Author Note: I've been meaning to add this for the last few Author notes, but keep forgetting. Oh well, its nothing major. For anyone trying to get a visual image of what the Great Endeavor is like when it's moving, assuming you're having any trouble that is, what I always see is that Volcano weapon thing from Origin: Spirits of the Past. That's about the size of the Great Endeavor, if taller. But seeing those huge legs come crashing down in a relentless pattern, that's definitely the way the Great Endeavor walks, crushing buildings and pretty much anything in its path like it was walking over crunchy grass. Not sure if this insight helps or hurts, but its there nonetheless. Stoked as ever to see and read your reviews, I've already replied to several, and if I haven't replied to you yet, I still might. But anyway, on to the next chapter of GECK, and though I doubt it will surprise the familiar reader too much, one never knows.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"And this is Karen Wayne, reporting live from Neo New York City Harbor, keeping us updated on the situation on the ground regarding the Brotherhood Crisis." The newscaster announced, as the view switched from the staid digital background of the anchor's studio and reformed to show the harried and drawn face of Karen Wayne, her auburn hair mussed and a bit stringy, her pale blue eyes weary and red rimmed, plainly fighting off the stress of the situation with much caffeine as she continued to report on the situation as she'd been doing pretty much ever since the Great Endeavor landed, almost a day earlier. It was early evening on the East coast of North America, even though it was just barely past dawn in Orb, on the day after, because of the vagaries of the international date line. In the background behind Ms. Wayne, stormclouds rippled and rumbled through the sky, their surfaces dark grey and shimmery green, like oil on water and in the very far distance, out near the horizon, where the grey sky met the cobalt blue ocean, an indistinct shape humped up like a turtle's shell, the Great Endeavor being so huge as to remain visible even when more than a dozen miles from shore.
"Thank you, James." Karen said, the haunted look in her eyes reaching out to touch the souls of people tuning in around the world, or already glued to their TV screens, their guts twisting with a mixture of horror and uncertainty. "Behind me you can make out the Brotherhood's gargantuan walking fortress, now become a sailing fortress, which has slowed it's relentless advance to a near crawl in recent hours. Quite why the Brotherhood wishes to remain in relative proximity to the Eastern Seaboard is yet unknown, the only certainty being that it is not in the best interests of the people of the world." The camera zoomed past her to focus in on the blurry Great Endeavor, though the distance and atmospheric conditions made it so that it only showed up as a bigger blur, rather than showing any real detail. As the camera refocused on Karen, audiences around the world were treated to a brief view of the famous Statue of Liberty, an ancient monument from the time of the old United States, a former beacon of freedom and hope. The bronze statue was lying on its side, legs broken off at the knee level, having been mercilessly run over by the Great Endeavor a few hours earlier on its way out to sea.
The camera panned around to show the path of destruction the walking fortress had created as it had marched inexorably through the suburbs and edge of some of the commercial districts on its way towards the Harbor and access to the ocean. Houses were crushed flat like soda cans run over by a semi-trailer, and wreckage was scattered about in a wide circle around each section of devastation, though there were large swathes of ground that were still completely undisturbed, having been lucky enough to not be in direct line of movement of one of the Great Endeavor's massive legs. There were twenty story buildings that remained pristine and upright, having been entirely passed over by the colossal machine, though anything above thirty stories was either collapsed or half collapsed as the lower edge of the fortress proper had collided with their top or middle sections and burst clean through without pause. The view cut again, this time displaying footage shot from earlier on in the day. The venue had changed, as the news crew was now on top of a building, looking out towards the suburbs and sprawl area's of the mega-city as the granddaddy of all war machines crawled towards them like a harbinger of doom.
"This was shot this morning." Karen's voice cut over the ambient sounds, people talking and a steady "THOOM... THOOM... THOOM" of the Great Endeavor's footsteps echoing closer each time. "As the Brotherhood's walking fortress, called the "Great Endeavor" according to our sources, approached the city from the west. At the time of shooting we did not realize how fully in the path of the monstrosity we were. For viewers just tuning in, please bear in mind that the following video may be too intense for young children and those who are easily excited." The video segued forward a few hours, and suddenly the Great Endeavor wasn't just approaching, it was right there, less than a half kilometer away, filling more than half the view of the camera and all but blotting out the sky! A pillar like leg thicker than a building reared up and slammed to the ground on the right side of the screen, moving with impressive grace and silence, no bending of metal, no squealing of joints, just the sound of air whoosing around the massive mechanism and then a thundercrack "WABOOOM!" that made people flinch away from their screens and stab at volume down buttons, only to realize their volume was already well down.
The entire screen shook like it was being filmed from the deck of a storm tossed boat for a few moments as shockwaves and vibrations spread out from the Great Endeavor's footstep, which was echoed by the crack of splitting concrete and various incoherent and barely coherent shouts and curses and cries, loud and nearby from the news crew, and fainter from the streets and buildings around them. More thundercrack footsteps echoed from near and far as the other legs of the Great Endeavor adjusted their own position, moving the entire fortress another hundred meters closer by the time it came around to the visible leg again, several minutes later. The rumble of collapsing buildings and the screech of tires mixed with shouts of horror and dismay from the streets below and exclaimations of shock from the news crew as the bulk of the Great Endeavor started passing overhead as the near leg swept up again, slamming through a high rise apartment building like a child would kick through a gingerbread house, kicking blocks of wreckage for hundreds of meters in all directions. The camera panned up as the Great Endeavor blocked out the sky, its bottom still obviously far above where the news crew stood.
The leg came down once more, and this time there was no noise, though the view jumped and shook even worse than before. In fact, sound died out altogether, except for Karen's voiceover. "A flying piece of rubble destroyed our primary sound system at this point in time, and claimed the lives of three brave technicians in the process." Karen's voice was choked up. There was a brief shot of the camera panning towards a section of rooftop that was cratered under a large piece of concrete that had fallen from the sky, unidentifiable pieces of black metal and plastic all that remained of the sound gear in question, and all too identifiable splurts of pulpy red and pink and white organic matter that was the technicians. The view cut out before more than a glimpse could be shown, obviously editing to spare the greater populace the horror of the smashed bodies. When the camera came back, it was once again showing the underside of the Great Endeavor, studded with dozens of weapon emplacements and other protrusions of un-nameable function. The weapon turrets tracked and spun, still noiseless, tracking for potential threats, but they didn't fire. They didn't need to.
"While the fortress was passing overhead, the following message was being broadcast audibly, as well as across all wireless comm channels." Karen spoke up, as a recording was edited into the soundless video. "People of Earth, do not panic." A calm, reasoned male voice thundered, amplified to a level that could probably be heard for miles. "The Brotherhood is not here to harm you. We are your saviors, here to offer you all a free chance at blessed ascension! Do not panic! Do not flee! Stay in your homes or your places of business. Fear not, for something wondrous is about to occur. All you need do is be patient. Conserve your energy, eat and drink as much as you can, and above all, avoid filthy or dirty conditions. A golden age is about to begin for us all. Do not fear. Do not flee. We are your saviors. All hail the Great Prophet!" The camera view cut away from the belly of the Great Endeavor, and showed streets jammed with cars and hordes of people fleeing in all directions from the Great Endeavor, pointing over their shoulders at the sky and generally not at all paying the least heed to the Brotherhood's annoucement. The message started to repeat itself, and the recording cut off.
