(no subject)

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

Sunlight. That was something he frankly, hadn't been expecting to see anytime soon. Actually, he hadn't expected to be breathing again either. Sitting up in the oddly comfortable and peculiarly designed bed. Though truth be told, he wasn't really used to sleeping in an actual bed either. So waking up in one with railings like this one was a little strange.

The room was quiet, frankly too quiet for his tastes either. His surroundings were strange, yet as he looked out the window and saw the familiar view of the surface he thought he'd left behind, he started putting things together in his head. That was right, Simon took control of that fortress Ganmen, so he must be aboard it. A quick glance down explained the tightness around his chest and mid-section; he'd been quite thoroughly bandaged up. It wasn't a bad job considering he was pretty sure that the last time he checked himself, there was a big, damn hole right below his ribs.

With a little struggling, he clamored out of the bed and wasted little time in donning his pants, cape and geta -all conveniently left near his bedside. Tucking his shades into the waistband of his pants, he grabbed his sheathed sword and wasted no time in flinging the door leading out to the hall open with dramatic fervor.

All at once, the eyes of the passersby were all on him. Expressions of shock and sheer amazement greeted him for a moment before erupting into a riotous cheer. Shouts and cries of "He's awake!" and "Lord Kamina's on his feet!" resounded as he returned the greeting with a cocky smirk of his.

"Hell yeah!" That was the initial reply he gave as he stepped out, giving his new surroundings a quick once over, "It'll take those bastards a lot more than that if they're lookin' to take me down!"

More cheers came as he found himself ushered through the hallways, past more cheering humans that had joined their resistance, the Dai Gurren Dan. And before he knew it, they'd led him to the bridge where as the doors parted, the crew member leading him along announced to the bridge crew, "Captain on deck!"


[OOC: Okay, so in Kamina's dream here, episode 8 ended on a far better note than it actually did. Feel free to show up aboard his new giant mech-battleship-thing.]

Comments

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

Power? Check.

Battle? Check.

Awesome battleship technology? Check.

Public acclaim? Check.

Mercury was there. Hopefully the dark blue sailor-suit uniform didn't seem out of place enough to remark on too much.

"Congratulations, Captain!" she called out breezily. Careful; she was liable to demand to give him more medical treatment.

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

Not just any battleship technology. Awesome Ganmen Battleship tecnology! (http://gurrenlagann.wikia.com/wiki/Dai-Gurren) There's a big different between when you're just a battleship on land versus a battleship with feet, arms and enough humanoid combat mecha onboard to siege a large city and win that battle. Oh yeah and let's not forget the artillery guns that the Dai Gurren demonstrates no shortage there of.

So yeah, very check. As he surveys the bridge, he admittedly finds that there are some key crew members he was looking particularly forward to seeing, but it's a big ship. Odds told Kamina, they were somewhere else... maybe sleeping or something. From the look of things, it was pretty early.

Probably also explained why the crew member that had decided to follow him around promptly handed him a mug of coffee. Still one of those drinks he was getting used to, but man did it jolt him awake.

For some reason, the congratulations of a particular recruit catches his attention. He stops and gives her a once over -the sailor suit wasn't without its more intriguing points; not quite as showy as Yoko or the other girls, but it wasn't without his charm. In either case, she didn't quite strike him as the fighting sort like much of the rest of the crew.

"Oi! Did ya join up while I was out or somethin'? I didn't see anyone dressed like you when we were making plans to take this thing."

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

Very, very, check, which is why she likes it.

His attitude, if she knew it, she'd like less. She's only one of the five most feared fighters in her world, after all, responsible for the current situations of several other worlds, veteran of thousands of years of battle in her past. And, evidently, prideful.

"Do you like it?" she settled for that first, with a little smile. Not many men didn't appreciate the short skirt, but the punishment for trying to touch was higher than most would want to pay.

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe once they get to know each other better, his attitude will change. But they've hardly exchanged words and so far, the world has demonstrated to him that the showier a girl's costume was, the better she was at kicking ass. So the amount of fabric she's wearing says she's about on par with Kiyal... who admittedly was more fun to hang around than useful for things other than chucking explosives.

So that change in opinion on his part could easily happen with a little more chatter between them.

And then that question. A simple 'hell yeah' or something like that didn't feel like it'd get his opinion across properly. The show it made of her legs was likely going to be something he'd be sneaking glances at. "Heh, a length like that -yer not hearin' any complaints from me."

