Staying Frost-y ^_^.
I've always thought Mai's MIP went from Takumi, to Tate (once Takumi bit it), to Mikoto (once Tate bit it), and back to Tate (once he revived). It seemed to fit the feel I got from the series for her to still have someone important on the line, even as she lost the previous MIP.
Handwavium, ho!
Uneasiness. That's what it was. Took me a while to pin it down, to be honest, since I wasn't expecting that particular emotion.
After all, I'd bet any of those acquainted with Juliet Nao Zhang, in either of her personas, expected it from the girl ... no, young woman.
Once I took a metaphorical step back and looked again at the situation as it was at present, I couldn't really fault her.
I could probably fault myself for dropping all this on her, yes, but I'd gone into and past my angst and self pity phase way back when ...
... well, alright, maybe not gone past, exactly. More like dragged, kicking and screaming, out of it by Sylvie and Anri. Just another of the things I was still working on being able to pay her back for.
The last time we'd spoken face to face had ended up being a bit of an emotional crescendo on her part, and I knew well enough how meeting the other person after something like that can be ... awkward.
It was slowly edging towards evening, and the sky was lit up by both the glow of the lamps in the park and the strings of radiance winding their way across the soon to be starry expanse.
And yes, Earl did have a few peculiarities in its magnetic field that resulted in those, but most of them were minor and had come about as a result of ... well, the order or energies Otome used in battle against other Otome was along the lines of awe inspiring.
I'd actually checked out a few former battle sites, and there were still lingering gravitic anomalies there. It was a pity the data recorded directly in the wake of battle was so hard to get to.
As to how a technology that is, supposedly, based on Materializing photons - I was running with the solid hologram theory at the moment - was able to manage that? I figured the holos were used to direct and shape energy from quantum taps, and the data on those just gave me headaches.
Akagi would have laughed her ass off, I imagined, since from what I could recall Angel Cores did something similar. Or similar enough to pass for it ...
Argh!
Ahem.
Pardon. Tangent.
From what I could tell, Juliet and I showed up at roughly the same time, and ...
... well, looking around I could see why this would be a halfways decent meeting spot. What people, or rather couples, were already here were more interested in each other than they were in anybody else.
If I'd ever seen a reason to offer up a snide comment, this was it.
"If I didn't know better I'd take this as some sort of come on," I said, falling into step beside Juliet-ane-san in her customary street clothes.
No, I'd never asked why she and her gang considered striped shirts of that particular color something of an uniform, and why her usual outfit looked like a 'what if' of young Tom Sawyer. If Tom Sawyer had been in the habit of wearing crop tops, which I doubt. I suppose it was one of those 'you're better off not knowing' things.
Sexy suspenders, though.
Yes, I'm weird. Sue me.
"Mmm, so what if it is?" she smiled sweetly with the retort. Then I was forced to nearly double over, breath coming out in a wheeze.
"Damnit," I coughed, straightening with a wince. "That's some sharp elbows on you."
"You asked for it," she shrugged, unconcerned.
Alright, so maybe I did. Lightened the mood, though.
"More public than our previous meets," I said after a moment.
"Hey, I thought I could do with a change of pace," Juliet replied, then snickered. "Besides, what are the odds of someone from Garderobe being here?"
"Valid point," I conceded. And it was. On the other hand, "Don't jinx it."
This got me an odd look, to which I could only gesture helplessly in reply.
"Rrrrrright," she drawled, shaking her head.
"No second thoughts?"
"I haven't had any since I was sent here."
"Oh? If Artai were to, say, invade tomorrow, where would you stand?"
"Where would you? This is my life, not Wong's, or Artai's, or anybody else's," her eyes narrowed behind tinted glasses. "That wasn't just idle chatter, was it?"
"Sadly, no," I shook my head. "Would have been far easier that way."
"Hah!" the laugh was a short, sharp sound. "Is anything ever?"
"Well, not tomorrow, at any rate. Sources tell me they're gearing up for something, but it's still more a thing of gathering momentum. When they cut loose, though," I continued. "As likely as not, it'll be here. Things seem to be centered around this city, or maybe just Garderobe."
"Maaa ... how troublesome," Juliet groaned. "Your little brother's a conniving little piece of work, you know that?"
