AN: Since I failed at being consistent posting this, I'm now just dumping all of it at once. The last seven chapters and epilogue will all be going up at once now.
((()))
"My apologies for being late," Mamoru said as he stepped into the lab, looking a bit strung out, "There was some strange little girl I'd never met before claiming she was my aunt, and given she had no guardians present, the police wanted to look into that claim before letting me leave."
"...Your aunt?" Kimiko said a hint sarcastically, "How old was this girl?"
"Perhaps eight years old?" Mamoru said, shaking his head as he hung up his jacket, and donned a lab coat, "I'd never met her before in my life. I had to tell the police it's possible though; I did not know my extended family well before the death of my parents, and I have had no contact with. For all I am aware, my grandfathers may both be philanderers."
"...You're an orphan?" Kimiko asked, and Mamoru winced.
"Unfortunately," he replied, before turning his attention sharply to the log on the screen in front of Kimiko "Now, what did I miss?"
((()))
"First day of school!" Minako said cheerfully as she dragged Usagi out of bed, "Come on! There's so much to do!"
"Blamerihohgo," Usagi mumbled into her pillow, which she was clutching to her face as Minako dragged her along, "Sleeeeeep..."
"Nope!" Minako said cheerfully as she dragged Usagi towards the bathroom, "Remember, Wild's is an athletic school, so you need to get in shape, and part of that means getting up on time!"
Usagi just moaned and squirmed a little, too lethargic to really resist the other blonde. After about a minute of dragging, Minako reached her destination and dropped Usagi, who smiled into her pillow for just a moment.
Then Minako turned the shower on, and Usagi screamed.
((()))
"Sounds like the rabbit is up," Rei said with a small smirk as she sipped at her tea slowly, sweat still shining on her brow from her morning run.
About half of the children in the house were seated around the table, all with slightly-shapeshifted features and not-so-slightly shifted colorations.
"I hope she's not always this noisy," Makoto said with a grunt as she continued to work breakfast across the stove, "It's too early for screaming."
"I'm impressed that blonde could get her awake at all," Shingo said from his seat at the table, idly kicking his legs back and forth while he waited for breakfast, "Meatball-head is impossible to get up in the morning."
"...I don't think Aino-san took 'no' for an answer," Ami said quietly, "She seems like an insistent sort of person."
"She dragged Usagi into the shower," Caitlyn said with some amusement as she came down the stairs and turned into the kitchen, "Then turned it on. Thanks for cooking, Makoto."
"You're welcome," Makoto said with a small smile, "I like to cook anyways, though."
"Still saves me the time," Caitlyn said with a smile as she plopped herself into a chair, still looming over the rest of the girls (and Shingo) when seated, "Lynette doesn't like to take the time for hot breakfasts herself, and it's been so long since Jaeger was living with us last, that I've basically been the only breakfast cook in the house for years."
"I've lived alone for some time now," Makoto said with a shrug, "If I wanted to eat something, I had to cook it myself."
"That's usually what makes young adults learn," Lynette said as she came down the stairs and joined everyone in the kitchen, leaning against the counter as the table was out of space, "You're just getting an earlier start on it than most."
Makoto turned to look at Lynette for a moment, but said nothing.
"Come on Hotaru," Lynette called, "Nobody here is going to bite."
A dark-haired head poked around the corner of the wall to the stairs, looking over the kitchen's occupants shyly. Ami and Makoto both offered the younger girl a smile, Shingo ignored her, and Rei looked at the younger girl with some surprise.
"Are you all magical girls?" Hotaru asked.
"I am NOT a magical girl!" Shingo roared, standing up forcefully, "I am a boy! You wouldn't catch me dead in one of those stupid frilly skirts!"
Hotaru flinched back from the shouted response, ducking back into the stairwell and then running up the stairs. Caitlyn sighed, then reached over the table to seize Shingo by his collar and haul him up into the air.
"You and I are going to go have a talk with your mother, young man," Caitlyn declared as she left the table, tucking the squirming boy under her arm as she did so.
"She called me a girl!" Shingo protested, "And I didn't call her names or anything back!"
Lynette sighed, rubbing her forehead as the boy's protests faded while he was dragged to the far side of the duplex.
"Sometimes I wish I'd had children of my own," she muttered, "And sometimes I'm glad the ones I did end up with came mostly-grown."
"Looks like things are off to an excellent start here," Rei said, a hint of amusement leaking from around her teacup.
((()))
"Leo Kazinski," a man said as he entered the rookie Praetorian's cell, "One of the younger, though by no means the youngest, to earn entry into the Praetorians in the last century. You've found yourself in quite the mess. Do you usually enter countries illegally to shoot up hospitals?"
"First week on the job," Kazinski said with a wan smile and a shrug, "Suddenly half your co-workers don't remember who they are, and the boss says to go grab whoever did it. Wasn't honestly worried so much about 'where' as 'what.'"
