... ergo ... I spent the time I'd been intending to spend on writing more on revising and editsu of the stuff that I've already got. And 'lo, I sweatdropped when I found I've got somewhere in the vicinity of 200K of text invested in this project. I'll likely post the compilation sometime during the weekend. And yes, I've changed the bloopers. Jipang is now Zipang. And I'd found I'd messed up Remus and Romulus. Honestly? I blame myself. I wasn't recalling clearly and thought - okay, which is more likely the name of a country? The name of someone from old Roman mythology, or the name of the werewolf from Harry Potter? Shows what my seemingly logical reasoning brought me. Oh well, it's corrected in the compilation.
And now for some badly masked exposition ...
Turns out that Murphy got another one right.
Problems are pack animals.
Meaning that, when I finally got around to meeting Yamada this time, I was once again presented with a set of questions more voluminous than the set of answers.
To make matters more quaint, there seemed to be at least one set per person ...
For Juliet-ane-san, the fact that Artai seemed to be gearing up in a military way. From what Yamada told me, and no, I tend not to ask where or how he gets his information - I sleep easier that way, you see - leaves were being cancelled, reserves called in, and cadets were being rushed through training since ... well, around the last time I'd spoken with him.
Fortunately, she had about the same amount of patriotic loyalty as I'd ever had. With the added bonus that the memories she'd had of growing up there were not exactly rosy. She'd actually told me as much, as big a surprise as that was. The only things she was in any way loyal to was herself, for one, and some of the _people_ in Garderobe, for another. Count her little band of Jesters for a third and we're set.
And Yamada hadn't actually had to do very much in the way of research when I'd asked him if he had anything on the Ho noble house of Annan.
For Fujino-san ... we had strong suspicions what the supposedly jealously guarded Project Garm entailed. From what Yamada had managed to unearth, it involved high level Materialization research, with more than a dash of genetics thrown in for good measure. That alone wouldn't have been enough to tell us the results of said project were what I'd born witness to throwing it down with the Aswad in Aries a while back. The fact that Yamada had somehow managed to get hold of one of their actual field test reports, which mentioned Lutetia and Aries as the testing grounds ... I bow my head to the man ... and pay him double premium rates.
For ... well, for Ren, and by extension his cousin, because that was where it went in the end, were the reports of increased military activity in Cardair. I'd heard myself that Florence was going to be losing one of their Otome soon. The one to guard their king, to be exact. For all of Argoss' muleheadedness and ambition, the man who basically ran Cardair was nothing if not shrewd.
On Earl, Otome were the direct representation of a country's power. Even a single relatively fresh and unexperienced one offered an opening that could be capitalized upon by a sufficiently ruthless adversary.
Given that Aries was politically involved with those two, prehaps deeper lately than in the past fifty years or so because of their extended jockeying for fishing right contracts in Aries waters ... trivial as that sounds, it could very well turn serious.
And that wasn't even mentioning the bits and pieces of rumor that stated the Aswad had been visiting several times.
For myself?
Well, as it seems, Artai's representative in Windbloom, Yamada's longtime client, had been given a most curious order by his superiors. Or so, at least, I was interpretting what he was having Yamada and his other contacts do.
Old wounds. Old problems. Old matters.
Apparently, either dai Artai or his ... associates of the Black Letter were intent on finding the long lost princess of Windbloom. And they were sure the current queen wasn't it.
Honestly, I'd have thought it was just Nagi trying for a political coup, but ... something about that seemed to ring a false note.
A thought flashed past my mind, almost too quickly to catch, but I managed to reel it in with some effort.
Once upon a time, several months ago, there'd been a Slave summoning. And the first battle of Slave against Otome in the last fifty years of recorded history. The summons' target had been Mashiro blan de Windbloom, the then still princess about to ascend the throne.
I'd thought it heavy-handed, at first, for an attempted kidnapping.
Now, though ... they hadn't been trying to grab her at all. No.
Artai's dealings with Schwarz had begun only afterwards, and dai Artai hadn't shown any ill will towards Mashiro. Well, other than the few reports of him angling for marriage with her.
Maybe, just maybe, Schwarz had been trying to incite a search for the 'true' princess by killing Mashiro? And now? They were having dai Artai have his man conduct a more subtle investigation into the matter? Likely. Especially since he had first hand knowledge of what had happened fifteen years ago.
Major Sergei Wong. Studying here in Windbloom when the attempted coup and assassination of the king and queen took place, and Slaves strode through the streets ... keeping an eye on you seems like the thing to do right now. Fortunately, Yamada already has both of his doing that.
Why would they need her, though? Why could they need her? It wasn't that there wasn't an answer to those questions available. It was that there was more than just one.
Power? Likely. Schwarz usually preferred to work behind the scenes, but they did seek out means to obtain that which gave power directly.
I sighed, rubbed my temples, and kept walking. I thought better while doing so, and the streets of Windbloom's capital made for a pleasant enough trek, especially after sharing intelligence with someone as prone to dropping bombshells as Yamada was.
Wonder if this is how Yukino feels after our talks?
I was getting a headache now ... though it was less a physical one than merely mental exhaustion. No more revelations today, thankyou.
