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Rieverre · 04-25-2006, 12:34 PM

Quote:
Y'know do either of you guys have any plans to collect and compose your works into a single file?

I'm already doing that, actually ... or would be, if it weren't for the fact that my machine's still in the shop. I'm hoping we can pull the two stories to a close with this thread. Certainly, it's making me put in writing time like ... well, I don't know if I've ever put out this much text in this short a time. Somewhat decent text, at least.

Being woken up in the middle of the night was not one of Natsuki's favorite things in the world. In fact, it was pretty much down there with 'being attacked by rabid weasels' and 'dealing with incensed politicians' on the list.
She was not, had never been, and would likely never be much of a morning person. Really, it was only to be expected of someone who had to take an alarm clock custom built to be somewhere within the 'pneumatic hammer' range of volume to bed with her, just to not sleep until noon.
Therefore, it could be considered a lucky that she'd not yet gone to sleep, opting to take a shower beforehand and then being distracted by a long distance phonecall.
On the other hand, maybe it would be preferable to have to deal with a sleep deprived Natsuki Kruger than with one who'd just gotten word that two Meister Otome had just engaged in a brief skirmish along the Romulus and Remus border of the Lutecia Commonwealth.
Be that as it may, a knock on the door of her quarters there and then was a tad unexpected.
Just as the person standing there, or rather, the face said person wore.
One could go as far as to call Natsuki paranoid. She preferred 'well prepared', though.
Which was why she was backpedalling almost as soon as she caught sight of the person wearing Shizuru's face, hand flashing out to the side and coming back instantly, the handgun she'd snatched from its hiding place a reassuring weight therein.
For a moment, everything was frozen in a rather awkward tableau ...
... until , on the business end of the sidearm, the Shizuru lookalike inclined her head to one side.
"This is why you didn't exactly object to me doing the knocking, is it?" she asked with a resigned sigh.
"In one," a muffled, if recognizable voice came from somewhere out in the corridor. "Right now, I have little doubt that showing up this late, not to mention getting this far at all, would get me shot."
"While I'd get the benefit of the doubt, yes," she sighed again. "Why, exactly, would you worry about getting shot?"
"It stings?" a head poked into the room. Annoyingly familiar. Red eyes blinked at her before turning to study the far wall with feigned nonchalance. "... while I realize that it's a bit late, could we ask for a bit of your time, Headmistress."
Natsuki's eyebrow twitched.
"I think I should just shoot you on principle," she muttered before lowering the handgun ... slightly. "Probation. This had better be good. Really good. As in, good news."
"There ... may be a slight problem with that," Schrdinger walked to stand behind the Shizuru lookalike, still most resolutely not looking at ... "Um, Shizuru? Don't leer at the nice lady with the handcannon."
Natsuki hastily drew the bathrobe closed again, before glaring. 'Shizuru' pouted.

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 · 04-25-2006, 07:20 PM

Akira hesitated, then dropped into the seat on the other side of her roommate from his sister and wrapped her arms around him. "Fumi and Shiho are dead," she said. "Fumi had been... beaten... and Shiho... there were witnesses. St. Vrus."
"Sou ka." Midori looked back down. "Sister... she could believe in a Golden Milennium. And if SEARRS managed to get to Kazuya-kun... Akane-chan would do anything for him. Nao..." she chuckled. "I'm actually a little surprised at Nao."
Natsuki, right across from her, shook her head. "Don't be. SEARRS has the best hospitals in the world. Her mother..." She didn't finish, and didn't need to. All of them had noticed that Nao's concern for and dedication to her injured parent was as deep as it was denied.
"Why Yuuichi?" Mai whispered.
"They've had him for more than a month," Shizuru pointed out gently. "and given what they can do to people's memories..."
Akira shook her head. "No. Whatever they did to let him use an Element... the ability is too basic to our systems. Changing that in him would take time."
"They wouldn't need much." Mai took a deep breath. "Just to convince him that the Festival was more likely to work than our plan."
"You're missing the worst part," Midori pointed out, and raised her head to meet their startled looks. "If they can change him this way, what's to stop them doing it to their own people?"

Blah. Talking heads.
And I'll certainly agree that having a coauthor to compe^H^H^H^H^H work with seems to agree with my muse.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

Rieverre · 04-26-2006, 10:27 AM

For the most part, they were those who'd been with the company for the longest. True, not neccessarily all of them, but those falling under that particular qualifier were the brunt of the people in attendance.
Another thing they had in common was a certain initiative that had led each of them into an investigation into what their employers' true goals were.
Few had succeeded, but most had done more than a fair job of trying. And almost all of them were present and accounted for in the room.
The door to one side of the from of the small hall opened, allowing several familiar figures into the room.
In truth, most of the people working for Black didn't really have a solid opinion of their boss that went far past 'odd', but there was a solid appreciation there for the job. And the runners certainly approved of being able to 'play' with some of the fastest things in the world as a matter of course.
So the room looked forward to whatever was coming with some anxiety, and feelings that were generally of the mixed kind.
"I've never really believed in speeches, so I'll just get down to brass tacks and get this over with," Schrdinger started. "Most of you have already heard, via one way or another, about what happened in Lutecia last night. That, I'm sad to say, is just a prelude of things to come. In the admittedly short time that our company has provided its services, we've always remained neutral ... at least, where above the table politics is concerned. Again, most of you have likely noticed things in the course of your work that led you to realize something of what was being done behind the scenes. Gentlemen, ladies ... a last choice, if you will. This is something none of you signed up for. Something that is, without a doubt, dangerous. Anyone here who doesn't wish to take the risk that comes with finding out just why Black came about is welcome to walk out, whether to keep their old job or take their severance pay and opt completely out."
Schrdinger waited. Schrdinger blinked.
Nobody had stood and walked out.
"Ladies, gentlemen," their boss finally grinned. "Welcome to the counter-conspiracy."

