---
Kotono glanced at the screen on her watch. Fifteen minutes to go. Daryl still hadn't shown up. Fifteen minutes and they'd miss their landing slot in Kandor. They''d miss check-in at the hotel.
Her finger tapped on the table. Her packed bags waited on the floor beside her.
-:Nothing fits anymore
She tapped an angry message into her watch.
-:We can get something there
Honestly. Then again, Daryl had never really been the sort for planning things out.
-:Fine. There in fifteen.
Kotono wished her watch could transmit more than messages. She wished to pour her boiling frustration through the screen and strangle the woman on the other side with it.
The thoughts of spending a week on Kandor with someone whose apartment perpetually looked like the aftermath of a Boskone raid began to send chilling fingers crawling up her spine.
On the other hand, going alone to a large city to meet someone she'd only ever spoken with by interwave sounded like the beginning of an episode of True Murder Mysteries.
She glanced down at her watch. The animated clock face seemed to pick up speed. It buzzed three times on her wrist, giving an electronic chime as a warning. Every other phone, watch, or pager in the café triggered simultaneously.
A speaker in the ceiling chirped twice. "Shock Warning. Shock Warning," it said, in flat tone.
A heartbeat later, a ripple shocked across the green tea on the table in front of her. Crockery in the café rattled. A moment after, a drumbeat reverberated through the air. A few of the new arrivals jumped, not used to the warning yet.
Half a kilometre away, they were blasting new chambers for new apartments.
Kotono always offered silent gratitude that they'd chosen to create their own warnings, rather than copy the Japanese ones like had been originally planned.
After a moment's pause, life returned to normal in the Midoriyah café. Kotono glanced again at her watch.
Daryl showed as typing…perpetually typing…considering her response when they were already in a hurry. Kotono forced herself to look elsewhere.
Standing in the concourse opposite the café was something she hadn't seen in a long time.
Jet Jaguar. But polished up clean and shiny for the first time in months. Was she wearing makup?
The idea of turning a double-date into a triple amused, for the few moments it took her to realise she had no idea who or what would be an ideal match for a Jet Jaguar. Or that, a fully armoured combat cyborg would probably end up becoming the centre of attention, leaving both herself and Daryl out in the cold.
A little spear of jealousy killed the idea dead, but her curiosity had been piqued.
"Hey Jet!" Jet answered with a look like she expected to be shot at. Kotono gave a soft smile "There's a free seat."
Jet thought for a few seconds, before allowing the expression on her face to soften. The cyber stepped into the café, picking her way around the patrons with fluid care, before settling down into the chair beside her.
The steel chair creaked a protest at the cyber's weight.
Lavender perfume? Mixed with car polish? What was she planning?
"Another date with Alex?" Jet indicated towards the suitcase at her feet
"We broke up three months ago."
And Jet should've known that, if she'd been paying attention to anyone outside her work
"Sorry," said Jet, momentarily ashamed. "What happened?"
Kotono drew her face into a mask of indignation. "I thought it would fun dating someone who used to be a woman." She huffed, folding her arms. "He cheated on me - the asshole. And then tried to blame it on me by saying I wasn't giving him the intimacy he needed"
And Jet needed to understand how utterly and completely blameless Kotono was in the whole affair.
"Men are all the same?"
It sounded like she was more trying to say what was expected of a female friend in the same situation, rather than what she'd actually felt.
"I really thought he'd remember what that felt like," said Kotono.
Jet gave a shrug "He became a woman's idea of what a man is – good and bad. That's how the wave works sometimes."
Kotono gave her a side glance.
"It does explain some ex-men I know."
Jet consciously pursed her lips into an indignant pout. "You're just jealous of my armoured figure." A flash of a smile showed her true intent. For a heartbeat, it almost felt real.
Kotono extended an arm, making a show of checking her nails. "Some of us prefer to be naturally beautiful and elegant."
Jet took a moment to think. "I am beautiful and elegant."
