Lelouch smiled, reluctantly happy that his (- Fake little brother substitute? And it wasn't like he was even sure that 'Kururugi Nana'/'Rowena' actually was a female version of Rolo, anyway) seemed to be enjoying the curry and rice with salad that he had just made her.
"I couldn't figure out how to use half the stuff in the kitchen, there was so much of it - Could you teach me how?"
"I would be happy to, Nana-san."
Lelouch smiled at her again, wondering just what kind of environment the girl had grown up in. It had apparently been quite lacking in both food and clothing, that much he could tell, but...
And then there was a tinkling and a deep-seated whining vibration in the air. Lelouch blinked as Nana jumped up from her table.
"The next one's coming!"
Ahh, it was in all probability another teammate, then. Lelouch covered up the half-eaten plates and pots and followed her out of the dining room and kitchen.
A not very tall and somehow dumpy-looking woman was half slumped over the depression in the floor that Lelouch himself had arrived in, swearing up a storm in some language Lelouch had never heard of in his life.
And then, all of a sudden, it turned into something he could understand -
"What do you mean wait, you bloody arseholes!"
Nana giggled. "Don't worry Lelouch-san - Sometimes it takes a couple of seconds for the translation program to kick in."
Lelouch looked at her, wondering just how she knew that. It couldn't be from observing him arriving, since there hadn't been a time lag in his case, so...
Hmmm. Just how long had Nana been here, and what had she been doing before she came here, anyhow?
Oh, well, it wasn't like he could go around trying to ferret information out of her now, anyway.
The woman on the floor was still swearing, getting more inventive by the moment. Lelouch cleared his throat in her direction, hoping that she might recognize that there was a young lady in the room.
"Oh, come on now boyo, your lil sis has heard worse, I reckon."
The voice was hourse but strangely familiar.
"She isn't my - " Lelouch stopped, and then started over again with a semi-apologetic half-nod to Nana.
"My name is Lelouch Lamperouge, and this is Kururugi Nana. Do you feel alright?"
" - I suppose." The woman flopped over, wine-colored hair flying all over the place.
"M - M' name is Cornelia Gaston, and I'll 'ppriciate a helping hand right now, I really would."
Lelouch stared at the woman on the floor.
Cornelia. Cornelia?
But now - He could see the resemblance to that particular half-sister of his, short and dumpy or not short and dumpy.
"Damn shits. Wouldn't let me see Euphy, wouldn't even tell me if - "
Euphie.
Lelouch squeezed his eyes closed tight, and bent over to pull the woman up.
He managed it, barely, thanking the Cosmos that the woman didn't seem to be all that fat - the dumpy-ness was mostly due to her clothing and makeup, he thought, now that he had time to look at them.
"Stupid Knightmare. Shitty stabilizers you wouldn't imagine..."
Lelouch blinked. So she was a Knightmare pilot, too?
"Lelouch-san!"
Nana was gesturing, pointing to a place in the wall which - Lelouch looked at it, and then sighed. So Nana hadn't been joking when she was talking about new doors. A brand new door where nothing like that had been before, complete with writing that he'd never seen before in his life.
"Ma'am? Is that your name on that door?"
"Hmmmph?" The woman mumbled, muzzily. "Yeah, I think so..."
"Very well then, I will take you there - Perhaps you should try to clean up and get dressed? There's a rather nice bathroom in there - well, in my room, anyway, so..."
"Mmmph. Alright. - Wanna sleep..."
"There's no reason you shouldn't do that, if you want to, as far as I know. Sentry?"
"There is a Class 4-11 full medical kit in each of your individual rooms. Cornelia would benefit from it's usage, according to my observations."
Cornelia blinked at the mechanical voice coming from nowhere.
"Wa...A AI?"
"I think so, yes."
"Hmph. Just as long as it doesn't have any genocidal tendencies..."
Lelouch goggled at her, wondering just what kind of world she had come from.
"Genocidal tendencies are strongly discouraged in this Unit's line of duties, Cornelia."
"...I'll take ya word for it, then."
Cornelia muttered, and staggered into 'her' room.
"See ya later, boyo and girlie. I need a bit of shuteye, now."
"Ha ha, this is really good, boyo."
Cornelia Gaston said, shoveling down the pasta and vegetables Lelouch had made her like she was afraid it might disappear on her any moment.
"Though what I'd really like to know is a Brit Noble bred and born like you get to learn how to make spagetti with canned tuna, among other things. It's not the usually kind of food the Rich Folks eat, as far as I know... You are a Noble, right?"
Lelouch smiled enigmatically, his mind working furiously.
"Well, let's just say that there was a point in my life when funds were short. Very short, in fact. - Ahh. 'Brit Noble'?"
"The Holy Empire of Britannia, yanno. Stupid expanist shits who kept clinging on and on to their oudated class system. Oops, sorry - I didn't mean to insult the person who just fed me, yanno?"
"I don't mind. I, ahh, don't think that the Britannia I came from and you know are actually the same place, since we're supposed to be from different worlds and all, but I do agree with the 'outdated class system' bit. It's a terrible waste of, ahh, potential, really."
Lelouch smiled at her, turning on the charm. Cornelia Gaston snickered at him.
"And that is the smile of a Britannian Noble bred and born true."
"But I do mean it, you know. - At least with a functioning democracy, the cream has a chance to float to the top, eventually. And you wouldn't imagine just how stupid some of those Greater Nobles are..."
"Except that there's stupidity all over the place, really, from top to bottom, in any society. I'll still take democracy over any other kind of goverment, though. At least England got rid of most of that classist crap long ago... I mean, I'm not one of those radicals who say that we should get rid of our Royals entirely, but those Brittanian commoners still don't even have the vote! Ewww."
"So..." Lelouch said, thinking some more. "You're from England?"
"Well - Yeah, originally, I was. We ended moving all around the EU later on, though... And you?"
"I - " Lelouch sighed. "I was originally from the Mainland, but I grew up in Ar - Japan."
"Hmph." Cornelia grinned at him. "Since Japan isn't a 'Area' anything in my world, and never was, I suppose that sort of proves that we don't come from the same world at all?"
Whoops - This version of Cornelia was quick on the uptake, indeed!
"I see. So Japan was never conquered, in your world?"
"Not to my knowlege, and I would have known something like that..."
"Good." Lelouch muttered. "My - somewhat strange views" He shook his hands, implying 'for a Noble' "- were somewhat influenced by living though a Britannian invasion from the other side, you see.
"That would do it, I suppose." Cornelia Gaston grinned at him again, her look somewhat warmer then before.
Lelouch wondered just what could she have been, in her world. She just didn't feel like straight-up military, for some reason - A mercenary of some kind, maybe? Though that didn't feel quite right, either...
And that was when the strange buzzing started yet again.
(Posted Sat, 20 Mar 2010 05:42)
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