Spoiler!It's hard to express details like that, huh? I can go months on a certain story arc, and then notice nobody knows a certain major characteristic about a character I thought I made clear.
I'm trying to do up a shocking reveal, but I realized I didn't do enough buildup for it to really matter. So I got stuck trying to make it work while keeping the scene going, and it's just a mess.
So is the ship crashing thing going to be a yearly thing? I can get behind that.
- The Inner Rivalry of Melchior Families: Part II -Spoiler!
Yoshi set the tray down, dropped into a combat low stance and immediately reach for his gunslash; but before he could rip it from his backside, Sia quickly grabbed his arm and softly whispered, “Wait.” Confused, angry and already jumping to conclusions, Yoshi grudgingly watched as the newmen approached them, carefully studying the area she roamed in. Her head stiff in movement, her eyes fluid and swift, scanning over everything twice or thrice. As if making sure she wouldn’t miss a single detail.
From time to time she would readjust her grip on Reinhardt, who to Yoshi was a prisoner of war, latch on to for later questioning. For Sia, he was something else. The newmen held him not tightly, but firmly and thoughtfully. Studying the way she held him, along with his well-maintained face, he may have a broken bone or three. Medical techniques may even have been used for temporary stability at the moment. This in turn would be aided by the thick armor like ranger jacket he wore. To Sia, Reinhardt was not a prisoner of war, but a victim of some large fight prior to their visit. Along with this, and judging by the well-off, yet still slightly bloodied, regal officer suit the newmen wore, Reinhardt may have been protecting this woman. Why he would do so remained a mystery. Using this info, and incase trouble followed them; Sia twitched her ears around and slightly opened her mouth for better hearing.
Though she could have told Yoshi, “Don’t worry, she’s not an enemy,” Sia still wasn’t sure herself either. So instead, she tugged at the human’s arm and softly patted his shoulder with an eased “everything will be alright” expression on her face. In response, Yoshi gave off a sort of whining sound and slowly relaxed his weapon hand’s grip. Even in doing so, he prepared for combat still by readying the usage of techniques or diga.
Just as he did, his left hand merely flexing and twitching, the newmen woman of white hair placed her attention completely onto human and studied him for a brief moment. After two sweeps, she then studied Sia, where the same was done for her as well. By the time she looked back at Yoshi, he could feel the coldness of her stare chill his skin, along with the dislike for his kind. Oddly enough however, she also gave off a sense of understanding and acceptance, as if she could see the history behind the two. By the time her gaze set back on Sia, the newmen’s gaze became different. For Sia, her eyes were more laxed, yearning for further understanding and knowledge. So much did she desire more info that she lifted a rifle at Yoshi and as she did, Sia stepped in between the two using an aggressive stance of her very own. For a while, the newmen didn’t move. Her face hardly changed. Only her eyebrows moved, matching those of a confident smile.
“Dimitri, I know you’re out there,” she suddenly said out of nowhere. “Come out before I make you. I advise your companions to do the same.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” a young boy cried from behind Yoshi and Sia. “I have failed you.”
Out of thin air, three more newmen faded into the ship’s garage, like a mists of color painting several three dimensional bodies. Among the three of them, a newmen of short well-kept black hair knelt on the metal floor, obviously being the one responsible for cloaking the trio. On his left, a newmen of blue hair, nameless, frail in appearance and to their right, Dimitri himself; another newmen of white hair, who looked rather impressed. He even clapped upon entry.
“I see you’re as keen as ever. As expected of the heir of the Borchards. Tell me, did it feel good, for you to spill so much good newmen blood? Was it even necessary?”
The newmen woman gazed stoically at Dimirti and replied, “Had your men not attacked me first, there would not have been any need for such bloodshed. You will pay for your crimes, Dimitri.”
“Now now, Rosalin, I was not the one who told them to attack. They must have done so on their own accord, or maybe, you manipulated them to attack you yourself,” Dimitri countered, with a smug grin, a pushed up brow and his arms held wide open. “Or… maybe it had to do with your friend there? It’s not every day I see a newmen withstand a tank breaking punch, let alone three.”
“Still redirecting the blame on someone else I see?”
“Ah, the Durenes, such a family full of confused and pathetic offspring, producing nothing of value for years if my memory serves me well. And to side with a human for most of his days, it’s no wonder someone would attack him. He’s nothing more than an incompetent traitor. Or maybe, he just wanted someone to make himself feel more superior, worthless like the rest.”
Enraged, Yoshi lunged forward, yearning to rip the newmen’s throat out and again Sia held him back, a serious expression painted her face as well. At the same time, Rosalin also held out a palm towards Yoshi, silently instructing him to stay where he was. In doing so, it provided him a strange sense of clarity. Angry as he may have been, he couldn’t find the will to argue, not when Sia told him to trust Rosalin, not when newmens could be cloaking reinforcements. In the end, Yoshi obeyed, deciding that Dimitri, who still looked down upon him this very moment, should have the first attack. For defense is Yoshi’s specialty anyways.
Unfortunately for Yoshi, Dimitri would not attack. Not when there were so many unpredictable factors around. Behind his show of confidence, he did not think to bring any sort of reinforcement. Scared, he pushed on. “Alas, maybe I was quick to judge,” he said, his face unchanged. “I can see why he would side with a human, such as this one, when they can keep him sane.” After he said that, he began clapping again and stared at Sia. “Bravo woman for keeping your pet on a leash. You do us proud in proving who the superior race is. Tell me… are you of the Melchior as well?”
The two behind him began clapping as well. Sia didn’t answer. She only stared.
“Ah, but I knew I remembered you from somewhere. Yes, you were the woman who stayed for our act of forgiveness. I hope he hasn’t given you much trouble. Just remember that you are free to kill him should he ever step out of line. Wouldn’t want trash like him to feel too free now would we?”
“Enough of this Dimitri,” Rosalin interrupted. “Leave, now. Lest I have to remind you of what happens to those who cross a Borchard.”
“What are you going to do, cry to father?” Dimitri sneered, before rubbing his eyes in a mocking manner.
“Worse,” Rosalin replied. In the next second, a blade of light sprouted out from the top of her wrist in the shape and length of a gladius. Fully extended, she lifted the energy blade in air, pointed it at the unfazed Dimitri and furrowed her brows.
In response, Dimitri did the same. He too summoned a blade of energy, one more like a long sword than a gladius and said, “Need I remind you about the arm you almost lost in our last encounter?”
“The same could be said for your head but what’s it to a brainless fool such as yourself?”
“Sir,” shouted the two newmens as they moved to guard their leader.
“I wouldn’t harm her if I were you,” said a weakened Reinhardt, tightly gripping Rosalin’s shoulder for support. “Spill a drop of her blood and you’ll find yourselves going home in body bags.”