"All things being equal..." Karen said, a trace of grim humor entering her voice. "I think they could have picked a better venue to broadcast their propoganda from, don't you?" Her tone turned bitter. "We as of this moment have no solid figures for the number of casualties suffered, direct or indirect, from this calamity, but I would not hesitate to put a number reaching into the thousands in both categories. People have been run over, trampled, shot, stabbed and even beaten to death in the throes of mass panic, and who knows how many have stayed put in their homes and places of business only to be crushed into oblivion by the monstrous tread of this gigantic death machine! Neo New York City has been turned into a disaster zone by the passage of the Brotherhood, and the real disaster may still be ahead." Karen said, as the camera segued again, the Great Endeavor now no longer overhead, though the screen still shook from its nearby footsteps. The sky was filled with stormclouds, and they were tinted green, even as a green mist began descending from on high, spewed out of great vents on the Great Endeavor's dorsal surface.
"As yet we have no official word on the effects of this greenish substance the Brotherhood is distributing across the Earth. No one has yet reported to us here any adverse ill effects from exposure to it. However I think I speak for everyone when I say we are still waiting for the other shoe to drop. It is very doubtful this is just the Brotherhood's version of confetti." Karen stared frankly into the camera screen again, returned to a live broadcast. She looked even more tired and haggard than she had before, the stress obviously catching up to her despite frequent sips of caffeine and bites of energy bars. She looked like she was barely able to stay on her feet, and her eyes were bloodshot like she'd just gotten off a drunken binge, her eyelids drooping and fluttering as she directed a considerable amount of willpower in staying awake. "This is Karen Wayne of the Federated News Network, reporting live from Neo New York City, where the Brotherhood has just recently passed by on their doomsday march, leaving more questions than answers, and more misery than salvation in their wake. James, back to you."
"Thank you, Karen. We will have word from the USN official press conference on this Brotherhood Disaster here shortly, after the break." The male newscaster said, looking with studied grim intensity into the camera lens as the view switched to a commercial break. Glory stabbed the mute button on his remote, and then returned his hand to the knife it had been holding, which he used to cut another four layer thick slice from the mound of syrup and butter and jam covered pancakes on his plate. He shoved the hunk of delicious starch and sugar and fruit-substitute into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, as he considered the new's clip he'd just been watching, his mind turning over like an engine at rest. It was his first day off in the last two weeks, and he was still doing work. At one time that would have depressed him. In the current situation though, they needed all the advantages they could get, and any information at all was welcome. Sadly enough, the news was actually one of the best sources for intelligence at the moment, as nobody else had the slightest fucking clue what the Brotherhood was doing.
Well, that wasn't technically true, as Kira and Lacus had met with the head enemy honcho himself, and instead of putting a bullet or three through his face like they shoulda done, they'd instead listened to his evil villian monolog and then went their seperate ways. Well, maybe not quite that cut and dried... they'd both ended up in the hospital when they came back, but still... Glory, and most of the rest of the Stormhounds as well, were quite irritated at the missed opportunity. He hadn't yet gotten the brief in from the Lt, seeing as he was otherwise engaged on his night when they had returned, and today was his day off, but the Stormhounds grapevine was second to none, and there were already some notes from Ramierez in his email when he'd woken up that morning and checked it after his morning wake up workout. In truth he was glad the notes were somewhat sparse... he'd kinda sorta tied one on last night, and his head was still pounding. Nothing he couldn't deal with, but there was no sense aggravating his pain.
"That looks both disgusting and somehow yummy at the same time. Even if you are making a mess a toddler would envy." The other person in his apartment said, shaking their head as they looked at him from the doorway leading from the kitchen to the living room, where he was sitting on his oversized recliner, clad in his size XXL boxers, covered with a fluffy and somewhat worn dark blue bathrobe that barely fell to his knees and strained to contain his build. A logo depicting a cartoon rabbit, light blue in color, with a kid friendly cross eyed look, an RPG launcher in one hand braced on it's shoulder and a smoking Uzi in the other, was embroidered across his wide back. His feet were encased in yellow fluffy house slippers with the faces of ducks. All in all, quite the ridiculous picture, and his guest obviously could not contain their amusement, as he heard her sniggering. Glory turned his head with stately gravity and gave her a level look, his chin and cheeks stained with syrup and jelly and bits of half chewed pancake.
"If it's good, you should show it. That's what my mom used to say when I was growing up anyway. Side's, its my own damn house. I'll be messy if I damn well want to." He told her imperiously, eyeing the off white silk shirt she wore like a tent, its tails hanging down past her knee's and the sleeves a good six inches past her fingertips. "Why the hell are you wearing one of my good shirts, Mel?"
"Because a certain ham fisted brute tore my good silk nightie practically in half sometime last night in his drunken rush. Don't suppose you can tell me where I can find such an inconsiderate beast, can you Thom?" Melissa Raven retorted with more than a hint of ice in her tone, as she held up a slinky black night gown, which had a huge rip going from the neckline almost all the way down the front.
"Meh." Glory grunted with a shrug. "I don't remember doing that. Guess I'm on the hook for a new one, huh?"
"I don't remember you doing it either, Thom, but yeah, you are." Melissa replied firmly. "Last night's kind of a blur. What were we drinking again? I thought I could handle my liquor, but those things were something else."
"You convinced me to show you some combo's I learned during my years with Asmodeus. DTC Blaster's are not a fucking joke, that's for damn sure." Glory agreed with a slight smile. "Surprised you stayed conscious really, given that you were matching me shots."
"DTC?" Melissa queried.
"Death To Coordinators. The drink of choice for the Blue Cosmos suicide bomber corps." Glory provided. Melissa looked at him for a long moment, before realizing he was fully serious.
"Not exactly the most PC of drinks." She commented.
"We weren't so big on PC at the time." Glory shrugged. "Only thing more hardcore than DTC Blasters was the Blue and Pure. But that shit takes really expensive, highbrow liquor. Like, paying fifty dollars a shot. Only had those a few times. Loved it every time, and regretted it every morning."
"I can't believe this all really happened." Melissa switched tracks, crossing her arms across her stomach and leaning against the doorframe. "My instincts are telling me we're going to get in SOOO much trouble, Thom!"
"Why?"
"Because I'm a fucking private, and you're a fucking Sergeant-Major! A fucking Company Sergeant-Major even, of my company! You're the senior enlisted member of my chain of command! And I spent the night, very enjoyably, at your apartment, getting drunk and dirty and wild! I can just see the Fraternization Investigators drooling!"
"The who?"
"The people who are going to drum my ass out of the military and bust YOU down to private and THEN drum your giant ass out of the military!"
"Ain't gonna happen." Glory said with another shrug. "This is the Hellhoun... Stormhounds."
"We're still in the military! Rules apply!"
