Lettuce+Rogue Bunny=Teaser

[Rieverre]

... the greater villains pulling the strings, them being the infamous Organization for Battlefield Subversion Infiltration Destruction Invasion And Nihilism.
And their enforcer, Nagi the Iron Haired.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[ordnance11]

Nao being what she is now or her turning into a junior version of Natsuki?
The reason I asked..episode 24-25?...Natsuki remarked that she and Nao are the same..the only thing that saved her was people that supported her...making her a protector rather than a predator.
So...given the chance to have a circle of friends...will Nao change?
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Valles]

---

So...given the chance to have a circle of friends...will Nao change?

---

Errr...
Tum-te-tum-te-tum?
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Rieverre]

Yeah. What Nate said.
Ord, you are Investigating Too Closely something that's three parts giggling fits and one part daydreaming.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[ordnance11]

---

Ord, you are Investigating Too Closely something that's three parts giggling fits and one part daydreaming

---

*snicker*
just speculating....

---

*idea* Love HiME?! *braincrash* Bad brain! Bad!

---

hee hee
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Rieverre]

Yes, with Keitaro as Lord Obsidian, Kanako as Mikoto, Granny as Nagi who'd gathered all the HiME at the Hinata Sou for the Festival, Haruka and Suu playing Fumi and Mashiro and *shatters* Otohime Mutsumi subbing for Shizuru, Shinobu for Nao *snickersnort* Among other things.
My brain is a scary place sometimes.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

---

---

It took me a shameful amount of time to start, but eventually I was turning the repercussions over in my head. "Gyargh... Searrs and their 'Golden fucking Millenium' know Natsuki, Mai, and Nao, now... Nagi-yarou does if he didn't already... God, what a tangled fucking mess."
"Hmm," she agreed, turning a page. "And that's not even considering the new players who will deal themselves into the game now that it's become a matter of public knowledge."
I groaned. "Oh, lord, you're right... CIA, KGB, MI6, hey! What the hell to do... Everything's gonna get more complicated, isn't it?"
"Considerably. I'm not sure if you're aware, but even in the few hours you've been sedated there have already been SDF troops moving into the city... Searrs isn't present, so far as I've been able to find - I suppose because they'd rather not have their rock flipped over just yet."
That put a melody into my head. "Cruella de Ville - Cruella de Ville - If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will," I sang in English, then switched back to Japanese. "Right, great, so now how the hell are we supposed to get ahold of Midori or the others we're missing, let alone talk to the Director... and after that there's fucking' Nagi, and Lord Glass-Ass after him? Christ."
"I wasn't aware that you spoke English," she said, then went on. "Regardless, you needn't worry. Sugiura-sensei is the only HiME remaining uncontacted... save, of course, for Alyssa Searrs. Although the change in Mai-san's status makes it unlikely that she will be able to initiate that contact as planned, Akane-san has been employed at that restaraunt for some time. If the difference in public events changes Sugiura-sensei's plans, we can likely contact her through Sagisawa-sensei - although that will likely require revealing certain information.
"Aside from the three you mentioned, I am known to Searrs, and Shiho-chan and Mikoto will be fairly obvious in light of their involvement in yesterday's incident. Akira-kun's clan has been contacted, and have indicated their willingness to provide us with access to their records of the previous Festivals. Shiho-chan and Akira-kun are investigating the possibility of gaining access to the shrine cave you remembered without destroying it, and will be able to guard it from intruders. Akane-san and Yukino-san are resting and will prepared to alternate shifts with them. Sister Yukariko was quite distraught at the version of events presented in your account, and has gone into seclusion to pray for guidance." I couldn't quite suppress my reaction to the thought of such an action, and she raised an eyebrow. "You dissaprove of Christianity?"
"I dissaprove of religion, period, though I'll grant that Christianity annoys me more than most. You might call me a militant agnostic - I know I don't know, and anyone who says they do is either lying or deluded." I shook my head. "Blech. I'm ranting. Sorry."
She didn't quite laugh, but the note her smile took on gave the same impression. "The final bit of pressing news is that Miyu has been destroyed."
Uhhh... Okay. "She's dead? That's... I'm not sure. No anti-Child sword with freaky-fast wielder, good. No big-ass gateway cracking suicide cannon, bad... Are we certain it was total, not just her body?"
"Akane-san said that her Child was... quite thorough. She was unwilling to risk Kazuya-san by letting the danger persist."
"Akane what?!" I mean, seriously, she had just off and whacked somebody? Since when was the 'nice girl' willing to do something like that?
"Oh, yes - she's a quite skilled martial artist."
"Huh." I shook my head as I tried to assimilate that, then paused and laughed when I realized she'd hit every possible response I could have thought of. "I guess that's it, then."
She nodded, and I laughed. "Maybe you should be in charge - you've done a better job than I could've with all this."
That made her head snap up, and her expression was noticably shocked. After a moment, she found her voice, and protested, "I hardly think I would be the best choice."
"Beauty, brains, and modest to boot! Natsuki's a lucky girl..." However mocking the words might look now, or have sounded at the time, I was quite serious.
And, evidently she recognized it, since, shockingly, she started to blush, if just slightly. While I was busy boggling, though, she took a moment to collect herself and shook her head at me. "No - any qualifications aside, none of the others would be willing to place the neccessary amount of trust in me... and quite rightly, in fact. While your worse fears about my mental state are unfounded, I do take considerable medication, which would make me even more vulnerable to any... disturbances the Festival or another agency might create.
"You are quite correct about the need for a trustworthy central authority, however, and at the moment I believe that only you or Sugiura-sensei present viable alternatives."
Midori made sense - as both the oldest, likely the most clear-sighted and arguably the most mature, she was the logical candidate, but... "ME?! I'm not even a HiME!"
"Exactly."
"Huh?"

