[The Pseudo-Evangelical Babylon Theatre 5 4/5 MST (or, if you must, Fun-Critique) of Tim Williams's The Tales of V&J by Murmur the Fallen (harijubal@aol.com).
Err . . . [Insert Nifty Theme Music Here.]
Umm . . . [And Dancing Girls, as well.]
Ah, hell, let's go whole hog. [Also a pig in a flaming pit, for extra machismo.]
Ah, never mind. Here it is, though you're going to have to go through the intro. It isn't all that long. And it's even kind of funny in some bits.
Ah, hell.
The reviewers:
Murmur: the Pervert.
Kosh: The Nit-Picker.
Uklesh: The Psychotic Punster.]
The Rebound Effect
[Murmur: What is the effect of something rebounding, anyway?
[Kosh: I believe it is that the more it rebounds, the less energy it has to do so again. Of course, that's true for most things.]
Spin-off #1
The Tales of Sailors V and J part 1
[Uklesh: Say, wasn't this the fic with Minako and Makoto as . . .
[Kosh: Oh my.
[Murmur: WOO HOO! I get to exercise my innuedo muscle. . . . And that's not the only muscle I'll be excercising, Heh Heh Heh.
[Anime Girls with Tex Avery Mallets: Shi Ne!
[Murmur: Oroooooo!
[Kosh: Arigatou.]
Makoto found Minako in the same place that she always did, sitting in
front of the Masaki family television doing "research" for their
upcoming trip to England. Somehow, Minako's definition of "research"
seemed to include watching a lot of movies about some "James Bond" guy
on one of the amazing number of channels that the television got..
[Kosh: Ah, that Washu. Always out to help her fellow tenets.
[Uklesh: And then to destroy them all by turning one against the other, and manipulating even her own daughter! How cruel is fate! How cruel is Washu! It is enough to make one weep for the pain!
[Murmur: Oh, jeeze, I knew that reviewing another Tenchi fic after Love's Labor Lost was a bad idea.]
Sometimes Makoto watched too, but her English skills were already as
good as they were going to get. She wasn't going to have an English
accent, no matter how much she practiced, so she just didn't try very
hard. She'd spoken the language off and on again while traveling the
world on diplomatic missions, but Britain hadn't been a very important
place for quite a while and other versions of the language had become
dominant. That and the language had a lot fewer words in this time.
[Kosh: Ok prose, so far. Not outstanding, but all right.]
Which meant she had a lot more time for practice. Even though she was
still in full command of her powers, this body wasn't accustomed to
harnessing large amounts of magic. Not that she would really have
minded spending a few extra days lounging around with nothing to do, but
she was always a believer that work put in as preparation saved effort
later.
[Uklesh: And there, ladies and gentelmen, the rationalization of why the senshi of the future just don't blast away at the enemy in the first place.
[Kosh: Perhaps it also has something to do with the fact that they would like the present senshi to come to their own.
[Uklesh: If that were true, V&J wouldn't be going to England. They would let Present Minako go, instead.]
Makoto sat down on the couch beside Minako who immediately snuggled up
against her, going into movie watching mode. Makoto smiled gently and
ran her hand gently through the blond girl's hair. Minako grinned and
snuggled a little closer gently slipping one of her arms between the
couch and Makoto's back. One of Makoto's arms found its way around
Minako's shoulders. They seemed to mutually agree upon the position and
settled into watching the film.
[Kosh: Oh . . . my. (to Uklesh) Quick! Shut him up!
[Uklesh: Dame Desu!
[Murmur: . . .
[Kosh: . . . Err, not that I am complaining, but should you not be making some sort of lewd comment?
[Murmur: *Sniff* That's just so sweet. I couldn't do that.
[Uklesh: Yes, it . . . is . . . very . . . sweet.
[The three reviewers bask in the presence of love. It feels really nice.]
"I don't understand," Makoto finally said. "Why is the title of the
movie "Octopussy"?"
[Murmur: Oh, that brings up so many memories of my youth, when my fellow imps and I would make all sorts of comments about that title. But now, it just seems so . . . childish.