"Not in Alpha Platoon they don't. Not if the Lt doesn't say they do. And while there ain't much left of Alpha Platoon now, the same deal applies for the Stormhounds. Long as whatever the fuck we do in our off time doesn't follow us back into work, the Lt could give less of a shit what it is. He cares about our performance, not our adherence to strict military regulations. Hell, have you seen Ramierez even get CLOSE to passing a uniform inspection, should one ever be held? I can tell you now, he's been like that for as long as I've known him, and that's years! Hell, he's cleaned his act up a good bit! And Quentin... Mel, the guy's a great guy... but he's a fucking GEEK! Big into those online games. He's got a fucking private Gundam Wars arcade in his basement, one of those hacked ones that lets him play for free, which is of course illegal! And you don't even wanna know what kinda porn he looks at! What I'm saying here is, long as we keep this to off time, we're golden. We bring it into work, and the Lt will skin and eat both of us raw. Them's the only rules you need to worry about."
"But we fucked!" Raven protested vehemently. "How can it not follow us back into work!? How the hell am I supposed to look at you in the locker room the same way ever again!? Much less what everyone else is gonna say! I mean, we kept things on the downlow, but its never been a secret that we're "mutually interested"!"
"Don't worry about everyone else. The old hands have dealt with this plenty of times before. And the new fish will keep their damned mouths shut too, or the Lt will drop down on them like an avenging angel made of pure wrath and they WILL get the point. I won't even have to get involved, and neither will you. As for not bringing it to work, well, that's your damn problem. You're a damned fine woman, Mel, and I think I really like you. But at work you are, and always will be, Private Fucking Raven to me, got it, or Blackbird if I'm feeling personable, regardless of what kinda nights we may have had. If you can't handle it, speak up now and we can get you out of the Stormhounds, no questions asked, no hard feelings."
"Uh, no, thats not what I meant. I mean, yeah, I can handle it. I can stay frosty. I don't wanna leave the Stormhounds." Raven stammered.
"Glad to hear it. Getting another Support Specialist at this phase of the game would really suck. Though it would be kinda nice to inherit that Warhawk of yours." Glory replied, leaning forward to take another bite of his breakfast. The commercial break was pretty damned long, but he supposed all the news services were kinda on overload right now.
"I gotta ask, Thom." Melissa spoke up after a few seconds. "What IS up with that bathrobe? And you'll take my Warhawk only if you pry it out of my cold, seared to the bone fingers! Maybe, if you're real nice and make me very happy in bed, I might let you shoot it. Once or twice. But inherit it? Perish the very thought."
"Another relic of the Blue Cosmos years. I don't expect you to recognize Jethro the Jackrabbit. You're too old to have been part of his target audience, and he was never really broadcast on most public channels."
"Jethro the Jackrabbit?" Melissa prompted, arching an eyebrow.
"Yeah. I suppose you could call him a Blue Cosmos adaptation of Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse. Did the standard slapstick sorta comedy. Had the standard funny voice. Spent most of his time hopping around like he was on crack, firebombing Coordinated Pregnancy Clinics and mowing down Coordinators and Coordinator Supporters in droves as they ran screaming and burning from the ruins. The Coordinators and their friends all tended to have fangs and red scaly skin for some reason, and always were shown beating up Naturals and taking their lunch money and doing other bullyish type things. Completely over the top in terms of propoganda, of course. And WAAAYYY too bloody and violent to be shown to normal kids in the three to eight year old range. But he wasn't for normal kids. He was for true believers in the Blue Cosmos philosophy to help indoctrinate their precious young ones in the harsh realities of the genetic war that was being fought."
"And why do you have such a perverse image on your BATHROBE!?"
"I was part of Blue Cosmos for a long time, you know. I mean, I might not have really been a believer, but I was steeped in the culture pretty deeply. Jethro's a pretty badass bunny, and he's good with making kids laugh, though most parents wouldn't let their kids be around him for an instant! Kinda like me, in some ways." Glory said softly. "I guess you could say I identified with him, as fucked up as that is. Nowadays though, I just sorta keep him around from inertia, I guess. Its hard finding good bathrobes in my size, and I don't wanna waste another few years breaking in a new one."
"That is fucked up." Melissa agreed. She thought for a few moments. "I don't suppose there was a Babs Bunny or Minnie Mouse equivalent for Jethro, was there?"
"You aren't ready for the story of Jennie Jackrabbit, Mel. Even the Lt gets a bit queasy when it comes to her." Glory picked up the remote and hit the mute button again, bringing the sound back as the newsroom finally returned. "Hold on a for a moment though, hopefully there's a new update."
"We apologize for the lengthy break, but we have finally recieved an official video broadcast from the USN Secretary of Defense regarding the plan of action for dealing with the ongoing crisis." The newsroom anchor informed them. There was a second of pause, and then the view switched to a press conference room, filled with anxious and intent looking reporters sitting in chairs, and a stage at the other end of the room, on which was a podium bearing the USN symbol. Behind the podium stood Gilbert Durandel, supported and braced by Knight-Commander Rey ze Burrel, the leader of the Solar Knights. Durandel's leg was still in a heavy cast, and it was obvious he was in quite a bit of pain from his injuries. The room was almost an exact replica of the one where he'd sustained those injuries in the first place, and Glory knew that was no accident, but instead a subtle message stating that despite those events, Durandel and thus the USN was not cowed or intimidated.
"I'll cut right to the chase." Durandel on screen said, his tone both weary and resolute. "The situation as it stands is dire. So dire that there is little point in using jargon to muddle the issue, so I shall not do so. Recently, the USN and the various member states assembled a large Armada of warships and military assets to confront the Brotherhood mobile fortress, known as the Great Endeavor. This confrontation took place as the Great Endeavor was passing over the Moon on its way to Earth. Initially our heroic forces stopped the advance of the terrorist vessel, and a fierce battle broke out, involving all branches of the military service. However, despite our best efforts, the enemy's advantage in pure technological might was too great, and we ended up suffering a great deal of losses, and indeed, lost the battle entirely. There is no way to dress a defeat of that nature up as a victory, so I shall not try. We lost that battle. But we have NOT lost the war!" Durandel said fiercely, clenching his fist and stressing the last sentence.
"We did manage to inflict significant damage upon the Great Endeavor and almost annihilated the Brotherhood Mobile Forces, including their largest and strongest Gundam, the one known as the Revenant that was responsible for so much destruction at Galileo LFB in the recent past. As our forces were regrouping from the Brotherhood's deployment of a new type of WMD, the Great Endeavor slipped past our blockading forces and made it to Earth orbit, where it rapidly commenced landing operations, eventually touching down in the Northeastern region of North America, where it then proceeded to make its way to the coast, forging a path of death and destruction amongst the civilian cities and populace in its path. As of yet we have not been able to muster enough military force to ensure a defeat of the enemy, even if it were not holding the civilians around it as de facto hostages against our retaliation. Do not, however, think that we are afraid to confront this menance! In the proper time, at the proper place, we will stop this enemy cold and send them to oblivion, you can have no doubt of that!"
