Quote:There is that ^_^.
Plus Viola gets laid regularly.
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