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trans_92011-10-03 03:34 pm
zouichi.livejournal.com) wrote in trans_92011-10-03 03:34 pm
That melt into spring [Open]
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.
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.
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"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."
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"So basically you were both being way too gentle with each other."
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Zouichi is surprised enough to hear that from Howard that he spares a glance backward. "Maybe."
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After a pause, "but not like you should ever take life advice from me, seriously."
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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."
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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."
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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 plannedno subject
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."
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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?"
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Emergency Rations hops up on the couch with both of them and makes her way to Zouichi. It's plain she likes him more, despite certain disagreements over the proper purpose of a parrot. She doesn't dart away or hiss when Howard leans over and pets her haunches, though. Progress!
"I did night shift at Medical last night, so I'm good for today. What about you? Does Security actually ever work or is it all this big charade?"
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"You caught me. Actually, it's a giant money laundering operation and now that you know, we'll have to dispose of you." He shrugged. "We have a lot of new people. Less work to go around."
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"Aw, man, not the cement shoes." He yawns and tucks his feet under himself on the couch. "Anyone interesting? Anyone who can blow up whole planets or anything?"
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"There are always interesting people that show up. But if anyone can blow up an entire planet, they're not saying."
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"So, who'd you meet? I'm still waiting for Stacy to dump Wolverine on us so you two can compare notes."
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"...but no Wolverine. Not that I really know what he looks like anyway."
That bird will always be first in Zouichi's heart. Sorry, Emergency Rations.
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Howard uses his hands to pantomime Wolverine's ridiculous hair. "Big stupid hair, sideburns, about my height but like, five times as muscular. Okay, maybe fifty times. You'd know him if you saw him."
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"I'll keep a look out for short muscular guys with ridiculous hair, then. So far it's only been tall, muscular guys with no hair." Zouichi reached over to pet Emergency Rations again. Aww, so soft.
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Emergency Rations rolls over so her stomach is exposed. Howard raises an eyebrow and continues to stroke her side. "Hey, we've got plenty of ridiculous hair in this crew. I saw Lash hide a whole slingshot in hers earlier."
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"Yeah, but... you'd probably know what I was talking about if you met him. It looked like he had about a metric ton of hair gel in it."
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Howard lays down on the couch, twisting his body so he can continue to pet the cat. He looks concerned. "Zou, listen, she's making a weird noise."
Emergency Rations is purring.
PROGRESS!no subject
"...I think she's just purring." It's much louder than he expected it would be, but it wasn't as though she seemed to be in distress.
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The grin that breaks out across Howard's face is possibly the widest and most genuine Zouichi's ever seen from him. "Oh. Wow. I thought it'd sound different."
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Zouichi glanced at Howard, then smiled a little in turn, listening to the sound of the rain outside. He might even be tempted to fall asleep... if he slept all that often. Which he did not.
/wrap?
Howard's tempted by that same thought. Something about petting a cat and listening to the sounds of her purring mingling with the patter of rain. And probably something about having run around in the rain after pulling a night shift.
He's asleep before he even realizes how seriously he was considering it.
wrap!