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katreus · 02-14-2006, 11:35 PM

I agree. That description is priceless. [Image: wink.gif]

Was that a *random* ship or was that the ship that Arika tried to hitch a ride from?
Foot in mouth for Neshan ne? ;x Interesting that Miroku seems to be capable of thought -- more of the Intelligent Design seeping over to other weapons? o.O

Rieverre · 02-14-2006, 11:37 PM

Impromptu and quickly scribbled down scenes, but they were very fun to write.
*throws*
---

*timestamp - attached picture of aircraft lodged in the side of Windbloom's Royal Palace*
All things considered, Windbloom wasn't all that bad.
Alright, so it was more than just 'not bad'. From what I'd read, and now from what I was seeing - had been seeing ever since Black set up a branch here - it was the most technologically advanced nation of Earl.
Made me feel almost nostalgic, to tell the truth.
The Otome made me feel almost nostalgic as well, and not in a way that could be described as even remotely good.
And it gave me weird dreams.
Well, weirder.
Honestly, I preferred the first branch headquarters, for a variety of reasons. One of those being the scrutiny of both what passed for the Kingdom's intelligence service _and_ Garderobe. Aries' government was far easier to deal with. The atmosphere seemed less hectic, certainly.
If you ignored the walking natural disaster that was their resident Otome.
Also, their head of state being an actual honest politician - something I never thought I'd live to see - made up for a lot.
Still, business was picking up as of late. Messages to and fro, the wealthier citizens discreetly purchasing a few unofficial 'permium' information packets ...
Strictly speaking, we did not spy. We had, however, employed some of the best analysts and socio-political experts that we could get our hands on early on.
It was amazing what you could divine from simply knowing who was sending messages where, and how often they did so. That alone told more than actually opening the messages did, and the best part was that it was all clean.
After all, to most, even to most of the employees, Black was merely the epitome of anal retentiveness where record-keeping was concerned.
Schwarz could keep their agents, plants and the ponderous jockeying of said agents' for positioning which could just as well expose them to anyone who cared to look carefully enough.
Aswad could keep their aggressive espionage. It had the potential to turn far too ugly at almost every point of the way.
My musings were interrupted when the office door was knocked upon and opened.
"Katz?"
"Something interesting, Ren?"
Ren Turippu was not the sort of person who immediately stood out in a crowd, in part due to his slight stature. That aside, though - his face had a boyish sort of innocence to it, and he had a way with words that could put even the most sceptical of listeners at ease. He was part of what passed for nobility in Aries, and a distant relation of their head of state, though his branch of the family had consisted of solely himself after his father's death three years prior. He was an eminently social animal, as well, and he not only knew people, he knew society itself. He had also been one step away from poverty, the family coffers running dry even after its last business ventures had been liquidated to pay for some outstanding debts that had been made some two generations ago.
In short, as far as employees went, he'd been damn near perfect. So perfect, in fact, that I'd been suspicious Madam President had taken care to engineer his coming to the then newly established Black head office.
Honest politician didn't mean stupid politician.
I'd never actually established whether or not she had, but considering several oblique comments we'd exchanged on the increasingly rare occasions we'd interacted personally, I was relatively sure of it.
Personally, I thought him too valuable a resource to waste by keeping him in the dark on purpose. My silent partner agreed.
"Visiting head of state," the young man commented, withdrawing a slim memory stick from an inner pocket of his vest, setting it down in front of me. "I was delivering a bundle of the invitation replies to the Palace. Those things just keep coming in. We'll either need to bundle more and risk a late delivery, or get another runner for that for the next ... well, shouldn't take more than the next couple of days."
Amusingly, it was the local nobility that was somewhat late in responding and hurrying to catch up. Most of those from other countries had already sent their replies via messenger. I'd given myself a mental pat on the back when I'd found that over half of them had employed Black couriers to do the job.
In slightly over two years, Black had become one of the truly few independant international courier and information services of Earl. What was perhaps more important, it was right at the top where reliability was concerned.
It gave their analysts a _lot_ of good data.
"Care to take a newbie under your wing for the next little while?" I asked, picking the memory stick up and slotting it into the appropriate entry on my desk rig. "We'll assign whoever you pick part of the Palace runs for the impending festivities. No use drawing undue attention."
"And that would justify me being around for longer than is strictly neccessary, to instruct the kid," Ren nodded. "Gotcha."
I smirked a little at the 'kid' bit, since with Ren being all of eighteen years of age there was a fair chance of the newbie being his age or older.
"And ... hello!" came from my lips, almost on its own accord, when the first image loaded and opened onto the screen.
"Ah, the sweet sound of a bonus coming up," quipped the senior runner. "I'll be going, then. There's some irregular traffic that might be interesting to handle."
Giving him a nod when the door started closing, I kept focused on the series of images ...
"Well, we have the wardrobe," my eyes wandered to the faint outline of Garderobe that loomed in the distance, beyond the office window, then returned to the screen. "And here's the witch."
"I wonder what the lion is doing right now?"
I retrieved the memory stick and purged my rig's buffer. The images were burned into my memory as it was.
So, his Grace the High Duke of Artai had come calling on the Princess.
Yes, this meant things were soon going to become far more turbulent.

*timestamp - attached picture of Slave horde flying over Windbloom*
Miyu waited.
Unmoving.
Not even a muscle twitched, not a fold of cloth moved, not even an eye blinked. Motion was the most common cause of camouflage failing, and that aside, it wasn't any trouble for her to just stop moving and be perfectly still. Nanofibres that had been woven into the cloth of her clothes made sure they were equally so.
In the distance, she could detect faint signs of fighting. The sounds of explosions, the brief and faint flashes of light that a human eye would not have been able to perceive during the day.
And below ...
Well, Schwarz and Artai had won the day, despite the battle not being over yet. She was aware of that much, and the uplink delivered a strong and steady stream of information on what was going on in Windbloom.
If it hadn't been one of the outcomes they'd considered, she ... well, she wouldn't have been nervous. Disappointed, maybe, in that she'd not anticipated it, but not nervous. She didn't do nervous.
One could say, and one had said - since she remembered one of the Katz's odd attempts at humor - that it was in the way she was wired.
When the information burst came, she was ready, and stood.
None of the men and women deep in the valley below noticed.
"Starting Einherjar sequence," she said/informed. The word was sent back, a tight burst transmission of laser light going at an upward angle to disappear into the blue. The word was out.
In the corner of her vision field, text started scrolling as systems came active. On the outside, the nanofibres of her clothes reformed, energy from her main core running through them and changing them into their active configuration, engulfing her slim body within a cloak of perpetually shifting uniform shadow, the only steady part thereof being a simple ivory facemask.
She leapt, quiet as a wraith, invisible forcefields slowing the descent and forming into physically tangible and _sharp_ edges where the shadow robe's extremities seemed hazy in the midday sun.
"Light Absorbing Reconstructive Variable Armor, operational."
In the city just beyond the horizon, Slaves started to shriek and die as the Schwarz summoners hidden away in the valley met their end.

---
Because having a Miyu without a Larva is just wrong, yesno?
^_^

Edit: Hey, neat! Mikoto's sword was always my favorite element, to tell you the truth.
Also, there's this hilarious image in my head - Katz and N!Tate sitting around in a White Guardian provided pocket space, and _telling_ one-another these respective tales over copious amounts of refreshments before ... well, before something that involves both plotlines goes down.
A possibly related side-thought - since for some reson the fake movie trailers seem to be bugging me - what if the 'joke' really happened? Sort of. I mean, I recall seeing a lot of things that terribly resembled Artemis in orbit during that whole thing. Massed bombardment from _those_ as a viable reason for a migration from Earth to Earl?
Edit2: a bit of error correction.
-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

Valles · 02-15-2006, 12:31 AM

Quote:
Foot in mouth for Neshan ne? ;x Interesting that Miroku seems to be capable of thought -- more of the Intelligent Design seeping over to other weapons? o.O

What, you mean, is it like Levantine? I haven't got a clue, actually, and neither does he - he was just sort of cracking wise. Probably the only person really qualified to give an opinion would be Mikoto, and you know how it is getting a detailed answer out of her.

