. The two of us stay here."
Kuroko sighed. "I may as well follow along. Perhaps someone will need to be teleported away from the battle."
It was big. And ugly. And big. And didn't seem to mind the cold. And big. And carrying a tree trunk that it was using as a club. And big.
"He's a big one!"
"Thank you, Venus! How about pinning him down?"
"Venus Lovely Chain!" It wrapped around the giant... and broke when he flexed his muscles.
"Heh heh heh. Me don't wear jewelry, little girl."
"This might be a good time to try some of the combination attacks Rob suggested. Mars?"
"Right beside you, Mercury! Mars Flame..."
"Mercury Aqua..."
"Sniper|Illusion!" They hit their foe with heat and cold at the same time.
He just grinned. "Heh heh. Sauna."
"Oh, great," muttered Mamoru. "It's a Nordic giant." Then he threw himself between Sailor Moon and the giant's counterattack.
As Tuxedo Kamen hit the side of the apartment building at high speed, Sailor Jupiter shouted "Jupiter Oak Evolution!" Her attack hit the club, shattering it to splinters.
"You! That wasn't nice, girlie!" The giant rushed her...
...only to be hit between the eyes by a coin-sized metal token propelled at just-barely-subsonic speed.
"Did I hit it?" Mikoto asked from the doorway.
The giant fell over with an earthshaking thud.
"You got it," Sailor Venus replied as Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury both rushed to Tuxedo Kamen's side.
Rin, meanwhile, gestured to her servant Archer. A moment later, a very large sword materialized and sliced the giant's head off.
Kate just stared. "You killed a giant. That fast." Then she saw Mamoru's body, gasped, and fainted.
Mikoto turned to shout into the apartment building. "Kuroko, we need a medevac! Somebody, call Washuu-chan!"
Rob was already on the phone - the Good Neighbor system had triggered again.
8:44 pm ET
"He's stable. He should be fine in a day or two."
Usagi almost collapsed in relief. "Thank you, Washuu-chan!"
"This young woman," Washuu-chan gestured to Kate, "just fainted. Nothing for me to do there; she'll be fine on her own. I'm letting her sleep it off."
"Let's at least make her comfortable," Rob suggested. "Oh, and could I see you in private if you have a moment, Washuu-chan?"
The two of them stepped into his office. Three minutes later, Washuu-chan stepped out, looking like the cat that ate the canary.
"What's got you in such a good mood?" Rei asked.
"Something I thought would start happening is happening, but much sooner than I expected. And now I have to go." The door to her lab appeared behind her, she went in, and the door disappeared.
Rob stepped out. "Washuu-chan, could I impose on you to send Rin home?"
Rei pointed at the blank wall. "Washuu-chan just left."
"And I should stay at least until we have warded this building."
"You can borrow my apartment tonight, Tohsaka-san," Ami volunteered. "I'll be up all night making sure Mamoru doesn't take a turn for the worse, anyway."
November 6, 2016
8:03 am ET
Kazari and Rob were reviewing the security footage from the previous night's battle, using the big monitor in the common room.
"How tall is that thing, Kazari?"
"The readings from the Good Neighbor system say it's 5.01 meters tall."
"And it's proportioned similar to a human, but with thicker limbs and neck."
"Of course. Remember the square-cube law?"
"I'm just surprised it applies to a magical creature."
"Why wouldn't it? But that isn't the important thing here, Rob-oji."
"Agreed. Are you also thinking that the important thing is that it was seen by the cameras we bought and installed yesterday?"
Kazari nodded without taking her eyes off the screen. "If we can see through a giant's Dummy Check with an off-the-shelf webcam, then we might be able to see through all of the faeries' disguises with cameras, too."
Rob was puzzled for a moment, until he remembered "Dummy Check" was Academy City's name for the esper ability to get people to ignore the esper. "Yeah. Okay, the Senshi can see them just fine, and Mikoto can see the electrical fields of their nervous systems. Let's get some Google Glasses for everybody else."
"Are those still available? And can you get them with prescription lenses for you and Mii-sempai?"