[Kosh: Well, I'm glad for small favors.
[Murmur: Besides, it's too easy.]
"Who cares," Minako mumbled sleepily. "It's James Bond."
[Uklesh: That means, of course, it is not the plot that matters, but how many explosions it can fit, and how many car commercials it can do.
[Murmur: And how much cheescake it can film. Woo Hoo!
[Kosh: It was too good to last.]
"Mina-chan," Makoto turned her head to look down at her lover. "How
long have you been sitting here?"
[Murmur: Woo Hoo!
[Uklesh: Aw, shut up.]
"What time is it now?"
[Uklesh: Time for you to die, Mr. Bond.]
"Nearly ten thirty."
[Uklesh: It's . . . the Witching Hour!
[Murmur (to Kosh): When he goes on like this, why don't you whack him upside the head?
[Kosh: It's not as annoying.]
"Then... um..." Minako wrinkled her face cutely in concentration as she
did the math. "Thirty two hours. But I'm only on my third James Bond
movie."
[Kosh: While I am quite gratified that the characterization is so on-target, you really would think that Minako wouldn't be so . . . ditzy after a thousand years.
[Uklesh: Look at how you acted a thousand years ago, and say that again.
[Kosh: *sigh* True.]
"Bed time for you, then." Makoto scooped her up in her arms, straining
a bit at lifting someone almost the same size as herself. It was taking
her a while to get her muscles back to what she was used to, as well.
[Kosh: That "as well" sounded off. Perhaps something like "muscles back to what she was accustomed to, back in her original body." Or something to that effect.
[Uklesh: Rebound Effect.
[Kosh whacks Uklesh upside the head.
[Kosh: Ok, you've gone over the line, buddy-boy.
[Uklesh retaliates with a stunning pile driver. Ooooh, Kosh hits back with a wicked haymaker. And it looks like it's all over for our favorite punster. But wait . . . ah, screw it.]
Minako giggled and wrapped her arms around Makoto's neck. "As long as
you're coming with me."
[Murmur: Ho ho! Why that little tramp. Whoo Hoo! Trashy Lemon scene! (to the two downed vorlons) Aren't you two getting up? Oh, well. More lines for me to pervert without retaliation.]
"I'm going with you, but we're going to sleep. We leave tomorrow
evening and I want to do some more training before we go."
[Murmur: You know, Makoto never really struck me as the overly militaristic type. A scrapper, yes, but this gun-ho Makoto just seems so . . . off. And also I never really bought that whole 'never found love, make sex with each other as a matter of convenience' thing. It seems so shallow for what they have for each other. I know that it is probably is too late it change it when it was first mentioned, but really, the author should rectify that in this series. Both thats, really. After all, if Minako is so Minako, why isn't Makoto the fiery, cutesy-wutesy cook?(to Kosh) Well, I can't do your schtick all the time. Hurry up!]
Minako pouted cutely. "Aww... you don't love me anymore."
[Murmur: Oh, jesus quack, that is so cute.]
"You got that right," Makoto said mischievously. "I just keep you
around for the sex."
[Murmur: Hmm . . . Militaristic Makoto and submissive Minako. Heh heh heh, oh the games they must play.
[Kosh whacks Murmur.
[Kosh: Quiet, you.]
"I knew it! That's all anyone ever wants!" Minako said in mock
anguish.
[Murmur: I know that's what I want. Hmm, and I notice that she does that mock anguish thing quite well. Perhaps I was right about the games she and Makoto play. Heh heh heh.
[Kosh: Oh Saints preserve us.]
As much as it annoyed her, Minako got a good night's sleep that night.
[Murmur: Annoyed her? What about us, the fans? We want a lemon scene, dammit!
[Kosh: No, we do not.
[Uklesh: Blood! Blood!]
***
"Let's do what?" Makoto asked. They were doing some cool down
exercises after a healthy morning workout.
[Uklesh: You heard me, let's go crazy, BROADWAY STYLE! Edo, Edo, it's a hell of town!