"However..." Durandel took a practised sip of water from a cup on his podium. "While we are preparing our counterstroke, we will be focusing as much of our efforts as possible on protecting the civilian populace that is the Brotherhood's primary target." An animation of the Great Endeavor popped up on screen, showing it walking across a flat plane, while clouds of green smoke billowed from its upper surfaces. "The Brotherhood fortress is deploying a wide scale biological agent as it moves. Make no mistake, the effects of this agent are highly dangerous and may even prove fatal! If you have been exposed or think you may have been exposed, report to your nearest Emergency Room or Clinic or Military Base for an assessment as quickly as possible. When caught early, treatment can and will save your life. The very last thing you should do is listen to the lies being broadcast by the mobile fortress. Staying put, huddled and afraid in our homes and workplaces is exactly what the enemy wants, as it will make it almost impossible to effectively treat victims of their biological attack. I repeat, if you have been exposed or suspect you may have been exposed, report to your nearest governmental medical authority as soon as possible!"
Another animation replaced the first. It showed a zoomed out view of the Earth, with a solid red line terminating in an arrow marking the path the Great Endeavor had already taken, and a pulsing red dot showed it's current location. A dotted red line extended away from the current location, curling and weaving a bit, but moving more or less straight across the Atlantic Ocean, up into the Mediterranean Sea, jinking and juking around Europe a bit, and then moving east across the most populated sections of Asia and the Middle East, before finally crossing into the Sea of Japan, across Japan, out into the Pacific Ocean and eventually across Hawaii and onto the western coast of North America, and finally back to its landing point. "This is the current and projected course of the Great Endeavor." Durandel explained. "As you can see, they intend to pass through or close by as many cities and major population centers as they possibly can, to more quickly achieve their genocidal goal. Our current projections indicate that the Great Endeavor, assuming it maintains a constant speed comparable to what it was initially moving at, will take about three to four months to circumnavigate the globe, following this course. This gives us plenty of time to evacuate the populace ahead of their line of march."
"Wait, what did he just say!?" Melissa exclaimed.
"Shh." Glory shushed her, turning up the volume more.
"Priority will be given to nations closest to the current location of the Great Endeavor, but a systemic evacuation of all threatened areas will be in effect, as of now. Do not panic, that is very important. This is a very large scale logistical operation, and it cannot suceed unless you help us by remaining calm and cooperative. Do not overpack... living supplies will be provided for you. Do not pack anything that is not neseccary for your survival... transports will have strict weight limits, and any excess baggage will be left behind. This is an emergency measure. I repeat, this is an emergency on a world wide basis. More details on the evacuation status of your area will be forthcoming from local area governments. Be patient and do not despair. We will not leave anyone behind." Durandel promised. "The Solar Knights will be spearheading the counter-terrorist efforts while the rest of the USN works with the member-state governments to effect the evacuations. We can all rest easy with our future in their competent hands." He turned and smiled proudly at Knight-Commander ze Burrel, who did a good job of looking serious and stoic. The video ended there.
"And there you have it." James the news anchor said, levelly enough, though there was a definite sheen of perspiration now showing up under his makeup. "Let's go to Karen again and see what the people on the street have to say about this recent announcement from the USN." The screen dissolved and then reformed once more, though it took Glory and Raven a moment to figure out the image being shown to them, and to most of the rest of the world. The view was all messed up, because the camera was lying on its side in the street, looking down the length of the boulevard, which was populated with lots of stopped cars, some of which looked recently wrecked or damaged. There was also a lot of people... well, bodies. It was hard to tell if they were alive or dead, as they were all sprawled in heaps. The nearest body belonged to Karen Wayne, laying back down on the pavement with her face towards the screen, her eyes closed but flickering slightly, her chest rising and falling in a slow rythym. The sound was still on but there was nary a sound to be heard, save a car horn blaring constantly in the far distance. There was no shouting. No talking. No movement. Nothing but stopped cars and collapsed people for as far as the view went.
The view suddenly streaked with watery green, and in a matter of seconds the camera screen was speckled with dozens of droplets of water as the surussing sound of rain droplets striking pavement became audible, slowly building to a pounding roar of a true skyburst storm. Thunder cracked in the sky above, and lightning flashes lit up the tableau ever so often, making the rain glow green for fractions of a second each time. The screen grew blurry and then went to static and then darkness as the camera internals got soaked and shorted out. Glory stared at the black screen for a moment, before James the news anchor reappeared, looking significantly unprepared, his mouth hanging open in shock and his eyes bulging. Glory turned the TV off and leaned back with a grunt of contemplation.
"Thom...? What just..." Melissa started to ask, her voice very small and quiet.
"Damned if I know, Mel. Damned if I know. But it ain't fucking good. Get dressed. Our day off just ended."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Ysak didn't care much for hospitals. Oh, it wasn't quite the mixture of fear and loathing Dearka professed for them, but he had no love for the sterile corridors and rooms filled with pain, misery and, in rare cases, hope. At times it reminded him of his own time spent in places at least sort of like this, the first major time being when he'd recieved his trademark facial scar, but far more often after the end of the first Valentine War. He'd really had the shit kicked out of him on more than one occasion. Several times he had been very lucky to survive, much less stay whole and mostly healthy. He knew quite a few people that were not that fortunate, and had seen far more he didn't know suffer horribly. So yeah, hospitals were a depressing place for him, and he didn't spend any more time in them than he absolutely had to. But this was one of those times where he had to. All the same, he'd felt somewhat like a odd wheel sitting in the recovery room with Alkire and Raine and Katie. He couldn't help but stare at the way Alkire's legs weren't the same length anymore, and his stomach was twisting and flopping quite fiercely after a while.
He was very glad Katie had not been at all close by when Alkire had been infected with the Blue Stuff, and then decided to blow his own fucking leg off at the knee with a shotgun! Ysak shook his head at the mere thought. He was glad he hadn't been close by for that either, come to think of it! Regardless of the fact that it had been the only option at the time that even had a chance of saving Alkire's life, that was one hell of an option! Brought new meaning to life or death choice! Ysak shivered and walked faster for a few seconds, trying to banish the thoughts. Alkire had then displayed a resevoir of pluck and tenacity that Ysak wasn't sure he could have emulated and not only stayed conscious, but managed to crack a few jokes and even hop more than seventy meters and down a flight of stairs to get to the hanger! That he had later passed out on the shuttle ride to the Moon was less of a surprise and more of a relief!
Not only that, but instead of bowing out like pretty much anyone else would after traumatically amputating their own leg with a firearm, and retiring to the sidelines for a long recuperation, Alkire was insisting, even demanding to be fast tracked back into active duty, saying that if Kurtz could damn well serve with only one eye, then a simple matter of having one foot shouldn't stop Alkire! Ysak was glad he hadn't been around for that argument between Alkire and Cyprus and Raine. They'd eventually reached a compromise after talking with Athrun in one of his few moments away from Cagalli, and Alkire had ended up getting fast tracked... to the top of the line to recieve an experimental new prosthetic surgery that was the result of years of study of the robotic arm that had formerly belong to Vladimir Valkavich! The surgery wasn't even for military testing yet, much less ready for widespread use, but with the pull of the consort of the Queen, Alkire was now slated to be the first human being to recieve a fully operable mechanical leg. Lower leg prosthetics had been granting mobility to amputees for centuries now, but Alkire's would be the first that was actually, in some ways, an improvement over the leg he'd lost!