Quote:
Impromptu and quickly scribbled down scenes, but they were very fun to write.

That pretty much describes everything I've posted so far - I'm doing these on the spot, you know?

Quote:
Because having a Miyu without a Larva is just wrong, yesno?

*baDAP-ching!*

The conversation tumbled back and forth across that ground for a couple of minutes before one of the crewmen from earlier came up and gave Mai and I our scheduled invitation to meet the Captain.
"Honestly," she muttered from where she had been walking to my left. "What kind of person asks someone to come to him when he wants to thank them?"
I nodded my head at the night scene outside, and tried once again to force myself to at least loosen up a little - being tense and cramped wasn't going to do me or anyone else any good. "There's a chance that a motorboat or something might blunder into our path in the fog and get itself squashed. It's likely any of the officers could respond to that just as well as he could, but he's the one responsible."
"...So he has to stay and make certain it's taken care of." She nibbled on her lower lip for a moment. "I guess that makes sense."
There was quiet for a moment as we walked, then she poked me in the ribs and said, with a grin in her voice, "I'm not going to eat you, you know."
I stopped dead, of course. "Uh?" For a moment I panicked, but even after I suppressed it I had to take a moment to work past the sense of utter unreality that swept in in its wake. "...That's a shame," I said, for a wonder able to keep my delivery deadpan rather than grinning like some idiot.
It took her a couple of moments to get it, but when she did she went a bit red and told me, "I am not that sort of girl, buster!"
She was teasing though, and whatever color her cheeks were, I knew mine were worse. I was out of my league, of course, but that didn't mean I was prepared to bow out of the game. "Not many are," I told her, with my best attempt at a long-suffering sigh.
"Oh! So you admit you were looking?"
"Admit? Hardly - I was simply commenting on the admirable state of the moral condition of today's feminnnYEEEEEAH!"
Natsuki's entrance produced the expected abrupt maneuver, which, 1.) interrupted my sentance, 2.) knocked me flat on my ass, and 3.) deposited the most beautiful girl I'd ever met squarely in my lap.
For the record, 'in good shape' or 'well proportioned' in no way neccessarily translate to 'light'.

Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

katreus · 02-15-2006, 01:00 AM

Most beautiful girl would be ... Mai? Or Natsuki? (Mai I'm assuming given your squee over her).
If it is Natsuki though -- I hope Shizuru never finds out about it. ;x

Rieverre · 02-15-2006, 02:20 AM

*catch*
Ditto about the 'on the spot' thing. If nothing else, it's good excercise.
And, by the by, *laughs* riot of a scene.
*toss*

*timestamp - picture of great big hole in the Windbloom Royal Palace*
I reiterate what I'd stated about one Haruka Armitage, Meister Otome to Yukino Chrysant. Though, on that note, one should consider that there are a precious few occasions when having a tornado or tsunami pass through a specific area is actually beneficial.
At least I'm sure the visiting dignitaries and spectators at the Arena would think as much, after seeing that rather spectacular throw.
Mental note, don't challenge a woman who can throw a multi-ton aircraft husk into the stratosphere with one hand to an arm wrestling match. Ever.
Noted and logged.
"Mister Schrdinger, I thought you'd decided not to attend?"
...
You know, I keep getting told how disconcerting it is, having two red eyes staring at you. Now, I strongly suspect it depends on the person doing the staring. The look Asagiri had hadn't really bothered me much, the few times I'd seen her face rather than her helmet. Ayanami Rei's had been a bit offputting at first. In either set of memories. From the one set that included meeting them, I'd found that Tabris could indeed be scary, and Gabriel habitually wasn't, but had a lot potential in that direction. Of course, he/she had told me there were a few times where mine had made him/her think of a raving lunatic.
This one beat them all unconscious, sliced them into little pieces, and fed those pieces to starved piranha.
Shizuru Viola was quite possibly the most ... intense person I'd ever met. Not that I'd actually met her for more than a few minutes at a time, but if that hadn't been enough to firmly lodge said impression in my brain, then this time certainly was.
Maybe it was the fact that her hair was in a less than perfect condition, maybe it was the dust cloud that followed in her wake as she strode from the Palace interior, or the fact that she had her Robe active. And that dual bladed katana of hers? It looked really, really sharp.
Or maybe, just maybe, it was the tone she'd greeted me with. It would have been perfectly fine and at home in a pleasant dinner setting. Hearing it from somebody who'd obviously been involved in combat minutes, if not moments, ago ...
One of these days, I'd see this woman fight ... and I'd quite possibly curl into a ball and start to whimper.
Eh. Well, okay, maybe that was laying it on a little thick with the dramatics and all.
"Well, in all honesty, I wasn't going to," I replied, and hoped my tone didn't waver. I don't think it did, but even now, I can't really be sure. "I hate dressing up for these formal occasions. But since it was starting to look a little less stuffy, I thought I could enjoy a bit of a working party."
"Yes, it has turned into that, somehow," she said, expression unchanging. "I suppose there is quite a bit of confusion going around at the moment, and information would be your business. Would you care to accompany me?"
Keep your friends and allies close, enemies and unknowns even closer. Say, at around the distance it would take a sword to reach out and touch said person?
With an offer like that, could you have refused?
Though I had been truthful about formal occasions, I had been to quite a few in the time I'd spent on Earl. And ever since Black expanded, I'd been forced by neccessity to adapt.
Which meant a suit. At least it was a casual one, and didn't include a tie or anything else strangling my throat. I'd gone for simplicity, though, which resulted in a plain black on black look, with a double breasted suit jacket and a high collared shirt, plain black slacks and a pair of like colored boots.
Well, it was better than some of the things the nobles had to wear to make nice-nice with tradition.
I've been told I make an impression, though. Something about the stark contrast of pale skin and nearly white hair with the black material. Never really had the nerve to ask whether it was a good impression, or if it made me look like some freshly risen cadaver. Both, I suppose, had things going for them for a person in the information business.
Though I was more than aware of the fact that Shizuru made purple look _good_, no matter the state she was in. A fact which became glaringly obvious when we finally entered the interior corridors of the Arena, coming upon a mixed group of Otome, Otome in training, and various officials.
I was promptly ignored by everybody there, when they asked my jailo ... err, kind host, if she was alright and what had happened.
Which suited me just fine when I used the distraction to slink around the congregation of people, along the corridor wall. Not before I was given a glance that could have been both amusement and warning from the Third Pillar of Garderobe.
"Ah, Katz-kun! I wasn't sure you'd be in Windbloom."
Well, one person _had_ noticed me.
"Yukino-san, you did make it!" I replied. It took surprisingly little effort to put enthusiasm into the greeting. Genuinely liking the person you're talking to does that, I think, even if it is a mostly business acquaintance. "I wasn't aware you had, that is, up until the rather obvious display outside. I was out of the office and ..."
"Ah," she looked faintly embarassed. Also, cute. A thought I carefully shoved to the side and locked away. "You know how enthusiastic Haruka-chan can get about things."
"Quite," I looked around quickly. "I still have the mental scars."
Yes, you know a dinner is going well when you almost get your head bashed in with a vase after trying to renegotiate a contract.
The blonde Meister Otome had a hair-trigger temper. Add to that her over-protectiveness of her charge/mistress and ... well, you could describe her attitude as that of a pitbull smelling blood.
Just don't ever tell her that to her face, or you might walk away sans. If you walk away at all.
After a further exchange, and a quiet question of whether or not I knew what was going on, followed by my reassurance that I would find out and have the usual report compiled at the usual price, I lingered a little and left.
Somehow, we'd ended up scheduling a business lunch in two days' time. Don't ask me how, I really couldn't tell.
What?
I was looking forward to the conversation.
Really.
Eh. Believe what you will.
The vultures from the office would be arriving soon, bearing discrete information offers to those Black had done business with in the past.
I made a mental note to take care and send a compilation to Garderobe, regardless of whether they asked. A token of good will, a bribe, whatever you'd call it.
Er, yes, Viola had made me _that_ nervous.

