The Second Sortie [Action]

[yellowthirteen]

[Anyone in the Good Spirits Bar on this snowy evening will see a man silently walk in and take a seat near the fireplace, but not quite right in the open. He's carrying with him an acoustic guitar, which he tunes quietly at first. ...And then, he begins to play this song.

...Come listen to this musician play? Make fun of his playing? Get him a drink? Or simply talk to him?]

Comments

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

Thank you. People in your home no longer play this kind of guitar? Everything's electric?

[hageshii]

Something like that. The name's Goroh.

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

Yellow 13. ...You can just call me Thirteen.

[hageshii]

[Well that makes him curious.] Is that an alias or do you really just have no name?

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

Callsign. I've grown more used to being called by what my wingmates used to call me.

[hageshii]

By that token, you could call me Machine Five. Never used it as a call sign, but then, I've never mixed well with authority.

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

[A light chuckle.]

Your real name's more fitting. And Machine Five? Are you a pilot as well?

[hageshii]

Yeah, not not the sake kind as you. I pilot the Fire Stingray. It's built for high speeds racing in the F-Zero Grand Prix.

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

F-Zero? Can't say I've heard of it.

I flew fighter aircraft for the Federal Erusian Air Force. Flew Su-37 Terminators.

[hageshii]

Yeah, my galaxy's the only one that has it, apparently.

Can't say I've head of them, but that's hardly a surprise. So, did you win?

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

...The war?

...No.

[hageshii]

Bad luck, eh?

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

You could put it that way.

...but my personal defeat had nothing to do with luck. He was just better.

[hageshii]

Better? Don't I know the feeling. So it was personal?

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

...In a way, yes. But I held no genuine malice for him. We were enemies by circumstance. Such as it always is in war.

He was a worthy opponent.

[hageshii]

That's a fine way of looking at it. Course I can't say I'd feel the same about it, myself.

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

You have a rival as well?

[hageshii]

Captain Falcon. Call it a professional rivalry, if you'd like. We generally aren't trying to kill eachother. [At least Falcon isn't, anyways.]

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

Professional? I take it he races in the Grand Prix as well.

[hageshii]

That's right. It's not your normal race. When there's a Grand Prix, the entire galaxy is watching. No quicker way in the universe to get stinking rich.

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

[Thirteen raises an eyebrow.]

That must be something. I've never heard of an event that big before. And your world has expanded into space?

[hageshii]

Centuries ago. We got one big damn Galactic Federation poking their nose into people's business in every system from the core planets to the outer rim.

[yellowthirteen.livejournal.com]

[Thirteen sits back, absorbing that idea into his head. He'll make a sound of amusement.]

The only nation with an advanced space program back home is Osea. But they still haven't been to the moon yet. Too busy with that Arkbird project, I guess.

[hageshii]

Heh, well you're still better off than most. Lot of the people here are still trapped back in the dark ages.