Alkire would be undergoing the pre-surgery surgery later in the day, where the doctors would remove his ravaged knee joint, amputating the extra flesh because of the ragged and frankly disasterous state of the nerve endings in the current stump, courtesy of the shotgun blast not exactly being a precision cutting instrument. Hooking up the experimental circuitry of the leg to the ragged stump would have been doomed to failure from the very start. Of course, making a mechanical leg with an operable knee joint was much more difficult than a below the knee prosthetic, but the Orb scientists were more than confident their product would be able to handle the stress. Ysak was reserving his opinion for now, but there was the example of Waltfeld's arm, the other arm of Vlad's, which had very good elbow and wrist joints. Given Alkire's persistence though, he'd probably be able to take a wooden peg leg and still come back as good as before, so there was still plenty of hope.
Ysak stayed sunk into his thoughts as he walked, not really watching where he was going other than to avoid people and objects in his path. He had a lot to think about, and while normally he'd find a dark, secluded place to do it, he'd had enough of sitting around recently. With the Vorpal still undergoing repair and refit in Morganroete's extremely efficient facilities, there was nothing for him to do there. And going to Alkire and Raine's house wasn't much in the cadrs either... he couldn't just sit around and wait for something to happen. He had to be in the core of action, even if there was no action he could affect at the moment! It was just the way he was. And with Katie preoccupied with the state of her adopted father, there wasn't much of anyone else he really wanted to or could talk things over with. Dearka and Miriallia were off doing their own thing, recuperating as best they could. Cagalli was having her problems, and Athrun was trying to help, Ysak didn't even want to think about that. Kira and Lacus had already given him more than enough to think about, and they were still resting and recuperating as well, even as Lacus underwent intial testing regarding her pregnancy.
Ysak snorted. Kira and Lacus were having a baby. Not that it should have been a surprise, given that they'd been sexually active for years now. But still, it seemed to have come from nowhere, and slightly unsettled all of them. Dearka and Miriallia were putting on a good face, but Ysak knew that his friend was smarting once more with the knowledge that he was once again the only one afflicted with ICD in their peer group. Ysak wanted to tell him that it didn't matter, but he knew it did. It would matter to Ysak if he was in Dearka's place. Athrun was overjoyed of course, but that was no surprise. Cagalli was harder to read, especially now, but she'd almost smiled for a moment, or so Ysak had heard, before sinking back into the pall of uncommunicative depression that had gripped her ever since she'd awoken and found out they'd been defeated and Kisaka killed.
As for Katie and himself... well, upon hearing the news, Katie had begun shooting him some very significant and frankly predatory looks that did not make him feel at all comfortable. So damned what if the average age for second and later generation Coordinators to have their first child was age twenty, and he was twenty two? He did not feel at ALL ready for the thought of producing the next generation of Joule's! Good for Kira and Lacus, not so good for him! Especially right now, with the world in crisis! Even as he thought that though, Ysak realized it was something of a tired excuse. There was always going to be a crisis of some sort going on in the world, imperfect as it was. And given his inability to just sit back and let the "experts" handle things, he was probably going to be involved in solving most of those crisises, at least those that at all even slightly affected anything he cared about. No, saying there was no time was just an excuse, and it was hollow even to his ears. But all the same... a BABY!? No fucking way was he going to have a baby! He was NOT ready! Unfortunately, him not being ready was a sad constant of most of the major life events that had occured to him since becoming involved with Katie and Chanel in the first place!
Not least of which was something that had changed his life forever in a fundamental way, much like having children would! And by that he meant the condition, whatever it had was, that Chanel had gifted or inflicted upon him that had turned him from Ysak Joule, confident and relatively normal Coordinator Redcoat into the very confused Ysak Joule, Latent Newtype Coordinator Redcoat. Neither he nor Katie nor Lacus had any idea how Chanel had managed to convert Ysak, a normal Stump, into a Newtype of any sort, but happen it had. Whether he'd absorbed some of Chanel's abilities, like Katie felt he had, or he'd always had the potential all along and all Chanel did was awaken it, he could not and did not know, and wasn't sure he wanted to know! In his experience, the deeper he delved into the subject of Newtypes, the more confused and frightened he became! And that had become doubly or triply the case now that they had encountered Noah Borander, who displayed entirely different Newtype abilities from what any of them could utilize, and in such strength he could quite literally kill people with his mind!
But worst of all, now that Noah was around, he could not AFFORD to NOT investigate Newtypes further, despite how he felt on the subject! Lacus, Kira, Katie and he all had a lot of learning to do before they would even be able to approach the sort of understanding and confidence that Noah displayed with his powers, utilizing them in new and varied and adaptable ways like it was second nature, just another talent in the repetoire! And that meant learning to do more than send each other thoughts and emotions, more than just relying on enhanced spatial perception and the ability to dimly feel what others were feeling. They had to be innovative, unpredictable, creative... they had to push the boundaries they couldn't even see, because if they didn't they would never truly stand equal with Noah, even with their advantage of having discovered Latent Amplification! And now, as of the recent confrontation with Noah by Kira and Lacus, that trump card had been played, and Noah was no doubt working hard to devise a countermeasure!
At the very least, or so he assured himself as much as he could, trying to drown out a very tiny doubting voice in the bottom of his subconscious, he didn't have to worry about this Ultimate Coordinator bullshit that Kira and Lacus were facing down, in addition to everything else. Yeah, Kira had always had abilities that were frankly stupid unfair in their scale, but to learn that all of that was intentional... that he'd been designed from the moment of conception to not only be better than pretty much all Coordinators, but indeed was designed as the biological equivalent of a Gundam that would in turn procreate and produce a strain of humanity even more capable and genetically advanced!? That was a LITTLE much to take, all at once or in small bites! And apparently Lacus was one of these bio-Gundam-things too, at least according to Noah!? It was all too much, too fast. For a moment there, after hearing Kira talk about what Noah had said, Ysak had been matching up the images and not liking the picture. Coordinator, check. Seed capable, check. Newtype, check. On the surface of things, he did meet all the criteria to be an Ultimate Coordinator! And if Lacus could be naturally born and still be an Ultimate Coordinator, why not Ysak himself? But in that case, why had Noah dismissed him as an abomination and tried to kill him?
At the moment, the best answer he could come up with revolved around him being born a Stump and somehow changed into a Newtype by Chanel, rather than it being a innate part of him that she'd awakened. Of course, that raised a whole new level of concerns... if it could happen to him, could it happen to other people? Could Newtypes create other Newtypes from "regular" people? Chanel had died during the process, but maybe someone stronger would not. They just couldn't know until it was too late! They could be knee deep in Newtypes even without Noah's crazy plan revolving around this magical Green EDEN stuff that Ysak was still trying to figure out. It was enough to make a logical, grounded person, like he fondly imagined himself to be, want to scream and tear out his hair in frustration, weeping tears of anger and confusion the whole time! And speaking of weeping... Ysak's ears perked up as he stalked past a particular doorway, and heard the sound of crying from inside. Given that this was a hospital, that wasn't entirely unexpected or strange, but it was the fact that the crying was familiar that stopped him cold in midstride.
