Re: Orb Foundation Week: The Parade

[GraceJP 0]

“Why big sister Linite you should know better than to bother polite strangers!” He walked up from behind the Orb Soldier and quickly gave the woman a wink before she could protest; hopefully she would catch on. Both of them had blonde hair; there was no reason why they couldn’t pass as siblings. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere I was afraid I lost you in this big crowd!” He practically ignored the man offering his help to the woman.

 

Linite looked over at the teenage-looking boy who now stood winking at her behind the young man who had offered to help her. She stared at him for a moment but caught on quickly.

"Uh..." She quickly cleared her throat, catching on, but with much hesitance. "Little brother, I wasn't...bothering this man. He offered to help me because I spilled coffee on myself." Linite was even more confused now than she had previously been. She hesitated slightly, while thinking of coming up with something clever. Her mind finally found it. "I thought I told you to wait for me outside the cafe, and I'm your big sister, so I don't want to hear you talk to me that way!" Linite turned her head to the teenager again. She glared at him frighteningly. Then she quickly looked back at the young man who had offered her his coat.

 

“Please excuse me for a second” She said with a sorry look. Hastily Linite pulled the teenage boy to the side and glared down at him.

“And who might you be, young sir?” She asked with a noticeable hint of irritation, present in the way she enunciated some of her words. She crossed her arms, raised an eyebrow and glared down upon him as she waited for him to respond.

[Roromi 417]

“And who might you be, young sir?”

 

Her irritated tone brought some concern to Locke however he wouldn't let her bully him around. With a tone that relayed his background he confidently replied, “Crewman first class Jonathan Locke Ma’am,” ignoring her lack of professionalism he proceeded to talk as if behind enemy lines,  “really you should learn to be more careful, that was an Orb soldier after all.”

 

He could tell she was hoping her glare would faze him however he wouldn’t show the proper respect until he was given proof that she was his superior. He held himself like a soldier and returned her gaze with one just as serious as her own; he hoped he didn't have to jump through some hoops to convince her that he was an Earth Alliance soldier. Even as the two of them talked he kept up the facade keeping a smug expression on his face as if he was used to pestering his ‘big sister’.

 

"Tell me did I do something wrong interrupting you?"

[GraceJP 0]

"He wouldn’t show the proper respect until he was given proof that she was his superior. He held himself like a soldier and returned her gaze with one just as serious as her own; he hoped he didn't have to jump through some hoops to convince her that he was an Earth Alliance soldier. Even as the two of them talked he kept up the facade keeping a smug expression on his face as if he was used to pestering his ‘big sister’.

 

"Tell me did I do something wrong interrupting you?"

 

Linite’s gaze softened as she saw the crewman’s bravery. She smiled at the thought that he didn’t know who he was talking to.

 

“No, you didn’t necessarily do anything wrong interrupting me; in fact I was in quite a mix-up. He was being so kind to me and I wanted to be polite as well, but I knew he was an Orb soldier. However, I was assuming civilian status at the current moment, as a spectator, so I figured I might as well just accept his offer. I was rather just surprised when you jumped in like that, when I'd never even seen you before." She paused."But thanks anyways."

 

Linite glared at him for a moment, noticing that his expression and posture hadn’t changed. She sighed. She knew he needed proof. Linite opened up the handbag that she had been carrying and pulled a card out of her wallet. She flipped it over so he could see it, while a slight smirk crept across her face.

 

“Ensign Linite Estral” she said proudly as she smiled and watched his expression.

[Roromi 417]

Locke was a little annoyed by Linite's reply, he almost felt like he was talking to a big sister, although he had no clue what that was really like. “Nice to meet you Ensign, well if you feel like you have the situation under control then I’ll take my leave… I apologize for complicating matters for you.”

 

Straightening his jacket he got ready to go outside like a good little brother, “Just remember…” His eyes narrowed intensely as if to add importance to his message,  “you don’t know who are enemies are going to be tomorrow…” letting his expression returned to normal he added, “so am I supposed to finish acting out this charade or can I ditch you like the annoying little brat I portray?” He had eased up by now, and even had a small smirk on his face; part of him was enjoying this a little bit too much.