*sigh* Yare yare ... honestly? I claim Nate's excuse. The characters are doing their own thing. I hadn't considered anything that even remotely resembled a romantic subplot, however veiled.
-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

Valles · 02-15-2006, 05:13 AM

*receive*
I live to serve. ^_^
*pitch*

I'd fallen on my butt. Painful, but not a problem.
Mai had landed on her knees, just as hard. Again, not a matter to worry about.
The latter were braced to either side of the former. Now that was a different matter.
I'd thrown one arm - the right - out to catch myself as I fell, and it was braced straight out behind me as I sat now, then tried to prop her back on her feet with the other. By some miracle, it hadn't ended up in the cliched place, but rather on one hip and low around the curve of her back. She had tried to grab my arm and haul me back up, and one of her hands had come down on top of the one I'd thrown out with a good portion of her weight behind it, while the other had instinctively tangled into the nearest potential stabalizing surface - my shirt - a moment later.
I could feel her breath on my lips.
I honestly don't know what I would have done or what would have come next, but given where she and I were, mentally and with respect to each other, it almost certainly would have been a bad thing in the long run.
Which is why, despite my common sense's strident opinion on the matter, I can't help but regret that that was the moment that Natsuki decided to break open the nearest convenient window.

Short, I know, but cut me some slack - I'm tired. I'll try and take it farther after a catnap.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

Rieverre · 02-15-2006, 06:47 AM

*batter's up*
... because, that setup? Genius.
And as for the length thing? Considering that most of what I post is usually 50% semi-coherent rambling, I figure we're about tied on that. If not, it's still good.
*schwingg*

*timestamp - picture of Arika wearing a Garderobe uniform and looking like she'd just won the lottery*

I caught Ren on the way out, or should that be the other way around? I was slightly distracted, so I would have just marched right past him if he hadn't fallen into step beside me. Either works.
This ruckus was, in one way, nowhere near as bad as the previous one had been. I mean, was whoever had been in charge of that botched operation thinking clearly at all?
I guess I really shouldn't complain, since careless Schwarz operatives just mean more leads most of the time - except when they don't, and the leads are dead ends or worse. Something that had happened a few times already - but the fact that they released a Slave in the middle of Windbloom?
Clumsy, heavy handed, and reeked of distraction despite the very real chance they'd had of capturing the Brat Prince-ss.
I'll admit to being inconsiderate, since I'd been running some of the human resources on the payroll ragged in trying to find out whether something had been ignored or swept aside in the wake of that embarassment.
Meanwhile, I'd been doing the stupid thing and trying to get into Artai's head to find out what he was thinking. No luck so far. Oh, the broad strokes were almost always the same - those who had power craved more power, but for some reason I believed there was something beyond that simple imperative driving him.
The reason was slender, blue-haired, black cloaked, and currently somewhere out in the desert doing kami only knew what. I expected to find out in due time.
That aside, this incident was simply messier than the last had been by virtue of happening where it did, and with the bigwigs as an audience.
Ren got saddled with calling in a few of the couriers who didn't have anything to do right then, and then pulling in one or two seniors who'd taken that day off. It should be enough to handle what will inevitably come out of the Palace soon. Some of it will go with the personal aides of the people there, but a fair bit will need to be delivered faster than that - it always did. In this sort of situation, documentation and experience was most important, hence the need to cancel some leave. There was enough slack in the coffers to cover it, and the results would be worth it. Both monetary and not.
Then he got saddled with a bonus to do a simple message drop. He didn't grumble, especially when I scribbled down the message right there.
While Black was mostly aware of the goings on in the mid to high levels of Windbloom society, there simply hadn't been enough time to form an adequate ... net of solid informants who looked below that.
When in doubt, subcontract. Triple check the results, yes, but still subcontract until you can do better than they can.
That aside, this Juliet person was remarkably thorough. Maybe I should see about recruiting her and adapting into the already existing net of connections.
Or just have Ren probe her out about it, test the waters, even spring the offer. On the other hand, perhaps not. She'd not seemed like the type of person who'd take a job without speaking with the one in charge.
By the time we both got to the parking area the constabulary and Royal Guard had managed to set up detours to keep the access routes to the Palace proper clear.
Ren mounted his Transport Frame - an eight foot long equivalent of a motorbike, except that this one had a pressure chamber and micro turbine engines like you'd see on those rugged little military Flea scout hovers instead of wheels, with a simple crash cage locked into place around the rider's body - and was off.
I was still settling into the company sedan.
He was likely done with the dispatch and back at the Palace, helping with the inevitable outpour of messages from there, by the time I'd made it back to the offices.
I let the analysts work at pulling something from the usual onslaught of information, busying myself with it as well.
By the time evening had come around, and we'd collectively sent for some Jipang take-out, there had been enough information processed to make several rather solid extrapolations and a few guesses relevant to the current situation.
The appropriate packages were put together, sealed, and sent out with the night run.
A somewhat more ... complete ... dissection of the incident went into the archives.
And I went up to my apartment, where I fell asleep.
It was the first night I'd spent in Windbloom that was bereft of dreams of any kind, be they weird or not.
Looking back, I think I should have taken that as a warning.

-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

Valles · 02-15-2006, 10:28 AM

*runs into wall - but makes the catch*

Quote:
... because, that setup? Genius.

Well, besides the obvious appeal, it seemed like it'd be entirely in genre, y'know?
And, since my computer is out of order by way of cooling problems 'till at least sometime tomorrow morning (and even then, it looks like I might've bought the wrong sort of fan - unless these chips are supposed to get too hot to touch without even running a game), I'll try and get through the rest of episode one in one chunk.
*serves*