"According to our account from the 'man on the ground,'" the de-facto interrogator said as he seated himself across from Kazinski's shackled form, "Your squad moved in with 'shoot first, ask questions later, kidnap on sight' orders for a cousin of the Japanese Emperor, and a minor Japanese Citizen. If they were behind some sort of mass memory erasure, what were they doing in a hospital?"
"I don't know," Kazinski said, "All I know is the boss said to retrieve them for questioning. Seemed reasonable enough at the time; besides, we're not short on medical care facilities back at base."
"Fair enough," the interrogator said, leaning back in his chair, "The next part, less so. Someone on-site demands an explanation and keeps you from leaving with Fujiwara Beryl, and you immediately initiate violence. What's up with that?"
"I don't know," Kazinski said flatly, "It didn't make any sense. He was good enough to sneak up on us, so he wasn't a push over, and we had no reason to think he couldn't be reasoned with. I don't know why the order was given."
"Well then," the interrogator said, "Let me paint you a picture of the Praetorians that you may not have heard of before, through the eyes of somebody who wasn't born in Rome..."
((()))
"Do you remember the conversation we began while aboard ship, on our way to Okinawa?" Natsuna asked as she walked into the small lounge where Jaeger was waiting (in human form) for her in the TMPD headquarters.
"I assume you mean the one we had in private," Jaeger said, "Which was interrupted by a headache brought on by you recovering your memories of reality before Usagi's wish-effect?"
"Yes, that one," Natsuna said, groaning slightly as she seated herself in a plush chair and slipped off her heels so she could rub her feet, "I would rather like to continue it. Recent events have made me ask myself some rather existential questions."
Jaeger didn't respond immediately, and she looked up at him to see a surprisingly melancholy expression on his face.
"What's wrong?" She asked, "Is this not a good time?"
"It probably is," Jaeger said, "I simply have many bad memories regarding this sort of conversation. I'll set them aside for now though; what, specifically, would you like to continue discussing?"
"You were saying something about having a rational framework to understand the world, before my headache struck," Natsuna said, leaning back in her chair, "I like to think I'm a fairly reasonable person, but in introspection since we spoke, I've realized that a lot of my beliefs are simply based upon what my culture has impressed upon me, nothing more, and nothing less. How did you go about building this 'rational framework'?"
"A few things helped formulate my first principles," Jaeger said, "One of the biggest ones, was growing up moving between different cultures. It allowed me to largely sidestep the issue of simply subconsciously picking up a full set of cultural values while never being exposed to any others. I spent eleven of the first eighteen years of my life living outside the U.S., minus visits back to 'the states' as those of us in such expatriot communities called it.
"Seeing how differently people from various nations lived certainly helped me start with a less 'narrow' perspective on the world, but it was only part of it. A big second part, was being very aggressive in my reading from a very young age. I read young adult novels when I was ten or eleven years old, and my first 'adult' novel sometime around my twelfth birthday. Reading doesn't automatically 'expand the mind,' because there's a lot of drek out there, but if you read a broad variety of things written for a broad variety of purposes, by a broad variety of authors, that will almost be guaranteed to do so.
"I read histories, historical fiction, 'classics' such as The Crucible or Shakespeare, early, 'mid' and modern science fiction, fantasy fiction, folklore, mythologies, commentaries on politics, and of course school textbooks, and the Bible. I only read bits and bobs of 'classics' rooted places other than English-speaking cultures during my younger years, something I sort of regret, but such things simply were not readily available. When I entered my late teens and early twenties I branched out more in that regard, but the point is, I covered a lot of ground. I could happily read a thousand pages a day by my mid teens, and I went from being extremely physically fit, to having the physique of a 'nerd.'
"The crux of forming my worldview, the 'rational framework' being a part thereof, came when I was sixteen and seventeen. Two things happened; I took a class on classic Propositional Logic, and I realized that I was not satisfied with the kind of life that modern culture, both a blend of 'western' and 'eastern' where I lived at the time, presented me.
"The laws of logic are absolutely essentially to stake a philosophical belief in if one wishes to come to a meaningful understanding of the world. There are three 'core laws' of logic, some of which are so obvious, I would not have been able to consciously recall and distinguish them to you before my intellect was enhanced. They're so obvious they can be confusing, much like if you think too much about breathing, and then try to consciously control every aspect of the process, picking out each muscle and movement involved.
"The first rule is simple, 'That which is, is.' If a chair is a chair," Jaeger slapped his hand on the stuffed chair he was sitting on, "Then it's a chair."
"That's every bit as obvious and assumed as you implied it would be," Natsuna said, "How can that be something in question?"
"As a public speaker once said," Jaeger said, "'It takes a college education to be this stupid.' Not quite hitting the nail on the head, but the point is, it takes someone too full of abstract thinking, not sufficiently engaged with the real world, and insulated from real danger and suffering, to reach the level of disconnectedness where they engage in this level of existential angst. Extreme fringe cases aside, you don't get someone who actually has to worry about where their next meal, or their food next month is coming from in any real way, questioning something that basic.