[fireminerva 0]

Kitsune stood patiently as the young woman and the teenager exchanged a few words, fortunately the young woman had decided to deal with this teenager first before Kitsune could address his rudeness.  Finally he had enough and sighed, doing his best to keep relatively quiet as he did.

 

Slipping his arms out of his jacket Takashi politely offered it to the young woman.

 

"I hope that I'm not interrupting you and your brother; I'd hate to disrupt you two since it seems that you haven't met for a while."  Kitsune stood patiently with his coat draped over his arm.  It didn't take a genius to figure out that they these two weren't related, the young man was doing a poor job at faking familiarity.  It might have convinced some people but after having been a field reporter few things got past Kitsune.

 

"If you you'd like you can take my coat and we could meet later so that I can get it back."

[GraceJP 0]

“So am I supposed to finish acting out this charade or can I ditch you like the annoying little brat I portray?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"If you'd like you can take my coat and we could meet later so that I can get it back."

 

 

Linite’s eyes switched between them both for a moment, she hoped that the young crewman would see that she wasn’t about to let him go just yet. She then turned to face the polite young man.

“Again, sir, thank you so much for your kind offer. I could meet back up with you in…an hour or so? Same place?”  She smiled apologetically at him. “And please excuse my little brother; sometimes he’s just a little too protective of me.” Her tone sounded slightly strange when she referred to the teenager as her “little brother”.

 

Linite placed her hand firmly on the crewman’s shoulder and gave one last relieved glance to the kind young man.

“Well, we’ll see you a bit later then, sir?” She said, while looking down at the teenager. “We’d best get going-”Linite hesitated for a moment, but couldn’t think of a random name to address the crewman by. “…Little brother.” She settled with that, and traded her short light jacket for his long one. She used the young crewman as a temporary coathanger as she did so.

Linite then threw her jacket back on over the long one. This was to hide any telltale military crests, but she hoped she would give the young man the impression that she simply needed to carry it somehow. She wanted to avoid being approached by any other Orb soldiers that might be roaming around, for the obvious reason that they would be suspicious of a "civilian" wearing an Orb military coat.

 

Linite turned around to hurry the teenager towards the door, wishing she could have talked more to the kind man, and maybe have allowed him time to introduce himself.

[Blatt 0]

Gazing upon a short, mildly amusing exchange involving coffee between a few people at a nearby table, Ethan began to feel rather uncomfortable; he'd been sitting on the same damned chair for about half an hour now.

 

Briskly standing himself up off the chair and grabbing his bad, Ethan flashed a brief grin at the cute girl with the stained skirt (A Yank if he ever heard one, but an improvement over the damn spacegirls he'd been bearing with for the last 10-something years), and moved himself over to an empty table near the side of the cafe. Signalling to a nearby waitress, Ethan ordered a mug of long black coffee, and checking his wallet, refrained from ordering anything else; he could live without cookies. Sort of.

 

Goddamnit, can't wait till I get paid... though Ethan, dropping his head and sighing loudly.

 

Rubbing his forehead slowly, Ethan opened his bag, and pulling out a small PDA, loaded it up and grabbed a small business card from the centre of the table, jotting down the address of the Cafe. Ethan also began to detail brief descriptions of the various people in the room in his PDA, for later reference. Or, out of boredom, seeing as how the valiant Commander seemed to be faring well.

 

It was perhaps Ethan's job to keep her faring well, but he probably wouldn't be blamed for it if she managed to get herself shot up or something at least.

 

Wait... what?

 

Ethan glared at the Commander's back, just in case she'd managed to get shot whilst he'd had his head in the clouds.

 

Nope, nothing yet. though Ethan, dropping toothpick splinters onto the table.

 

"Here you are Sir, One Long Black Coffee." spoke the petite waitress, presenting his coffee.

 

"Thank you." replied Ethan evenly, eying the coffee.

 

Ethan pulled the coffee towards him, and slowly rotated the mug a few times, before taking a sip.

 

Pfft... a fiver for this stuff?

Edited December 15, 2006 by Guest

[Roromi 417]

Locke was unnerved by the Orb man’s quick dissection of his little guise, although part of him had to admit it was good to know what an Orb soldier was capable of even if it was something as trivial as this. He was confused though why the good Ensign didn’t want him to leave just yet.

