Session Start: Fri Oct 13 16:09:21 2006 (H-1) [Monday, April 11, 2039 - 1650 local time] [Just outside the SDF docks on the shore of Tokyo Bay] Not, on the whole, a good day for Lady Snow. Ichigo walks away from the group as soon as they get back on dry land, and detransforms before she reaches the street. [mini start] * Ichigo hugs herself tightly as she makes her way away from the group. She looks around to make sure no one else is watching before she pulls out her cellphone, pulls up a number and hits the auto-dial. The phone rings several times, and Ichigo is almost convinced that she's going to end up reaching the answering service, but then the other end is picked up. ...hold on! Hello? ... Uncle Haruki-san? You can almost hear the Duke mentally shifting gears as he figures out who this has to be. ...Ichigo! How's it going? It's um... *that's a hard question...* I was hoping I could talk to you, maybe. Like in person. * Ichigo sniffles slightly and is trying do decide whether or not she should just cry. I'm flying out of - hey, stop that! I mean it! Sorry, Chi, but I have to fly out tomorrow morning - the Russians are being constipated about the UN thing. Oh-- I uh... Are you okay? Someone giggles in the background. I'm just fine, dear. Is something wrong? If you're busy, I can call back... I'm always busy, Chi. This is about as free as I'm going to get. No well, uh, yes. I mean. I'm okay now. But we-- the team had to do uh... special training today. And... *she trails off and sighs* Is this okay to talk about over the phone? * Ichigo sounds very timid and unlike herself. Ah? Um. Well, I can't know that without knowing what it is... do you want to come over? I have some, uh, commitments this evening, but I'd love to help you with whatever's bothering you. I--I can come over. If it's not going to trouble you or anything. You can't stay all evening, but it's all right. Okay. I was just... really scared. *she chokes up* And I wanted someone to talk to... * Ichigo looks around to where she is and what the fastest way to get to his place would be. That's all right, dear. Come on over. Alright. Thank you. Thank you very much lots. As with anywhere in Tokyo-E, the fastest way is the subway, though she'll have to walk up his long driveway. I'll see you soon. *disconnects* I need a car... *she mumbles, wiping at her eyes and heads towards the subway.* There's no subway line that runs south of the Palace district, and since Cape's place is on the other side of that preserve, Chi has to route through the city center during the busiest time of the day. * Ichigo does her best to keep to herself, trying to find a corner to be alone in. The free tunneling capabilities available to the city planners mean that there are enough lines that the riders don't have to be squeezed in like sardines, but the transfer junctions are pretty crazy. In about forty minutes, Ichigo finds herself at the relatively sleepy eastern edge of the Palace grounds, where many of the most powerful MG's have their estates. Duke Cape's gate is locked, but a groundskeeper is waiting there to let her in. * Ichigo offers her the best smile she can muster. * Ichigo trudges up the path to the house itself, knocking timidly. There is a slight wooded rise which obscures the property from the street, but beyond is a two-story blockish house centered in about ten acres of medium-mowed turf. * DukeCape answers the door, surprising Ichigo, who was expecting his butler. Hi. Hello. * Ichigo can't hardly make eye contact, it's awkward for her to be seen like this. ...what's the matter? Come in, come in... * Ichigo steps inside, but not going much farther. Hiiii! I don't want to cry. I really want to be strong. But I was just s-- *blinks* Who's that? You must be Snow! Um. Hi. * Ichigo smiles weakly, swallowing. * Ichigo looks up at the girl, recognizing her from her vast collection. * LadyKenpo is in her magical costume, an extremely abbreviated green gi with belts in the right places and matching ribbons accessorizing the garment in a somewhat overly-sexy manner. * DukeCape smiles weakly. "I'm sorry, Chi, we were going to spend the evening here." * Ichigo sighs and looks for a place to sit. Another one? I'll, uh... go help in the kitchen or something. It was nice meeting you! *she calls half-heartedly* Thanks, Aki. ...well, I can't say she's "another" one, since we go back a decade or so. Why can't you just settle on one? It's so so not proper to have so many... * LadyKenpo disappears around the corner as Cape leads Ichigo to a conversation pit surrounding a meter-cube holotank. * Ichigo has a seat in it, grabbing a cushion to hug. Well... you know me. And they all seem to be able to live with it. * Ichigo just shakes her head. But you didn't come here to talk about my love life. What's wrong, Chi-chan? Well... *she sighs, and tries to reorganize her thoughts* Today we were supposed to do a training/evaluation thing with the SDF. * DukeCape makes encouraging noises while he pours Chi a half glass of wine from an already-opened bottle. * Ichigo takes it and looks at it, trying to decide whether or not she wants to be drinking tonight and then just downs it. And and... they made us get undressed... in front of each other. * DukeCape chokes on his Chablis. Just so they could make us use all our powers up and then stage a-- a thing where they told us we were being held hostage to be bargaining chips or whatever. And they took our clothes and everything and made us run around unarmed with soldiers and everything shooting at us... Oh, yeah, the Katana Gambit. Heh. They ran you through that one? And I was so scared someone was really going to get hurt... They made it seem so real... You know of it?! * Ichigo looks absolutely shocked. It's... well, it's not a standard training scenario. In fact, it's only been run maybe eight times, ever. But why? It's so so so so mean! I wonder if that was Sakura's idea, or Royal's? Either way, they must think a lot of you kids. Sakura wasn't there... It was just Royal and Peppermint... Peppermint supervises every time, since it's her people in harm's way during the exercise. I bet Royal got her to do it as a favor... Chi, you have no idea what sort of honor this is for you. Yeah, but... honor? Why? ...Katana's Gambit is used to test the mettle, the character of operatives and officers who are expected to be placed into the most delicate and important operational situations. By making us hurt people that are supposed to be on our side? Every couple of years it's run to