"There's only one way to find out," Rob replied. He reached for his phone and tapped the browser button... but the phone connected a call instead. After one ring, the call connected. "Hello, you've reached the Goddess Relief Agency! I'll be right with you for a consultation." The line went dead.
Kazari and Rob looked at each other. "Was that Skuld?" asked the girl.
"It sounded like it," he replied while putting his coffee mug on the floor... just in time. Rob and Kazari both stood up and moved back, just in time to avoid getting splashed as Skuld appeared just above the cup.
"Ow! Hot!"
"I'm sorry, milady Skuld," Rob replied. "We weren't expecting you to visit."
"I know. It's just that people ... Never mind that. I can't stay for very long, so here's the quick version: Rob, you get a wish."
"Really?"
"Really."
"My life is pretty good right now. All I really want right this minute is a way for everybody who lives here to be able to spot the Unseelie before anybody is attacked again."
Skuld smiled. "You can have anything you want, and you want to help other people. Ere chose well when she hired you."
Kazari chose that moment to interrupt. "You don't have to use your wish to protect me, Rob-oji. I can make wearable cameras for everybody."
Rob smiled. "Thank you, Kazari, but I really don't want anything for myself right now, and we need those glasses."
"If you're sure..." Kazari whispered.
"I'm sure." He turned to Skuld. "I know what I want."
Skuld asked the formal question: "Have you reached a decision?"
Rob replied, equally formally: "I have."
"What is your wish?"
"I wish that everyone who lives here or is about to live here has an instrumentality to let them see anything that is hidden by any sort of illusions, see otherwise-invisible objects, see spirits, and see into the faerie realm, safely."
A bolt of light shot from Skuld to the heavens. "Wish registered. I'll be right back." And she dove into Rob's coffee mug.
"Why did she leave?"
Rob turned to Kazari. "I asked for things, not actions. I assume she's gone to get them. We'll probably see her again in a few hours.
Just then, the coffee mug started to glow again.
"Or we'll see her again now."
Skuld popped up and pushed a package into Rob's hands. "Here you go! Wish granted."
"What's in that?" Kazari asked.
"Surplus vintage debugging glasses, with the old IPv6 protocols built-in - enough to go around, because the Sailor Team can't sense everything magical despite what you and they think. Five are prescription ground; distance and reading glasses for you -" Skuld pointed at Rob "- reading glasses for Chiba-san and Mizuno-san, and distance glasses for Konori-san. Why do you insist on not wearing bifocals?"
"So I have a full area of view for both driving and computer use."
Skuld thought for a heartbeat, then nodded. "That makes sense. And here's some sensors and software to upgrade your building's Good Neighbor system and the heads-up displays that the Misaka Sisters wear." She gave Kazari a second package. "Most importantly, none of you will ever lose them."
"Thank you!" Kazari was surprised to be taking even this small a part in granting a wish.
Rob took it in stride. "Would you like some tea, or maybe coffee? We have both already-made."
"Coffee, black, if I can get it to go. I really need to get back to monitoring Yggdrasil." Thinking about the future, Skuld turned to Kazari. "While Rob's getting that, could I borrow your phone for a moment?"
"Sure. You want the phone that you made for me, right?"
"That's right." She tapped the touchscreen a few dozen times, then handed it back. "Thanks. I have a feeling that you're going to need that at some point next year."
"Er... thank you." Kazari didn't say anything else because Rob returned to the room just then, a carafe of coffee in one hand and a travel mug in the other.
He filled the travel mug and handed it to Skuld. "An offering from a worshipper," he said with a grin.
"Don't go there - I don't want worshippers. Allies, yes. but not worshippers. But thanks. See you again!" And she dove into Rob's teacup and disappeared.
After a moment, Kazari asked, "Rob, why did Skuld-dono give us parts for the Misaka Sisters' HUDs?"
"I'm not sure. But I did say 'everyone who lives here or is about to live here', and she's the Goddess of the Future, so she had to be have been foreshadowing something," replied Rob as he half-consciously adjusted the lampshade on one of the room's lights. "Maybe we'd better furnish some of the empty rooms on the third floor, just in case. So, what did she want with your phone?"