 

As soon as they cleared the door he looked around then addressed Linite, “Damn it, looks like he caught on to my acting, that’s what I get for not paying attention during drama class.”

 

Looking up at her he asked, “So was there something else you needed from me Ensign?”

 

He wondered if she was worried about the Orb soldier being suspicious of them now, even though he had to admit, he had his doubts about that being much of a problem. Even if he did figure out they were Earth Alliance soldiers it wasn't as if it was the battlefield.

Edited December 13, 2006 by Guest

[GraceJP 0]

“So was there something else you needed from me Ensign?”

 

Linite looked down at the young crewmember and smiled.

“Well, crewman Locke, I don’t suppose anyone accompanied you here, did they? Seems awful strange for such a young kid to be wandering around a big city all by himself; you’re lucky you spotted me.” To her the young crewman seemed to be the type that hated to be called a “kid”, but she went on.

 

“If you want, you can tag along with me, or you can ‘ditch me like the annoying little brat you portray ’ ” She said mockingly.

Linite felt almost like the crewmember was her little brother as she spoke to him. There was something about him that told Linite that he could be alone, without any parents or siblings. She couldn’t find any other explanation as to why he was here alone. Surely even the EA would send a superior officer with him, unless he had ditched any officer who did accompany him, or was stubborn enough to get his way; these were definitely also possibilities. She felt herself beginning to get more concerned about him as she pondered. She felt like she had to watch over him like a big sister would.

“Little brother” she thought to herself again.

 

Snapping out of her thoughts, Linite shook her head a bit, hoping that Locke hadn’t caught her spacing out.

“I’ll be heading back towards my hotel, so it’s up to you.” she said calmly again, trying to keep her voice from sounding overly concerned as she waited for his response.

[Roromi 417]

He didn’t like the tone she used with him, it reminded him of a person talking to a lost child; ‘did he come with someone?’ Part of him felt as if the EA was trying to keep a leash on him with all these Earth Alliance soldiers floating around the country. “No I came here by myself, there’s nothing strange with taking a vacation for your leave time is there? I do keep running into Earth Alliance soldiers who outrank me though…” Jonathan was referring to Earnst however he had lost track of the man after they were dropped off at the hotel. Shaking his head he continued, “besides, I’m not just a kid…” his eyes narrowed as he spoke, he didn’t like talking about himself in such a way, his tone made it very clear that it wasn’t a subject up for discussion.

 

“If you want, you can tag along with me, or you can ‘ditch me like the annoying little brat you portray ’ ”

 

Locke looked at the woman, this would be the second time an Earth Alliance solider extended him some sort of hospitality. He studied her for a moment as if silently questioning if she was serious. So far these soldiers weren’t acting like the stories he heard about his father’s era. He wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or something to be concerned about just yet.

 

“I’ll be heading back towards my hotel, so it’s up to you.”

 

He looked back at her after a moment as if he was lost in his thought; part of him wondered whether or not she was even taking him serious, if she had even put the clues together to realize that he was a coordinator? “Sure why not, its not as if I have anything better to do.” He did need to take a break from the chaos outside, besides he almost felt an obligation to try and ease the Ensign's obvious concern, maybe then he could get her to realize he was more than a kid.

[evo_Sieg 0]

"Uhmm, okay Jase.", Siegfred replied as Jase stood up to go to the washroom.

 

"How's it going, its been quite a while since we met back in Singapore. What have you been busy with since then?.. And where did you get that cool blue sports sedan parked out front!" Siegfred took a sip from his latte, then leaned back on his chair, relaxing so that his friend would get more comfortable while they chatted.

Edited December 25, 2006 by Guest

[GraceJP 0]

“No I came here by myself, there’s nothing strange with taking a vacation for your leave time is there? I do keep running into Earth Alliance soldiers who outrank me though…” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Besides, I’m not just a kid…” his eyes narrowed as he spoke, he didn’t like talking about himself in such a way, his tone made it very clear that it wasn’t a subject up for discussion.

