Topic: Side-storyline: Ryouko-chan's Sweet Seventeen Spectacular

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Friday, August 18, 2000 - 00:00:
(RP ON)

Terra leaned back neatly, and let her arm instinctively assert itself, giving Cherry another good bump on his big bald head.

"All right, child, all right," Cherry disengaged himself from Terra's clenched fist. "But you should respect elders and religious leaders more."

"HA! That'll be the day, moocher!" Terra sprang up from the futon; happy to see her cloths were still on.

"I'm going downstairs to get more fo-!" Terra realized her mistake too late; the old monk was already engaged to her left leg like a child.

"Get off you nasty little cuss!" Terra shouted.

"Nyaa nyaa!!!" Cherry teased.

The door to Ataru's room opened, revealing Mrs. Moroboshi. "You two shut up!!! I'm calling around to find Ten-chan!"

Cherry and Terra stopped dead in their tracks. For her part, Mrs. Moroboshi was dressed in exercise leotards with a screwed up angry expression on her face.

"More food!" both Cherry and Terra said in unison.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Saturday, August 19, 2000 - 21:29:
(RP ON)
Minutes later, Terra was busy munching away at an obscene amount of ramen (with a rather content Cherry), when suddenly rememberance of Ryouko's party hit her upside the head like a hammer.

She quickly moved to the door, but was blocked by an even quicker Cherry.

"You must have patience! Lum and Ataru have not returned yet."

Terra frowned. "Either you get out of my way right this frikken second so I can start setting up the fireworks, or I'll arrange for you to be tied to one when they're fired."

Cherry stood resolute. "Your threats do not concern me. You must learn the fine arts of patience, or risk becoming just like the unlucky one!"

Terra pointed at the door. "Look, more ramen!"

His sense of hunger quickly overriding his sense of wisdom, Cherry promptly whipped around, smacking his face into the door. When he looked back to where Terra was standing, he found her gone.

"Pah, no worries, this is the only way out of the house! Hah!" He continued standing at the door, keeping a wary eye out for Terra.

The girl in question was presently executing a graceful dive out one of the open windows, followed by an equally graceful roll and recovery. She glanced back at the Moroboshi household, chuckled, and started on her way back to the mansion, whistling.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Saturday, August 19, 2000 - 22:05:
(RP ON)

Ten minutes pass, and Cherry was busily devouring a bag of pork rinds when two shadows approached the doorway.

"Cherry!"

"Ah! Ataru!" Cherry dropped the pork rinds.

Lum was beside her darling; worried. "Where's Terra?!?"

Cherry glanced around, "Terra!" he called, "Come on out!" The old monk looked up at Ataru, "she's here, I know she didn't get past me!"

Ataru groaned, "Cherry! She isn't here!"

"Oh?" Cherry scratched his head, "how do you know?"

Lum answered, "because we flew in through Darling's window and looked around the house while you sat there stuffing your face!"

"Hehehe, Lum-san," Cherry tried to put a good face on; despite the fact that Ataru and Lum were obviously not happy with him.

All Cherry got out was "I'm an old man, you see..." before Ataru delivered a swift kick to Cherry; propelling the monk crashing through the closed front door and into the air.

"'Tis Fate!" Cherry wailed into Tomobiki's afternoon.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Monday, August 21, 2000 - 09:04:
(RP ON)
As Terra walked through the mansion, trying to figure out where the hell her fireworks had gotten to, she spied Shutaro crouched down near Hudson's door, evidently placing something there. She smiled and ducked around the corner to watch.

Evidently he had nearly finished. After checking his work a couple of times, he chuckled and walked off. Curious, Terra headed towards the device and examined it closely. Upon picking it up, the device instantly unpacked a large, flat figure, facing away from her. She craned her head around, and noticed it was some kind of crudely drawn clown. It laughed for a moment, then it's chest opened up and a massive boxing glove shot out on springs. Terra couldn't help but continue smirking.

She reset the device, then promptly pulled out one of her handy-dandy pocket-sized nano-reprogramming kits, then set to work.