“That wouldn’t be advisable. You still require medical attention,” Rosalin said calmly.
“Relax, sweet cheeks, these wounds are nothing to me,” said Reinhardt confidently, just before almost coaching a lung out. Once he recovered, he then readied himself for combat and said, “So what’s it gonna be, snowflake? You feeling lucky?”
Just then, in an effort to grab everyone’s attention, Yoshi coughed a loud cough; the kind of cough that could echo across the entire room and overpower all the noise. Once done, when the echo subsided, Yoshi switched his attention between everyone and said, “Look if you guys want to fight that’s fine by me, but could you guys seriously do that somewhere else? This ship just got a fresh paint job. Not to mention that someone could be recording all of this right now?” After that, Yoshi began pointing at all of the mags in the area, each which have already given off their own invisible auras of malicious intent.
“You got everything you wanted to see here, Dimitri. Now go before I really get angry.”
“Hah, you showing me an expression? That will be the day. For now though, I will humor you. I shall leave and be a bother no more. This isn’t over human cattle,” Dimitri finished, pointing at Yoshi with a cruel smile, starting his trip backwards. He then turned around and said, “Come, we have other matters to attend to,” and without question, his men followed, both of them whispering to one another.
Once gone, Rosalin dropped her weapons and helped Reinhardt stay on his feet. When the sword his the floor, the blade faded into a mist of white light, disintegrating until the pommel had been engulfed by hungry gray steel. The rifle on the other hand, an object made like any other Arks weapon, simply bounced on the floor. “Reinhardt, I told you to stay out of combat. You still require medical attention,” said Rosalin, resting the red headed newmen against a nearby green metal crate. “What am I going to do if you get yourself killed?”
“I’ve been through worst, trust me,” groaned Reinhardt. Finally getting comfortable, the man then glanced at Yoshi and lazily lifted a finger off the floor, saying, “Besides, I’m not going to be shown up by Mr. Diga McGee over there. I got a reputation to uphold.”
“Dude, I don’t think that would matter if you’re dead,” Yoshi grumbled. “Besides, we’re brothers. If you got into a scrap, i’d have to be in the fight too. Remember?”
“Nobody is getting into a fight,” Sia butted in. “Brothers or no brothers.”
“Speaking of siblings, I need to have a word with you… Marisa,” said Rosalin, now facing Sia. “I wish to learn more about your relationship between you and the mind witch.”
“Excuse me?”
“The cabbage head that called you her sister.”
This time it was Yoshi who held Sia back, saying in response, “To be honest, their relationship could likely be like mine and Reinhardt’s. Isn’t that right, big bro?”
“Yoshi, not in front of the pretty lady,” Reinhardt blushed.
“I see, is that true?”
Before Sia could speak, Yoshi spun around in front of the black hair newmen and did a few hand gestures near his mouth to warn her not to use her sailor words. After that, he gave two close thumbs ups and smiled.
“Maybe,” Sia unhappily replied.
“And I assume your relationship with the human goes beyond sanity needs?”
Shock told hold of Sia. She forcibly turned away, her face subtly flushed up a little. As she kept an eye on Reinhardt, she silently lipped “Yes” before facing forward again. Now feeling a little bit violated, Sia then leaned forward and said, “So what the hell do you want with my little sister?”
“To keep her away from Dimitri,” Rosalin replied, truth reinforced by the honest look in her eyes. “He is a zealot who despises his own family for the wrong reason. The Melchior is more than just another ship. We live a-”
“Yes, yes I know,” Sia intervened. “We live in a lie. Arks doesn’t want people, they want soldiers and they steal kids at a young age to get them. I know. I’ve been there before.”
“Then you must understand how important it is for Dimitri to never gain another one of her kind.”
In response, Sia crossed her arms, lifted her chin and continued to glare. “And what makes you think my sister is this so called ‘mind witch’?” she asked, a hand rolling in the air.
“Because one of my own has noticed your sister’s increased activity for the past few weeks. Dimitri had one of his own as well, but foolishly allowed his to die.” Just then, a newmen girl of green hair walked up to Rosalin and whispered something into her ear. When the newmen of green hair finished, she then bowed and retreated out of sight. “I see. Her plans only involve you and an unfortunate implication with your human companion.”
“Unfortunate? In what manner?” asked Sia.
Deep down inside, Sia knew she was being fed lies. She knew newmens of green hair could be born with the slim chance of having memory manipulating powers, but she also knew that they can’t simply detect one another through their actions. To do that, one must retain memories of the overwritten timeline and even then, they wouldn’t know who was responsible for the time shifts. One would have to be omnipotent to be able to. After Sia has asked her question, Rosalin then turned to Yoshi and asked,
“Human, what do you know about rebirth cycle of the dragonkin?”
“Not much really. I don’t keep up with the research being done on it,” Yoshi replied with an expression of disinterest. “Why?
”
“You’re destiny await you on Amdusia, human. Lucky for you, someone has gone through a considerable amount of effort to narrow down the uncertainties. Your chance of failure is much smaller than your chances of success. Sadly, who this person is still eludes me. Now then, let me ask you something else. Something only you can answer. How you answer this question will affect many things in your life.”
Yoshi rubbed the back of his head and said in a soft, uneasy voice, “No pressure or anything.”
“No,” Roselin’s voice trailed off. “On second thought… it is not for me to ask such a thing. For now, I must tend to your brother’s wounds.” With that, the newmen carefully picked Reinhardt off the ground and continued, “Worry not, he is in good hands. And… he has discovered who he truly is.”
“I’m afraid you lost me there,” said Yoshi with a weak grin. What?”
To answer Yoshi’s question, Rosalin summoned her blade again and moved it under Reinhardt’s chest. Just as Yoshi reacted, his arm launching in the air, the red head newmen raised an arm and weakly said, “Yoshi, relax. She can’t hurt me.”
“That is correct. His ability is the natural equivalent of your comrade, Stamato. Now, if you will excuse us, we must leave, now.”
Before she left, Reinhardt weakly twisted upright, looked up at Rosalin, squeezed her mouth with one hand, saying, “Rosalin, how many times do I have to tell you? Just because you’re smart and beautiful, doesn’t mean you have to sound like a calculator.” In response, Rosalin bonked him on the head and replied, “I told you to stop doing that,” and carried him away, all while he laughed and coughed.
Waiting for the moment they disappeared from sight, the newmen from earlier reappeared out of the blue and bowed.
“Please don’t think too harshly on Master Rosalin,” the newmen said retaining her bow. “She only wishes to see us special newmen live free lives, away from the clutches of Arks. Your sister is no different.”
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Yoshi interrupted, “What does a mind newmen exactly do? I take it they aren’t super forces.”