"For the last time, there in no relation," I retorted. Cripes, this was as annoying as being mistaken for Nagisa. And she knew it, the damn woman. I changed topics, rather than risk getting into an argument - she seemed to have way too much fun with those, just for the heck of it. "I ran into Blondie and a few of her friends today, actually."
"Oh?" didn't take her as much as a second to understand what I was talking about, and she gave me a level look. I nodded.
"Your call. Genuine, as far as I can tell, but still involved."
"Taking the easy way out?"
"Reminds me of someone," I replied. It wasn't really anything I could put a finger on, but she did.
"In a good way, or a bad way?"
Well, that was a question that went for the heart of the matter.
"A good person stuck in a bad situation," I said.
"Technically, I'd be meddling if I did anything," she sighed. I gave her a curious look. "Well, she's not my responsibility, really ..."
"Thus, the shouting at my place in the middle of the night," I shot back, mildly.
"Right, alright," she threw her hands up as she growled the words. "You've got me. I'll see what I can ..."
Whatever she'd been about to say was interrupted by a shriek of protest from somewhere within the treeline, freezing both of us in our tracks momentarily.
We looked at one-another.
"Damn," I sighed.
"Sounded ... familiar," she offered.
"Could be something."
"Could be nothing."
She didn't seem to believe that, and neither did I.
We moved pretty much at the same time, her vaulting the hedge on the side of the path without much effort and me using a bench to hop over it.
Jinx. Jinx. Jinx.
That was fun. I'm pretty much resigned to mangling Nao and pretty much everybody else, but I'm having fun writing this. Is that an excuse? Not really. Good enough for me, though.
Next? A walk in the park. *snickersnort* And some amusement ... at least, I think it is.
-Griever
*rant* who's stuck with dialup since he's in the Old Country for the rest of the week, and the company that was supposed to give the place an actually decent uplink seems to be lagging. Severely. Damnit, I'm pretty much resigned to having to wait until Saturday to DL anything that got subbed during this and most of the next week.*/rant*
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
Quote:I definitely agree with that. Good show.
Sometimes, you can feel really good about what you've just written. It makes all the rest worth it.
I've always thought Mai's MIP went from Takumi, to Tate (once Takumi bit it), to Mikoto (once Tate bit it), and back to Tate (once he revived). It seemed to fit the feel I got from the series for her to still have someone important on the line, even as she lost the previous MIP.
Handwavium, ho!
Uneasiness. That's what it was. Took me a while to pin it down, to be honest, since I wasn't expecting that particular emotion.
After all, I'd bet any of those acquainted with Juliet Nao Zhang, in either of her personas, expected it from the girl ... no, young woman.
Once I took a metaphorical step back and looked again at the situation as it was at present, I couldn't really fault her.
I could probably fault myself for dropping all this on her, yes, but I'd gone into and past my angst and self pity phase way back when ...
... well, alright, maybe not gone past, exactly. More like dragged, kicking and screaming, out of it by Sylvie and Anri. Just another of the things I was still working on being able to pay her back for.
The last time we'd spoken face to face had ended up being a bit of an emotional crescendo on her part, and I knew well enough how meeting the other person after something like that can be ... awkward.
It was slowly edging towards evening, and the sky was lit up by both the glow of the lamps in the park and the strings of radiance winding their way across the soon to be starry expanse.
And yes, Earl did have a few peculiarities in its magnetic field that resulted in those, but most of them were minor and had come about as a result of ... well, the order or energies Otome used in battle against other Otome was along the lines of awe inspiring.
I'd actually checked out a few former battle sites, and there were still lingering gravitic anomalies there. It was a pity the data recorded directly in the wake of battle was so hard to get to.
As to how a technology that is, supposedly, based on Materializing photons - I was running with the solid hologram theory at the moment - was able to manage that? I figured the holos were used to direct and shape energy from quantum taps, and the data on those just gave me headaches.
Akagi would have laughed her ass off, I imagined, since from what I could recall Angel Cores did something similar. Or similar enough to pass for it ...
Argh!
Ahem.
Pardon. Tangent.
From what I could tell, Juliet and I showed up at roughly the same time, and ...
