Lettuce+Rogue Bunny=Teaser

[CattyNebulart]

I'm guessing the F-2 is an example of why it's a bad idea to kill the nice homocidal combat android. ^_^
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]

---

Plus Viola gets laid regularly.

---

There is that ^_^.
Oh, and Nate? Yeah, I'd have to agree about the poncho thing. Yeek.
*snickers* Of course, you do realize that once Mikoto gets some of Mai's cooking, the two of them are going to be pretty much a package deal for life, right?
My guess about the F-2's presence? The Searrs summoned Orphans showing up en-masse, complete with flying ones, has prompted a response from the watching JSDF.
*blinks as he realizes that both he and Nate have crossed plot-points again, namely aircraft geekdom* In my defense, I'd already written most of the first scene before Nate posted his bit.

---

"The little known fact about those," I said, leaning on the railing and pointing to the various vehicles at rest on the tarmac below and beyond the glass. "Is that most are actually still maintained. If it weren't for the treaties and the fact that people have forgotten how to, I'd wager a fair number would be flying today."
"Really? How sad." came from beside me. The Jipangese boy stood a little to my left, one hand on the railing, thoughtful expression on his face. "It's like those people who do it try to keep their dreams alive, but at the same time keep them shackled, without any actual hope of realization."
"That is one way of thinking about it," I heard from behind. Fujino-san had been quiet for this leg of our little tour, though it was possibly less due to a lack of something to say and more because ...
... well, alright. I tended to be a bit on the aircraft-geek side in any world, and the Air Park of Windbloom's capital was a favorite place of mine where spending free time was concerned.
I'd been a bit miffed when the Slave had destroyed some of the 'exhibits' in chase of the Brat Princess a few months ago, but ... the people working here did seem to be truly dedicated to maintaining ... well, to maintaining their dreams.
"On the other hand," Shizuru continued. "One could see this as a show of human spirit. Even in this shackled world, human hopes and dreams try to reach for the skies. If keeping their wings ready to lif them into to the air is a way for them to keep those dreams alive, who are we to pass judgement?"
It was an odd thing, really. Tokiha Takumi ... you couldn't see it, because on the surface he merely seemed like an open and friendly person - which, come to think of it, he was - but if you talked to him and listened - and I mean, really listened - you could tell he was always thinking, always considering.
Not in a cold and cunning manner, though ... despite which, it was a given that the mind behind those violet eyes was nothing if not extremely keen, if prone to melancholy.
"Ah, I suppose you could see it like that too," he scratched the back of his head, with a slight grin of embarassment.
I chuckled, prompting both to give me an inquisitive look.
"Sorry. I was just reminded of something oddly fitting," I said, drawing myself up in a faux dramatic manner before intoning. "If it cannot hatch from its shell, the chick will die without ever truly being born. We are the chick, the world is our egg."
Alright, so I was quoting a scumbag, but the general situation on Earl ... nature abhorrs vacuum, and time ... both time and human nature, really, despise stagnation. The signs were all there to see for those who dared to look, the status-quo would be disrupted soon. No. It had already been disrupted. Obvious results were merely not yet perceptible.
"If we don't break the world's shell, we will die without ever truly being born. Smash the world's shell ..." I hadn't intended to continue the quote, but it seemed as though I didn't need to, since Fujino-san had smoothly followed up with the neccessary words. It actually took me a moment to realize it was she, and not merely my mind following up on reflex.
"For the revolution of the world!" we finished together, faces serious.
Our unwitting audience was looking from me to her, and back, his expression still a thoughtful frown as a nearly cloying feeling of tension settled over us ...
"... ne, Tate-kun, do you have a stopwatch?"
... and shattered as I fell back against the railing, chuckling convulsively at the finishing line Shizuru had delivered.
"Gomen, gomen," I apologized, catching my breath. "It's just, I hadn't been aware you'd ... heard that story, Fujino-san."
***
An hour, and a roundabout explanation of the ... ahem ... story ... to Tokiha-san, later found us back in the city center.
You know, if there was one thing that Windbloom's capital had over all the others, it was the extensive monorail public transportation network. But I digress.
Honestly, though, I'd left Fujino-san to do most of the talking on that matter. She was the better storyteller, by far. Something about the cadence of her voice, plus the fact that she was far more familiar with the whole thing than I.
It was when we continued through the city, the topic of conversation still being old stories - or rather, I was listening while the two discussed Jipang legends in relation to the present. Either Kobayakawa and Tsujimoto had done a better job briefing Fujino than I'd expected, mythology included, or those stories had pretty much carried over from Earth's Japan. Regardless, they'd lost me, conversation-wise, fairly quickly, - that we ran into the other surprise of the day.
Remember what I said about coincidences?
Almost literally running into an incognito, and knocked out by way of extremely fat cat - which is one of those 'had to have been there' things, let me tell you - Mashiro blan de Windbloom, lying on her back in the middle of the sidewalk, proved that old saying once again.
I was just wishing I'd thought to bring a camera along.

---

Because, come on, Shizuru watching Utena makes sense. Really. It's not just because of my desire to quote that line. *innocent puppy dog eyes*
-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]

---

*snickers* Of course, you do realize that once Mikoto gets some of Mai's cooking, the two of them are going to be pretty much a package deal for life, right?

---

I do. He doesn't.
Oh, and, interesting tidbit? Mikoto's actually 14 - same age as Nao. Bit of a contrast, no?
^_^

---

My guess about the F-2's presence? The Searrs summoned Orphans showing up en-masse, complete with flying ones, has prompted a response from the watching JSDF.

