Duo-kun had looked like he was contemplating violence on the time machine most of the day. Apparently, Heero-kun had left very specific instructions of what needed to be done and what conversions had to be made, and while they made less than zero sense to her, Duo-kun was apparently capable of understanding and even following them.
What he didn't seem to be capable of, however, was working on them without some colorful commentary. She actually felt as though she had managed to pick up some kinds of phrases that she would have loved to get Haruka-san's opinion on. Knowing that it was just the Reapers' spell actually made her wonder what exactly it was that Duo-kun was saying in his own language.
Tomorrow, when both she and the Ginzuishou had had a chance to rest and recuperate, she was actually going to take the chance to try to do something about that herself: recast the spell--or whatever it was--so that it wouldn't be dependent on the Reapers. But that would definitely have to be tomorrow at the very soonest. The day after tomorrow was far more likely a time, provided she didn't have to push the jewel or herself between now and then in any way.
Trunks-kun and Heero-kun had wandered back in time for dinner, from where it was that they had set Heero-kun up to work on the coding for the time machine. There had been a few minor incidents yesterday, though nothing near the intensity of the one that had destroyed their home. There had been nothing like that so far today, and she could only hope that that was a good sign for them.
And hey, there was absolutely no shortage on food to be had tonight. Tonight, all four of them would be able to eat until they were utterly stuffed if they so desired. About half the people who had showed up to get their powers back and she had been able to do so, those people had ended up leaving food with them. It totaled up to donations--more or less--from at least eight people. More than a few of the others had promised to return with payment tomorrow.
Though maybe they should try to stockpile it. She had barely glanced at the food as it was being dropped off. At the time, she had been more concerned with her exhaustion and the person in front of her getting his or her powers back.
Even now, she was barely interested in the food. All she really wanted was rest.
Sadly, Duo-kun had had to help her upstairs. She might have had her powers back--or at least something that would work for them--and yet she was still having to be taken care of. Right now, she was too tired to care. Maybe she would tomorrow, though, but not right now.
She was drifting in and out of consciousness while leaning against Trunks-kun's side. In fact, she would venture a guess that he was the only thing keeping her upright at the moment. She was oddly okay with that. Actually, no, she would prefer to be vertical and unconscious, but if she had to be upright, she would rather be with her boys than on her own.
She was very absentmindedly chewing on something that tasted a whole lot like a scallion pancake but didn't look like anything she had ever seen before. She was pretty sure that either Trunks-kun or Duo-kun was just putting food in her hands at this point. Maybe she looked hungry or something; if she was, she couldn't say for certain because she didn't feel it. All she felt right now was tired.
And maybe she was a little sad that Heero-kun was still more or less avoiding her as much as he could when they all were sharing quarters, more or less. He was still sitting as far away from her as he possibly could while still being in the same room.
And if Duo-kun still went to bed in the room he shared with Heero-kun, no one was really saying anything about him showing up in the morning from hers and Trunks-kun's room. That was probably one of those subjects that was best left untouched as much as possible.
She was going to predict now that she wasn't going to feel up for much of anything, and wasn't that a bummer? Two hot guys in bed with her, and she was already too exhausted for much of anything.
She wasn't even really tracking the conversation going on around her. She felt more than heard Trunks-kun reply to something that Duo-kun had said. There was a rumble of a response from Heero-kun and a lengthy one in reply from Duo-kun.
This was, she supposed, her payment for her curse. She wanted to help everyone in the world as much as she could, even if it meant hurting herself to do it. And it seemed like that was what she had done. She certainly felt like she had overdone it quite a bit.
And there was another piece of food in her hand. She had actually taken a bit before she had realized it. It was a good thing, then, that it was there or else she might have taken a bite out of her own fingers. Hmm... It tasted like onigiri. She blinked open eyes she didn't remember closing. It certainly did not look like onigiri.
Actually, it tasted like the onigiri from that place she and Minako-chan had gone to all the time. It had taken a few days, it seemed, but the Ginzuishou had granted that rather frivolous wish of hers.
"I don't care who comes by tomorrow," Duo-kun's voice declared loudly from somewhere off to her side. "She doesn't need to keep trying to do this."
