The very instant the buzzer went off, Ashino was already moving, out of bed, long kinfe whipping out from the sheath hidden under the pillow. He was almost halfway to the door before he realized what was going on, that it was just the doorbell and not an emergency klaxon. Before he could stop himself, ingrained reflexes had him flattened up along the wall next to the door, one hand on the knob, the other gripping the knife over his head, poised to strike downwards and outwards at any threats that presented themselves. Transitioning from rest mode to alertness mode dumped raw adrenaline and stimulants into his bloodstream and he felt his breathing start to become shallow and rapid, while the air itself seemed to become both more clear and slightly more solid. All of this happened without any conscious desire on his part. He consulted his internal timepiece and figured that he'd been asleep for only a little more than two hours... more than enough to be considered well rested, at least in his terms. Truly, it was sleeping longer than four or so hours a day that was hard for him, not staying up too long. Something which drove Jean batty sometimes, or so she said, since she wasn't the sort of person who liked waking up at four am, or so she continued to insist.
He wasn't expecting any callers at this time of night, and he hadn't heard his cellphone or pager go off either, both of which nosies would also have woken him up in less than a second. He wasn't really a light sleeper, per se, it was just that while he was asleep his senses were still in perfect working order, not dulled at all, so he could hear, taste, smell, feel and sometimes even see just fine while his body and mind were "asleep" or "resting". Another thing that Jean said made her feel kind of "weirded out", since apparently sitting in a chair with your eyes open, listening to her so called "music", reading a book but actually being ninety percent asleep was somehow uncommon. Never mind that such sleep learning had been how he'd received the majority of his technological and academic training. He shoved his introspective thoughts aside for the moment and yanked the door inwards with no warning whatsoever, at roughly the same time the person outside was off balance, reaching forward to ring the buzzer again. Just like he'd expected and calculated. Ashino's free hand darted out to grab the slim wrist nearest to him, in preparation for dragging the person forward either into a grapple or onto the point of his knife, whichever seemed most expedient. That is, until his eyes and memory informed him as to who exactly he was about to stab.
"Jean!" Ashino exclaimed in constrenation and surprise, his hand already grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her forward, off her feet and directly into his torso. He folded backwards immediately, knowing that otherwise Jean might be injured by being pulled into his considerably more than just solid body, especially given the sort of tug he'd given her arm and wrist. They both ended up on the ground, thankfully with him on the bottom, barely even bruised by the sudden, hardly controlled fall, his hand still on her wrist, her other hand just to the side of his head, her entirely too soft and interesting body lying across him like a blanket. His knife hand was poised above her, though he took care to rotate the knife as much out of view as he could, hiding it behind the muscle of his forearm. Jean had never been particularly bothered by the sight of weapons in his hands before, but Ashino had read that most girls didn't take lightly the sight of knives or other deadly implements casually held in hand by their friends. Perhaps especially considering he certainly looked like he'd been about to stab her, which he had been, regrettably.
"Ash... hello." Jean muttered, thoughts more than a little unsettled and awhirl at being quite literally pulled off her feet and inside Ash's temporary quarters, which were in a upscale apartment complex in the outskirts of Denver, which was the new Capital, since Washington DC was still a ruin. She chuckled a little, noting the surprised and slightly disgruntled expression on his face. It wasn't that he was displeased to see her, she knew. Well, she was pretty sure she knew anyway... that's what he adamantly insisted it was, and he really didn't have much talent for lying to her, so she believed him, mostly. It was the look he got when it was something HE'D done that displeased him, when he'd either reacted in a way he considered wrong or objectionable, considering the person he was trying to become. "Guess you're as happy to see me as I was hoping. Maybe even a little bit more so."
"To be honest I hadn't the slightest idea you were dropping by. You really should call before just dropping by. But yes, I am happy to see you. I'm always happy to see you." Ashino replied, as always refreshed and pleased at just how much he meant it when he said that. Given that only months before he was still stumbling over the words "love", "romance" or "like", at least when they came to refer to Jean, being able to say "I'm happy to see you" and mean it felt like great progress.
"You have that "I just almost did something I thought I had under control and wouldn't do again" looks on your face, Ash." Jean pointed out. She looked down at him, and smirked a bit, reaching up with her non-held wrist to straighten her glasses on her face. "And unless my glasses are broken, you also appear to be only clad in boxer briefs. Were you asleep by any chance?"
"Yes, I was asleep." Ashino admitted. He saw the way she was looking at him, and noted that his core body temperature was rising a bit, and his skin was starting to flush a little. Common reactions when Jean was around, especially in close proximity or direct physical contact. Not that HE was embarassed by how he was clad, of course. He was pretty sure he was incapable of feeling embarassment, at least when it came to clothing or lack of it. Not that he didn't eventually intend to figure out what was the logic behind such emotional feeling, it just wasn't a very high priority. And it did have its uses to have situations where everyone else was tongue tied with embarassment and he was able to act normally.
"Oh well, I suppose that explains it then." Jean's smile grew in a way he found most entrancing. "But while it's fun, lying here on the floor of your entryway with you, especially in just your boxers, unless you're planning to do a little bit more with me, maybe you should let me get up, huh?"
"Time out." Ashino said, his phrase for when he was confused by something and wasn't sure his response was the right one, socially. "What am I supposed to do when you say something like that, in a situation like this?"
Jean sighed and rolled her eyes, rolling off him and pushing herself to her feet. "Well, that depends, Ash. Mostly on you, and how you're feeling at the time. If you're embarassed, you'd probabaly want to just let go and apologize for yanking me around like a kite on a string. If you're feeling a little more adventuresome, you coulda said you like me just where I was, and we could have kept the moment going. Or, god forbid somehow, if you were feeling independently amorous, you could have just kissed me and let things flow naturally from there."
"I see. And which of those is preferable?" Ashino asked, sitting and then standing up likewise.
"Again, it varies, just like most social situations. There really aren't just three options you know, those were just examples. Sometimes you just have to go out and say what you're thinking, even if you don't know if it is right or wrong. That goes triple for you. I know you have troubles, so I'm not going to take offense if you say something that might not be appropriate... though for me, your girlfriend, to be lying on top of you in the situation we were just in, there really ISN'T anything you can say thats very inappropriate." Jean shook her head, wondering as always just when Ash would get to the point where he wouldn't need guiding. Not that it wasn't fun, and even enlightening at times, to explain the strings and reasons behind even the simplest of social, much less romantic overtures, but it certainly wasn't easy being the one who had to initiate stuff ninety percent of the time. Not that she had any intention of giving up... but... "So what WERE you going to say anywa... hey, is that a knife?"
"The reason for that expression you saw on my face." Ashino admitted. "I think I dreamt that the door buzzer was an emergency launch klaxon."
"Were you about to... stab me?" Jean asked. She noticed the slightly uncomfortable look on his face. "It's okay if you were. You didn't after all. And I really should have called ahead, you're right. If anyone should know better than to drop by your place at night time, unannounced and unexpected, it should be me. I guess I should just be glad you weren't doing any gun maintenance before you went to bed, huh?"
"Sorry?"
"Don't apologize, Ash, especially when you don't know why you're trying to. You didn't do anything wrong."
"That doesn't mean I cannot apologize though. I've learned that at least."
"You know, someday, some biographer is going to look back, sixty-seventy years and comment how it was unfair of me to socially adapt you into being such a sweet, biased towards making girls happy sort of guy. Unfortunately, I'm not so pure hearted that I'm just going to stop either, because I enjoy you how you are."