---

---

Y'know, I think I might've figured out what was giving me such fits of writer's block - I've been rewatching the series as I was writing this, and getting into the deeper parts may well be interfering with my ability to work with the fluffier opening bits.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[ordnance11]

---

That put a melody into my head. "Cruella de Ville - Cruella de Ville - If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will," I sang in English, then switched back to Japanese. "Right, great, so now how the hell are we supposed to get ahold of Midori or the others we're missing, let alone talk to the Director... and after that there's fucking' Nagi, and Lord Glass-Ass after him? Christ."
"I wasn't aware that you spoke English," she said, then went on. "Regardless, you needn't worry. Sugiura-sensei is the only HiME remaining uncontacted... save, of course, for Alyssa Searrs. Although the change in Mai-san's status makes it unlikely that she will be able to initiate that contact as planned, Akane-san has been employed at that restaraunt for some time. If the difference in public events changes Sugiura-sensei's plans, we can likely contact her through Sagisawa-sensei - although that will likely require revealing certain information.

---

God, you really are babbling! ^^
Hmmm...can anyone afford to trust Sagisawa? He is First District after all?
Well, with JSDF forces in place..an overt invasion would be out of the question for SEARRS..unless they subvert the chain of commmand in the JSDF.
As for the alphabet soup...what would their reaction be if they learn that there's an evil other dimensional entity who has plans to obliterate the human race? and what can they do about it?...zilch...other send a team in to observe and pray.

---

Sister Yukariko was quite distraught at the version of events presented in your account, and has gone into seclusion to pray for guidance." I couldn't quite suppress my reaction to the thought of such an action, and she raised an eyebrow. "You dissaprove of Christianity?"
"I dissaprove of religion, period, though I'll grant that Christianity annoys me more than most. You might call me a militant agnostic - I know I don't know, and anyone who says they do is either lying or deluded." I shook my head. "Blech. I'm ranting. Sorry."

---

The info didn't happen to include her seduction by a certain teacher would it?