"I... I need you to listen to me..." The familiar voice said brokenly, sentence structure interrupted by sobs and sounding very nasal. "I-I know it hurts, what happened. It hurts me too. But we... I need you... I need you to be with me now. I can't do this alone. I can't go anywhere without you, not like this. I need you... to tell me what I can do to help. Please... let me help. Please. Please tell me..." The voice trailed off for a long few moments. "I love you. Come back to me." The voice said at last, much fainter. "Be strong for me. I'll be back in just a few moments."
Ysak regarded the door with a look of horror. The hallway he was in was long and empty, extending at least thirty meters in both directions before there was any sort of turn or visual obstruction. There was simply no way he could make it, not without making enough noise to alert the people in the room anyway. He swallowed, hard, and then composed himself to make the best of a situation he really didn't like, as the doorknob to the room turned and Athrun Zala backed out of the darkened room, head down, hair over his eyes, shadowing his face, his posture slumped and dejected. Athrun closed the door and leaned against it for a moment with a loud sigh, before finally turning around and noticing Ysak standing about six feet away down the hall. Athrun's eyes were red-shot and there was no way to hide the tear tracks on his cheeks. His hair was mussed and ragged, and he looked like he hadn't slept since before the battles up in space. The two childhood rivals looked at each other levelly for a long moment.
"I'm sorry you had to hear..." Athrun started to say.
"I heard nothing." Ysak cut him off fiercely. "I was just pacing, lost in my own thoughts, and I heard nothing."
Athrun regarded his friend for a long moment, before rubbing at his eyes with the back of his sleeve and straightening his posture. "Yeah. Thanks, Ysak."
"There's nothing to thank me for, so don't." Ysak replied with an uncomfortable shift of his shoulders. "Every time you try and get buddy-buddy with me it just pisses me off and makes me want to beat you that much more, so don't even think about it, okay? It was the same way after that battle at Orb when you were headed up to the PLANTS. I still maintain that I should have been the one Le Creuset picked to be the team commander, not you."
"You're probably right. I don't always tend to make the best decisions, militarily speaking." Athrun admitted. He started walking down the hall alongside Ysak. "I don't suppose you want to be the one in charge right now, eh? I could really use someone to fob off a bunch of responsibility on."
"No, you don't." Ysak retorted. "And I'm gonna do you a favor and forget that you ever said something so wishy-washy. Giving up or delegating responsibility in a crisis isn't something Athrun Zala does. That's not the sort of guy Ysak Joule has as his rival. If you turn out to be pathetic and worthless, how does that make ME, who's always striving to be better than you, look? Pathetic and worthless. So you aren't gonna be like that, not if I have anything to say about it! Life's come up and kicked you in the teeth before, and you got past that, so you're gonna get past this, and I'm gonna keep being superior to you, and not getting noticed for it, and that is going to be that, got it?"
"Thanks, Ysak." Athrun said again, after more walking in silence.
"Don't thank me. I told you that already. Its unnerving." Ysak replied, as they passed a door leading to a bathroom. Athrun paused, and Ysak looked back over his shoulder as he walked on. "You'd better damn well remember what I said, Zala." Ysak warned.
"I will." Athrun promised.
"See that you do." Ysak replied, as he turned the corner. "Or I will bring the point home again, stronger. As many times as need be." He added to himself.
--------------------------------------------
Attaining true peace of mind was not nearly as easy as people and self help videos would have you think. And that was even more true when your mind was normally a voracious calculating machine that was adapted to thinking about multiple complex concepts at a time while also dealing with the vagaries of everyday life! All the same, that was the state Noah was currently trying to attain. A blank mind, free of concerns and worry and any bothersome thoughts that would make his blood pressure skyrocket and his heart pound in his chest and his stomach feel like it was doing flips and his head hurt like he'd been beating himself with a hammer. Any thoughts about Meyrin for instance. Just the thought of her name brought an increase in his heart and breathing rates! He tried to focus on something else, something boring. Simple mathmatical equations. But it didn't help. He solved all the equations as fast as he could think of them, even when he graduated up to complex algebra and even quantum calculus! For once his great intellect was more a bother than a help! Noah sighed and opened his eyes, relinquishing even a tenuous grasp on peace of mind.
He was in the Atrium, of course. There was simply no other place he could be, not right now. Not when, at least according to his fervent and constantly checked calculations, Meyrin would be reaching the end of her ascension very soon now. Within minutes. He knew he really should have been elsewhere, working with the Harbingers to adjust the Great Endeavor to terrestrial operations, or overseeing the replenishment of supplies using the Red EDEN vats, or the construction of new Martyrs and Zealots. Or even dealing with the rebellious mutterings and ill feelings of his Apostle corps, except for Shinn Asuka, who was pleasingly loyal, not that he had any choice in the matter! Noah's lips quirked in a brief smile at the thought of having Luna's precious lover boy as his thrall, and he was eagerly anticipating revealing that fact to her at some point in time, but there was always something else more important to do at the time.
It was just... none of that mattered really. Not nearly as much as Meyrin did. And it wasn't just because of his feelings for her. She was going to be the first person, besides himself, which didn't really count, who had successfully ascended to the ranks of the Ultimate Coordinators via the use of Green EDEN! She was going to be the first in a long line of new Angels! The Great Endeavor was largely automated, it could take care of itself. The same for the resupply and construction projects. His underlings, though far from the sort of intellectual giants that should have been working for him, were more than competent enough to observe the automated systems and follow guidelines laid out months in advance! And his Apostles could grumble and moan as much as they liked, it wouldn't change their situation. Their destiny's were now fully tied up with Noah's, and if they broke away, they would only die in vain, alone and despised by all. No, like he'd told Kira and Lacus... it was all downhill from here. He had, for once, plenty of free time to take care of issues important to him personally. And there was no issue more important than Meyrin.
Noah was sitting cross legged on the water by his bed, upon which Meyrin was still reclining. He'd cleaned off the dust and debris that had fallen onto her when the Atrium had been near missed during the battle at the Moon, wiping her down from head to toe with sterile wipes to try and reduce the chance of infection as much as possible. He hoped she wouldn't accost him too much from stripping her down and replacing her clothing, but it was filthy, and since it was clean when she started out, he didn't feel like he'd broken his promise, rather like he'd been keeping it. He would give her the same chance as anyone else, and that meant reducing negative factors as well as avoiding positive ones! He slowly climbed to his feet and looked over at her, chewing on his lip. It was beginning to look like he should have tried to press the boundaries a little harder. She was looking awfully thin. Of course, emaciation was expected of those who went through the ascension, as the Green EDEN burned any and all available sources of energy to fuel the process, including fat and muscle tissue. But Meyrin hadn't exactly been a meaty girl to begin with, and though he'd gotten her to eat a full and energy rich meal, the process had hit her very hard.
