Quote:Hmm ... y'know, the image of Mai pulling Miroku-the-sword out of Mikoto's chest seems oddly fitting, especially if you consider Reito. Although Mikoto would likely combine Anthy and Wakaba into one role, given her genkiness most of the time.
*snrk* Okay, I like that. I'll admit that I was initially thinking more along the lines of Shizuru as Juri herself... but that'd make Nao Shiori, and brr. Just, brrrrrr.
Mouuuuu ... this took a while, less because I was having very much trouble with it and more because I was rewatching HiME and doing my 'plot evil developments while laughing like somebody who's had too much coffee' thing.
"You said you did not particularly like her. Why argue in her favor, then?" I heard from beside me.
Purple hues painted the sky as the sun disappeared over the horizont, leaving the city to the illumination its street-lamps delivered. Say what you will, but Windbloom's capital just worked with that sort of lighting. Made me feel as if I were stuck in something between a film Noir and a Sherlock Holmes novel, with a pinch of Blade Runner thrown in for good measure. The lights, the semi-victorian retro feel of some parts of the place, the occasional building that looked like it had been plucked straight out of the US of A during the so called Roaring Twenties, in conjunction with the holograms that advertized ... well, you get the idea. It was, frankly, very neat.
Also, and surprisingly so, it didn't feel overdone or gaudy ... much. The glow was oddly relaxing.
I didn't know what Fujino-san thought about it, but then, I didn't know what she thought about a lot of things.
"The queen really should take care of other things first," stated the boy prince, though his tone was more sad than anything else. "Not spend her subjects' money on things like birthdays and rebuilding the castle, when they often don't even have enough to buy any food. They can't work because there are no jobs. They have trouble even finding bread to eat tomorrow, and there are children who are forced to steal."
It was well into the day, now, and both Tokiha-san and blan de Windbloom had spent most of the time they'd been together simply on, well, being together. Being kids together, I should say. It was both amusing and educational to watch.
"Maybe. Consider, though," I spoke up, and I think the fact that Shizuru and I were still there startled the both of them mildly. Well, we had been mostly silent. Wouldn't do to mess up good comedy with a misspoken word or two. "She's made mistakes, but she has to learn somehow. Objectively, you could say that this is more the fault of the regency than it is of the queen herself. We are what our environment makes us. Their duty to their country was to prepare her for the responsibility, for which they had a good few years I daresay. They messed up. From what the rumor mill is churning out ... eh ... or rather, still churning out ..."
"Rumors? What sort of rumors?!" subtle, our little Brat is not. Then again, I could feel and see that the words had as much confused her as anything else.
"Ever since something that happened fourteen years ago," Shizuru picked up the thread of conversation efortlessly. She was good at that. "Some say that the Queen was not the real heir to the Throne of Windbloom ..."
"That isn't true!" three guesses who that was, and the first two don't count.
"Maybe yes, maybe no. It doesn't really matter anymore, one way or the other," I cut in before the Brat could say anything else. Both royals threw startled looks my way. "Really, now. Contesting the coronation would be a long, ardous, and utterly bothersome process that would likely cost the country more than it's worth now. And nobody would even consider such if she shapes up and actually starts working at things and fixing them. Maybe someone should give her advisors a kick in the ass and have them stop sheltering her."
"Sheltering?" Takumi cocked his head to the side. "I ... think I understand. She had no parents when growing up, and, if her guardians geniunely cared for her, wanted her to be happy despite that, but really didn't know better ..."
"The seemingly easiest and quickest way to make a child happy ..." I started, but was interrupted.
"... give it whatever it wants. That's what they did, isn't it?" Shizuru cut in, her words sounding faintly nostalgic. "Spoiled her, kept her from the world and the world from her. Made her want things to not really change. But she has to realize that the change will come, no matter what. It's what you make of it, how you take it, that's the most important thing."
By then, Mashiro's expression was somewhere between indignation and that of a dear caught in the headlights of a semi.
"Responsibility," Takumi began. "It's a heavy burden to shoulder, and even heavier at that scope. In my home, they say that death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain ..."
A coughing fit interrupted whatever he was about to say, and the boy was forced to reach for his pouch and withdraw the small medicine box he'd used once or twice before that day.
"Because I'm against?" I asked/stated with a shrug.
"Against what?"
"Hmm ... oh, nothing. I just enjoy being contrary, sometimes even to myself. If you had objections, why back me up?"
"I did not say I wholly disagreed," she half-smiled.
"Half-truths and unspoken implications," I shook my head in mock disappointment.
"They are a woman's prerogative, yes," she said in as close to a deadpan tone as she ever got.
"That was the last one," he commented after swallowing the pill. His cough stilled almost immediately, and the paleness I honestly hadn't noticed creeping onto his face receeded.
"You're sickly?" wonder of wonders, the Brat actually sounded concerned.
"No, it's alright," he waved it off. Honestly, I didn't blame him for wanting the relatively stress-free day to last. From the few relevant comments he'd made before, it seemed he didn't get to indulge often. Or rather, didn't let himself.
"For now, you mean," I said. "It was an enjoyable day, yes, but as much as it's a pity to see it end, you really should take better care of yourself."
He shot me a startled glance. Maybe something I said reminded him of somebody else, I don't know and don't really care enough to place a wager.
"... maybe," he nodded, then turned to the girl. "I suppose this is goodbye, then ..."
I looked to Shizuru, cocking my head to the side to indicate we should depart as well. It was a wonder the charades the respective countries had pulled had lasted this long, in retrospect. She considered, and nodded.
"Then we shall be taking our leave as well," Shizuru said, standing up from where she'd been sitting, perched on the rim of the pool of water surrounding the fountain which the benches both de Windbloom and Tokiha-dono sat on had been pulled against. "It has been ... an experience, Tokiha-dono. Mashiro-jou."
Hmm. She was getting better at reading at least some of my intentions as well. I wondered whether I should be concerned.
"Consider it a bit of free counseling. Ja ne," I stood from my half-sprawl on another of the benches, and joined Shizuru in taking my leave.
We left two quite poleaxed looking teenagers behind.
"I have been meaning to ask," she said, breaking my reverie ... well, alright, I wasn't thinking about anything in particular at the moment. We weren't as much as halfway to the office, but walking seemed ... right. To me, anyway. I'd always found it conductive to my thought processes.
Whether or not Fujino-san did too, I had no idea, but she'd elected not to take the monorail to speed her return either.
"I have told you about what happened to me, what I did," she continued. "I could tell, you found it troubling. Still ... you help me. The Guardian implied that you would but I find myself at a loss as to why."
Oh. Well ...
"Throught a dark mirror," I replied. "Only not so dark. I think we're a little similar, you and I."
"Oh?" she said, between guarded and cold.
"Shizuru-san," I turned to her, walking backwards now, hands in my pockets. "I'm doing what I'm doing because I want to see my precious people again. People I fought for. People I killed for. People I died for. Whatever it takes."
She paused, in half-step, face turning introspective in a way I'd at least learned to identify. Looking for a memory.
"One of them ... the woman with the amber eyes?"
It was my turn to pause, nearly stumbling before I caught my stride again.
"Aa. My memories?"
She nodded.
"Sylvie. Her name was, no, is Sylvie." I said, smiling.
That was surprisingly fun, though I may have overdone the drama at the end a little. Eh.
Katz doesn't like Mashiro much. It doesn't mean he can't see where she's coming from. And yes, I and he do enjoy being contrary and playing devil's advocate on occasion. Just because.
-Griever
who is now an eternal fan of Midori, because he's just seen her 'special' in HiME. *bows* Respect.
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