So. The first time I met Kuga Natsuki, she pointed a gun at my head.
Which, frankly, I had been sort of expecting, assuming I didn't get a chance to find out first-hand whether or not she would have been able to drive those motorcycles of hers legitimately. (For those in the audience unfamiliar with Japanese motor laws, a person who wants to operate a two-wheeled vehicle is required to be able to lift it back up if it should fall over - and yes, I found out later that she really was that strong.)
"O-oi! You! You were there when that girl was picked up - where is she?" She sounded distinctly flustered, and my train of thought had switched tracks so thoroughly that I didn't realize why until Mai scrambled off of my lap and started backing away, eyes wide.
I eyed the Element in her hand, my first chance to really look at one. (Did Miroku even qualify, or was it something completely different? Or a posession, like Artemis? I still don't know.) The show had been remarkably accurate, although the real one's colors were far more subdued - a cross between a Derringer and a smallish revolver, with what looked remarkably like a two-inch whiffle ball where the latter's cylinder should have been. "Minagi-san, you mean? I believe she's still asleep in the infirmary, Kuga-san, but there's-"
She took a threatening step forwards and cut me off. "What did you say?!"
I held up my hands and put on my best 'please don't kill me, lady, I just work here' smile. "I'll be happy to explain how I know that, but it's... kind of wierd. Even compared to that," and I nodded towards the... gun? close enough... in her hand, "or Duran. I'd really rather only have to do it once tonight, though, so could we go find Minagi-san before we start... please?"
The bad scary gun went away, and her stance seemed to relax. Slightly. "Which way?"
I pulled myself to my feet, then leant over to offer Mai a hand up. "You should come too, Tokiha-san. I'm afraid that you and she-" I indicated Natsuki with a flick of my eyes, "-have something in common."
"You set this whole thing up?!" she hissed, although not quietly enough that our 'captor' couldn't likely hear every word.
Hey what?! "No! I just know a bit - and I wasn't even sure I wasn't crazy 'till I saw her gun. Please - just give me five minutes to explain, and I'll tell you everything I know."
She glared at me for a moment, obviously thinking hard, then sighed and nodded and let me help her up.
Thank god for Mikoto's appetite - offering to buy her dinner if she'd listen first was the only thing that let me calm her down, even after I'd managed to slip in front of Natsuki in going inside her room. Eventually, though, it ended up with me sitting in the cheap visitor's chair on one side of the room and Mai and Mikoto perched on the bed on the other, with Natsuki - still wearing her helmet - leaning against the wall beside it. Her body language was pretty much unreadable, but Mai was giving me a look I can only call troubled and Mikoto looked caught halfway between surly and bored.
"A bit over three months ago," I told them, "someone shot me in the head. When I woke up, more than a month later, most of my memories of the life everyone said I had lived were gone. The doctors told me that that was quite understandable and almost to be expected, given what had happened, although they still couldn't explain why I was alive at all.
"As it happens, I do have an explanation - the problem is that it's completely insane.
"It starts by saying that when I woke up, I found that I had the memories of someone else - an entirely different person, in looks, thoughts, name, even nationality. His memories - or mine, I'm not sure which and don't really care either way - end with his being approached by an older man in a very nice suit, who asked him if he'd be willing to die to save the world.
"And, after a very convincing and utterly terrifying demonstration that this man was, at the very least, posessed of the ability to instantly and totally hypnotize another person into believing that they were having any experience he wished, he - I - agreed. He assured me that the case he had described was suited to my definition of the phrase, which really left me no choice - I could agree, or I could betray everything I believed in. I had to trust his accuracy and his intentions, I thought, not because I had any real reason to but because the consequences of dismissing them and being wrong were too severe to justify any such risk.
"So of course I said yes.
"What he told me was that there were different worlds, or dimensions or timelines or whatever you want to call them, just as god knows how many bad sci fi shows have theorized, and that, further, the existence of one of them could influence an individual or group living in another to base what they thought was their own imagination on that other world."
"You're telling us that you remember being someone who agreed to ditch his entire life and jump into a comic book," Natsuki said.
"I told you it was crazy. What he wanted me to do was help him save the life of the fellow behind a fairly important figure from a television series I had seen. For complicated reasons, the only practical way to do this was to find someone of sound health willing to die in his place - and to do it quickly.
"So he told me what I needed to know, and set everything up, and, since he was prohibited from interfering except through agents, left me to explain everything to the guy." I took a deep breath. "His name, as you might've guessed, was Tate Yuuichi, and there was a complication - his principles wouldn't let him put his own life before someone else's - for any reason. But there had to be a Yuuichi..."
"So he chose to die and let you step into his place," Mai said softly.
"Yes," I agreed. "Obviously, the most likely explanation was that I had gone completely mad."
Natsuki laughed.
"On the other hand, the other options were internally consistent, too, and, as I said, the stakes too high not to take precautions. The show's timeframe had started at the beginning of the school year at Fuuka Gakuen, so I got as ready as I could, then put myself where the show had said that 'I' should be during the first episode... and waited."
Mikoto hadn't said a thing during all of this, but for whatever reason, she definitely gave the impression that she was following along a lot better than her animated counterpart would have. Natsuki sighed and took off her helmet and plonked herself gracelessly onto the end of the bed, while Mai's expression might as well as come out and said 'I can't believe this shit'. "And then I showed up chasing this stubborn girl and proved it was all true."
Mikoto gave her a red-eye.
"Believe me, I was praying I deserved an asylum. Unfortunately, between Kuga-san and Minagi-san and that old man's testimony, we now have at least two data points that suggest that the series got at least some of its events and history right... I apologize, but could I confirm some things?"
Mai shook her head. "You're completely serious about this, aren't you? Stuff like this doesn't happen in real life - but sure, go ahead."
Mikoto and Natsuki agreed, so I took a - hopefully - calming breath and picked one of the examples I'd thought out ahead of time. "All three of you have a birthmark resembling a dot surrounded by a ring, with an odd hooked line connecting the two and going on outside of it. Minagi-san's-"
"Mikoto," she interrupted, and I nodded.
"Mikoto-san's is on her upper right arm, Tokiha-san's on her right breast," (she blushed furiously) "and Kuga-san's on her lower back, correct?"
It was three for three - or six for six, if you included my knowledge of their names.
Now for the hard part - and the one they'd find most convincing. "Mikoto-san... Your teacher died, didn't he?"
She physically flinched, and seemed to shrink about five sizes. "U... un. He... I..."
Mai leaned over and swept her into a hug, and gave me a look like I was the scum of the earth - which at that point, wasn't far from true. "There, there. You don't need to say anything." Then she raised her head and visibly braced herself. "What about me?"
I hesitated, then forced myself to answer. "...Your mother died of a disease she caught... rescuing your brother from a river."
She hid it better than Mikoto had, but that only made me feel even worse. I looked down and had to take a couple of deep breaths before I could raise my eyes to meet Natsuki's.
She shook her head. "I'm convinced. If you really are working off of a TV show about our lives, then there'll be a lot of things you don't know... but what you do have seems to be accurate enough to rely on."
I nodded. "There's... something I'll need to talk to you about, then. Soon. So it doesn't... surprise you. From someone else, later."
Her face was composed, but somehow, she looked a little scared anyway. "All right." She gave my face a closer look, then said, "I'll explain about HiMEs. You need a break."
"Thank you."

Ga. Paper due tomorrow, computer dead... *sigh*
Sleep is productive, right?
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

classicdrogn · 02-15-2006, 11:16 AM

Quote:
Sleep is productive, right?

Ha! Sleep is for the weak!
...
Mommy!
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
Dr. Akagi will recover. Observe, Rei smiled. Shinji-kun, are these your clothes?
Ritsuko shot up like a spring loaded meerkat. What? Shinji-kun is naked?
See, Anata? Dr. Hentai is alive and well. - Innortal's _I Do_
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Rieverre · 02-15-2006, 12:51 PM

*receives*
Saa ... it does seem to be in genre.
Way to make a first impression, though. Although, since nobody tried killing anybody else at the end there, it should be labelled a tenative success.
I'm wondering, though - will N!Tate leave explaining things to Shizuru to Natsuki, or actually talk to her himself?
And I wish your fans good health and a long life. *snrkk*
*returns*

*timestamp - grainy picture of a blond guy flinching away from something*
There are places like that everywhere.
I don't neccessarily mean, exactly like, just built around the general idea or adapted thereto.
Sort of like Cest la Vie or, on a larger scale, Istanbul.
The Rorschach was a bar just on the edge of being a dive. It was also, due to some quirk of fate or unspoken agreement, pretty much neutral ground for those who wanted to trade information. Didn't mean people didn't eavesdrop, and you could learn just as much by keeping in mind who was meeting whom, and putting together whatever snippets of conversation you could catch. The latter was not always possible, since it was a bar after all, but the former alone warranted that the Rorschach became a place to visit for some of the more subtle of the office staff.
Ren had a stool there with his name on it. Not literally, but it could have been and it wouldn't have made much of a difference.
I wasn't exactly a regular there, but occasionally, I did show up. I'd initially wanted to catch a glimpse of the famous, or should that be notorious, Juliet-ane-san.
Turns out that I did.
Social conditioning had a lot to do with information gathering. Some things you noted instantly, some things you ignored. It was why I'd taken pains to try and build Black up into a multi-viewpoint sort of establishment from the very beginning. I'd like to think I'd managed it, but some things it really does take an outsider to notice.
When most people on Earl hear Otome, they consider it synonimous with these utterly honorable and virtuous warrior maidens.
You wouldn't expect one of those to head a gang of street toughs and hang around in seedy bars on the less savory side of the social border.
The key, I think, is that they hear too much maiden and too little warrior, and that they likely hadn't bothered to read any Sun-Tsu.
Me? I'd been sceptical about this whole Otome principle ever since a certain blue songbird first sang to me about them. Because, undeneath it all, no matter how well trained or behaved, people are people. Shunting them all into a single mold just because that's the lore, with the diverse character traits and nationalities there, is about as big a mistake as you can make.
Juliet-ane-san moved with the grace of a martial artist, and was certainly more aware of her surroundings then her companions were.
Having her ask about some small bit of information related to Garderobe, something about a uniform or so, only firmed the theory in my eyes.
Not a good thing, really. If she'd been just an 'independant contractor', things would have been easier. As it was, I had potential blackmail material on hand - since the Otomes' collective reputation was being put into doubt, or would be, if this were ever released.
Still, that was never a good basis for recruitment, and I was reconsidering that whole bit anyway, what with the new information.
I sipped my coffee, which was too strong and not nearly sweet enough, and watched the girl and her gang leave. And leave a guy scared nearly shitless behind.
No, subcontracting them to do Black's information gathering work in these circles should do. We'd look for another possibility, of course, but this ... it was both a bad and a good thing.
I made sure to level off the usual tab I left for some of the 'off duty' employees who'd arrive in the evening, and left. A few snippets of the overheard conversation, or should that read interrogation, stayed with me, however, and I found myself slowly gravitating towards ...
... well, let's just say that a few hours later, I was back at the office, cloth bag in hand.
Ren didn't comment on the Meister Otome figurines that decorated one of the formerly empty shelves of my office on the next day.
Although I had no idea why the hell I'd gotten one of Haruka Armitage. I was going to be seeing more of her in two days then I'd have liked to in the coming year - the business lunch had the be rescheduled due to some ongoing political bickering that, from the sound of it, was as important as it was boring.