A break was in order. One involving snackage, preferably. The cafe I'd just passed by seemed like the place to go to for that, so I stopped, turned, and marched back to the entrance with determined strides.
Maybe some iced coffee would clear my mind.
Of course, with the way his day is going, you know just which cafe he'll end up going into.
Next? Fannishness.
-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
And now for some badly masked exposition ...
Turns out that Murphy got another one right.
Problems are pack animals.
Meaning that, when I finally got around to meeting Yamada this time, I was once again presented with a set of questions more voluminous than the set of answers.
To make matters more quaint, there seemed to be at least one set per person ...
For Juliet-ane-san, the fact that Artai seemed to be gearing up in a military way. From what Yamada told me, and no, I tend not to ask where or how he gets his information - I sleep easier that way, you see - leaves were being cancelled, reserves called in, and cadets were being rushed through training since ... well, around the last time I'd spoken with him.
Fortunately, she had about the same amount of patriotic loyalty as I'd ever had. With the added bonus that the memories she'd had of growing up there were not exactly rosy. She'd actually told me as much, as big a surprise as that was. The only things she was in any way loyal to was herself, for one, and some of the _people_ in Garderobe, for another. Count her little band of Jesters for a third and we're set.
And Yamada hadn't actually had to do very much in the way of research when I'd asked him if he had anything on the Ho noble house of Annan.
For Fujino-san ... we had strong suspicions what the supposedly jealously guarded Project Garm entailed. From what Yamada had managed to unearth, it involved high level Materialization research, with more than a dash of genetics thrown in for good measure. That alone wouldn't have been enough to tell us the results of said project were what I'd born witness to throwing it down with the Aswad in Aries a while back. The fact that Yamada had somehow managed to get hold of one of their actual field test reports, which mentioned Lutetia and Aries as the testing grounds ... I bow my head to the man ... and pay him double premium rates.
For ... well, for Ren, and by extension his cousin, because that was where it went in the end, were the reports of increased military activity in Cardair. I'd heard myself that Florence was going to be losing one of their Otome soon. The one to guard their king, to be exact. For all of Argoss' muleheadedness and ambition, the man who basically ran Cardair was nothing if not shrewd.
On Earl, Otome were the direct representation of a country's power. Even a single relatively fresh and unexperienced one offered an opening that could be capitalized upon by a sufficiently ruthless adversary.
Given that Aries was politically involved with those two, prehaps deeper lately than in the past fifty years or so because of their extended jockeying for fishing right contracts in Aries waters ... trivial as that sounds, it could very well turn serious.
And that wasn't even mentioning the bits and pieces of rumor that stated the Aswad had been visiting several times.
For myself?
Well, as it seems, Artai's representative in Windbloom, Yamada's longtime client, had been given a most curious order by his superiors. Or so, at least, I was interpretting what he was having Yamada and his other contacts do.
Old wounds. Old problems. Old matters.
Apparently, either dai Artai or his ... associates of the Black Letter were intent on finding the long lost princess of Windbloom. And they were sure the current queen wasn't it.
Honestly, I'd have thought it was just Nagi trying for a political coup, but ... something about that seemed to ring a false note.
A thought flashed past my mind, almost too quickly to catch, but I managed to reel it in with some effort.
Once upon a time, several months ago, there'd been a Slave summoning. And the first battle of Slave against Otome in the last fifty years of recorded history. The summons' target had been Mashiro blan de Windbloom, the then still princess about to ascend the throne.
I'd thought it heavy-handed, at first, for an attempted kidnapping.
Now, though ... they hadn't been trying to grab her at all. No.
Artai's dealings with Schwarz had begun only afterwards, and dai Artai hadn't shown any ill will towards Mashiro. Well, other than the few reports of him angling for marriage with her.
Maybe, just maybe, Schwarz had been trying to incite a search for the 'true' princess by killing Mashiro? And now? They were having dai Artai have his man conduct a more subtle investigation into the matter? Likely. Especially since he had first hand knowledge of what had happened fifteen years ago.
Major Sergei Wong. Studying here in Windbloom when the attempted coup and assassination of the king and queen took place, and Slaves strode through the streets ... keeping an eye on you seems like the thing to do right now. Fortunately, Yamada already has both of his doing that.
Why would they need her, though? Why could they need her? It wasn't that there wasn't an answer to those questions available. It was that there was more than just one.
Power? Likely. Schwarz usually preferred to work behind the scenes, but they did seek out means to obtain that which gave power directly.
I sighed, rubbed my temples, and kept walking. I thought better while doing so, and the streets of Windbloom's capital made for a pleasant enough trek, especially after sharing intelligence with someone as prone to dropping bombshells as Yamada was.
Wonder if this is how Yukino feels after our talks?
I was getting a headache now ... though it was less a physical one than merely mental exhaustion. No more revelations today, thankyou.
A break was in order. One involving snackage, preferably. The cafe I'd just passed by seemed like the place to go to for that, so I stopped, turned, and marched back to the entrance with determined strides.
Maybe some iced coffee would clear my mind.
Of course, with the way his day is going, you know just which cafe he'll end up going into.
Next? Fannishness.
-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