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sengoku collection: kondou isami

Tea and Dango

WHO: Kondou Isami, and possibly you as well~♥
WHAT: Isami is new hereabouts and is just taking tea. Wanna chat her up?
WHERE: Somewhere around the main camp.
WHEN: Early afternoon.
WARNING(S): Just the confusion, hilarity, or possible angst that might ensue.

[Isami not feeling boisterous for the time being, and after being told how it is that she ended up in this world after being in the modern era with modern appliances, she decided that she'd get to it whenever she'd get to it. If there was a battle to be waged, she'd fight and do her part to survive and help out this main camp.

Otherwise, she was now occupying herself with a nice, hot cup of tea and some sweets. Dango to be exact. She has a good pile of it on a large enough dish, and was happily enough munching on some after she had taken a sip of tea.]

Ah~ That sure does taste good~♥

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[It's not exactly unexpected, because who else would call him Toshi? Not many people, that's for certain. But after the last time he'd seen his own Kondou - arguing with him, pleading with him, still utterly failing to convince him to escape, that sad smile Kondou had given him...

Let it go, Toshi. Let me go.

Just hearing anyone else claim the name is enough to bring a lump to his throat, even if he's already been here long enough and seen enough to know that it's completely possible and likely that she's speaking the truth. She's not his Kondou.

(Definitely not his Kondou, from that cleavage.)

But she reminds Hijikata of his Kondou in enough little ways that it's disorienting and painful and it takes all his self-control to keep a straight face and just answer the question.]

...Hijikata Toshizou.

[Double-take. Whoa, back it up: Beep. Beep. Beep.

Okay, this is definitely not her Hijikata Toshizou. Sure, similar in both appearance in certain ways, but most certainly not the same in well... He's a man.

(And a really handsome one at that)

Was this probably the same thing with the Souji she had encountered earlier? This world seems to be a strange place indeed.]

Right.

[Not that she didn't believe him exactly, it was just a bit more to take in.]

You're not joking with me, right? Toshi, what are my favorite stories?

[Toshi knew which ones she liked, and only Toshi, any real Toshi would.]

[He's gotten used to identity challenges by now, at least!

...and in a way, the question is as reassuring on his end as it must be on hers. Because it's just the kind of question he can see his own Kondou asking -]

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the biography of Katou Kiyomasa.

That's right~

[Then he really was Toshi. She would have given him a big hug, but she thought better of it and just gave him a light pat on the shoulder.]

You may be different from what I'm used to, but you're definitely Toshi no matter what your looks.

[She lets her hand rest on his shoulder now, as she considers something:]

Knowing you... in a sense, you have a feel of how it is like here, yes? What do I have to expect from these "demons" that are running about and causing problems? Anything else that I should expect?

[Because she's got 99 problems, and demons count for a lot.]

[Even just a pat on the shoulder is the kind of thing he might take anyone else's arms off for...but even if she's not his Kondou, she's still a Kondou, and the similarities are enough that even if he isn't about to go right out the gate treating her the same way...well, he's much more favorably inclined towards her than he would be to anyone else off the street, that much is for sure.]

They're pretty average, as opponents. Everyone in this camp I've seen in action is worth a hundred of them, easy.

[He shakes his head.]

There are just too goddamned many of them.

[She turns serious as she hears all of this from him. She gives him a solemn nod.]

So the threat is not in the enemy's skill, but in their numbers. Like bees attacking a hornet, and we're the hornets.

[This was something that she did not like. There was something to be said about strength in numbers, but:]

If they just come in numbers and are only average opponents, that means we can deal with them with strategy and tactics. Is there a council to talk about such things, Toshi?

Edited 2012-11-18 08:02 (UTC)

There are a few who are sort of unofficially in charge of all this mess. The tactics for specific engagements usually go to whoever's actually fighting there, since they can't be everywhere at once.

[...or everywhen. That whole time travel thing only made it all more complicated.]

We've got some good people in charge, though. Big names from history.

[And thinking about that is enough to bring a faint smile to his face, since plenty of the big names from history are straight out of those books Kondou - both of them, apparently - loved so much. One of his first thoughts when he'd started finding out just who was here was that he wished Kondou could've met them.

This isn't quite how he was expecting to get that wish, but he'll take it.]

[So no real centralized place with which to decide on major military strategies on this campaign that they are waging. Not like she hasn't encountered this in her bouts in life, but it was always frustrating.