---

She nodded, and I laughed. "Maybe you should be in charge - you've done a better job than I could've with all this."
That made her head snap up, and her expression was noticably shocked. After a moment, she found her voice, and protested, "I hardly think I would be the best choice."
"Beauty, brains, and modest to boot! Natsuki's a lucky girl..." However mocking the words might look now, or have sounded at the time, I was quite serious.

---

Good move! Praise her to the skies! Anything to be out of reach of her nagitana!

---

"You are quite correct about the need for a trustworthy central authority, however, and at the moment I believe that only you or Sugiura-sensei present viable alternatives."
Midori made sense - as both the oldest, likely the most clear-sighted and arguably the most mature, she was the logical candidate, but... "ME?! I'm not even a HiME!"
"Exactly."

---

Heck..you were the one that came up with the plan. Now take your responsibility like a man.

Actually, they need someone who they can trust, is mature and is not a threat to them.
Why do I keep seeing N-Tate as Ichigo Ohgami?

a good scene though....I assumr Mikoto is still snoozing away?
"Huh?"
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[VladimirTherin]

---

the human race? and what can they do about it?...zilch...other send a team in to observe and pray.

---

I dunno. The scientist in me is unwilling to estimate the resistance of Nagi and others to .50-calibre elimination until its been tested.

[Valles]

---

Hmmm...can anyone afford to trust Sagisawa? He is First District after all?

---

Sakomizu Kaiji - Fat guy with the 'fro. Homeroom teacher for Akira and Takumi at least.
Sagisawa Yoko - Helllllllllloooooooooo Nurse!

---

As for the alphabet soup...what would their reaction be if they learn that there's an evil other dimensional entity who has plans to obliterate the human race? and what can they do about it?...zilch...other send a team in to observe and pray.

---

They can always buy their own HiME. ^_^

---

The info didn't happen to include her seduction by a certain teacher would it?

---

Of course. It was a major plot point.

---

Actually, they need someone who they can trust, is mature and is not a threat to them.

---

Also, they can know that he won't have the Festival fucking with his brain... Which, y'know, Midori? Not so much. Sure, she got through the show okay, but circumstances matter...

---

Why do I keep seeing N-Tate as Ichigo Ohgami?

---

*whistles innocently*
Ja, -n
(And yes, Mikoto is still out for the count. She'll start snoring any moment now.)
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[ordnance11]

---

Sakomizu Kaiji - Fat guy with the 'fro. Homeroom teacher for Akira and Takumi at least.
Sagisawa Yoko - Helllllllllloooooooooo Nurse!

---

Actually, it may make a lot of sense to bring her on board. You will need someone to treat all those injuries the sentai team is going to face and since Midori and her will know each other pretty well. She's going to figure something is fishy sooner or later. But that's a decision for the leader..whoever that is.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Rieverre]

Awww. you made her blush. How sweet.
She's a sweet girl, she's just a homicidal maniac? *brain explodes*
Hmm ... y'know, the scary thing is that I sometimes babble like that without the need for any medication.
*image of Midori snapping off a salute to N!Tate and doing her 'HiME Sentai, Sanjo!' spiel*
I'm still waiting for N!Tate to go off on a tangent on how he's the Man with the Plan, Kaiser freakin' Soze, wohooo ... wait, that'd have to have him kill off his allies, err ... ingnore he just said that?*ahem*.
Wait, does this mean he gets a parakeet out of the deal?

*rubs forehead*
Damnit, this took too long, and I still think I got her wrong. Too serious or something. Even despite the fact that she'd all but hijacked the post. I'd meant to write more Yukino and Haruka, maybe start in on Nagi, and so on. Maa ...

---

For once, the timing worked out.
It was about the only thing that did, though.
Let me clarify.
The first time I'd met Juliet-ane-san, as in spoke with her, rather than the first time I'd seen her - evening, Rorschach, blond guy nearly messing his pants and something about a missing Coral Otome uniform - had gone remarkably without incident. Well, without much of one.