 

 

 

Linite smiled as Locke mentioned running into outranking officers along his way, but she also wondered as he said quietly that he was “not just a kid”. What else could he be? She decided that it really wasn’t any of her business, and by the strange tone of his expression, she thought it was best not to question that matter any further; it was his choice whether he wanted to discuss it later.

 

 

Linite suddenly remembered back to when she and her sister Naveena had both joined the EA. She remembered the times she spent discussing both of their intentions in the military.

Naveena had kept the mechanical skills that their father had taught both of them in her heart, and dreamt of earning an excellent reputation in the area of mobile armor mechanics. This brought Linite to the realization of how similar Locke was to her sister; the smug expression they both wore when she was talking with authority to them, and how terrible they both were at acting. She smiled at the thought, as she addressed Locke once again. 

 

 

“So, how did such a young-” she remembered the dark tone he had used when she had addressed him as a kid, so she decided not to use the term. “Such a young man like you end up in the military anyways?” she put some emphasis on the word ‘man’ without meaning to. As she waited to hear his answer, she wondered if her sister would ever meet Locke, and what her reactions to him would be.

[Roromi 417]

“So, how did such a young- such a young man like you end up in the military anyways?”

 

Locke winced as he heard the question, wasn’t it obvious for anyone in the Earth Alliance? It was Zaft! It was the coordinators! It was to preserve the blue and pure world! He wanted to yell that out at the frustrating Ensign but held it back; he doubted that the middle of Orb was the proper place to have such a discussion. He took a moment to collect himself and replied, “It was just something I’ve been wanting to do since I was little… My family has a long military history. I joined because of my parents mostly…”

 

Of course he didn't want to mention more about his circumstances, given the vibe he was picking up from Linite he didn't want to tell her everything about why he was in the Earth Alliance. "So why did you join the military Ensign?"

[GraceJP 0]

Linite slightly raised an eyebrow at Locke’s response, as his reasoning was somewhat similar to hers. She thought back to her first days in the EA and sighed gently.

 

"So why did you join the military Ensign?"

 

“Well, actually, it was my parents who wanted me to join the military. They were mechanics in the first and second Bloody Valentine wars, and my grandparents were in the EA before them. My folks wanted me to carry on the family’s military traditions. It took some convincing because I didn’t know if the EA would make me successful, but my mother was there.” She smiled at the thought of her mother.

“She always reassured me that I would be successful in the military, and I trust my mother more than anyone, so I listened to her and made up my mind to join.” She paused for a moment. “And sure enough, here I am…Ensign.” She said proudly.

 

The both of them turned off of Sennett Circle and headed down another street; at the end of which was a large, expensive-looking hotel. It had to have the fanciest entrance of any building in Kusanagi, besides the government buildings, of course. High above the extravagant entrance there was a magnificent sign that clearly showed that the hotel was named “The Sennett”, most likely named after the huge Sennett Circle square that it stood so near to.  Linite sped up a bit, relieved that she could soon ditch the horribly stained skirt.

 

There were still numerous ZAFT members walking around, and she spotted a few Orb members nearby as well. Fortunately, none of them seemed to notice the long Orb coat she was wearing. Linite felt glad that she had decided to wear her own short jacket overtop to cover the military crests on the collar.

She looked straight ahead as she and Locke neared the hotel, and adjusted the bag around her shoulder as they started up the cream-colored stairs that led to the doors.

[Roromi 417]

As they walked up the stairs Locke considered what she told him. Their stories were similar yet completely different.

 

“I trust my mother too…” he said it out loud, mostly just to hear the words, in a strange sense they were foreign to him, “But I only trust her because she’s the only person I was told to trust… Unlike me you sound like you had a more fortunate upbringing… I guess what I’m trying to say is that my father wasn’t a mechanic nor some other, more innocent role, in the military, he was high enough in the chain of command to be executed at the end of the last war…” his words held the fact-of-the-matter ring to them, as he finished, it almost sounded like he had been reading something from a textbook. It wasn’t that he was attached to the memories, it was simply how he remembered them, and how he was told things were in the imperfect world.

 

Suddenly his face lit up as if he suddenly thought of something more pleasant to talk about, “Now I bet you learned to be one hell of a mechanic from your parents! So why is it you’re an officer now, what are you going to do in the Earth Alliance Linite?”