Something definitely felt forced, like she was trying to play a role, skirting the edge of the uncanny valley/
"I can't imagine you'd have much problem with men anyway."
Both from being a fully armoured combat cyborg and a fully armoured combat cyborg.
Jet raised an eyebrow. "Sylia gets a lot of hate from the Muskfen," she said, in a matter of fact tone. She paused and thought. "My first experience with men from a female perspective was trying to requisition a transport shuttle, only to be told by a Great Justice supply officer that he'd never been deepthroated by a chick that didn't need to stop to breath."
Kotono blinked. Wow. Where'd that come from?
"What'd you do?"
After all, she'd seen what Jet could do, and in the back of Kotono's mind there'd always been those little revenge fantasies.
Jet answered with a wry smile. "I didn't even realise it until I talked to Alex who was in the Gruppe with me and she was like, 'First time?'"
Kotono felt herself giggle at the idea of Jet being so naïve. A momentary blush heated the cyber's cheeks, a spark flashing in her eyes. That'd been something real.
"I'm actually surprised anyone would try that with you." she said, before realising that she really shouldn't have been. "Men really are shameless,"
A little sympathy drew a faint smile from Jet, and the faintest glimmer of a light in her eyes
"That sense of betrayal is common to all who call themselves women." Kotono continued. "It doesn't matter what age it happens at. It's one of the shared experiences that sets us apart."
"I used to be one of them." Jet took a breath, looking down at her crossed legs. "The Wave eventually washed away that part of me but, at the time I hadn't realised it yet. I still felt male - even with these hips." The chair squeaked in pain as she highlighted her exagreated figure. "I guess men changed that. Made me feel like something else."
Jet's armour likely meant she'd never really felt threatened by men. Kotono had the sense not to bring that up. It occurred to her that, perhaps, it might be the reason why Jet kept the armour.
"I can meet you in Kandor when the hearing's over, if you're alone," Jet offered.
"Oh, Daryl's coming with me," said Kotono, brightly. "I've arranged a date for her too - with a cop."
She'd already gotten her phone out of her pocket to show off his profile before she spotted like the child left as last pick on sports day.
"That's fine," said Jet.
"Hey, I'm here," a voice interrupted. "We going?"
Summoned by the sound of her name, Daryl stood there, with a backpack slung over her shoulder. A flash of anger heated Kotono's face.
"After this long? And that's what you're wearing"
Daryl answered with a playful scowl. Jet glanced at both of them
It took a lot of effort, to look like you didn't put any effort into deciding what you wore. The right jeans with the tear in right place, the right leather jacket with artificial patina that spoke to an age it didn't have, and a freshly printed t-shirt, machine-bleached to look like she might really have bought it at the band's last concert before the lead singer ate a shotgun slug.
"At least I don't shop for clothes at Gateway 2000."
Feigning injury, Kotono placed a hand on a fresian-patterned jumper at least two sizes too large for her, before rewarding with a smile. A few gentle barbs helped hide the real things that bothered, like a sort of acupuncture.
"You look well,"
"Thanks," said Daryl, She held up a hand to show off the tanned skin of her fingers. "It still feels weird. But I feel good. More like a person I chose to be,"
Tanned skin, red eyes and white hair and all.
Kotono scowled at her "We're choosing to be late."
Daryl flash her a grin, waving it off with a bat of her hand. "Relax. We've plenty of time
"Enjoy," said Jet. It rang just a little hollow. She knew what she was supposed to say. Even though her heart wasn't it.
Kotono had already gotten herself to her feet. She thought, maybe, they might make it if they didn't have any problems with getting a landing slot at Kandor Spaceport.
On of the stations engineer's ran up, stopping a moment to catch her breath. Kotono felt something familiar about the tabby catgirl, but couldn't place what. A familiar stranger, like most of the blow-ins from the last few months.
"Oh, hey Jet," she wheezed. "We've been trying to find you. We're going to have to take TG-1 offline."