... now to raid Cydonia ^_^.
-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 · 04-27-2006, 07:36 AM

Yuuki Nao woke up, opened her eyes - and panicked.
A firm hand on her shoulder pressed her back against the bed when she tried to bolt upright. "Hey, hey, calm down! You'll recover! You'll recover!"
After a moment, the words penetrated and she relaxed against the hospital bed. Slowly, she reached up and gently explored the contours of the patch holding her left eye closed. Memory showed Akira's blade flashing out and arcing across, and her throwing herself away as it blurred by - so close - and a flare of unbelievable pain...
"My eye... will heal?"
"The specialist they brought in seemed fairly certain. He said you should expect to lose some visual acuity, probably quite a bit, and it'll hurt like hell once you're off the IV, but... yeah, eventually."
She turned her head to look at him. "Thanks, Tate. What happened, with...?"
He sighed, and his expression was grim. "Sanada had no problems. Akane-chan's cut up a bit, but she won. Should be out of here about the same time you are." He flushed slightly. "And Miko-chin's boyfriend broke a branch over my head."
There really wasn't anything remotely funny about this whole situation, but that was close enough for the chemicals floating through her system, and she giggled.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. My own damn fault, not paying attention to him. Let's see how much concentration you can spare with the Killer Kitty out for your hide."
Okay, that was funny. When she'd stopped laughing, she propped herself up on an elbow - injured or not, she wasn't helpless, dammit - and asked, "What next?"
"Miyu's back."
"What?! But I thought she was..."
He shrugged. "Well, in physical terms she's another, mechanically identical gynoid that's been programmed from the first one's backup data, but she talks about herself as though she were a continuation, so I see no reason to disagree. Regardless, the 'bot's back."
It took an effort, but she snickered. "I bet Akane took that well."
"No," he shook his head, "she didn't react at all, actually. It was creepy."
Remembering the look in the older girl's eyes when the traitors - she refused to delude herself that they were anything but - had met before splitting up for their attacks, she had to agree. "Alyssa-chan said that Artemis needed targeting data when you asked... she can pass it up?"
"Yeah. They've given the kid the okay to move once I'm back to full, so, tomorrow or the day after."
"You expect her to..." she couldn't finish the sentance. There were too many horrible ways for Artemis to be applied for her to pick one to mention.
"I expect," he answered dryly, "her to get herself killed, along with everyone else with her - including Sanada, which'll at least give the thing a bright side for the rest of you."
"You'll be with her, too," she said, and didn't think about why it bothered her.
Another shrug. "It's not as though I haven't been expecting it."

No, he and Yukariko aren't even pretending to be polite to each other any more. ^_^
I wasn't able to find out how long it would take Nao to heal after having her cornea literally cut open - which was indeed what happened - and, though there wasn't much data on it online, it seems that eye patches are used to protect and stabalise the eye while it's recovering from the surgery to actually fix the problem. If anybody here knows better how this works, I'd like to hear it. ^_^
And before anybody starts ragging on me for being mean to here, at least she's better off than she was in canon, ne? I mean, she's still got an eye under the thing, right?
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

Rieverre · 04-27-2006, 11:11 AM

I just realized that coming on here and posting new snippets with such ... horrifying (well, to those who know my usual posting habits) ... regularity has become the high point of my day. How sad is that?

There was something in the air. The teachers felt it, as well as the students. Something beyond just the heavy atmosphere caused by news of war breaking out between Remus and Romulus, and Otome fighting Otome there.
Just about the only person somewhat oblivious to that was Yumemiya Arika, who seemed to be off in a world of her own there and then. Resulting in much chagrin for her partner in makeup class, certainly.
She, on the other hand, was somewhat more ... attentive to changes like that.
And knew they were never anything good.
Though her day passed without any events that would justify her uneasiness occurring, save perhaps for Arika, who also happened to be her roommate, falling unconscious and ending up in the infirmary, Coral Erstin Ho didn't quite manage to put her anxiety aside ...
... not without just cause, as it turned out when she returned to her dorm room.
It should have been empty, with Arika and her other roommate Nina Wong still tied up elsewhere ... well, with Arika it was more a question of being confined to the infirmary for the next few hours, for observation.
It should not have looked like a minor tornado had hit her locker, shelves and closet space. Nor should it have contained an unusually serious looking Juliet Nao Zhang, Pearl Otome and recent member of the Trias - a sort of Student Council equivalent.
"Erstin-chan," the older girl gave something between a grin and a grimace. It was ... not the most comforting of expressions. "Let's ... talk."
"S ... sempai?"
"But ... maybe not here."
The redhead then promptly pulled the blond out of the room, brushing off all protests as if they were little more than an inconvenience. Which, to her, they were.

-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

classicdrogn · 04-27-2006, 08:45 PM

That's not sad, Greiver, not when it means lots of Greiver-fic for the world to see - and the phenomenon is what the Superguy crowd used to call "posting high," the exhilerating feeli9ng of having produced another part of your ongoing story, having put it out there where people you know will enjoy it and who will most likely snicker at the same jokes as you did writing it wil see it, and having that little strip more nailed down so you can keep imagining the story without guilt.
I haven't experienced it in far too long, havcing been too busy reading and playing video games to really write much of anything, but I'm not even close to tired of Kingdom Hearts II yet, so that's not going to change at al in the next couple weeks at least.
- 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.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"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

Valles · 05-08-2006, 03:24 AM

Okay, this is the one I'm due for, isn't it?

"Expecting it." She blinked, which felt a little odd with the one eye sealed shut, and shook her head with a disbelieving smile. "You're that sure you're going to be killed tomorrow and you just shrug it off like a missed piece of homework."
"I committed myself to this a long time ago - from the very moment I accepted that all this was real, wasn't just some crazy dream, I was very aware that the odds of my surviving till the end were low. The stakes are too high, and there are too many ruthless people involved for a player like me, with no other resources, to have a really fighting chance. Granted, though, I was expecting to get it from SEARRS or Nagi." He said the last with a wry, self-deprecating little twist in his voice, and smirked.
She snorted. "You do know, don't you, that your buying it is going to cost Mai, too?"
"Yeah. But it's not my choice to make, is it? This world is a lot bigger than I am, than what I want or think or feel. Every person on this planet has hopes, dreams, fears, history just like you do. Even just imagining what a fraction of that really means... my heart's not hard enough to do anything else."
"Idiot," she said, and despite herself, there was a little bit of a smile in her voice.

Posting High: More Author's drug of choice.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

Rieverre · 05-08-2006, 11:46 AM

Quote:
Okay, this is the one I'm due for, isn't it?

Frankly? No idea. Either works. Both, if you feel up to that.