"The second rule is the more memorable, even if it is about as self-evident. 'Something cannot be both true and false at the same time.' Generally called the law of non-contradiction, if someone denies this, rational discourse with them is functionally impossible, as they can try to claim the positives of both a thing being and not being at the same time, should the fancy strike them."
Natsuna nodded, but did not further comment.
"The third rule of logic," Jaeger said, "Is the law of the excluded middle, which more or less restates and clarifies the law of non-contradiction. When a thing is either true or false, there is no gradiation between the two. Gravity is either a force, or not a force. It is not a force sometimes, or partially, it is a force. You can argue semantics of it affecting different things in different ways, but even the variable effects of gravity are details of its nature as a fundamental force of the universe, and arguing the semantics still assumes it exists. The law of excluded middle is basically a preemptive counter-argument against people trying to claim 'sure that's true, but not when I really don't want it to be.'"
"I've seen some people make arguments more or less along those lines," Natsuna said with a nod.
"Aye," Jaeger said, "Which leads me directly into the next element, something I didn't really begin to grasp until I was in my twenties, and is absolutely essential to Critical Thinking, which I suppose we are now segueing into covering:
"People will prefer to believe that which fits their desires, over that which there is evidence of actually being true. I don't know if it's possible for me to adequately emphasize this. You work in law enforcement; have you run into cases where someone in an abusive relationship is still actively trying to believe that their significant other really Loves them, even when they have bruises, perhaps broken bones, and piles of emotional abuse to prove otherwise?"
"I've not been directly responsible for such cases myself," Natsuna said, remembered sorrow crossing her face, "But I have had direct subordinates do so. They spoke a lot of pain, suffering, and people being self-destructive because they couldn't let go of something that was hurting them."
"Aye," Jaeger said, nodding his head, "Pretty lies are at least as destructive as any drug addiction. What's worse, being addicted to cocaine, or being convinced that the next 'bad boy' boyfriend you get together with will be the one that fills the lonely hole in your heart?"
"The latter," Natsuna said immediately, "Most addicts know that their addiction is bad for them, they just lack the willpower to end it. Young girls who think their boyfriend is the only one who 'understands' them tend to fight any suggestion they're in an unhealthy relationship and resist outside help."
"Aye," Jaeger said, "The same is true of someone who believes that there are no negative consequences to sex, to someone who believes lottery tickets are a good investment, to someone who believes that their cult leader really will make the world a better place, even if they're demanding absurd amounts of money from their followers, to people who keep voting blatantly corrupt politicians into power, because not doing so again would be admitting to themselves that they bought the lies, rather than someone is lying about that politician's character now."
"All of these are things I've seen before," Natsuna said, "And I suspect you picked the examples out because you thought I would have. Where are you going with this?"
"Almost everybody who isn't already dedicated to some particular hardline ideology can follow, and happily agree with, things this far," Jaeger said, his expression shifting towards something a bit more grim, "Until whatever their personal hangup is gets touched on. I'll take something that's a political hot-topic in the US as an example: Abortion."
"That's no small issue," Natsuna said, raising an eyebrow again, "It's a hot enough political issue for Americans I've heard about your arguments without even trying to."
"Aye," Jaeger said, nodding his head, and leaning forward, "And the reason is damn simple; people are very emotionally invested in the whole thing. The issue itself is extremely simple. Either an unborn baby is a human being, or isn't. Law of non-contradiction. That fertilized egg developing into a human being has the same value and rights as a birthed human, true or false. If it's true, then the mother's right to decide not to have a baby ended when she decided to have sex, setting aside the extremely statistically rare instances of pregnancy caused by rape for the moment, if it's false, then she can do whatever she wants with it, because it has no rights."
Natsuna said nothing, simply watching Jaeger while she waited for him to continue.
"If the unborn baby is a human being," Jaeger said, "Then the emotional investment in the issue is clear: People don't want murder to be committed. If the unborn baby is not a human being, then the emotional investment is slightly less clear, but still pretty obvious: Those who already have had abortions don't want to think of themselves as having murdered a baby. Those who are pregnant and don't want to be don't want to have to deal with the responsibilities and difficulties involved in birthing then caring for a child. Those who make money off of abortions don't want their source of income to be cut off. Those who like being able to have casual sex with lesser consequences like having an escape route from the responsibilities that come with parenting. Does anything I'm saying sound egregiously illogical to you?"
"Far from it," Natsuna said, "It seems pretty straightforward. It does raise in my mind the interesting issue, that no law system I am aware of addresses the root definition of personhood, simply assumes it on the part of citizens, and the degree of responsibility shared between a minor and their guardian."