---

Pinpon.
And I agree entirely - Shizuru would love Utena... it seems right up her alley, somehow.
OTOH, it is entirely your fault that my brain is now trying to insist that cosplay is one of her hobbies.
Even if she would make a good Juri.
Quotational tidbit. Another thing discovered in the same Wikidive is that at least one of Utena's parents was either a seriously dedicated drinker or Lithuanian.

---

---

I tore my eyes off of the plane and looked - the Orphan that was galumphing (that's a real word, BTW - it refers to that sort of humping inchworm locomotion that seals use on land) out of the fireball was just as ugly as the usual run of those critters, looking like someone had crossed a slug, a porcupine, and a hairbrush then scaled it up to about the size of an semi.
Or artic lorry, whatever.
The JASDF fighter's missile had injured its target, but despite missing what looked like literally a ton of flesh, the Orphan was barely bleeding and seemed to have plenty of fight left in it. Once it had gotten itself a clear look at its attacker, the Orphan hunched itself up and forwards and spread its spines so that many of them were aimed after the departing jet.
The posture was an obvious prelude to an attack, of course, and the monster didn't dissapoint - the spikes must have been longer than I was (or, for that matter, had ever been) tall, but they still seemed to simply vanish from their... sockets, I guess... with a sharp jet of what looked like steam and a flat 'KRAK!' that was obvious even over the dopplered roar of the F-2's engine.
I glanced instinctively at its target, but fortunately it had missed. I couldn't see the spines, of course, they were moving too fast, but at those speeds even a glancing blow would have let some of the plane's slipstream in under its skin and peeled the entire machine like a grape, with attendantly disasterous results for its ability to continue flying. Since it, y'know, was, I knew that hadn't happened.
I had been looking back and forth almost quickly enough to give myself whiplash, but the established pattern had the advantage of bringing my attention back to the monster squirming past the classroom building on the far side of the giant birdcage.

---

---

...nnrrrrrg. I had a groove going, then my computer decides to plotz about how it loads web pages and now everything's all broken.
I'll try and take another look at it in the morning, say six, seven hours from now.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puri puri puri puri... Bang!"

[classicdrogn]

You know, if you're going to do Utena references in Fuuka, the giant birdcage has to figure in.
Somehow.
- 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]

---

Oh, and, interesting tidbit? Mikoto's actually 14 - same age as Nao. Bit of a contrast, no?

---

Mm? Yeah, I kinda figured that much out from the uniform and all.

---

OTOH, it is entirely your fault that my brain is now trying to insist that cosplay is one of her hobbies.

---

I fail to see how this is somehow a bad thing. ^_^
...
*collapses laughing at the mental image of Natsuki as Sakura and Shizuru as Tomoyo of CCS fame*

---

...nnrrrrrg. I had a groove going, then my computer decides to plotz about how it loads web pages and now everything's all broken.

---

Saa ... I think we all know how that goes.

*throws up hands* Once again, my dialog writing skills have vanished. Damnit. I don't know about this segment, and I've been working on it for the past several hours.

---

Alright, so I'd been mistaken. There is something the Queen of Windbloom has going for her.
She's comedy gold. Certainly, she flails around like she was born to do it on stage. Must have been some vivid dream, though I'm not even going to speculate why she was muttering 'call me queen!' and making with the evil chuckle while I ...
... yes, sadly, I managed to somehow get roped into actually carrying the little brat.
And what thanks do I get? She wakes up and calls me a midget with delusions of grandeur.
Shizuru found it all quite funny, I'm sure. Me, less so. Takumi was playing with the cat ... and how something with that much body fat could even move, much less hop around, I have no idea.
As to where we'd ended up?
Well, the city's skyline still stretched above, but the walls limited visibility somewhat. If there were more water, the wide and deep canal would have become more akin to a river - but if the calendar were to be believed the rainy season was still a bit off. Now, out of the wind and out of the way, wooden shacks stretched along the canal walls, with people in clothing that had obviously seen better days sitting here and there in small groups, mothers, children, families ...
... hmm, well, that's one result of the recent rise in taxes. A fair few people out of work, out of money, and as a result out of a home. Sad, but true.
Judging from the Brat's expression, she was seeing this for the first time, and didn't quite know how to take it.
A very Prince and Pauper moment.
"Don't look like that," came from Takumi. His hands were occupied with holding two bowls full of some sort of stew that a matronly looking woman had been cooking in one of the shacks. The fact that this shack was built more like a market stall and the size of the pot on the fire meant that it was supposed to be the communal kitchen, I guess. "Everyone here is a great person."
He was generalizing, and I had a feeling he knew it. That the fact the scabbard threaded through the flaps of the pouch he wore, strapped to his belt at the small of his back, was quite visible and an indication that he wasn't entirely harmless, served to deter those who weren't was left unmentioned.
Still, neither I nor Shizuru cut in, and we let the conversation between the two resolve itself.
Hmm, I'd need to remember to see why the name Nina Wong rang a bell. Mashiro had seemingly used it with a reason of some sort in mind.
Everything else aside though, and I think Shizuru agreed with me, this was pretty good entertainment. Watching the Brat trying to explain who she was when, mysteriously, the posters with her likeness were progressively disappearing from the walls of buildings.
A discreete call to the office, and thank the gods I'd thought to invest in radio equipment small enough, confirmed a growing suspicion that both Windbloom and Jipang had come up with doubles for their respective heads of state, and had me chuckling faintly as I related this to Fujino-san.
Contrary to her words and claims that she just wanted to make her way home the Brat had ... lingered, stopping off at one of the courtyards along the way where several booths with various sorts of refreshments or games being offered had been erected. Sort of like a magpie attracted to anything that's shiny.
Well, at least some people were making money off this whole Royal Birthday thing.
And now I could honestly say I'd shared ice cream with royalty. It was, perhaps, the most peaceful 'conference' of two heads of state that I'd ever born witness to. Not that there'd been many of those.
Frankly, I didn't much care one way or the other, but for the fact that ...
... Mhmmm ... chocolate flavor.
In the words of Masamichi Fujisawa: Don't blame me, I'm just weak.

