That melt into spring [Open]

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouchi stood by the blue-green waters of Faron Spring, eyes tracing the old, intricate patterns that covered the surfaces of the rocks nearby. The weather in this part of the City was a little cooler than usual, but he felt no discomfort; it was still well within his operational tolerances.

As he waited there, almost entirely still, a light rain began to fall from the sky. Artificial rain, of course, for an artificial city, but it was cool against his face and good for the plants. Zouichi closed his eyes for a moment; when he reopened them, the rain was still there... but it was accompanied by something else. Silvery numeric annotations swam through his vision, attached to each drop of water, too fast and too numerous for an untrained observer to make sense of. Speed calculations, trajectory and force projections. Each droplet of rain was a variable, a world of controlled chaos.

Some disappeared into the soft grass; others dropped onto the surface of the spring, sending up a cascade of secondary equations as it cast ripples across the surface of the water.

When it was time for battle, these same quicksilver calculations would help guide him in action: they'd show him the best way to destroy, the swiftest way to kill. But for now, there was no need to bend them to that purpose. Instead, he watched as they fell like phantoms through the sky.

Comments

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard hasn't been looking for Zouichi, but having finally left Diana's side (and after having settled a good deal of bitching and moaning about his hometown to rest), he does find himself feeling a little lonely. As such, he doesn't return to the quiet of the Warehouse or the areas of the City he knows will be unoccupied.

A lot of people like nature, right? A lot of people who aren't him.

But he can't help but love the rain. After spending such a long time in the FAYZ, where the only climate was under the control of a borderline-catatonic five year-old, actual weather is a welcome reminder of everything he's left behind, and how much of it he doesn't miss.

He goes sprinting through the rain like a little kid running through sprinklers, arms out, excited grin on his face. He doesn't care that he's getting soaked. He spins in a circle and flops onto his back, making a snow angel gesture in the small marsh forming in a small valley of grass.

When he sits back up, he notices Zou out by the spring, looking serene. Howard picks himself up and runs over, feet sloshing inside his shoes. "Isn't this awesome?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi turned around to see (an admittedly slightly squishy-noisetastic) Howard running up behind him. "It is. I didn't know you liked rain. Or nature, for that matter."

Howard seemed like the kind of person who you'd only drag out on a camping trip kicking and screaming. And complaining about the mosquitoes. And spending all day in the tent.

"It should snow sometime. I'd like that."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I don't. But we didn't have rain in the FAYZ..." He tilts his head up so the rain can land point-blank on his grinning face. "I forgot how much I missed it."

Otherwise, Zouichi would be completely right.

Howard takes a deep breath. For a few moments now he's not worrying about anything. It's a nice feeling. "I've never seen snow. Did you guys have weather in your world, or did the industrialists get rid of that too?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"You can't really get rid of the weather. So yes, we had it there, too. I just never got to see much of it."

Zouichi didn't ask why they didn't have rain in the FAYZ, since it didn't seem to have a great track record when it came to explaining bizarre phenomena like 'no rain ever'.

"Oh, that's right... you lived in California, right? Was it always sunny?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"How much did you see? I mean, did you still have tsunamis and hurricanes and everything?" Howard opens his mouth slightly to taste the rain.

"Yeah, Perdido Beach. About an hour north of San Diego. We used to go there on vacation, the Wild Animal Park and all..." A little bit of the worry comes back, a twinge of missing the life he had, and his parents. "And a school field trip in fourth grade."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

Jr. didn't like rain. He simply preferred the warmth of the summer, where you could relax on the beach and close your eyes or go jumping into the waters to refresh yourself. Sakura loved the beach. He and Gaignun and Albedo had promised to go to a real one, once, though Jr. and Gaignun had been the only two who made it to that point when they set up their private one on the Foundation. Of course, part of running a planet-emulating space colony meant emulating the weather, too, so they had been working on a rain system. He remembered showing it off to his friend and scaring the crap out of Shion; an unseen and accidental side effect.

Jr. was so glad that Shion was here, on that note. Someone smart and capable and someone from home. He was okay trudging on by himself (the voice in the back of his head always trying to tell him that he should be used to it was still there, but thankfully not so much as it had been once before), but he had to admit there was a comfort there.

