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Foxboy · 03-08-2006, 07:15 AM

He was referring to "Little Orphan Annie," the source of the Musical Annie.
She had a constant companion in her dog, Sandy, whose dialog consisted of, "Arf!"
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

***Bob Schroeck*** · 03-08-2006, 04:49 PM

Precisely. It was a joke.
I could always ban Oliver Twist instead, if that would be clearer.

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

Rieverre · 03-09-2006, 04:16 AM

Hmm. Okay.
Oi, Nate!
*throw*

For all the presumptious bravado in that declaration, though Ren had probably just blamed it on my quirkiness in general, things weren't simply going to start falling into place just because I'd decided on a particular course of action.
Before, the only thing I'd wanted to concern myself with had been reasearch into the Materialization process and exactly how it managed to pull Slaves and Robes into reality from across its barriers.
To that end, Black had been created ... well, not only to that end, but it was certainly part of the reason. Schwarz had been stockpiling and researching Materialization technology for as long as it had existed, and Miyu assured me that they'd been around for a very long time indeed. I was also convinced that their notes and reasearch data would be of more use than that which could be gotten from Garderobe. Honestly, what use would being able to call a fancy new set of clothes, even ones that gave a person prodigal personal power, be to me?
The irony was that everybody and their dog seemed to be drooling at the thought of getting their hands on Otome and Robes, and I'd been working my ass off for the past two years and change to get at uncovering the mechanics behind summoning Slaves.
Right now this was something that could be considered most fortunate. Both because Schwarz was stepping up its schedule, building towards whatever it was they'd been building to - something that, had they not been one of Black's chief points of focus, would not have been noticed - and because it looked like Black was going to have to become a little more active. A little more aggressive.
Maybe I'd need to give some of our technicians-on-call a more thorough debriefing.
I shook my head.
It was looking more and more like I'd be wandering headlong into another war.
So why was I getting this nigh-uncontrollable urge to grin?
***
She couldn't sleep. Not really.
It was, she reflected, not something she'd had great problems with back during the events of the Festival. Then again, knowing about the Festival and having experienced it were two different things, and she was not quite as deluded as to try and make herself believe that she'd not been unsettled by her part in it.
Oh, her actions had been genuine enough ... but at the same time, they bore the signs of the sort of heavy-handed excessiveness which came from desperation. Something she'd been walking on the very edge of during those last days.
And when she'd finally regained some equilibrium, she and Natsuki had ended up killling one-another like some sort of bad samurai-dourama throwback plot.
Then she'd woken up, and had been offered another chance ... hooks and all.
Now? A small, nearly hysterical chuckle sounded in the dark silence of the room she'd been given.
There was something oppressive in the air, so very much like the impending sensation of another Festival, yet different at the same time.
Fujino Shizuru had never been a big believer in Fate and Destiny in any way other than the one which said a person could make their way through life regardless of either. Yet this feeling, it had those two words written over the top in bold black kanji.
The similarities of this place, this 'Earl', and the players involved in the dance ... a different dance, yet one which seemed to echo with something deep within her chest ... with what she'd gone through once already were disquieting to say the least and ...
No.
She would not lie to herself.
She feared having to experience another rendition of the Festival.
If that had been the only thing on her mind, she would quite possibly have given up there and then.
But she hadn't. She'd not given up through the forced inaction and hospitality of Aries, she'd not given up when breaking out of that inertia inducing setting, and she would not give up now.
Because, even with all that fear, all that anxiety, Fujino Shizuru had a Reason.
A Reason which was currently, for all intents and appearences, in service of an organization which was similar enough, in the ways that mattered, to the First District of her home that she knew Natsuki would never willingly have done so.
In the darkness, Shizuru fell in and out of a troubled sleep plagued with dreams that were more rememberance than nightmare, but her determination never wavered.
She would see her Natsuki again.
And this time, she would not fail in protecting her most precious person.