The cyber looked to Kotono for relief. Unfortunately, Kotono had plans to be somewhere else. They had really spoken in nearly six months. What could she expect? You needed to talk to people, instead of burying yourself in your work.
Ultimately, the decision was Jet's to make. Go back to work, or look after herself? Kotono already knew exactly what Jet would do.
--
Kotono glanced at the screen on her watch. Fifteen minutes to go. Daryl still hadn't shown up. Fifteen minutes and they'd miss their landing slot in Kandor. They''d miss check-in at the hotel.
Her finger tapped on the table. Her packed bags waited on the floor beside her.
-:Nothing fits anymore
She tapped an angry message into her watch.
-:We can get something there
Honestly. Then again, Daryl had never really been the sort for planning things out.
-:Fine. There in fifteen.
Kotono wished her watch could transmit more than messages. She wished to pour her boiling frustration through the screen and strangle the woman on the other side with it.
The thoughts of spending a week on Kandor with someone whose apartment perpetually looked like the aftermath of a Boskone raid began to send chilling fingers crawling up her spine.
On the other hand, going alone to a large city to meet someone she'd only ever spoken with by interwave sounded like the beginning of an episode of True Murder Mysteries.
She glanced down at her watch. The animated clock face seemed to pick up speed. It buzzed three times on her wrist, giving an electronic chime as a warning. Every other phone, watch, or pager in the café triggered simultaneously.
A speaker in the ceiling chirped twice. "Shock Warning. Shock Warning," it said, in flat tone.
A heartbeat later, a ripple shocked across the green tea on the table in front of her. Crockery in the café rattled. A moment after, a drumbeat reverberated through the air. A few of the new arrivals jumped, not used to the warning yet.
Half a kilometre away, they were blasting new chambers for new apartments.
Kotono always offered silent gratitude that they'd chosen to create their own warnings, rather than copy the Japanese ones like had been originally planned.
After a moment's pause, life returned to normal in the Midoriyah café. Kotono glanced again at her watch.
Daryl showed as typing…perpetually typing…considering her response when they were already in a hurry. Kotono forced herself to look elsewhere.
Standing in the concourse opposite the café was something she hadn't seen in a long time.
Jet Jaguar. But polished up clean and shiny for the first time in months. Was she wearing makup?
The idea of turning a double-date into a triple amused, for the few moments it took her to realise she had no idea who or what would be an ideal match for a Jet Jaguar. Or that, a fully armoured combat cyborg would probably end up becoming the centre of attention, leaving both herself and Daryl out in the cold.
A little spear of jealousy killed the idea dead, but her curiosity had been piqued.
"Hey Jet!" Jet answered with a look like she expected to be shot at. Kotono gave a soft smile "There's a free seat."
Jet thought for a few seconds, before allowing the expression on her face to soften. The cyber stepped into the café, picking her way around the patrons with fluid care, before settling down into the chair beside her.
The steel chair creaked a protest at the cyber's weight.
Lavender perfume? Mixed with car polish? What was she planning?
"Another date with Alex?" Jet indicated towards the suitcase at her feet
"We broke up three months ago."
And Jet should've known that, if she'd been paying attention to anyone outside her work
"Sorry," said Jet, momentarily ashamed. "What happened?"
Kotono drew her face into a mask of indignation. "I thought it would fun dating someone who used to be a woman." She huffed, folding her arms. "He cheated on me - the asshole. And then tried to blame it on me by saying I wasn't giving him the intimacy he needed"
And Jet needed to understand how utterly and completely blameless Kotono was in the whole affair.
"Men are all the same?"
It sounded like she was more trying to say what was expected of a female friend in the same situation, rather than what she'd actually felt.
"I really thought he'd remember what that felt like," said Kotono.
Jet gave a shrug "He became a woman's idea of what a man is – good and bad. That's how the wave works sometimes."
Kotono gave her a side glance.
"It does explain some ex-men I know."