He raised an eyebrow when he spotted Zouichi just sort of ... standing there watching the rain. "You like the rain?" he asked.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi had been so far away that he hadn't even heard Jr. come up behind him. He smiled in apology; he hadn't meant to ignore Jr.'s presence. "I guess you could say that. What do Realians from your world see when they look at things?"

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

Jr. stared at him. Why was he asking him something like that, all of a sudden?

"What do they see?" he asked, giving Zouichi a clear enough look that said why are you asking me this. "What do you mean see?" He had a couple of guesses, but...

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

There was a reason, Jr.!

"I mean do they see like humans do? Or do they experience a form of augmented reality? Information overlays, targeting reticles, that sort of thing."

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath was frustrated - partially with herself, partially with the ship. Not that she let such emotions show, of course, but it was still there. She was meant to read the future, to guide her people, but here? She could not. No matter how many times she tried, day after day, the runes refused to reveal anything beyond garbled nonsense that could be interpreted as anything from "success" to "horrible, catastrophic failure". To keep her mind off of such things (or maybe simply so she could think), she'd gone for a walk. She prided herself on her strength, but even at home she'd had other seers to speak with, to discuss the portents with.

Here, she was alone. Alendian was an Eldar, but an also an Aspect Warrior - she could be talked to, but Ildraniath hesitated to tell her of her own frustrations. She paused, thoughts cut off as she felt a drop of rain splash onto her head. She glanced up and then hurried on, ignoring the dampness. She wouldn't let artificial weather stop her. Her stride slowed as she spotted a familiar figure up ahead and then she resumed her normal pace, coming to a halt a few meters away.

"Enjoying the weather?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Ah, he recognized that voice. Zouichi turned, a slight smile on his face. "You could say that," he admitted. "It doesn't exactly rain here every day. I'm glad it happened while I was here to enjoy it." After all, he might very well have been on-planet or fighting the Ohm. There'd be no time to appreciate it then.

He paused briefly, wondering why she was out in the rain alone. Ildraniath didn't strike him as someone who'd avoid the rain... but she didn't seem like someone who'd meander about in it without purpose, either. "Thank you for the lessons, by the way. I'm not sure how well I'm doing, but no one's complained about me thinking especially loudly at them yet."

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

"You enjoy it?" Ildraniath glanced up with a slight frown. She never had time to consider the weather nor did she tend to let it impact her own mood. But the idea that someone could derive pleasure from the rain wasn't alien to her - just an idea that hadn't crossed her mind in a very long time.

She dropped her gaze back to Zouichi after a moment, "You're welcome. And it's nothing, really. Nothing an Eldar child wouldn't learn... although I'm not sure how many other psykers there are aboard..."

Ildraniath seemed contemplative for a moment before something seemed to jar her memory, "Have you met the latest addition to our crew? Another of the corpse's fanatics...."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"The rain itself is pleasant, but... I see it a little differently than you might. There is the water, of course, but there are also the numbers that describe the water." He wished there was an easy way to explain his vision to her, but generally his attempts to convey to humans what he saw were half-successful at best. "If there's a way for you to see what I do, it would be easier than attempting to describe it in words."

Ah. Erhart. "The Templar? Yes, I walked in on him speaking with Alendian. He had an awful lot to say on just about everything." He had not, however, seemed overly belligerent. To Zouichi, anyway.

[quick_strike]

Rain...rain was never a detriment for Alendian. She often used it to mask her own movements since humans seemed to have trouble hearing or seeing in a downpour. The only real reaction she had was to pull the hood of her robes up over her head, mentally thanking herself for shunning armor for a while. Just because she was a warrior didn't mean she was an Exarch.

Currently, she was still berating herself over losing her cool to a human, of all things. Emotions hit hard for Eldar and regret hit even harder. She didn't give up her training but she was hardly as active at it. Part of her wondered if she should go back to embracing the life of an outcast but even then, her own anger wasn't yet satisfied.

As for Zouichi, she did notice him but decided not to let it register. He would say something if he noticed her, that was for sure, so there was no point in her starting any conversation.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi did notice, though he waited for a moment before turning to face Alendian. He'd been meaning to ask her something, anyway. "I've been meaning to ask you a thing or two since that meeting on the Obs Deck. Have a moment?"

Mostly he just wanted to know how much of Erhart's words were true.