-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 · 03-09-2006, 08:25 AM

Quote:
*throw*

*duck* Ack! Right, right! I know, believe me, but among other headaches this medication thing seems to have me sleeping about twice as much as I usually do, so please, beg pardon for being a little behind.
Anyway...

The eventual plan for the evening started with the word 'kareoke'. Frankly I had no opinion one way or the other on that score, perhaps because in a lot of ways I still thought like an American - I didn't and don't get the kareoke thing that seems to be such an obsession for the Japanese. Certainly I have no idea how a town the size of Fuuka, what I'd guess at less than twenty thousand people, managed to support more kareoke parlors than it had restaruants.
Speaking of which, that was the part of the evening's plans that I took issue with. In retrospect, all the girls were clearly having a great deal of fun watching Shiho punch all the food-related buttons she'd gone and learned in the months since I'd woken up, but seriously, it was not just my being picky.
Example: Fuuka has three real pizza joints. One of them is vile by any standard - unsanitary, disgusting, foul-tasting, and just about every other epithet you can honestly apply to food. Another is the sort of place that turns you away at the door if you've got your tie tied wrong, if you know what I mean (although, having been taken there for 'Yuuichi's' birthday some time later, I can tell you that their food is actually worth what they charge for it), and thus entirely unsuitable for what was really one step up from a frat party, and the third, well, they were good enough and cheap enough, but their cook was apparently ineradicably convinced that a pizza was not a pizza without mayonnaise.
Mayo.
On pizza.
Um, no?
And all of the other options were either shot down by... well, pretty much everyone but me as not being 'interesting enough' or were just as absurd in their own right. McDonalds produced the best hamburgers in town, for example, and theirs were a great deal worse than the ones I remembered eating under the same imprint back in America - the rest weren't even recognizable as being meat-based.
On the other hand, it wasn't as though the entire ordeal didn't have its compensating factors. Besides the comedy factor inherent in my ranting, Mai told me later that it was the first step for most of the HiME-sentai towards regarding me as a person and a friend, rather than some wise, all-knowing oracle - although I'll ask that y'all kind audience-members keep in mind that, at the time, I had no fucking clue any of them were even considering looking at me that way.
We did end up with good food that was both 'interesting' and within our price range, we got to see a wide variety of register slaves react to Fumi and Midori in particular's ideas of 'good party clothes', and more personally, I got a chance to pick up a couple of disposable cameras and document both outfits and events for posterity.
Given how little I remember of that evening after we got to the actual parlor (and the content of the pictures taken after that point), I have since reached two conclusions. First, where my original (ie, fat white American) body had inherited a tendancy towards alcoholism and attendant tolerance for the drug, my new one was archtypically Japanese - ie, lit by the start of the second beer.
Second, if Midori ever spikes my drinks again, I'm going to monitor her alcohol intake then sneak in in the night to rewire her alarm clock to play fucking DISASTER AREA at eight in the fucking AM.

For once, I actually know exactly where I plan to go with this - but since I have a test in... exactly eleven and a half hours... that'll count for about half of my grade in that class, it should likely wait.
So. Stay tuned for next time, kids, where you get to hear about Those Damned Photos.
Ja, -n

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

katreus · 03-09-2006, 09:25 AM

Heh. I await the Photos (of DOOM) with anticipation. ^^

ordnance11 · 03-09-2006, 09:33 AM

Quote:
On the other hand, it wasn't as though the entire ordeal didn't have its compensating factors. Besides the comedy factor inherent in my ranting, Mai told me later that it was the first step for most of the HiME-sentai towards regarding me as a person and a friend, rather than some wise, all-knowing oracle - although I'll ask that y'all kind audience-members keep in mind that, at the time, I had no fucking clue any of them were even considering looking at me that way.

I'll refrain from making any wisecracks about the oracle part.
__________________
Into terror!, Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

ECSNorway · 03-09-2006, 06:12 PM

Quote:
I'll refrain from making any wisecracks about the oracle part.