---

Next bit should work better, I think. I hope. *sigh* I need sleep.
-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]

---

*collapses laughing at the mental image of Natsuki as Sakura and Shizuru as Tomoyo of CCS fame*

---

*snrk* Okay, I like that. I'll admit that I was initially thinking more along the lines of Shizuru as Juri herself... but that'd make Nao Shiori, and brr. Just, brrrrrr.

---

---

Ordinarily, of course, there's nothing especially lucky about seeing a critter like that, seeing as how it's both ugly as sin and likely out for your hide, but since the time I looked back was about the same time that Natsuki showed up, I think you can see why this'd be a bit of an unusual case.
Granted, there's nothing particulary appetizing about watching Duran splatter something that used to be alive across about half the local landscape, but it's fairly satisfying.
In retrospect, it might have been a good idea for me to decamp from my window and try and find someplace safe to wait out the mess, but it didn't occur to me at the time, and really, given the kinds of havoc that were getting thrown around, where could have gone that would've done any good?
Even though my window was actually a fairly good vantage point for much of it, there was a lot more going on that anyone on the ground would really have been able to piece together at the time - that Orphan and three others on the ground, then the two flying ones, and all of them raising as much havoc as they could.
The thing you never think about watching all those old kaiju films is that, when something like that really happens, a lot of people die... and this was hardly an exception.
When everything came out at the end, Akane... didn't take it well.

---

---

Well, I went and picked up my meds. Insurance is still on the fritz, so I'm two-hundred odd dollars poorer, at least until I can get the company over the barrel and make them pay me back the difference from their sweetheart deal, and for whatever reason only one of the two prescriptions was included. Fortunately, it's the one that I consider more vital - the depression med, as opposed to the actual concentration aid - so I hope to be back on a more even keel soonish.
OTOH, the bookstore run I made on the same trip will probably preclude any further productivity tonight, so I figure I'll just accept my due shame for the moment.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puri puri puri puri... Bang!"

[ordnance11]

---

OTOH, the bookstore run I made on the same trip will probably preclude any further productivity tonight, so I figure I'll just accept my due shame for the moment.

---

Did you happen to pick up "The Dance of Time"?
__________________
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]

---

Did you happen to pick up "The Dance of Time"?

---

Already had that from last time, actually - no, this time it was Boundary that I spent most of the evening killing. And am I the only person that thinks you could start off a description of Madeline by going, 'Okay, she's sort of like Buffy, only without the shell-shock...'?
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puri puri puri puri... Bang!"

[classicdrogn]

(has a sudden vision of a somewhat indistinct, male figure making like Yomiko Readman with a wheeled bag and brown trenchcoat, down to the store staf lining up t wave goodbye to their Very Important Customer)
nonono.... Sleep, yes, I need sleep. Sleep is good, it makes the strange thoughts go away.
- 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]

---

*snrk* Okay, I like that. I'll admit that I was initially thinking more along the lines of Shizuru as Juri herself... but that'd make Nao Shiori, and brr. Just, brrrrrr.

---

Hmm ... y'know, the image of Mai pulling Miroku-the-sword out of Mikoto's chest seems oddly fitting, especially if you consider Reito. Although Mikoto would likely combine Anthy and Wakaba into one role, given her genkiness most of the time.

Mouuuuu ... this took a while, less because I was having very much trouble with it and more because I was rewatching HiME and doing my 'plot evil developments while laughing like somebody who's had too much coffee' thing.

---

"You said you did not particularly like her. Why argue in her favor, then?" I heard from beside me.
Purple hues painted the sky as the sun disappeared over the horizont, leaving the city to the illumination its street-lamps delivered. Say what you will, but Windbloom's capital just worked with that sort of lighting. Made me feel as if I were stuck in something between a film Noir and a Sherlock Holmes novel, with a pinch of Blade Runner thrown in for good measure. The lights, the semi-victorian retro feel of some parts of the place, the occasional building that looked like it had been plucked straight out of the US of A during the so called Roaring Twenties, in conjunction with the holograms that advertized ... well, you get the idea. It was, frankly, very neat.
Also, and surprisingly so, it didn't feel overdone or gaudy ... much. The glow was oddly relaxing.
I didn't know what Fujino-san thought about it, but then, I didn't know what she thought about a lot of things.