Kamina flashes a playful smirk in reply before speaking up again, "So what'do they have ya doin' here?"

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

Huh. Maybe that's why her uniform got added perks once she got her power-up. The Darkness had definite advantages.

"They wanted to make me your commander," she lies pleasantly. She doesn't expect him to believe it, of course; she just can't help tweaking his nose, so to speak.

"How about it? Want to step aside?" She's being purposely provoking, but it's not entirely badly meant.

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

Darkness for a girl usually meant a more attractive uniform.

When she replied though, he immediately shook his head as he bellowed quite a laugh in response. Pushing her luck like that with him, he hoped she was just playing with him because if she was serious, he had every intention or reminding her of his place here in a short order. He touted that he was the great Lord Kamina, leader of the Dai Gurren Dan! If asked and given good reason, he'd step down. But until someone with some better credentials on the table said so, he just couldn't take the gesture seriously.

"HAHAHAHA!!" It took him a moment for his laugh to die down to a more manageable proportion, eventually leaving him with just an amused grin on his face, "Ah, keep that sense of humor and you'll go far in life!"

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

Her grin didn't waver. She came from a long tradition of disrespect to authority. Here, at least, it was mostly friendly, or at least not hostile enough to be used to conceal murder plans.

"I plan to go far," she answers easily, as though this is simply her due. "I plan to go the farthest." A place where her ambition was admired was... refreshing.

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

Listening to her response, what he heard couldn't have made him more proud to have someone like that numbering among his crew as he leans over and puts a hand firmly on her shoulder.

"Now that's what I like to hear." Kamina's voice was oddly indoor-volumed there -loud, but still in the decibel range where it didn't involve any of his enthused shouting. "Ya see that out there?"

He gestures out the nearest window to the terrain, "Once every human in the world's free to walk around on that, we gonna keep going! After we show these beastman bastards who's boss, we're aiming for the moon!"

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

The moon. To her, it's a less appealing target. She focuses on the land in front of them instead.

"What stops them from doing it now?" She doesn't immediately see any barriers or anything holding them back.

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

There was that almost stupified, blank stare of his again.

It was about at this moment, that he figured that at least originally, she must've been dragged along from some significantly less-involved village where they might actually like it underground or something.

"Ya taken a look around?" Kamina's voice reflects a hint of disbelief that she wouldn't know -if not just for the reason that he's assuming that she's just from another village on his world.

"Out there, the beastmen hunt and exterminate any human that comes to the surface -for any reason! And while none of the ones whose asses I've kicked have given us any reasons why, now that I'm up here, I'll be damned if I just let 'em stuff us all back under a rock!"

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

For all she knew, the conflict was more localized than that.

Despite that incredulous tone, she nods. She has mixed feelings about humans; the Dark Kingdom had taught her to look down on them, to attack them either at whim or during the times it would serve their purposes, it didn't matter what happened to mere humans.

Then humans had saved their own world. They'd broken the seal on the power they needed to save themselves; Mercury and her companions had only been the focus and catalyst. The power had come from the combined will of the people of Earth.

"Good luck in the future, then," she says, lightly as always, but perhaps, perhaps sincerely.

how did that post anonymously i really want my laptop back sob

[snipestress.livejournal.com]

There is one that did not share in the revelry.

As soon as he made his appearance on the bridge, Yoko stole herself away at the soonest opportunity to avoid detection by anyone else. She doesn't stray far--only a few feet down the hall, where she plops herself down on the cold steel floor to wait out the pomp and circumstance. She props her knees up and crosses her arms, resting them on top of her knees.

"Stupid..."

She doesn't know if she's talking about herself or Kamina.

Dunno, but I fixed it for ya.

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

There's a rumbling as the newly christened Dai Gurren starts into motion. While not exactly maiden voyage material -considering where the whole thing was now versus where it'd been when they started, the crew apparently decided while he was down and out to relocate. But now that everything seemed to be running smoothly, Kamina takes some time to detach himself from his new aide and take a look around the Dai Gurren Dan's catch on his own.

So as the doors hissed shut behind him, imagine his shock when he happens to find his favorite redhead looking pretty down in the hallway. Momentary look of concern quickly banished from his face, he struts toward her -that usual, almost arrogant swagger before crouching just a little to her side.

That unbecoming look of modest concern comes back as he puts on his best show of trying not to see too apologetic.