After around 3 minutes of tinkering, she replaced the device and walked away. Upon Hudson exiting his room, he would be greeted by the same pop-up clown figure, but the laughter would be replaced by "Hi, I'm Shutaro, and I'm a no-good rotten stinking dum-dum! Please, punch me!" The boxing glove would still come out, but facing the opposite direction, as if though offering it to the "victim". Shutaro would probably blow multiple fuses if he found out, which suited Terra just fine at present. She still hadn't gotten over the "practically blowing her head off" event from earlier.

After a bit more wandering, she eventually found the stockpile of fireworks, along with a very banged up Arman herding the workers around like sheep. She approached him.

"As I figured, it'd take more than a measly explosion to fry your oversized head."

He stopped his incessant barking a moment to turn to her and grin. "Ahh you know me only too well. I'm just making sure that the remaining cargo is intact here.. I assure you you'll be compensated for the loss, despite the circumstances surrounding it...." His smile dropped into a frown. "Have you dealt with the girl behind this?"

Terra shrugged. "I'd imagine getting the oxygen cut off to her brain for a full minute or two was sufficient, but we've worked it out. I wouldn't worry."

"I must admit I am impressed.. it's not every day a single psychotic woman is able to disrupt an entire shipment."

"Uh... yeah. So, you've got a handle on things here?"

"For the moment at least. I'll have them all set by tonight. Looks like I'll be your guest for a little while though."

"How long untill another transport can get here?"

"Tomorrow. Should be an interesting day then.. some big man wanting me to transport some top-secret package.. big deal, big credits."

"Right. Alright then, I'll leave this crap in your hands. Cya around Arman."

She managed to get at least 2 hallways worth of distance away from the room before keeling over in laughter.

"Psychotic woman indeed.. hahahah!"

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Tuesday, August 22, 2000 - 06:30:
(RP ON)

Cherry flew at a neat rate, correcting every few seconds for changes in windspeed. His arrival in his niece's office at Tomobiki High School was right on schedule....

"...And so," Ryouko finished, "I am truly in love for the first time with Ambassador Hudson." she paused to assess the look on Sakura's face. Barely conceiled shock, Ryouko shrugged. Oh well...

Sakura blinked, "you must think me a fool-"

"No!" Ryouko said; cursing her reputation as a prankster. "Sakura-sensei, I need your advice..."

Sakura shook her head, grabbed and took a mighty swig of water from a plastic bottle.

Ryouko waited for Sakura to speak. It didn't happen.

"Sakura-sensei, this is my first romantic relationship. And I need to know what to expect from a man who was formerly bonded to a Sorceress..."

Sakura sighed, "I will not be happy when I find out this is just a practical joke."

"It isn't."

"All right," Sakura let out a small smile. Thanking her lucky stars that today was an off-day.

CRASH!

Cherry, rolled into a ball, smashed through the big window behind Sakura, spraying shards of glass all over the room. Ryouko hit the deck right when she saw the dark brown mass fall out of the sky, fortunately for Sakura her spiritual powers easily deflected the glass.

For Cherry's part, the old monk bounced off the floor onto Sakura's desk with his face firmly planted into what was left of his niece's lunch.

When Ryouko recovered and got to her feet again the first thing she saw was Sakura rolling up the left sleeve on her lab coat and punching Cherry square on his head.

"The least you could do is say hello before you begin stuffing your face!" Sakura raged at her uncle.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Friday, August 25, 2000 - 09:57:
(RP ON)
After making sure Arman had everything explosive-related under control, Terra, once again, found herself with nothing to do. So she decided to take another quickly-becoming-patented walk around town.

As she rounded a particular corner, she found herself annoyingly bumping into yet another person. Only this one appeared to be a bulldozer with places to go, people to see, and unsuspecting victims to run down. Recovering from the impact, Terra looked up into Megane's apologetic face and noted the package he was holding. She could have sworn she heard it go "Ow". She accepted his hand and stood up again.

"Sorry about that, I'm in a rush."

"Yeah, most people seem to be these days.. what's in the box?"

Megane looked confused a second, then laughed. "Oh, this? It's.. uh.. a present for Ryouko-chan! Haha!"

"A present that goes 'Ow'?