You can take the fanboy out of the anime, but you can't take the anime out of a fanboy.
-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

Valles · 02-15-2006, 06:27 PM

Quote:
Way to make a first impression, though. Although, since nobody tried killing anybody else at the end there, it should be labelled a tenative success.

There's that. And given Nagi-baka and things that happen later, having four out of twelve prepared to make genuinely informed decisions is a victory in its own right.
I'm actually kind of looking forward to that inevitable confrontation.

Quote:
I'm wondering, though - will N!Tate leave explaining things to Shizuru to Natsuki, or actually talk to her himself?

Since neither he, nor I, are really sure how sane she is - a lot of her actions really do look like a classic psychopath pattern modulo her feelings for Natsuki... there's at least one genuinely terrifying fanfic waiting in the idea that she is that crazy and Natsuki is only an obsession for as long as she's unavailable, though I don't plan to use that here - I'd say that he'll definitely let the biker-girl handle that little matter.
*volley*

Letting Natsuki handle that step definitely turned out to be a good idea - she knew a lot more about the facts of what HiME were capable of and the mechanics of their abilities than I did, and had even stumbled across the existence of the Festivals...
"-and what are they, exactly? If you know?" she finished.
I took a deep breath. This was going to be a bit dicey... "In loose terms, they seem to involve the gathering and sacrifice of the twelve HiME, so that the power or influence of that Red Star you see by the moon can be controlled and prevented from essentially destroying the world - the series described its approach as causing flooding, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, and pretty much every other natural disaster under the sun, with increasing frequency and intensity as time went on.
"However, controlling the Star's power would also be enough to do some... pretty incredible things - enough to reshape the world, or rule it - to do anything the person holding control could imagine... including raise the dead."
Mai didn't really react to that - I guess 'cause she was trying to wrap her head around it - and Natsuki looked thoughtful. "That's what the First District is after, isn't it?"
"Pretty much. They seemed to be one of three main factors trying to gain control of the last surviving HiME - the others seemed to be the central branch of the organization of which the First District is part, the Searrs Foundation, and a most definitely non-human entity calling itself 'Lord Obsidian', who was, as nearly as I could tell, posessing Mikoto-san's brother."
The youngest girl's face darkened, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. "...for how long?"
"I don't remember it being either said or implied, but the timescale 'he' and the other two were working on would suggest that it might well have been anything from less than a year to all of his life."
Miroku sort of rocked in place where it was lying on the floor nearby, and the rattle of it made me jump. "Then, my training was..." she trailed off and snarled slightly.
I spread my hands. "They never said. But... it seems likely. The posession seems to work using the medium of a necklace exactly like yours - with the red bead?"
She raised her hand to rest over where I guessed the thing was hanging, then her head snapped up to stare at me. "He posessed me, too, didn't he?"
I fought the urge to squirm. I was beginning to think that the HiME shared at least two characteristics beyond their powers and marks - physical attractiveness and a personality that could, when they wanted it to, be forceful enough to use as a lethal weapon. "I'm afraid so."
She nodded and looked away. "I'm going to kill him," she decided, and her voice was perfectly ordinary and conversational.

Quote:
You can take the fanboy out of the anime, but you can't take the anime out of a fanboy.

LOL. I guess not. Of course, with a setup like that, you just know she's going to walk into his office at some point and get exactly the wrong idea about his view of her... After all, why else would he keep meeting up with her boss all the time?
Nice girl, Haruka, but not that sharp.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

***Bob Schroeck*** · 02-15-2006, 10:00 PM

Quote:
Nice girl, Haruka, but not that sharp.

Aw, c'mon. She's easily the sharpest spoon in the drawer.

-- Bob
---------
For Jor-El so loved the Earth, he sent his only begotten son...

Rieverre · 02-16-2006, 05:39 AM

The office thing is an interesting idea to keep in mind for the future. Though I've no idea if I'm going to be able to write Haruka worth a damn.
This bit, I spent a while on, and rewrote it a time or two ... meaning I'll likely need to go over it for errors tomorrow or something, because right now I'm yawning.
*return!*

*timestamp - picture of a fat black cat chasing a kerchief that's being carried off by the wind, with a black marker notation of 'Ren, please keep your personal snapshots out of the archive folder, yes?' on the side.*
The problem with being a foreign head of state visiting even an allied nation is always security. The more powerful you are, the less you can afford to trust people, and the more you have to dig into them and try to pull out their motivations ... well, metaphorically speaking.
Ideally, you have an Otome contracted to you, and can make do without the gaggle of bodyguard meatshields that would otherwise be the norm.
That allows you to have a modicum of privacy, since your best interests and the Otome's best interests coincide.
Yukino Chrysant was generally considered a too open, well meaning, and genuinely friendly person to be a politician, much less the President of the Aries Republic. In part, her winning the election had been based on certain parties' misconceptions that this would make her easy to manipulate.
As it turned out, nuts to them.
Even before she'd made a contract with a Garderobe graduate, she'd shown that below that friendly exterior lies a very much iron will and sharp mind.
Then she'd become the master of an Otome who was rumored to be willful to the point of being insubordinate, brash, ill tempered ...
This, according to several personages who will remain nameless for the time being, could simply not end well.
Well, they'd been right.
It had not ended well.
It had ended up being bloody spectacular.
The pair was a steamroller.
Or, no ...
Haruka Armitage was the steamroller. After she'd rolled past, Yukino would offer less drastic alternatives, and those were usually snatched up so quickly that the people doing the snatching only realized they'd conceded more than they'd initially meant to a few days later.
I've probably said this before, but I didn't really like Haruka much. Maybe because she was too damn loud, maybe because of her tendency to jump to conclusions ...
As for Yukino?
Black had started out as a discreet but reliable courier service in Aries, recommended to several local interested parties by a few quiet words spoken into the right ears. Information gathering and distribution had become the prime source of revenue after less than six months. Though those had been a tiring six months. By then, the core group of analysts and runners that still operated from there had been assembled, and business was expanding to cover more ground than just that of the Republic.
At the time, we were getting ready to expand further, but a little more referential push was always welcome.
So we compiled a moderately comprehensive report packet, with a focus on several of the budget problems Aries seemed to be having, and delivered it ...
Or rather, I picked a quiet night and deposited it on her doorstep.
As far as reactions were concerned, I hadn't really known what to expect. Office bets had been on Armitage leading a manhunt through the city, which didn't happen.
Two days later, one of the higher ranking military officials was quietly relieved from service, and sent off to live from a modest government pension in some backwater town on the arse of the Republic, or else.
A week after that, an invitation found its way onto my desk.
I remember fairly little of that meeting, other than the fact that it passed in a bit of a blur. A pleasant blur, though. At the end, a contract that would later become the standard one the company used when dealing with governments had been drawn up, looked over twenty ways from Sunday, and signed.
We didn't handle their deliveries - the Republic's own couriers were very professional - but monthly, sometimes bi-weekly, compiled information packets were prepared and delivered.
I'd made a habit of dropping them off myself. One that, a few weeks later, turned into the habit of staying and discussing the current report's contents ... and anything else, be it connected thereto or not.
It was a very odd dynamic that we'd developed, and I found that above and beyond anything else, Yukino Chrysant was an engaging conversationalist. At first, this had been mostly verbal sparring, and her trying to see if she could get anything beyond what had been put into the report out of me.
Later on? I'd like to think we'd become genuinely friendly.
Sadly, schedules being what they were, chances to sit down to a long lunch and talk had been few and far in-between during the last few months before the company had gained enough momentum and reputation to expand again.
Which, in turn, had brought me to Windbloom.
I realized my lips had curled into an involuntary smile as I brought the sedan into a parking space.
I think I missed her more than I'd expected to ...
I blinked.
Damn.
Damndamndamndamn ...
I'd barely restrained myself from introducing my forehead to the steering wheel. Repeatedly.
With a reluctance I hadn't felt moment ago, I opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The sedan automatically closed and locked behind me as I started towards the middling-sized Jipang place I'd arranged to meet Yukino (and Haruka) at.
"I so didn't need to come to that realization right now," I muttered into thin air, and slid the front door of the restaurant open.