[Murmur: Ah those healthy morning exercises . . . the sweaty skin, the rising chests, the tight clothes. Argle, I'm in agony.]
Well, Minako called it morning, Makoto thought of it as early
afternoon.
[Murmur, Kosh, Uklesh (sim): Hey, the time you wake up IS morning.]
"Let's be superheros." She reached up and brushed a strand of blond
hair out of her eyes. "If we end up fighting the Dark Kingdom or Agency
or whatever, let's have some fun while we're doing it."
[Murmur: I thought it was called the Dark Cabinet.
[Uklesh: No, that's the Nixon Administration.]
"Exactly how's that different from just being heroes?" Makoto gave her
a skeptical glance. The fact that Minako'd probably end up talking her
into the plan, no matter how silly, was the only reason she was even
listening to her.
[Murmur: After all, she had ways of making her come . . . err do, do the way she wanted. Heh heh heh.
[Kosh: Oh, please. And was that contraction of "Minako'd" really neccesary?]
"Well, for one thing, normal heros don't have agents. Or
merchandising."
[Kosh: Untrue. Most super-heroes do not have agents. Only the now defunct Youngblood would be so callously mercantile. And the Senshi are already 'Superheroes', if you take it to mean costumed, super-powered do-gooders. And besides, why do you think there are so many Sailor V merchandies?]
Makoto sighed. Sometimes it just didn't pay to be a hero. Make that a
superhero.
[Uklesh: Not according to Minako.]
***
"So, M, what do you have for us today?" Minako asked.
[Uklesh: A Genom Rally Racer 3000. And do try to keep it in one piece, 002, unlike the last TWELVE cars you've ruined beyond all hope of salvaging.]
Mercury shot her an annoyed glance. This "M" thing that Minako had
started was getting on her nerves. She decided to just ignore it since
they'd be gone in a matter of hours. Not that dissuading Minako from
something silly like that was every easy.
[Uklesh: Ami? Annoyed? Good gods, the world is coming to an end!!
[Kosh: That brings up another good points. I've never pegged Ami to one of those that fanfic writers would choose to be totally submerged into their senshi identities that they are not even using their given names. It bothers me how the author is giving us these characterizations and not taking the time to give a rationale. Oh ah.
[Murmur: Just another thing that you have to live with, eh, your majesty?]
"This is all the equipment that I could scrape together on such short
notice. We're just lucky that Washuu let me use whatever I needed from
her lab or even this much would have been beyond me." She looked over
the table of items, trying to decide where to start.
[Uklesh: Don't trust her! Don't trust her! It's all coming down! It's all coming down!
[Kosh: Oh, dear. Another Anderson flashback.]
"First off, these earrings and chokers are a complete communications
suite. All the other Senshi have them already."
[Murmur: My, what a lovely ensemble.]
"So we'll be able to communicate with Serenity and the others with
these?" Makoto asked.
[Uklesh: Nope. But it does pick up three hundred channels from over twenty countries, including the Russian Potato cooking channnel.]
"Unfortunately, the range on them is only a couple hundred miles.
Though that's more than enough for you two to talk to each other. They
also feed their signals into this," she indicated what looked like a
largish laptop computer, "which then uses a satellite relay which Washuu
already had set up to get back here."
[Kosh: Washu using something as primitive as a satellite. Tsk tsk.]
"The computer, itself, is linked to the Mercury computer both ways.
I'll be monitoring your progress from here and should be able to supply
you with additional documents and the like via the laptop's printer."
She picked up a pair of folders stuffed with documents. "These are your
current identities. You're both sixteen, according to these, and early
graduates. There's also enough money to get you by for a few weeks. By
the time that runs out, you should have received some credit cards which
I'll have made as soon as we know your new address."
[Uklesh: It's amazing that the senshi, so-called "Fighters of truth and justice" would so easily lie and helped undermine the economic system that is the cornerstone of current world relations, thus undermining the world itself. It just goes to show how easily time corrupts.]
Minako grinned happily. She'd always been a fan of spending other
people's money.
[Uklesh: Case in point.
