Quote:And we all know that this means exactly squat in this situation, what with how things snowball in often random directions. *evil chuckle*
He has no such intention. ^_^
On which note, when does ... damnit, I keep thinking about the guy as 'True Blunder of Fuuka Academy', and can't actually remember his bloody name. Kendo-guy with a crush on Natsuki. Yeah, his reactions should be interesting.
Quote:I want to hire that rest of your brain, then. The way mine works is far too much along the lines of 'Oooh, neat idea. Oooh, shiny! Now, letsuseitlesuseitletsuseit'.
I'm stopping here because I just know she wouldn't give in that easy - and even otherwise she shouldn't, since that'd ruin her dramatic impact as a character - but I'm having a hard time figuring out the rest of her reaction because as soon as the Nao-in-my-head comes up with one, the rest of my brain pounces on the thing and tears its logic to shreds before I can write it down.
Quote:*snickers imagining Nagi making elaborate mystical trap for N!Tate, whereupon the latter doesn't come by, but bombs the place with a mortart he'd swiped from invading Searrs troops*
Actually, as I tried to show, Nagi hasn't got a clue what's up with N!Tate, or why he should be important in the first place. Obviously he knows too much, but how? And what's he after?
Quote:Well, you know what they say: The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
As far as he's concerned, now that the Hime-sentai are known to and working with each other, he's nothing but a cheerleader!
Quote:For a given identity of 'they'.
I doubt it. They are likely out to get you.
I pulled the Frame into the garage, and directed it towards an empty parking slot. Parked. Dismounted.
Yamada had been worried about both dai Artai and Schwarz for a longer while now, from what I'd gathered from his own cryptic comments about the matter. It certainly gave more weight to his thoughts and speculations about their motives and actions.
I'd give the bits of hard data riding under my jacket in for analysis.
With the not insubstantial help of Juliet-ane-san, though she and hers didn't exactly know that, Black was slowly gaining more and more information on Schwarz agent presence within Windbloom. The results were nothing if not concerning, though.
For all my earlier pride in Black's achievements and our analysts and information gathering network, the sheer volume of Schwarz infiltration was far beyond merely being significant.
It was downright scary.
Well spread out, too. From high nobility, to to the average Joe on the street, they didn't really seem to discriminate.
"Well, we knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk when we got started," I muttered, unlatching the heavy riding jacket and removing the helmet.
The analyst work spaces were, as always, in a sort of organized chaos. The two floors right above the workshop had had part of the floor between them removed, several double height whiteboards and wooden stands with pictures pinned to them now occupying most of that space. Rigs chirped away on whatever they were working on here and there, and people with far too much coffee in them to be commonly accepted as healthy were wandering to and fro or buried in mountains of written reports and other hardcopy information.
Snagging a styrofoam cup of still steaming coffee from the one long table someone had converted into an impromptu bar-space, I made through the bustle without getting as much as a glance most of the time.
Honestly, it warmed my cold little black heart every time I saw it.
Single cubicle offices where most of the compiling got done were spaced along the outside of the hall-like chamber. I knocked on one, heard a vaguely affirmative grunt from the inside, and went in.
I'd never been quite sure whether the creative mess that covered most of the analysis department spaces was just an extension of that in this room, or if this was simply distilled essence of the same in a much smaller area.
Be that as it may, the figure hunched over ... well, it could have been the remains of a Rig, it could have been a random assortment of parts thrown together just to see what they did, it could have been the beginning of cold fusion research ...
Pleasenowe'realltooyoungtodie!
If nothing else, my life up to this point had given me a healthy appreciation of just what sort of threat rating should be applied to tiny, machine obsessed asian women.
Ahem.
"Any chance of tearing you away from that in the next couple of minutes?"
"Wha ...? Oh! Boss, I didn't hear you come in!" the woman spun, startled.
I was at the stage of dearly hoping that whatever she'd been working on didn't have the potential to turn explosive. Apparently, it didn't, since the bits she'd fumbled met floor without anything beside a slight crunch.
I gave the parts a look.
"Umm ... well, I was sort of inspired, and you were resting in the workshop, and ..." Miyuki Kobayakawa was both a truly talented engineer, and one of the best analysts we had. She also had the unfortunate tendency to get sidetracked into little projects when an idea struck her. Hence the ... rig, toaster ... err ... whatever it was.
"I'll pretend I didn't notice anything wrong," I shrugged. As long as the quality of work being delivered didn't suffer, and it hadn't, setting up a private workshop in her assigned analyst workspace wasn't really something I'd have her taken to task over.
"So, did you, err ... yeah, what did you need, boss?"
"Take a look at this and split it up between the others," I handed her the message tube that Yamada had given me at the end of our meeting. "Oh, and any idea where Ren is right now?"
"Err ... maybe," she frowned cutely. "I think Turippu-san was here an hour or so ago to look over what sort of progress we were making with getting some more data on the Cardair situation."
I bid her goodbye and started looking for my errant aide.
***
Ren Turippu spent a moment just standing in the garage, waiting for the whine of mini-turbines of the Frame to die out in his ears.
His boss had come and grabbed him from the middle of a research session - something he was doing increasingly more and more often in lieu of his usual message runs - dragged him into an empty cubicle, and dropped a bombshell on him.
"I'm heading off on a little fact finding expedition. Shouldn't take too long, but there's always a chance that it stretches. You've got seniority and you know how to do the job, so you're in charge until I get back."
Just like that.
Yes, Ren was pretty confident that he could manage. Hell, even do well. It wasn't that which was bothering him. It wasn't even the moderately freaky ... and considering who he worked for, that was saying something ... woman Katz had introduced him briefly to the day before. There was something about that woman's handshake which had just felt off, not to mention - yes, he definitely didn't and wouldn't mention - the fact that here was yet another person whose eyes were of a shade that could not be natural.
Still, that wasn't quite what had him momentarily poleaxed.
"Just try not to leak too much information, yes? As much as I'm fond of Aries, we do have to pay our bills, not to mention our people."
Ren Turippu, nee Chrysant, second cousin of President Yukino Chrysant and one of her most trusted - if momentarily absent for an extended period of time - advisors, sighed.
And even despite that ...?
He shook his head, finally breaking out of the stupor before he could fall prey to 'what ifs' and 'maybes' again.
If Katz was willing to continue with business as usual, despite the little fact of who he occasionally reported to ... well, Ren was willing to play along, at least until Katz got back from wherever it was he'd just gone off to.
Something told him he wouldn't have very much of a future left if he didn't.
Again, honest politician doesn't mean stupid politician.
Edit: 100. 100? One-Hundred? Wow. Okay, this is going better than I'd expected it to. Let's hope we can keep it up.
-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