Kazari looked at it, then looked at Rob, her face going pale. "She added her contact information to my address book."
"Oh, my." Rob was just as shocked as Kazari.
"I don't know whether I like having a kami on speed dial."
Yggdrasil
8:09 am ET
"Ooh! Jamaican Blue Mountain and Hawaiian Kona blend!" Skuld took another sip. "Pretty good for mortal-brewed."
Blossom Apartments
8:12 am ET
"I'm sorry. I should not have accepted her offer."
Rin and Makoto looked at Ami's sleeping form.
"You didn't know that she'd already missed a night's sleep when she said she was going to stay up again. And somebody with medical training needed to watch over Mamoru-san last night."
"Still, it was inappropriate of me to intrude on her private space at a time when she would need it. If I can leave her a note of thanks, I'll do that, then start working on warding this building."
"There's paper and pens on her desk. And you should get some breakfast before starting work - we keep a pot of coffee ready in the common room all morning on Sundays."
"I'll do that, thank you." After the few moments it took Rin to write her note to Ami, she excused herself from the apartment.
Makoto waited until she'd heard the door close, then turned back to Ami and sighed. "You're always thinking of everybody else. You have to start thinking of yourself. I won't be able to make sure you're taking care of yourself after you go off to live with Rob-san and Mii-san for the rest of your lives."
Ami slept on, oblivious to Makoto's concern.
8:33 am ET
"Something smells good!" Minako poked her head into the common room's kitchen. "What're you making?"
Ruiko waved. "Miso soup's in the pot and rice is in the cooker. I thought I'd try one of the local fishes to go with them. This one's called perch."
"Is there enough to go around? I think Usagi's in no shape to make her own breakfast today."
"This fish has enough flesh for three people. I don't mind sharing."
"You, Usagi, and Chibiusa, then. Mamoru's not allowed solid food until supper time. I'll scramble an egg and fry up a sausage and a tomato with it for my breakfast, British style."
"No rice?"
"I'll have toast for my starch."
"That's up to you." Ruiko flipped the fish over to grill on the other side, then walked over to the fridge to get a jar of pickled sliced radish. On the way back to the grill, she stopped at the sink. "Who left an empty travel mug here?"
8:51 am ET
"You've never gone over your battles before?"
"Should we, Mii-san?"
"How do you figure out what you did right and should keep on doing, and what you did wrong and should stop doing?"
Rei thought for a moment as she sipped her tea. "I guess we don't."
"That stops now." Mii took a long drink of her milk. "Well, it stops as soon as everybody's finished breakfast."
11:08 am ET
Mii, Mikoto, and the Sailor Senshi (save for Ami) were using the common room for their very first post-battle debriefing. Mii was giving Mamoru special attention for being an idiot on the battlefield, Usagi was defending him, everyone else was taking notes.
Ami was still asleep.
Kazari, Kuroko, and Ruiko were upgrading the Good Neighbor system. Again.
Rin was putting the final touches on the preparations for the ceremonial spell that she and Usagi would cast at noon to ward the building against evil. Kate and Jacky were visiting just to watch Rin work her magic.
Rob... was at loose ends.
The local news had reported a magnitude 2.5 earthquake last night, that hit at just the same time that the giant had fallen over and died. (It was a slow news day.) The doctors who owned the optometry clinic next door - the one Rob had used for decades - were in their building, making sure that none of their glasses and glass-grinding equipment had been damaged. So he couldn't just wander over there and stay out of everyone else's way.
There wasn't any paperwork for Lord Phantomhive's companies left unsigned that needed a Canadian citizen's signature, so he had no excuse to stay holed up in his office... even though that's where he'd parked himself. Who knew how he'd change somebody else's life if he went out and talked with them? His relationship with Mii and Ami had just changed (for the better, he was sure), and his call to Skuld had changed Kazari's life in some as-yet-ineffable way. He was afraid to spend time alone with anyone else, at least for the moment.