"So, you're saying you want us to do what? Spy for you?" her tone was somewhere between amused and irritated.
"Maa ... you make it sound like such an ugly thing," I replied, ignoring the two gorillas propping up the warehouse wall behind where the redheaded sometimes Pearl stood. "Besides, no, we wouldn't want or need you to do that. We'd just want you to watch, listen and remember things. Maybe occasionally ... walk by one place or another, and do it there."
"Uh-huh," eyes narrow, arms crossed, evaluating. "And what's the hook, then? We've had something like that offered before, and they were willing to pay more than what you named. But there's _always_ a hook."
"Oh, what did they want?" I chuckled in reply and made an educated guess. "Something silly about being ready to accept the Black Letter when the time came?"
Juliet-ane-san didn't react. The two goons she'd brought, though, looked like they were about to move.
"Tch. So well informed. Dumb enough to come alone, though, and to a place like this."
"You know better than to assume," I gave her my best level look. Not all that good, but it brought the point across. "This is for subtlety's sake. After all, I want to propose this to Juliet-ane-san ..."
A few steps took me close enough that the whisper of "... and not Juliet Nao Zhang. Conflicting loyalties make people do less than their best work ..." reach her and only her.
I could almost see the flash of anger in her eyes, but it was quickly suppressed, and she waved off her two enforcers before they could as much as move from where they were.
"Blackmail?" she ground out, keeping her voice down. "You bastard ..."
"You misunderstand ..."
"Oh, I understand alright," tensing. Not good.
"You say 'no'. I walk out of here. Nothing about that little tidbit gets told to anyone," the expression of disbelief wasn't hard to read, not that she was trying to hide it. "You say 'yes', I hire Juliet-ane-san, and Ms. Zhang and whatever information she has access to is never as much as mentioned."

It had taken a little more than that, but we'd ... ironed ... that difference of opinion out. Somewhat. Enough for the proposed arrangement to work.
This time, though, it was Pearl Juliet Nao Zhang I was faced with.
As to how this situation had come about?
I'd dropped off the messages at the villa. That is to say, I'd dropped off the one for Garderobe with the instructor they'd left behind at their camp to watch the students before they managed to get back. Yukariko Stein-something ...
The one for Yukino I delivered myself, but something there must have meant more to her than it did to me, because another shovel's worth of worry seemed to be added onto the already tense atmosphere when she went over it.
I made a mental note to run through the contents of that compilation when I got back to Windbloom.
Also, this was my cue to leave. I didn't need to be told twice. Actually, I didn't need to be told, point. Add to that the fact that I didn't exactly have much of an excuse to, you know, actually justify _being_ there.
While normally I wouldn't really mind that sort of situation, since it helped keep people off-balance and sometimes made them slip when they were confronted with the unexpected, the show Schwarz and Aswad had just provided made that sort of popping out of the woodwork a bit of a dicey affair.
I even managed to not trip across a runt on my way out.
Good. I wasn't in the sort of mood that would be conductive to a discussion with Machiavelli Jr.
My mind was doing handstands, trying to fit events into any sort of recognizable pattern, but all I ever came up with on the way back to Windbloom was a half-assembled jigsaw puzzle. And even then I'd cut the corners on some of the pieces.
And then I'd arrived, having borrowed a Frame again - mental note, need to send a replacement along - and was confronted by an unusually serious looking Juliet Nao Zhang, lurking in an alley that ran behind Windbloom's Black office building, right beside the rear garage entrance.
"You've never actually screwed me over, so I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. I'm only going to ask this once," she said when I'd removed the runner headgear and gave her a quizzical look. "Is Black detaining Garderobe personnel?"
See what I mean about the timing being the only thing being right?
"Wait. Back up. Repeat that. Say WHAT?!"

---

Yes, a definite WTF moment. And again, yes, it's all connected. You'll see. The idea will either work out, or be lame enough for me to have to stalinize this thing.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[ordnance11]

---

*image of Midori snapping off a salute to N!Tate and doing her 'HiME Sentai, Sanjo!' spiel*

---

Nah..more like Hime Assault Force, Sanjo!
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Valles]

---

Awww. you made her blush. How sweet.