At least, it seems that there is at least someone in charge of the different battles, so there's that. Only, she perked up a bit at the "big names from history" part.]

Really? Big names from history? Who, Toshi, who? Please tell me who?

[Yes, excited Kondou is excited~]

Some pretty famous strategists - Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Takenaka Hanbei... Leaders like Cao Cao and Oda Nobunaga, generals like Sanada Yukimura and -

[And there's half a second's pause, because he knows this one ought to get a good reaction and he's just waiting to see it.]

- Guan Yu.

[Oh. OH. OH~ Yes, this has got her smiling~]

Both from China and from our country... And for Guan Yu to be here as well~♥

[Yep, a genuine smile. She had looked up to Guan Yu as the epitome of a trustworthy person, someone she had wanted to be like. Liu Bei because of his ideals which she had herself. She just wanted peace for everyone, and with her trip to that other world before coming here, it seemed that it was achieved, somehow.

But not here. This place needed all the help it could get, apparently.]

I know I shouldn't say this because of how dire the situation is, but it makes me feel like I've missed out on a lot because Toshi's already been working closely with all these strong, intelligent and talented people!

Aaaah~, I think the only sensible thing to do is to make up for all of this lost time with everyone.

[Even if she doesn't directly say it, she means you too, Toshi.]

[It's kind of uncanny, how she's different enough to be her own person, but how all her reactions are just close enough to what he would've expected from his own Kondou that he'd be reminded every time he looked at her, even if he didn't know her name.

And as much as that reminder hurts, after how things ended for Kondou in their own time...it's the kind of bittersweet hurt that he can't just try to reject and hold away from him, because it's closer than he ever expected to come to having back what he's already lost. Kondou's presence - even in this somewhat different form - it's as comforting as it is painful, and he'd sooner take the combination than give up on the good parts to protect himself from the bad.]

Unlike some assholes I could mention, everyone here seems to have a good idea of talent when they see it. Everyone will be glad to have you, Kondou-san.

[She had a shortlist of people in her own past that she could mention as well, but that's what she thinks he's alluding toward. Not unthinkable, and they'd been underestimated before, but they did their best and were able to hold up their heads up high despite all the odds.]

I'm glad that you think so, Toshi. At least in your estimation I'm good enough, but to really come across all these people...

[A hint of "not feeling worthy" there? Perhaps, but she's learned to have enough resolve to deal with all the situations she has come across, and act accordingly.]

I'll have to show them exactly what I can do and prove myself.

[She closed her eyes for a moment, and thought about their situation, and where they had come from.]

Instead of protecting the streets of the Capital, we're doing something greater here aren't we? I know we used to have battles with the Choushuu, Satsuma, the Imperial army... but this is at a completely different level of doing things.

[Despite the difficulties, she had a positive outlook on things. It might be tough going, but it's not something she hasn't come across before. Toshi should know. Whatever all those people from history may think about her, she knows that action is what really counts, and she's had a lot of that with a whole lot more where that came from. She opens her eyes and gives him her most confident smile.]

You'll be fighting by my side when we do have to go to battle, won't you Toshi?

[She knew that her own Toshi would do so without question, because the question itself would have been stupid to begin with. Yet, this man didn't really personally owe her any sort of loyalty aside from her being a shadow of the man he had followed before coming here. It was probably too much to ask of a man that had only met her, but she knew she couldn't do this alone. She needed him, if at least to have some sense of normalcy, even if it wasn't normal for her to begin with. Demons weren't normal. Being a woman in which the people she knew were men wasn't normal, but she needed an anchor, and this man was... essentially it.]

[And there it is again, that uniquely...Kondou-like attitude. The humility, the determination to prove herself, the mention of Hijikata's faith in her -

It reminds him so much of when they'd made the decision to go to Kyoto. Of standing by the riverbank, telling Kondou not to insult himself - the man Hijikata admired - in front of him, telling him that he wasn't interested in fighting a hopeless war, that if there wasn't a chance for their success in Kyoto then he'd make one, for Kondou's sake.

Of Kondou finally smiling.

I, too, believe in you who believe in me. Let's go to Kyoto.

That's how it always was with them, wasn't it? They both had to be their best because neither of them wanted to let down the other's faith in them.

He has to wonder if it's always been that way for this Kondou and her own Toshi, but...

It probably doesn't matter. What does matter is that she at the very least seems to have faith in him, to fight alongside her...and what matters is that he doesn't let Kondou down. Any Kondou.]

Can't very well leave you to do it yourself, now, can I?

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