He'd already looked at the architectural plans for the building and roughed out a way to convert the empty storage rooms to accommodations. Further work there could wait until Monday, when he could consult an actual civil engineer. He didn't need the space immediately, even if he got (he shuddered) six more people in the near future, but he had a nagging feeling that they wouldn't be the last. After all, Setsuna, Hotaru, Mamoru, Chibiusa, and the cats weren't the last, either... and there were still two Sailor Senshi unaccounted for at any of the residences connected to the Good Neighbour System.
He couldn't go too far away; Rin had told him that he needed to be present to observe the spellcasting. So he couldn't go grocery shopping. And he'd already asked Washuu-chan to visit so she'd be included in the ceremonial casting.
He clicked on a square in the grid. Boom. He'd lost another game of Minesweeper.
Then he noticed the time. Might as well go make sandwiches for everyone for lunch.
11:59 am ET
Everyone was gathered in the building's foyer. With twenty-two people (nineteen humans and three cats) present and everyone but Rin and Usagi forced to stay outside of the ceremonial casting circle, it was a tight fit - especially since they needed to be careful not to jostle any of the gems that Rin had placed at key locations in the foyer.
Washuu had a selection of sensors out (at ceiling level), recording the proceedings. Jacky and Kate were also paying close attention, without the benefit of any fancy sensors.
Minako and Chibiusa were supporting Mamoru.
Everyone else were standing and watching Rin and Usagi. Ami was leaning on Rob, still half-asleep, and Mii was helping support her. Ruiko and Makoto pretended that they didn't notice.
The clock struck noon.
Rin and Usagi chanted a ritual that Rob recognized as being similar to a ritual Catholic blessing but with some important differences. He was surprised to hear it in English. "Bless this home, that it be the shelter of health, purity, and self-control; that it keep those who live here safe and secure; that there prevail here a spirit of camaraderie, goodness, compassion, friendship, and love. May this blessing remain on this place and on those who live here now and always."
Every gem in the room flared brightly for a moment, including Usagi's Silver Crystal. The Silver Crystal continued to glow for seven seconds after the other gems went dark.
"So let it be," Rin and Usagi finished.
"So let it be," repeated everyone else.
Rin announced, "It is done."
Washuu tapped a few keys on her virtual keyboard, and her sensors disappeared into their subspace pockets.
"That's it?" asked Kate.
"That's it," Usagi replied.
"Now what?" asked Minako.
"I made sandwiches."
"Yay! Lunch!"
Rin looked at Usagi sideways. She thought that that was unorthodox behaviour for someone who had just completed a ritual casting.
As the others headed for the common room, Rob and Rin stayed behind. "Is there anything else that you need or wish to do here, Ms. Tohsaka?"
"I have already caught up with Kazari, and what Ms. Crackernuts wishes to learn is not something I can teach her without access to my library back home in Japan. It would be best for me to return to Montreal as soon as I can, so that I can protect our home there in the same manner that I have protected this building."
"At least take a packed lunch with you. I made sandwiches." Rob grinned, then let the grin soften to a smile. "And I'll give you a ride to the train station."
"Thank you, Mr. Donaldson. I appreciate that."
Not too far away, near the far bank of the river that flowed a short ways north of the apartment, a pink-haired woman sat down, having jumped up in amazement a moment earlier. Someone had just worked a great work somewhere nearby, and it wasn't in a style of magic that she was familiar with.
The Pook decided that she needed to investigate. Later. Her band had a concert tonight, and she had to meet them soon to practice.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
12:51 pm ET
After driving Rin to the train station and coming back home, Rob was walking Kate and Jacky back to their tower. He was curious as to what it looked like.
"I'm still feeling so ... happy. That was quite the spell Miss Tohsaka cast."
"It's like we've all confirmed that we're friends," replied Kate. "Without being best friends, of course," she quickly added.
Rob nodded, remembering why Kate added the disclaimer. He gathered she'd brought her magic book with her - her jealous magic book. "I'm happy just to be your acquaintance, Kate."
Then he noticed a flyer stapled to the telephone pole they were about to pass. "AKT, Live at the House of Targ! One night only! November 6!" He pointed it out to Kate and Jacky.
"AKT? All Kindly Toes?"
"I have friends in the local entertainment circuit, and none of them have ever mentioned a local band called AKT. But I do remember them from the second book that you two are in."