---

She gets plenty of compliments, I figure, but how many of those are going to be from someone who doesn't want something?
Well, okay, he does too, but what he said was all wrong in tone for 'Don't kill me, lady, please?' so between that and the drugs she's fairly certain he was actually sincere.

---

I'm still waiting for N!Tate to go off on a tangent on how he's the Man with the Plan, Kaiser freakin' Soze, wohooo ... wait, that'd have to have him kill off his allies, err ... ignore he just said that?*ahem*.

---

"Every plan gets fucked up as soon as the enemy arrives. That's why they're called 'the enemy'."

---

---

* * * * *
"'M comin'! 'M coming, dammit, hold yer friggin' horses..."
"The problem with being too enthusiastic about knocking," I told Mikoto confidentially as she bounced back to stand behind me rather than pounding on the door, "is that it disturbs the person you're visiting, and makes you seem intrusive and discourteous. The idea is to make the bare minimum of noise needed to advertise your presence..."
She blinked at me, then nodded. "Un!"
Then Midori opened her door, and I decided right away that she could never actually pass for seventeen.
Even when she was actually wearing clothes.
Oh, she wasn't naked, of course, except maybe in the medieval sense of being unarmed, but I don't think that many businesses, or courts for that matter, would count a pair of panties and the remnants of a t-shirt that had been lightweight and just the right size ten years ago as being 'fully clothed', either.
Like I was saying, though, for all that she was barely Mai's height and no heavier built, no one could mistake her for being the same age... especially when she was looking this hung-over.
Well, I guessed 'hung-over'. It wasn't a state I'd had any real encounters with, from inside or out. No, I had no life whatsoever in college.
"Sugiura-sensei?" I asked. "My name's Tate Yuuichi - could I speak to you about your thesis?"
"'m n't a s'nsei..." she wrinkled her nose and squinted at me. "w't... tate? From tha'... monster thing?"
I made a face - classmates were troublesome enough, but the reporters were nearly enough to make me decide not to save them from Mikoto's idea of 'protection'. "For my sins, yeah. Ah," I hesitated. "I can come back later, when I won't be waking you-"
"nah. 's fine. c'mon in."
"-and you've had a chance to dress..."
She blinked, then glanced down at her chest. Involuntarily, my eyes followed, and then she yelped and bounced back out of sight into the apartment. "OmigodI'msorryhangonjustasec!"
Mikoto has very pointy elbows, and at about that point she applied one of them to the side of my stomach. "No indecency," she muttered.
"Shiho-chan taught you that, didn't she?"
"Un!"
I whimpered.

---

---

...hm.
Midori-chan wa tanoshii da!
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[katreus]

ROFL. Mikoto *and* Shiho as chaperones... heh. I'll gather that could become very... intrusive.

[ordnance11]

---

"Every plan gets fucked up as soon as the enemy arrives. That's why they're called 'the enemy'."

---

As yes..the old grouch's (one of them anyway) favorite sayings...a man after me own heart.

---

Like I was saying, though, for all that she was barely Mai's height and no heavier built, no one could mistake her for being the same age... especially when she was looking this hung-over.

---

I just looked at episode 6..time frame 3:18...Midori is about an inch or two taller and much more busty and broader..unless the anime was wrong about her body measurements..sides it's always the older women who are lushes in the genre. She claims she's 17 in this episode, but what's her actualy age..24?
You know, Tate-N could had cornered Midori at the shrine, but time is of the essence I suppose.

---

ROFL. Mikoto *and* Shiho as chaperones... heh. I'll gather that could become very... intrusive.

---

No..Shiho would be a pain..Mikoto is a bodyguard. Both of them together around N-Tate...*snort*
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Valles]

---

As yes..the old grouch's (one of them anyway) favorite sayings...a man after me own heart.

---

"You're just the General."
"Maurice is the Maurice."
^_^ Which reminds me I still haven't gone out and grabbed Dance of Time... Bad Nathan! No biscuit!