---

Gah. This has the potential to turn messy, in a personal way. The bloody idiot insisted, though. What can you do?
And my dialogue writing skills seem to have flown the coop for the time being. Damn.
-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

02-16-2006, 08:23 AM

Quote:
And my dialogue writing skills seem to have flown the coop for the time being. Damn.

I think it's quite good.
I do wish though that I could match that kind of output.. or that Bob, Bert(Skyknight), and Chris(Davies) would match the output you two are currently generating.
Anyway Griever we your readers(or maybe just me) demand more! Tongue

You and Nate are spoiling us rotten.

Valles · 02-16-2006, 08:40 AM

Quote:
The office thing is an interesting idea to keep in mind for the future. Though I've no idea if I'm going to be able to write Haruka worth a damn.

She is kind of oddly caught between comedy and sheer will, isn't she?
*bump*

Taking down those notes was proving to be a better and better idea - not so much for the reassurance they gave me about the quality of my memories, but for the way they simplified the process of briefing the others in on what they needed to know.
The way my logic ran for the neccessity of doing that in the first place was something like this:
With the exception of Mai and Shiho and Alyssa and, well, just about everybody, none of the HiME's long-term goals were inherently incompatible - or, at the very least, irreconcilable.
A cooperative effort would have a greater chance of overcoming any obstacles in the way of those goals.
All of them were, more likely than not, rational enough to internalize this if in full posession of the facts.
Between the five of us already involved, it seemed likely that we'd be able to contact the remaining eight HiME without terribly much difficulty, especially since Natsuki had access to the Academy's copy machine.
Because I was an idiot, it didn't occur to me that she'd likely read them first.
But that came later - the plan we'd worked out had Mikoto, who had even gone so far as to describe herself as 'bad at people', working alongside Shiho, who had more social skills but wasn't as levelheaded. Which, in retrospect, honestly wasn't saying much about either of them. Anyway, they were supposed to talk to Yukariko, while Natsuki handled Shizuru - for obvious reasons - and Nao, who was a lot more likely to take her seriously than any of the rest of us, and Mai got in touch with Akane and Midori. That left me with the job of finding a quiet moment to talk to Yukino and then tackling the entirely-too-interesting matter of what to do about the Mysterious Ninja before we all met up and trooped off to brace the Director - and Fumi-san, natch - in her lair.
The first step, for me, was reporting to the student council.
Helpful survival tip: Never inquire about Suzushiro Haruka's blood pressure.
She was about what I'd expected, really - dynamite body, perpetual scowl, and a command style halfway between Adolf Hitler and a jack-in-the-box - but the impact was a great deal greater in person. Surprisingly, given her reaction to my concern for her health, she ended up deciding she liked the 'new Tate', which I guess just goes to show that good manners and some common sense will go a lot farther than a lot of people would think. So, of course, she piled my arms full of paperwork and errands and sent me off with a smile.
In its own bizzare way, that would turn out to be a stroke of luck, but first I got to meet 'Kanzaki' Reito.
I actually had to restrain myself from checking for a mucus trail or inquiring if he knew where I might find a decent used car. Good looking or not (and, hey, I'm not blind, he was), the man oozed, and I'd already decided I didn't like him even before he decided to dump another three folders worth of work in my arms. The fact that 'Tate' was a couple of inches shorter than I had been even at the same age just rubbed salt in the matter, since I'd never like looking up at anyone.
No, sir, I did not like him. Nope.
Most of the papers turned out to be a list of expenditures from the student council over the previous semester - office supplies, train tickets to official business and the like - and only needed to be put into the correct drawer, but a couple of them were more exotic, which, as I said, was a stroke of luck... since what should be more logical than asking the Student Council Secretary for advice on such a thing?
I delivered all the bits I could during the homeroom period, then poked my head back into the 'Council Chamber'. "Kikukawa-san? Could I beg your assistance for a moment?"
She smiled and stood, shutting her laptop. "Of course."
I took a closer look as she walked over - the really immediate thing that struck me was that she was tiny. None of the other girls had really been very tall, but she was barely five feet, and more, had a sort of fine boned slenderness that had her tied for the title of the frailest-looking human being I'd ever met. Mikoto and Shiho were even shorter, of course, but their builds were heavier and they seemed so obviously young - even though Mikoto wasn't, really - that the comparison didn't suggest itself. I held the door for her, once she reached it, then we set off towards the records room.
"What did you need?"
"Two things, actually," I told her, and held out the last folder. "First, there's these three - they're either for the 'Misc' pile or the Director's desk and review, but I haven't got a clue what the notation means."
She took it and glanced at them. "That means that they've already had verbal approval, but still need to be processed and signed normally. And the other thing?"
I fished an envelope out of my pocket and handed it to her, and carefully paid no attention to her gasp when she saw the HiME version of the international power symbol that had been sketched on the back of it. The hallway was empty except for us now, but there was no guarantee that it'd stay that way.
"There's kind of a new club being founded - the first meeting is tonight. You're invited - if nothing else, it'll give you a chance to ask some questions."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw her stare at it for a moment more, then she nodded and calmly tucked it away under her jacket. "I'll come."

An interesting story is somebody else's bad day, far, far away. ^_^
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

Rieverre · 02-16-2006, 11:17 PM

I've decided to bite the bullet and actually try writing this one out. Like I thought, Haruka's a challenge. I can't seem to get her 'voice' to 'sound' right.
Or so I think. *looks at clock* Mouuu ... I have no life.
*shakes head ruefully*
*punt*