"The queen really should take care of other things first," stated the boy prince, though his tone was more sad than anything else. "Not spend her subjects' money on things like birthdays and rebuilding the castle, when they often don't even have enough to buy any food. They can't work because there are no jobs. They have trouble even finding bread to eat tomorrow, and there are children who are forced to steal."
It was well into the day, now, and both Tokiha-san and blan de Windbloom had spent most of the time they'd been together simply on, well, being together. Being kids together, I should say. It was both amusing and educational to watch.
"Maybe. Consider, though," I spoke up, and I think the fact that Shizuru and I were still there startled the both of them mildly. Well, we had been mostly silent. Wouldn't do to mess up good comedy with a misspoken word or two. "She's made mistakes, but she has to learn somehow. Objectively, you could say that this is more the fault of the regency than it is of the queen herself. We are what our environment makes us. Their duty to their country was to prepare her for the responsibility, for which they had a good few years I daresay. They messed up. From what the rumor mill is churning out ... eh ... or rather, still churning out ..."
"Rumors? What sort of rumors?!" subtle, our little Brat is not. Then again, I could feel and see that the words had as much confused her as anything else.
"Ever since something that happened fourteen years ago," Shizuru picked up the thread of conversation efortlessly. She was good at that. "Some say that the Queen was not the real heir to the Throne of Windbloom ..."
"That isn't true!" three guesses who that was, and the first two don't count.
"Maybe yes, maybe no. It doesn't really matter anymore, one way or the other," I cut in before the Brat could say anything else. Both royals threw startled looks my way. "Really, now. Contesting the coronation would be a long, ardous, and utterly bothersome process that would likely cost the country more than it's worth now. And nobody would even consider such if she shapes up and actually starts working at things and fixing them. Maybe someone should give her advisors a kick in the ass and have them stop sheltering her."
"Sheltering?" Takumi cocked his head to the side. "I ... think I understand. She had no parents when growing up, and, if her guardians geniunely cared for her, wanted her to be happy despite that, but really didn't know better ..."
"The seemingly easiest and quickest way to make a child happy ..." I started, but was interrupted.
"... give it whatever it wants. That's what they did, isn't it?" Shizuru cut in, her words sounding faintly nostalgic. "Spoiled her, kept her from the world and the world from her. Made her want things to not really change. But she has to realize that the change will come, no matter what. It's what you make of it, how you take it, that's the most important thing."
By then, Mashiro's expression was somewhere between indignation and that of a dear caught in the headlights of a semi.
"Responsibility," Takumi began. "It's a heavy burden to shoulder, and even heavier at that scope. In my home, they say that death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain ..."
A coughing fit interrupted whatever he was about to say, and the boy was forced to reach for his pouch and withdraw the small medicine box he'd used once or twice before that day.


"Because I'm against?" I asked/stated with a shrug.
"Against what?"
"Hmm ... oh, nothing. I just enjoy being contrary, sometimes even to myself. If you had objections, why back me up?"
"I did not say I wholly disagreed," she half-smiled.
"Half-truths and unspoken implications," I shook my head in mock disappointment.
"They are a woman's prerogative, yes," she said in as close to a deadpan tone as she ever got.


"That was the last one," he commented after swallowing the pill. His cough stilled almost immediately, and the paleness I honestly hadn't noticed creeping onto his face receeded.
"You're sickly?" wonder of wonders, the Brat actually sounded concerned.
"No, it's alright," he waved it off. Honestly, I didn't blame him for wanting the relatively stress-free day to last. From the few relevant comments he'd made before, it seemed he didn't get to indulge often. Or rather, didn't let himself.
"For now, you mean," I said. "It was an enjoyable day, yes, but as much as it's a pity to see it end, you really should take better care of yourself."
He shot me a startled glance. Maybe something I said reminded him of somebody else, I don't know and don't really care enough to place a wager.
"... maybe," he nodded, then turned to the girl. "I suppose this is goodbye, then ..."
I looked to Shizuru, cocking my head to the side to indicate we should depart as well. It was a wonder the charades the respective countries had pulled had lasted this long, in retrospect. She considered, and nodded.
"Then we shall be taking our leave as well," Shizuru said, standing up from where she'd been sitting, perched on the rim of the pool of water surrounding the fountain which the benches both de Windbloom and Tokiha-dono sat on had been pulled against. "It has been ... an experience, Tokiha-dono. Mashiro-jou."
Hmm. She was getting better at reading at least some of my intentions as well. I wondered whether I should be concerned.
"Consider it a bit of free counseling. Ja ne," I stood from my half-sprawl on another of the benches, and joined Shizuru in taking my leave.
We left two quite poleaxed looking teenagers behind.


"I have been meaning to ask," she said, breaking my reverie ... well, alright, I wasn't thinking about anything in particular at the moment. We weren't as much as halfway to the office, but walking seemed ... right. To me, anyway. I'd always found it conductive to my thought processes.
Whether or not Fujino-san did too, I had no idea, but she'd elected not to take the monorail to speed her return either.
"I have told you about what happened to me, what I did," she continued. "I could tell, you found it troubling. Still ... you help me. The Guardian implied that you would but I find myself at a loss as to why."
Oh. Well ...
"Throught a dark mirror," I replied. "Only not so dark. I think we're a little similar, you and I."
"Oh?" she said, between guarded and cold.
"Shizuru-san," I turned to her, walking backwards now, hands in my pockets. "I'm doing what I'm doing because I want to see my precious people again. People I fought for. People I killed for. People I died for. Whatever it takes."
She paused, in half-step, face turning introspective in a way I'd at least learned to identify. Looking for a memory.
"One of them ... the woman with the amber eyes?"
It was my turn to pause, nearly stumbling before I caught my stride again.
"Aa. My memories?"
She nodded.
"Sylvie. Her name was, no, is Sylvie." I said, smiling.

---

That was surprisingly fun, though I may have overdone the drama at the end a little. Eh.
Katz doesn't like Mashiro much. It doesn't mean he can't see where she's coming from. And yes, I and he do enjoy being contrary and playing devil's advocate on occasion. Just because.
-Griever
who is now an eternal fan of Midori, because he's just seen her 'special' in HiME. *bows* Respect.
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[ordnance11]

Episode 23 hints that one of the original HIME's is alive and living on Earl. Dang......
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[chibipoe]

That would be interesting... *waits for 23 to complete*
But who would it be? I mean... we've seen all of them but one in the flesh at this point, and that one(Fumi) is dead. So, since Mai has a corollary... Mikoto? Hm....
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Rieverre]

Maa ... shouldn't this be in the 'Mai-Otome' thread?
-Griever
woke up grumpy today
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

[ordnance11]

---

Maa ... shouldn't this be in the 'Mai-Otome' thread?