---

I just looked at episode 6..time frame 3:18...Midori is about an inch or two taller and much more busty and broader..unless the anime was wrong about her body measurements..sides it's always the older women who are lushes in the genre. She claims she's 17 in this episode, but what's her actualy age..24?

---

Not so much wrong as just inconsistent... Anyway, going by the data on Sunrise's official site, they're exactly the same height, within a centimeter of having the same figure (and that in Mai's favor, BTW), and Midori's actually a kilo lighter than Mai is... ie, Mai doesn't have to be dripping wet to top a hundred pounds - it's not like either of them is what you'd exactly call 'hefty'. So I'm going to go with 'animator's error' for that scene. You'll note that she seems much slimmer when they're showing her from other angles there, as well as later in the episode in those overalls.
And yeah, she's twenty-four. Which works out nicely with my being... well, twenty-two, by that point... and Tate's being fifteen and her claiming seventeen.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Rieverre]

Midori and the classic spit take. Priceless.
And Shiho 'teaching' Mikoto even some things? Oh, how this can not end well.

*crosses fingers*

---

I hate having expectations.
Well, no, I hate having them shattered when meeting reality like so much fine china does when impacting a solid surface. Which is why I try not to have them.
The thing is, they invariably follow in the wake of any period that you could describe as ever mildly successful.
And then something comes along, and it's so completely out of left field that you need to seriously reconsider a lot of things you'd taken for granted before.
"Ah, she's not ... entirely wrong?" Ren fidgeted.
I think Juliet made him nervous. She was good at that. And glaring.
"You want to explain that?" I asked. "Use small words."
After recovering from the question the Pearl had asked, I'd gone inside with the firm intent to find out. While I'd made her acquaintance only a few months prior, I could tell she was serious about this.
Of course, Ren's reaction wasn't exactly comforting. He'd been in the garage when I came in, likely expecting to meet me ... and only me, not me shadowed by an irate looking red-head. Especially not a red-head he recognized.
"..." he opened his mouth, tried to say something, floundered ... I think it was the first time I'd seen him at a loss for words. "I think I'll just show you."
The abovementioned red-head followed, though from the change from outright confrontational to somewhat curious I figured it was Juliet-ane-san again.
When Black acquired the building a few months back we figured six floors, plus ground floor, plus basement garage, would be just big enough. Ground floor acting as a reception area and with sorting going on in the back rooms, first floor having quarters for those runners who didn't want the bother of trying to find a place to stay elsewhere in the city, as well as our medical section - not that it was very big. Second was the workshop, third and fourth the analyst spaces, fifth had the so called main offices - the final data compilations and final analysis were done there - including mine, and sixth ... well, that had been mostly empty, save my apartment.
Sue me, I like my privacy.
We didn't have anything that could be described as guest quarters ... Ren led to the fifth floor, and I noticed that at least the damage to my old office had been repaired.
But the room wasn't as barren as I'd expected it to be ...
I blinked.
Alright. The short hair was new. As was the apparent age. And the traditional Jipang throwback clothing. Other than that, the resemblance was uncanny.
Sleeping on a cot in an obviously hastily thrown together living space where my office had once been, and there was something about her that suggested she dearly needed the downtime, was a dead ringer for a younger Shizuru Viola.
I think both myself and Juliet-ane-san spent a moment goggling.
"I reiterate," I turned to Ren. "Explain. Use small words."

---

Can the world handle two of them?
Let's find out.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[katreus]

Um.
AAAAAAHHHHHH!!
*coughs* When you say two Shizuru Violas, do you mean personality wise too? Will the younger be just as smitten with Natsuki (and that has -way- too much potential for havok)? Is she an otome too (giving powers of mass destruction to another Shizuru; the mind boggles)?
Curveballs from everywhere. x.X
But wow. Yes. Looking forward to Jr. Shizuru. (And Nao being dragged into all these adventures that are screwing up her life plans -- joining the Old Maids group indeed -- feels both like cosmic justice and cosmic humor *G*)

[Rieverre]

Let's just say that the hints are ... mostly ... there.
*crackle of supreme evil*
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

---

Midori and the classic spit take. Priceless.

