*snickers* okay, one of these is to be blamed solely on Nate. You'll know which.
*vector*
*timestamp - picture of a blonde girl clad in a Garderobe issue swimsuit giving a black haired girl clad in same a rather enthusiastic variation of CPR. Notation on the side says 'Ren, I don't know whether to dock your pay for this, or promote you' on the side, in black marker.*
"I swear, I'll never again even think the words 'That's it, now I've seen everything'."
Two weeks after the Aries Republic representatives had packed up shop and left for home - citing an important sounding reason to do so that I was sure was one of their pre-arranged ones to use in such situations - things had calmed down some. On the surface, at least.
The Remus and Romulus situation was still an issue, or non-issue in most official circles, if only because I wanted to know what the hell was going on there.
A reliable source had claimed Schwarz was somehow involved, but details had been sketchy. Very much so, in fact.
If thing here in Windbloom remained relatively calm over the next few days, I'd thought that morning, I'd take a Frame and check it myself. It would serve the dual purpose of checking the situation with my own eyes and other senses, and seeing how Ren managed things in my absence.
I'd picked up a pre-prepared report on the matter that had been put together a week ago, and was updated semi-regularly, and made for Garderobe with it.
If this escalated any further, and I wouldn't bet on it taking a lot to make it so, the likelyhood of their Otome getting involved would rise. As little as I cared for the way Garderobe stuck to tradition and did things, my personal opinions had to take a backseat.
Now if the opportunity arose ... no, I honestly couldn't say what I'd do. A gradual change was almost always better than the chaos of one more rapid - I'd seen the results of both, hell, I'd been one of the instigators of the latter one time.
Besides, I wasn't here to change the world. My reasons were far more selfish than that.
But I digress.
I'd made it a point to take care of the irregular deliveries to Garderobe myself, not that there were many. It created the illusion of good manners, but beyond that, it gave me a chance to pay closer attention to the goings on there than just occasional reports let me.
Honestly? It was pure luck that had me walking along that particular path, in the direction of the administrative building where I'd been told the Headmistress currently was.
So ... er, yeah. It defied description and left me with my jaw flapping in the wind.
The first thing that came to mind and mouth was: "If that's part of standardized training, I'm seriously going to be worried about my sanity."
Among all the things I'd expected to see, three Coral and a single Pearl Otome students fighting a monster in the school pool? Well, attempting to, before being ... err ... immobilized, and another Pearl coming by and slicing the thing into oblivion. That last one was familiar, though, in part because of the red hair, in part because of the attitude.
"You did not just see that."
In fact, it was sufficiently distracting that I hadn't consciously noted somebody coming up behind me.
Unsurprisingly, Natsuki Kruger's voice could be just as chilly as her GEM, the Silver Quartz of Ice and Snow, suggested.
"See what?"
"Good answer. And rest assured, it isn't."
I coughed into my fist, suppressing a brief bout of awkwardness, handed the message tube to Miss Kruger, and walked off.
I was still a little off-kilter when I reached the office, though my mind was starting to actually work again.
The one thing that did come of this excursion was a decision to definitely see if we could convince Juliet-ane-san to do some work for us.
But really, I mean ... tentacles? What the fuck?
*timestamp - grainy picture of Jipang delegation arriving in Windbloom, with 'And if they believe that's Tokiha, their intelligence services suck so badly that their using ours so often is actually justified. Vey.' on the side, in black marker.*
Deception is the basis of all warfare.
It's also a handy tactic for when you want to do something you'd rather other people didn't know about.
The best case scenario is when it's somebody _else_ who provides a distraction, so that your movements remain, if not unseen, then at least ignored.
"Were we expecting a delivery of some sort today?" Ren said, leaning in through the half-open door.
I was up in moments, the folder that held little of interest to me but had been on hand and reading the contents had seemed better than just giving in to idle waiting landing on the desk.
"Sort of yes, sort of no," I told him as he trailed along into the elevator, and we descended into the basement garage. "You let them in?"
"They had authorization from the Aries office," he retorted defensively.
"I'm not saying you shouldn't have," I countered. "I wasn't sure when it'd be here, but today's as good as any."
"I figured leaving them to wait outside wouldn't have been a good thing."
"You figured right."
The truck was a Windbloom vehicle, not actually ours but rented, since we didn't really work with heavy loads that often. The fact that it let most of the heavy loads that did come in do so without attracting undue attention was a nice bonus.
Two metal crates rested in the back, and the local equivalent of a forklift was waiting alongside. That, at least, was part of our official inventory.
"The runners?" I asked. Policy said to use two or even three, if a heavy load was involved.
"One Frame's getting a new turbine and a battery recharge, the two drivers of the truck and the frame runner are getting debriefed and settled in."
I nodded. "Alright, get it unloaded and to the freight elevator. About time it got some more use."
"Workshop?"
"Don't snoop."
"Hard not to, since it's my job."
And so on. I inspected the crates, smiling faintly as I climbed from the truck. Ren proceeded to use the forklift to get the crates into the elevator.
"They're damn heavy. What the hell is in there, boss?"
I shrugged. "Oh, they're so heavy because they're full of mercy."
He blinked at me.
"Katz, have I ever told you you were weird? No offense."
"Mm, none taken. And yeah. Why?"
"No reason, boss. Just checking."
The elevator shuddered briefly, and started to ascend.
---
Ya. *reads summary of Otome ep.19* Oh yah, definitely something to look forward to and more neat stuff to work with. *crackles*
Edit: incidentially, any scanlations of the manga out there?