“Yes,” the newmen replied, not towards Yoshi, but towards Sia instead. “Newmens of blue hair are the one who specialize in super charged technique usage. Us repressed green hair newmen are of the memory kind. We travel through time via memory and also fare much better than the other races. CAST, for the most part, meltdown upon reentry, the human body finds it much harder to adapt to the sudden change of youth and mental capability and dewmen’s minds break entirely. Some even die just attempting it. Even then, there aren’t many of us around. You see, when you send a memory through time, you must be careful of how you do it. Most of us tend to throw our everything into the future the first time around and as a result, leave our bodies to become nothing more than, should I say, a shell, a useless body. No future us creating a future means no body to return to. No body to return to means a dead time traveler; and that’s just making a leap forward.”
Sia held her hand up, stopping the newmen from talking. “How long has Dimitri been following us?” she demanded.
“Not often, that’s for sure. The diga-born keep him very busy and other problems always arise when they don’t. Time is on your side. You don’t have to do this. The human however-”
“He has a name you know.”
“It’s alright,” Yoshi butted in, patting Sia’s shoulder. “I’m already used to the Melchior’s ways. Besides, I remember when a certain someone used to be the same way”
“I changed,” Sia pouted. “Or maybe you want me to start attacking you again? Is that what you want? Huh?”
“Alright, alright, i’m only pulling your leg,” said Yoshi with a large smile on his face.
A couple of arms were thrown towards the floor. “I’m right here, thank you,” the green hair girl whined.
“I’m not done with you,” Sia said, poking Yoshi chest before turning back towards the newmen girl. “Aright, so what are you trying to tell him? Bitol, by the way.”
“There’s nothing for me to say other than a raise of arms may take place and the diga will not be spared. If this is to be prevented, he must stay alive, if he even can. But seeing as I really don’t care for humans, it doesn’t really concern me.”
“So in other words, you’re really just a little bitch and can’t see into the future very well.”
“How dare you,” the newmen shouted, taken back by Sia’s words. “I’ll have you know that I am among Rosalin’s trusted elite. I can order your death with a snap of my fingers.”
“Is that a threat?” Yoshi and Sia said together.
The newman backed away, slightly intimated by the duo’s fierce glares. “Tread lightly human. You’ll need it,” she growled. After that she spun around and sprinted away, disappearing into the now sunset lit building coloring the outside walls beyond the ship’s garage.
“Great, just what I needed. Now I have to keep a close eye on you,” Sia complained, a finger poking at Yoshi’s chest.
In response, Yoshi grabbed Sia by the shoulders and said in a comforting tone, “Sia, relax. Nothing is going to go wrong. And even if something did go wrong, I’m sure Neona would have told us by now. After all, she’s the one wasting her time on me. I’m going to assume I’m suddenly important because now I get in the way of their plans.”
“Well I’m going to double check just in case,” replied Sia before she turned and faced the engine room. “You finished setting up the drive right?”
Doing the same, Yoshi folded his arms up and casually responded, “Yeah, it should be good to go whenever you need it. All you got to do now is fuel it. Speaking of which, want me to do that right now?”
“I’ll do it some other time. For now, I’m going to find my sister. See what she really has to say.” Sia then turned towards Yoshi again and looked down at his chest. In a sheepish voice, she then added, “Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.”
Immediately afterwards, Yoshi looked up in the air and searched for his mag. As if knowing that it master needed it, the mag came swooping into the garage and displayed a sign that said, “All Clear.” On that, Yoshi then looked back at the newmen and said in a pleasant voice. “Well if you need to find her, she tends to hang around Ijiraku these days. Not sure why to be honest. You could try Leanna’s place as well.”
“Thanks but I think I know where I’ll find her,” Sia replied, staring outside the ship.
“Want me to come with you?” Yoshi asked with a smile, ducking around so he could look Sia in the eyes.
“Arethusa should be getting home any minute now. Think you can seal the engine room off and make sure she doesn’t get in?”
Yoshi quickly glanced back at the engine room. “Good idea. Consider it done,” he said. “I don’t want her messing with what’s in there either. Could be dangerous.”
“Then I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Alright,” said Yoshi before his started voice trailing off, realizing that he spoke with no one now. Just like that, Sia vanished. He didn’t even hear any footsteps of her leaving. “Sia?” he asked, looking around with concern written all over his face. “You still here?” Uneasy with how she just suddenly disappeared, Yoshi placed one hand on his hip, the other on the back of his head, and stared at the engine room doorway. “Well, better make this thing idiot proof I guess,” he said in his head. “Who knows what she’ll use to get into here. I hope she doesn’t use any explosives. If that’s the case, then I guess I should gather some more materials. What to do, what to do.”
In the next hour, Yoshi successfully reinforced both the engine room’s door frame and door itself. After taking a moment to bathe in the pride of his handy work, he then waltzed inside for a fresh cup of coffee. For a few moments, he sat in silence and in the next few minutes, that came after, finally came Arethusa, back from work and ready to hit the sack. Or she would have had it not been for a lounging Yoshi, who sat on her favorite armchair, using her favorite cup holder for his mug of coffee. He even sat in the same manner she would have had their positions been switched. “Dad,” she yelled out loud. Caught off guard, Yoshi began scrambling in his seat and ended up catching a falling daughter, who jumped in with a running leap. Legs now sore, Yoshi hugged his daughter and said with a wheezy voice, “How are you, my little chicken nugget?”
“I’m doing fine,” Arethusa replied before immediately continuing with, “So, what’s with the engine room?”
“Oh nothing, Sia just got a new door installed just in case of random internal fires, that’s all.”
“You installed it, didn’t you?”
Yoshi let out a spit of air, looked away, saying “Maybe.”
“So what’s in it?”
“Nothing, sweetie. Everything should be the same.”
“Oh?” Arethusa asked while frowning. “Then why is there a giant chunk of metal sitting outside the ship?”
“Oh that? That’s been there since this afternoon.”
“And why is it there?”
“No reason really,” Yoshi lied.
“Dad,” said Arethusa, her head slightly tilted.
“Alright, you got me,” said Yoshi, as if he was going to confess. “I used the thing to replace some parts in the warp drive.”
“Dad, those are two completely different things, for two completely different purposes. And one is at least fifty years older than the other.”
Yoshi pinched Arethusa cheeks and said in a fatherly tone, “Look at you, my very smart and precious daughter. So, how did find out?”
“Whose skills do you think I inherited?” Arethusa cried. After than she then folded her arms and made a pouty face. ‘I’m good with machines too you know.”
“Then this calls for a celebration,” exclaimed Yoshi as he raised and lowered his daughter onto her feet. “So, what do you want to eat for dinner? Do you want more dessert?”