"I must've worried ya a hell of a lot with that last thing I said before I passed out. Sorry." He wasn't good with this apology stuff, but Yoko always had his back covered. In always covering him, she saw his vulnerabilities as he saw some of hers -vulnerabilities he honestly felt bad about when they were struck.

Re: Dunno, but I fixed it for ya.

[snipestress.livejournal.com]

His words hadn't scared her; in fact, she could barely remember what he said at all since she couldn't hear it over the horrified screaming in her own head.

She looks up at him, her expression a mix of frustration, confusion, remorse, but mostly concern. Yoko puts her head back down, knowing that she really shouldn't be approaching him with this, but can't help it.

"You should be in bed."

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

It's difficult for him to fathom why, but for some reason just knowing her as he does has his gut telling him that there's far more wrong here than a closer than desired brush with death. Still, he can't quite put his finger on it and at least for now, opts to follow the line of conversation -shaking his head in response.

"Are you kidding me? I heard I've been out for a week! Ya think I'm gonna stay down when all this is goin' on?!" He offers his usual smirk to her, "Sides, I thought you of all people 'd be ecstatic to see me up and around again!" There's a pause before he speaks up again, "Simon's been holdin' up alright in all this too, right? I really got through to him out there and I'll be damned if I let him take a step back."

[snipestress.livejournal.com]

Yoko looks at him and catches his smirk; as a knee-jerk reaction, she lifts her hand to slap that smirk right off his face--how dare he give her that look while she feels this way--but hesitates when she takes particular notice of his bandages. She lowers her arm, but still maintains an incredibly angry expression.

"Look at yourself, Kamina! There's a big gaping hole in your chest and the only thing holding you together are a couple dozen stitches and a few feet of bandaging!" She leans forward, toward him. "I know you want to get up and walk around but it sure as hell isn't going to take much to snap one of those stitches and start up that uncontrollable bleeding that we already managed to deal with!"

She leans back, looking away, shaking slightly, just barely able to keep reign of her emotions. "...How are you supposed to take care of us--when you can't even take care of yourself?"

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

The part of his brain that did the thinking was quick to cede that she had a point. It was an exceptionally annoying point, but he couldn't deny it regardless of how hard he wanted to. Of course in situations like this, his own stubbornness was more than happy to come to his aid.

"Tch, so I'll take it easy and not jump around like a maniac." The look on his face easily reflecting his growing frustration. "Sides, hardly a damn thing got done while I was down and out! Yer the last person I figure I've gotta remind that this is a war here! So the sooner I'm up and at least able to call some shots, the better."

Kamina takes a moment to cross his arms over his chest, feeling he'd made a point. Though admittedly, he already knew that until he didn't need the bandages around his mid-section for anything more than looks, he'd be out of piloting the Gurren. But at the very least, he was going to see all of this through -at least from the bridge where he could do what he's best at in some capacity.

[snipestress.livejournal.com]

"Just leaning over could pop a stitch!"

She heaves out a sigh of her excess emotion. Yoko takes a moment to collect her nerves before speaking again.

She reaches out and takes a hold of the edges of his cape, pulling herself in to his chest, hiding her face under his chin.

"I...just don't want you to leave again. Kamina..."

Yoko doesn't really know why she said "again", and to be honest she didn't even know that she had.

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

For a moment, he was going to argue. Then in that instant, she was close to him again -it was the same kind of closeness they'd shared back before their skirmish that allowed them to capture the Dai Gunzan. The only difference was that here, it was colored with a shade of fear. Something about his brush with death had clearly jarred her far worse than he could've imagined.

And then something about what she'd said somehow stuck out to him: the word again.

It was enough to put a puzzled and confused look on his face as his face tilted downward a little, unable to look at her because of how she'd nestled against him.

"Oi, Yoko... what'do you mean by 'again'?"

[snipestress.livejournal.com]

Yoko backs away from him a half a step and takes his wrist. "Come on," she says, as if he'd never asked her that question. "I'll give you the tour of the place!"

She gives him a genuinely happy smile, albeit tinged with concern. "Maybe I can tire you out so you'll rest again, eh? Oh, but do you want to visit the med bay first, to get some pain killers or something before we start?"

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

Her reaction left him confused. If there was something he'd always been able to trust, it was her and Simon's judgment of a situation. And to have her so serious and worried one moment, then even modestly happy the next... it was worrisome. Something was going on and while the whole 'thinking things through' business was still new to him, even his gut instincts were blaring warning sirens about that statement.