Yeah. Besides, Nate uses SQL, doesn't he?--
"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 · 03-09-2006, 11:39 PM

Quote:
Yeah. Besides, Nate uses SQL, doesn't he?

Huh?
Heh. Anyway, I thought I'd float a question while it's on my mind - Chiisana Hoshi ga Oriru Toki is the HiME-sentai battle theme, stet? What d'y'all think the individual characters' themes might be?
Yes, I am planning to use such things.
Ja, -n

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

Rieverre · 03-10-2006, 12:32 AM

No worries. That was just my attempt to annoy you into writing more, and hey, it seems to have worked. ^_^
Mayo, eh? Does this mean the place is on Natsuki's list of possible lunch spots?
I'm wondering about Fumi's party clothes, though (because Midori is a student of the Misato Katsuragi school of slacker-wear, I'd wager).
Now, the question on everybody's mind - can N!Tate carry a tune? And if so, with bucket or without?

Right. Here we go.

"You want us to do what?"
That morning, Kobayakawa Miyuki had woken up, gotten dressed, and headed off to her little corner of the analyst level of the building, wanting to maybe get the day's workload squared away as quickly as she could so that she'd be able to do some more tinkering on a Frame redesign she'd been meaning to try and convince the higher ups - even if there were only all two of them at the moment, really - to take a look at.
That morning, Tsujimoto Natsumi had been on the way to the garage, intending to get out her little customized Flea and have a day on the town to enjoy her time off.
Neither of the two Jipang expatriates working in Black's Windbloom office got to actually follow through with their respective plans.
"I want you to lie," their boss said, shrugging. Miyuki could see Turippu-san, who was sitting off to the side and had been studiously ignoring every word said since he'd ushered them in, wince and rub his temples.
She understood that well enough. Sometimes, Black's boss was prone to being a little too direct.
"Well why didn't you say so in the first place? Do we get a bonus?"
Sometimes, though, a little directness was what was called for. Natsumi certainly seemed to respond better to that than she did to any sort of doublespeak.
Schrdinger-san ... was watching them, and for the first time in quite a bit she felt unsettled by the intensity of those crimson eyes of his.
"This goes no further than this office ..."
Then he turned to look at Turippu-san, who'd given up his pretense of ignoring the conversation, and gave the man who was, for all intents and purposes, his right hand where day to day Black operations were concerned, a long look.
"... and I mean that, Ren. No exceptions this time. If," he looked back to them again. "If you do this, Kobayakawa-san, I can give you the chance to work with technology more advanced than that which Earl's militaries are playing with. Maybe even somewhat on par with that of the Black Valley and Schwarz, in its own way. And Tsujimoto-san? If you do this, you'd get to test drive the results of Kobayakawa-san's work."
***
"Lost Technology?" Ren asked after the two had left. I was still in the chair behind his desk ... hey, it was comfortable, and I'd never really gotten to replacing the one that had been in my office when I'd ... dropped in.
Well, the die had been cast.
Kobayakawa and Tsujimoto had struck me as genuine enough, but more importantly, Kobayakawa was a far better engineer than I'd ever been or would ever be. And was almost giddy at the thought of getting new toys to play with. And Tsujimoto? Two words: speed freak. And one who knew the quality of Kobayakawa's work intimately.
Besides, there really wasn't any other option for me if I wanted even a halfways decent cover for Fujino. The manners and language she already had a more than decent knowledge of by default fit in with the faux-origin I had in mind very well.
I'd asked the Miyuki and Natsumi to pretend to have known her during the time they'd still been Jipang citizens, and run all they recalled about their home country past her. Things you didn't find in reference texts.
I was, once again, very very thankful that Earl didn't have any sort of interconnected data network spanning its nations, or even any really reliable long range modes of communication available. It made both going from nothing to mere anonymity easier, and it was also one of the reasons that Black had gotten off the ground in the first place.
"All this time, you've had access to Lost Technology, and you spent your time and effort on building all this up ..." Ren's tone of voice suggested a sort of disbelief.
"Not really Lost in the way you mean it," I replied.
"But ... why? If you really weren't kidding, you could have set yourself up in practically any government. Treaties aside, we both know how much those in charge want an ace or two up their sleeves," he went on.
"My reason? It's simple and utterly selfish ... though maybe not quite in the way you'd expect," I shrugged. "I want the research and technology of Schwarz. I need it to do something, which in turn is entirely unrelated to the whole balance of power on Earl. Honestly, if I could get my hands on what I need, here and now, I'd likely leave this entire mess to itself."
Maybe I wasn't being entirely honest, though. I couldn't say if my deal with Miyu and Yamada wouldn't have stopped me from trying until I'd done my part.
The confusion of emotions evoked in me by Yukino-san aside. Very _firmly_ aside.
For the moment.
Sigh.
"Ren, stop looking at me like I'm some sort of budding Evil Overlord," I grumbled.
He blinked as he assimilated the term.
"Well, what am I supposed to be thinking? You're not exactly instilling any sort of confidence for your sanity here."
"You don't know the whole story," I defended.
"Then _tell me_!"
I blinked. I considered.
I told him.