Something caught Arethusa’s ear. Her eyes widen in joy. “Dessert you say?” she asked, her head turning slowly in a creepy fashion. “Well… if you must know…”
“Oh boy,” said Yoshi in his head, smiling with squinting eyes so he could hide his inner concerns. “Just like her mother.”
Last edited by yoshiblue; Oct 7, 2015 at 10:19 PM.
Extra:
Spoiler!Seems like every day's an adventure at Yoshi's house.No wonder you didn't name Yoshi's "daughter" until near the end, otherwise it would've been too confusing with two Mareans! At first I was like, "Wow, his daughter sure has a dirty mind!" Then I remembered about the support partner thing and it made more sense. Is skimball based on anything, by the way? Or did you just make it up from scratch?
Filler III:
Spoiler!I'm not sure what was going on at the beginning of this one. My first thought was that you were doing a play on support partner client orders, but I have no idea who that mean guy was supposed to be.
The humanoid creature, I'm guessing that's the same one from that earlier chapter? Not sure what its interest is in Yoshi, I guess I'll find out later. Feels like Marean (the support partner) has a lot of baggage to deal with for such a little girl!
Hitch in the Plan:
Spoiler!I liked how Marean drank from both cups when Yoshi walked away, to me that spoke a lot to her personality. Also how she pushed Yoshi down when Reinhardt called, it made their time together seem... inappropriate. Like they had something to hide. xD
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
Spoiler!Skimball is a shameless ripoff of FFX's Blitzball. They're more or less the same thing but Skimball has you wearing nothing but the waterproof equivalent of underwear, protected by a sports grade line shield. This is the only time its mentioned though.Spoiler!Sports grade is different from the military grade and is only issued to professional sports teams, because civilians shouldn't get their hands on it regardless. Its really handy because not only can it cushion blows and protect clothes, but it also filters out drugs and outside invaders such as pocket sand. Only medical grade and white listed drugs can bypass the shield. The reason why I never expanded upon it was because not only was it a ripoff of blitzball, but the story I also had for it got out of hand, involving an attempted rape case and how the line shield more or less melted the guy's go-nads off, plus how a movement was made for it to be less fatal after there has been a record of women using the defense mechanism to kill rival players and blaming it on men. Men doing that too but most tend to do drugs, which required them to turn off the line shield. So when something happens to them, its not the line shield's fault. Celebrity drama!
Marean (SP) is different as she's an experimental support partner. So while she has been issued to Yoshi, for reasons I think I covered later in the story, her missions are issued to her by ARKs. Yoshi can't have her doing anything for him. The humanoid figure is also hinted in the author's note.
And finally, that's because it is. Yoshi is listed as MIA and Marean has underlying motives. Also got to give props for staying cool when knowing that someone broke into your ship just to steal the ship within your ship.
Last edited by yoshiblue; Apr 17, 2015 at 12:04 PM.
- The Inner Rivalry of Melchior Families: Part III -Spoiler!
“Hiya, sis. Glad you could drop by,” said a peppy female voice the moment a blur fell into the room.
Falling from a hole in a roof, the panels quivering as a female newmen of black hair made her entry, Sia landed on one knee, and hand, within a circle of debris littered tables and bloodied carpet floor. As a dark room without welcoming light, four stories above the lobby floor, she gathered that she landed in what seemed to be a conference room, one of the many in this building. In a sense of retro style, everything held a clean slab of wood somewhere on it. Against the door, a thick vertical rectangle by its right, words listed on it by electronic panels. In the very front of the room, several feet way, a thinner horizontal slab, underlining the edge of a projection during conferences. Finally, over by the windows, each blind, all closed sealing away the outside light, wooden boards covering the blind’s origins. Drawing her attention inward, she noticed that around her, one at each front, there were five dead bodies, each sprawled in a similar back on the floor positon, holes burned into them in differing place, like they all were first slashed and blown away second.
Taking mental notes of the environment, she noticed that while the people appeared burned and destroyed, the surrounding area wasn’t. Only the tables held what came from the battle, along with the floors which absorbed the fallen fluids. Along with that, weapons were still sheathed, faces frozen, full of fear and in deaths that seemed quick yet painful. Sia could tell that these people were taken by surprise and when she looked right in front of her, where the hallway light shined through a melted hole in the door; there she saw her knelling sister, Neona, holding her hand out above the head of a fallen man. While she watched, Sia witnessed a misty stream of silvery white, pink and blues hues float around and about her sister’s hand. Within the next few seconds that came after, Neona finally placed both hands on her lap, rose and bowed towards her sister.
Surprised, still in a landing position, Sia didn’t know what to say. What she witnessed, what she could gather in this room, she never imagined her sister doing any of this. It was undeniable proof that her sister is more than just a normal newmen, more than just her naïve, sweet, innocent, kind, wouldn’t hurt a fly little sister. An image now broken as her sister could fight with nothing but a basic gunslash, though melted, inside standard issue force clothes, the kind humans normally wore then they enter Arks, and uncharged techniques. Even more amazing, her sister’s dress hardly had any blood on it. Only a few drops stained the dress. It made her realize how much she really knew about her sister and how much she should know.
Up on her feet, Sia approached the warm faced newmen with a much more serious one of her own and asked,
“Neona, what’s going on? What happened here? Are you alright?”
Neona grabbed her arm and shyly looked away. “Oh, you know,” she said calmly, swaying back and forth, “Just people not taking rejection all too well.”
“You killed them all?” cried Sia, growing more shocked as she studied furthered into the inflicted wounds.
“Isn’t that neat? With an improper combat style too,” Neona replied, sounding very pleased with herself, “Very improper, me using a gunslash, which is not a katana and all.” Once finished, she then tilted the gunslash behind her and overlooked the bodies. In the meantime, Sia strolled around a table and looked for any more collateral damage.
“When did you learn to do that?” Sia slowly and curiously asked.
Neona quickly stuck her hand out. “Hold on, this one still has something. Got to make sure no one can see any of this.” After she said that, Neona knelt down and repeated the same process from before. “You know, sis,” she then began, “it quite funny now that I think back on it. You see, Yaotl taught a form of Iaido to grandma several years ago. Back when they were inseparable partners.”
“Who the hell is Yaotl?” Sia interrupted, her hand pressed against the table.
Back in the day,” Neona giggled, “Grandma used to be a pistol kind of person- carried at least fifteen magazines on her at all times. Then this guy shows up in her life, a very drunkard of a man I might add; dirty clothes, old boots, shaggy hair,” she added, waving a hand over her eyes, “met in a bar fight, that’s where they became friends, and teaches her how to use a katana on his spare time. After that she modified it to suit her more offensive needs, because the way he taught it to her, it was pretty defensive.”