"Uh......." He shifted his feet around a moment, evidently digging for a response. Finding none, he called upon his next-best option. "Gotta go!" He then promptly took off past her, narrowly avoiding a second collision. Terra scratched her head.

"Man, is it just me, or is everyone growing less sane each day? Sheesh!"

She barely managed to walk 2 more meters before getting railroaded again by a squadron of what appeared to be elite Oni shock troopers. She rubbed her aching head, growled, and got back to her feet.

"What the hell are you guys doing here? Getting ready to invade the planet or something?" she said jokingly. The leader of the squad didn't appear impressed.

"We have orders to search out and find objective 0591, SIR!"

"Uh, and what exactly is 'objective 0591'? And last time I checked, I still had to sit down to take a piss."

"That is classified information SIR! ...Uh, I mean, ma'am."

Terra shrugged. "Whatever, I'll probably find out sooner or later. Just try not to mow down any people unless they shoot at you first, alright?"

The entire squad merely saluted at once, and Terra quickly side-stepped to avoid getting trampled as they marched on past. As the last trooper went by, she stuck her foot out and smiled as he landed with a satisfying *CRUNCH!* Whistling and looking away, she walked on, no real destination in mind.

"The Oni empire's up to something again.. but what? Sheesh, nothing's ever easy these days.." she thought to herself, resolving to carefully examine each turn before she ended up becoming critically injured again.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Friday, August 25, 2000 - 20:34:
(RP ON)

Megane was worried. Could that have really been an "Ow" he and Terra heard from the present? No, get a grip on yourself! Megane had picked up a simple, unassuming...though he really wasn't sure exactly what it was, object.

Deciding he needed a drink, Megane altered his course somewhat, and turned into a local WcDonalds.

Across town in Tomobiki High School's Nurses station things had settled down to a nice pitch as Cherry had settled into a perch on Sakura's desk, eating some Ramen as Sakura and Ryouko talked about Hudson.

"Ryouko!" Sakura snapped, "realize what you're saying!"

Cherry swallowed, "I think she knows what she's saying, Sakura."

"Stay out of this, uncle!" Sakura blared, "you don't know *what* you're talking about!"

Cherry narrowed his gaze at his niece, "Ryouko-sama wants to be Hudson-sama's lover, is it that hard for you to understand? I know that Tsubame isn't much for sophistication, but I at *least* thought he..."

SMACK!

Cherry was thrown across the room and now was indented nicely in the wall. Ryouko blinked, "dear, oh dear."

Sakura glared at Cherry in the far wall, "Don't you know when to keep your mouth shut?!?!"

Cherry smirked, "'Tis Fate!"

"Should've known..." Sakura turned back to face Ryouko; noticeably calmer. "Ryouko, why? Hudson-sama is sooo much older than you?"

Ryouko sighed, "I'm not interesting in talking and the whys of it, I'm not really sure of them myself. But I need to talk to someone about how men Sorceress' husbands behave when you try to..." Ryouko nodded suggestively.

Sakura nodded as realization hit her like a mallet, "and you know I interned in Portland, Oregon during the 70s under the tutelage of Sorceress Frances Clayton."

The priestess smiled at the good memories. She had learned various summoning and elemental magic under the supervision of Frances Clayton.

"So," Sakura said softly, "you want to know how they treat their husbands, eh?"

"Hai," Ryuoko nodded.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Wednesday, August 30, 2000 - 10:03:
(RP ON)
Ataru's backyard, which had been converted into a temporary HQ was teeming with activity. Oni soldiers, armed to the teeth were wandering around performing millions of things at once, and more were arriving by the bucketfull every half hour. Ataru, quite stunned by this whole thing, turned away from the window and stared at Lum.

"Is this all necessary? There's enough firepower down there to level the entire city! In seconds!"

Lum shrugged. "I'd do the same for you darling!"

"But this is Ten we're talking about! I mean, the same kid who caused my entire house to explode shortly after I met him!"

"But if he was able to take care of himself like you say, he'd have come back already! No, I won't rest untill he's found again! Now come on, we're going to comb the city once more!"