"Damn, you couldn't have tried to be a little more intimidating?"
I blinked. Shrugged. "It's not something I do well at most of the time."
"Maaa ... for being as stressed as you usually claim you are, you're way too mellow."
"Biting sarcasm so early in the evening? I hate to say this, but I don't think I can see this relationship is going anywhere. We're just too different. It'd never work out."
"Touche," Juliet snickered, then sobered as she changed the topic. "You think it's really going to happen? That's not just some delusion of yours, is it?"
"Kruger seems to believe it, everything else aside. Predictions say 'yay' and we'll be doing some subtle inquiring into the matter starting tomorrow," I shrugged.
We fell into a brief, if uncomfortable silence. No real prize for guessing where our thoughts were going.
I shook my head, leaned against the railing of the canal, and grumbled. "And that, Juliet, is why I hate dealing with fanatics."
She frowned, the nodded. "She's a good kid, but ... her mind's messed up. I don't think there's one thing she can agree with herself on ..."
"Actually, I'm thinking there is," I spoke after another moment of silence, broken only by the sound of water flowing in the canal. "Which either makes things much worse, or much better. Depends on how you look at it. She genuinely cares about people in general, her friends in particular ..."
She looked at me, then pinched the bridge of her nose in a gesture of resignation. "And it's tearing her apart, isn't it?"
"Not yet, but it would. It would."
Neither of us had anything to add, until a thought crossed my mind. I chuckled.
"... what? Is there something funny about this?"
I considered not telling her for a moment, then decided to hell with it.
"I'm actually jealous."
She looked at me as if I were insane. I got that a lot.
"It's been a long time since I've been able to care like that," I finished. "If ever."
Her eyes widened fractionally, then she slowly nodded.

I like Juliet. Not in 'that' way, maybe, all hotness aside, but as a character. I think she'd make a good conversation partner, if nothing else. Or just someone to bitch about the state of the world with.
Okay. If all goes well, this will soon be moving away from the 'mostly conversation' phase soon. Perhaps not too soon, but be assured, there'll be big explosions.

-Griever
who, during the past few days, has dusted off his flash drive and after deleting a fair bit of junk text in that still to be made chapter, has begun working on Machine Spirit again. No matter how far I have it by then, I'll be posting what I do have of Chapter3 on Sunday.
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

05-09-2006, 03:28 AM

Quote:
Okay. If all goes well, this will soon be moving away from the 'mostly conversation' phase soon. Perhaps not too soon, but be assured, there'll be big explosions.

with lots and lots of carnage and bears on fire, and presidents. [Image: happy.gif]

nice to see this thread going again [Image: smile.gif]

_______________________________
We are the swords in the darkness, the watchers on the walls. The fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn. The horn that wakes the sleepers. The shield that guards the realms of men. -The Brothers Black
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.

Valles · 05-12-2006, 03:43 AM

"I hate this," Akane whispered. Kazuya could feel the tears soaking through his shirt where she'd buried her face against his shoulder.
"I know," he answered softly.
"I hate that I can't have friends anymore. I hate that Fumi-san is... she was so kind, so gentle..."
"I know," he said, raising a hand to stroke her hair gently.
"I hate that... that I was the one who... I hate who I'm becoming."
"I love you," he said, which was the only thing he could think of to help.
"I love you, too, Kazu-kun."
He smiled, since he knew she couldn't see.

No. Comment. ^_^
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

Rieverre · 05-12-2006, 08:02 PM

... and the show goes on ...

"Huh ..." I blinked. Was that ...?
"What?"
"Thought my eyes were playing tricks on me," I replied absently, pushing myself off the railing and starting to stride down the alley.
"Now what the hell are you talking ... oh," Juliet said, stopping beside me, just at the alley's mouth. "What's the Old Man doing out here at a time like this, I wonder. And, hey, isn't that ..."
"Yeah, it's him," I nodded. "Well, that's a twist."
"Did I miss a memo or something?"
Ouch. Once again, sharp elbows on that girl.
"Last I heard from him, Yamada was still looking for any clues regarding the so called 'true' heiress to the throne of Windbloom," I said in a low voice as we made to follow them, at a distance.
"Maa ... how troublesome," Juliet replied, frowning. "In more than just the obvious way, if it's the Old Man asking."
"More of a by extension thing, I think," I muttered, stopping as the two men ahead of us halted in front of some shacks the city's homeless people had put up as a temporary shelter. "Does calling him that annoy him that badly?" I skipped topics as we watched the two talking about ... well, we couldn't hear from where we stood.
"Used to," Juliet shrugged, leaning back against the nearby wall. Then she sighed. "Hey, why're we following them anyway? I mean, Yamada's there already so ..."
"D'oh," I shook my head in embarassment. "Could be that the waiting's just getting to me."
"Heh. Come on," she inclined her head to one side, before pushing off the wall and slipping inside another of the alleys that the areas around the canals were riddled with. I considered, then followed. "Don't tell me you _want_ something to happen."
"Not really, it's just that I've got this ... sensation of impending unpleasantness that I'd just as soon be rid of," was my uncomfortable response.
"You, boyfriend," Juliet mock-stressed the word, "need to unwind. Badly."
"Yeah, I ..." we both stopped.
"Did you just ...?" in stereo.
I nodded.
She nodded.
"Deja vu," she commented after a second.
"Maybe," I admitted. "Maybe not."
She glanced my way. "Oh, because it worked oh so well last time."
I winced at the memory of the incident that got us into this whole relationship charade. Then shrugged.
It came, a second time.
She pointed. I pointed. We ended up pointing the same way, eyebrows raised in silent inquiry.
"Oh, why the hell not?" she commented.
We took off running.
Distressed shrieks, at night, in what passed for the city's slums? Not of the good.
I think we both had some frustrations to work off, there and then, so that was part of it.
... for our trouble, we got a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

next: Unholy Smackdown^2.
-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

classicdrogn · 05-13-2006, 11:45 AM

(snarls in antici....
...pation! and leans forward)
- 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.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"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