---

Well, really it was a classic service shot, but yeah. Glad you enjoyed it. ^_^

---

And Shiho 'teaching' Mikoto even some things? Oh, how this can not end well.

---

Well, it's her or Nao, really - which would you rather have someone as literal as kitty-girl picking things up from?

---

---

A few moments later the door swung back open, and Midori waved us inside. She had tossed on a sweatshirt and a pair of shorts, and from the look of her face had splashed some water on it to wake herself up before she redid her ponytail. I took a moment as Mikoto and I were taking off our shoes to give it an envious glance. I missed my hair.
"How did you identify me?" she asked, once all the properly mannerly welcoming rituals had been taken care of.
I glanced at Mikoto, and she nodded and started rooting around in my book bag - she'd insisted on carrying it, with my arm in a sling like it was. Between that and her own and a lunch that must have weighed more than both of them put together she must have been carrying the better part of half her own weight even with Miroku left back in the umbrella stand in the apartment's entry foyer, but she'd given no sign of even noticing the weight.
It was, frankly, pretty disturbing - not because of what she was capable of, but because of how readily she put all that power at the complete disposal of someone else... Which was made even worse because, even if she'd likely never be in the running for the Nobel Prize for Physics, if you know what I mean, her grades in class and her comments in the planning sessions that'd taken over most of my most recent bout of hospital time had made damn clear that she wasn't anywhere near as dumb as she came across - she might have been a simplistic puppet, but only because someone else had made her that way.
Seeing something like that done to a real person - any human being, let alone one whom you knew and liked - was as scary as it was sickening.
Anyway, she rooted around for a moment, then came out with a thinnish sheaf of printer paper that had been hastily stapled together. I took it and handed it to Midori, then sat back and waited.
She gave me a cockeyed look as she took it, then glanced down at the typed first page, scanning the first few lines. Then she did a double take and read the entire thing, carefully, before flipping the page and starting on the first page of xeroxed handwriting. After a while, she shook herself out of the trance and looked up. "How certain are you of all of this?"
It was a question I had asked myself, one any student with even part of a historian's training would would, and I shrugged. "Not completely, of course, but as much of it as we've been able to check in other sources has panned out perfectly."
She watched my expression consideringly as she thought about that, and I made a mental note to be very careful not to underestimate this woman. Sentai silliness aside she had the same sort of iron will I'd noticed in the other HiME, and I'd be shocked if she wasn't actually the smartest. Without Mikoto or Akira's skills or Shizuru or Yukino's resources or Mai and Kagutsuchi's raw power I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call her the most dangerous of them, but I decided then and there that I had no interest whatsoever in ever seeing the question put to the test... especially on me.

---

---

---

Sleeping on a cot in an obviously hastily thrown together living space where my office had once been, and there was something about her that suggested she dearly needed the downtime, was a dead ringer for a younger Shizuru Viola.

---

*pikupiku*
Fujino-san?
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Rieverre]

