aerialassault | Appointments

[That. Is not a good feeling.

Souji felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up and he turned his head slightly, half of a glittery fluorescent pink turtle shoved under the door. For a moment, he froze, looking up at Cliff who loomed over him like a wall of "What are you doing at my door?"

Then, very slowly, he continued to push the turtle into Cliff's room.]

Gooooooood morning~

[He watched all of this quietly, with the solid presence of a bull ready to strike at a moment's notice. Cliff had a hunch that whatever Souji was up to was no good.

His reaction, like that of a child who knows that they're doing something wrong but just doesn't care, only reinforced that.

Cliff lifted his foot and rested it on Souji's head.]

You wouldn't be up to something with the glitter and the paper, would you?

[Normally if someone tried to step on his head, he would have cut their leg off, but this was Cliff and he didn't want to think about terrible things when he was playing, so Okita just let the weight of his friend's foot carry his head to the ground. With his temple pressed against the floor, he managed to flick the last of the turtle into the room. From down here, he could hear the paper bumping into another stack and he felt satisfied by his new little menagerie. A gift, of sorts, for his friend.]

Not anymore.

[He was, after all, done with it now.]

I wasn't sure if you were in, so I thought I'd send you a good morning call.

[This was Cliff going it easy, and drinking his coffee. Starting a fight while carrying a hot drink was just rude. He glanced down and raised his eyebrows at Souji. His hunch was suddenly confirmed.]

You'll wanna try earlier next time. Early to bed, early to rise and all that, you know. [Although he didn't go to bed particularly early...

He set his coffee aside and tapped his foot on the door, freeing Souji.]

Is there anything you wanna tell me?

I have training in the morning until now.

[With his head released, he rolled over onto his side and then pushed himself up into a sitting position. He still had to crane his neck to look up at his friend, but at least from here it wasn't so far.]

Unless you don't mind me coming by at the hour of the Ox or Tiger, but that might look a little suspicious.

[He laughed, not caring that showing up this early was also a little odd.]

As for a message, I was just wondering what you were doing today.

[Cliff had many bizarre definitions of training, as Fayt and Bulla were starting to learn the hard way, but that reason made enough sense. Mostly.]

I'm clear for the day, but...

What the hell did you mean about the time?

...?

[Souji stared at him for a moment, confused, until he remembered that no one else here really seemed to understand how clocks really worked.]

The hours before sunrise. The hours of the Ox and Tiger. It's how we tell time in my country.

Do you call your hours something different? Maybe star names?

[Cliff stared back, now trying to make sense of why such a system even existed.]

We use numbers. It's easier to do if you're out in space. All you need is a clock that's synced with the nearest outpost. The idea is that they'll all be close to the same time unless you're on a planet or in orbit. It gets too confusing otherwise.

Oh. [Well, they used numbers, too, but the Ox and Tiger had other significances, too. Things were auspicious at certain times and on certain days, but not in others, and how would anyone know when to better take people unaware if they didn't know such things?

Souji looked up at Cliff for a moment, then tilted his head to the other side.]

But if you're in space, how do you know if it is night or day? There is no sun in the sky to tell you.

[For how terrifying he could be, Souji could also be oddly cute sometimes. Cliff sighed and ran a hand through his hair a the question.]

That's why I said we sync it up to other clocks. There's a master clock that always maintains absolute time, based on chemical reactions-- yadda yadda. The point is that we try to keep our clocks in line with that one. It's not perfect, but it works.

It must be a reeeeeally big clock then.

[Because how else would you see it from everywhere in space? That thing must be massive.

Souji finally picked himself up from the ground and dusted himself off, sending only a few specks of glitter to the floor as a reminder of what he had spent his time at work doing. Even when the New Feather season was in full swing, only a very few people ever came by during the graveyard shift and that left Souji to his own devices for hours at a time.]

Did you ever finish your ship at the Battledome?

It's digital.

[And that was all he was going to say on the subject for the moment. The glitter and the apparent innocence was suspicious, especially on Souji. Cliff pressed his foot on the door and leaned forward, as if testing something...]

And don't change the subject here.

[He sprang into movement, whirling around to snap a kick at the door and knock it open. Sometimes the rough approach was the best in these situations.]

[A really big digital clock, then. Souji saw no difference between the type of clock at all, but he wasn't about to argue that when Cliff suddenly kicked the door open.

For his part, he hardly moved, just turned to stare as his menagerie of glittery origami animals went whirling around the room like a tornado. Wherever they landed, they left glitter behind, along with small trails of it to trace the paths of their flights.

Souji turned his gaze back to Cliff, tilting his head.]

