Quote:Mikoto didn't seem quite ... tactile ... enough in this scene. She should have said that bit about not letting N!Tate take Mai from her while glomped onto Mai.
That seems as good a place as any to end it, and I've got no idea where to take that conversation next, so...
As for the date? Just gloss over the stuff until the traditional mid-date SNAFU happens - which it must *sage nod* it's a rule. Hell, maybe have Mikoto trail along after them, and trying to be 'covert' about it.
*timestamp - image of Pearl Akane Soir, in her Robe, dismantling a Slave in a rather straightforward, if brutal, manner*
I was nowhere near when it happened, though I'd like to think I made good time in trying to get there.
Certainly, nobody short of Tsujimoto had managed to break quite so many traffic regulations of Windbloom in one go.
Always a comfort to know that you're in good company.
What, you actually thought I'd pull the wings? Please, give me a little more credit.
As it was, I didn't even arrive on site. Not as such.
Mostly because we already had someone there. A fortunate happenstance? Maybe. Actually, she was likely there to have a look at one of the Schwarz people we had managed to pin down. Well, a plant of theirs at least.
That the guy would capitalize on the situation and call up a Slave when an Otome was crossing the courtyard of the Sand Port?
I didn't even need to ask why they did such an obviously ... foolish ... thing. Guerilla warfare against GENOM had managed to ingrain in me the ability to spot the field test of a new toy against proven adversaries a mile away.
Why sacrifice a plant, then, since it was doomed to failure? One way or another, because even if the Slave were victorious against one Otome, in Windbloom that was not nearly enough.
Simple, Schwarz had so damn many of them that the loss of one relatively inconsequential agent wasn't something to dread.
The report of the impending hostilities reached me in the middle of a mildly involved bit of paperwork, which I took as a sort of blessing in disguise.
I mean, even with Ren there to take up most of the slack, who'd have thought running an operation of this sort would be so damn tedious. And no, it wasn't something you gradually got used to. You couldn't afford to, unless you wanted to risk missing some crucial piece of information stuck between the lines.
If I ever happen upon Ian Flemming, I'll likely shoot the guy simply out of principle.
I was almost at the Port, pushing the Frame as far as I could, when I was informed of the developments and redirected.
Seems somebody, upon a rather intent Pillar of Garderobe's discovering of the Lord of that particular Slave, had deemed it neccessary to make the poor sod shuffle off the mortal coil a bit faster than he would have otherwise.
In other words, somebody had sniped the man before the Pillar present managed to get to him.
And the person reporting from on site had managed to give me a rough direction and elevation of where the shot had come from.
Have I ever mentioned that I deeply respect the quick, if more than just somewhat willful, mind of Fujino Shizuru?
At the time, it didn't really occur to me that the fact she was there meant she could have come across Shizuru Viola, who I'd heard was leaving that day to see about finding the ever elusive Mr.Smith.
Which, in fact, she did. Fujino come across Viola, I mean.
My, was that a memorable interlude. At least, to hear her tell it.
I was shanghai-ed by Split Daybreak bunnies prodding me to do research, hence the cliffie.
-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