Next on "Incarna:ENR", ice-cream diplomacy.
-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

Rieverre · 03-10-2006, 01:47 AM

Nao - Yoko Kanno Could you bite the hand??
Natsuki - Yoko Kanno Stray?
Shizuru - Metallica Unforgiven 2?
Mikoto - Iron Maiden Can I Play With Madness? (I get this Angry!Mikoto vibe from it)
not a HiME, but :
Lord Glassass - Garbage Dog New Tricks

-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 · 03-10-2006, 03:40 AM

Ironically, I only recognize every other one of these - Stray and the Iron Maiden tune.
Links? *bigsadpuppyeyes*
The song I'd been thinking of for Obsidian had actually been a rather rocking version of Mad Tom o' Bedlam I picked up from Bob a while back, with SEARRS getting to kick ass to Bad Religion's I Want to Conquer the World. Besides CHOT, the other two tunes currently in my 'soundtrack playlist' are titled 'Lay Down' and 'Running Dry'.
Ja, -n

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

Rieverre · 03-10-2006, 03:50 AM

Could you bite the Hand:
www.lyricsdownload.com/yo...yrics.html
Unforgiven 2:
www.lyricsdownload.com/me...yrics.html
Dog New Tricks:
www.lyricsdownload.com/ga...yrics.html
-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

ordnance11 · 03-10-2006, 07:39 AM

For Akane, I'd say Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
Shizuru...Two Small of Pieces..from Xenogears the Game
__________________
Into terror!, Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

03-10-2006, 01:01 PM

It's "Small of Two Pieces" actually ^_^
www.animelyrics.com/game/xenogear/xenostop.htm