Valles · 05-14-2006, 01:50 AM

The first to die was just a guard. He was twenty-three years old, with three sisters he despised, parents he hadn't spoken to in years, and a girlfriend who was cheating on him.
His death wasn't part of the plan. The plan had, in fact, been intended to have it so that no one died, but had been made without specific knowledge of the hidden facility's security arrangments. The possibility that the targeted area for the initial, diversionary attack might be occupied had not been lost on the planners, but had been accepted as an unfortunatly neccessary risk.
The shells that landed on the other side of the wall he was patrolling past didn't kill him directly - that was done by the shrapnel their explosion sent screaming across the narrow median surrounding the parking lot - but they did shatter a nearly twenty-foot stretch of the reinforced concrete and open an easy path for the intruders.
Natsuki stepped calmly through the smoldering gap and turned and brought down the three guards charging out of the little shack by the gate in as many shots. She could have done the same thing with a real gun, as it happened - familiarizing herself with a normal weapon had seemed an obligatory step to mastering her Elements - but the fact that the tiny, Derringer-like weapons fired, for lack of a better term, bolts of energy rather than physical projectiles let her 'tune' them to act like tasers, and thereby spare their lives.
Behind her, she could hear a familiar ripping skid as Duran turned a ninety-degree corner at full speed, then the equally recognizable sound produced when he brought down a victim, like a cross between an animal attack and a motorcycle wreck.
All across the isolated compound, she could hear the sounds of activity begin to rise.
Kasane atta hibi
Kioku no oku he tojikome

I do not, Midori thought as she brought her axe down, want to know where they got this thing. The armored jeep whose crew had been trying to train its top-mounted machine gun around to bear on her shuddered under the impact, then started to roll slowly downhill - backwards and away from her - with a terrible cracking noise as its hydraulic and brake systems began to bleed cool liquid all over the shattered wreckage of its engine block. The driver was just sitting frozen in place, face white and eyes wide, but the man who had been wrestling with the gun cursed at it as the generator supplying its assisting motor went dead and hopped to the ground as he pulled out a pistol.
She stepped foward and poked the butt-end of the axe into his stomach, gently, so that it only made him lay down to try and remember how to breath, rather than rupturing something important.
Kinou to chigau
Watashi ga ima koko ni tatteru

"Watch out!" Mai screamed, and by the time Midori had spun to see why the high-schooler had yelled she had dived between the older woman and the guard bringing the assault rifle out from under the entryway's desk. Every round in the thirty-shot magazine ended up the same way, sparking harmlessly off of the firey barrier swirling just inches beyond Mai's thrown-out hands, but a flicker of motion in the corner of her eye made Midori sweep her weapon around before she'd had a chance to relax, or even realize what she'd seen.
Elements were, by their very nature, almost impossibly durable. Tough, strong... it was, Midori realized with more than a touch of fear, the first time she'd ever seen anything manage to bend her weapon's shaft. It was only sheer luck that put her feet at the right angles to keep her on balance as her planted shoes skidded back slightly under the impact.
Orite kita yami wa
Subete wo yasashiku daite

Akane didn't let the blocked blow disturb her or slow her down. She caught the rebound's energy easily and swept the other tonfa in with the same motion, an attack that Midori was only barely able to dance away from.
Down and back and up and around back down, a textbook attack pattern for a two-handed cutting weapon like Midori's, but Akane dashed to the side rather than trying to exploit an opening. The older woman caught the motion and turned it to the side, trying to bring the heavy blade around to sweep and catch her as she dashed off to try and confront the one both of them knew was the most dangerous on the field, but was too slow.
She was fast enough, though, to notice the unobtrusive door that Yuuichi exploded out of as he dashed towards her.
Katari kakeru no
Mamoru koto no hontou no imi wo

What, you thought they were just going to wait around and wait for SEARRS to come to them? This show's a deconstruction, remember.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

Rieverre · 05-14-2006, 03:44 AM

Intimidation was never my strong point, like I'd said.
Maybe because I've been beyond the point it would have been useful at for a bit too long. Or because I'm too bloody impatient.
Back in my ghost in the machine days, I didn't much have to worry about intimidating anyone. It was doing the opposite that took effort.
In the Shito body, it was just a half-measure I didn't bother with much. Nine times out of ten, breaking something is more likely to get through to somebody than any threats.
Plus, there was the fact that I'd gotten the AT, as in Absolute Terror, Field down pat. Projective empathy is dead useful. Maybe not exactly for intimidation, but it's dead useful for scaring the shit out of people. Hence the name.
When Juliet and I skidded into that alley, having picked up the pace after one particularly loud shriek ...
... the situation we stumbled into was glaringly obvious.
Several guys, one girl that was being pressed against the wall by one of said guys. Said assailant was also doing his best to cop as many feels as he could, while the hand that wasn't busy with that was waving a knife around well in the girl's personal space.
It didn't take a genius to see where this was going, even without empathy ...
... and that was when I recognized the girl.
If I'd been angry an instant before that ...
We hadn't been very subtle in approaching, so the toughs were starting to turn.
I let them have a solid kick of raw animal terror with a capital T, and I think I was in a worse mood than I'd realized since it wasn't entirely controlled. I heard Juliet break stride for a moment.
Only for a moment, though.
Two of the toughs soiled themselves, the others, including knife-guy, froze in place like very small mice before a very large snake.
I snipped off the projection before it got further out of control and bleed onto their intended victim. It had been enough, anyway ...
Enough for me to step up behind knife-guy and yank him and his little toy away from the girl, via shirt collar and belt.
I did the most expedient thing I could think of at the moment and tossed the guy into his nearest compatriot. I think I broke something on either of them. Maybe both.
This body is stronger than it looks, simply because the brain hasn't put limiters on how big a percentage of its muscles I can actually use.
Which was when they shook the effects of that brief Field pulse off, and ...
... let's just say that between myself and Juliet's brass knuckles, there were very many broken bones in that alley that night.