---

*tugs ear*
yeah ,it normally would but it is germane to your story..imagine the surprise..
__________________
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]

---

Mouuuuu ... this took a while, less because I was having very much trouble with it and more because I was rewatching HiME and doing my 'plot evil developments while laughing like somebody who's had too much coffee' thing.

---

...
Ooh. Lightbulb moment.
See, I'd been planning on sort of doing four 'arcs' - the one where he arrives and everything gets intoduced, a sort of character-building arc to set up all the later interactions and avoid your classic 'fuck off, Marissa Picard' cheese, then two seperate sequences of heavy plot... sort of combining the anime and manga's major final arcs in sequence rather than as a mushy whole.
And I had some really cool ideas for the third one in particular, and wanting to get to it was interfering with my ability to write the intervening bits.
But, if I can just flash back to particular scenes at appropriate moments, showing why something's happening the way it is in a particular scene, I think it can work.
...
Mweh. Heh. Heh.

---

---

I can't really tell you anything else as direct about most of the other fights happening on the ground at that point, just because I couldn't see any of them - sure, I have an idea what went on, from the TV footage and things the girls said after the fact, but there were too many buildings and trees and shit in the way to have any real clue as to what was going on below the horizon. Then again, their analyses of things are what you wanted to hear in the first place, aren't they?
Mikoto didn't think that hers was any trouble at all, naturally enough - to hear her report, it had been nothing but a huge lump of muscle with some fur and a nasty set of claws, sort of like a cross between a tree sloth, an abominable snowman, and a giant Koosh ball. She pretty much just said that she had played with it a little before killing it, and left it at that.
It's much, much too easy to look at Mikoto and the way she looks at and thinks about the world and conclude that she's really not much more than a typical housecat in a people suit. And, honestly, there's a lot of truth to that - not perfect truth, of course, since I don't think that cats are really built for that utter, perfect loyalty that's so much a part of her, but there's a hell of a lot more about her that's feline than just her eyes. The thing is, though, that 'feline' does not really mean cute, cuddly, oraffectionate. Nor, despite what some might like to think, does it mean anything approaching aloof and dignified.
The real felines are the ones that your badgers and groundhogs get to know - briefly. The ones that arrange for the mutilated corpses of unwary songbirds to arrive on otherwise un-stained doorsteps. The ones that are, arguably, pound for pound the most lethal killing machines in the animal kingdom.
That sort of cat. Modulated through a physical brain designed pretty much from the ground up for pack behavior and heavy-duty feats of abstraction and memory.
In a lot of ways - far more than I had any clue of at the time - I think she was genuinely feral. Not, of course, in the way that term is usually applied to humans to indicate an individual whose childhood had not included certain vital elements like, oh, language, but in a slightly more subtle sense... Maybe a barbarian would be a better term? Certainly if you look at 'culture' as being the collective memory and beliefs passed on to a child from their parents, she had none to speak of... aside from being really good at haiku, which was just creepy.
She knew exactly what she wanted, I guess, and literally didn't care at all about anything outside of that... We were just lucky, truly lucky, that those wants boiled almost entirely down to 'Food, Family, and Fuck'.
Yes, she has a libido.
No, I will not tell you how I learned that.

---

---

And I don't think you need to worry about the drama levels question - while, yes, they are perhaps a little intense by ordinary standards, this is a story, not real life, and that scene fit its timing perfectly... if that makes sense.
Ja, -n
(Now, which one was Midori's, again? *grumblestupidbrainmutter*...)

===============================================
"Puri puri puri puri... Bang!"

[ordnance11]

---

It's much, much too easy to look at Mikoto and the way she looks at and thinks about the world and conclude that she's really not much more than a typical housecat in a people suit. And, honestly, there's a lot of truth to that - not perfect truth, of course, since I don't think that cats are really built for that utter, perfect loyalty that's so much a part of her, but there's a hell of a lot more about her that's feline than just her eyes.

---

A typical cat is not built for loyalty true...though I've seen one cat who'd match a dog for loyalty. My sister's Siamese. There's been a couple of times when she's down for a week with a bug and Ming (name of the cat) refused to leave her side to the point of not eating or drinking. My brother-in-law has to carry him downstairs and make him eat.

---

In a lot of ways - far more than I had any clue of at the time - I think she was genuinely feral. Not, of course, in the way that term is usually applied to humans to indicate an individual whose childhood had not included certain vital elements like, oh, language, but in a slightly more subtle sense... Maybe a barbarian would be a better term? Certainly if you look at 'culture' as being the collective memory and beliefs passed on to a child from their parents, she had none to speak of... aside from being really good at haiku, which was just creepy.

---

True, since her favorite pastime is to run thru the woods with the cats naked..and since Mai isn't an influence yet....

---

Yes, she has a libido.
No, I will not tell you how I learned that.

---

Manga, right?
*Remember scenes*
*grabs cottonballs*
good work!
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Drenivian]

I'm really just starting to get the fact I should just read the dang manga. I haven't for the fact of not finding a decient site.
On a side note, this dang thread + 3am got me to change my CoH char on Virtue named Shizuru to as close to Mai-Hime Shizuru as i could get. Dang youse.My god can be your god any day of the week. Though, my god is the Golden Lord.
*********************
In the epic rage of furious thunder
legends create their tales
when the twilight calls and the dark lord falls
our glory will prevail

[Sweno]

I've managed to track down the first 3 volumes (up to chapter 26) but haven't found anyplace that has the whole thing. *frustration*
and the site I got it from has since dropped it due to being licensed by tokyopop.
But I'll zip them up and email them to you if desired.-Terry
------
"in comes a man in cameo with a american flag, because american flags float around in the wilderness." - Mike Keon
Please Remember: People are stupid... Programers are people.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Rieverre]

---

yeah ,it normally would but it is germane to your story..imagine the surprise..

