givesherflower | backdated to 12-28 | text | locked to friends and castmates

[ Lyle's noticed the dark clouds that have been starting to hang around the Ptolemy since the start of December; you'd have to be thoroughly dense not to, and Lyle isn't. he thinks he knows why, too. December 2308 had been Operation Fallen Angels. no wonder everyone was so down. as for Lyle... well, he knows what happened. but he wasn't a part of it. it's not personal for him in the same way it is for the others, relieved as he is that he didn't lose his brother and that the people he now thinks of as friends and comrades survived. so he's just kind of floated around the edges, on the outside of things. an unwanted stranger in a church full of mourners.

even so. he still feels like he has to ask. ]

You sure?

Yes.

[Then again, just talking at random has been helping a little. Just talking about things not related to that day has helped keep her mind off how miserable she'd be otherwise. Taking a bit of time off (given no emergencies or surprise attacks) was proving to have been a mistaken in her mind. After all, work had been keeping her from wallowing....

So a second message comes in shortly after.]

Unless you want to talk.

You know me, I'm always up for a conversation if it's an excuse to procrastinate. [ he's mostly joking. mostly. ] Where can I find you these days?

Observation deck. Starboard side.

[Not much left to do but stare out the giant, reinforced window and wait to see if he turns up.]

[ and turn up he does, floating through the doorway and standing next to her. he leans on the rail ever so slightly, staring out the window himself. ]

You know, it's been months now and I still can't believe this thing does both space and water.

We learned a lot from the first Ptolemaios and its limitations. Any time we wanted to go to Earth, the Gundams...

[She hesitates for a moment, until she mentally chides herself for being silly. Lyle wasn't a civilian, he was a member of Celestial Being now. And the information may as well be declassified a little since the method's a moot point. Besides, talking tech is a comfort for her. Just like retail therapy was Chris'. --Whoops. There go some feelings. Gotta watch out for that. She kinda needs those to stay composed.]

The Gundams would have to be transported back to space with colony construction materials in order to return to space. In addition, the first Ptolemaios couldn't leave space or it would have been stuck in the Earth's gravity. And on Earth's surface, there aren't many places to stay out of sight besides under the sea.

Seriously? That sounds like it must have been a hell of a job just to make sure someone didn't accidentally uncover them.

Mmhm. It was a matter of putting them in among the materials and making sure the materials replaced weighed the same as the Gundam being transported. But we only transported one at a time to keep from drawing attention to what was going on.

Yeah... any more than that would've been tempting fate, I bet.

[ he sighs, stretching his arms a little. ] You know, I remember watching that weird broadcast when you guys first went public. [ he shakes his head a little. ] Never would've guessed back then my own brother was involved. Or that I'd end up being involved, come to that.

Even if he wanted, he couldn't have told you. Celestial Being's information security measures have usually been tight, even with family members. [Her tone changes just slightly. Suggesting some personal experience in that department.] But they've loosened up a little bit recently.

[She leans against the rail and tilts her head forward so her forehead presses against the cool glass.]

'Cause of you all being part of this community, or...?

Partly. But it's also because of the community that we have to be careful. It's drawn in people who would rather we stop our operations and have the power to go up against us. [Here's looking at you Sergei, even though you were nice. You wouldn't be nice to a rebuilt Celestial Being.]

And... [Her eyes close as she takes a deep breath.] and five years ago, some of the incidents from Operation Fallen Angels were broadcast over the community.

[Wait didn't she want to talk about anything besides that? She's pretty sure she that's what she told herself when she told him where she was. Or maybe on a subconscious level, she wanted to or felt she had to. Something-- anything-- to get the tight feeling out of her chest.]

[ he sucks in a breath. ] Ah. It busted your secret wide open for you then, huh?

[ and made it so they could be helped, too. damn. there goes anyone's theory that the community is a purely sadistic entity, Lyle thinks. ]

Everything. It caught a few of our... communications. [Well, it was true.] Looking back... maybe it was for the better. The Doctor figured it out first and organized a large rescue operation. The Meisters were scattered to different worlds to recover. The Gundams were hidden with them, except Allelujah's. Kyrios was sent to a different world where there was space to hide it. Dynames was still with Sumeragi and Lasse before I went off with the Doctor... and Donna and Haruhi. Lockon... took a long time to recover, but he traveled with us too, once he was well again.