Sia frowned and knotted her arms together. Before anything was said, she let of a sigh, which then lead to, “And let me guess, you copied it from Leanna?”
“Yep, yep. She did a lot of the same things you did too,” said Neona, looking up with a weary smile.
Sia, in response, turned around in frustration and threw her arms up in the air. “Oh great,” she complained, “Just what I needed, a comparison between me and her.”
“She got drunk a lot, killed a lot of people, smashed through a dome during one of her smuggling runs, the ship never survived that run. She fell in love with a human and had very strange relationship with that man- its best we don’t talk about it. Stopped drinking because of said human-”
“Look Neo, I’m not here for a comparison. I’m here because they called you a mind witch. Why are they calling you that? What are you not telling me?”
Neona closed her eyes and got up, giving her sister her full attention. “Well that’s not very nice, but also very true,” she replied, a thoughtful finger held in front of her. “So yeah, these people here wanted me to join their group, I saw what they really wanted; personal gains, easy victories, you name it. In the end I said no and well, now they’re all dead. Amazing what you can do when you already know of their team’s killing procedures.”
“Okay, slow down,” Sia interrupted again, waving her hand around. “You can read people’s minds?”
“Those are telepaths silly,” babied Neona. “Nah, we just read memories and by memories I mean none of them are safe, even the suppressed ones. We can see all of them. Or at least I can.”
“All of them?”
“Yep, even your dreams and fantasies.”
Sia cowered behind a table, slightly ducking a little with an eyebrow pointed at the smaller newmen girl, as if giving a warning.
In response Neona stared down at the floor with a gloomy expression and slowly walked across the side of the table. “It’s kind of sad really,” she continued. “Not many of those so called mind witches are as good as Grandma and I. We can steal your memories, replace them, compress them and even send them through time. It’s a very scary power, scary enough to believe that we should have never existed. Then come to find out, most of our fellow mind witches have a hard enough hard time just looking into people’s memories in the first place. They can’t even narrow down their inquiries half the time. It’s quite pathetic really. Very pathetic,” she said darkly, her voice growing more sinister by the second. “How they are treated as a threat when they can’t even do their jobs properly.” After that, Neona’s eyes grew dark, her face turned cold. She began to approach the other side of the table with walk of a hunter, until her hands firmly yet gently gripped the edges of the table. Looking her sister in her eye, Neona then continued, “How it takes more than one to get the job done right. The oppression worked, Sis. We, as a whole sub group, are damaged. In an effort to better control us they had to do this, but they didn’t get all of us, no. Do you know how many times I’ve looked into the past, hmm? Do you know how many times I had to kill? Knowing that the others can’t even do it once? Do you know how many times I’ve seen the same person die, over and over again?”
Circling around, the two stared at each other very seriously. Grim as they may have been, deep down inside Neona’s eyes, she sought compassion, help. Her eyes urged her sister to see the heavy burdens Neona wanted to tell, but could not. She wanted the pain to go away, but she couldn’t, because Sia’s eyes were different, indifferent. They were alert but calm. Not looking for meaning or understanding but for a threat and a motive. Staring into each other, they stood in silence.
Seconds passed, neither of them blinked, both of them steadied their breath, as if expecting combat. Then Neona looked away. “If there was a better way, I would have found it,” Neona finally said. “If I could have kept them alive, I would have. Sadly, I had to draw my blade. Not just for the sake of my safety, but for yours as well.”
“I can handle myself, thank you very much,” shot Sia quickly.
“You think your path is clear, sis. Well it’s not,” Neona rebutted, circling around, a hand on the gunslash again. “You assume that when you’re successful, either outcome will suffice.”
“I don’t take kindly to those who read my mind, sis,” Sia growled, a hand on her katana’s hilt.
She restored their gaze. “You think that whether you stay grounded or not, it won’t matter. Like a penguin, even if you could fly what would you do? What would that change? Do you expect to fly south for the winter like any other bird? Expecting life to simply get better?”
Sia let go and said, “Now you’re losing me.”
Their gaze broke again, Neona twisted around and thought for a moment. Once coming up with something to say, she then spun back around, pinched two fingers and said “Fine, I’ll speak in terms you can understand then. How do you know your plan will make life any different, hmm? It could also be the hammer that drives the bullet forward, still living the same way you do now; different name, same face- different company, same problems. You see where I’m coming from?”
“What would you know? You can’t even see the future. I bet everything you do, everything all of you ever do, is reflect on the past. You think you’ll always get the upper hand just because you understand more than the average person. That doesn’t shape the future, Neona. It just fucks it up.”
“Ugh, I hate it when you do that,” Neona suddenly shouted, both hands balled near her waist. “Dad keeps telling you all the time. When will you get it through your thick head of yours? That it is never lady like to swear all the time. It’s so… annoying.”
“You keep bringing him up like he’s still alive, sis. Get a hold of yourself. He’s dead- been dead, for years.”
“And what makes mom any more special, huh? You cry for her but never for dad?” asked Neona in a low voice.
Uncaring, Sia crossed her arms again and replied, “Dad didn’t give his life for us.”
“Dad was poisoned before he give his life for us, you incompetent cow,” hissed Neona. “He didn’t even get a second chance like mom did.”
“Whatever, Neo. Obviously you need to cool down.” Sia then turned away and walked towards the exit door adding, “I’m out of here,” along with a good bye wave.
But before she could move very far, Neona took a step forward and said, still in a low tone of voice, “Oh of course, just like a mirror. Just like grandma. Walk away.”
Sia paused and glanced at her sister with a mean eye. “Want to repeat that.”
“Need to clean your ears, Leanna? Let me get something so you can hear better.”
“Don’t piss me off, sis.”
“What are you going to do? Stab me? Please, Leanna; i’m sorry your tiny little newmen arms will always be too weak to punch like a real body builder.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Come on,” Neona softly said, patting her check in a confident manner. “Right here. I bet it won’t even hurt.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Come on, grandma. Save mom.”
After that, a fist of rage connected with warm soft check. In an instant, the smaller newmen girl of green hair went flying, flipping back first over the table, rolling once over across its black table top until she finally plunged onto the carpet floor. Once there, she weakly got up and began to cry. As she got back up, tiny tears fell over a dim black surface and her sister rushed to her side. Once arm in arm, a door was then blasted down. Several men came rushing in; some with rifles, some with pistols. The moment they said freeze, Neona started to cry louder.
“No. Make it stop, sis” she bawled. “I don’t want to die.”
“Ma’am, what’s going on here? Are you two alright?” one of the officers calmly said, looking at the fearful Sia.
“She just fell over is all,” Sia replied, holding Neona up. To her surprise, the gunslash has disappeared, her katana as well. Neona must have stored it away at some point. “I just got here myself. I felt it was best if we locked the door, just in case.”