"I enjoy me as I am too, thank you. And I am betting there are much worse things to be biased towards, than making girls happy." Ashino replied, putting the knife down on the small kitchen table. His apartment wasn't anything special... well, that's what all the human people who came by said. A third story affair, with a small kitchenette that fronted onto a living room and the entry hall with a small laundry/utility room tucked into a corner, then a set of stairs going up to a second level, more a loft than anything else, with a bathroom, bedroom and storage space. A one or two person apartment at most, and even then it was sort of cramped, by some people... namely Ramierez and Glory's opinions. In Ashino's eyes, having lived in what was basically a single room cell for most of his life, with a single cot and a grated drain in the corner for a restroom, it was a veritable palace of luxury. He even had his own TV and sound system, though the latter played mostly dead air, since he had no idea what kinds of music he liked, and the former was usually only tuned to the news, since he hadn't the cultural knowledge to get much from any other sort of programming. "So, what brings you here anyway? I thought you would be in school."
"Eh, yeah, I was." Jean shrugged that little nuisance away. "I'm taking a little break though. Figured I should spend my time doing other, more productive things, you know?"
"More productive than getting a good education?" Ashino asked, mildly confused. That was why people went to school, wasn't it? To learn things, so that they could go on to higher forms of education, then onwards to getting jobs so they could live their lives, earn money and contribute to society? Ashino did not himself go to school... he was far too busy for one thing, and his friends assured him that he already had more than enough practical knowledge to get a job in many fields, and not just military related ones either. But that didn't mean he didn't want to go sometime, for the experience if nothing else. After all school was where Jean learned a lot of the social stuff she taught to him... obviously it was a place of great learning and culture.
"Gosh, you sound just like my parents, you know that?" Jean sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know I need to get a good education, so I can get a good job and all that bullshit. But really, I think some concerns override even THAT priority, don't you, Ash?"
"There are concerns that can override other priorities, yes." Ashino agreed. He wasn't sure if she was making a general statement or was actually searching for agreement about a specific thing from him, but he'd found that if nothing else, Jean was a more agreeable person when they were both thinking the same thing. Or believed they were anyway. Besides, he didn't see any harm in agreeing with her... it was true after all. "Things like wars and major political crises, right?"
"And helping your clueless boyfriend get his life together, because he doesn't know how to do it by himself." Jean prompted.
"Ah, yes, that too." A sudden thought occured to Ashino. "I don't suppose your brother and parents know you've decided to fly here from New York to see me and accomplish this task you've set yourself, do they?"
"I didn't run away without telling anyone if that's what you mean. Come on, I'm not the sort of girl to do that. I left them a note in my room. And it's not like I'm running away for good or anything... I'm just taking a week off or so. To work for charity. All the same though, if you do get a call from my parents, it might be a good thing if you didn't mention I was here." Jean twisted her hands somewhat nervously.
"I promised your parents I would never lie to them." Ashino pointed out. "That was one of the conditions they set me for "going out" with you. Though we don't really "go out" much, at least given how you define the term."
"Oh come on, no one expects people to realistically never lie. And if you really can't lie, then just omit information. There's nothing illegal or wrong in me doing this... you aren't holding me against my will, we're not having sex, we're both underage anyway, and its not like I'm not learning things from YOU too, you know. I promised my History teacher I'd write a report on President Argyle, since he's like the youngest President in history by such a huge margin. And my Physics teacher is practically drooling over the idea that I might be able to give a presentation on some of the new lightwave based tech the military is using. Falala's or whatever?"
"FRALA's. And that's sensitive and confidential military information. Regardless of the fact that I know it in detail, I cannot tell it to you. And if I did, you'd have to sign a contract with Sai and Cyprus watching, to not divulge it."
"Oh, don't be so obtuse. I don't want you to go telling me any secret stuff. Just the basic idea behind it. Ask Sai or Cyprus how much you can legally tell me. I don't want you to get in trouble, Ash, I'm just pointing out that I'm accomplishing more than just selfish goals in showing up here like this. Not that I don't have some selfish goals too... I really do like being around you, Ash... and I do need a place to stay... and your apartment IS just big enough for two people after all..."
"Time out." Ashino said suddenly, all his instincts sending him bad vibes. "Emotionally, I find myself agreeing with you. Having you around, living here with me would be very pleasant. Exceedingly pleasant. However, intellectually and instinctually, I'm seeing a lot of red flags. I don't think it would be very fun if the police decided that I had kidnapped you and tried to come in and rescue you. I might hurt them by accident. Eric probably won't be very happy with me either, come to think of it."
"He'll get over it. He's got his own girl problems to worry about." Jean asserted confidently.
"He has girl problems? Really? I hadn't noticed."
"You really shouldn't find that surprising, now should you?" Jean looked around the apartment. "Wow. Nice job on the interior decoration."
"Thank you."
"I was being sarcastic, Ash. The walls are bare, the carpet and floor are original products, even the curtains are original. You don't have any dishes in your sink, and knowing you, probably none in your cupboards either... you still eat with disposable utensils and paper plates at best, don't you? You do have a TV and sound system, which you probabaly don't listen to, and only use to watch the news in those few moments when you don't know the news before the newspeople do. They say that how people keep their rooms and homes can give you insight into how that person thinks and what their soul is like, and looking around, I'm forced to agree with that. Fortunately, it's not all bad. In fact, its mostly good. It's much easier to build good habits up from nothing, rather than having to tear old bad habits down first. I suppose I could go upstairs, but I really don't need to... I can already tell you how your room is likely to be laid out and how it's decorated... which is to say, except for a few pictures of me and you, it isn't." Jean noticed the somewhat crestfallen look on his face. "Oh, don't look like that, Ash, I'm not criticizing you... its hard for you to do stuff like interior decorating, I know. That's why I'm here. And to buy you some new clothes... I bet you're still wearing those rags I bought you in New York, right?"
"They're very nice clothes..."
"They're a season out of date. You can't wear them anymore."
"But..."
"Don't question me on this!"
"... Okay."
"Oh, and could you be a dear and get me something to drink please? I wasn't able to afford anything but coach class, and for some reason they aren't serving drinks anymore. I'm parched."
--
"Yo Ashino, how goes it?" Ashino looked up from the simulation report he'd been glancing through to occupy his hands and surface thoughts, while the rest of his mind was eagerly looking forward to the end of the day, when he was due to go shopping with Jean, for both clothing and interior decoration purposes. Then they were going to go out to dinner somewhere downtown. Somewhere mid priced, or so Jean was insistent. Apparently the mid priced places were better for romance, at least in the ways she was trying to teach him. Places where the food was good, the bill's reasonable,and the standards of conduct not so squeamish that you couldn't get away with a little kissing and fooling around as long as you made sure no young families were around. A small part of him noted down this new eagerness, which never manifested itself except when Jean was in the same geographic area as him... when she wasn't around, he really didn't care how long he worked... yet when she was, he even left early sometimes. Very interesting. It would bear due consideration at a later time.
"Mr. Ramierez, Mr. Glory, hello. Getting off shift?" Ashino nodded at the two former Hellhounds, now senior members of the Presidential Security Forces, who had rounded the corner together and greeted him.
"Oh wow, not only does he say hello, he even asks a social question! He's learning fast, he is!" Ramierez commented with a nudge to the lower ribs of the much larger Glory. "Won't be long now before he'll be slanging it with me and the homies, ya?"
"Ignore him, he's been up half the night helping with the babies. Little kids unhinge the poor bastard. Reminds him on what he's probably never going to have." Glory said with a shake of his head. "And just call me Thomas, or Tom. You're not really part of my chain of command, Markov, and technically speaking you WAY out rank me anyway. Saying Sergeant-Major or Mr. Glory all the time is just WAY too formal for my tastes. Even the Lt calls me Thomas. Course I call him the Lt no matter what when we're at work and most times away from it, but thats a whole 'nother story."
"That's pretty cold, Sarge-Major. Not only that, but it is entirely untrue! I have utterly no problems when it comes to women or babies. Certainly not the production of one with the other!" Ramierez protested. "And please, call me Richard or Rich. Or hell, even Ricardo or Ricky if you want and can stomach the vocabularly... generally respond to anything beginning with or sounding like RIC." Ramierez waited a beat. "And you can respectfully shut up, Sarge-Major. I don't respond to THAT form of Richard."
"Aww... the Corporal's getting touchy... how cute. Want me to stop out and buy you a bow and ribbon for your sensitive little ass, Nancy?" Glory replied with a grin.
"Uh, what form of Richard are you talking about?" Ashino asked, completely lost by their banter, though he had picked up on a few things they'd said. He figured he might as well ask them... he'd gotten good advice from Cyprus before, why not his subordinates?
"The form I don't like." Ramierez was quick to reply. "Begins with a "D"."
"Ends with "Dick"." Glory added.
"D-Dick?" Ashino asked, truly confused. "How does Richard turn into..."
"Nevermind." Ramierez rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Above your pay grade, man. Ask that nina of yours sometime, maybe she can explain it."
"Ah, I will then. I'll be seeing her in a few hours anyway." Ashino replied. Both Hellhounds had been on the verge of walking away, but they stopped and came back to him when they heard that, which was good, because otherwise he would have had to chase them down to get their advice.
"Coulda sworn she was in New York, going to school. Yet you say you're seeing her in a few hours?" Glory asked. "I mean, not that I'm trying to pry into your business or anything, man, but... I just don't like being out of the loop. Like to keep my thumb on things, especially things that involve the happiness of my friends."
"No, its fine. In fact, I was hoping to ask you two for some advice regarding her. Jean's always telling me I should be seeking out other forms of social knowledge from my peers and the people around me, so if I could ask for some of your time maybe?"
"Markov, my friend, you have come to the right place." Ramierez said with a huge grin. "There are few greater experts on the social interactions of men and women than the Sarge-Major and myself. We will be only too glad to give any advice we can to a friend in need. Isn't that right, Sarge-Major?"
"Entirely." Glory nodded his head in relative enthusiasm. He was tired, but this looked like it was going to be a LOT of fun. Of course, Ashino was entirely too easy of a target sometimes, but sometimes you just had to take the easy shots anyway. Like when they walked right into your line of fire. It wasn't even really your fault anymore, at that point in time, or so he believed. Besides, what was the worst thing that could happen? "So, what do you want to know then?"
"Well, we're going out shopping for clothes and interior decorations for my apartment later today. But that's not really what I want to ask about... I'm reasonably sure I know what to do in those situations, and even during dinner later on. But Jean always asks me to try and be more spontaneous and romantic... and I have no idea how to do that. What can I do to be spontaneous and romantic?"
"Oh. That's all? I thought you were going to ask us how to try and get her pants off or something hard." Ramierez chuckled and shook his head.
"It's easy?" Ashino wondered.
"It does depend on the girl a little bit, but yeah, its not that hard." Glory rumbled. "Like the Corporal says, getting the girl into bed with you is usually considerably harder than just giving her a romantic night out... although the latter usually does have a higher chance of ensuring success of the former."
"I... don't think I have any... carnal interest in Jean right now, actually..."
"You like kissing her, right? Holding hands? Hugging?" Ramierez prompted.
"Yes..."
"You've got carnal interest, my man, you just don't know it. But that's okay, because you're seventeen and she's seventeen and even if its not a felony to fool around with both parties at that age, it's still cool that you don't want to." Ramierez was quick to reply. "Now, an important part of romance is setting the mood. Or, in the case of spontaneous romance, sensing when the mood is right. Simplified, its like this... you kiss a girl when she's happy, you're gonna get kissed back. Kiss same girl when she's sad or pissed off, you're gonna get slapped. Now, obviously girls get happy for different reasons, but there are some common themes that the greatest majority like and its generally safe to start with some of those. Things like moon or starlight walks in peaceful areas, going to beaches, going shopping, going to fancy resteraunts... I advise a fancy place for dinner, those mid priced places are fucking deathtraps..., going to sappy romance or drama movies, going to the theatre, concerts, etc, etc."
"That's a pretty big list." Ashino observed, wondering how he was going to fit stuff like that into his nights and days with Jean.
"Its only a tiny portion of the list, actually." Glory corrected. "And most of them will probably be hard for you to utilize properly, given your rather exceptional personal circumstances... i.e., you haven't the slightest fucking clue on how to be normally social. You're getting better, admittedly, but you've still got the social skills of a particularly well behaved fourth grader. And I'm not saying that to be mean, its just how you are right now. See, the mood doesn't just have to do with location or what you're doing with a girl... it also depends a lot on you. How you act. How you talk. If you're witty, suave, charming, sexy, interesting, etc. It can be affected by how you dress, how she's dressed, how you're dressed compared to how she's dressed, how agressive or passive you are when doing things like ordering dinner, if you can make her laugh and not just at you, how you style your hair, how pushy or shy you are with regards to things like kisses and hugs... its a whole different battlefield out there."
"For you though, I think we might have to recommend the supported course of action. You obviously, through no fault of your own, haven't the slightest idea of what to do for setting the mood. The Sarge-Major and I on the other hand, are past masters at it. We will thusly put together a recommended plan that you will follow, utilizing the resources we provide you, as a sort of training regime. I have several mood setting strategies that are utterly garuanteed to set the proper romantic mood your dear Jean is wishing for, and combined with the fail safe measures the Sarge-Major has, there is NO possibility of you losing out. Isn't that right, Sarge-Major."
"Totally. Completely garuanteed to work. I take a different girl home most every night of the week. What kind of record could be better or better speak for itself than that?"
"Wow, that IS pretty good. Thanks!" Ashino watched Ramierez and Glory nudge each other slightly. "Say... you wouldn't be trying to put one over on me, would you?"
"Markov, Markov, how could you think so little of us? We have your best interests at heart here. My record isn't nearly as pristine as the Sarge-Major's, but I've had dozens and dozens of girlfriends over the course of my life... I've got so much practice at picking up women I'm surprised they don't PAY me to do it, thats how good I am. I swear on everything I hold holy, even my precious Lamborgini, that we are not screwing with you when we say our practices work constantly for us. There shouldn't be any reason they shoudn't also work for you. Right, Sarge-Major?"
"Yeah. Of course. I swear on my brand fucking new silver Porsche convertible, my methods get me girls at every bar I go to. I don't have to sleep alone unless I want to." Glory affirmed.
"Oh. Sorry for doubting you. You guys are the experts here after all. You don't tell me how to fly Mobile Suits, I should probably not tell you how to give romantic advice, right?"
"That is exactly the right spirit, Markov. Now, here's what you gotta do, and listen real close now..."
--
"Hello Markov, you're in even earlier than usual today." Cyprus noted, surprised to find Ashino waiting for him in his office when he got there at five am. Markov was usually the second or third person there after Cyprus, though as of the last few days he'd been coming in later and later, probably because of a certain feminine entanglement that had dropped into his lap a few days ago. Some people might be bothered by the fact that the current third in command of the Isolation military was a seventeen year old, socially unrefined, love-addled teenager, but then again of course, Markov Ashino was far from a regular teenager. And even love-addled, late meant forty minutes before work officially started, so Cyprus certainly wasn't going to raise his eyebrows, especially given his own problem children... like Ramierez. How the man managed to slip into the Hellhounds, the most elite unit in the Earth Alliance Military, without being able to be punctual or more than barely acceptably dressed was a constant wonder to him. Of course, he could hardly just throw him out either, because the results the man produced were undeniable. And, truth be told, for all their personal differences, Cyprus rather liked Ramierez and his friendly, accepting nature. The Hellhounds needed at least one person like that. And besides, without Ramierez, Thomas would be bored out of his skull, and likely wasting time trying to pry into Cyprus's own life instead.
"Well, Jean making me sleep outside my own apartment has a little bit to do with that actually." Ashino replied, feeling unaccustomedly prickly and irritated. Not that sleeping outside had particularly bothered him on a physical level, even if passing cars on the highway did wake him up every three minutes, give or take ten seconds. And he COULD have gotten back into the apartment if he'd tried... it was just a normal wooden door and normal windows after all. But Jean had been QUITE upset with him, and he really didn't feel like going through the bewildering emotional trauma of trying to explain things to her while she yelled at him and threatened him with all sorts of punishments. He'd just been following the script Richard and Thomas had given him, using the same materials they'd given him. It was supposed to be failproof. They'd promised that it was going to be failproof. And he'd ended up sleeping outside his own door for his trouble. It had taken him a while, but, right around 3 am or so, he'd finally been forced to come to the conclusion that, since Jean was very tolerant of HIS messups, that meant that because she was intolerant THIS time, it must have been the plan from Richard and Thomas that had gotten her so upset.
"I don't suppose you've been talking to Ramierez and Thomas recently, have you, Markov?" Cyprus asked, pinching his nose slightly in anticipation of a slight headache. He could afford such gestures with only Markov around, one because he was very similar to Cyprus in thoughts and methods, almost like a little brother in a lot of ways and two because Markov didn't have the awed prejudices most everyone else did, where they expected him to be inhumanely unflinching and controlled, all the time. It was tough at times, maintaining his public facade of absolute impenetrability.
"How did you know that?" Ashino asked, suspicion written plainly on his face. He hadn't realized Cyprus was keeping such close tabs on him, he certainly hadn't seen any observers, mechanical or otherwise.
"I'm not having you followed, Markov, be at ease." Cyprus sat down in his chair, somewhat heavily. "Of all people, you're one of the few I don't need to have followed."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Besides, this isn't the first time I've had this particular problem crop up. In fact, its almost a regular event, or it used to be, back when the Hellhounds were still recruiting new members that is." Cyprus didn't feel like explaining his off handed compliment. "You've just gone through something of an informal indoctrination event. Many units have them, especially elite units, high stress ones where you have to prove yourself before you can even apply, much less actually become part of the "team". The regular military calls it "hazing" and has strictly forbidden it for reasons of bad morale and some hazing going bad, resulting in injuries, even deaths. However, in Spec Ops, no good commander worth the name is going to force his people to hold to every silly standard or rule, as long as the major ones are followed and his troops use common sense with their little informal events. If I recall correctly, now that you've been "initiated" by the Sergeant-Major and Corporal Ramierez, the unofficial master of indoctrination ceremonies, you are now a "Full" Hellhound. I hope they didn't cause too much of a problem for you?"
Ashino thought back... the look of surprise on Jean's face, which gradually soured into disbelief, then a little bit of anger, then outright anger, then finally screaming fits of rage that ended up with him sleeping outside his own door. "I don't suppose you know what NC-17 means, do you? Jean wouldn't tell me in any comprehensible manner. Ramierez said it was "Named Clients version Seventeen", and that it was one of the best romantic comedies ever made. She sure didn't like it very much though. And I don't recall any jokes being made either... just a lot of people taking off their clothes very rapidly and for not very good reasons."
Cyprus coughed a few times, and half turned away to collect himself. "I... don't suppose they told you to, "talk up" how great this movie was, and how many times you'd watched it before, did they?"
"Yes, they did. They were very adamant that I stress just how much I thought the film was quality cinema. I didn't like lying, since I'd never seen it before, but they told me that sometimes, to set a romantic mood, a guy has to... "exaggerate or otherwise bend the truth of things". They assured me that their methods would work. Every time I started feeling doubtful, they brought up the fact that they get girls to come home with them willingly multiple times per week, so I could hardly argue with that kind of experience and strategy."
"Next time, Markov, I'd advise you to ask them WHY exactly they bring home MULTIPLE girls per week. Why isn't just one enough? They certainly aren't sleeping with more than one at a time. Where do the girls go afterwards, do you think? If Thomas and Ramierez are such romantic experts... why aren't they married like Sai and Vanai are?"
"Are you telling me that they actually aren't romantic experts?"
"I'm telling you, Markov, that there's a difference between romantic love, which is what you were looking for advice on, and picking up drunk chicks at a bar, which is what they do."
"So they were lying to me then?"
"Mostly. It would have been hard not to, even considering your naivete."
"Ah. Well, then I feel much better. I don't suppose it would be unfair of me to have considered retaliatory actions then?"
"Define "have considered"."
"Pre-emptively taken."
"Ah."
"I didn't have anything else to do at three this morning. Since Jean had locked me out of my apartment and wouldn't speak to me."
"You didn't hurt them, did you?"
"Never. I don't like hurting humans, especially co-workers. I feel the nature of my retaliation was just, considering the oaths they swore. In fact, assuming they adhere to their normal daily schedules, you should be getting calls soon from them." Even as Ashino spoke, Cyprus's phone rang.
"Why don't you get it." Cyprus decided. Ashino shrugged and picked up the phone. He listened to the very loud, very frenetic blare of noise for a few seconds, before he pulled the phone away from his ear and held it out to Cyprus.
"It's in Spanish. Loud, very fast Spanish. I can't understand a word he's saying." Ashino reported. "From his tone though, I'd image he's regretting his oathbreaking."
"That and perhaps plotting your death. Ramierez only switches to Spanish when he is truly enraged. What did you do?"
"He swore an oath on his Lamborgini. However, he won't be driving it until he replaces all the windows, scrubs off the spraypaint, replaces the tires, the brake lines and most of the interior. Which I didn't steal or break, I merely removed and left on the sidewalk."
"Given where Ramierez has his apartment, they were probably stolen after you left."
"Oh. Oops."
"I don't suppose..." Cyprus broke off as the phone rang again. He put Ramierez, who hadn't stopped his blue streak yet, nor, as far as Cyprus could tell, repeated himself, on hold. Cyprus answered it first this time. "Hello Thomas. Car trouble? Oh, thats very unfortunate. Yes, yes I know its new. Yes, I can imagine that you would be. No, I don't know who did it. Who has the guts to vandalize YOUR car, Sergeant-Major? You're going to be running a little late coming into work then? Yes, I understand. Thank you for calling. I'm sorry about your car." Cyprus hung up somewhat heavily. "It WAS a brand new car, you understand? Next year's pre-sale model, with all the upgrades."
"Cars can be fixed. Especially considering I didn't break anything. I really wanted to, but I thought that might be petty."
"Markov... I know you aren't very good with financial matters, so I suppose I can forgive you for not considering this... but do you have any idea how much money it is going to cost Thomas to have his paint job stripped, redone, rewaxed and repolished? That's after he pays to have the engine reconstructed, of course."
"Did I mess up a little bit? Is it a lot of money?"
"I'm going to say that you should take the day off, Markov. Go work from home. Or better yet, take Jean out on the town. Go somewhere nice and make up with her. Buy her a gift on the way home. Flowers, chocolate, maybe even just a nice big breakfast. Something to help you say you're sorry for being taken advantage of by your peers. Because, regardless of your problems, this is somewhat your own fault too. Thomas and Ramierez are good people, mostly, but that doesn't mean you should try and involve them in your romantic life. I'm glad we could all learn this lesson with only a single bad night for you, and several tens of thousands of dollars worth of damages for them."
"Are you seperating me and them?"
"I'm putting space between potentially volatile powers, in the interest of perserving the sanctity of these offices. Whether or not a full on Isolation becomes necessary I will determine after discussing with Thomas and Ramierez just WHY it is a bad idea to play practical jokes on people with no concept of social or financial responsibility. The last thing I want is for there to be any lasting bad blood from this incident, so I would expect that you might have less money in your accounts after today than you would otherwise have had. Not that it means much to you anyway."
"That sounds fair, I guess. I figured I should probably come in early to tell you about this... I figurd that if you heard from Thomas and Richard first, they might try and stack the facts against me. Plus, I didn't have anywhere to go but here."
"Yes, Markov, thank you. Now go home, eat breakfast and then leave the city. Come back late. Perhaps so late that you might not even come in according to your normal daily schedule tomorrow. Be a little spontaneous... like evasive maneuvers, even if you can't see any enemies around. Just to be safe."
--
Sai put down his pen with a giant, internal sigh of relief. That was the last document he'd promised himself that he was going to do today. It was late, but not nearly as late as he usually stayed up working. This President of the World job was for the birds. That, or older politicians who didn't have stunningly beautiful and sexy wives, or two young children who were the pride of their father's eye, to serve as far more pleasant distractions from the tedium of being the most powerful person on Earth and Earth Space. Seriously, he could now, slightly, understand why God never showed himself to anyone else... the paperwork by itself would be truly hellish for that kind of media firestorm. Having absolute power pretty much seemed to mean that you just had absolute responsibility for all the bullshit that went down, making the tottering apparatus of a world government somehow work all day long without breaking down or blowing itself up. He really, really seriously wished he could delegate his responsibilities, to a council maybe, like the PLANTS used, but outside of the military sphere, he didn't have anyone he could trust, besides Vanai and maybe one or two other people. And while Vanai was already pretty much his vice president, by sheer volume of work if not actual title, he didn't like putting more responsibility on her shoulders than he had too... she had Matthias and Jessi to worry about too, and they were more than enough for anyone.
He didn't even have truly functioning legislative and judiciary branches yet... those who hadn't been wiped out by Frost had fallen in the media bonanza caused by Sai's initial confrontation with Asmodeus in Hawaii, and while new representatives were being elected, and new judges being appointed, it wasn't an instantaneous process by any means. Unlike Cagalli's restructuring of Orb, his political system was merely badly damaged, not utterly uprooted and destroyed, so he hadn't the option of starting from ground level and building upwards, which would have made things so much easier. And there was always, always the issue of trust. So few people truly adhered to his ideals for an Isolation Plan. So many only paid lip service, and then worked to restore the status quo of special interest groups and financial based government. Two things which Sai himself was working to eradicate as much as possible, even though he knew it was likely hopeless. Four hundred years of the status quo wouldn't disappear in a single term, no matter what sweeping changes he instituted.
All he could hope for was getting the Isolation fully in place and then making it fully self sufficient from the Governments of the world. If he could do that at least, take the toys away from the toybreakers and bullies, then he could at least feel like he'd actually accomplished something. It was shaping up to be a much bigger task than he'd initially thought. Really, it was getting harder all the time, especially now that the Isolation of Earth had been successfully completed, with the re-re-annexation of Orb. Where before many people who would otherwise have been causing problems, like they were now, were silent or cooperative because of the strong, central leadership he provided during the power vacuum from Panama and crisis at the Moon, now that there was relative peace, all out political war was brewing, despite his best attempts to keep everyone united. Everyone wanted a bigger slice of the damn pie of power, whether it was economic, political, military or even territorial in some cases. Sai just wanted to throw all the pies into one big mishmash and flush it down the nearest toilet. That'd teach em. Course, he couldn't do that... but it was nice to dream.
Speaking of dreams, tonight was supposed to be one. He'd been putting as many of his top people on vacations or paid leaves of absence as possible during the last few weeks. Both as rewards for all the hard work they'd done so far, and down payments on the rewards they wouldn't be able to get for a very long time afterwards, because they were about to enter the most critical phases of the Isolation Plan, where the PLANTS would likely make one last, desperate attempt to break the Alliance stranglehold. Some people were easier to reward than others... Cyprus had to be forced by direct order to leave, for instance. Sai appreciated the gesture of course, but really, if his top military advisor was worn down to the quick, they were going to be doomed. And even Cyprus Finch could get worn down. Getting Ashino to take a break wasn't easy either, though he was actually fortunate on that score, because Jean Kellson had taken it upon herself to fly out to see him for a while. Maybe it hadn't been fully ethical of him to quash any and all attempts by her family and local law enforcement to locate her, but, goddamn it, his top Mobile Suit commander needed a vacation too and so he called it "needs of the nation" trumping "needs of high school graduation". He'd put the whole fucking school on a delayed semester if he had to.
Just about the only person whom he couldn't put on an actual vacation was himself, but that was to be expected. He was doing everything he could to lighten, limit or redistribute his workload though, at least for a few days. Enough to give him a few extra hours a day with his friends and family. It was always incredible to him just how revitalized he felt with an extra thirty minutes of time with Vanai, Matthias and Jessi each day. He couldn't even begin to imagine life without them anymore. It wouldn't be one, he was pretty sure. It had been a long and hard road to where he was now... he'd lost a lot of friends, both to deaths and to differences. A lot of people he respected highly now hated his guts, and perhaps even wanted him dead. He'd been forced to do things he never would have imagined he'd have to do... but he'd done them when necessary, and he was certain that history would prove that he'd been the one who was right. It was just a matter of hanging on long enough for his changes to become permanent. Five, maybe six years ought to be enough. At least, he hoped and prayed as much. He wanted his life back, after all.
He was just standing up when his desk pulsed and flashed a light signal made up of golds, blues and reds. "Aaahggh! God FUCKING damn it!" Sai slapped the desk with his hand in constrenation. He debated just ignoring it... no one would be able to call him on it. The visual signal flashed again. Gold, Blue, Blue, Red, Gold. Sai plunked himself back down in his chair. Gold leading, followed by two Blue's in a row. This was something somebody considered critical level intelligence. Not necessarily military intelligence, since there was only one Red, but to put Gold on either end of the code meant it was pretty damned urgent. He so desperately wanted to leave and get on with the rest of his evening... but he couldn't. Not and feel at all comfortable for the rest of the night. He accepted the message into his computer, while also turning off its "recieve" capability. This was the LAST fucking message, for real now. Now the only thing that could get in would be a Six Gold, meaning that the PLANTS were nuking them all right then and there, or something of similar consequence, and he was pretty sure he wouldn't need a desk to tell him if that was happening.
"Report from Polar Recon Unit?" Sai muttered questioningly, opening the first of several vid documents. It showed a lot of white. Snow, ice, airborn snow and ice... grey clouds. He couldn't make too much out of it. It was only after the view zoomed and refocused a few times that he could make out a tall, spindly, almost skeletal shape admist the blizzard. He leaned in closer as the view zoomed in, closely watching the scale. Twenty plus meters tall, whatever it was. And he had a pretty good idea what it was. He'd had forces scouring the globe for the lost ZAFT Gundam pretty much ever since Orb had formally surrendered. After seeing the battle footage of it with someone like Kira at it's controls, the thought of such a thing being under the control of Zacharis Frost, and no one knowing where he was... it kept him up sometimes at night, he wasn't afraid to admit. He never would have thought the maniac would go to Antarctica with it though. There was NOTHING in Antarctica... no bases, precious few scientific outposts, little more than a wasteland of ice and a few very well adapted animals. Of course, that also apparently made it a pretty good place to hide, since, according to the date stamp, this video had only been taken two days ago.
It raised the question of what Frost was doing, just hanging around in Antarctica for more than two weeks now... everyone who even slightly knew the freak always stressed his lack of patience for delays or complex plans. Sai was still considering that when the image on the screen suddenly tilted, swam and then fuzzed out in a wash of static. There had been no sound during the whole clip, but Sai felt he had a pretty good idea what had occured... whoever... or hopefully whatever... the Polar Recon Unit had been hadn't been hiding near well enough. It was frightening sometimes, just seeing how sharp Ashino's senses were... and by common assent, Frost's were incredibly more acute. Obviously acute enough to locate whatever the Polar Recon Unit was in the middle of a blizzard. Sai closed the staticky clip and looked through the rest of the file. It didn't take more than a few minutes of watching other video clips for an icy hand to grip his heart tightly.
The next clip was dated twelve hours after the first. It was labeled "JIHAD", and showed, for about three minutes, the still slightly smoking ruins of that former Blue Cosmos stronghold. It was only because he was watching closely that Sai saw the flicker of grey and red eyes before the screen dissolved as well. So Frost was at JIHAD then... what was there? Nothing, not even the old Blue Cosmos mainframe, Sai was pretty sure. The next video was ten hours after that, and called "Northern Argentina". It was mostly jungle, and Sai couldn't make out any sign of the ZAFT Gundam. Nevertheless, the screen dissolved to static about a minute and half in, in the same fashion as the other two had. There were two more video clips, one labeled "South Ecuador" stamped very early that morning and the last, time stamped around noon, called "Panama". Sai watched both clips, neither of which lasted longer than twenty seconds before staticking out.
"What the hell is this? Where the hell is he going? Why hasn't anyone else spotted anything?" Sai asked the silent office. "Where DID this come from? I wasn't aware of any forces operating in the Antarctic region... I'd written it off as unlikely that he'd go there. Obviously I was wrong to do so, but still... I wasn't aware of any such effort. And if Recon units are disappearing as often as these clips would indicate, SOMEONE would have raised a big red flag by now. Bodies or wreckage would have been found. Reports missed. I would have heard of SOMETHING. But this... this is coming out of NOWHERE! Who sent this?" Sai closed the file to look up the address the file had come from. He stopped short. There wasn't one. The address slot was blank. "What the hell!? WHAT THE HELL!?" Sai jerked backwards from his screen as his message programs, background, desktop, hell the whole fucking computer went dead. His screen was black. Black, black... he was reaching for the reset button when a simple message appearing in bright blue letters on the black screen.
"He's coming for you. They're ALL coming for you. Be prepared." Sai read. "What in the name of..." Sai trailed off as the message went away, to be replaced by three big digital timer displays. The one on top was lightning blue, counting down the hours to a point in time roughly a week and half away. It was labeled "Angry Sky". The one in the middle of the screen was bone white in color, and it was counting down hours to a time about a day before the Angry Sky timer ran out. That one read "The End of All". The last timer was bloody crimson in color. It sat at zero, as if waiting to start. It read "Fin", like what some movies had at the end to indicate that they were over and done. Sai watched the timers count down for several minutes before he tried to restart his computer. It didn't work. As soon as the power came back on, the timers were there again. No matter what he tried to do, even completely unplugging the machine and replugging it back in, he couldn't get past the timers. It was like the whole OS had been re-written, turning his computer into one big digital timer, and that was it.
"Sai...?" Sai jerked, waking himself from a sort of half daze, half trance. He'd been staring at the timers like they were counting down his own life, for who knows how long. He didn't know what to think... was this real? A ghoulish practical joke? But what sort of person had the skills to hack the Presidential computer? Kira MIGHT be able to, assuming he could tap a land line somewhere. Maybe Athrun too. But they WERE up on the PLANTS, he knew that for a FACT. Besides, neither of them would send a message like this, a combination of a warning and a psychological taunt that was unsettling him to his core. And certainly never about Frost, of all people. Frost was NOT a joking matter. "Sai?" Sai forced himself to concentrate on the here and now. Vanai was standing in the doorway, already dressed in her evening gown, a certain impatient look on her face all he needed to see to know that he'd been sitting there for a good while.
"Oh. Hello, love." Sai turned the power off to his computer as he stood up. Practical joke, serious warning or psychological ploy, he didn't want to burden Vanai with it, and there didn't look to be much more work he could get done anyways, if the computer was as fucked up as it appeared to be. He debated calling Cyprus, but decided against it. Those timers were set for weeks. A few more hours shouldn't make that big a difference, one way or another. Besides, he was tired... exhausted even. He'd be much better able to evaluate the veracity of what he'd seen in the morning, after some refreshment time with his family. "I guess I kept you waiting again, didn't I? I'm sorry."
"You look like you've seen a ghost." Vanai commented, her irritation slowly mellowing to slight concern. Sai always looked so stressed out these days. He was shouldering way too much of the burden himself, was her opinion. She'd told him as much, and he even agreed with her. But who else was there to give it to, like he'd told her? Cyprus and Ashino and other friends were already loaded down to the max with things concerning their own specialities. And she herself was kept busy for most of each day already, with the babies if nothing else. She had staff to help take care of them, yes, but she didn't want her children to be raised by surrogate parents... she'd had incautious friends who got pregnant do that, or who were raised like that themselves, and she'd never liked the results of that sort of thing... children who didn't know their own parents were just sad, in her mind. Her own father hadn't always been a major presence in her life, but he'd never tried to fobb her off on anyone else either. Certainly not the perfect parent, but she liked to think she'd turned out all right. "Are you feeling all right?"
"It's nothing, don't worry about it. If it's still an issue in the morning, I'll talk to you about it then." Sai replied, shrugging off her concern and replacing it with a big, slightly cocky smile. Kind of like he'd used to do, back when they were still first getting to know each other. All of a year and some months ago that was, it felt like forever and a half. How far they'd come indeed. From being basically a fugitive to leader of the entire World in less than two years. His biography was going to be insane. "I'd like to concentrate on being happy tonight, if I can. Assuming you can forgive me for keeping you waiting that is."
"I don't know. I really hate waiting." Vanai smirked at him, but accepted his kiss, and the embrace that followed. "Hmm, not a bad start to an apology though."
"How are they?" Sai asked, just holding her close for the moment.
"Sleeping. It's been a long day for the both of them. They miss their father. He works too much."
"He does. And he's really sorry about it. There's a lot of work that has to get done."
"There's ALWAYS going to be a lot of work that has to get done, Sai. Your children won't be babies forever."
"And with that stinging admonishment, I should probably hurry and go see them then, while they still are."
"It might be prudent, yes. I'm certainly not giving you any more for a while."
"A while, huh?"
"Ask again when you aren't working more than two hours a day. The next Argyle can be YOURS to raise."
"That much fun, huh?"
"You'd better believe it. Now, lets get going, eh? It's only ten o'clock... the night is young, and you've got more than children to tend to."
"I feel like I'm dreaming."
"That's ALL you'll be doing if you don't get a move on."
"Yikes! Yes, ma'am."
--
"Okay Ash, spill. What's the deal behind this sudden trip into the mountains?" Jean asked, scrunched up next to Ashino in the crowded shuttle bus. "You're not running away from another practical joke gone bad, are you?"
"I did not flee. I was sent away peacefully. And Thomas and Richard's cars HAVE been fixed, and they have sworn that there is no hostilities between us any longer. They were chuckling in a quite threatening manner at the time, which makes me doubt their sincerety, but no, this isn't another forceful seperation between me and my co-workers." Ashino replied, calmly enough. He hadn't expected the bus to be so crowded. He'd gotten a tipoff from Cyprus earlier that day... actually very early that morning... about a long lasting meteor shower that was due to occur in ther northern hemisphere that night. Well, technically it was already ongoing... Cyprus was already enjoying it over in the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea area, where he was apparently vacationing... they just couldn't see it in Colorado because it was daylight. But the shower, mostly bits and pieces from the debris belt, was due to continue for several days as about thirty thousand tons of various space debris reached the point of terminal decay in their orbital path and were reclaimed by the Earth's gravity. Much of it would burn up in instants in the upper atmosphere, but there were enough larger fragments to provide an apparently spectacular lightshow to anyone who could get far enough away from a major population center that the reflected light wouldn't blind them anymore. But Jean didn't know about any of it, and he was testing himself to see how long he could keep it a secret.
"Yeah, okay, whatever. By WHY are we going into the mountains then?"
"You'll find out."
"Don't you dare be mysterious with ME, mister! I can read you like a book!"
"Then you shouldn't need to ask me then, it should be obvious, right?" Ashino was puzzled slightly by her reactions... she really could read him pretty well... better than he could read her certainly, by orders of magnitude. But if she really could read him so well, she should have already figured it out. But she hadn't. That led him to believe she was actually bluffing. That gave him some confidence. He knew how to bluff. He'd had to... no way of survivng around Frost or Cray or the other high end BCPU's if you couldn't bluff and make yourself seem tougher than you were.
"Tell me!"
"No. You'll find out."
"Teellll meeee. Tellll meeee!"
"You will find out. Be patient."
"I don't wanna be patient! I wanna know now! Teelll meee! Please!? I said please."
"You did. So what?"
"So what!? Didn't your... right, nevermind. You wouldn't have gotten that social more, would you?"
"Hmm?"
"Forget it. Just tell me! Why! Tell me why! Please!?"
"I'm actually having more fun not telling you when you act like this."
"Tell meeeeeeee!" Jean butted him in the chest with her shoulder and draped herself onto his lap, writhing back and forth slowly. "I know you wanna tell me. You dooo. You doooo... stop denying yourself... you wanna tell meee..."
"What are you doing?"
"Well, standard methods aren't working, so I'm turning up the heat a little bit. If I can't wheedle it out of you, perhaps I can be so annoying about it you'll tell me to save yourself the irritation and embarassment?"
"I haven't felt irritated since Thomas and Richard played that joke on me. As for embarassed... why, now?"
Jean sighed heavily. "You're a tough nut to crack, when you wanna be, you know that, Ash? Okay, fine. We'll play it your way. I can wait. You'll tell me when the time is right, of course?"
"Of course." Ashino and Jean sat in mostly companionable silence for about fifteen minutes.
"Okay, screw this. The right time is NOW!"
"Hmm?"
"Don't "Hmm" me! I taught you to do that! Tell me why we're going to the mountains!"
"That would ruin it." Ashino replied, as seriously as he could.
"Ruin it? You mean... there's a surprise planned?"
"Yes."
"Will I like this surprise?"
"My experience with you and my fervent calculations say yes."
"Does this surprise have anything to do with why you packed your bag seperately from me, and are carefully keeping it safely tucked behind your foot?"
"Probably."
"Probably? You suuure its only probably?"
"What's with all the questions? I thought you preferred demands."
"Demands weren't working. So now, I'm going to play twenty questions with you. I don't want you to tell me what the surprise is. I'm going to guess. You're going to say yes or no. Does that sound okay?"
"Do I win if it takes more than twenty questions?"
"Provisionally, yes. But it won't. You're terrible at concealing things from me. I'll know in just a few minutes. Now remember... you have to be honest."
"I'm always honest, when it comes to you."
"I know. You're the sweetest thing sometimes, Ash. All right, here comes the first question. Does it have to do with..."
The game of questions persisted for most of the remaining trip, which took three hours. Finally, the shuttle stopped, just after reaching the continental divide. Altitude fourteen thousand and a few hundred feet. It was just a few minutes after dusk, and Ashino checked the time compared to the notes he'd taken from Cyprus. The first major shower should be visible in about... six minutes. Perfect timing. The bus had taken a little longer than he'd expected, due to all the people on board, but he'd factored some delay time in, just to be safe, and things were working out just fine. Except for the fact that Jean was not speaking to him in words longer than one syllable. She'd gotten close a few times, but inevitably her guesses left her haring off on wild goose chases concerning things like skiing trips, snow sleigh rides, mountaintop lodges, wildlife watching, concerts, or wilder things. He'd been exposed to more of the rough edged side of the female human psyche than he ever had before... when Jean got frustrated, she wasn't very pleasant company. Especially because she was pinning the blame for her frustration solely on him, and not her inaccurate guesses.
"Ooh. Mountaintop. Bare snow. Bare rock. Very few people. Very cold. I am not impressed." Jean's less than currently dulcet tones reminded him that he needed to get things started, preparation wise.
"Are you mad at me?" Ashino asked, to fill the time as he slowly started leading Jean up the well worn gravel path, even higher up the mountain.
"What would give you that impression?"
"Well, it has been nine hundred, forty six questions, and you haven't guessed right yet, so you might be unhappy with that outcome. You were close a few times though, if its any consolation?"
"Ash?"
"Yes?"
"Are you mocking me? Because if you are, I don't care if you ARE a super strong, super fast BC... whatever the heck... I'm going to kill you. Slowly."
"I'm not mocking you. I don't know how. And besides, it wouldn't serve my own goals for tonight. Having you mad at me to start out with is enough of a problem without compounding it with something else. Though I have been wondering... what exactly do I win, since it's taken you more than twenty questions?"
"Grrrrrr."
"This looks like a good spot." Ashino decided, simultaneously deciding that when someone started degenerating into growling incoherently, it was probabaly a good time to start affecting their emotions in a happier direction. He took out his pack and opened it, rapidly setting down a groundcloth and then erecting a small tent... more three wind resistant walls, with a fourth wall that was an entrance flap and then a clear plastic ceiling. He also took out a pack of chemical heating packets, which he snapped, activating the flameless heat sources. His final touch was a self inflating air matress for two, which went inside the tent. He poked his head out of the completed shelter, to see Jean gazing at him with mixed incomprehension and a little worry on her face. "It's going to be much warmer in here." He pointed out, wondering at her hesitation.
"You just set up a tent... on protected soil... in a national park. Illegally, I should stress. Maybe no one can see it in the dark... but tomorrow morning... there's going to be several VERY pissed off Park Rangers wanting to talk to you. And me too, probably."
"Really? I had no idea."
"They're not going to take that as an excuse."
"Well, I brought along a failsafe mechanism, in case of any major problems. Garuanteed to fix any problem on Earth."
"A gun?"
"My cellphone. Though a gun does solve many problems, it tends to cause them as well."
"What's so special about your cellphone?"
"The people it can call. Sai told me to give him a ring if anyone tried to give me flak tonight or tomorrow. Do you think the Park Rangers will want to talk to him?"
"I think... you might have a point." Jean agreed. "However, I still don't know WHY we're here, even if it ISN'T going to be a legal problem."
"I suppose it is the right time. Or close enough." Ashino checked his time. "Look up, please. And to the north east, for the best view."
"Best view of... oh wow." Jean's voice caught as she saw three brilliant streaks of orange and yellow and white cut across the night in the indicated part of the sky. Barely had they passed when four more appeared. And then more, and more, until that part of the sky was seemingly being pawed at by giant celestial cats with claws of fire. "Meteor shower? I didn't hear anything on the news."
"It's just space debris. Of course, at orbital velocity, whether its a styrofoam ball or ball bearing, it really doesn't matter that much. From here, it's just beautiful. Like at least one other thing I can see."
"That was... that was a pretty cute line, Ash."
"Thank you. I'd been waiting to use it all day."
"You're not supposed to admit that." Jean admonished, climbing into the heated tent with him. "Thanks for the surprise. Way better than just any old concert or skiing trip, I will admit."
"You're welcome. Does that mean I'm forgiven for being secretive?"
"It means, you get the winner's prize."
"And that is... oh... oh, I see. Good prize."
"I am, aren't I."
--
"Waiting... waiting... waiting... I really hate waiting. You lied to me, Mr. Machine. You said it would only be twelve days. It's been almost sixteen already. And now, you want me to wait another nine days? You must be crazier than I am, to think I'm going to do that!"
"You really don't have much choice. The time isn't yet right."
"Who are YOU to decide what time is right for MY destiny, Mr. Machine? What do you know about it?"
"Enough to have decided that the time isn't yet right."
"Oho, you're a funny one, Mr. Machine. You make me chuckle, you do. I'm promising you here and now... you'll be hearing me chuckle as I slowly bury you under the ashes of everyone you ever cared about. Alive, if disemboweled. Once I figure out who you are."
"You don't scare me, monster."
"You don't know me, Mr. Machine, very well at all then. I scare everyone. Everyone, everything, from the simplest bug to the most annoying Pink and Yamato and their plethora of fiendishly lucky friends. They're all terrified of me. I'm even beginning to suspect that dear Grey, that lovable man, is actually afraid of me, somewhere in his heart. I don't see how he can't be. I know for a FACT that you, Mr. Machine, are petrified of me."
"What makes you think that?"
"Because, Mr. Machine, you're trying to hold me back. And, you're talking to me through a Gundam, presumably one you had some hand in building. A Gundam formerly operated by a dear uncle of mine. A dear uncle who happened to be a member of a certain family. A certain family of Coordinators. A very rich, wealthy family of Coordinators. A far reaching group, certainly... but far from numberless. Isn't that right, Mr. Borander?"
"I'm not confirming anything."
"That's all right, Mr. Machine, you don't have to. After all, the only difference it really makes is priority. You're all going to die anyway. You're just going to die sooner than others. Not many others, but some others."
"By all you mean Coordinators?"
"By all, I mean ALL. Even me, at last. Even the animals. Even the plants. The bugs. Everything alive will not be."
"Leave the animals alone! They didn't do anything to you! They didn't do anything to anyone!"
"Ah... a soft point, animals, then? What do you care about the beasts, you space monster? I'll admit, they are generally unsatisfying to kill, since most are barely self aware enough to grant me any enjoyment for snuffing them out... slowly, painfully, artfully... but why should that alone be reason enough to spare them? It isn't. As for doing anything to me... or anyone... most people... I use the term loosely, to categorize a type of animal that walks on two legs and provides enjoyment when killed, by the way... haven't DONE anything to warrent their death either. Besides being alive when I am. Its... unfortunate for them that their predecessors couldn't learn to live in peace. Would have saved them a lot of trouble. And pain. And beautiful bleeding all over the place. Oh well. Such is the human condition. Sucks to be human, don't it?"
"You really are insane."
"Aha, yes, I am, thank you. But I sense a slightly hurt tone. Maybe someone didn't realize that little factoid until just now? Maybe you thought I was faking it, just a little? Ahaha... no. Fortunately not. I am fully crazy. Fully aware of it. And fully enjoying it. Perhaps you were hoping to appeal to some hidden better side? You can do it anyways, if you want. I don't mind. I could use another chuckle. Since you won't let me go anywhere."
"You're MORE than welcome to leave, monster, any time you want. But the Pulsar isn't going anywhere for eight days and sixteen hours, thirty four minutes, fifty seconds. And counting."
"You... you think you can just play the scenes however you want, don't you? You really disgust me, Mr. Machine. You're crouched in some dark room right now, sitting at a computer most likely. Scheming your schemes, plotting your plots, fully confident that it is you, and only you, who has ever been in full control of history recently. Maybe, to a degree, you are even correct. However, I can assure you, you have NOT accounted for every variable. No one can fully account for me. Or for Pink. Except for me. I have their measure now. I know their luck. I have stolen their greatest strength. Corrupted their strongest warrior. Poisoned their very heart and soul with my own essence."
"You have potentially created your very worst nightmare of a nemesis, you stupid, insane freak. You had no idea what you were messing with when you tampered with an Ultimate Coordinator like Kira Yamato. He's become far stronger than even you can hope to match."
"That's where you're wrong. Very wrong. Heh. Heh heh. Yes, wrong. They've never stood on even footing with me. None of them. Even if he HAS grown stronger because of what I did to him... so much the better. The tougher they are, the more beautifully they break in my grip."
"You're such an egomaniac..."
"No, Mr. Machine, I'm a maniac, certainly sociopathic, probably a tad schiziophrenic, joyfully homicidal and suicidal even, to a degree. Whether or not my ego has anything to do with that, I can't say for sure. I have pride, but I'm not afraid to discard it if I need to. I believe that I've really become something more of a force of nature, than anything else. A wildfire. A volcano. A tsunami."
"Only an egomaniac would..."
"Takes one to know one, Mr. Machine. You're a bigger egomaniac than I am... after all, you're the one trying to talk down to me. I'm treating you just like I would anyone else who I can hear but not kill. I'd actually like to ask you a question, Mr. Machine."
"You can ask. I'm not obliged to answer."
"Do you still wet the bed, Mr. Machine? You surely can't be older than about ten or so. Its nothing to be ashamed of... I wet my table even when I was sixteen and older. Of course, that may have been because they were running electric current through my brain and spine, but I'm not one to nitpick details or look for excuses. My father once mentioned something about a detestable little nephew up in the PLANTS. He mentioned it in the same breath as he talked about Pink's little boytoy, Yamato. The same breath in which the chance phrase, "Ultimate Coordinator" happened to be placed. Perhaps that accounts for the slight stress you placed upon the phrase when you accused me of not knowing what I was tampering with? A little elitist, are we? So far, from what I've seen, Ultimate Coordinators aren't so tough. I've certainly never had any trouble with the Boytoy before."
"Groundless speculation."
"Ahaha... someone is upset. Has to have the last word, don't you, Mr. Machine? You burgeoning evil little genius you. I think I can see why the Doc hated you so much. I think I can see why EVERYONE hates you so much. Yes. No one loves you, do they? Not truly. Not unless you manipulate them into it. Force them into it, perhaps? I wouldn't know what you can do. Or how. It doesn't really matter. You're alone, Mr. Machine. All alone, in your dark room, with your computer. Talking with me. The agent of your inevitable demise. How does it feel, Mr. Machine, to look helplessly at the twisted face of the madman killer who is going to hunt you down, in your dark, lonely room, one of these nights, with a knife in hand, gleefully to cut your precious little eyes from your skull and devour them... shortly before I feed you toes first into a mulcher? Does it scare you? Do you deny that it scares you? Are you telling yourself "it'll never happen"? That the crazy guy doesn't have a fucking clue what he's talking about? Please, Mr. Machine, keep telling yourself that. It makes my life easier when my prey is in denial."
"..."
"What... nothing to say? Nothing to bolster your faltering courage, Mr. Machine? No taunts? No denials? No logical arguements? Are you just going to give up then, Mr. Machine? Resignation makes things even easier, you know. But then again... resignation must be a familiar feeling to you, right? Since you're all alone I mean. No friends. A family that isn't one, except in name. No peers. No one who understands you. Maybe except for me, but you don't count me. You're too scared to count me. You're a frightened little animal loving boy, yes you are. I think I might just hop out and kill some random wildlife, you know. With you in mind. I'll tell them it was you that inspired the rampage. I'm sure their souls will be waiting for you in the inevitable afterlife. I wonder what they'll say."
"I'm the one in control here. This conversation is over. Feel free to rave as you like, I won't be listening to you, Mr. Frost."
"You don't have to listen to me, Mr. Borander. You have to listen to that terrified thumping in your chest and that sick feeling in the back of your throat. I'll be seeing you in hell. Twice. Once in the hell of my creation. And again, in the hell of God's creation. Assuming there is such a place. Which I hope there is, because otherwise, I'm going to be really bored when I die. Good night then, Mr. Machine. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite. I want all of you to myself. Heh."