[Shaftronics 0]

All he could've reacted to the slight arguement in the coffeeshop, was to chuckle to himself, as he sipped on his coffee in his small private corner, away from the rest of the crowd in the coffeeshop. So far, nothing new was happening, and everything should be going in order. Boring or not, that was how things were supposed to be, peaceful, quiet and uneventful.

 

He sighed to himself, knowing that he was once again, lying to himself about what he really wanted. The days of his past as a mercenary were long over, the thrills, the joys and the sorrows, all of it didn't matter. At least he was living his life in the envy of what most young boys wanted to be, but he grew tired of it. Killing became a chore,  taking lives was not something he had wanted to do for a career. He looked at it as protecting when he was still in his teens, but as time passed, it was kill or be killed. He shrugged at the thought.

 

He sighed, as he sipped his coffee and thought about his future. He was getting older, and he was still single. He mumbled to himself, as he shrugged the thoughts off, and focused himself on listening to the communcations chatter from the earphone in his ear.

Edited December 16, 2006 by Guest

[GraceJP 0]

“But I only trust her because she’s the only person I was told to trust… Unlike me you sound like you had a more fortunate upbringing… I guess what I’m trying to say is that my father wasn’t a mechanic nor some other, more innocent role, in the military, he was high enough in the chain of command to be executed at the end of the last war…”

 

Linite’s eyes widened as she stopped dead in her tracks. She didn’t believe what she had just heard. She wanted to ask him if he was serious, but she didn’t think that was something that someone could joke about so easily. She looked down at Locke with a sad expression on her face. War crimes, no doubt. If there was one thing she strongly disagreed with in the Earth Alliance, it was the death sentence.

 

Linite picked her pace up again, but remained silent, while Locke followed her up the last stair to the hotel entrance. She walked across the landing and Linite placed her hand on the handle of the door. With a good push to move the heavy door, they were inside a quiet, peaceful lobby.

 

There were paintings on the wall to their right, under which were two light brown leather chairs on either side of a small table with a public phone, notepad and vase of flowers on it. Right in the center of the lobby was a large, very detailed fountain. To their left was an area that had a number of couches and coffee tables where people could meet and socialize. The back wall of the small area consisted of a fireplace and a series of big windows, out of which one could see the garden and another fountain in the middle of the flowers. It was a very proper-looking place, with light, tranquil colors that gave a sense of relaxation.

 

Linite paused by the fountain, followed by Locke, who broke the silence.

 

“Now I bet you learned to be one hell of a mechanic from your parents! So why is it you’re an officer now, what are you going to do in the Earth Alliance Linite?”

 

She chuckled and ran her hand through the water.

“I sure did...but, I'd like to be captain of a big battleship someday.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye to see his reaction. “That’s what I’ve wanted to achieve from the day I joined the EA. Of course, my parents want me to be a mechanic like my sister, but I talked to them for a long time about it, argued sometimes. But they finally agreed to support my dream.”

Linite was remembering how happy she was when her parents finally said that they would support her through what she wanted to accomplish.

“I guess I was just too stubborn for them.” She said with a grin.

[fireminerva 0]

Takashi watched as the young woman stepped out of the cafe almost as abruptly as she stepped into his life; there was something odd about those two but he couldn't place what it was, not anything dangerous but just something odd.  Shrugging to himself Takashi sat down in a cushioned chair in the corner of the cafe.  With nothing else to do he took a sip of his coffee and prepared to bunker down in order to kill time until he got his coat back.

 

Unfortunately his sense of reason kicked in and Kitsune realized that he was still on duty.  Certainly there was nothing wrong with him taking a moment to drink something nice but aside from that he had little time to waste.  Quickly he sipped down his coffee, barely having time to savor the taste.  As he finished Takashi noted that he would have to start including a stop here in his daily to do list, aside from good coffee the environment that the cafe created suited his tastes almost perfectly.