Jet consciously pursed her lips into an indignant pout. "You're just jealous of my armoured figure." A flash of a smile showed her true intent. For a heartbeat, it almost felt real.
Kotono extended an arm, making a show of checking her nails. "Some of us prefer to be naturally beautiful and elegant."
Jet took a moment to think. "I am beautiful and elegant."
Something definitely felt forced, like she was trying to play a role, skirting the edge of the uncanny valley/
"I can't imagine you'd have much problem with men anyway."
Both from being a fully armoured combat cyborg and a fully armoured combat cyborg.
Jet raised an eyebrow. "Sylia gets a lot of hate from the Muskfen," she said, in a matter of fact tone. She paused and thought. "My first experience with men from a female perspective was trying to requisition a transport shuttle, only to be told by a Great Justice supply officer that he'd never been deepthroated by a chick that didn't need to stop to breath."
Kotono blinked. Wow. Where'd that come from?
"What'd you do?"
After all, she'd seen what Jet could do, and in the back of Kotono's mind there'd always been those little revenge fantasies.
Jet answered with a wry smile. "I didn't even realise it until I talked to Alex who was in the Gruppe with me and she was like, 'First time?'"
Kotono felt herself giggle at the idea of Jet being so naïve. A momentary blush heated the cyber's cheeks, a spark flashing in her eyes. That'd been something real.
"I'm actually surprised anyone would try that with you." she said, before realising that she really shouldn't have been. "Men really are shameless,"
A little sympathy drew a faint smile from Jet, and the faintest glimmer of a light in her eyes
"That sense of betrayal is common to all who call themselves women." Kotono continued. "It doesn't matter what age it happens at. It's one of the shared experiences that sets us apart."
"I used to be one of them." Jet took a breath, looking down at her crossed legs. "The Wave eventually washed away that part of me but, at the time I hadn't realised it yet. I still felt male - even with these hips." The chair squeaked in pain as she highlighted her exagreated figure. "I guess men changed that. Made me feel like something else."
Jet's armour likely meant she'd never really felt threatened by men. Kotono had the sense not to bring that up. It occurred to her that, perhaps, it might be the reason why Jet kept the armour.
"I can meet you in Kandor when the hearing's over, if you're alone," Jet offered.
"Oh, Daryl's coming with me," said Kotono, brightly. "I've arranged a date for her too - with a cop."
She'd already gotten her phone out of her pocket to show off his profile before she spotted like the child left as last pick on sports day.
"That's fine," said Jet.
"Hey, I'm here," a voice interrupted. "We going?"
Summoned by the sound of her name, Daryl stood there, with a backpack slung over her shoulder. A flash of anger heated Kotono's face.
"After this long? And that's what you're wearing"
Daryl answered with a playful scowl. Jet glanced at both of them
It took a lot of effort, to look like you didn't put any effort into deciding what you wore. The right jeans with the tear in right place, the right leather jacket with artificial patina that spoke to an age it didn't have, and a freshly printed t-shirt, machine-bleached to look like she might really have bought it at the band's last concert before the lead singer ate a shotgun slug.
"At least I don't shop for clothes at Gateway 2000."
Feigning injury, Kotono placed a hand on a fresian-patterned jumper at least two sizes too large for her, before rewarding with a smile. A few gentle barbs helped hide the real things that bothered, like a sort of acupuncture.
"You look well,"
"Thanks," said Daryl, She held up a hand to show off the tanned skin of her fingers. "It still feels weird. But I feel good. More like a person I chose to be,"
Tanned skin, red eyes and white hair and all.
Kotono scowled at her "We're choosing to be late."
Daryl flash her a grin, waving it off with a bat of her hand. "Relax. We've plenty of time
"Enjoy," said Jet. It rang just a little hollow. She knew what she was supposed to say. Even though her heart wasn't it.
Kotono had already gotten herself to her feet. She thought, maybe, they might make it if they didn't have any problems with getting a landing slot at Kandor Spaceport.
