Quote:That sort of situation also begets the question: 'How many licks?'
oh dear god.
*whimper*
Oooh. BBQ! 'This will be good training, should I ever be faced with squid' seems to apply here. ^_^
If nothing else, the night air is a good pacifier of hair trigger tempers. It seemed to work on Juliet, or so it had seemed, since we'd gone our own ways once dusk had settled comfortably into starry blackness.
Embarassing events aside, we'd managed to exchange a few interesting tidbits of information.
For example, and this was something I though Fujino-san would be interested in knowing about, the flip side of Chance had seen fit to make one of Juliet-ane-san's underlings be in the right place, at the right time. To do what? Well, let's just say that he saw something he hadn't been supposed to see, and we were now that much closer to narrowing down the details of how and via whom Schwarz delivered their Slave contract crystals.
The fact that we had a rough idea to whom they delivered helped a lot.
From my side? A few more headaches all 'round, I'm sure. I was tactful enough not to share my little paranoid suspicion, but Juliet was sharp. She didn't need me to spell this much out for her.
When compared to Aries, Windbloom, and even a few of the border kingdoms, Florence didn't have a large Black presence, and since the main analysts sat in Aries and Windbloom there was a slight lag in how quickly some knowledge spread. It was still faster than anything short of burst transmissions ...
... and we - we being myself, Yamada, and Miyu - were starting to consider risking it and using some gravtech from the Foundation to place a few satelites in orbit ...
... so when the Otome of de Florence himself called in her resignation because of marriage and being in the family way, that particular bit came and bounced from Aries over to Windbloom right quick.
The heads-up on that was currently in Headmistress Kruger's maildrop, nicely pre-empting the courier from Florence, who was going to be here sometime tomorrow, if estimates were to be believed. They usually were.
Akane Soir was currently the top of the Pearl class, which was about as close to making Meister as you got without actually being thus. She was also being sponsored by a Florence stipend.
Florence was edgy about not having a full complement of Otome on call, most likely because Cardair was being ... increasingly militant, it looked like. Or at least it was gearing up almost as badly as Artai, only with a bit more subtlety.
Now, see if you can follow me here. Kazuya Krau-xeku, son of one of the people who ran things in Cardair under Argoss' watchful eye. Akane Soir, slated to become the next Otome of de Florence.
How very Romeo and Juliet ... err ... I may want to keep that analogy to myself, for fear of retribution.
Soir was currently the most qualified to take the Meister spot, and was also being courted by a boy who was son of somebody who didn't wish her country well at all.
Considering the limitations of the Otome nanomachines, and I say this with an incredulous stare at whoever designed the things because ... really, how crude can you get? Almost makes you think the 'get laid and lose your powers' bit is a little too contrived, as if it had been intentional ...
Also brings to mind an amusing but upon further thought telling tidbit about Earl and the swiss cheese that was technology and invention there, which I'd come across only lately - birth control implants they had, maybe not universally, but cheap where available. Condoms, not so much.
Think about it.
No, in terms besides 'Man, what are you, a complete tool? Do you have any idea how much money you could make if you patented the idea?', I mean.
Right.
As I was saying before having gone off on a tangent again, I found it hard to believe that 'Kazu-kun' was acting without the knowledge of his father, and by extension his country.
Was he or wasn't he genuine? Did he do what he was doing because he'd been told to do so, or because it was really how he felt? It didn't really matter, as such. One way or the other, be it 'True Love' or a simple machination, Florence would be an talented and loyal Otome short if he managed to sway the No.1 Pearl from her current path.
Opening up the way for Cardair ...
... because de Florence, for all his faults, wasn't blind or deaf either, and would know where to place the blame. After all, it was something all politicians know how to do on instinct, or so I'm told ...
... to offer recompense for the oh so thoughtless actions of one of theirs.
That there was an Pearl from Cardair among the top of that class fit a bit too well into that scenario.
Argos was not stupid. Arrogant? Certainly. Ambitious? Of course. But also well practiced in the political arena. There was no way that Kazuya Krau-xeku did not have his 'blessing'. If he didn't, if his actions would truly impair Cardair's standing in any way, shape, or form, Argos would have had the boy's father ... take steps ... to prevent events from transpiring.
I was positive Juliet knew this as well as I did, and had put two and two together.
Whether or not that would result in her doing anything about it, well ... that remained to be seen.
Gods, but I was starting to hate politics and the mess of relations that went with it by the time I got back to the office.
Fortunately, there were no further surprises lying in wait for me, good or bad. I dropped off the acquired information down in analysis before going up to my office-slash-living space and cleaning out my brain via a few hours of sleep.
Next? They just keep going and going and going and going ...
-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