 

Rising up from where he sat Kitsune tossed the empty cup away in a trash bin and stepped outside.  Donning his cover to shield his eyes from the sun Kitsune looked down at his watch.  After a few seconds he was satisfied, having set the alarm to go off in forty-five minutes, that should be just enough time for him to make a few rounds and to get back here to get his jacket back from the young woman he'd loaned it to.

[Roromi 417]

“I guess I was just too stubborn for them.”

 

Locke seemed to reflect on her words, he was slightly surprised to hear about her ambitions, he didn’t take her as the kind to be a captain at first but now that she brought it up he could begin to see it. Perhaps it was a good thing he was getting to know her then, if she got what she wanted to do there could always be the chance he would get assigned underneath her then. Shrugging he looked at the fountain she was playing with. So far it had been interesting talking to her, to see why someone else wanted to be in the military besides the reasons he was given.

 

“Well ensign you may want to go change so you can go return that coat, I doubt your peers would find it amusing if you returned back home with an Orb military coat as a souvenir.” He had run out of things to talk about, and didn’t want to be the cause of more trouble for her.

[GraceJP 0]

“Well ensign you may want to go change so you can go return that coat, I doubt your peers would find it amusing if you returned back home with an Orb military coat as a souvenir.”

 

Linite looked at her reflection in the water and for a moment was completely lost in thought. Quickly she snapped out of her daze when Locke spoke up.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll be back in a bit then.” She said as she turned to her right and walked towards the elevator. When she reached it, it was already on the main floor, so the doors quickly opened and Linite stepped inside. She pressed the button that would bring her up to the sixth floor, and the elevator began its ascent.

 

Linite looked at herself in a mirror that was to her left and started to think again.

“Captain…” She thought. “I hope I get there someday…” The sound of the doors opening again interrupted her thoughts, so she stepped out and began to walk down the long hallway to her room.

 

About ten minutes later, Linite emerged from the elevator wearing a pair of black dress pants with circular cut-outs on the side of each leg, and a different pair of shoes. She found Locke standing in exactly the same place as he had been when she’d gone up. She almost expected him to have left, or to have an impatient look on his face, the one typical of most males when women took a long time with clothes.

 

Linite chuckled as she thought of her father, who’d had the impatient look on his face when Linite and her sister had been getting ready to go to their ceremony for acceptance into the EA. He’d had to drive them and they had both been taking forever with their hair. But Locke didn’t seem the slightest bit bothered by her long absence. She figured that it wasn’t something that little brothers, fake or real, cared about. Either that or he was hiding his impatience. She reached the fountain and smiled at Locke.

“I’m gonna go return this, so you can leave now if you want; your choice.”

[Wilhelm 0]

OCC: I’ve been gone for awhile, so I came up with this.

[align=center]

Delfina stands in the ladies washroom of Kusanagi Sunshine staring at the running water. She runs her hand through the warm water spilling from the faucet. The door opens as closes while other female customers pass in and out of the ladies room. In an instant, Delfina regains her senses and quickly shakes her head. “Why do I feel so sick, was it the coffee? She quickly shuts off the water, and dries her hand on a nearby towel. Delfina had a headache not like any other she has had in a long time. She rests her purse on the counter, and quickly opens it.

 

After rummaging through her bag for what seems like minutes, Delfina finds a bottle of aspirin. She opens the top and tilts the bottle to its side. Two pills roll out of the opening and into her open palm. Her head was pounding causing her stomach to turn. Delfina drops her pills, and runs to a nearby stall. She hunches over and starts to cough. Several of the women inside look over; a teenage girl taps her delicate hand on the side of the stall. “Um, are you okay? You sound pretty sick.”

 

Delfina gets to her feet and stumbles out to the counter. Her hair was messy and covers her right eye. She pulls out a handkerchief and turns on the water. The cool water rapidly soaks into the material, allowing Delfina to clean her face. “I’m fine; please don’t worry about me, thank you for caring.” She lets out a smile, trying to hide her sickness behind it. The teenager lets out an awkward nod, and walks out of the washroom. I should go back to the embassy, I really shouldn’t have tried that…” Delfina runs back into the stall once again and vomits.[/align]

[Roromi 417]

“I’m gonna go return this, so you can leave now if you want; your choice.”