[Murmur: Will you shut the hell up?]
Mercury suppressed a sigh. "Try not to charge too much to them,
though. The bigger the numbers are, the harder it is to hide the fact
that they're never actually getting paid."
[Uklesh: It's corrupt, I tell you! If this is the sort of attitude that they bring to the twentieth century, imagine what they do when they are in their own time, with an established power base! They're despots, DESPOTS!
[Murmur: I think that Anderson has finally done what Davies couldn't, bring rampant paranoia about the moral fiber of the sailor senshi. So sad, so very sad.]
Minako grinned again. "Don't worry. We won't buy anything that we
don't need."
[Murmur: Just a few toys. You know, choke chains, leather corsets, collars, a rubber dil-
[Uklesh sends Murmur into the "Next Dimension"*.
[Uklesh: Ah, beating the devil out of people always makes me feel so happy and gay. . . . Much like-
[Kosh sends Uklesh into the "Next Dimension"*
[Kosh: Again you go to far, buddy-boy.]
[*Next Dimension copyright of Pioneer and who-ever made that "Last Starfighter" movie.]
Somehow, Mercury had the feeling that she was going to be doing a lot
of hacking to keep the two bankrolled.
[Mokoto: It's not that hard. All you have to do is drill four holes into your spinal cord, and install a generation Q-23 SQUID into your brain.
[Kosh: *Sigh* Where do these people come from?]
***
The countryside of Japan rolled by gently outside the van as Mr. Masaki
guided it along the narrow roads that were so common in this area.
Minako rode in the front with him and chatted idly about the weather
while Makoto was sitting in the back trying to memorize her new
identity. Not that it would really matter all that much, but it was
something to do.
[Murmur: Boring.
[Kosh: Yes, this is a bit slow. In fact, this chapter so far reads like a set-up. Which it is, but you would think that there would have been sufficent build-up in the main series.
[Uklesh: You know what I would have liked to have seen? A big scene that involved present M&M and Mirai M&M. That would have been . . . neat.
[Murmur: Yes, especially the four-way orgy.]
According to the papers, her name was now Kamo Mariko. A bit too close
to her real name for her tastes, but it was too late to change that
now. Markio was also a better student than she'd ever been in her
youth. The records placed her pretty near the top of her class in high
school, which she'd managed to finish quite a bit early. No easy feat
in the Japanese educational system.
[Kosh: Which explains why Ami, who has an I.Q. of 300 is still in junior high.
[Uklesh: It has always been my experience that if one is going under-cover, one should always use a name that is close to the one that you're using. Unless you're on the run, or are otherwise being hunted. That's why I like using 'Kosh', for those situations.
[Murmur: 'Kamo'? What in the world does that mean?]
Apparently, she was going to be studying at the University of London
for a while. Well, if she didn't decide to scrap her cover story as
soon as they got off the plane, that is.
[Uklesh: After all, why go to school if you don't need a job?
[Murmur: For the chicks, baby, the chicks.
[Uklesh: Do not call me 'baby', or you will see what the hoary hosts of hogoth taste going into your pancreas.]
Seeing as she had the papers for a full semester's worth of campus
housing, it looked like she was going to be a college girl for a while.
Too bad there wasn't a class schedule included with the paperwork. It
shouldn't be too much trouble to get into something decent, though.
Summer term classes were usually fairly empty. Well, in western
schools, anyway.
[Kosh: So the english and the american school system are still the same after a millenium?
[Uklesh: Beuracracy rarely changes if it doesn't have to.
[Murmur: Especially since they had to go through the Great Ice.]
They only had a couple days before registration and it was going to be
tight if they were to get moved in and settled before classes started.
Their lack of belongings was actually a plus, for once. Shopping was
going to be a necessity and would probably end up eating at their cash
pretty fast.
[Kosh, Uklesh, Murmur (sim): Huh?
[Kosh: I would think that loosing so much money so quickly would be a BAD thing.]
Maybe Minako would land them a toy deal or something. It'd certainly
make them more independent. Of course, she could always take up bank
robbing. With Minako's shopping habits, it might just prove necessary.