Luckily, I'd managed to get some semblance of composure back by the time I'd been led to one of the restaurant's private rooms.
Not overly large, furnished in what passed for a traditional manner in Jipang, that country's oriental, and specifically Japanese, influence was immediately obvious. Tatami on the floor, a table you were supposed to sit in seiza at, rice paper walls. Or it seemed like rice paper at first sight. It was as sound proof as a normal wall would be, though. An important thing to take into account.
The Madam President and her bodyguard weren't here yet, since I'd arrived a bit early; a habit the cultivation of which turned out to be beneficial in the long run.
It gave me time to do certain things in preparation. For example, to attach the white noise generator underneath the table. Better safe than sorry.
Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight.
Alright, so maybe I'd been spending a little too much time buried in the Art of War lately.
The sound of the room's door sliding open made me look up from where I'd been contemplating the table's surface ...
"What the ... Yukino! What is _he_ doing here?"
In some ways, a gaggle of conventional bodyguard meat shields would have been less conspicuous.
Subtlety, thy name is Armitage. Not. Apparently, her boss hadn't mentioned just who they'd be meeting with.
"It's called waiting. You should try it sometime," I said dryly, before standing and extending a hand toward the blonde's contracted mistress. "Yukino-san, I'm glad you could come."
She took it. We shook. We sat. Haruka glared.
"Likewise, Katz-kun. Things took longer than expected. Gomen for the delay."
We both knew the apology was more pro-forma than anything else. Aries was her responsibility, and she wasn't one to dodge that sort of commitment, consciously or not.
"Mm. No worries," I responded. "Considering it involved both Argos and de Florence, it actually went pretty quickly."
I caught sight of Haruka's eyebrow, which was twitching wildly. That usually happened when I commented on something I wasn't really supposed to know about. An improvement over the first few times I'd met with Aries' President and her Otome, when she'd come close to hauling me up by the lapels of the suit jacket and demanding an explanation.
While I wasn't up to my onetime six feet and two inches, I'd managed to convince the body to grow from the lanky fourteen it had started off with, into a rough semblance of a lanky twenty-something - most of that during my stint of dealing with the Foundations. It refused to go anywhere over just between five eleven and six foot equal, though, and remained lanky. I imagine that if I hadn't been used to it, I'd have felt like a skeleton.
I still had a good few inches on Haruka, but the Otome was built like a damn brick outhouse, so that sort of lift wouldn't have been hard for her to do even without Materializing her Robe.
Yukino remained pretty much unsurprised, since this was the reason we'd set up that contract in the first place. It was my business to know about these things, as much as it was hers to deal with the information.
"Speaking of which ..." I said as I laid the non-descript message tube I'd retrieved from my jacket's inner pocket on the table and slid it across towards them. "The large scale situation remains roughly unchanged, but there have been some signs of general unease."
"That's very vague," Yukino commented, unsealing the tube and giving the papers within a cursory glance. Those were not the full report, though. Rather, highlights of the more interesting, at least in the analysts' opinion, sections. The whole thing was actually sitting inside a ROM chip secreted within the seemingly broken 'seal', which Yukino had just slipped into one of her pockets. She picked out a particular page. "Remulus and Romus?"
"They're reinforcing the borders again," I nodded.
"Bah. They do _that_ half a dozen times a year, at least. Even dozen last year," snorted Haruka, as she read over the page Yukino had handed her. "Damnit, I hate indicisive bastards like that. Either they should deal with their problems, or get it over with already."
"They're having problems that are bad enough to cost each, on average, a platoon's worth of their border patrol every month," was my retort. "Not in one go, from what we've found. Fairly evenly spread out over time. Neither wants to believe the other is telling the truth, not that there's been any official denial of the events."
"For there to be an official denial, they would first have to admit that there was a problem of any sort. No notice of such was ever brought to our attention," Yukino stated.
"They're there," I said. "It's not hard to find. Just bother enought to check the local obituaries. It's being ignored. After all, they were mostly grunts."
"WHY I OUGHTA ...!" three guesses who that was.
"Haruka-chan! It's not really Aries business, so we don't have a right to meddle under international law."
The first few times I'd seen them like that, I'd been more than a little nonplussed, but over time I could see that this was pretty much the only way you could curb the blonde's hair-trigger burst of overwhelming ... well, I'd call it enthusiasm, in about the same way that a shark catching the scent of a blood trail can be called enthusiastic.
A few exchanges later the Otome was back to her usual state of slow boil ...
No matter how often I'd seen her do this, I still shook my head at Yukino's patience.
We both decided to take a break and order some food, though this was mostly instigated by Haruka's loudly complaining stomach. Before it was both it and Haruka who were loudly complaining.
The meal was pleasant, and I found, much to my chagrin, that the blonde and I actually had something in common. We were both inordinately fond of yakitori and teriyaki skewers.
'Huh', to that.
We made small talk ... or rather, either Yukino or I would start on a topic, and it would soon be taken over by Haruka, leaving us to nod and 'Hmm' in the appropriate places.
Alright, I'll admit to not disliking the blonde as much as I'd maybe given the impression of earlier. She and I were by no means on friendly ground, but it was just so amusing to watch her rant and ramble. In a 'I can't believe I'm hearing this' sort of way, but still.
By the time we were done with the food, I was feeling ... a little more alive than I had in the past few months.
Sadly, it was time to drop a bomb, metaphorically speaking. Yukino, at least, noticed my shift in mood ...
"It was Argos who helped the Aswad enter Windbloom before the coronation."
I made a mental note never to say something like that again until I was sure Miss Armitage wasn't drinking something there and then, as I reached for a couple of napkins and started wiping the fruit juice from my face.

---
I love your description of Yukino, by the way, Nate.
*laughs* And, oh, whatever did Natsuki read about in those notes? *gets serious* Shit. There was likely something about her mom in there, wasn't there? Oh, this will so not be pretty.
I'm rather looking forward to writing Katz's first meeting with Nagi, though that's still a while off. He's going to quote Elliot at the runt, confusing him thoroughly.
-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

ECSNorway · 02-16-2006, 11:47 PM

*laughs* And, oh, whatever did Natsuki read about in those notes? *gets serious* Shit. There was likely something about her mom in there, wasn't there? Oh, this will so not be pretty.
That, and/or her relationship with Shizuru... --
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

Valles · 02-17-2006, 12:48 AM

Didn't seem that bad to me, but then, I'm going sort of slow on my rewatch.
*set*

"It's kind of a shame - you're getting all this attention as a living Mystery, yet you don't seem to be enjoying it any."
I had to crane my neck a little to look at her without getting out of my desk, but that wasn't really a problem. Glasses, tan, alto verging on tenor and just about the blackest hair imaginable... Hmm. I wonder who this might be. "We all have our crosses to bear, ne, ahhh... Harada-san?"
She winked. "Pin-pon! But, since when are you so formal?"
"Ever since I woke up," I retorted. "Between my memories and the brain damage, I'm not even sure if I'd count as the same person any more."
"Oh." That idea seemed to do a good job of subduing her mood, and she leaned back in her seat and eyed me consideringly. "That'd be why you and that underclassman have had a falling out?"
I grimaced. The earlier - and more critical - parts of last night might have gone well, but the screaming row that had erupted when Mai got a look at the section involving Akira, Takumi, and Karasu had been real ugly, and my taking Mai's part rather than backing my adoptive sister's 'right' to my company had been even worse. She had calmed down, a little, once Natsuki had broken it up - and threatened her life - and had surprised me by continuing to cooperate in the planning and being quite civil with Natsuki and Mikoto, even when Mai and I were persona no grata. It'd likely the quite a while before we were back on speaking terms, but this was still better than giving in and having that issue lying in wait like some landmine for Nagi to go setting off at his leisure. "Put gently, yeah."
The founding HiME-sentai and I had been up much too late last night deciding what we were going to do, and once the teacher had ended the lesson Mai had put her head down on her desk and passed out cold. I reached over and poked her in the side. "Oi, Tokiha. Lunchtime."
She tried to burrow her head down deeper into her arms. "nnnrg. go'way, t'k'mi..."
I frowned and was considering which of the more drastic options would be most appropriate when Chie took the matter entirely out of my hands and into her own - literally - by reaching around the redhead's back and giving her most noticable assets an exploratory squeeze.
"GYAAAAAA! CHIKAN!"
The silence that followed Mai's howled accusation of perversion and instinctive retribution was echoing, until about half the class broke out laughing as Chie slumped back in her chair and started rubbing at the brilliant handprint across her cheek. A girl about Yukino's height with light brown hair stepped up and said, "Don't mind Chie-chan - she has a wierd idea of what's funny sometimes. I'm Senou Aoi, she's Harada Chie, and you're Tokiha Mai, right? How about we buy you lunch to make up for her being an idiot, and we can show you around the school, after?"
Mai huffed, then thought about it a moment. "Well... I'd already made plans for my 'first tour', but if he could join us...?" She trailed off and looked at me.
I shook my head, and fished out my second envelope and started tapping its short edge against the desktop. "Go on ahead - I have to take care of something."
"All right, then," she nodded, then turned to Aoi. "I'd love to!"
And off they went, and I put the envelope away and followed.
"Ah! Could you spare a moment, Tate-kun? There's something I need to ask you." Kyouto-ben. Shit. She'd been meeting with Mashiro when I'd come by the council this morning, so I'd been spared the experience until now.
"Huh?" With an effort, I put my thoughts back together. "Oh, of course. What did you need, miss...?"
She giggled as I turned to face her, then smiled and stepped a little closer. "Fujino Shizuru. I was wondering if you could tell me where Natsuki might have gone?" Despite her phrasing, the tone was not a request.