On of the stations engineer's ran up, stopping a moment to catch her breath. Kotono felt something familiar about the tabby catgirl, but couldn't place what. A familiar stranger, like most of the blow-ins from the last few months.
"Oh, hey Jet," she wheezed. "We've been trying to find you. We're going to have to take TG-1 offline."
The cyber looked to Kotono for relief. Unfortunately, Kotono had plans to be somewhere else. They had really spoken in nearly six months. What could she expect? You needed to talk to people, instead of burying yourself in your work.
Ultimately, the decision was Jet's to make. Go back to work, or look after herself? Kotono already knew exactly what Jet would do.
–7–
Jet's eyes scanned the Crystal Tokyo Courtroom, the cyber feeling like an animal caught in a trap.
The room had been built to create a sense of unchanging eternity, to impress in it the authority of millenia, even if those millenia had yet to come. The precedent of the next ten thousand years would be set on that marbelled crystal floor.
Crystal Tokyo existed in the Millenia of deep time. The columns supported the ceiling had been formed from single, solid pieces of Venusian crystal, tinted a cherry-blossom shade. Flashes of copper and verdigris marbelled the ceiling above
It reminded Jet of a bleaching coral reef – an eternal fossil.
Frigga had life and colour, and vibrance. It might wash away the moment the climate shifted, but it still existed in the momentary now.
The words spoken in that room would echo through eternity.
The Queens Councils stood in their full court regalia. Between the Barristers and the Judge, Jet assumed the quantity of curls in the wig was some sort of rank marking.
It all seemed so bizarre.
As if the law had been reduced to a collection of wizard's spells and arcane precedent, rather than something accessible to the common fan.
Jet hated it. Jet bit her lip. Jet stuck to the script.
Jet had to remind herself that, on some level, she attended by choice. She chose to be a part of this . This was the price of being around people and being a part of society.
This is not personal. This is all theatrical.
She wore her Great Justice awards on a Sam Browne belt across her chest, polished to a high shine. She hadn't worn them in over a decade. Now they became part of the theatre. Jet Jaguar, Heroine of Great Justice.
Jet, the Good Person.
Even as her mouth worked through the statements prepared between her Solicitor and Barrister, she couldn't help but feel that if they'd known the truth about how she'd gotten half of those medals, they might have a different idea.
There were some truths the world was not meant to know.
--
A cup of coffee steamed in Jet's hands. She stared into the darkness in the cup, fighting against a building sense of revulsion. Her body fought against the idea of putting anything in her mouth.
Great Justice ran on coffee. Jet ran on booster packs. She settled herself onto a solid crystal bench.
Her barrister, River, dropped onto the bench with a sigh, still in her full Court-Dress, wig and all.
"That went well," she said.
Jet glanced away from her coffee.
"You sound surprised."
"Well, we have been working together for the last four months," she said.
Jet's gaze returned to her reflection, knowing exactly what Rivera meant.
"It's been a difficult year," she said.
Saying it out loud in an otherwise quiet waiting room seemed to crystallise it. The weight of it all settling on her shoulders.
"We've stuck to the message and it's starting to sink in."
Jet took a breath. She still couldn't bring herself to drink. Her stomach turned at the idea.
"Frigga is a small settlement in the Belt, doing it's best in difficult circumstances," she said. "The necessary crimes of the weak, are easier to excuse than the reaction of the strong."
"People sympathise with the weak," said Rivera.
Jet gave up on ever bringing herself to take a drink, setting the coffee down on the bench beside her.
"It helps that I've never felt so damned powerless."
"Being part of civilisation means submitting to its rules." Rivera said. She looked at Jet. "For someone used to working outside those rules, I can see how that would be uncomfortable."
Jet put a hand on one of the medals on her belt – a particularly gaudy and shiny one.
"I did what I had to do in Jusenkyou, and they gave me this," she said. Jet took a breath. "I did what I had to do on Frigga, and here we are."
"Context," said Rivera. "Is for Queens."
---