"Which gets into precisely the crux of philosophical monism versus dualism," Jaeger said, frustration beginning to seep into his tone, "Or 'naturalist' worldviews versus theistic and other supernatural-subscribing worldviews. In order for a human being to be in any meaningful way differentiated in value and rights from any other lump of matter, one must assume the existence of the supernatural. In order for a human being to be more than a conjunction of chemical processes, an elaborate biochemical computer where physical stimulus provokes neurological coding constructed from a genetic blueprint to engage in biochemical computing to determine output and thus action, there must be something to a human that can be called a 'soul' or 'spirit.'
"Hold up," Natsuna said, "That was a lot of complex terminology. Do you often talk like this?"
"It depends on how worked up I am," Jaeger replied beginning to fidget in his seat, "The pursuit of Truth matters more to me in life than anything else, and I like to use precise language as I am capable."
"...So I see," Natsuna said, a curious expression passing onto her face, "So what you are saying is that if nothing supernatural exists, particularly as an aspect of human existence, then all humans are is very complex computers, and what our senses feed our brain gets processed by our brain-computer to determine output?"
"Yes," Jaeger said, nodding sharply.
"Then how do you explain the experience of thought?" Natsuna asked.
"I would say that the phenomena of thought itself proves the existence of the supernatural," Jaeger replied, leaning forward to the point where he was halfway out of his chair, "The concept of being able to make a choice requires escape from the physical law of cause and effect. Barring the intervention of something outside the realm of the physical, inputting precisely the same stimulus into exactly the same system will get you the same result every single time. In other words, if you have no soul, you have no choice, because there was only one possible chain of biochemical responses possible within your body to any given set of stimulus, which could never have resulted in anything but the given response your body gave."
Jaeger paused, taking a deep breath, and staring, almost but not quite glaring into Natsuna's eyes.
"In short," Jaeger said, "If one accepts the principle that there is nothing but matter and energy to the universe, then the only difference between you and a lump of dirt, is biochemical complexity. There is no inherent worth, value, rights, or anything else you possess that a lump of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and trace elements does not. Or more brutally put, you have no more worth than a pile of shit."
"That is not something I can accept," Natsuna snapped, "I have lived my entire adult life defending the dignity and security of the people of Tokyo! I will not sit here and be told that my people are worth shit!"
"If, I said," Jaeger replied, tight anger just barely seeping into his voice as his words quickened, "If nothing exists beyond the physical. Once one accepts the existence of the metaphysical, however, the world begins to make rational sense once more. Humans are clearly distinct not only from inanimate matter, but also from all other observed forms of life. We have the capacity for rational thought, to think creatively, to understand and express moral concepts, to recognize natural beauty, and create art that is such as well. These things make no sense as the expression of a purely deterministic biochemical computer, but make perfect sense coming from a being of spirit housed in a body of flesh."
Jaeger leaned back in his seat, breathing deeply.
"The very nature of your response just now reflects what I said about emotional investment," Jaeger said, "You believe in the value and worth of the people who you have spent your adult life serving. You want them to have the value and worth you have treated them as having. You are emotionally invested in that being true. Where do you think that worth and value comes from?"
"It's intrinsic to being human," Natsuna replied promptly, "To being a thinking and emoting human being."
"It is because it is," Jaeger said, "That is a claim, but does it add up with the rest of your worldview? What is mankind's origin? What is his ultimate destination? Is it because he thinks and emotes that man has value, or is it by these that we can recognize he has value? Do they imbue value or merely indicate it? Why would thinking and emoting imbue value if you believe that is the case?"
"Because people shouldn't suffer," Natsuna replied immediately, leaning forward as her own voice became a bit heated.
"I agree," Jaeger said with a sharp nod, "But why? What differentiates lighting a man on fire, from lighting a man-sized lump of firewood on fire? A series of chemical interactions take place in both the man and the firewood; the man interprets it as pain, the firewood has no nervous system. So what? Are both just matter in the end, or is there something more to one of them?"
"...'First principles' you said earlier," Natsuna replied, "That's what you're getting at, isn't it? What are the basic assumptions I build the rest of my ideology off of?"
"Yes," Jaeger said arms flexing as his eyes blazed with passion, "It drives me nuts how people just don't care about developing a coherent worldview, especially when they get on my case about some picky detail of day-to-day living. Why do you care so much about your physical appearance, or having your living space obsessively neat, when your moral system is incoherent, when you have no clue where life comes from, what happens when you'll die, whether God is real, and what He is like?"
Natsuna became very quiet, leaning back in her chair and cupping her chin as she thought. Impatient, but forcing himself to give her time to think, Jaeger stood and started to pace around the small lounge.
"What do I care for the minutiae of running a police force," Natsuna eventually said, "If I do not understand the basis of a morality I instinctively understand to exist?"
"Exactly," Jaeger all but hissed, "There is no point in arguing the semantics of a legal system, if you cannot ground it in a moral system, and have some understanding of its origin and structure. What is the supreme ethic? If it's beauty, then more attractive people will get away with more, and one can argue that's how society works. If it's balance, then every crime must be punished in exact proportion. If it's 'Might makes right,' then the legal system is just the tool of the strong to implement their will upon the weak. What is the supreme ethic, Natsuna? What is the transcendent moral that all other things are subordinate to?"