"You think if we go to this 'House of Targ', we'll see a pink-haired girl playing sax?"
"Let's go find out. The venue's just up the road, this side of Landsdowne Park. It's not that much of a detour on our route."
After a few minutes' walk uphill along Bank Street, Rob stopped at an unremarkable glass door in an unremarkable building. They could see stairs heading down just inside the entryway. "Here we are." He pulled on the door, then knocked when it didn't open.
A moment later, somebody walked up the stairs, unlocked the door, opened it a crack, and said "We're not open now. Come back at six."
"We just want to talk with Jemi for a few minutes," Rob replied. "Would you let her know Jacky and Kate are here, please?" He gestured to the two women with him.
The person closed and re-locked the door, and walked back down the stairs. Two minutes later, he came back up, unlocked the door, and said "You got ten minutes while the band's on break."
"Ladies first." Once they'd reached the bottom of the stairs, Rob took a look at the band - it was big for such a small venue. Guys on guitar, bass, and drums, and gals on electric (not electronic) organ and tenor sax all flanked a female vocalist - they barely fit on the stage (if you could call it a stage; it was just a different-colour patch of floor beside the club's pierogi stand). Most of the band were stretching; a couple of the guys were making their way over to the pinball tables and video arcade games that were lined up along three of the club's walls. The saxophonist (and Rob couldn't help but notice her bubblegum-pink hair) carefully put her sax down, then rushed over to Kate and Jacky. "About time you two showed up for one of my gigs!"
"Yes, I know, but we were busy!" Kate answered with the same jubilance. "How long has it been, Jemi?"
"Oh, I've lost track!"
Jacky leaned in, gestured to Rob, and whispered, "The old guy knows about us, but he isn't one of us."
"In that case, I've been here less than a week."
"Us too."
Rob sighed. Old guy. He was only four years older than Kate and Jacky, according to the calendar. He decided to wander over to the guitarist, who looked to be the oldest member of the band and was still younger than Rob. "Hi! I've got a teenager at home who loves your sound." Well, Rui-chan will once she hears it, and she's almost a teenager, he added to himself. "Where's your merch table?"
Seven minutes later, he was walking out the door with a small stack of CDs. Jacky and Kate were walking out with him, with an invitation to Jemi's place after the gig.
Vincent Massey Park
11:53 pm ET
"Three late nights in a row. And I'm really not comfortable with us being away from the apartment."
"Neither am I," Makoto added.
"Feeling old to match your grey hair, Rob?"
"We were born in the same decade, Jacky. If I'm old, what does that make you?"
She looked cross as they continued walking. "What happened to never talking about a woman's age?"
"That went out when sexual equality came in."
"We're equal now?"
"Legally, yes. Socially, depends on where you go. Financially, not a hope."
A bit further up the path, Kate waved to them. "I think this is the right spot."
Rob looked around. "How can you tell? Vincent Massey Park has never been the best-marked place in town, and we're in the forest, not the picnic area or the bandstand."
"She can tell because she's been here before," came a voice from behind them. "I didn't get to introduce myself earlier today. Jemi Pook."
"Rob Donaldson. Pleased to meet you." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a dark-skinned woman walking up from the nearby riverbank. "Is she a friend of yours?"
The woman quickened her pace, since she'd been noticed. "A friend of hers, but not a friend of yours, human. Give me a reason to tolerate your presence here."
"Take a good look at my foster daughter."
She sneered at him. "I already did. I can sense the luck of the moon dancing around her body. I'll tolerate her. Give me a reason to tolerate you."
"You don't care that I have every right to be in a public place, or that I've been invited here by the Pook, or that the Jack can vouch for me, do you? All you want is a fight. I won't give you one unless you start one."
They stared at each other for a long, long moment.
"All right. You can call me Loireag."
"I'm honoured to make your acquaintance, Loireag. You can call me Rob."
"And I'm going to call you both rude if you force me to keep my door open in this cold for too long!" Once Jemi had their attention, she continued, "Let's go inside where it's warm." She knocked on a stone in a particular pattern, and the hillside opened up.