“I see. I’m very sorry but i’m going to have to ask that you come back with us for some questions. Now if you would please come this way, hands in the air.”
“He’s going to come back,” Neona sobbed. “He’s going to come back.”
“She told me some man came here earlier, said she played dead to survive,” Sia added nervously.
Keeping an eye on the two women, the man then leaned on his left leg and shouted, “Hideyoshi, spread the men out, tell them we still have a criminal in the area.” After that, his eyes went slightly dull. Neona started to look up at him. Just like that, he slowly lowered his pistol and added, “Cielo, Komori, escort these two women out of the building. They’ve been through enough drama already.” Though one of the officers did say, “sir,” his fellow officers obeyed without question, as if nothing was wrong with the order at all.
As commanded, the two men escorted the women out of the building. Once outside, where they walked back into the building like nothing ever happened, Neona then guided her sister and her to a parked hover car in a parking lot complex. Unlike Yoshi’s car, a vehicle mode for high speed racing with the soul of a smuggler, this vehicle was much cuter in appearance. Instead of being cool, edgy and rugged, Neona’s car was much more bubbly, easy going and friendly, as well as being painted in a bright green color; in comparison to Yoshi’s simple and less sleek blue racing stripe white finish. Starting from the trunk, Neona split off, where she stopped by a door, unlocked the car and enter the driver’s side of the vehicle. Sia, taking much longer, not use to having someone else drive for her, slowly got into the passenger’s side.
“What was that all about?” Sia asked, buckling herself in.
“Before you arrived, someone called the police thanks to Dimitri’s goon’s suspicious behavior. The conference room may have been sound proof, but the hole in the door rendered that useless. Well, almost useless.”
“Are you alright?” Sia then asked, her hand outstretched wanting to rub her sister’s cheek, but at the same time floated, scared she might hurt her again.
“You have to learn to hurt in order to understand when not to hurt,” Neona replied while she started the car. “It was four birds with one stone.”
“Four?”
“We got out, you learned something new, I got what I needed and the last thing is something I can’t tell you.”
“Alright, so what did you get?”
“Valuable information,” Neona replied, snapping her fingers while she looked around. “I’m going to take us to Anna’s place. When we get there, I’ll explain the rest. You may want to tell Bitol that you’ll be late. It might do you some good. Someone already spent enough time trying to suppress his memories of Tuhina as is and I also already had plans to work this in my favor.”
Seeking Answers / Filler:
Spoiler!Oh, Rappy SHAPED patties. Not real Rappy patties. Phew~
Again, lots of backstory and character development. I can appreciate that.
I was interested in your line, "a moon could only do so much." In the game, of course, a moon will revive a dead player, but that would be too powerful an item for our stories... which is probably why I never mention them. I guess in your story a moon can be used to save someone who is badly injured but not quite dead? Sort of like a... tetramate? (the imaginary next-level healing item beyond trimate)
Civilian Shift / Filler:
Spoiler!lol, you actually mentioned the mini map! xD In some ways I see a lot of game references in your work. Personally I've tried to avoid mentioning certain things, as I'm not sure how (if at all) they would be implemented in this world, assuming the world was a real place. They make sense in the game but are a little wonky to really exist, you know? The one-size-fits-all clothes reminds me of the first side story I wrote, but I wasn't actually serious about it.
W-Wait... what? That scene in the grocery store was very surreal. At first I thought Yoshi was imagining it, then I thought Marean was really there, then I thought he had imagined her after all. Now I don't know what to think. xD
Not really sure why you call those sections fillers, by the way. I guess you could skip them if you were in a rush, but I think anyone taking the time to read the story in the first place is going to want to read all of it to get the whole picture. It's not what I would call irrelevant like "real" fillers tend to be.
Sometimes it's hard to write things the way you want them to be, that's for sure. I have to cut out certain things at times and I always hate it because I hate wasting any work, especially if it's something I liked, but sometimes it just doesn't fit for whatever reason. *shrugs*
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
Spoiler!Yeah, in my story, moons can only heal the badly injured. Its more or less based on the intro of PSO2 and Star Trek, where you life depends on how fast they can get you to the medbay or hospital. That and Zeno may or may have not bothered to help the dude that died. In case of lost limbs, you also need to visit the hospital but you can at least use a star atomizer or a trimate to keep the wound from bleeding out and numb the nerve endings. As for mini maps, they can usually be accessed by people with contact lenses or glasses. I'd imagine its the future so eye issues shouldn't be as much of a problem, but with so many people wearing glasses, I figured they would now be repurposed as a new kind of tool. Like having a video call in on corner of the lens and a calender on the other. Would ideal work for contact lenses as well, only they would have more freedom in window placement. Otherwise, yeah, I can't really explain it. On the other hand, the story also has people like Echo opening up little screens out of thin air, some with words and some with data and charts. So i'd imagine you could also just pull out a map out of nowhere at any time.
Heh, when Sacrificial asked about the fillers, I more or less told the dood that they were moments that happen same day or around the events of the episodes. But that was me being dumb. Originally, to me, they were just extras that I wrote for fun and didn't or shouldn't really affect the plot. However, not only do they do effect the plot, but not all of them happen around the time of the plot like I stated. For example the filler with Yoshi vs the purple hair newmen. I also said that I wanted to make a slice of life like thing with comedy, but look how that turned out. So firstly, I must apologize to Sacrificial and all of my readers. I am a bonehead. Secondly, now I just think them as entries I was too lazy to give titles to. Yeah, I did it. I saved the world.
Finally, for the grocery store, yeah surreal was what I was going for. It did happen though and as a darker, they could move in and out where they please the same way they come in. Whether they go noticed is another thing entirely. On an off note, do wish I wrote more cuisine in my stuff.
- Velarium -Spoiler!
“Commander, there’s not a darker in sight. Think we’re done here?”
Sitting on the tree branch of a mighty forest tree, Arron, a human in black knight like armor covered by a flatter black jacket, looked down, hands cupped, directly at Yvonna. His face telling how he felt both tired and hungry, having sat in a forest for over half an hour. Yvonna, a newmen woman of black hair whom just took a hair band out from one of the many pockets of her combat suit, looked up and said in response, her hands working with her hair,
“Not until we find out what happened to the missing force.”
Arron’s shoulders dropped a little. “Missing force?” he asked, shuffling for a better position.
“Stats, go ahead and give him the details,” Yvonna replied as she plucked a map out of a wondering blue particle.
“Yes sir,” an angular looking black CAST said, walking forward behind her. Head twitching upwards, the robot man took out a white chunk of rounded armor, laced with a reflective film and started, “During our mission, I have detected a pauldron resting on the grass. Upon close examination, I conclude that it is of a female force, human judging by size, and is mostly in good condition considering that it could simply be placed back on. On this, I assume the force survived the encounter.”