Valles · 03-10-2006, 08:50 PM

Picture these:
Nao, in a way-too-small baby-doll tee and a badly shortened version of the Academy's standard middle-school skirt, wearing a pair of sunglasses, a bandana around her neck, and her naughtiest come-hither look as she leaned in towards the camera.
Akane had worn a dress, with matching hat. I'll simply say that both of them had ruffles but somehow she made them work, and then I'll leave it at that.
Yukariko had been giving my camera the sort of look you'd expect of a tribesman who expected the evil outlanders' box to steal his soul, which did nothing at all for her complexion... and since that dress would've been dowdy on somebody's eighty-year-old grandmother, she frankly needed the help, in a 'hollywood librarian' sort of way.
Akira had been blushing a little when I grabbed the shot of her, so besides wearing a scowl and a sweatshirt - which were both frankly to be expected - she was also shooting the lens a one finger salute and a fierce blush that, given some of the other shots in there, was likely chemically assisted.
Yoko-sensei and Midori had both chosen to attend in the guise of Misato Katsuragi Chic - fortunately sans old stains - and had wrapped each other in a bear hug so's to be able to give each other bunny ears without compromising their ability to flash the obligatory victory signs.
Shizuru, to my shock and awe at the time, does indeed own clothes which are neither lingiere, school uniforms, nor traditionally Japanese. Of course, on her, a skirt, a dress shirt, and heels had as much affect on a viewer's insulin levels as their did their blood pressure, but overall it was actually a pretty nice change.
Especially since, by the look on her face and the angle of the camera relative to the room, she was four sheets into the wind to my three by the time she got around to trying to burrow inside of Natsuki's obligatory leathers... No, variety isn't a Kuga strong point, though at least you have to admit that they're practical for her.
To a point. I didn't even know underwear came in that color.
Shiho was wearing a sweater and a skirt, both of which included more pink than someone with her coloration should ever consider for even a moment, and Mikoto had been so swamped by what I could have sworn was a Men's XXL t-shirt that I didn't even realize she was wearing a skirt of her own rather than shorts until I got to the photo that Midori's scrawled wisecrack titled 'Why Nao Is Not Allowed to Make Dares'.
Yukino had worn her uniform, and by the evidence eventually ended up regretting that fact - no, I won't tell you about why I think that, since she has by far the greater reserves of blackmail material.
Fumi was the shocker. You meet a girl who looks right in some staid, boring professional dress, then you don't expect her to show up off duty looking like... well, like a lot of Natsuki's non-school acquaintances probably had during their misspent youth. Leather, silk, and cotton, sure, and before someone had gone and replaced three-quarters of it all with fishnet, it'd probably only been a little daring.
I mean, yikes!
And Mai was... I wish I hadn't said a thing. The way my self esteem was at the time, I'd never have considered why she might be trying to dress up even if I'd had enough of a clue to notice in the first place. And, yeah, okay, the yellow and blue poncho thing was ugly as hell - but why fuck would I...
I'm not going to talk about this any more.

Ja, -n

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

ordnance11 · 03-11-2006, 07:28 AM

you insulted Mai?.not on purpose mind you.
BTW this might be a good one for Mai..
Yoake Umakuru Shojo (Shanagan no Shana 1st ED TV Edition)
p087.ezboard.com/fdrunkar...=497.topic
Lyrics
__________________
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 · 03-11-2006, 07:51 AM

Oooh. Yes.
And, and, WinAmp is being creepy. I've got Orgy's Blue Monday running right this second, and, like, Yukariko much? And a second before that it was Kansas and Sparks of the Tempest, which I think suits Mikoto quite well indeed.
Ja, -n

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

Rieverre · 03-11-2006, 10:40 PM

HTML Comments are not allowed
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

Rieverre · 03-11-2006, 10:52 PM

Heh. This took a while, but I think I'm happy with it. Certainly, there's a bit of a plot twist.
Have at you.

*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.*
***
to remain chronologically accurate, a scene posted earlier in the thread should go here - the one with Ren and Katz and the crates from Aries. (would have linked it, but last I did that the whole damn post got _deleted_ and I was afraid I'd need to rewrite the whole of the scene below. Luckily, hitting *back* repeatedly managed to recover this much for me. Else I would have posted a much longer rant)
***
'It's been a busy few weeks,' i thought as I closed the door behind me.
Yes, I had an office-slash-living space again. Or rather, Kobayakawa had nearly moved into the workshop and had monopolized almost every flat surface available, forcing me to find another place to bunk and work in.
I wasn't even attempting to imagine how it'd look now that the shipment from Aries was here. I'd been keeping those crates on hand then because it had been more practical than having to make and hide a trip out to the Foundation to get them when I did need them.
I don't think I'd ever been quite that enthusiastic about working with new gadgets and whatnot, which, I suppose, is one of the reasons I'd never been much beyond average where tinkering technology was concerned.
This is why you subcontract.
Speaking of whom ...