"Agreed." And weirdly, that sounded a whole lot like Heero-kun. That would be one of the oddest things she had heard yet, since Heero-kun didn't seem to be too terribly happy with her right now.
"Look, I've got the mechanics of it all as far as I can get it without the final equations and numbers from you, Heero," Duo commented. "Why don't I go with you tomorrow and Trunks can stay here with Usagi? Since, you know, no one should really be traveling alone or anything?"
Wow, her tired mind had to comment. That was actually pretty slick of Duo-kun. Maybe he can even start working on convincing Heero-kun to join us after this. That could be fun. Of course, Heero-kun would have to stop avoiding me first.
Speaking of Heero-kun, he was nodding in agreement with Duo-kun. "That would work. I think I have the equations almost ready as well."
So they were almost ready to get out of here then? Good. That was really good news. All they really lacked was a revolution against their captors, and that seemed to be getting closer and closer.
They would need to network with Sylphiel-san and Tenchi-san to get everyone on track regarding time and day.
Two days out. She was going to need at least two days to be back close enough to full strength to be of much use to them in a fight. If the fight would wait two days, that was.
Well, if it couldn't, then it wouldn't be like this would be the first time she had gone into a battle less than fresh. It would be very far from being the first time. It wouldn't even be the ninth or tenth, and she was all right with that; it mean that she had given her all at a time when she really couldn't afford to do just that.
The pair of them, Duo-kun and Heero-kun, were discussing mechanics and physics almost twice as fast as she could process at the moment, which was probably not as much of a statement about her level of wakefulness as it sounded. After all, she had a hard time understanding any of it when she was awake. It almost made more sense to her now than it usually did.
At her side, Trunks-kun waited patiently until there was a long lull in the rapid-fire conversation before jumping in to speak. Seriously, whoever instilled his manners into him... They must have had their work cut out for them. "That idea works for me. It would certainly give me time enough to train, if I stay near Usagi-san here."
What he didn't say was that he could take the opportunity to make sure she didn't overdo things again tomorrow. She could appreciate that statement remaining unsaid on a few levels. Yes, she wanted time enough to recover and be able to use the Ginzuishou in the final battle, whenever that might be. But she also wanted just to be able to enjoy having Trunks-kun to herself for a little while.
There was not going to be a lot she could do about enjoying him tomorrow, not with how tired she was.
Duo-kun nodded in response to Trunks-kun's announcement and then launched right back into his argument with Heero-kun. She managed to tune back in briefly, just long enough to pick up on the fact they were having issues with a power source capable of sustaining the machine across worlds.
A sleepy part of her wanted to suggest Ginji-chan to the pair of them. What better power source for an electronic device in the time machine than a living source of electricity? Especially if said device needed a whole lot of electricity? From what little she had gathered from Ginji-chan, he certainly wouldn't mind either.
Why not? She shrugged. Right now, it doesn't even matter how weird it sounds.
"What about Ginji-chan... umm, Raitei? The Thunder Emperor? Could he power it?" she asked quietly. Whoops, that was not going to be loud enough to cut through Duo-kun's and Heero-kun's argument.
Thankfully, though, Trunks-kun was close enough to hear it and repeat the question. That actually seemed to slow the argument down considerably, if not completely. Heero-kun seemed a bit indifferent, but Duo-kun appeared to be considering the idea.
"It's worth a try. If Ginji is even half as powerful as that Midou guy says he is, then that should be more than enough power to start the time machine, maybe even keep it running until Heero does his thing." As explanations went, it certainly was very much a Duo-kun-ism.
But that didn't matter. What did matter was that they might just have a plan. They might have a way out of here.
28 October 2012
So, here's this chapter.
If you don't count the two hour nap I had from 10 a.m. until noon, I've been up since midnight last night. I'm running on fumes here, but I wanted to make sure you guys got this chapter on time.
I managed to get the battery replaced in my car, but man, that was $100 I didn't have to spare. Very ouch, wallet-wise. Nothing to do for it but roll with it, I guess.
Anyway, see everyone in the next chapter!
Apollymi