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
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