[quick_strike]

She turned her head, the opening of her hood pointing over to Zouichi. Already on edge waiting for him to say something, it was a quick action that happened as soon as he spoke up. "What is it?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"That Templar had a lot to say, not just about the Eldar, but about humanity and other races in your universe. I assume not all of them are true, but I'd appreciate knowing which are and which aren't. For example, the Tau eat their human allies... and the Eldar spent about 30,000 years trying to annihilate or enslave humans."

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

With his helm mag-locked to his hip, the templar approaches the place of quasi-natural beauty with a look of consternation. Feeling the rain on a battle scarred, bald pate. He looks down for a moment, unsure if he likes the fact that his tabard has now been slicked against the battle-plate and looks rather like a soppy rag, then dismisses the notion, moving on until he finds something, or someone.

Erhart's eyes, like a natural set of targeters, lock on and acquire Zouichi, and he crosses to him, nodding his head slightly, letting the smaller man acknowledge him or not. The low hum of his armor's servomotors aren't lost even here, in the rain, an unnatural intrusion.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Okay, Erhart, you have to learn not to do that. Even if you actually do acquire targets. Zouichi glanced at his unexpected visitor, first at the armor (which was still making a low-grade noise; maybe it never stopped), then up to Erhart's face.

"Nice haircut." Actually, Erhart looked kind of like Cargn. Zouichi wondered if immortality on Erhart's world came hand-in-hand with being bald. Maybe some side effect of whatever super-soldier process had created him.

"What are you doing out here?"

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"Is it? We cut our hair close because long hair tends to become annoying when wearing our helms for several weeks at a time."

He shrugs. "I wish I knew. I walk the ship for long hours, because it disquiets me. Only a few people from home and... the Eldar. They have claimed this was not their doing, but they always claim such things."

His face twists in bitterness, then subsides.

"This ship is not like a battle barge or strike cruiser. There are no long, unused passageways, no reliquaries of weaponry or other artifacts. That and the ship itself seems... alive. I find it hard to trust such a thing."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Hmm. That would explain a lot. Like the smell.

"Do you ever take your armor off?" Zouichi assumed that Erhart would still be around eight feet even without full armor, but maybe it was fused to him or something. Or maybe it wasn't, and Erhart could take a bath.

Erhart's complaints sounded... well, a lot like how he'd felt when he'd first gotten here. "Well, there are still quite a few undiscovered areas of the ship... but I'd say you were right not to trust it. Someone found a contingent of Reavers aboard not too long ago, and apparently it's storing a few nasty surprises that like to escape every once in a while. I don't think Ildraniath or Alendian are behind what's happened to us, though. For one thing, I don't think two people are quite enough for this kind of scale. And for another, they often seem just as frustrated as anyone else."

"In any case, I've found that helping out in various organizations throughout the ship helps a little with the downtime. That and training simulations in the Sensoriums... but I must admit that the pace of life here is much slower than what I'm used to."

[bequiet_hescreamed]

The unexpected rain found Clef skittering for cover under a small tree. He couldn't help but smile a little despite himself as the shower turned into a downpour - worlds may be destroyed, yet it was oddly reassuring to know that rain still happened. It took him a moment to realize that he wasn't alone, and then he was almost disappointed. Or was it anxious? Every time he ran into a stranger he was vaguely reminded of the fact that he still didn't know what he was doing with himself on this ship, and it bothered him. He needed to go find a station.

He nodded to the other man when he thought he was looking in his direction. There was no way he'd get anywhere unless he left his comfort zone a little bit.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi gave Clef a slight bow. "Hello. Are you new here?" It was impossible to talk to everyone during a pod release, of course, so Clef could have easily slipped past his notice.

He looked back at the rain for a moment, smiling slightly. "It's artificial, but it's the closest we have to real weather on the ship. Perhaps one day it'll snow."

[bequiet_hescreamed]

He returned the bow and nodded once - yep, new and not very talky. At Zouichi's mention of the weather being artificial, he held his hand out to catch some of the drops in it. They certainly appeared to be made of water.

"What makes weather real?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"The rain is generated by the ship, not by clouds in the atmosphere. It's simulated weather. The sky is also an artificial one. If you stay here for a while, you'll notice day doesn't always become night when it should."