"...I don't know," Natsuna admitted, "I'd never much thought about it before."
"Then I'd suggest you find out," Jaeger said, "I can't imagine living as a law enforcement officer without having some understanding of it."
"Now that you've raised the point," Natsuna replied, a wry grin spreading across her face, "I think that more aptly expresses what I've been struggling with. With my recent experienced, I don't think I can continue living as a law enforcement officer without having some understanding of it. Having the functional existence of the supernatural, and so the soul, as many of my most trusted men die… I find myself wishing I'd spent a course or two in college on philosophy, rather than just deciding 'Ethics and Procedures' was enough. However, there is also something I feel obliged to say to you in return."
"Feel free," Jaeger said, visibly calming a little as he scrubbed a hand through his hair, "My penchant for aggressive monologuing aside, I don't intend for this conversation to be one-sided."
"I've heard people talk like you do before," Natsuna said bluntly, "Some of them were on terror watchlists, and most of the rest were part of the coalition of nationalist-leaning politicians that most of my detractors in the Diet come from. Given your considerable personal power, the fact that I'm not sure if it's even possible to kill you, and my position and responsibilities, the way you speak has raised some concerns."
"What are you afraid I'll do?" Jaeger returned, just as bluntly.
"Right now," Natsuna said, "Nothing. It's not hard to see a lot of your passion comes from being an idealist, but I've seen what happens to idealists whose ideals fail them before. I don't want to see you changing like some of them did, both because of concern for you, and because of fear of what someone as capable as you would do under such circumstances."
Jaeger was quiet for a few moments as he considered his response.
"As much as I'd like to convince people I can't be killed," he eventually said, "That's not actually true. And as to me turning into some sort of blood knight or homicidal killing machine; death first."
"Yours," Natsuna asked, staring Jaeger in the eye, her expression fierce, "Or someone else's?"
"Mine," Jaeger said with a grunt, scowling a bit, "And hard enough that it actually sticks. Now, is there anything else for the time being? I've got to go."
"Not for the time being," Natsuna said, shaking her head, "But next time we speak, expect me to have some pointed questions for you."
"Fair enough," Jaeger said with a shrug, "Drop me a line when you need some help again."
Then he disappeared.
[/spoiler]
((()))
"You really don't know how to talk to females," Blaze snarked at Jaeger as he hopped aboard the Cybertronian's latest vehicle form, "They want tales of kicking adventure, good jokes, and sweet nothings. Not recitations from philosophy textbooks."
"Maybe most," Jaeger replied, "But most women aren't the Superintendent-General of the TMPD. She has tens of thousands of people under her authority. She's more interested in getting things done. She has responsibilities. A lot more than a teen or twenty-something single in college or with a part-time job."
"Maybe she wants both," Blaze retorted, "But if I know anything about females, its that all of them want the sweet nothings."
Jaeger rolled his eyes as Blaze pulled into a parking garage, and started preparing to teleport.
((()))
Each of the Senshi experienced their first time arriving at Wild's as students in different ways. Makoto felt like she'd almost come home; the way the other girls looked at her, with analyzing then respectful eyes, the grace and discipline present in the bearing of the students, the lack of whispering about the muscles on her arms or her height.
Minako was excited; she'd dabbled with martial arts herself, and was quite fit. Being of a competitive nature, she was looking forward to the challenge of catching up with the other students, and seeing how the Korean education system compared to those of Japan and England.
Rei was slightly uncomfortable. She was used to a more conservative learning environment, and had been attending the same school since she started her formal education; the unfamiliar nature of the environment was surprisingly disconcerting to her. She was glad, however, to be bringing friends into the school with her, given how miserable her luck at making friends at school had been thus far.
Ami felt a mixture between slight excitement, and being slightly jaded. She had changed schools multiple times through her academic career, not staying at any for more than a single year since third year of grade school. She had a hard time believing that Wild's would challenge her academically, but she hoped that she might actually be able to connect with more physically-oriented people after 'learning the basics.'
Usagi was still in a semi-conscious haze; the luxury of a car ride from Ami's mother allowing her to take a brief nap on the way to school, one she hadn't really recovered from.
((()))
I had forgotten how boring school could be. Eighth grade was bad enough when I was just of above-average intelligence back on my home plane; being at literally the edge of supernatural intelligence made things much worse, especially given that this was not new material to me. At least the academic standards at Wilds' were high, and the 'study culture' of the students was pretty solid. Only a handful of students were more interested in the classwork than their various (mostly martial-arts related) extra-curriculars, but they were both diligent and efficient about working through it.
So, I spent most of the class practicing multi-tasking, by taking notes with two sets of hands. With my own hands, I wrote every odd word on my set of notes, with spaces for every even word. With the Creation-magic created body I controlled (sitting in a room in the apartment complex we had rented), I wrote the even words with spacing for the odd words left in. By the end of morning classes I was managing it pretty well, so long as I didn't try to do it with both sets of eyes open; doubled vision was harder to get used to than the other senses. Once the note-taking got boring I started practicing juggling.