Next: conversation in transition. smackdown commences, though in a different way.
-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 · 05-16-2006, 04:18 AM

Some obscure corner of her mind tried to guess how fast he'd have to be running to be on her so quickly - it had to have been at least fifty meters from her to the door he started from, but he still managed to cover the distance almost before she had a chance to react. He shouted something as his sword's basket came up hard against the gap between her axe's blade and shaft, a name, she thought, something like 'karaiapi,' and then the world's colors went away into an impossible grayscale and every sound, even that of her own heartbeat, vanished completely for a fleeting instant.
Mugen ni hirogaru hoshi wo
Nando mo miagete ita

"K'so!" she snapped as she threw herself back and away. Yeah, it had been a name, all right - the name of a Child, which certainly answered the question of whether or not whatever had happened to him went deep enough to let him have one. Besides the fact that it had appeared quite literally out of nowhere, the massive, armored form whose scythe-like forelimb had buried itself deep in the ground inches from where she had been standing was too bizzare to be anything else.
It was large, about the size of her own Gakutenou, but leaner and more spread-out. At first glance, the body was wormlike, but longer exposure made it seem more like a dragonfly's - either way, it was long and flexible and covered in armored plates. Beside the mantis's arms, it had four blade-like wings that it held back out of the way and as many splay-footed legs bracing its form off the ground. Its head was long and narrow and seemed to have far too many jaws, like a cross between a stork and a furled umbrella, and it had no eyes at all.
Midori knew damn well that she couldn't beat it herself. "GAKUTENOU!"
Ano yoru wo wasure nai
Hiki kaese nai

It was, she realized some time later, a mistake. By the time her Child had finished manifesting, his opposite number's jaws were gaping wide, with strange, comblike organs folded out to fill the gaps between their spreading arcs and complete the parabolic dish.
It was a shriek; it was a symphony. It was the roar of an angry God and the poison whisper of the Devil himself, simultaneously the loudest sound of Midori's life and the only one that would never register on her ears at all.
The core of it was only visible as a sort of lightning-quick heat shimmer that picked Gakutenou up and knocked him sprawling to the ground. The car parked some distance beyond him rocked on its shocks, and the paint all along its nearer side split and flaked in a radial pattern off of the bare metal underneath. Its tires exploded, and every window on the compound seemed to simply vanish into a shower of glitter.
Ushinau mono wa nani mo nai
Afure dashiteku ENERGY

Even the fringes of the... zone... were enough to send sheets of dust skidding away from its line of flight, and lift Midori bodily off the ground and send her tumbling across the parking lot. For a moment she just lay there, cataloging the raw scrapes scattered across her exposed skin and taking note of the fact that she was bleeding not only from nose and ears, but also the corners of her eyes, which hazed the entire world with a red film.
Needless to say, everything hurt.
Some instinct - it had to have been that, since she was looking the wrong way and there was no way her eardrums hadn't burst - prompted her to abruptly roll to one side and try to throw herself to her feet. She couldn't, of course - her sense of balance had been destroyed even more thoroughly than her other ones - but she did manage to get herself out of the way of the descending swordblade before she had to start throwing up.
Atsuku tsuyoku takumashiku
Tatoe hikari no nai sekai demo

Julia was much the worse for wear, having had to fight two of the more powerful Childs without support, and Kiyohime's decision to use her as a bowling ball to knock Calliope away from Gakutenou was almost the final straw. She didn't dissolve, quite, but she certainly didn't look to be up to even picking herself up off the ground, let alone continuing to fight.
Yuuichi cut Duran's first shot out of the air and ducked under the second, then glanced around and cursed. Julia on the ropes, Gakutenou ditto, Kagutsuchi out of the way for now but Harry and Akane'd have all that they could do to even survive, let alone keep him busy... Kiyohime was all tied up for the time being but already working to tear herself free, with her mistress's help, which left Duran and Calliope free...
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Nao stumbling over to her Child's side, clutching one hand to her side and obviously bleeding freely.
Koe wo kanjite
Anata dake mitsuke rareru

After a moment of thought, he cursed again and shouted a command and dashed towards the only ally he had left on the field. By the time he reached her, Calliope had left off her harrying of Midori's battered Child and buzzed over to wrap her legs around the badly injured Julia. A moment later, after her master had wrapped an arm around Nao's waist and dragged her into the gap between the two hulking monsters, she lifted off again, although with noticably more difficulty, and zoomed off out of sight at just over treetop level.

Yes, that was an intentional DWII homage you saw, although I arrived at the choice of that powerset completely seperately.
*rereads post title* Boy, that's a little ironic, isn't it?
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

***Bob Schroeck*** · 05-16-2006, 05:10 AM

Quote:
Yes, that was an intentional DWII homage you saw,

I thought it sounded familiar.

-- Bob
---------
For Jor-El so loved the Earth, he sent his only begotten son...

Rieverre · 05-16-2006, 03:33 PM

So it's the bastard child of a hydralisk, an Alien style xenomorph, and a bug from the Starship Troopers movie?

"Don't you have anything to actually do today?"
"Surprisingly, no. Ren's efficient that way. Besides, I wanted to personally make sure of something. Speaking of which ... don't you have anything to actually do today?"
"Pfft. She told me to keep an eye on you, didn't she?"
"How's Yumemiya?"
"She's got fortitude, I'll give her that. Kid was pretty much back to being alright this morning, or at least doing a damn good job of pretending."
"Mm. Ah, there we go. Mind letting me handle this one alone?"
"Wha ... _her_? That's why you ... you aren't going to?"
"... there's something that doesn't feel right about this. I was there when she left after being expelled. If there was any anger and viciousness there, it was totally overshadowed ... she's a mess of almost nothing but fear right now."
"You're saying it might not have been her?"
"I'm saying it's something to look into. Why take a risk?"
***
"Miya Clochette."
The former Coral spun around, tears still staining her cheeks. No need to try and hold her composure. After all, it was all over.
Expulsion ... shameful. But maybe it was worth it to get out from under her thumb.
A car to the station, a train ticket to Sand Port, and then another one to take her back home. She'd been on her way to the waiting area for that last and longest leg of her trip when the voice had called out her name ...
Red eyes glared at her.
***
"I take it back," Juliet said when she joined me on the way to the train that would take the two of us back to the city. "You can be pretty damn intimidating."
"No," I shook my head. "The word you're looking for isn't intimidating. It's homicidal."
She looked away. "So, what's the verdict?"
"She was being played," I replied. Then I shook my head. "The name Tomoe Marguerite mean anything to you?"

next: as ye sow, so shall ye reap.
-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

Rieverre · 05-23-2006, 11:39 AM

because I felt like it.