Her arms and legs were like thick sticks, and her flesh had a slightly wrinkled and dry appearance, leeched of water and other nutrients. Still, as bad as she looked, her eyes continued to flutter and her chest continued to rise and fall, if a bit unevenly, with a hitching cough every now and again. She'd contracted a fever and a cold several hours back, about when the Great Endeavor had landed, and for a while there she'd really been burning up and shivering, which had torn at his heart something fierce. Since then the fever and chills had subsided, mostly, but it was still enough to worry him, especially with the wheeze in her lungs and the cough. If sickness had taken hold in her lungs and sinus's, then she could very easily die. But if that was the case, there was not a damned thing he could do about it! Not and still keep his word! And oh, how that word, that damned promise, tortured him, like red hot whips against his soul! He had no choice but to sit and watch... him, the one who had always been in charge of whatever was around him, was helpless to do anything but sit and watch passively! For one of the first times in his entire life, he wasn't entirely sure of the outcome of a situation, and this was the most important situation for him personally! Uncertainty was one of his greatest fears... either it was one thing, or it was another... dealing with might be's and could be's, even should be's, was unnerving in the extreme!
Noah wanted to take her hand in his, or touch her brow to lend whatever subconscious support he could, but he dared not. Not when his immune system was functioning at high power and hers was not. Infections and viruses that his body was ignoring easily might cross to her and kill her while her defenses were down! Not until she woke up, not until she spoke coherently, could he be sure she'd fully ascended and was on the road to recovery! Not until then could he touch her. Even stripping her and wiping her down had been done through the use of a anti-contamination sterile suit. Noah stared down at her shrunken form, listening to her wheeze and watching her eyelids flutter and her brow crease, and he could not bear it! He turned away and stalked to the shoreline, refusing to let himself turn and look at her again, it was simply too painful! Phlegethion's crumpled form lay on the rocks between the trees and the water, still and inert, her consciousness still banished to the depths of slumber by Lacus's furious attack. Noah half bent to run his hand tenderly along her armored black neck, but it just wasn't working... Phlegethion would recover in a few days, and this wasn't distracting him from Meyrin at all!
It was then that he heard Meyrin groan, and he froze, listening harder than he ever had before, though he did, barely, remember to keep his Newtype senses shuttered. He had promised himself that until Meyrin woke up, he would not touch her with his mind. Whether she was Active or Latent, he didn't care... he just wanted her to wake up again. He knew he'd be able to feel her consciousness awakening if he tried, but it just wasn't worth the risk... if he was in her mind and she wasn't going to wake up... the thought of being in Meyrin's head as she died was too hideous to imagine, it made him want to curl up and sob! She'd made it this far, which was a good sign, but until she really awoke, she would not be out of danger! It was as he was considering that, that she groaned again. Not an incoherent moan, not a slurred half mumble... a groan of discomfort! Noah didn't even remember turning around, but he found himself on his knees by the bed less than a second later, studying her with all his might, hands clasped and wringing in front of him. "M-Meyrin?" He asked, barely daring to hope.
There was no reply, and most of a minute later he hung his head and tried not to cry. False start. He was about to push himself back to his feet, though it was taking all his effort to just keep his eyes dry, much less move his body, and then she spoke. It was faint. Less than a whisper. He might not have heard it if he wasn't right there at her side. "... Noah..."
"Meyrin! Meyrin, I'm here!" Noah's head popped up and the tears came anyway, despite his efforts, not that he cared anymore. "Meyrin!"
"Noah..." This time she was louder, though still very, very quiet, her tone weary, like she was having to fight for every letter in his name. Her eyes fluttered but stayed shut, no doubt hurting from the indirect lighting, but there wasn't much he could do about that! They would adjust quickly enough, once she was ascended. "Hungry... thirst... y... hur... ts..."
"I know. It's going to be okay, Meyrin." Noah promised, his eyes so blurry he couldn't see straight as he snatched up a bottle of water and a tube of specially prepared nutrient paste, like an energy bar but moistened and ground up into a slurry. It smelt kinda funny, and definitely felt nasty, but tasted not at all and had all the vitamins and minerals and calories her body needed so badly. "Here. Drink. Sips. Not too much." He held the water bottle to her parched lips and gently tilted it, just enough to trickle into her mouth. He forced himself not to give her more than a small mouthful. Too much water too fast and she could choke. It was agonizing, seeing her so weak, he wanted her to get better immediately or sooner! But he had to take it slow, and so it was most of ten minutes later, after her lips and mouth were well moistened, that he finally squirted a bit of the food paste into her mouth. Near the consistency of yogurt but the color of a cereal bar, it didn't require chewing, and she quickly swallowed it down.
Finally, more than an hour and a half after her first conscious groan, he'd emptied the water bottle and fed her all the nutrient paste he'd prepared. Her breathing was much steadier now, and the wheezing and coughing had died away almost a half hour prior as her new immune system used the resources present in the food and water to kick into high gear and annihilate all the little nasties afflicting her body. He laid the back of his hand gently on her brow, and was gratified to find it cool and not sweaty, signs that the fever had died away as well. It was going to be hours, maybe days, before she regained her muscle and fluid mass, but she had done it! She had survived! She had ascended! Now Meyrin was an Angel too! The first of the new race! "She's alive... she's ALIVE! Meyrin is ALIVE! AHAHAHAHAAA!" Noah shouted at the top of his lungs, ecstatic almost to the point of incoherence.
"So... loud..." Meyrin commented, keeping her eyes tightly closed, since every time she tried to open them they hurt like they were being stabbed with needles, they were so dried out. The water she'd drunk would fix that soon enough, but for the moment she was having to rely on her other senses, which included a very much improved sense of hearing. She felt like she could hear every single living thing in the Atrium moving around, even the stuff way off against the walls! She was pretty sure she could hear Noah's heart beating like an out of control drum in his chest, though that might just be an echo of hers, as her revitalized blood raced around her body, bringing nutrients and energy and life back into her a little bit at a time. And there was something else too. Something beyond just taste and touch and smell and hearing and eventually sight. She could... could feel... something. Everything. From around her. Like a pulse of warmth that had nothing to do with the air temperature. She could put good words to it, though just thinking straight at all was not easy right now!
"Sorry. I'm... I'm just so glad..." Noah said, much quieter, brushing at his eyes with the back of his hand, and not doing much besides smearing his tears around. "Meyrin... I love you!"
"Love you too... believed in you, Noah. You... you promised. And you were... right."
"Yeah. Yeah I was." Noah hoped he didn't sound as relieved as he felt, because he had not been sure, not at all. Meyrin had faith in him... had believed him absolutely, but he'd been speaking on a guestimation and his fervent hopes! But he'd been right. He was right! This was the right thing! He was right! It worked! It really, really worked! He'd always been sure, but here... here was the proof! And this proof made him the happiest man who had ever lived! "I said you were going to be okay, and you are. You are, Meyrin. Oh Meyrin!" Noah reached out and gathered her small hand in both of his own and pressed it to his forehead.