[Uklesh: I am the gorgeous and all-together stunning Sailor Jupiter! In the name of my creditors, GIVE ME MONEY!
[Murmur: Toys. Heh heh heh. Like-
[Kosh: Oh, hush.]
***
After a short layover in Seoul, the flight was nonstop across Asia to
England. Minako slept for most of the flight, well, as much as was
humanly possible. She did stay awake through the in-flight movie, a
badly dubbed American flick whose name she never quite caught.
[Uklesh: Now there's a twist.
[Kosh: You know, in modern airplanes, they usually have two channels, each with different languages for in-flight movies.]
Eventually the boredom got to be too much and she tried to read her new
profile. Her new name was Asato Misato, apparently going to University
of London, going to be staying in the same dorm room as Makoto. Well,
at least that was a bonus.
[Murmur: So, will there be any "fan-service"?
[Kosh: Oh, lord. You have enough bad habits.]
Then she got down to figuring out exactly how much cash they had and
would be needing to get set up. From her calculations, it didn't look
very promising.
[Kosh: Minako worried about finances? That is, what is called, a break in characterization.
[Uklesh: Well, not really. After all, she can't be a complete goof all the time.
[Kosh: But, the way that the author has portrayed her left me to conclude that she was a total goof all the time.]
"Mako-chan?" she asked quietly.
[Murmur: You wanna make nookie?]
"Mina-chan?" Makoto groaned softly and rolled her head around to face
Minako while slowly waking up. "We almost there?"
[Uklesh: No, but we are plummeting rapidly towards the earth. Just thought you'd like to know.]
"Another two hours, I think. I've just been looking at our
finances..."
[Kosh: I reiterate, a break in characterization.]
"Donn worry 'bout it. Mercury said we'd have credit cards in a couple
weeks, remember?"
[Kosh: *sigh* Another one. And a role reversal, at that.]
Minako wrinkled her brow a little. "Yeah, but I don't know if we have
enough to last till them. Unless you really want to use milk crates for
furniture."
[Murmur: It's not that bad. And think of the new experiences you would have in 'bed'.]
"Do they even have milk crates in England? Well, we could always rob a
bank or something." Makoto said, her voice too filled with sleep for
Minako to be able to tell if she was being sarcastic or not.
[Murmur: Question. If they have a super-duper computer, why would they rob a bank when they could just raid the accounts of a zaibatsu?]
"Nope, can't break laws without a good reason. Part of being a hero."
She looked back at the papers she held in her hands. "I wonder how fast
I could get a student lone."
[Murmur: Well, all you have to do is say, "So, how would you like a carnal experience like nothing you've had before?" Or offer coffee.
[Kosh: I thought I told you to stop that.]
***
London was dirty and crowded. Well, it wasn't really that bad, but
Minako and Makoto had both been expecting something more along the lines
of what London had been in their time. Apparently, things were due for
improvement sometime in the next dozen centuries or so.
[Kosh: London IMPROVED? That place is so filled with old buildings that you would have to knock down every single one of them to even think of widening the streets.]
The airport was several miles away from the center of town where their
lodgings were supposed to be. At least the mass transit system was well
developed since they didn't have the budget to handle cab fares.
[Uklesh: You'd think that they would just jump on the roof tops.]
Well developed except for the six foot tall reptilian youma that was
currently trying to turn one of the buses over, that is.
[Murmur: Reptilian? Shouldn't he be a candy-cane monster or something?]
Makoto and Minako were just exiting the terminal building when the
thing showed up.
[Uklesh: Perfect! Just Perfect! Here I am, trying to get to a Marriot, and a japanese monster shows up!]
"Do you think they knew we were coming?" Makoto asked, glancing warily
at the beast thing.
[Kosh: Just a glance? You'd think that she would be oggling it, much like the other people on the scene.]
"Probably not. This kind of thing used to happen to us all the time,"
Minako grinned.
[Uklesh: You mean that they actually figured it out? The world is coming to an end!]