"Oi, Yukino!"
No reaction.
"Yukino?"
No reaction.
"Yu-"
Poke.
"-ki-"
Poke.
"-no."
Poke ...
"Ah!" the short haired woman seemed to snap out of whatever deliberations had held her attention so intently. "Haruka-chan! Is something wrong?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Haruka Armitage frowned. Well, frowned more.
"That girl is in Windbloom," Yukino Chrysant, President of the Republic of Aries, said. There was no need to further specify, since it was Haruka who'd originally started referring to their erstwhile mysterious visitor in that manner. Especially since she'd slipped the minders she'd been assigned and almost literally disappeared off the face of the planet. The potential for causing ... problems the near perfect, if younger, double of Shizuru Viola had was significant, and in the sort of state Earl was right then, it wasn't something to be taken lightly.
And now she'd found out that that girl was in the place that, for all intents and purposes, was the powder keg of the present.
Just how she'd found out about this was something that concerned her more, though. Two sources. One from the intelligence operative currently in Garderobe, the other from her cousin ... who should have, by all rights, informed her far earlier since that girl was apparently working with him.
Not three hours later, and the preparations for departure were complete. She may not have been able to intervene in the Lutetian conflict, but she sure as hell would get to the bottom of what was going on in Windbloom.
***
Tumultous. That was one way to describe the events of the past days.
Add to that this most recent kink in the matter, and you could understand why Natsuki Kruger was not a happy headmistress right there and then.
"No changes?"
Yohko Helene shook her head to indicate the negative.
"Nothing. Her body and the nanites are both functioning at nearly optimal efficiency, and it isn't even a coma - there's brainwave activity across the board and the obvious indications that she's merely in REM sleep."
"For four days," Natsuki remarked.
"Whatever it is, it's not something we can do anything about right now. The best bet would be to just ... wait."
***
It wasn't hard for her to put two and two together. Just look for the person with the motive, watch, and ...
"Anything I can do for you, Major?"
If he was surprised to see her there, it certainly didn't show.
Her own poker face didn't let anything through either. Chie Hallard may have been a relatively junior operative of Aries' Military Intelligence, out of neccessity, but she was damn good at her job.
"What did you do to her?"
A frank question to ask right outside of the building the man worked in, but she wasn't in the mood for subtlety.
"Your job," he deadpanned, glaring. "For one thing, Yumemiya-kun is very important to a person of my acquaintance. For another, your precious little Marguerite's actions were reprehensible. You should think on that a little, and see just how they reflect on _you_."
That had hit a bit too close to home, and Chie couldn't quite suppress a wince.
"Be that as it may, she should be awake soon enough," the red-eyed man continued. "I suggest you see to it that this sort of thing doesn't happen again. Good day."
***
"I suggest you see to it that this sort of thing doesn't happen again. Good day," I said, brushing past the girl.
For someone as reportedly intelligent, she'd really dropped the ball on this. The little brat had been her responsibility, and I didn't believe that Hallard had been ignorant of her actions.
I had other concerns now, though, than the already dealt with issue of the person who'd tasked Clochette with having her 'associates' trap and rape Yumemiya Arika.
Ren's message had reached Aries, Yamada had managed to get through to Miyu ... and we all knew Schwarz was moving. We knew the most likely date of when they would move - what better time to strike than when the whole city would be preoccupied with a large event, like the unveiling of the new Castle and the Otome Graduation Ceremony.
Hopefully, when that time came we'd be ready to reply in kind.
And as for Tomoe Marguerite?
The human mind is an incredible place, capable of experiencing and processing several times that which it consciously is. Which is why a dream during a half-hour nap can sometimes seem to last for hours on end, for instance.
And apparently, I was getting better on working with them. Or placing memories was far easier on a mind than yanking them out was. Painful? I'd imagine so. But not lethal.
Marguerite was the living proof of that.
Though she'd likely wish she weren't.
There were plently of nasty things floating around in my mind, and most of them were actually mine. The ones I'd used in this case were not, and they weren't ones I'd thought I'd ever actually use.
Horrors, nightmares and recollections.
Maybe it was too impulsive a decision. Maybe I'd acted too rashly. Part of me was telling me that it would have been kinder to simply kill her and be done with it but that would have been ... something that could have unpleasant circumstances for the state of things.
And 'kind' was the last thing on my mind at the time.
As ye sow, so shall ye reap. A punishment fit for the crime.
Sleep it off, Marguerite. And dream of Genaros.

-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

***Bob Schroeck*** · 05-23-2006, 02:03 PM

Naaaasty. I like.-- Bob
---------
I loot faster. -- Peggy Schroeck, D&D game, in response to a crisis situation that arises while she's searching the bodies of four recent opponents.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

classicdrogn · 05-23-2006, 06:51 PM

(snarls in satisfatcion and sits back)
- 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.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"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

