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

[quick_strike]

"No, I do not blame you." She pointed a finger at Zouichi. "That does not mean I am against it either. Allow me to know when you are free next time."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Getting held down and branded will do that to a guy.

"I don't really know. It felt like she was afraid of bringing it up. Or that she didn't want to talk about it, maybe. And I didn't want to make her deal with something she wasn't ready for."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Zouichi, you and Alastirra should pioneer the Miscommunication Tango as the new dance craze sweeping the nation.

"So basically you were both being way too gentle with each other."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Miscommunication is key.

Zouichi is surprised enough to hear that from Howard that he spares a glance backward. "Maybe."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Well, that was a surprise. "I will. How much time do you need?"

[quick_strike]

"A day at most." Enough to grab the proper equipment and that was it.

[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.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Maybe, if you're going to date again," and Howard wouldn't blame Zouichi from wanting to take a break from that, "you're gonna need someone you're not worried about worrying. If that makes sense."

After a pause, "but not like you should ever take life advice from me, seriously."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"Pale, dark hair and eyes?" Really Zouichi. "There are tons of people like that in the universe! But if they look like they're ready to point a weapon at someone at a moment's notice, I'll make sure to double check."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but..." Synthetic Humans have that savoir faire, Jr. You know.

"Come to think of it, what does your family look like? I'll keep a look out for them, too."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"All right. It's a... I'll see you there."

Alien stealth technology. This should prove quite interesting.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"...you're probably right." Howard isn't saying anything Zouichi doesn't know already. He didn't think it would be so difficult to impose on someone he cared about... but that was just how he was. Commiserating was one thing, but troubling someone with his personal problems? Asking someone to concern themselves with something he should be able to deal with by himself? He couldn't ask Alastirra to bear that burden.

So maybe Eva was right. Maybe he just wasn't ready for a relationship yet.

Zouichi stopped the bike as they reached the Inn, dismounting smoothly. "Well, we're here. Hopefully your cat's fur is still firmly attached to her body."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

A light, playful smirk. "Like uh. Like me, only bigger."

Did you expect something different from a clone? "You can probably see the resemblance for my sister straight away, too." He would have mentioned the production numbers. But no screw that constant reminder. Also Albedo and Citrine wore outfits that covered their own, anyway.

[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?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

He raised an eyebrow. "I guess that makes sense." The clones on Galilee had basically looked like blonde copies of Jr., after all.

You never know. Maybe U.R.T.V.s worked like in Metal Gear Solid, and there was an Old Jr. somewhere.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. How are you getting along with Howard?"

[quick_strike]

Eldar stealth technology. Best in the universe, according to the Eldar. "Of course."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"No rush, man. The singles club is still cool." And to tell the truth, knowing the relationship's dissolved makes Howard feel a little guilty for pushing Zou to start it up in the first place.

Howard dismounts a little less smoothly, slipping a bit in the mud. By now he's cold enough that his fingers feel like nothing but knuckles. "Yeah, right. She sheds her body weight every few hours."

And indeed, when they get in the Inn, it's revealed that Emergency Rations has not only shed all over the only clean shirt Howard has, but has escaped and killed one of the small critters from Hydroponics and left it for them on said shirt.

Howard rolls his eyes. "Fine, I'll wear the wolves t-shirt. The universe is willing it."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Luckily, I have long years of experience being single." Once they got back, Zouichi located two towels, handing one to Howard and using the other to dry his hair. He'd probably take a bath in a bit and let his armor dry.

He plucked the dead little animal up from its resting place, placing it carefully in a small box (which had seen a lot more use recently) for later. Zouichi didn't know why Emergency Rations kept killing the poor things, but apparently she wasn't bound by the same rules everyone else was in Hydroponics. In any case, he was sure to carefully bury each of the cat's kills as he found them.

Yesss. The shirt. Just as planned

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard grabs a set of pants and boxer and the (tacky, cheap-looking, oversized, flat-out-silly) shirt out of the dresser (like hell would he ever take it to the Warehouse) and disappears into one of the other rooms to change.

He comes back out with a Christian Bale-style expression that tells Zouichi 'if you take pictures of this we're fucking done, professionally'. The shirt does indeed go down to his knees, and even inside out the glow-in-the-dark paint of the moon and the wolves' teeth shows through the fabric.

At least it'll make good pajamas.

He's a little weirded out to see that Zouichi's already disposed of the body. He would have zipped it into a plastic bag and frozen it. He gets it, Emergency Rations. You're just trying to make sure he and Zou have food. He appreciates it.

He takes a seat on the couch and angles his head to the side, in case there's water lodged in either of his ears from the big mud puddle, still. "Hey, at least it was just a little Hydroponics thing and not Alan."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Victory. Sweet victory.

Also, it was disrespectful to just leave dead animals lying out on your shirts, Howard. At the crack about Alan, Zouichi shot Howard another look -- there was nothing really accusatory to it, though. Cats killed things. It was in their nature.

"You should take a shower before you catch a cold." Zouichi disappeared briefly into another room, returning sans armor in one of the Inn's robes. He took a seat on the other side of the couch, glancing around to see if Alan was around. No luck; maybe the little parrot was sleeping somewhere. "No work today?"

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath dipped her head in a nod, "That would be very helpful. Thank you for the offer of assistance; I may have to take you up on it sooner than later, if answers continue to elude me."

After a moment another thought struck her, "Having the Dalgig aboard is another matter entirely. If I thought I would be listened to, I would suggest we wipe them out, take the survivors captive and interrogate them until we have the answers we need..."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

He smiled slightly in response. "Think nothing of it. I think we could all benefit from more answers than we're currently getting."

"As for the Daligig, well... I understand they've a large number of shock troops aboard their ship, apparently ready to annihilate us at a moment's notice should we show signs of resistance." His smile turned slightly cynical. "Probably to eliminate the possibility of people doing exactly as you suggested. It appears they trust us about as much as we trust them."

If it was the Daligig that struck first, though, they'd be in for a nasty surprise. He wasn't going down without a fight.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath sniffed, "They are no more threatening than the mon-keigh Space Marines. We could annihilate them, if we wished. There would be casualties, of course, but there are always casualties in war. And I would rather strike first than allow them free reign over us. Of course, the Council and the Captain are unlikely to agree, so I hold my peace for now."

[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]

Zouichi would have loved to try his hand at beating one of those Kessek, power staffs or no. But now, apparently, was not the time.

"And so we wait, hoping for the best." He didn't entirely agree with Ildraniath's plan -- after all, attacking one contingent of the Daligig and their protectors meant they had to be prepared to deal with all the rest. And with a fractious crew like this one, with many loathe to even take a life, that could be disastrous.

But taking a harder line with the 'allies' that had appeared out of nowhere to issue threats and orders? Making them answer questions, explain themselves, even through coercion? He felt that was more than justified.