screen candidates for general staff in the SDF, and once in a while Security borrows it to test H-1 and H-3 agents. * Ichigo swallows uncomfortably. Well, you're supposed to believe, or at least act on the theory, that they are your enemies. That they are acting in a way that betrays Her Majesty. But why did we have to be naked? * DukeCape chuckles. It's not funny! Ichi, Ladies hide a LOT of things in their clothing, especially those who have been around Security or the SDF for a long time. Yeah, but they could've like given us something more to wear than stupid little bikinis... I get so hot like that... especially when they make me use all my energy on other stuff... Of course they ran you out of magical energy, too. They do it so that you're less likely to kill anyone during the exercise. And to humiliate and anger you, so you are more likely to be drawn into the scenario. I don't like being humiliated and angered! That's the idea, Chi. * Ichigo sniffles. "But I felt so violated! I know I'm small and weak... I don't like that being rubbed in my face though..." You aren't always going to like the things you have to do, and this gives the people evaluating you a sense of your longer-term reactions. Just because they're not shooting at you doesn't mean that the test is over. And if they thought you were small and weak, they would not have put you through this. ... * Ichigo blushes a little. * DukeCape shakes his head. "Maybe I should nudge Sakura into pulling you off of H-1. You don't seem to have... well, the swagger for it." No! Please! I can do it. I mean if it was real and I really really knew it was real I'd do everything I could. * DukeCape gazes at Ichigo with his deep, calm eyes. I was trying to talk to them... I was trying to work something out... All too often, dear, we don't "really really know" anything. * Ichigo eyes start to water. "Do I need to hurt people when they're being mean to me? I want to be a good Lady. I'm trying to be the best. I just need to figure everything out..." We have to act on what we see, and how the world appears, regardless of what we had hoped. But I didn't get the logic behind the scenario at all. Why would the SDF be mad at Sakura? We're all supposed to be on the same side. If both sides are working for the Queen, why be mad at each other? How do I know which is right? * DukeCape snerks. Security and the SDF work together, to be sure, but there's a lot of shared territory, particularly between H-4 and the SDF. And Sakura is not the easiest person to work with - she does what she thinks is needed, and takes what she thinks she needs to do it, usually without asking politely. But if she's doing good and helping people... And... Princess Katana, back when she was Director of the SDF, didn't like that very much. It really wasn't fair to her, since Sakura has so much more seniority that she could walk all over Katana and take whatever she wanted. * Ichigo frowns. So then it really did really happen? So one day, when Sakura had appropriated some SDF facilities for one of her best groups to train with, Katana arranged for her troops running that base to effectively kidnap them. * Ichigo gasps. The idea was that she'd use them as leverage to get Sakura to play nicer, and the Queen to hear her concerns. Did it work? No. Sakura, as she does so well, reacted faster than Katana expected and went straight for the jugular - she personally led a company of H- 4 troopers into the base against 4 to 1 odds. With the help of the kidnapped team, who had broken out and were creating havoc as she arrived, Sakura wound up with her gun to Katana's head and was reportedly about to pull the trigger before the Queen got communications established and called her off. * Ichigo eyes widen. I'm... I'm not supposed to do stuff like that though, right? And you don't tell ANYONE that you know about that incident, Chi. I... I won't... You are - were - supposed to match the efforts of the heroic team that broke out. After that incident, Katana was, uh, semi-retired from military service. I'm not sure how they kept the whole story out of the press, but it hasn't leaked yet. I... guess we did. I thought they weren't serious when they said this really happened though... I shouldn't have yelled at Royal-sama... * Ichigo sighs and looks down. Her replacements have been given full cabinet status, and the, uh, power balance between Security and the SDF is carefully watched within the cabinet. The balance between all the ministries, really - there were other, more subtle conflicts in the 20's. Why? Did something happen? Nothing you should hear about. But the point is that bad, crazy, unexpected stuff can happen. The people who are run through the Katana Gambit are the Ladies who are expected to deal with that stuff when it goes down. And if it was too much for you today, then maybe you aren't fit for that responsibility. It wasn't too much! Mmm. It's just... I wasn't seeing the point. At the time. I thought they were just being cruel. * DukeCape sips his wine. I didn't know it was... so so important. I'm sorry. Sakura... all of us, really... we're not cruel. The Queen wouldn't tolerate cruel people around her. But we also have to do hard things. * LadyKenpo pokes her head around the corner. "Uki-pu! Are you done yet?" * Ichigo nods. * Ichigo rolls her eyes. Not yet, sugar. * Ichigo mutters. "Sugar..." Awww... *disappears* I guess you want me to go... Sakura is perhaps more amoral than most of us, but she does have a job to do. Royal does too. And so do you, if you're going to keep your current position. You just need to learn to be harder, I guess. I can be uh, hard. I did shoot a guy... and I only passed out for a little bit afterwards... Uh-huh. Are you going to be okay now? I... think so. I should apologize to Royal... And to um... *goes quiet* What you're going to do is try to forget everything I told you. You really shouldn't have heard it before you made Senior Lady. * Ichigo grins a bit. That makes me special, doesn't it? That makes you likely to get in a lot of trouble if you slip up. I won't! I promise. If you don't, you're likely to end up running the moonbase for a couple of decades. * Ichigo nods. "Yes sir..." Good girl. ...do you want a ride home? I can have my driver take you. That'd be nice... It was a long walk and I'm kinda tired from... everything. I'm sorry to make you doubt me... * DukeCape leans forwards and taps at the console. "James, can you pull the Dodge up for my niece?" [end mini] Session Close: Fri Oct 13 18:21:26 2006