As they walked into Jemi's home, Makoto asked Loireag, "I've never seen anyone who looks like you before."
"You've never seen somebody who isn't white before?"
"I see a non-white in the mirror every day; I'm Japanese. I've never seen somebody with a long mane of hair like yours."
Jemi laughed. "A mane! I think she can see what you are, not just who you are!"
"Oh, that. I'm a kelpie."
While Jemi and Loireag explained to Makoto what a kelpie was, Rob tuned them out and looked around, seeing the posters for various bands. Teenage Head, The Subhumans, Dayglo Abortions, The Scenics, even one for D.O.A. He knew Jemi could sell them to a punk memorabilia collector for quite a lot of money. He also knew that she never would. Once there was a pause in the ladies' conversation, he said, "Looks like I made the right choice in a thank-you gift, Jemi. A little something for your music collection, in return for your hospitality." He offered her a copy of The Chemistry of Common Life.
She took the CD from his hands. "'Fucked Up'?"
"The 21st century's answer to D.O.A. This is their second album. Also, a commentary on what's happened to our lives."
Even Loireag laughed at that. "What exactly did happen to us?"
"From what I've been told, it all started when somebody who claims to be the greatest scientific genius in the universe accessed a computer she should never have gone anywhere near, or when a fourteen-year-old boy had to decide what would happen to the entire human race..."
November 7, 2016
12:21 am ET
"That's ... crazy."
"I know. But most people seem to think it's normal." Rob smiled. "God knows why."
"And that explains why the rest of AKT didn't think anything was strange. It wasn't, for them." Jemi leaned forward. "What made you decide to come see me, Rob? You've already met the Jack."
"I just wanted to say hello to my neighbours and see whether you needed any help settling in. Ottawa looks much the same, but there's a three-decade hole in your knowledge."
"We're neighbours?"
"We live just downriver and a bit up the hill," Makoto explained.
"That's close enough for me. Hello, neighbour," Jemi said as she shook Makoto's hand. "Oh, wow. Loireag, you have got to touch Makoto hand to hand!"
"Why?"
"I can feel the Moon on her!" Jemi turned back to Makoto. "Are you some kind of moon spirit?"
Loireag looked cross. "Didn't I already say I could see the moon on her?"
"I'm not a moon spirit, Jemi-san. I'm a Sailor Senshi. I count the Princess of the Moon as my closest friend."
"The Princess of ... Whoever she is, we have got to meet her!"
"Tomorrow," Rob insisted. "Or, looking at the time, later today. I apologize for leaving so soon, but Makoto has school to attend, and she needs her sleep before that."
"That's an odd pocket watch, Rob."
"It's actually a cellular telephone, Jemi."
She looked him up and down once. "That's small for a portable phone. And you don't look that rich."
"You can get a cellphone and a service plan for less than the cost of two cups of coffee a day. That's one of the ways Ottawa has changed in the last three decades. Almost nobody has a landline any more."
"A landline?"
"A phone that's wired to the wall."
"Can you help me get one of these phones, please?"
"And me, while you're at it?" Jacky sounded as excited as Jemi.
"Sure. I'll see you tomorrow morning... no, you're a musician. I'll see you all at the crack of noon, at the Bank Street entrance to Billings Bridge."
Billings Bridge Plaza
11:57 am ET
Rob and Mamoru were waiting for the ladies just inside the easternmost door to the shopping mall. They were chatting as they watched the traffic go by on Bank Street.
"You're sure you don't want Skuld to give you a phone?"
"I'm sure. Pink isn't my colour, even as an accent."
"Says the guy who throws roses."
"Red roses, not pink. Besides, I've heard that Blackberry makes some good phones, and we are in Canada."
"They used to, but they're getting out of the hardware business. Please don't get me started on how the new corporate management ... Oh, there's the ladies." Rob opened the door so that Jacky, Jemi, and Kate could come in.
"I hope you haven't been waiting too long," Kate said as she walked in.
"No, we just got here ourselves." They all went through the inner doorway and started making their way into the mall. "Do you mind if I get some cash while we're here? I don't see a lineup at the bank."
"No lineup at the bank? At lunch time? And what's that?" Jacky was puzzled twice over.