"What kind of thing? The being near random monster attacks?"
[Kosh: My, Makoto seems unusually dense.]
"Yep. Don't you remember our childhood." She paused for a second and
considered recent events. "I mean, our first childhood. Anyway, this
is a great chance to get some practice in."
[Kosh: Second, actually, if you count the one that they had during the Silver Millenium.]
Makoto grinned. "But I thought we were supposed to keep our clothing
on in public."
[Murmur: Well, sex on the street is better than looking at that thing. Eew, didn't you hear? Reptilian creatures went out of style at the same time as Leifeld.]
"Very funny," Minako latched onto her arm and started dragging her back
into the terminal. "Let's find a place to change before I decide to use
you as bait."
[Uklesh: Perfectly reasonable stratagem.]
"You're so touchy after plane rides. You've got to learn to relax."
[Kosh: What an odd statement to make to Minako. I keep getting the feeling that the author should have switched who says what just before the plane scene.]
***
Things weren't going well for Gisei. First, he'd been hand picked by
General Kunzite to spearhead the England operations. Of course, it
SOUNDED like a good thing. A good chance to distinguish himself for
promotion and the like. What they didn't tell him was that the gate
seals were proving too complicated to unravel so they were going to
shove someone through in an attempt to shatter them.
[Kosh: When sublety doesn't work, go for brute force!
[Uklesh: It's always worked for me.]
Which was why he was currently on a mindless rampage through the
outskirts of London. Nowhere near the kind of covert operation that the
General had been hoping to run, but with the pressure in Asia heating
up, Beryl was pressing him for results and this might have saved a full
month on getting the operation underway.
[Uklesh: Anyone else think that being stuck in that pocket universe of hers has made Beryl really stupid?
[All hands are raised in the affirmative.]
Haste led to mistakes, the foremost of which was bashing in a tour bus
with his bare hands.
[Uklesh: Bloody tourists. Didn't I tell you, Harold, there'd be no good from them, the wankers. And look, they're French.
[Murmur: All for the better then, innit?
[Kosh: Morons. I'm surrounded by morons.]
"Stop right there!" A feminine voice shouted from the direction of the
terminal.
[Uklesh: And, of course, he does.]
Even mindless as he was, Gisei stopped what he was doing and turned to
look. Two girls in Sailor Fukus were standing just outside the glass
doors or the station.
[Murmur: Sweeto.]
"You are trying to-" the one in the orange began but was interrupted by
the youma's bestial roar. Some part of his mind had latched onto the
instructions that he had been given about what to do if young girls in
fukus showed up. He launched himself toward them, almost dropping to
all four in his rush to get to the targets.
[Kosh: Which just goes to show that even the brain-dead cannon fodder youma have more on the ball than Beryl and her cronies.]
"Hey!" orange-fuku shouted. Gisei reared up to his full height of
almost eight feet and threw his arms wide in order to make his charge as
sweeping as possible. Green-fuku hurriedly moved to one side so that he
would have to choose a target.
[Uklesh: This is brain-dead? Man, you're right, they do have more on the ball.]
Orange, however, stayed put, her face showing no fear. What it was
showing was an amazing amount of anger. As he drew closer, her stance
seemed to melt a bit and loosen.
[Kosh: Why bother with Orange and Green, after all, we know who they are, the monster knows who they are, the author knows who they are. There's no need.]
His monstrous claws swept downward in a vicious V centered on the poor
girl, who, mysteriously, wasn't there. As the arms came toward her, she
flowed into motion and danced inside his reach and past him, pausing
only long enough to deliver two swift, painful kicks to his knees.
[Uklesh: I think that I'm in love.]
Stunned, he fell to the ground as his legs would no longer support
him. A powerful kick to the back of his head sent him sprawling, though
it wasn't strong enough to kill him or render him unconscious.
[Uklesh: Marry me.]
"First, NEVER, EVER, EVER interrupt one of my speeches. I don't care
who you are." She was almost growling as she spoke. "And second, if
you're going to fight, make it look GOOD. People don't like to see
idiots like you rampaging around. Put some finesse in your step or
something."