---

"Natsumi-san brought her in two days ago," Ren said, after we'd settled in his office, leaving the sleeping woman, well, young woman - as much as she seemed to have that certain timeless something about her that Viola did, she was just as obviously still in her teens - to her rest.
"I'm thinking, she didn't snatch her off the streets because of a vague resemblance," I responded. Tsujimoto wasn't exactly known for her restraint, but doing something like that would have been extremely out of character of her.
"No, Natsumi-san says she found her on her way here, two to two and a half hours away from the Desert Port," he winced. "Well, more like almost ran her over. Exhausted, dehydrated, almost passed out."
"Not that this isn't all very interesting," Juliet-ane-san groused from beside the door. She'd declined the offer of a chair. "But who the hell is she?"
Ren gave me a look that said as much as 'what's she doing here, anyway?'. I shrugged.
"No idea," he replied after a moment. "She was never awake long enough to actually hold a coherent conversation. The only reason she isn't laid out in the Doc's office right now is that she's pretty much alright, physically."
"Only that she isn't Viola-san," I added. "Who is still in Aries, by the way."
Still, it wouldn't be a bad idea to pay a bit more attention to the Amethyst Robe of Garderobe ...
... there was an almost audible click in my mind.
"Ren."
He must have heard something in my tone, because his posture stiffened momentarily. I was peripherally aware of Juliet-ane-san watching with increased interest.
"Get me the archive double of the information packet you sent to Aries' President with Natsumi."
"What," Juliet asked as Ren stood, and left at a brisk pace while carefully trying not to outright run. "Was that all about?"
"Suspicion. Just ... suspicion," I replied slowly. "Nothing definite."
I've been told I have a nasty, nasty little mind at times. When Ren came back and handed me the printouts, I only checked one. The information package had been bundled back in the Aries office. There were also several messages that simply needed to be delivered included in that - Black's policy about opening private messages was simple. Don't.
Then again, I didn't need a note of the content to make an educated guess.
"Remember that?" I said to Ren, pointing upwards. I was recalling the aftermath of the event which made me move into the workshop. "President Chrysant sent a request to keep an extra eye on Viola-san. Just before I left I took care of delivering the messages Natsumi had been meant to bring her. There were some messages from her staff in Aries in that bundle, one of which seemed to have a mildly off-putting effect on her."
"Katz, wait a minute! You're jumping to conclusions! She'd never ..." Ren exclaimed.
"Never what?" I queried, then sighed. "I'm not saying anything, Ren. I'm just considering the possiblities. We can't actually verify anything until she's awake and aware at the earliest."
"There was something else," Ren added after a moment. "I'm not really sure if it means anything, but she was had a moment or two when she was lucid."
"You said she wasn't awake long enough to have a coherent conversation," Juliet-ane-san cut in, and Ren's head jerked towards her. I think he'd managed to forget she was there.
"It wasn't exactly coherent," he shrugged. "She kept repeating she needed to find someone, but the last part we needed to look up. She was using an old Jipang dialect."
I was suddenly assaulted by a vague sense of foreboding.
"The best translation we managed said she'd been told to look for a 'broken messenger', whoever that ..."
I blinked. Repeated the phrase in my mind.
Most Earl languages were a mix and mash of several others, with the prevalent 'common' one being a sort of English with oriental influences. Artai's 'native' dialect was a form of Chinese, Florence's mixed French and Latin in equal amounts, Cardair's originated from something between Gaelic and German, while Jipang's was a Japanese deriviate.
"Shito no Katsu?" I asked, out loud.
Ren nodded.
Oh, hell.

---

---

Fujino-san?

---

Pinpon. Also known as the Col.Sanders' provided contribution to the chessboard Katz is currently on.
The potential for the situation to escalate into hitherto unknown levels of FUBARness is therefore present. Oh, how very, very present.
*mad laugh*
EDIT: And yeah, I know it's Zipang. I saw Jipang somewhere, and used it in the story, and now I'm keeping it until I'm done and can correct the whole thing instead of looking for individual occurances.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[katreus]

Ohhhh.. *lightbulb*
That seems -much- more ah... possible, esp. with the Zipang like clothing (!), than what I was thinking of (omg, hax0r cloning by the Schwartz of cool kickass otomes to rule the world...).

[itsune9tl]

---

Most Earl languages

---

I think you mean "Most Earth Languages."
--
I keep trying to tell people not to trust their spelling/grammar checking further than they are willing to apply kinetic force, by your unprotected lower podal extremity, to the Operating Upgradable Core Hardware.
...
Yes that spells O.U.C.H

[classicdrogn]

JNope, Mai OTOME takes place on Earl.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
Dr. Akagi will recover. Observe, Rei smiled. Shinji-kun, are these your clothes?
Ritsuko shot up like a spring loaded meerkat. What? Shinji-kun is naked?
See, Anata? Dr. Hentai is alive and well. - Innortal's _I Do_
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows