Quote:So what are you waiting for? Exposit! Inquiring minds want to know...
Still didn't hit every point I'd wanted to, but I tried to have it not be too awkward in a way that screams 'blatant excuse for exposition'.
Joseph Glear frowned at the child standing in front of him, and tried to ignore the way his palms were sweating at the look in her eyes. "This is not wise, Alyssa."
"We have been attacked. What is not wise is allowing our enemies to control the situation - to believe that they hold the position of power. I will not allow your cowardice to force me away from what is neccessary.
"The time for waiting is over - they have forced that. We can no longer afford to wait for Artemis to be ready... I will flush them out, then hound them until they drop."
"The only thing that has changed is that Miyu is-" His jaw snapped shut involuntarily.
"Oh, it's far more than that..."
* * * * *
You would have thought that the hard part about getting all the HiME involved in the same get-together would be doing it without blowing their identities wide open, but actually, that was relatively simple. Akane and Yukino, it turned out, knew each other of old, though they'd never been close friends, and Natsuki was already known to be among Mai's circle of accquaintances - which, in turn, quite easily explained Shizuru's presence - as was Akira, while Midori's new job at the Academy made her an excellent choice to assign as 'faculty advisor' for the Kazahana Scholarship Group.
To someone who didn't know that they were all HiME, of course, the only thing that all the others had in common, though, was that they were attending Fuuka Academy on a scholarship which was - nominally - intended to provide access to those whose economic conditions would never have otherwise allowed it.
It wasn't a perfect disguise, of course, especially since it also involved Midori inviting along every adult 'friend' she had on campus (ie, Yoko-sensei, Fumi, and Yukariko), and any sufficiently paranoid soul would probably monitor us closely just in case, but it was the best available, and I was far from the only one who thought that building a sense of unity and community among the HiME was a far greater priority that maintaining total secrecy.
No, the hard part was deciding what to do, and, worse, what to eat.
Y'all can see where this is going, stet? Well, even if you couldn't, I'll blow a secret and ask for some help - this, I believe, is a situation that calls for original Orphan designs. Any suggestion?
Ja, -n
===========
===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."