So while he'd just been a little put off, he just opted to roll with things for now. Maybe it was just his imagination acting up and the emphasis he felt her use on 'again' was just him trying to think too hard.

No wonder he didn't do it too often.

When she was finished commenting about stopping by the med bay, he just chuckles a little and shakes his head, "Tch, I think they whacked me up on enough of that stuff earlier -I don't feel a damn thing."

There's that thinking thing again. Even if he had been healing for a week -he'd seen the damage while he was in Gurren's cockpit. He should feel some kind of pain that he should be acting tough to brush off. Yet his midsection felt just fine -good as new in fact. Weird...

[lockandkeyblade.livejournal.com]

Victory. That's the only way Sora can describe what this atmosphere feels like. The way everyone moves, talks, laughs and smiles- it's like they've just accomplished something they thought was impossible.

The focus of this celebration is apparently one man- Kamina. From the way he's being treated and the things he's heard from the crew, he's a pretty well-liked guy! Probably a hero of some sort, someone they respect deeply.

Sora doesn't quite get it, not quite yet, but it sure does make him smile seeing people so happy. And just so he can figure out what all this hullabaloo is about, he follows along after the crowd like a lazy straggler. It's pretty easy to change the dream as he walks through it, just enough so he can wander around unquestioned by the crew. Roxas is the one who's really good at this stuff. Sora's still learning.

That's why there just might be a chance the dreamer might notice he doesn't belong, even if the crew doesn't. Still, he seems like a pretty cool guy- maybe someone Sora might like. He wonders where the dream is taking him. So he leisurely makes his way up behind Kamina, with his arms up behind his head,

"What're we gonna do now, Captain?"

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

A hero would have been a modest understatement for what he was to the people. This was a man who's original ambition had only been to leave the underground village he'd lived in all of his life to brave the unknown and find a world without walls, ceilings or limits. It was an ambition that changed when he finally reached that surface. He'd taken what had originally been just a fight for survival and made it a war to re-take what he believed was the right of the human race: to live on the surface. And that rebellious spirit had shown people that when you kick logic and reason to the curb, you can make the impossible possible after all!

As he makes his way toward the bridge, he doesn't seem to pay too much mind to the oddly dressed boy with spiky hair following behind him. If his experience on the surface had taught him anything, it was that the humans from the different villages all seemed to have different kinds of clothes.

The question though, that was met with Kamina giving the boy a smirk from over his shoulder as he continued along without missing a beat in his step, "What else? We've got this ship now, we're takin' the fight to 'em! That one bastard mentioned a capital city and some Spiral King. So if he's behind all this crap of forcing humans to live underground, we're gonna go kick his ass!"

sorry for the delay ! Had a busy week.

[lockandkeyblade.livejournal.com]

Sora glances around the bridge taking in the sight of the crew. Their attention on this man is rapt, dedicated. There's a lot of tension in the air, and loud, energetic cheering around the cockpit at Kamina's declaration. Sora hasn't known this dreamer long, but he's willing to bet this Lord Kamina guy is good on his word. There's even a little bit of Sora that's already sort of cheering him and his crew on.

"Wait. Spiral King? What Kinda king would make people live underground?"

Sora's pretty familiar with royalty. Most of the ones he's met have always had the peoples' best interest in mind. This Spiral King guy sounds like a real tyrant- it's not hard for Sora to imagine he'd be like the Queen of Hearts.

No worries, no worries. Past few days have been busy here too.

[defiantstand.livejournal.com]

To say that Kamina had a certain charisma to him would be a massive understatement. Though happy to bask in his spotlight, he was never arrogant to the point of even remotely taking credit for the work of others. Truth be told, he was often prone to blowing the exploits of his compatriots out to being far more dramatic than they actually were. So between that and the fact that he was a pretty damn good story teller, it wouldn't be any surprise to find someone completely new getting caught up in the feelings around the bridge.

So when the spiky-haired boy poses his question, it prompts at least a split-second's pause. He's not sure how much of the radio chatter from the battle to take the battleship they now occupied had been passed around. So figuring that it just wasn't getting spread around too quickly, he decides to educate his new follower.

"You, me and the rest of the damn human race rants to know that! So we're gonna knock on his door with this thing and see if he'll see us for a little bit."

That smirk hasn't gone away. And if Sora's too familiar with the more... physically persuasive sort of visit that Kamina's getting at, it won't take much imagination to translate 'knock on his door with this thing' into 'hail him with gunfire and probably giant rocks'.