"Noah..." Meyrin didn't know if she was chiding him or comforting him. He was quite overcome, that was for sure. She was the one that had just been through the traumatic experience, at least physically speaking, but Noah had definitely been suffering emotionally. And she wasn't sorry for that. If he hadn't been hurting, he wouldn't be the sort of person that should be doing the things he was. Because what had happened to her was going to happen... was happening... to thousands and millions of other people, who had loved ones who would be going through the same turmoil as Noah, but even worse in many cases. If he couldn't feel how they felt, if he couldn't understand that fear and pain they were going through, then he really was going to turn into a monster. Thankfully, judging from his tears and sobs and carrying on, he seemed to have gotten the point, even if he didn't consciously realize it. He had been hurting, but he'd kept his word, she knew he had. And that made her so proud of him, it was a whole new sort of hurt inside, but the good sort. She hurt because she had caused him such pain, and she never wanted to do that if she had any other choice! But she would if she had to. If she had to use his love for her to keep him on the path he professed to be taking, then so be it. She could deal with that.
"Meyrin... I... I have something to show you. Something wonderful." Noah said slowly. He watched her turn her head to look at him even though her eyes remained closed. "Just... let me show you. Don't do anything. Just relax and let me show you, okay?"
"I'm not going anywhere." Meyrin promised. "Am I going to like this surprise, Noah?"
"You're going to love it, Meyrin. I promise. Now, just lie still... this is probably going to feel kinda weird. I'm only going off second hand knowledge here. I've read about this a lot, and seen other people do it, but this will be my first time doing it for real, with someone I love." Noah answered, climbing onto his bed... their bed... and moving to straddle her, bending his head down to touch hers, though that wasn't required. He still did it anyways, because he simply didn't ever think he'd be able to get enough of the feel of her body against his. And the physical touch helped him stay focused. "Stay relaxed. Keep your limbs loose. Breathe slow and easy. Trust me, this is going to be incredible." Noah whispered to her. There was a minute or so of silence.
"What are you doing? That feels weird!" Meyrin told him.
"Shh. Its part of the process. Just put up with it."
"But it kinda hurts... HEY!"
"Sorry. Stop squirming. This isn't easy you know. Gotta get the alignment right..."
"Seriously, that's uncomfortable! Don't push so hard! I'm not going anywhere, there's no rush!"
"I gotta get... in... sorry. Its a tight squeeze! Stop wriggling!"
"But now it feels REALLY weird! I've never felt things like this before! I feel strange..."
"You'll get used to it. Everyone does, eventually."
"Hey! Don't move! Stop that! Hey! No! Don't go so deep! Not so fast! Noah!"
"Grh... stop squirming around! Its really distracting! This is a complex procedure!"
"You're just saying that! This is your first time, you just said that! You're just making it up as you go!"
"Maybe so, but I'm still the expert here! Now... almost there... bear with me... I can barely describe how this is making ME feel, ya know! Its kinda weird... but its a good weird. I think feeling like this more often is going to be a good thing."
"So like a man to say that! Weird is always good in your minds..."
"There's no need to make this dirty, you know. Men and women are going to do this every day, its a fact of life. Connecting on a level this intimate is always going to feel weird the first time. But its necessary for the continuation of our race!"
"Necessary!? HEY! AHH! Watch where you're going! NO! Not there... don't... no, not THERE!"
"Sorry, didn't mean to."
"Yeah, sure."
"I really didn't mean to. It was an accident. I got distracted."
"But now I'm the one with a mess. Convenient."
"Look, its a bit too late to pull out now, so you can rag on me if you like, but I'm finishing up. Almost there. Just bear with me a little bit longer. In the future, this is going to be much easier and more fun for both of us."
"If you say so..."
I do.
Yeah, you would... hey, wait a minute...
I told you that you'd like it. Feels good now, huh? All that squirming and wriggling... now you're just soaking it up...
Is... is this really happening? I'm... I'm not going crazy am I?
Nope. At least, not clinically speaking. I'm sure there will be people that cast aspersions on our sanity in the future, but we are not crazy. By the way, this is the first time I've ever been able to talk with someone else like this. It's always been them contacting me before. And this is a lot more pleasant than those times. If I can feel like this all the time... wow...
I don't know about all the time. Yeah, this does feel really, really good... but always? A girl's gotta have some privacy...
I didn't mean to look there. I really didn't.
Yeah. And now you just happen to accidentally know that it's going to be my first time THEN too. Pervert. And you spilled all those emotions I was bottling up all over the place! Seriously, do you know how long that's bothered me!?
Why would staying a virgin bother you!?
Its not the fact of it, its that finding someone to lose it to was feeling... you know what, lets stop talking about this. This is way more intimate than...
I'm in your head. You are in mine. Physical intimacy is nothing compared to the melding of minds and emotions. This is the kind of connection that is going to make hatred and warfare and jealousy a thing of the past. Obviously not every bond will be as deep as the ones lovers share, but even a simple transitory bond allows you to communicate your true feelings with absolute ease.
Is feeling people's true emotions really going to be that helpful?
Of course. How could it not be?
Well... nevermind. I've trusted you this far, no reason to stop now.
You know, you can probably open your eyes now.
But I like looking at you like this. You glow.
Do I? Everyone's mental vision is different, you know.
How do I look to you?
You're an enigma. A conundrum.
A what?
A theoretical problem that no one yet knows how to answer. In my mind, I see those around me as mathematical equations, abstract laws of math in visual form. Almost all of them are equations I can solve without hardly even trying. But you... I don't have an answer for you. Its going to take a lot of research, and I might never actually learn the answer. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try with all my might. Some things, like you, are worth pursuing even if you aren't sure you'll understand them in the end. Why are you laughing? THAT feels weird.
That was REALLY geeky. But SOOOO cute! I love you too, Noah.
Come on. Open your eyes.
Why?
Because I want to look you in the eyes when I tell you I love you.
Hm. Well, when you put it like that, there's no way I can say no... Meyrin cracked her eyelids and eventually forced them fully open. It helped that Noah was leaning over her, casting her face in shadow as his forehead rested on hers, blocking out the light from directly above. "There. Happy?" She asked, blinking up at him, meeting the unearthly gaze looking down at her, metallic gold surrounded by a sea of majestic purple.
"In ways you can barely even understand yet." Noah replied, his lips barely moving as he was entranced by the eyes looking up at him, metallic silver surrounded by pale lavender. His lips touched hers and they stared into each other's eyes deeply, captured by each other. I love you Meyrin Hawke!
-------------------
Author Note 2: Jethro the Jackrabbit is actually based off something from real life. Hezbollah apparently bought out the rights to Mickey Mouse, at least for a little while back in the 60's. They apparently have a live action TV series starring this guy dressed as the Mickey Mouse imitation, that, I kid you not, preaches fundamental anti-semitism to the 4-10 year old crowd. Its pretty disgusting, in my mind, but if there's one truly creative force in the world, I guess it's hatred. Damn, that sounds like something Frost would say.
