trans_9 | Heavens On Fire [Open]

Setsuna had stayed, and once again observed the training session of Starfighter Command, but declined to participate. While he had taken time to observe everyone's performance, and had his red Haro record the entire exercise, his attention had been mostly focused on Blade Squad. No surprise there, since they were mobile suit pilots. Like himself.

No. Not like me, he thought to himself.

He was on the bridge of the simulated Quarter right now, and had commandeered one of the various consoles. His Haro was connected to one of them, and was playing back part of Blade Squad's performance in the exercise.

As a team, they did fine, though something was missing in the way they operated. What that was, however, was something Setsuna couldn't quite put his finger on. Perhaps it was just this false environment they were in.

Still, something about this didn't sit right with him, so he reviewed the footage, and largely ignored the goings on around him. Maybe if he watched it long enough, he'd be able to figure out

((Free threading, mostly for Starfighter Command pilots, but everyone is welcome. See the ooc post here.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Sure can't."

Duo turned to look too, and leaned against a railing. "No clue what that is, but it doesn't matter. I didn't experience it-- anyway, sure, I don't want the Ohm to go and kill people, but that doesn't mean I'm really motivated to fight them, yanno? And that's the problem."

"Maybe I'll get the motivation once I've faced them for real- but I can't know until then. It sucks, but it's the truth, and it's better to work with the honest truth than lying to ourselves."

"If you don't believe in what you're fighting for, then you'll almost always lose," he agreed quietly. "No matter how much you tell yourself otherwise."

"Eeeexactly."

"So, we'll see."

It was as simple as that, to Duo.

"I guess we will," Kira said almost absent-mindedly. Duo had a point, after all; forcing someone to fight almost never worked.

"I wonder if we'll run into them again soon."

Duo looked thoughtful.

"Do ya wanna?"

On the one hand, it would suck. On the other... maybe it'd be the kick in the ass that was needed.

"Of course not," he shook his head. "Who wants to fight for their life?"

"But... if we did, then any Ohm we defeated couldn't attack another planet."

"Well, I was more thinkin'... would we rather fight 'em and get more experience, more of an idea of what the hell we're doing under our belt? Or... yanno, not risk total annihilation."

Duo really leaned heavily towards the latter at the moment, but...

It was a tough question, really. "At some point we'll need to face them again," Kira said after a moment's thought. "We can't avoid them forever."

"...we'll just have to be ready when we do."

"But how're we gonna be ready if we- or at least some of us- still don't know quite what to expect?"

Simulation was hardly enough to go on for the real thing, in Duo's opinion. "At the risk of annihilation, of course, like I said. Is it better to go in blind or to suffer through possible death for information?"

"I guess we won't have a choice, eventually, but I'm still not sure that tactics and planning is worth as much as natural instinct- and learning what each others' instincts are."

"That's true," he nodded, and then paused. "...it would be best if we ran into a small group of them. Enough to see what they were like for ourselves, but not so many that it'd be as dangerous as the other time."

"In the end, we can train all we want, but it won't make the difference if we can't do it in the real thing."

"But what're the chances of that happening?"

Duo shrugged in a mildly defeated manner. "Iunno, man. Yanno? It's just such an unpredictable battlefield I'm lookin' at- I can't possibly know yet how to really think or feel about it, so I can't rightly put my all into it when it just don't line up with what my motivation's always been all along. I just can't."

"I'm not the guy Stacy shoulda picked," he admitted with a sigh. "It shoulda been..."

Violet eyes looked up at Duo. "Do you think you're the only one here who has doubts?"

"Nah. I'm just the new guy airin' my laundry," Duo chuckled.

Kira shook his head. "You aren't alone there. I think we've all questioned what we're doing here at some point."

"I don't think it's a bad thing, either."

Duo nodded. "Just acceptin' answers that're given to me has never really been my style."

Heavens On Fire [Open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject