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 Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:26 pm
Setsushi makes a fine foil to Lucretia now; even more exhausted now, he meekly allows himself to be herded along by the Raevan. If they did well, he thinks not only to himself, it has been entirely due to Madame's expertise; Setsushi was hardly able to keep track of what was going on around him in that bizarre dark space, and isn't even sure he was operating his weapon correctly.
Still, he is not all defeat and moroseness. Towards the end he did feel as if he was beginning to understand the mechanics of the game, and he found it quite interesting. He peers at the screen she points out to him, squinting a little at the digital output -- and everything has been crafted with such advanced technology...
Interesting, how the same people who produced technologies to provide so many elaborate new methods of harm also produced technologies to simulate, yet avoid harm.
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:39 pm
The Ice Rose practically vibrates with excitement until the final scores come up on the monitor, indicating that their team only came in second of three, and were not particularly close to first place.
With a sigh, she glances over to her date. "We'll get them next time," she murmurs, her expression already blank. "Oh, yeah, do you want to get some food? It looks like we have about fifteen minutes before we play again." Lucretia unenthusiastically pointed to a digital countdown clock surrounded with blinking lights beside the briefing room doorway.
"I'm a little hungry myself, I guess. Do you Porcelain like things like french fries and ice cream? That's mostly what they have here."
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:47 pm
Setsushi expresses his regret to Lucretia. If he were more capable, they would have done better; after all, it cannot be denied that "Madame is most skilled."
Perhaps hoping to cheer her up, he immediately seizes upon her admittance of hunger and offers to purchase for her any food she likes. Do they sell flavored ice here? and if so, "What may I get for you?"
As for himself, Setsushi does not think he should weigh down his already-poor reflexes with too much food, but a little bit of fried potato might be an enjoyable snack. This thought makes him smile; Rika would surely be delighted to visit this place, what with its strange customs and vast abundance of greasily fried foods...
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:59 pm
"I wasn't the best one. I'm not that good yet. And don't worry, it was your first time playing."
She shrugs a little and then drifts down to the first cash register, and just asks for a paper cup full of ice. Turning back to Setsushi, the Raevan tells him, "Plain ice is all I can eat. But thank you." Then she asks, "Are you sure I can't pay for you, since I'm the one who asked you out?" ... "And who is 'Rika'?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:08 pm
"Madame is most generous, but you must not," he insists; if she starts a habit of paying for this giant's meals, she will soon be bankrupt.
... Of course, this claim isn't quite supported by his order of small fries and water, but Setsushi doesn't seem to realize the irony.
He hunts a place to sit, drawing his limbs in neatly as if he is terribly self-conscious about taking up space in public -- but his whole posture and attitude changes when Lucretia asks him about Rika, and he regards the fry he holds with a soft, nostalgic smile. "Rika is my friend," he begins, one of his dearest friends in the Golden World. A brilliant woman, perhaps a genius, so learned for one so young. "The variety of culture is one of her interests," he explains, so he imagines she would have great fun exploring the strange land of Gaia.
It makes Setsushi rather melancholy to think he may never see her again...
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:34 pm
The Raevan fetches herself a straw for her meal, and picks up their printed score sheets on the way back to the table. Looking her own over, she offers Setsushi his as well and settles down over the chair across the table.
After scanning the breakdown of her score, the Ice Rose listens to Setsushi describe his friend. Then she smiles a little and reaches across the table to poke at his shoulder with one finger. "I don't think it's good to talk about other girls with the one you're dating."
"Although I guess if she falls out of Porcelainland and ends up here like you and Kouyo did, then we can bring her here sometime."
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:42 pm
Setsushi blushes, but extends a firm projection of protest. "Rika is not a girl!" ... Well, yes, maybe she is, technically, a young female, but she is definitely not a potential target for Setsushi's affections. ... Sort of like Madame. ... Not that he dislikes Madame. ... Setsushi should just stop digging a hole, he supposes.
He does sincerely hope Rika does not end up coming to them in Gaia, though -- whatever is happening over there, it will need a quick and powerful mind like hers to navigate. He chews a fry morosely.
... But, right, Madame would rather he speak on a different topic?
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:58 pm
"... You can just call me Lucretia if you want," she tells the Knight, then turns her attention to her meal. She pokes around in the ice cubes with the straw a little, then somehow manages to sublimate a couple of them straight out of the cup.
"But yeah, sure, whatever else you want to talk about, I guess. ... Did you look at your score sheet yet? How many hits did you score?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:16 pm
"If you insist," Setsushi replies, shifting uncomfortably.
Setsushi looks at the sheet reluctantly. It looks like he struck the enemy... four times? With a performance like that, surely he would be a nameless casualty on the real battlefield. sweatdrop
Setsushi hopes to do better next time, though; now that he knows how to operate the equipment and to expect ambushes everywhere, he thinks he can do a bit better. If this were a proper gentlemanly contest of archery, it would really be so much easier...
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:25 pm
"If it makes you feel better, my brother Bhel hits like, one person for every hundred or so times he pulls the trigger, and that was only your first game. I didn't do so well, either." The girl glances over the top of her cup down at her own score card again.
"Maybe we can come here for my birthday party. Would you come play again with me? You could meet my other brothers, and maybe Kouyo can come, too, if he isn't busy like today." Lucretia thinks of how the red-haired Porcelain had cowered, mouse-like, under his boss's gaze at the bookstore, then asks, "Er, do you think he'd like laser-tag?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:32 pm
Cautiously, Setsushi begins by admitting he would not be averse to accompanying Lucretia to this place again, but he cannot make any arrangements before he knows his schedule for the day in question. "When is Miss Lucretia planning to form this party?"
... Wait, did she just say that she met Kouyo today? "Was something in particular occupying Kouyo?" His friend has seemed social and healthy lately, so Setsushi hopes that it is some pleasant engagement that is keeping him busy and not... well.
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:41 pm
"Well, not till this summer. Daddy says my birthday is July second, so not for a few more months." She frowns a moment in thought and adds, "I hope Jilan is back from Porcelainland before then. He seems like he could be fun if he could keep his nose out of books for a few hours."
A playful look then crosses the Raevan's features at Setsushi's second question, and she replies, "Yeah, he's on a date, too." Lucretia gives the Knight her best cryptic smile.
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:44 pm
Setsushi promises to keep the date in mind and to join Lucretia again if he is able.
... ... ... Wait. "Kouyo is on a date?" If Lucretia means a ritual of courtship and not a mere outing, that does not sound like something to which the High Priest would consent, assuming his mind was not in disarray...
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:51 pm
Lucretia nods, her smile becoming a decidedly proud one. "Yeah, I made him Daddy's valentine for today so they can make friends again."
She rattles the ice in her cup a little, then her brow furrows a little as she wonders aloud, "Does that qualify as 'courtship'?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:49 am
Setsushi just stares at Lucretia in silence as horrible thoughts churn privately in his mind, leaking through to his facial expression in the form of a fearful grimace.
"I hope it does not," he finally says, "for if it does, it would be a murder plot."
Cautiously, and trying to affect a calm and rational tone rather than a tense one, he asks if Lucretia knows if Kouyo and Kumoru are in private at present, or if they are in a public location, where the former might be able to scream for help if the need arose?
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