[Murmur: For some reason, I have weird mental image of Ameila Wil Tesla Sailoon in Lina Inverse's clothes saying the exact same things. Weird.]
Gisei rolled onto his back and spent a moment in a daze before flipping
to his feet. He roared again and charged, his frenzy fast returning.
[Uklesh: Tsk. The reason that he's getting his butt kicked in, is that he's taking so much time blustering and less time to actually fighting.]
Orange-fuku smiled at him wearily. "Alight, if that's the way you want
to play it."
[Murmur: You'd think that Minako would like blasting away at the bad-guy.]
She dodged his second charge and ended up standing back where she had
been a few moments before.
[Kosh: Am I missing something? The attack? I wouldn't call a charge an attack. More details are needed. This is reading like a script.]
"Sailor V..." A glowing V settled onto the tip of her index finger.
"...Beautiful..." The V began to spark and pulse with power.
"..Laser!" The V seemed to surge forward until it formed a beam of
triangular light.
[Kosh: A new attack or a new name for an old one?]
Gisei was struck in the side as he was turning to face her again.
There was one brief moment of agony before the bonds that held his soul
to the mortal plane were severed and his soul was freed to rest. His
body was freed to rest, as well. All over the concret.
[Kosh: Concrete. And, I don't know, this paragraph seemed . . . off, somehow. Oh, ah.]
***
"I can't believe it!" Minako grumbled angrily as they rode the subway
into the heart of town.
[Uklesh: Which beated with the pulse of a city.
[Kosh: Quite right. London is a city. Or, if you're a player of Sim City, a Metropolis.]
Makoto, who hadn't really been paying all that much attention to her
since the fight, looked up from her magazine. "Believe what? That we
were attacked after being in town for less than an hour?"
[Murmur: That we haven't had ONE lemon scene in this chapter!]
"No. That's nothing new. But he interrupted my speech!" Minako said.
[Kosh: We'd face-fault, but it wasn't that good.]
"Why are you so upset over a silly speech, anyway?" Makoto looked at
her, interested in the answer that she would come up to for this one.
[Kosh: Ok, this is more In Character.]
"Mako-chan," Minako said, giving Makoto a benevolent stare. "You just
don't understand how important image is. If we're going to do this, we
need to look good doing it. To look good, you've got to do speeches.
Trying to be a hero without them is like..."
[Murmur: Being a vigilante. And no SUPER hero would want to be THAT.]
Makoto sighed. Minako was probably going to go on and on about this
until the subway ride was over. Or longer.
[Kosh: I wanted to make this point before, but I believe that they don't call them sub-ways in england. The tube, or something like that.]
[The lights come on, and on the screen, Captains Ivanova and Lochley, along with Talia Winters, show up, replacing the fic. Talia, by the by, is on Ivanova's lap, looking quite comfertable.
[Ivanova: So, what did you think.
[Kosh: Ok. It wasn't the worst thing we've read. Hell, it was pretty damn decent. Just wish it wasn't so short, and the lack of descriptions and the odd characterizations and dialogue brought it down a bit.
[Murmur: I found the relationship between Minako and Makoto to be odd. Only in the beginning do they even mention the fact that they're involved, and that only through innuendo. I just hope that in future chapters the author shows that the bond between the two more fully, for, as I said before, I found that whole "Sex between friends" thing to be pretty shallow, and it shouldn't be. I want some Romance, dammit! . . . and cheap, sleazy, lesbian sex, of course.
[Winters: That reminds me. DO NOT PUT ANOTHER BUG IN MY CHAMBERS AGAIN, WRETCH.
[Murmur: You're mean.
[Lochley (to Uklesh): And you?
[Uklesh: Nothing more to add, really. Though I do agree with Kosh in that the descriptions were lacking, especially during the fight scene.
[Ivanova: Well, that's that. Bye.
[Kosh: See ya.]
Well, what do you think? Well, whatever you think, I hope that this proved both helpful and somewhat entertaining!
-Murmur the Fallen