---

*reads through spoiler* Point.

---

...
Ooh. Lightbulb moment.

---

Glad to have been of service. Though in my case, using the flashback 'bytes' is less a way of getting to the good stuff faster and more a way to effectively retcon some stuff without the need to rewrite whole chunks of what's been done.
As for the mangas? Earlier in the thread, there's a link that points you to all six, available online and free at AnimeSource. Or you could just google it.

IMD, Nao hijacked this one.

---

"I hate you, you know?"
Not exactly the sort of greeting I'd expected to come back to. Hell, I hadn't expected any words, since by the time Fujino-san and I got back working hours had long since passed. Most of those still at it were so deeply engrossed in whatever had drawn their interest that they hardly noticed something as relatively unimportant as somebody walking past them.
It was late. Midnight was still getting closer rather than farther, but that was pretty much all you could say about it.
I wasn't sure I ought to be more impressed by the fact she managed to sneak in here, or the fact that she'd managed to sneak out of Garderobe tonight of all night. The latter was possibly more impressive, if only because they were likely still walking on eggshells where security was concerned. Typical 20-20 hindsight and overreaction in the wake of the events of the day.
If it weren't for me recognizing the voice, I would have spent a moment wondering who the hell was in there. Truthfully, even with that I had to blink at the image presented.
And no, no strawberries or whipped cream were involved. Neither was lingerie. Let's not go there right now.
I'd actually seen Juliet-ane-san's 'other self' a few times. This wasn't it. The lack of Garderobe Pearl uniform pretty much nixed that. It wasn't Juliet-ane-san either, or not a side of her I'd ever seen before at least.
Abrasive, snarky, sarcastic, with a tongue sharp enough to be considered a lethal weapon in some countries ... those, and a few more, sides of her I'd seen.
Pensive was new. Bordering on grim was vaguely disturbing.
Her wardrobe was another indication of that. Her usual 'clown outfit' stood out, Garderobe uniform doubly so ... and what she wore now was neither.
It was actually a downright utilitarian set of what looked like surplus fatigues.
"You know, I had it all planned out," she continued. "Milk being a Garderobe Student and Otome as much as I could, drop it when I found some nice enough rich guy to hook up with, and spend the rest of my days being waited on hand and foot."
For my part, I kept quiet. I wasn't entirely sure, but I thought I recognized the mood she was in now. It was something in the way she stood, arms crossed, head inclined forward and eyes half-glaring, like she wanted to pace but was keeping her emotions in out of fear that, if she let them go, they'd escalate all over the place.
I'd actually seen Sylvie in a similar mood once ... waiting for Largo to make his move so that we'd know where to go, while the Knight Sabers duked it out with doppelganger boomers made in their image on top of a bank building in the city center.

Why is it that almost every time when a day is going well, something like this crops up at the end of it? Some sort of cosmic law, or something?
Oh, I knew I was exaggerating, but at times like this it certainly seemed like this sort of thing always happened.
"So, with whom am I speaking right now?" I asked, staying where I was.
Safely out of reach if she's in a mood to throttle someone, at least.
Good thing too. I'd never claimed to be a master of diplomacy. I _was_ good at acting like a smug little shit who seemed like he knew more than he was willing to actually say he did, but that didn't really require much social savvy from where I was standing.
I'd realized her mood was deceptively placid, but not quite how much she was holding in. It was brought home effectively enough when she slammed a fist into the nearest flat surface, which happened to be my writing desk.
"Don't get smug with me right now, bastard," she nearly growled out. "I'm so not in the mood for that sort of thing right now."
I sighed. "You want direct? It'd help if you actually said what the fuck is going on!"
"I was ... curious. So I dug," she hissed. "I had my people dig."
"Into?"
"Schwarz, just how extensive they are," she chuckled bitterly. "You've as much as said straight out that they've got somebody everywhere. Well, I took a look. Discreetly. Indirectly. Close to home."
"Artai?" I asked, frowning.
"Garderobe," Juliet said, crossing the room in several quick strides and pulling a folder from behind her back, then slapping it into my chest. "Don't fuckin' deny it, it's what you were aiming for from the start. Oh, you didn't say it. Always so considerate. So business-like."
She turned around on her heel, gesticulating as she changed the pitch of her voice. "Just Juliet-ane-san. Don't need any information about Garderobe. Bull!"
Had I been hoping? Well, maybe. I didn't genuinely expect anything, though.

So, Schwarz does have someone in Garderobe. And this got her so upset why, exac ...? I leafed through the folder. I glanced at the picture. I froze.
You know, when they say that good deeds come back to haunt you, they're usually telling the truth.
The one thing going through my mind right there and then that I later recalled was thinking that I hadn't known the girl's eyes were that startling a shade of green.
I think I missed some of Juliet's rant, but she was quiet when I was done reading through the information she'd provided.
When I looked up she was sitting on the edge of my desk, staring holes into the wall off to the side. She threw me a glance, and grimaced.
"There, my dirty secret's out. The great and ruthless Juliet-ane-san actually cares," she bit out. "Tell that to anyone and I'll wear your guts for garters, aho."
I nodded, padding over to the phone and hitting the speed dial for the internal connection to the archives of the analysis department.
"Fujino, analysis."
"Still up, Shizuru-san?" I asked.
"Katz-san? Yes. I found myself unable to sleep. Did you need something?"
"Could you have someone send up ... no, nevermind. I'll be coming down to go through whatever we've got on Annan."
Juliet was half-glaring at me again when I put the receiver back onto its cradle.
"Do you want in on this?"
She closed her eyes for a moment, then rose from her perch. "Just try to keep me away, red-eyes."
"It's likely going to be a long night."
She shrugged, and rubbed the bridge of her nose. For an instant she seemed ... wrung out, before snapping back to alertness. "I have people covering for me if I don't make it back on time. Just tell me there's coffee."
"There's coffee."