"Parallel worlds. Meddling bastards who might as well be gods and like to play with peoples' fates. Whatever the hell it is you're pretending to be. Do you honestly expect me to believe that?" the redhead asked, sneering slightly.
Finding someone in the maze that the backstreets and alleys of Windbloom's capital made up wasn't easy, especially if that person didn't want to be found.
Fortunately enough, through Black's work with her, I knew at least one place and one time where Juliet-ane-san could be found.
I'd still owed her an explanation, if only because she'd done right by us ever since we'd established a working relationship. Also, because she'd conceded that the fact of Fujino-san's appearance wasn't something that needed to be brought to Garderobe's attention there and then.
So, after settling things with the Graceful Amethyst's younger counterpart and scribbling down a dispatch to be delivered to the Aries office, I'd made my way to meet with her.
The walk wasn't a long one, though it was enjoyable, if only because I didn't have to wear the damn suit for it. Rough cloth pants, a pair of runner boots, and a tan shirt with a hooded vest thrown over the top of it made sure I didn't draw too much attention.
As for the talk itself? For most of it, it had been a monologue of mine, and she'd been looking at me like I was somebody who'd just lost his mind.
"Just that? No," I shrugged. I turned my head to look over one shoulder.
The alley we'd been talking in was secluded enough, though empty wooden crates lined one of the walls. The warehouse said alley ran behind being the likely source.
The sound of shattering wood filled the air, a flash of amber predating it by an instant or two, before a cloud of shavings swept out behind me.
"Okay, you're not just a loon, you're a dangerous loon," Juliet-ane-san said after a moment, though her sneer had melted into a more thoughtful expression. Then she snickered. "Or you've got a really bad flatulence problem."
"Believe what you will," was my reply. "I just figured you deserved to know this much. There's something big in the works, and Schwarz is being unusualy quiet, recent events aside. Or careful. Which is never good. You and yours shouldn't let your guard down."
"Awww, how cute ... I didn't know you cared," she snarked, but I got the feeling that she was being sincere underneath all that, and willing to at least consider what I've told her. "It's not as if we usually do."