Then lunch period began, and things got… hectic.
((()))
"Heeellllooo!" A heavy-set brunette that had been sitting next to the new boy called, sliding her chair over next to his, "I'm Bora! Who are you?"
"I'm Haneul!" A skinnier brunette on his other side said as she slid her chair in to flank him on that side, "Nice to meet you!"
"I'm J. Gates," Jaeger replied, studying the two girls in turn, "It's nice to meet you; can I help either of you ladies with something?"
"A da-mph!" Haneul began, before being cut off by a taller blonde that had walked up behind her.
"Slow down Haneul," She said sharply, "Don't you know what happened to Song when he started here? Show some respect! I'm Hyeon," she said, turning her attention to Jaeger, "What brings you to Korea?"
"What?" Jaeger said with a smile, assumed form's darker complexion, "I don't look like a local?"
A small chorus of giggles erupted around his seat, which had been quite thoroughly surrounded by his female classmates.
"No," Hyeon said, smiling herself, "And Wild's usually doesn't get exchange students."
"My Aunt found work in the area," Jaeger said with a shrug, "She's a trauma surgeon who's been branching into genetic study lately, so one of the local universities probably has a good program for that."
"Ah!" Bora said, "Where are you actually from then?"
"I'm from Puerto Rico," Jaeger said, "But I've moved around most of my life, so that doesn't mean a whole lot anymore."
"Didn't I see you with those new first-year girls during the preliminaries the other day?" One of the girls standing around his desk asked.
"Yes," Jaeger said with a nod, "They're friends, of a sort."
"'Of a sort'?" Another girl asked, "Is one of them your girlfriend?"
"No," Jaeger said, shaking his head, "'Of a sort' means they're sort of like younger sisters to me. Somewhat more complicated is my Aunt's adoptive daughter; she's a medical student at Seoul National University now, and I see her in a similar light-"
"Why do you see her as a younger sister if she's older than you?" Bora asked.
"Or is she just much smarter than you?" Haneul asked with a smirk.
"Neither," Jaeger said with a shrug, "Though she is quite intelligent. I've recently recovered from a head wound, and am only now continuing my interrupted education."
"A head wound?" Hyeon said eyes widened slightly in surprise, "What happened?"
"Someone shot me," Jaeger said, almost maintaining a perfectly straight face, "And head wounds take a bit longer to recover from than most."
Stunned silence met that revelation, and a fully-formed smile broke out on Jaeger's face while the girls glanced nervously back and forth between each other, trying to figure out how to respond.
"Don't worry about it," Jaeger said, gathering up the detritus of his lunch and smiling, "I'm fully recovered now; like I said my aunt is a trauma surgeon, she knows how to look out for lingering effects. Anyway, I saw the tournament preliminaries the other day, but I'm not familiar with what else is going on at Wild's. Care to tell me what's been happening on campus lately?"
"A bunch of thugs tried to storm the school during the preliminaries!" Bora immediately burst out, "They picked a fight with Queen and Moon Young!"
"...Are gangs that much of a problem here in Korea?" Jaeger asked.
"Not usually," Hyeon said with a shrug, relaxing a bit with the subject change, "But it's not like they stood a chance anyways. There are some thugs around, but generally none of them have guns. If any of them had, the Wild's Guard would have taken care of them."
"Wild's Guard?" Jaeger asked.
"Some of the girls who graduate from this school," Hyeon said, "The ones who are going pro with martial arts, rather than just dedicated hobbyists, some of them Director Wild will train himself. They never lose fights."
"So the school's founder is a bit of an 'ancient master' type?" Jaeger asked, "Like what you see in movies sometimes?"
"Sort of," Bora said with a shrug, "He's a westerner though, English I think. He keeps an office/arboretum on the grounds, so if you want to meet him, you can probably do it after school gets out."
"I'd be happy to show you where it is!" Haneul chirped, "I'm free after school today!"
"I think I'll take you up on that," Jaeger said with a gracious smile, more than one purpose behind his acceptance of the offer."
((()))
"Boy," Minako said as she looked across the cafeteria, "Jaeger is popular."
"Caitlyn's going to be mad," Usagi said with a giggle, "Think he'll go out with any of them?"
"Not a chance," Rei said, shaking her head before taking a sip of tea, "He'd consider it improper, given how much older he actually is. Can we talk about something other than boys?"
"Like what?" Minako said with a smirk, "You more interested in girls?"
"Impressions of the various students so-ah." Rei was cut off by a polite cough from behind her.
"Excuse me," A cute young woman with pig tails and glasses said, "Could I join you?"
"Sure!" Usagi said, "I'm Usagi, and this is Rei, and Minako, and Ami, and Makoto! Who are you?"