Wait and see, wait and see...
^_^
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

katreus · 02-17-2006, 01:12 AM

What evil things have you been doing - and telling - my Natsuki-chan, hmmm?
ahhh -- pins and needles! Waiting has never been a virtue of mine... ;x

ordnance11 · 02-17-2006, 09:07 AM

There were some things in the manga that might had made Tate-N's life really interesting if this was set in that continuity.
Natsuki, Mai, Mikoto and Tate would had ended up sharing the same room because of a series of mishaps.
Wouldn't that be fun.
__________________
Into terror!, Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

Valles · 02-17-2006, 09:37 AM

Quote:
There were some things in the manga that might had made Tate-N's life really interesting if this was set in that continuity.

It certainly would. Unfortunately, I know exactly jack about that version of the setting, so I'm afraid that that particular complication isn't in the cards.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

ordnance11 · 02-17-2006, 10:58 AM

Quote:
It certainly would. Unfortunately, I know exactly jack about that version of the setting, so I'm afraid that that particular complication isn't in the cards.

Well, Tate-N would probably call it a blessing not having to witness a sleeping Mikoto "sleep maul" (is there such a phrase?) a sleeping Mai's chest during the night. ^^
__________________
Into terror!, Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

Rieverre · 02-17-2006, 04:22 PM

*snickers* okay, one of these is to be blamed solely on Nate. You'll know which.
*vector*

*timestamp - picture of a blonde girl clad in a Garderobe issue swimsuit giving a black haired girl clad in same a rather enthusiastic variation of CPR. Notation on the side says 'Ren, I don't know whether to dock your pay for this, or promote you' on the side, in black marker.*
"I swear, I'll never again even think the words 'That's it, now I've seen everything'."
Two weeks after the Aries Republic representatives had packed up shop and left for home - citing an important sounding reason to do so that I was sure was one of their pre-arranged ones to use in such situations - things had calmed down some. On the surface, at least.
The Remus and Romulus situation was still an issue, or non-issue in most official circles, if only because I wanted to know what the hell was going on there.
A reliable source had claimed Schwarz was somehow involved, but details had been sketchy. Very much so, in fact.
If thing here in Windbloom remained relatively calm over the next few days, I'd thought that morning, I'd take a Frame and check it myself. It would serve the dual purpose of checking the situation with my own eyes and other senses, and seeing how Ren managed things in my absence.
I'd picked up a pre-prepared report on the matter that had been put together a week ago, and was updated semi-regularly, and made for Garderobe with it.
If this escalated any further, and I wouldn't bet on it taking a lot to make it so, the likelyhood of their Otome getting involved would rise. As little as I cared for the way Garderobe stuck to tradition and did things, my personal opinions had to take a backseat.
Now if the opportunity arose ... no, I honestly couldn't say what I'd do. A gradual change was almost always better than the chaos of one more rapid - I'd seen the results of both, hell, I'd been one of the instigators of the latter one time.
Besides, I wasn't here to change the world. My reasons were far more selfish than that.
But I digress.
I'd made it a point to take care of the irregular deliveries to Garderobe myself, not that there were many. It created the illusion of good manners, but beyond that, it gave me a chance to pay closer attention to the goings on there than just occasional reports let me.
Honestly? It was pure luck that had me walking along that particular path, in the direction of the administrative building where I'd been told the Headmistress currently was.
So ... er, yeah. It defied description and left me with my jaw flapping in the wind.
The first thing that came to mind and mouth was: "If that's part of standardized training, I'm seriously going to be worried about my sanity."
Among all the things I'd expected to see, three Coral and a single Pearl Otome students fighting a monster in the school pool? Well, attempting to, before being ... err ... immobilized, and another Pearl coming by and slicing the thing into oblivion. That last one was familiar, though, in part because of the red hair, in part because of the attitude.
"You did not just see that."
In fact, it was sufficiently distracting that I hadn't consciously noted somebody coming up behind me.
Unsurprisingly, Natsuki Kruger's voice could be just as chilly as her GEM, the Silver Quartz of Ice and Snow, suggested.
"See what?"
"Good answer. And rest assured, it isn't."
I coughed into my fist, suppressing a brief bout of awkwardness, handed the message tube to Miss Kruger, and walked off.
I was still a little off-kilter when I reached the office, though my mind was starting to actually work again.
The one thing that did come of this excursion was a decision to definitely see if we could convince Juliet-ane-san to do some work for us.
But really, I mean ... tentacles? What the fuck?

*timestamp - grainy picture of Jipang delegation arriving in Windbloom, with 'And if they believe that's Tokiha, their intelligence services suck so badly that their using ours so often is actually justified. Vey.' on the side, in black marker.*
Deception is the basis of all warfare.
It's also a handy tactic for when you want to do something you'd rather other people didn't know about.
The best case scenario is when it's somebody _else_ who provides a distraction, so that your movements remain, if not unseen, then at least ignored.
"Were we expecting a delivery of some sort today?" Ren said, leaning in through the half-open door.
I was up in moments, the folder that held little of interest to me but had been on hand and reading the contents had seemed better than just giving in to idle waiting landing on the desk.
"Sort of yes, sort of no," I told him as he trailed along into the elevator, and we descended into the basement garage. "You let them in?"
"They had authorization from the Aries office," he retorted defensively.
"I'm not saying you shouldn't have," I countered. "I wasn't sure when it'd be here, but today's as good as any."
"I figured leaving them to wait outside wouldn't have been a good thing."
"You figured right."
The truck was a Windbloom vehicle, not actually ours but rented, since we didn't really work with heavy loads that often. The fact that it let most of the heavy loads that did come in do so without attracting undue attention was a nice bonus.
Two metal crates rested in the back, and the local equivalent of a forklift was waiting alongside. That, at least, was part of our official inventory.
"The runners?" I asked. Policy said to use two or even three, if a heavy load was involved.
"One Frame's getting a new turbine and a battery recharge, the two drivers of the truck and the frame runner are getting debriefed and settled in."
I nodded. "Alright, get it unloaded and to the freight elevator. About time it got some more use."
"Workshop?"
"Don't snoop."
"Hard not to, since it's my job."
And so on. I inspected the crates, smiling faintly as I climbed from the truck. Ren proceeded to use the forklift to get the crates into the elevator.
"They're damn heavy. What the hell is in there, boss?"
I shrugged. "Oh, they're so heavy because they're full of mercy."
He blinked at me.
"Katz, have I ever told you you were weird? No offense."
"Mm, none taken. And yeah. Why?"
"No reason, boss. Just checking."
The elevator shuddered briefly, and started to ascend.

---

Ya. *reads summary of Otome ep.19* Oh yah, definitely something to look forward to and more neat stuff to work with. *crackles*
Edit: incidentially, any scanlations of the manga out there?
-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

02-17-2006, 05:21 PM

Quote:
"Were we expecting a delivery of some sort today?" Ren said, through the

... you are missing a word or two at the end there Griever.
And yes there are scanalations of the manga out there I just can't recall where I got them from.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Rieverre · 02-17-2006, 05:23 PM

Thanks. Corrected.
Edit: also, found the first three manga volumes of HiME at www.yanime.com/projects/maihime/
From the info blurb, it sounds like it's certainly worth a look or three.
Anybody know if there's more out?
-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

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