On the whole, the conversation with Juliet-ane-san had been both smoother and more rocky than the one I'd have with Ren regarding same.
Not because he didn't trust me as much as she did, because that was't the case at all.
I doubt Juliet-ane-san really trusted anyone but herself, in full.
It was simply because, while he certainly knew me better than the redhead did, his ties of loyalty were more binding. And more tangled.
Everything else aside, Ren was possibly one of the most responsible people I'd ever met, and he took his obligations very seriously.
With having Black on one end, and his cousin on the other, it really wouldn't have been much of a choice. But my little revelation didn't directly affect either Aries or his cousin.
Or I didn't think it did, at least.
Still, he'd decided to wait and see. That was the best I could have hoped for, really.
Because, let me tell you, finding someone else to take care of the more tedious administrative duties would have been a real chore this late in the game.
In the weeks since both those conversations had taken place, though, Schwarz had been less obvious about what they were doing than they usually were, which set me on edge. As, it seemed, it had done to Juliet-ane-san.
Yamada was due back soon enough, though, what with his business in Windbloom's capital, so maybe I'd get some extra input from that angle.
As for Fujino-san? She'd agreed to keep her hair short and dye it so that it was a slightly darker shade, and the blue-tinted contact lenses that Ren had gotten his hands on were being put to good use. That, along with her tendency to dress in clothes that most Windbloom residents considered Jipangese, made almost sure that whatever resemblance to Shizuru Viola she had was not all that obvious.
And two days after my talk with Juliet-ane-san, I found she'd wormed her way into and subverted nearly the whole analyst division of the Windbloom office. With positive results. Whereupon I gave up trying to find something for her to do lest she die of boredom - or decide to strike out on her own, like she had back in Aries - and simply put her on the payroll.
Whereupon I was summarily presented with a petition to get rid of most of the tea stores we had - some liked it better than they did coffee - and import some proper Jipangese leaves.
Three guesses who the instigator behind that was.
Other than that, it was mostly business as usual, with the Garderobe students who'd gone off to Aries coming back right around that time, and events starting once again to simply roll past with inevitable inertia.
Until about a week ago, when I'd found that there was a delegation from Jipang coming here.
Fujino-san, with whom I'd been going over some recent data there and then, had taken on an expression between puzzlement and disbelief upon coming across the name of the noble who was heading said delegation.
Now the delegation was in town, and Shizuru had, ostensibly, taken a day off.
I wasn't as much worried as I was concerned, but I'd managed to hold some of that in for most of the day.
Now, though, I knew I wouldn't be able to get any sort of work done unless I cleared that bit of uncertainty regarding my newest and perhaps most unusual employee up.
So I dropped by Ren's 'den' - nicknamed so by almost everybody in the office, because he was stuck there so often nowadays. Yes, he'd done well enough with managing most of the kipple that were our operations in Windbloom that I'd settled for letting him take over at least part of them again once I'd come back from my leave of absence - and told him I'd be out for a bit. It was met with grumbles, meaning he was neck deep in going through reports - something that usually happened at this time of the month.
It didn't take long to find Fujino-san ... or rather, for her to run across me while I was crossing one of bridges over the canal which ran through the city.
And she wasn't alone.
And I really wished I hadn't recognized, from the few - really few - times a message was to be delivered to Jipang and the runner had taken the time to do some light recon when there, the boy's face. It was certainly characteristic enough that I was able to piece together who he was, even though the few images that we had of him were grainy at best.
"Ara, Schrdinger-san. This is certainly unexpected," she said, tilting her head to the side. It made her look harmlessly cute. She had that down to an artform, and a more erronous conclusion you'd be hard pressed to reach. Her artificially blue eyes were amused, though.
"Mm. It's such a nice day out today, the office seemed a little ... cramped," I shrugged and inclined my head. "Who's your date?"
"Ano, it's not like that at all! Fujino-san was merely kind enough to show me a bit of the city," the boy blushed almost as red as his hair.
"Well, it was the polite thing to do," Shizuru said. "After all, it isn't every day I get to talk to someone about home."
"Oh, you came with the delegation, then ...? I'm sorry, I didn't catch the name," I asked.
"Tate. Tate Yuuichi," the boy bowed. If I hadn't spent some time on conversation with Fujino-san almost daily since her arrival, I wouldn't have known she was on the verge of bursting out in laughter. "I just, how do you say it, tagged along? I've heard such impressive things about this city, and I'd gotten a chance to come here ... it seemed the thing to do at the time. Now, though, I admit to having been nearly completely lost without Fujino-san's gracious assistance."
"Well, then. Nice to meet you, Tate-san," I said, in somewhat choppy Japanese, considered for a moment, and returned the bow. "Katz Schrdinger, or, you would say Schrdinger Katz, I suppose. Fujino-san is my coworker, and I've learned some of the language and a bit about your country from her. It has been a while since I've taken the time to merely walk through the city, though, so I wonder if it I could, perhaps, join the two of you?"
And so it was that a broken angel and a dimensional displacee ended up playing tour guides to the incognito highest standing member of Jipangese royalty, Tokiha Takumi.
It ended up being ... an interesting excursion, to say the least.