... well, looking around I could see why this would be a halfways decent meeting spot. What people, or rather couples, were already here were more interested in each other than they were in anybody else.
If I'd ever seen a reason to offer up a snide comment, this was it.
"If I didn't know better I'd take this as some sort of come on," I said, falling into step beside Juliet-ane-san in her customary street clothes.
No, I'd never asked why she and her gang considered striped shirts of that particular color something of an uniform, and why her usual outfit looked like a 'what if' of young Tom Sawyer. If Tom Sawyer had been in the habit of wearing crop tops, which I doubt. I suppose it was one of those 'you're better off not knowing' things.
Sexy suspenders, though.
Yes, I'm weird. Sue me.
"Mmm, so what if it is?" she smiled sweetly with the retort. Then I was forced to nearly double over, breath coming out in a wheeze.
"Damnit," I coughed, straightening with a wince. "That's some sharp elbows on you."
"You asked for it," she shrugged, unconcerned.
Alright, so maybe I did. Lightened the mood, though.
"More public than our previous meets," I said after a moment.
"Hey, I thought I could do with a change of pace," Juliet replied, then snickered. "Besides, what are the odds of someone from Garderobe being here?"
"Valid point," I conceded. And it was. On the other hand, "Don't jinx it."
This got me an odd look, to which I could only gesture helplessly in reply.
"Rrrrrright," she drawled, shaking her head.
"No second thoughts?"
"I haven't had any since I was sent here."
"Oh? If Artai were to, say, invade tomorrow, where would you stand?"
"Where would you? This is my life, not Wong's, or Artai's, or anybody else's," her eyes narrowed behind tinted glasses. "That wasn't just idle chatter, was it?"
"Sadly, no," I shook my head. "Would have been far easier that way."
"Hah!" the laugh was a short, sharp sound. "Is anything ever?"
"Well, not tomorrow, at any rate. Sources tell me they're gearing up for something, but it's still more a thing of gathering momentum. When they cut loose, though," I continued. "As likely as not, it'll be here. Things seem to be centered around this city, or maybe just Garderobe."
"Maaa ... how troublesome," Juliet groaned. "Your little brother's a conniving little piece of work, you know that?"
"For the last time, there in no relation," I retorted. Cripes, this was as annoying as being mistaken for Nagisa. And she knew it, the damn woman. I changed topics, rather than risk getting into an argument - she seemed to have way too much fun with those, just for the heck of it. "I ran into Blondie and a few of her friends today, actually."
"Oh?" didn't take her as much as a second to understand what I was talking about, and she gave me a level look. I nodded.
"Your call. Genuine, as far as I can tell, but still involved."
"Taking the easy way out?"
"Reminds me of someone," I replied. It wasn't really anything I could put a finger on, but she did.
"In a good way, or a bad way?"
Well, that was a question that went for the heart of the matter.
"A good person stuck in a bad situation," I said.
"Technically, I'd be meddling if I did anything," she sighed. I gave her a curious look. "Well, she's not my responsibility, really ..."
"Thus, the shouting at my place in the middle of the night," I shot back, mildly.
"Right, alright," she threw her hands up as she growled the words. "You've got me. I'll see what I can ..."
Whatever she'd been about to say was interrupted by a shriek of protest from somewhere within the treeline, freezing both of us in our tracks momentarily.
We looked at one-another.
"Damn," I sighed.
"Sounded ... familiar," she offered.
"Could be something."
"Could be nothing."
She didn't seem to believe that, and neither did I.
We moved pretty much at the same time, her vaulting the hedge on the side of the path without much effort and me using a bench to hop over it.
Jinx. Jinx. Jinx.
That was fun. I'm pretty much resigned to mangling Nao and pretty much everybody else, but I'm having fun writing this. Is that an excuse? Not really. Good enough for me, though.
Next? A walk in the park. *snickersnort* And some amusement ... at least, I think it is.
-Griever
*rant* who's stuck with dialup since he's in the Old Country for the rest of the week, and the company that was supposed to give the place an actually decent uplink seems to be lagging. Severely. Damnit, I'm pretty much resigned to having to wait until Saturday to DL anything that got subbed during this and most of the next week.*/rant*
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