-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
*vector*
*timestamp - picture of a blonde girl clad in a Garderobe issue swimsuit giving a black haired girl clad in same a rather enthusiastic variation of CPR. Notation on the side says 'Ren, I don't know whether to dock your pay for this, or promote you' on the side, in black marker.*
"I swear, I'll never again even think the words 'That's it, now I've seen everything'."
Two weeks after the Aries Republic representatives had packed up shop and left for home - citing an important sounding reason to do so that I was sure was one of their pre-arranged ones to use in such situations - things had calmed down some. On the surface, at least.
The Remus and Romulus situation was still an issue, or non-issue in most official circles, if only because I wanted to know what the hell was going on there.
A reliable source had claimed Schwarz was somehow involved, but details had been sketchy. Very much so, in fact.
If thing here in Windbloom remained relatively calm over the next few days, I'd thought that morning, I'd take a Frame and check it myself. It would serve the dual purpose of checking the situation with my own eyes and other senses, and seeing how Ren managed things in my absence.
I'd picked up a pre-prepared report on the matter that had been put together a week ago, and was updated semi-regularly, and made for Garderobe with it.
If this escalated any further, and I wouldn't bet on it taking a lot to make it so, the likelyhood of their Otome getting involved would rise. As little as I cared for the way Garderobe stuck to tradition and did things, my personal opinions had to take a backseat.
Now if the opportunity arose ... no, I honestly couldn't say what I'd do. A gradual change was almost always better than the chaos of one more rapid - I'd seen the results of both, hell, I'd been one of the instigators of the latter one time.
Besides, I wasn't here to change the world. My reasons were far more selfish than that.
But I digress.
I'd made it a point to take care of the irregular deliveries to Garderobe myself, not that there were many. It created the illusion of good manners, but beyond that, it gave me a chance to pay closer attention to the goings on there than just occasional reports let me.
Honestly? It was pure luck that had me walking along that particular path, in the direction of the administrative building where I'd been told the Headmistress currently was.
So ... er, yeah. It defied description and left me with my jaw flapping in the wind.
The first thing that came to mind and mouth was: "If that's part of standardized training, I'm seriously going to be worried about my sanity."
Among all the things I'd expected to see, three Coral and a single Pearl Otome students fighting a monster in the school pool? Well, attempting to, before being ... err ... immobilized, and another Pearl coming by and slicing the thing into oblivion. That last one was familiar, though, in part because of the red hair, in part because of the attitude.
"You did not just see that."
In fact, it was sufficiently distracting that I hadn't consciously noted somebody coming up behind me.
Unsurprisingly, Natsuki Kruger's voice could be just as chilly as her GEM, the Silver Quartz of Ice and Snow, suggested.
"See what?"
"Good answer. And rest assured, it isn't."
I coughed into my fist, suppressing a brief bout of awkwardness, handed the message tube to Miss Kruger, and walked off.
I was still a little off-kilter when I reached the office, though my mind was starting to actually work again.
The one thing that did come of this excursion was a decision to definitely see if we could convince Juliet-ane-san to do some work for us.
But really, I mean ... tentacles? What the fuck?
*timestamp - grainy picture of Jipang delegation arriving in Windbloom, with 'And if they believe that's Tokiha, their intelligence services suck so badly that their using ours so often is actually justified. Vey.' on the side, in black marker.*
Deception is the basis of all warfare.
It's also a handy tactic for when you want to do something you'd rather other people didn't know about.
The best case scenario is when it's somebody _else_ who provides a distraction, so that your movements remain, if not unseen, then at least ignored.
"Were we expecting a delivery of some sort today?" Ren said, leaning in through the half-open door.
I was up in moments, the folder that held little of interest to me but had been on hand and reading the contents had seemed better than just giving in to idle waiting landing on the desk.
"Sort of yes, sort of no," I told him as he trailed along into the elevator, and we descended into the basement garage. "You let them in?"
"They had authorization from the Aries office," he retorted defensively.
"I'm not saying you shouldn't have," I countered. "I wasn't sure when it'd be here, but today's as good as any."
"I figured leaving them to wait outside wouldn't have been a good thing."
"You figured right."
The truck was a Windbloom vehicle, not actually ours but rented, since we didn't really work with heavy loads that often. The fact that it let most of the heavy loads that did come in do so without attracting undue attention was a nice bonus.
Two metal crates rested in the back, and the local equivalent of a forklift was waiting alongside. That, at least, was part of our official inventory.
"The runners?" I asked. Policy said to use two or even three, if a heavy load was involved.
"One Frame's getting a new turbine and a battery recharge, the two drivers of the truck and the frame runner are getting debriefed and settled in."
I nodded. "Alright, get it unloaded and to the freight elevator. About time it got some more use."
"Workshop?"
"Don't snoop."
"Hard not to, since it's my job."
And so on. I inspected the crates, smiling faintly as I climbed from the truck. Ren proceeded to use the forklift to get the crates into the elevator.
"They're damn heavy. What the hell is in there, boss?"
I shrugged. "Oh, they're so heavy because they're full of mercy."
He blinked at me.
"Katz, have I ever told you you were weird? No offense."
"Mm, none taken. And yeah. Why?"
"No reason, boss. Just checking."
The elevator shuddered briefly, and started to ascend.
---
Ya. *reads summary of Otome ep.19* Oh yah, definitely something to look forward to and more neat stuff to work with. *crackles*
Edit: incidentially, any scanlations of the manga out there?
-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