I'm running through the various tracks on the OST collection for MaiHiME, and I've only just noticed how much I like Natsuki's voice. Weird.
And Ensei just plain rocks.
Also, Mikoto's ramen monologues are hilarious ... even though they're in Nihongo and I can't make heads nor tails of them. Maa ...
-Griever
now off to watch the new Karin episode
ETA: Edited for various reasons, like the fact that the damn forum kept _eating_ my _work_ which I'd put several _hours_ into _damnit_ just because of some bit of ... *sigh* Okay. I'm done. It's good. Carry on.
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 · 03-11-2006, 11:53 PM

I like what I read from both you and Nate...anyway..what you guys should do once you fininshe this is polish and place it any other fanfiction nets. A lot of good fanfiction has gone that route.
A question though..just how close are Fujino's and Viola's personalities? Close enough to think they're twins?
__________________
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 · 03-12-2006, 12:14 AM

Quote:
I like what I read from both you and Nate...anyway..what you guys should do once you fininshe this is polish and place it any other fanfiction nets. A lot of good fanfiction has gone that route.

I think that was the general idea. I might dust off my long unused Lost Library Members' Card and put it up there, along with Incarna vol1 and what I have of MS.

Quote:
A question though..just how close are Fujino's and Viola's personalities? Close enough to think they're twins?

That depends. I'd say that Viola is more responsible and more emotionally stable/balanced/in touch with herself. Fujino, OTOH, would be the more impulsive, reckless one. As much as she ever gets reckless (hmm ... well, more like homicidal, but what the hey).
So, I'm thinking they started off pretty much the same, but Viola is definitely more tempered by experience. Though Fujino isn't Viola-at-sixteen personality-wise either, thanks to the Festival and related matters.
Dunno about people who've met both coming up with the twins theory, though. Definitely a plot point for me to consider. Thanks for bringing it up.
-Griever
who actually has an berplot for MS and the Incarna series to go into if he gets far enough.
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

VladimirTherin · 03-12-2006, 04:13 AM

I'd think that between the failures of the festival, and however many successfull years as a pillar would make for somewhat profound differences, even if they would not be all that visible on the outside.
I know for a fact I was much more patient at 20, than I was even at 18, let alone 16.

**is now 25, and is so patient he has trouble getting up out of his chair to get a soda.

Valles · 03-12-2006, 04:16 AM

Quote:
I'd think that between the failures of the festival, and however many successfull years as a pillar would make for somewhat profound differences, even if they would not be all that visible on the outside.

Plus Viola gets laid regularly.
Ja, -n

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

***Bob Schroeck*** · 03-13-2006, 09:57 PM

Two days with no new post. I hope this thread isn't dead...

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

Valles · 03-13-2006, 11:30 PM

Quote:
Two days with no new post. I hope this thread isn't dead...

No, it's just that it's my turn and the interruption of my meds has taken my mental processes from 'flakey' to 'gaseous', so I'm slamming my head against the Writer's Bane for about a minute or two before giving up and fucking off for an hour or three until the time comes to repeat the cycle.
Hell with it.

You know, I never got drunk in my original life? It just never seemed like an experience that might ever be worth suffering through the taste of the neccessary amount of alcohol, let alone getting hungover afterwards.
I was right.
And, actually, the fact that I came back to the land of the living after that first time to the sound of screaming people, tearing steel, and way too fucking many sirens has nothing to do with that judgement. Anything that can put that flavor inside your mouth has no place on any sane human's schedule of events.
The Academy grounds, and hence my dorm, were just at the very outskirts of Fuuka, which put empty forest on one side, mostly empty forest with an old shrine in it on another, and ocean on the last, which lack of potential collateral damage would prove fortunate, to say the least.
Actually, the first thing I saw when I poked my head out the window to see what all the racket was about was what looked like an F-16 flashing silently across campus literally under the level of my top-floor room. A moment later, I realized two things pretty much simultaneously - first, sonic booms are bad for hangovers, and second, since I was in Japan, that would make the plane a Mitsubishi F-2.
Yes, yes, I'm a geek.
The explosion from the missile it had launched was almost lost in the roar of its wake, but the bright flare of yellow light was more noticable even with the sun up.

Ja, -n

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

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