 

Locke appeared to be mesmerized by the fountain after Linite left. He didn’t realize how long she had been gone until she returned. There was a passive look in his eyes; he looked tired, more so than what the day could have done to him, it was a deeper sense of fatigue. “My, you certainly look lovely.” Even the compliment was drawn out almost as if he wasn’t really giving it.

 

He paused and considered her question; if he went with her they would probably raise more suspicion from that Orb soldier, if he didn’t go then he wasn’t sure how he would react. Motioning for Linite to start leading the way he asked, “So what is it you’re going to do when you see him again? Tell him the truth? I’m willing to stick around with you but I don’t want to be an inconvenience more than I’ve already proven… this social thing isn’t my forte if you haven’t caught on yet.” He waited to hear what she would do before deciding to stay or go; besides they had a little bit of time before getting back to the café.

[GraceJP 0]

“My, you certainly look lovely.”

 

And yet, when women did emerge after taking a long time getting ready, they always got compliments; a result of time well spent.

 

Linite would admit to herself that Locke’s compliment surprised her, and though there was a certain tiredness about it, it was still obvious that he meant it. She smiled.

“Thanks.” she said.

“So what is it you’re going to do when you see him again? Tell him the truth? I’m willing to stick around with you but I don’t want to be an inconvenience more than I’ve already proven… this social thing isn’t my forte if you haven’t caught on yet.”

 

Linite caught on to Locke’s motion to lead, so she headed towards the door, while chuckling to herself.

“You seem to think that you’re more of an inconvenience to me than you really are. Truthfully, if this whole ‘fake brother’ charade hadn’t happened, my holiday would’ve had me bored out of my socks, so I guess I have you to thank for making my trip worthwhile.” She grinned at Locke, who seemed anxious to hear the answer to the rest of his question.

“On the other hand, I don’t think he really needs to know the truth, it’s probably not something that he’s all that curious about. If I were to take a guess I’d say that he’s already waiting for us back at the café.”

Linite looked at her watch, which clearly indicated that their trip had taken longer than it had seemed. They had to meet the kind Orb soldier in less than five minutes.

 

Speeding up their pace, Linite and Locke soon rounded the corner and started on the last short stretch of their walk.

 

"Well...Jonathan, was it? Your first name? Yeah...thanks again for adding some color to my trip." She smiled down at him once again, while thinking to herself that if she smiled anymore today, her face might crack.

[Roromi 417]

"Well...Jonathan, was it? Your first name? Yeah...thanks again for adding some color to my trip." She smiled down at him once again, while thinking to herself that if she smiled anymore today, her face might crack.

 

“Well then, I’ll be around then in case you need me. By the looks of it that Orbie wasn’t too excited about my appearance last time.”

 

Looking at the Café as they got closer he thought he even spotted the man. Turning to Linite he gave her a grin, “That’s right It’s Jonathan Locke, and you’d do well to remember that name when you get back to the Alliance.”

 

Grinning he studied the Ensign one last time, “Well with luck we’ll see each other again on the battlefield. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any ship under your command, I get the impression that you’ll make a fine captain.” Catching himself before jumping into a salute he sheepishly offered his hand for a firm handshake instead. “Ensign Linite Estral, it was a pleasure meeting your acquaintance.” As he finished his handshake he began considering cutting his trip short possibly, the entire country was starting to get on his nerves from some reason, it felt like it was draining the life out of him.

[fireminerva 0]

Kitsune checked his watch for the third time as he sighed.  Patrol had been rather routine, the most suspicious thing he'd found was the remains of someone's old ham sandwich that had been laying on the ground a few blocks away.

 

Once again he looked down at his watch and smiled as he looked up, this time he was rewarded with the sight of the young woman he'd lent his coat to and her "little brother" coming around the corner.  As they approached Kitsune watched them pause and shake hands before the young man turned away from the young woman.  As he watched her name flashed in his memory "Linite..." at the very least he could now be polite and address her by name.

 

With her moving closer Kitsune wondered what he should do.  Judging from her reaction earlier in the day waving his hand might draw more attention then she really wanted and he hadn't woken up this morning to make Linite turn bright red.  Instead of that Takashi made eye contact with her, making sure that he held the gaze until she knew he saw her.