Valles · 05-27-2006, 04:16 AM

Alyssa checked her watch. "She's here," she said.
Miyu, who was perched in a branch overhead, looked down. "Tate and Yuuki are clear of the facility."
"Oh?" The more human of the pair smiled. "Pity." Then she reached up and pulled the limiter circuit hidden in her hair ribbon away. Without its timed emanations bombarding the cells of her brain stem, she could feel the rising fever and nausea as her power began to drive the physical cells of her body beyond what they found comfortable or, in the long run, survivable.
The trees rustled around them, tossing their heads like upset horses as a tremendous bulk of white and black and flaming orange roared by close overhead. Neither so much as blinked.
Unaware, or at least heedless, of the two enemies he had so casually overflown, Kagutsuchi backwinged once to kill his momentum before letting himself drift easily over the devestated secret compound's courtyard. "Now?" Alyssa asked. From where she stood on the ground, of course, she couldn't make out any details beyond those that Artemis was able to relay to her from overhead, but there wasn't any problem relying on Miyu's judgement to call the shot.
"Now," the replicant answered calmly, taking note as she did so that Duran seemed to have grown greatly since the time of her last image of him - before only slightly larger than a motorcycle, he now had to bulk nearly as much as a large automobile. It was a moot point, of course, but if any data on Miss Kuga's conduct was available it might reveal something useful about the interaction between Valkyries and their Childs.
"Hai!" her mistress chirped, then flinched, squinting, as the sun overhead suddenly seemed to become impossibly bright. The emission spectrum was solar, but slightly changed, as though reflecting... A subroutine presented a possibility, and a quick calculation of the angles of the second light source which had joined the sun in the sky above provided corroboration.
They had believed that Diana's ability to focus and redirect light was limited to her own area... and had been wrong. Badly wrong. The 'HiME-sentai's attack had not been badly timed - it had arrived precisely when they had intended it to, at a point where Alyssa could be manipulated into manifesting Artemis... so that it could be destroyed, burned from the sky by Diana's gaze.
Alyssa screamed, and simultaneously, almost to the nanosecond, Miyu felt the tactile and other sensors in her toes begin to simply... stop reporting... one by one.
Panic was as much a physical reaction as a mental one, and a vice to which Miyu was not susceptible, but the painful awareness that stabbed through her was almost worse. The seperation from her previous incarnation had caused serious changes in Alyssa's emotional state, and the backlash of Artemis's death was erasing her, rather than Director Walton, as had been intended when Alyssa's conditioning was planned.
Once she had finished vanishing, there would be no one to protect Alyssa... and SEARRS would never leave a loose end like her uncut.
Unacceptable.
She rolled off of the branch and ended beside her charge with a thud, landing thrown slightly off by the absence of proper response or feedback from her feet or, now, fingertips. "Alyssa," she said, then had to repeat the name twice, more sharply each time, before the child turned her head and began to focus on her. "You have to go."
"Mi...yu...?"
She brought her hand up between them, and saw the import of the green evanescence rolling slowly across it penetrate into her mistress's mind. "Run," she urged. "They'll be coming for you... You don't have long to get to the safehouse we set up."
"I won't... leave you..."
Enough of her hands' structure remained to pull Alyssa to her feet and wrap her arm around her back. "I'll come with you... for as long as I can."
"...thank you..."

*squee*
Sometimes, things just flow, from the mind to the keyboard, and there's just nothing better. ^_^
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

Rieverre · 05-27-2006, 05:14 PM

A bit of setup.

A lot can happen in as little time as few weeks.
Miyu can come by, to personally look in on Yumemiya, then drop by to catch up on more recent events.
Shizuru, the Otome, can come back from her excursion to the Lutetian borderlands after investigating the skirmish that had taken place there, talk with Headmistress Kruger and decide to visit the Black office to see this 'other self' whom she'd caught a glimpse of during Windbloom's most recent Slave incident.
They can run into one-another when there.
And given that, while I'd told Fujino-san about her, she'd never actually met Miyu bafore ... to my knowledge ...
... it turns out there's some bad blood between Miyu, or at least 'a' Miyu, and Fujino-san. From the latter's perspective, anyway.
That was a volatile enough situation. One would think that adding another bit of equally 'explosive' material to the mix would only have it escalate further. Or blow up altogether.
It didn't. Actually, it broke the tension quite well.
Also almost broke my office's door, but that's Haruka Armitage for you.

-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 · 06-21-2006, 04:07 AM

He cringed slightly as the needle slid into the vein at his elbow. Even after having to fight through pain a dozen times worse, even after spending more than a month literally flat on his back, eating through the IV, he still had an elemental horror of the things that stubbornly refused to even explain itself to the more rational parts of his mind.
"Do you... know what happened to Alyssa?" the doctor asked, after she had let the amused smile - originally a reaction to his uncharacteristic childishness, and by now a part of their ritual interaction - drop away from the worry underneath.
Yuuichi shrugged, mostly with the right shoulder so as to avoid disturbing the needle at all. "Not really. I haven't seen her... I suspect the higher-ups tried to... tie off their loose ends, after Artemis died, but Miyu had access to every source I could give her, and she said something about arranging a safehouse, which I don't think she meant to use against Akira's clan."
"Thank you... and...?" her lips were drawn, and whatever was pulling the color from her face kept her from even fully voicing the question.
He grinned and gave her the best reassurance he could. "Quite well, and deadly as hell. I really expected to die..."
The doctor relaxed, mostly, and nodded as she pulled out a syringe and checked it for bubbles. "Not today. How do you feel?"
He thought for a moment, carefully ignoring the persistent sting on one arm. "...I ache. My eyes are scratching and burning, and every joint grates."
She sighed, quietly, "Quite possibly you always will."
He smiled. "Then we will pay the price, but we will not count the cost."

Meh. This isn't much, but it's enough for a decent shot at getting back in the swing of things.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

Rieverre · 06-21-2006, 08:53 PM

... well, I do, but somehow I doubt that 'Drakengard 2' is a valid one. I'm tempted to say that I'm putting this on hold while I try to do a rewrite of what I've got, but we all know how well I can hold a deadline, and how long that'd likely take. I could blame it on the weather, because I'm kinda expecting a Yautja to show up sometime this week if the upcoming rain doesn't do anything against the heat and humidity - see, this is exactly why I prefer fall or spring. And, damn if my ISP isn't loopy because of the impendingly stormy weather or something. I've had spotty net connections at best over the past ... well, since yesterday. Annoying, not to mention ... okay, I currently have no social life outside of the net. You can see where this would be bothersome to me.
Or I could bitch at random things until you forget that this was supposed to be another segment of ENR ... oh, wait. See the above paragraph.
Aaaaanyway ... yeah, or I could just say to hell with it and write on. Hmm. I think I'll do that.
And yes, I like hearing myself talk. Eh, type.

Exhaustion, thy name is ... well, whenever I actually figure that one out, I'll be sure to share it.
Meanwhile, I'll just give myself a pat on the back for defusing a confusing situation, or would have if I weren't too busy with not collapsing.
Ren had gone off, presumably to the residence of his cousin and her Otome, the latter of whom had been a mite ... odd after she'd sent my door to the next life, and not odd in a 'ha ha' way either. If I'd had a bit more fortitude on me at the time, I'd have been nervous. Barring that, a little concerned about Ren. There and then, though, the only thing that came to mind in relation to the matter was how much more paperwork I'd be forced to deal with if he didn't show up in the morning.
Yes, I'm selfish like that. Go figure.
Amazingly, Miyu's unexpected ... well, perhaps not unexpected, just slightly ill timed ... arrival didn't result in more than a momentary increase of tension from the two Shizurus. The younger one I could understand, and I'd later find out about the encounter Viola had with the blue haired android out in the Lutetian borderlands.
I didn't really blame the Meister Otome for being ill at ease with her when I did, given that she wasn't exactly one to give information freely. And even when she did, one shouldn't expect a straight answer.
Speaking for myself, I'd had the fortune of being of interest to her due to my mode of arrival and nature, so we'd gotten off to a fairly good start. Well, we hadn't tried to kill one-another at the very least. Which in my book goes under 'good start'.
Viola hadn't had that advantage, as their meeting looked more like a spot of chance than something that had actually been planned.
While the Otome was there though - and after she and her counterpart had gone off for a good hour or so to talk about ... it's really not my place to pry, you know ... and they were very careful about not being overheard, not that I had the chance or the time to do so in any case - a few bits of recently acquired information made their way from Black's files into her hands.
Aaaaaand, I really didn't have time for more, since ...