"I am Lee Go Seul," the young woman said, smiling at everyone at the table as she took a seat next to Makoto, "I'm a freshman too, and Wild's can be a bit cliquey, so I thought I'd offer to show you around and answer any questions you all have."
"That's great!" Usagi chirped, "Who's the meanest teacher? The nicest? Are there any good arcades nearby? Good places for ice cream?"
"More importantly," Makoto said, cutting in before Usagi could bury the new girl, "How do I get a chance to get a good sparring match in with someone?"
"You're so lively!" Go Seul said with a smile, "I don't know the area very well yet, but my older sister is captain of the Wushu team, if you want to come with me we can ask her half of those questions after classes, and I'm sure she'd love to give you a sparring match with a freshman who clearly has some experience."
"What about the teachers?" Ami asked quietly.
"They're all pretty good," Go Seul said, "But honestly, none of them stick out in my mind as being memorably harsher or gentler than any of the others..."
((()))
"Twelve men to visit the moon through the entire course of the Space Program," one of the Americans muttered, "And we double that number in a single day."
"Well," Nephrite said with a smile, "If you count neither my prior visit, nor those already here."
"Were all the intermediary steps necessary?" The major in command of the strike team asked.
"I am a mage of great potence," Nephrite said with a shrug, "But I am not a god."
"...Right," the Major said, before shrugging (a move barely discernible through his space suit, "Let's move, Blue Team."
The white-clad strike team and Nephrite had 'ported in several kilometers from the Black Moon Clan's base, in order to avoid teleportation wards and minimize the chance of detection, and it took more than an hour, even in low gravity, to reach the final point of available cover before the base itself.
"There are a minimum of six hostiles," Nephrite informed them as they studied the improbably-positioned palace, sighting for preferable points of entry, "All of them powerful casters, the one dressed in white, and the second bearing a black hooded robe, are the most dangerous. If they call hordes of their golems to aid them, I should be able to deal with the hordes; can your team deal with the casters?"
"With two to one odds?" the Major asked rhetorically, "Not to mention preparation and strategic surprise on our side? We'd damn well better be able to."
"Good," Nephrite said with a nod, "If I am seriously injured, I will be forced to retreat; do not fear, however, I will return within two days nonetheless."
"Our spells and equipment should let us survive that long," the Major said with a nod, "Why are you repeating everything that was covered in the briefing?"
"Standard protocol before an assault," Nephrite said with a shrug, "Ensure all participants are on the same page. Is this not policy in your military?"
"It is," the Major said with a nod, looking over at one of his men who was making use of a series of hand signals, "And we've found our entry point. Let's move out."
((()))
When Jaeger and Haneul swung by the office of Charles Wilds, they discovered that it was unfortunately empty. So it was that, instead of meeting the Academy's founder and owner, the two ended up making small talk as they proceeded to the school's gate. Jaeger was readily aware that Haneul was keeping the pace as slow as she reasonably could, and was trying to solicit a date invitation from him, but he had other reasons for agreeing to spend some time alone with her.
Plans which Haneul began to cotton on to when they arrived at the gate, where Caitlyn was waiting to pick him up. Caitlyn was slightly above average by American standards in her 'normal' form; the disguise she had adopted put another inch or two onto her height, meaning she towered over Haneul, and was barely shorter than Jaeger's polynesian disguise.
"You're here early," Jaeger called as Caitlyn strolled over from the motorcycle she had been sitting on while she waited.
"College courses are easy on the hours," Caitlyn said with a shrug, "Even if they give too much homework. Who's the kid?"
"Haneul," Jaeger said, gesturing towards his classmate, who was bristling slightly at being called a 'kid, then towards Caitlyn, who looked faintly amused, "Meet my adoptive cousin, Caitlyn. Caitlyn, Haneul is one of my classmates; she kindly volunteered to show me to the Director's office today."
"Nice to meet you," Caitlyn said with a friendly smile, extending a hand towards the younger (and substantially smaller girl, "Thanks for helping my man around."
"...your man?" Haneul asked as she somewhat hesitantly shook Caitlyn's hand.
"Yup," Caitlyn's grin grew, gaining a bit of an edge as she did so, "I've been after him for oh, two or three years now. I'll get him to go on a date with me eventually."
"...Is he really that stingy with dates?" Haneul asked, slightly horrified.
"I've had three girlfriends in the past," Jaeger said with a shrug, "I've been on one date."
Haneul winced.
"So," Caitlyn said with a grin, "Just to keep things simple, we have a bit of a policy. If you want to go out with him," Caitlyn jabbed a thumb towards Jaeger, "Then first, you need to beat me," Caitlyn turned her thumb towards herself, "In a sparring match. Pin or ring-out, nothing else is accepted, any form of martial art is permitted."
"...Seriously?" Haneul asked, glancing back and forth between Jaeger and Caitlyn.
"Sure," Jaeger said with a shrug, "Caitlyn likes to fight, and it saves me the trouble of turning everyone down repeatedly."