“What makes you say that?” asked Arron, his head now aimed at the other side of the tree.
“The lack of blood in the area as well as how much armor had been cut off suggests as such. The only other piece of evidence we could find,” Stamato said, taking out a tiny glass veil, “this strand of burnt hair. Judging by the length and coloration of the hair, I assume that the human is techer class with brown hair long enough to get in the way of a casting wand.”
Arron sighed and jumped off the tree, landing as if he had only hopped a few inches off the ground. “Have you considered that she was a force using a talis or her hand?”
“Yes, however, only the tip of the hair is burned. If it were a hand, the middle to lower portion would have been burned. Had it been a talis, the strand of hair would have seen either an even singe or a sporadic one.”
“Right,” replied Arron with slight disbelief.
“Stats,” interrupted Yvonna. As she walked back, the newmen threw aside a floating see through holo-screen, which then faded away into a mist of particles. “Why are you twitching around like that?”
On this, Stamato’s arm jutted up with a finger pointing in the air. “Ah, I am pleased that you have asked. While studying humans, it appears that people tend to imprint themselves onto others around them. As such, I have begun to mimic other casts we have encountered in hopes that I would better understand this process.”
“Well could you please stop? The team will worry that there is something wrong with you? Like bugs or viruses or something,” said Yvonna in a concerned tone, her hand dancing in the air as she described her examples. After that she walked up to the much larger cast and patted his shoulder. “You are your own person. Remember that.” After a short pause then then added, “You miss Yoshi don’t you?”
“I will admit; his lack of presence has proven to be a sort of missing variable within the sum of our equation. The gunslash he has provided me has also proven to be quite beneficial.”
“Arron, what did I tell you?” Yvonna asked suddenly, jerking her head towards then reclining human behind her. At the same time, a B-02 airship flew overhead and held it position.
“What?” Arron cried past the strong breeze and in a sort of confused tone, the speed of his short flowing hair increasing by the second. “What did I do wrong this time? He hasn’t asked me for any sort of help yet.”
Yvonna’s pony tail slammed into her face as she spun around. “I bet you never even offered it in the first place,” she said before spitting strands of hair out.
Even though he avoided her eyes, he still gave a ‘caught red handed’ sort of look. So Arron looked away and whispered, “May have slipped my mind.” After that he pushed off the tree and continued, “You know, ever since Yoshi ran off to chase after tanks and that newmen girl, we’ve been seeing fewer newmens constantly approach us.”
“What does that matter to you?” frowned Yvonna. “Do you really have a problem with Yoshi hitting on women, or is it really you who just wants more women for yourself, to flirt with. So what is it, hmm?”
At that moment, the B-02 successfully landed. A leaf slapped Stamato in the face but he stood and watched unaffected. Engines kept on, a loading ramp dropped down and dug into the floor. Grabbing everyone’s attention, heads all staring into the ship from various distances, everyone noticed another black hair woman, human in kind, walk out of the ship; a sage green helmet in hand and an irritable face basking in the sunlight. Once outside, she stormed over to Yvonna and said,
“Change of plans, we’re heading back to the ship. The missing techer turned in half an hour ago. Aiko said she got into a fight with a Gwanahda; had the help of a hunter named Sivil. Turns out everyone were fine in the end.”
“What happened to you, Kerri?” interrupted Arron, who entered the small group circle that had formed, Stamato still standing right of Yvonna. He then chuckled and continued, “Looks like you haven’t slept in days.”
“I haven’t,” she said bitterly. “Thank you for noticing. And speaking of Yoshi,” she continued in a high pitched voice, her eyes widening, “did you know that he once promised me he would help me with something? Funny, I haven’t seen in him days.” Her voice began to get more irritated by the second; her left hand held her other elbow, the other hand patting her cheek. “I wonder where he is?” she asked with an annoyed tone. “Oh, where could he be? Oh, I know. Is he still with that dumb newmen bitch? Trying to get lucky?”
“Whoa now,” Arron said, struggling to hide the fact that he found the situation amusing, “I think you need to calm down a little.”
“Don’t you fucking tell me to calm down,” Kerri screamed. “I don’t give a damn if he has some woman to woo. If he makes me a fucking promise, I expect him to keep it.”
“Kerri,” Yvonna said with a soothing voice. “Everyone has their own problems in life too. Maybe he forgot. Have you ever asked him about it?”
“Do I look like his secretary?” Kerri spat. “No, if he made a promise, he should damn well remember that promise. I shouldn’t have to remind him, ever.”
“Right, I’ll talk to him about it when we get back, okay?”
“Good, hold his head in a tub of water while you’re at it.”
Yvonna, ignoring the last comment, signaled everyone into the ship and placed a finger against her ear. “Elm,” she said as the others silently jumped into the ship. “Kerri has picked us up and is returning us home. How are things looking on your end?”
“I have docked inside the camp ship. Will be waiting for you there, Elm out,” a man replied over the radio.
Once Yvonna has stepped into the ship, she then looked inside and shouted, “Alright, we’re good to go. Get this hunk of junk off the ground. We’re going home.” After that, she slapped a blue button, the ramp lift up, plugged the hole and flew off into space. Nearly an hour later, the crew would find themselves in one of Ur’s most leftward hanger bays where they would meet up with Elm and James, two men who waited outside Kerri’s just landed B-02. When everyone departed, they all gathered in a circle and exchanged words, some complaints, some hellos. Among the six of them, Kerri was the first to leave, almost followed by James. But before he could leave, Yvonna closed the distance between Elm and James and whispered,
“Kerri may need some time off to… cool down a little. Think you can help me with that?”
“Should I offer my assistance?” Stamato butted in.
“You should wait for her to settle down a bit,” said James in a casual manner. After that, he then glanced at Yvonna and said with a wink, “I’ll see what I can do. You three take care alright?”
While everyone waved goodbye, Elm then turned and said to them, “How is the device working so far? Any noticeable difference?”
“Thanks to Stamato, I haven’t been having any issues lately,” said Yvonna, now smiling at the CAST.
“That’s good to hear, and Stamato, there was something you wanted of me?”
“Yes,” said the CAST, taking out a necklace adorned by wooden blocks. “I seem to have damaged my necklace and wanted to ask if you could repair it.”
“For a CAST such as yourself, I’m surprised you would want me to fix it.”
“While I do possess the knowledge to perform such a small task, I feel there is a certain factor missing from it; a sort of spirituality if you will. As a CAST, I feel we lack the ability to imbued objects with the spirit of guidance; hence why I feel it is better if you repair it.”