"What is everybody in this world playing for, Madam President?" I replied with a question. "Technology. Though not exactly the kind that most covet. I've said it before, my motives in this can be boiled down to selfishness. Enlightened self-interest, if you're willing to stretch that."

Part of me had wanted to make her at least be less ... understanding?
Okay, you know, I may have a problem.
It's core is the simple fact that, while I can do being an inadvertant bastard just fine without as much as noticing, I can't seem to bring myself to push people away 'for their own good' to save my life.
My guess is that I'm affection starved, though if you share that with anybody I'll cut your heart out with a dull spoon.

"Mou ... Katz-kun, that sort of thing is a give with everybody, in any position of power, and you manage to be more fortright about it than most," she replied, pushing her glasses up a miniscule bit.
"Yourself included?" I asked, interested in keeping the conversation that I'd been hoping to end as soon as possible going all of the sudden.
"Ambition is as much part of office as anything else, though degrees may ... vary," she cocked her head to one side. "My hope is that I will be able to maintain it as a benevolent sort of ambition for as long as I am able to. At least until I retire."
That was ... unexpected. For all the talks we'd had, this one seemed to be verging on the painful sort of honesty that can make or break a friendship.
"From someone who's been chasing a dream for a while now," I tried my best to grin, "I think you'll do alright. Although maybe I'm not the best person to ask, seeing as the last time I got mixed up in ambition of that particular ... scope ... it ended up starting a war."
I paused for a moment, before quietly adding. "Looking back now ... I wouldn't change a thing."
"A ... war? In the outer lands, you mean? One of the skirmishes?"
"Did you ever get Fujino-san's story from her?" The change of topic had Yukino pause for a moment. Then she nodded. "Mine is similar in a way. You could say that I'm very much not from around here."
"We'd thought ... at first that is, that she'd been hallucinating. Cloning technology remains mostly Lost to us, but not neccessarily on the whole," she allowed cautiously.
"Yukino," I said as seriously as I could. "Please, for the love of all that's holy and not, I am not, was not, and will never be related to Nagi dai Artai in any way, shape, or form."
'I hope,' was silently added.
That was a bit of a breaker for the somber mood we'd been hovering around, letting us enjoy a few chuckles.

Which was when Haruka had decided that enough was enough but Yukino had some function to attend that evening, an obligation that came with the station she held, that I really hadn't ... er, no, I had heard. I had just wanted to ignore its presence.
... it's still a bit of a mystery to me how the hell I ended up stuck in a suit, playing escort. It was an oddly pleasant evening, although I retained enough presence of mind not to actually engage in any conversation for long enough to get annoyed with somebody.
Because I really, really, really hate conversations about business and finances. Which, I suppose, is one of the reasons I'll never make a good director of a trading company, but there you go. Since Aries had a lot of trade going on with both Windbloom and various other parties that could best be reached when going through that particular city's capital, that was mostly what Madam President was conversing about that evening.
Which is how I came to be entirely ... unnerved ... while sharing a drink with the only other person there who was as uncomfortable in the place as myself, though perhaps not hiding it quite as aptly.
Though why she was so quiet during the whole period, I didn't know. Most odd. Haruka Armitage doesn't do quiet. Just ... no.
Although, come to think of it, she was a mite fidgety.
Eventually, the gathering did disperse, and we each made our way to our respective abodes.
Hence, my earlier comment about exhaustion. The day had been uncommonly long ...
"What, exactly, is that?" asked a voice from the door of my office. Hmm. Alright, Fujino was still up too.
"Tea," I commented after taking a sip of the steaming brew.
Shizuru responded by wrinkling her nose in a show of ... annoyance.
"That ... is _not_ tea," she slowly replied.
Well, yes, I had managed to hide some of my mint tea stash from her quest to replace every bit of tea in the building with imported Zipang green tea.
"I like it, it makes me feel nostalgic, and ... Shizuru, please, must we do this now? The day has been taxing."
She gave me what I read as a skeptical look. Or it could have been something else entirely, I wasn't really certain.
Then she sighed, and fell into one of the conference chairs that were still littering the floor space of my office.
"You are right about that, at least," she gave a sigh that sounded the way I felt, then gave the steaming pot of brew on my desk a ... wary ... look, before inclining her head towards it. "I suppose you only live once."
I answered the unspoken question and poured her a mug, then handed it to her. She took a sip. Grimaced slightly.
"It's a wonder you can taste anything at all of it behind all that sugar," Shizuru said.
Alright, so I tend to overdo it where that's concerned sometimes.
"So," I sat myself in the chair behind my desk, leaning back as far as the backrest could go. "How'd your part of it go, then?"
It was then that I was again reminded of the ... unique sense of humor she had. And that I really should know better than to drink hot bevrages when she's in that sort of mood.
"Well, Viola-san and myself decided that, no, it could not really be considered masturbation."
Oh well, I was going to have to have the shirt washed anyway. What's a few tea stains here and there?

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 · 06-22-2006, 01:49 AM

Quote:
"We'd thought ... at first that is, that she'd been hallucinating. Cloning technology remains mostly Lost to us, but not neccessarily on the whole," she allowed cautiously.
"Yukino," I said as seriously as I could. "Please, for the love of all that's holy and not, I am not, was not, and will never be related to Nagi dai Artai in any way, shape, or form."
'I hope,' was silently added.

Have the GM or player roll a d100 to determine probability of both being related.
Won't it be a kick in the head for both if they are related!
__________________
Into terror!, Into valour!
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And the devil will burn!
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