"And when she loses?" Haneul asked.
"If she loses," Jaeger said with a smile, "That'll mean someone is at least interesting enough to warrant one date. They'll probably lose interest in me after that anyways."
"You're a boy attending Wild's," Hameul said with a bit of a smirk, "And unlike underclassman Song, you're perfectly comfortable here. You're also obviously not some kind of jerk and you've got a girl who's spent years chasing after you, so I really don't get why a girl wouldn't want to spend more time with you."
Jaeger leaned back and laughed. It wasn't a harsh, or even a particularly loud laugh, but it was very clearly a laugh directed at her statement nonetheless.
"I miss being that innocent," he said gently, turning to smile at Haneul, "I hope that you never have to learn why it isn't that simple."
"So do I," Caitlyn said with a grimace, before laying a hand on Jaeger's shoulder, "Come on J, Lynette's going to be waiting for us."
((()))
"So," Kimiko said as she sat down near Mamoru, a cup of tea in hand as she settled into one of the break room's comfortable chairs, "How'd you meet this 'aunt' of yours?"
"There was some sort of… fight?" Mamoru said, glancing up at Kimiko before turning his attention to his own beverage, "On one of the upper floors of an apartment block, and some windows were shattered. Some of the falling debris was falling towards a little girl, so I picked her up and hauled her away. Afterwards, the police couldn't identify her, or find any relatives, and she claimed she was my aunt. I'm not really sure how that's supposed to work."
"How heroic," Kimiko said with a smile, "Falling glass can be pretty dangerous; did you get hurt?"
"A few scrapes," Mamoru said, waving his hand dismissively, "Nothing serious. Do you know why Doctor Fujiwara is back early from her vacation?"
"Yes," Kimiko said, her smile fading a bit, "The cruise ship she was on got attacked. It was all pretty nasty; I wouldn't recommend bringing it up around her."
"Is that why there's security in the building?" Mamoru asked.
"Pretty much," Kimiko said, her smile fading altogether with a sigh, "She is a cousin of the imperial family. I'm not sure why anybody would think going after her would accomplish anything in this modern era, but who can understand the mind of a terrorist? If they were sane, they wouldn't be terrorists."
"Have you ever been out of the country?" Mamoru asked curiously.
"No," Kimiko said, her smile returning a little, "Why do you ask?"
"There's a saying," he said, "I don't really agree with it, but after I spent some time on the continent, I understood it a bit better. 'One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.'"
"That sounds terrible," Kimiko said, "Why on earth would people think such things?"
"Because when you hate someone," Mamoru said with a shrug, "It's easy to sympathize with people who attack them. At least, that's the best I've been able to figure out. I'm becoming a doctor because I want to help people; I don't think violence is the way to solve societies problems."
"When did you decide you wanted to be a doctor?" Kimiko asked, setting aside her cup and leaning forward as she gave Mamoru her undivided attention.
"...Well," Mamoru began slowly, looking at Kimiko a bit oddly, "Not long after my parents died..."
((()))
A thundering explosion shattered the wall of Petz' bedchambers, and she lurched awake, clutching blankets to her chest as she stared at the ruins of the far side of her room. Bulky white figures began clambering into the room.
"Am I dreaming?" Petz wondered, blinking her eyes rapidly as she stared in confusion at the strange, monochrome humanoids.
"Saphir!" her sister's voice shouted from the adjoining bathroom, "You'd better not be using your experiments going wrong as an excuse to bother my sister again!"
Petz shouted back at her sister, trying to warn her, but discovered that someone had cast a spell of silence over her. It must have been a targeted rather than area spell, however, because a moment later when a part of the ceiling damaged by the blast collapsed to the ground with a thundering crash, it was quite audible both to Petz, and her sister in the bathroom.
"SAPHIR!" Calavaras roared as she burst out of the bathroom, a towel around her body, a shower cap over the top of her head, a loofah in one hand and her other pointing violently towards…
"You're not Saphir," Calavaras said a bit sickly as her finger bumped into the white material of a space suit, "_ _ _"
"WHAT, WOMAN?" Saphir bellowed as he burst in the front door to the suite just after Calavaras was struck by a silence spell herself, "Do you think I LIKE working all-those are not my golems."
"No," Nephrite said with a smile as he stepped into the room behind another of the 'astronauts,' "They're some friends of mine from Earth. Today's lesson for you and your brother shall be on the tactical utility of Surprise."
(((()))
"-And on a bizarre note," the news anchor said, her professionalism keeping her expression as level as ever, "Astronomers all over the world, amateurs as well as professionals, have reported a series of explosions in one section of the surface of the moon last night. They started around midnight, Greenwich Mean Time, and continued for a good half hour. No nation has yet claimed responsibility for these surprising lunar detonations, but accusations are flying about the Americans, Russians, or Chinese engaging in weapons testing..."
((()))
Author's Note: I keep feel like I've forgotten something with this story. Hopefully nothing important.