“I see,” said Elm with eyes closed. “I would be honored to repair it then.” After that, the shaved headed man allowed the CAST to drop the necklace onto open palms, where he then pocketed it for later examination. Meanwhile, in the distance, Yvonna grabbed Arron by the ear and dragged him away, saying,
“Arron, don’t think you got out of anything. We have things to discuss about.”
“Yowch,” cried Arron. “That my ear, Yvonna. Yvonna, that’s my ear.”
“Yes, I know that’s your ear, dearie.”
“Well, this meeting ended quickly,” remarked Stamato. “If you don’t mind me asking, could you show me where you buy the materials used in your accessories?”
“Not at all,” replied Elm, turning away while gesturing that Stamato walk with him.
In the next short while, the two were surrounded by strange people, or in reality, normal people in actual normal civilian clothes. Though the people may have been normal, the advertisements weren’t and passing vehicles sported ads of their own as well. In their travels, Elm had informed Stamato that a new line of vehicles promoting child safety and emergency three second ninety degree turns were available, and while they could have rode a taxi, they chose to walk instead, as Stamato found the advertisement music catchy. Sun still high in the air, they roamed in-between several civilians, some gawking, some ignoring them, discussing about the nuances of spirituality, mental wellbeing and human nature; and when they neared their destination, the duo suddenly stopped to see a familiar looking newmen woman speed alongside a smaller green hair newmen, out of a parking complex just up ahead.
Reacting to the situation, Stamato grabbed Elm and hid him behind the cover of a vending machine. “I see Marisa,” said Stamato lowly, feeling like a detective at the moment. “I wonder what she is doing away from Bitol?”
“Oh right, Yoshi’s partner,” said Elm, patting a fist over an open hand.
“I think we should follow them.”
“Why do you think that?”
“As you would say, it’s just a hunch,” and so they did.
Over in the distance, Sia huddled closer to Neona as they walked further away from the complex. Guiding her sister by locking arms with one another, Neona lead and made demands on the go. “Be aware that grandma is going to be in our path,” she said. “When we meet her, I don’t want you to say a word. Let me do all the talking.”
“Couldn’t we go around her then?” moaned Sia.
“No, we can’t,” said Neona, tugging her sister closer. “I have something to tell someone.”
“What should we do about the two following us?” Sia then asked, tilting her head a little towards the right of them.
Neona turned the corner and replied, “Don’t worry about them. They won’t be a problem.”
In response, Sia rolled her eyes and said in a low tone, “You sound so sure.”
“That’s because I am, sis,” Neona shot back in a matter of fact tone.
Several minutes of walking later, they finally come across a standoff between their grandmother Leanna and their comrade Shinobu Shiomi. Though Sia was confused why they were even talking to each other in the first place, she didn’t think too far into it, concluding that it was just a result of Leanna’s many attempted schemes. Though Sia narrowed her eyes and glared, Neona on the other hand put on her bubbly tone of voice and shouted, “Hi, grandma.” After that she then looked at Shiomi and said with a cheery inside voice, “Hi, mom.”
A bit unsettled, Leanna lifted a brow and said, “Mom? Neona, she is only that of a sister. Not even blood related to you. The nerve of you people, to think that your ilk is trying to corrupt my own granddaughter.”
“She knows what she said, Leanna,” yelled Sia, still glaring at Leanna.
“It’s a pleasure to see you too, dear,” Leanna bowed. Before Shiomi let a word off, Leanna lifted a hand and continued, “No need Ms. Safaia, I’m well aware that you know of their identities. The question is; what will you do now?”
“What matters is that all the pieces have been set into place,” Neona interrupted. “You won’t find anything from her, grandma. I made sure of it.” On that Neona tugged at her sister again and walked away. In response, Leanna lifted both brows and said, a little impressed by her granddaughter’s actions, “Oh? That’s quite the boast.”
Neona stopped, looked over her shoulder and said before walking away again, “And I don’t make them often. Farewell, grandmother. See you around, mom.”
“Velarium, it fits quite well,” said Shiomi finally. “Your family shelters those who enter under your lives and like curtains, cover doors leading to different ends from not only strangers, but from your kin as well.”
“Are you implying that you know our family well?” asked Leanna, reshaping to her once refined posture.
“No, but I’ve been around the family long enough to say that with confidence. Your grandson aside, did you know that while Sia sticks to her father’s surname, your granddaughter, Neona, uses her mother’s maiden name instead.”
“What are you getting at?”
“You know full well where I’m getting at. After all, it runs in your family. And I don’t mean your special powers.” After that, Shiomi turn and walked away, finishing with, “Until next time, stay well.”
From then on, Leanna watched and waited. She stood there, allowing the newmen of white hair to disappear into the city. In reality, she bought time for when she could shout at the two men hiding nearby. Once gone, she then yelled, “Alright, out you two. I wish to speak to you. Yes that’s right, I know you’re there.”
Elm jumped. Stamato hummed in curiosity. Without saying a word, the two step out and approached the newmen woman.
“I can see why you are here,” Leanna said, looking at Stamato with a raised chin. “It seems a lot of legal loop holes had to be found to put you into service. Tell me CAST, are you aware of your functions?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ma’am if you please.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“I see. And you,” she continued, looking at Elm this time. “You know something I do not. Tell me, Shiomi, what is she hiding from me, and don’t make this difficult for the both of us.”
“As far as I know,” calmly replied Elm, “I thought I was assigned to this group for a suicide mission. But now, I assume that I was guided here for a different reason. For some reason, I was tasked with mending a fragmented soul. Of whom that soul belongs to and why it is protected by Shiomi is beyond my knowledge however.”
“I see, mother indeed. You may go now. I have other matters I must attend to now.”
“A fragmented soul,” Stamato whispered.
“The little girls doing to be sure,” Elm whispered back.
Last edited by yoshiblue; Apr 29, 2015 at 11:18 PM.
That first song, did you mean for that to start part way through? The length would have been perfect if it hadn't started in the middle.
Spoiler!I don't know who any of these characters are
Except Stamato. He's too much of a badass for me to forget.
Oh, right song, wrong link. Accidentally used the other tab I was using for mash up shenanigans. My apologies.
Spoiler!Can't say I blame you. Never really expanded upon most of them and all of them haven't appeared often. Neona was only introduced in a few entries beforehand, by name and an ending appearance. Yvonna, Elm, James, Stamato and Arron were all introduced around the time team Zelatus was formed/introduced. As well as the B-01 - B-04 airship series.
In order of appearance,
Chapter XX: Kerri and Neona (mentioned), seen in a filler later.
Chapter XXII: Yvonna.
Chapter XXIV: Aiko, Arron, Elm and James.
Chapter XXVI: Stamato.
Last edited by yoshiblue; Apr 29, 2015 at 11:50 PM.
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