---

This just sort of jumped out at me. I'd had a 'confrontation' sort of scene in my mind, true, but it went nothing like this.
I was trying for something that wondered about something along the lines of 'egocentric? sure. bit she does care, in her own way. what happens if you press that point a little harder?'
*shakes head* Damnit, now that I actually have more ideas, I need to go off and start jotting them down, lest I forget.
-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]

---

IMD, Nao hijacked this one.

---

She does that. ^_^

---

---

Nao's fight had happened interestingly, because she had spent most of it working closely with Yukino - and Diana.
See, while Julia's particular powers made for great equalizers, compared to the other Childs she was really towards the bottom of the barrel - some of that might have been put down as being due to Nao's carefully cultivated emotional distance from, well, just about everything, but Kagutsuchi's existance and abilities in particular were eloquent testimony to just how much of an internal ranking there was between the otherworldly beasts. Her 'spidersilk' was no more than a binding agent, if an almost unbeatable one, and while she could produce and spit a corrosive agent, that ability of hers was both badly draining and far weaker than those available to most of the other Childs - which was particularly noticable compared to Kiyohime.
Put gruesomely, Julia's acid could flay the flesh off your bones in minutes - but Kiyohime's could burn through stainless steel in seconds.
Diana, on the other hand, was very possibly one of the most powerful. Certainly she was the most versitile.
Don't get it? Well, let me walk you through the logic.
The solar constant at Earth's orbit - the amount of energy we recieve in the form of light - is about fourteen-hundred watts per minute. Most of that is lost just getting to ground level, particularly away from the equator - say that, in Japan, peak energy at ground level will never go over about three hundred watts per square meter. In the anime, we saw Diana apparently control, alter, all light passing out of an area perhaps a kilometer across - call it a hemisphere with an area around one and a half million square meters. Even with the flames Kagutsuchi had been throwing around and adding into the equation, say that three quarters of that incoming light had already been absorbed before she had to deal with it.
That comes out to saying that Diana was capable of remotely redirecting a bit less than two megawatts worth of light every second, for extended periods. What that amount of energy could do when concentrated on a single, specific target was... unspeakable. So what if she couldn't generate it herself? It made her vulnerable at night, of course, but first you had to find her.
The hard part, Yukino eventually determined after experimenting with the idea once I pointed it out, was aiming. Positioning her 'spores' the needed way took a lot of Diana's concentration, since the angles of the way they interacted couldn't be outsourced to the little things the way an instruction like 'edit this out' could, and concentration took time.
On the other hand, an Orphan that was busy trying to fight its way free of one of Julia's glue bombs was essentially a sitting target.
Which brings us to Yukino, who was also a great deal more than she ever got a chance to be shown as (pardon my pun) on the show.

---

---

Sorry to leave off there, but I just came down with a migrane, and the only painkiller in the house is regular-strength aspirin. Ow.
And I cannot wait to run my Nao arc - it's one of those things I'm looking forwards to.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puri puri puri puri... Bang!"

[classicdrogn]

So, what ou're saying is the Daina is a Grass-type Childemon who knows Solar Beam?
- CD Ducks, runs, and hidesSERVO: 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

[katreus]

Mwahahaha. *coughs*
Which would make Kagutsuchi the Charizard right? =S

[Rieverre]

Looking forward to your Nao-arc, then. She was a pretty neat character in HiME, what with her plot-twisty backstory and all - plus, I consider myself a Spidey fan, or used to, so there's that angle. Speaking of which, if you ever have the characters throw a birthday party for her, there's your answer as to what to give her right there. Though I suspect her commentary on the comics would be 'is this some sort of hint that I should start wearing spandex? major turn-on of yours, huh?' or something in that vein. Hehe.
As for Otome-Nao? Less plot twisty, unless they decide to actually make her another covert operative for Schwarz - not bloody likely at this point, yes? - but still fun.

---

Juliet and Shizuru.
In a small enclosed space.
On inordinate amounts of coffee, or tea in the latter's case.
The less said about that, the better. Let's just leave off at: we finally did get some work done, and there were no bodies on the floor at the end of it. And not because someone had turned to cannibalism as a way of life.
I think Juliet was impressed, though. Personally, I have no qualms about saying that Shizuru was far smarter than I, and is showed here. Particularly when extrapolating information.
She'd said before that she'd dabbled in politics, but I hadn't really appreciated just how many insights she could glean from the reports.
Her ability to single-mindedly focus on a goal and follow through until she was within grasping distance was frightening.
On a sidenote, I did finally find out how Juliet - and she actually preferred Nao, but my mind steadfastly refused to accept my labeling her as such - managed to get inside. Turns out she's more than talented at sleight of hand and pinched a keycard when she was here last time.
What we did find out was spotty at best. Juliet's own information wasn't very detailed either, since her digging had been rather heavy handed and very personal in nature. The sort of personal that resulted in bandaged knuckles and bruises, the first on her, the latter not.
When people say that violence is not the answer, they're lying. It's just that, it's a very immediate and stuttering answer where most things are concerned.