Rob walked over to the bank machine. "It's an Automated Teller Machine, or ATM for short. Nobody talks to a human for 99% of their banking any more."
"How does it work?" Kate asked.
"First, you insert your bank card or credit card, then you enter your passcode. Please don't look. Then you..."
A few minutes later, the ladies had seen for the first time an ATM dispense cash. "What's that?" Jemi asked.
"Money."
"It can't be. Money is made of paper."
"Not any more."
Jemi looked at Kate and Jacky. "We have some catching up to do."
12:33 pm ET
They all had phones, guaranteed by Rob's corporate credit card (until such time as they got their own cards, and Rob insisted they do that quickly, preferably before Lord Phantomhive found out). Since nobody needed internet access - yet - they had gone with one of the discount carriers.
Jemi had the next-to-latest iPhone, for the music. (She couldn't afford the latest model.) Kate and Jacky went with Android phones in the cutest colours they could find, and Mamoru went with an Android in flat black. They were assured that their numbers would be activated before the end of the day.
"Let's go get some lunch," Jacky suggested. "Does Ogilvy's still have their lunch counter?"
Rob sighed deeply.
"Oh, no. What happened to the lunch counter?"
"Ogilvy's was bought out and run into the ground by its new owners. It was replaced by a Zellers, and that chain's gone, too. Then Target came in and closed the lunch counter, before pulling out of Canada altogether a year later. Now, there's a Wal-Mart where Ogilvy's used to be."
"Is Wal-Mart any good?" Jacky asked.
"It's a discount chain."
"Oh, no!"
"Let's head down the road. There's still a Fat Albert's near Heron Road." [2]
"I was wondering why you brought the car for such a short trip," Mamoru commented.
12:55 pm ET
"The menu's grown a bit in the last three decades."
"The quality's still the same, though."
Everybody ordered footlongs, and they sipped at their drinks while they were waiting.
"I've got a problem."
"What's wrong, Jemi? Is there something you can't figure out on your phone?"
"No. Well, yes, but that's not the problem. I can't find Henk."
"What's a henk?" Mamoru asked.
"Who, not what. He's the local Fiddle Wit. The leader of our rede."
Rob took over. "He's a mortal who plays the... not the violin, but that's not important right now."
"The concertina. It's best if a mortal lead the Host's monthly rede so that we can gather as much luck and magic from the moon as we can for the next month."
"Thanks, Jemi. If the Host don't have a rede, essentially a nighttime parade, on the night of the full moon, then they don't get their luck for the next month, and they're weakened." Rob turned to Jemi. "But I thought the Pook could lead the rede if there isn't a Fiddle Wit."
"Humans are the best to lead the rede. I could do it, but even though I'm a halfling, I'm not as good as a fully-mortal Fiddle Wit would be. And I can't do it this month. AKT's got a gig booked at Carleton U."
"A halfling?"
"I'm half mortal, Mamoru."
"Ah!" Everyone turned to Rob. "That's why Washuu-chan said she'd found human DNA last Friday. If the faerie and humans can crossbreed, then biologically the faerie are human."
"That's nice to know," Kate replied, "but it doesn't help us now. When's the next full moon?"
"Next Sunday." Jemi sighed. "Maybe we'll have to cancel the concert."
The waitress chose that moment to bring everybody's subs. A couple of minutes later, Mamoru asked, "Why not ask Mikoto to play for the rede?"
"Who?" all three women asked as one.
"Please forget that you heard that name." Rob turned to Mamoru. "It wouldn't work."
"Why not? She's human, and Jemi said humans are the best at this."
"It's because of the way that esper abilities work in Academy City. She's created a Personal Reality that lets her do what she can do."
He thought for a moment. "I still don't understand."
"She has rejected our reality and substituted her own - and that reality has no room for magic. No matter how well she plays her violin, she can't be both Railgun and a Fiddle Wit. And she's never going to stop being Railgun."
"Oh." Mamoru thought for a moment. "Could we hire somebody?"
Jemi shook her head as she chewed. After swallowing her bite, she said, "You can't hire somebody to lead the rede. It has to be done freely, and by somebody who we can trust to keep secret the fact that the faerie realm still exists."