Do you always kick your door open? That doesn't seem very good for it.

It'll grow back.

[The houses were organic, after all.

He stared at the mess in his room, confounded by the sheer absurdity of it. Intentionally breaking down doors was a tactic he reserved for when he didn't know what lurked on the otherside. It usually garnered satisfactory results.]

...

Souji. What did you do?

[While Cliff stared at the mess in his room, Souji had carefully removed himself from the doorway area. He stepped back, giving himself a good amount of space between them while the realisation of what he'd done sank in.]

You weren't in, so I left you a present~

That? Is one helluva present.

[He turned and faced Souji, hands on his hips and eyebrows raised in demand.]

So. What are you gonna do about this?

[Judging from how far apart they are now, Souji knew he had about the time it took for Cliff to take three steps to get away. He looked puzzled by his friend's query and tilted his head to the side.]

Do? But don't you want your present?

We're gonna need to clean it up somehow. You do know how stubborn glitter is, right?

[He shrugged. It was life. But he smirked at Souji as an idea hit him.]

Besides, you could've just called me if you wanted my attention-- and said somehting like 'Hey, Cliff. You wanna hang out?' [His tone was that of mocking exaggeration.] Or, better yet. 'Gee, Cliff. I found a great spot on the beach to watch some hot chicks play volley ball. Wanna join me there for a few beers?'

Edited 2013-05-26 18:01 (UTC)

[There was a fatal flaw in Cliff's plan. Or rather, a few fatal flaws.

One, he didn't know what beer was.
Two, he didn't know volleyball.

And three, he had no intention whatsoever of cleaning up his present. What good was a present if he took it away?

Souji, still looking confused, rocked back on his heels and put his hands behind his back, linking his fingers together.]

Because that's not as fun. And yes, I know how stubborn glitter is.

Also the weather is too cold for the beach.

But what are you doing today, Cliff-san? Are you still working on the electronics?

I will be later.

[Because it was becoming clear that Cliff would need o fix some of these misunderstandings on Souji's part. Beer and girls and volleyball might just do the guy some good.]

But, I've got nothing now.

[He stared pointedly at Souji-- there wouldn't be an escape for long.]

Just.

Look. I dunno how you did all this, but could you make the, uh, toys stop flying around? Glitter and stubbornness, you know.

[Two of those things he would not find interesting, unfortunately.

When asked, he leaned to the side, looking around Cliff at the settling storm in the man's room. After confirming that it was getting better, he leaned back and smiled up at him. Better, however, was a relative term. The paper animals were already coming to rest on the floor and various pieces of Cliff's furniture, so that was out of the way. The glitter, however, was still floating gently in the air, slowly but surely getting everywhere that Cliff probably didn't want it to go. ]

It's almost done. I didn't expect you to kick the door open. If you hadn't, it wouldn't have gotten so messy.

It would have gotten messy anyway.

[He knew that for a fact, after the last incident that left his apartment flooded with glitter. It had taken both Fayt and himself a good few days to clear out most of it, and even now Cliff founds specks of glitter that stuck around for the long term. Cliff counted his blessings that he had no major projects that he was working on for the moment, and that the current microwave he was 'fixing' was stored in the next room over.

He'd be done with it. Soon.

Cliff sighed and tossed his irritation away. It was too late for regrets, but he could tolerate a few if it meant having a bizarre friend.]

Whatever. It doesn't matter. The point is that you didn't need to go through all this if you wanted my attention. Just a call would've worked, and I don't mind being woken up.

Edited 2013-05-27 05:18 (UTC)

But then I couldn't have given you this.

[Souji reached into his sleeve and pulled out a small folded green dinosaur, much like the one he had been turned into recently. Unlike its fellows, the dinosaur was completely absent of all glitter and Souji held it out to Cliff with a smile.]

And it's more fun meeting this way. The other ways are boring.

[Cliff took the paper dinosaur gently into his hands, now grinning about the over the top delivery and the simplicity of the small gift. The folds were neat, as if folded with an engineer's keen eye, but the artistry of it was evident in it's form.

He laughed.]

This...this is one helluva way to give a gift!

Souji. I take it back. This is an awesome wake up call.

I'm so glad you like it. I was worried you were about to chase me around the village.

[Because this is a thing that has happened, albeit not to him because he would never let himself get caught pulling the type of prank that resulted in being chased around the village. He left such things to other people, like his friends.

With the present delivered and Cliff laughing, Souji seemed to relax a little. He smiled a little more easily and put his hands behind his back again.]

I thought about hiding it in your house, but I wasn't sure if you would find it.

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