It's also as much a declaration as anything else. Things are starting to visibly escalate.
Annan itself, on a high government level at least, seemed on the level. Seemed, because we didn't get nearly as much business there as we did where we had an actual main office and not just a branch, and there'd never been as much as an indication of their involvement in Schwarz. Hell, I knew Yamada wasn't telling me everything, but this wasn't something he would have overlooked. He's far too meticulous for that.
On the other hand, the Ho family - specifically, Coral Erstin Ho's father - was rumored to be a bit of a radical and held station as their current council's Chair for Recovery and Research of Lost Technologies. Something that seemed to run in the family, since that position seemed to pass from one generation to the next of theirs for the past four generations.
Well, Yamada was in town, as far as I knew, though off doing his own things at the moment. I'd get in contact with him and see what falls out when I shake that particular tree.
That, though, would come later.
Much later.
We'd closed up the research session with mixed feelings, and decided to call it a day at the crack of dawn. Irony notwithstanding. Juliet was heading back to her own daily grind, Shizuru had finally beaten her insomnia into submission, and as for me?
No, I didn't really have to sleep anymore. I went off to do just that, nonehteless. It made me feel more human.
Which was something I wasn't about to just toss away on a whim.

---

Yes. Filler segment. I'm mosty busy fiddling with plot details right now. Stay tuned.
-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]

---

Looking forward to your Nao-arc, then. She was a pretty neat character in HiME, what with her plot-twisty backstory and all - plus, I consider myself a Spidey fan, or used to, so there's that angle. Speaking of which, if you ever have the characters throw a birthday party for her, there's your answer as to what to give her right there. Though I suspect her commentary on the comics would be 'is this some sort of hint that I should start wearing spandex? major turn-on of yours, huh?' or something in that vein. Hehe.

---

Less Peter Parker and more Walter Ddollneazz, the way I look at it. And it's slightly disturbing how firmly my subconcious has been trying to latch onto her personality, especially since a lot of what it's trying to do actually marches a little oddly with the things she does and says...

---

---

Yukino seems like a weak person when you first talk to her - obviously shy and retiring, and perhaps also indecisive and sheeplike. It's an impression that's got a good basis, since her public face seems like it'd be exactly that.
First impressions, as the cliche goes, can be decieving.
I won't try and say that she doesn't have a tendancy to second-guess herself, but once comfortable with a course of action she's got nerves of fucking tungsten carbide, and is one of the quickest thinkers I've ever seen. Not book-smarts, although she's certainly got a good share of those, too, but the kind of mind that can analyze a situation and hit exactly the right button to make it go the way she wants it to, or make up an entire backstory and rattle off the excuse for why she was in that secret Searrs lab anyway just as confidently as if it was really true.
She never became the kind of tactician that Akira and Midori were, but I think that she might very well have been the best at handling people.
Case in point: seeing her and Haruka in action, live and in-person, was fascinating - not because of the comedy value, or how much time Haruka spent, um, bouncing, but because, if you really, realy watched, and looked close at what was going on under the surface, it wasn't Haruka who was doing most of the controlling. Sure, if you looked just at how they ended up handling crises, it seemed like Haruka just put her head down and charged like a bull in a china shop and dragged the quieter HiME behind in her wake, but frankly those were emotional moments, and I don't think even the Lord God Almighty could get Haruka's attention once her dander was up.
The rest of the time? Little Miss Tornado was so straightforward that deception really wasn't something you could imagine from her, but every time she opened her mouth in the Council meetings, she glanced at Yukino first.
You sometimes hear talk about people who can know each other so well that they can have an entire conversation in no more than the space of a glance, with twins being the favorite example. I used to watch my parents do it, and Yukino and Haruka could manage the same trick.
Frankly, it was what made me start taking Haruka seriously as a person - that she could recognize her own weaknesses the way that kind of interaction required her to, and rely on someone else to do something so obviously important to her when she knew she couldn't. Now, that's not to say that she didn't have - and follow - her own ideas and opinions, since the idea of that woman being anybody's puppet is ludicrous to the point of comedy, but just that she was a good enough leader to know, and follow, good advice when she heard it.
Interestingly, Shizuru couldn't do the same thing if her life depended on it. She could delegate, yeah, and she certainly listened, but I never once saw her really let what she heard affect a decision she had already made.
Shizuru had been eating lunch with Mai and Mikoto when the whole Orphan attack mess kicked off, on the pretext of wanting to pick up a recipie she and Mai had discussed the night before, and, with the killer kitty around for backup, hadn't even needed to summon Kiyohime.
Interesting tidbit: the thing that Shizuru's Element has always most reminded me of is the weapon of a Soul Calibur character named Ivy. This same character is also, in properly skilled hands, one of the most dangerous in the game, and the reasons that would be intuitively expected to explain that hold quite, quite true in real life.
Our dear Miss Fujino's hands are very skilled, indeed.
I never got a clear description of exactly what the Orphan she fought looked like - the best guess I've been able to work up from the fragments she, Mikoto, and Mai were willing to part with seems like something straight out of one of Calvin and Hobbes' Spaceman Spiff episodes - but apparently it didn't stack up against an opponent who could produce dismemberingly powerful attacks at considerable range in less than the blink of an eye any better than, say, J. Random Security goon would.
Mai likely could have helped out a bit even considering all that, but at that point, she was quite thoroughly busy meeting Kagutsuchi... among other things.

---

---

Ja, -n
(bed. sleep. now.)

===============================================
"Puri puri puri puri... Bang!"

[katreus]

I choose you, Kagutsuchiiiiii!!!!
Interesting. I too look forward to the Nao arc. She was one of my favorite characters in Mai Otome. Your description of Yukino was very interesting and very much in tune with the whole Mai Himes are special people.