"Which means we need to find somebody who plays the violin or some other portable instrument and who knows that there's magic in the world and who can use it." Mamoru took a drink of his coffee. "I can think of one person who matches that description, but I have no idea whether she's in this world yet."
Rob pulled out his Blackberry Passport. "I think I know who you're thinking of. Let me ask HAL whether he's found her yet."
"Who are you thinking of?" Jacky asked. "And Hal who?"
"HAL-9000. He's very good at searching through computer records."
"You mean like in that movie?" Kate asked.
"The very same. Don't look so surprised; we told you that fictional people have been showing up here."
Jemi looked worried. "But isn't HAL-9000 a killer?"
"Only because of a badly-written computer program. That's been fixed. All of you, eat. Don't mind me."
Five minutes later, Rob had an address. "Mamoru, I'll be missing dinner tonight."
Blossom Apartments
4:41 pm ET
"Why do I have to come along? I have homework!"
"If you of all people would rather do homework than come with me, then you really don't want to do this. But do you think they'll listen to me if you don't come along?"
"Oh, yeah. I'll just have to make the sacrifice and not do my homework."
"You'll be doing it after we get back."
"Mou."
Kemptville, Ontario, Canada
5:35 pm ET
They were sitting at a table in Brewed Awakenings, one of the local coffee shops, enjoying both the drinks and the music being played by the violinist in the corner of the room farthest from them.
Rob leaned over and whispered, "Is she ...?"
"Yes."
They waited until she was finished her piece, then Rob applauded politely. He was the only one in the room who did.
The violinist stood up and walked over. "Thank you for appreciating my music, sir... Oh! Usagi!"
Rob's companion smiled. "Hello, Michiru. It's good to see you again."
"Will you join us?" Rob asked.
6:11 pm ET
"That's quite a lot to take in, Mr. Donaldson."
Usagi grinned. "I know! There's never a dull moment around Rob-san! Except when he drags us off to museums."
"Museums?"
"Neo-Queen Serenity here doesn't like doing homework, and she needed to learn Canadian history quickly. Thus, we visit museums."
"Mou."
Rob thought Usagi had a cute pout. He turned his attention back to Michiru. "Where's Ms. Ten'oh?"
"Haruka's busy helping some friends rebuild their car. She's going to be racing it when spring comes around."
"How long have you been here? We've been looking all over for you!"
Michiru turned to Usagi, and chose her words carefully. "We've been here for almost two months now. Oh, it's been more than ten minutes since I sat down." Michiru stood up and started playing yet again.
6:59 pm ET
"Does anybody want coffee to go? You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here." The woman behind the counter looked straight at Rob and Usagi as she said that - not unreasonably, since they were the last customers in the shop.
Usagi turned to Michiru. "Do you have a cellphone yet?"
"Of course I do. Here's the number." She elegantly wrote the number onto a napkin, then passed it to Usagi.
"And here's mine." She scribbled her number on a napkin, then passed it to Michiru.
Rob glanced at the notes as they were being passed, and sighed.
"I know, I know. I need to work on my penmanship."
Haruka and Michiru's apartment
Kemptville, Ontario, Canada
November 14, 2016
7:15 am ET
"I've never played for so long, or for so many different people at once, or walked while I played. I'm exhausted."
Haruka supported Michiru as they made their way from the car to their apartment. "And you're going to do this again next month?"
"Usagi insisted."
They walked in silence for a moment. Finally, Haruka broke the conversation's pause. "It was good to see them again."
"Do you want to move to Ottawa? We might have to, if I get that job with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra."
"Ask me again if you do get that job. Right now, they're close enough to drive there if we want to see them again. Let's get you to bed."
Michiru smiled at her girlfriend. "Yes, let's."
Footnotes
- RK: This is Word of Dante, not Word of God; Aya Hisakawa mentioned during an interview in the October 1992 issue of Animage that she saw Ami Mizuno as liking men who were older than her father. There's a translation of the interview on Tuxedo Unmasked.
- RK: Well, there was, back in 2016...
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