[She fixes her gaze away from Lyle, staring straight out the window at nothing. Something internal telling her not to cry in front of him. Despite him joining her "family", it would probably be a while before she reached the level of comfort with those she had known longer. But the way she rattled off her story... her tone is almost stony. Not because she doesn't care, quite the opposite, actually. It's that rock-solid tone people take on when they're being too stubborn-- too afraid-- to show any emotion, for fear of allowing every last drop of emotion spilling out all at once. Too many lives had been lost. Too many had been hurt. Too many gone for weeks, months, or even years. It had taken so long to fit all the pieces together again....]

[ his expression is concerned, even serious as he listens attentively to her story, in a way that most people would probably call uncharacteristic for him. but the thing is, Lyle knows loss. they all do. he supposes that in a way, it's why they've all somehow wound up here. but because of that, he'd be the last person to accuse Feldt of not caring.

maybe it'd be better not to, but despite the careless, even occasionally abrasive front that he puts on to keep most people at a safe distance, Lyle's always been a tactile comforter when it comes to people he actually gives half a damn about. so he reaches out to lay a gentle hand on her shoulder. ]

Yeah, Neil filled me in a little about that part. Not much, but I gathered there was a lot of running and aliens involved.

[The hand on her shoulder surprises her, but in a way, it made her feel better. Thinking back to her time on the TARDIS helps bring a flicker of a smile back to her face. It fades off just as fast. Memories of lost friends. Another friend as close as family far off in another world traveling the stars as he used to.]

That's basically what it amounted to. Every day we'd be somewhere, somewhen, else new. Different cultures. Different species. Some friendly, some... not so friendly. But always a whole lot of running to do. Even if I was only there for seven months, I'd never trade the adventures I had with everyone there for anything in the world.

It sounds amazing.

It was. [pauses a few seconds] I miss it so much. But my place is here with my comrades. With my family.

[ "family", huh? so she really feels that close to all of them? ]

Which is why you came back in the end, huh.

[ beat. ] Hey, who knows. Maybe one day soon, things'll finally quiet down here and stop being so urgent, and you'll have time to take a short holiday. I'm sure that Doctor'd be glad to have you back for a while, right?

Mmhm.

[She considers what he says. If she could leave on a short holiday to visit him, it would be fantastic. But on the other hand, she was pretty sure his world-hopping ship was only built for one. It had been a while since she saw it, so maybe if she saw him again-- or even his ship-- she would ask about it.]

It would be nice, except he doesn't have the TARDIS anymore. Just a smaller worldhopping ship that he built while he was here. But maybe... maybe someday I can meet up with him somewhere in his universe again. I'd feel better about it if I didn't go until we finish taking care of A-LAWS first, though.

[Mission priority one: fix the part of the world that they broke. Until then, leaving-- even for a short while-- wouldn't feel right. After all her time with Celestial Being, she knows how quickly things can go to hell when things seem calm.]

Oh yeah... actually, now you mention it, I think I remember seeing that thing. [ or glimpses of it, at any rate. Lyle had popped his head in a couple of times, but mostly figured it was best to leave the man to it.

in any case... ] I think I get how you feel about the A-LAWS, though. Someone's gotta stop them in their tracks. I don't think any of us wanna have a world-wide dictatorship on our hands.

Not someone. [Her tone takes a hard turn into a place of sharp seriousness.] It has to be us. We changed the world, but in doing so, A-LAWS was created. Now we have to set things right. We have to change the world again, and we have to make it better. [Remember that broadcast by Aeolia Schenberg from five years ago, Lyle? Guess who was raised all around those ideals. Three guesses, and the first two don't count.] No one should have to live with them in control of the world.

... heh, right. You have to clear up your own messes, huh?

Exactly. [Especially since most of the general public is kept in the dark about exactly what is going on. B(]

We'll do it, for sure.

[ confidence: the first step to victory! 8D ]

backdated to 12-28 | text | locked to friends and castmates

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