Before Ataru could protest, he was having his arm practically being torn out of it's socket again as Lum grabbed it and took off out the window, dragging him behind her.

A pair of troopers down below looked up in concern at the loud screaming coming from the house, but relaxed when they noticed it was just Lum and Ataru leaving.

"Cripes, with the way that kid acts, you'd think he hated flying or something.." said one, biting a hefty chunk out of his nutrition bar. The rations supplied for an extended trip were generally tasteless, but were preferable to starving to death.

Another soldier chuckled. "You know how these crazy humans are.. I say we should've just invaded them right from the start. It would've been better for everyone!"

"Yeah, right..."

The first soldier was taking a sip from his drink when he was suddenly shoved aside. He cussed loudly as the hot liquids fell into his lap and looked up in time to see a tech run past, yelling to get the attention of the nearest high-ranking officer. The soldier stared a moment as the tech chatted with the officer, then cussed again as he yelled for attention. The soldiers lined up and snapped off salutes.

"Alright you runts, Lamfrey informs me that he's got a minimal contact on our objective. He appears to be trapped in a small box, or container of some sort. We're not entirely sure if the contact is true or not, but we definately have to check it out. Suit up soldiers, we roll in 5!"

"Aw geez, this is gonna take me 2 damn hours to clean out of my armour!" muttered the first soldier, as he began loading his rifle and prepping for battle.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Wednesday, August 30, 2000 - 23:54:
(RP ON)

"Well," Sakura intoned, "you should be able to find out that info-"

"One moment, Sakura-sensei," Ryouko delicately raised her hand; then reached into her kimono and extracted a large, leather-bound book. The book was very big, a tome of at least 1000 pages, and was at least a few decades old.

"It's in English, and my English reading skills are rather poor. Add to that it was published in 1938."

"I see," Sakura glanced down at the book to see Cherry already opening it.

"UNCLE!"

"What?"

Sakura groaned, deciding to let it go this time.

Cherry for his part was doing his best just to turn the pages. "So what do you need Sakura for, Ryouko-sama?"

"Translation and updated facts."

"And likely how to deal with the wounds on Hudson's back..." Cherry muttered as he turned to the table of contents.

Sakura and Ryouko narrowed their gaze at the old monk.

"Yes," Ryouko said cautiously, "how did you know, Cherry?"

Cherry chuckled dryly, "Hudson-sama always came to me for some remedies when his American military medics so called 'expertise' didn't cut it."

"Make the nut," Ryouko repeated in english another phrase Hudson was fond of.

"That too!" Cherry giggled. "Ahh, I remember that day...May 19, 1949."

Sakura and Ryouko drew closer to the monk sitting on the table as the story unfolded...

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Thursday, August 31, 2000 - 23:11:
(RP ON)
Megane was sitting boredly on his couch at home, watching TV to pass the time. He flipped through the channels, unfortunately not finding much on. One had a baseball game, another some whacko screaming about how the entire planet was doomed to explode any second now, and yet another a sumo wrestling match.

He sighed in frustration and was about to get up to grab some food when suddenly the door was blown clean off it's hinges, landing on top of him. He squirmed around and watched as 10 soldiers piled in. A ruckus came from the kitchen, and he managed to twist his head around and see 10 more rush in from the kitchen. 5 more then came out of the closet, three fell out of the bathroom, and another dramatically flew in from the window.

The entire squad then set about ripping his house apart, apparently not even noticing him trapped under the door. He clutched the gift he had been holding the whole time hard, hoping it hadn't been damaged by the impact.

After the squadron had almost literally turned the house upside-down, one of them yelled out. "Got nothing here Sarge! Must've been a fluke!"

"Damn!" yelled another. "Alright, regroup at HQ!"

The soldiers all left the house through the gaping hole where the door used to be, leaving Megane still trapped under the door, very confused.
(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Friday, September 1, 2000 - 03:35:
(RP ON)

Cherry began recounting a sunny Wednesday morning of May 19, 1949 in the US Occupation Forces basecamp where in thirty-years time a mall would be built. For then, Cherry described a vacant sandy lot on the shore of the Tomobiki river with semi-permanent green US military buildings standing on it.

It was here that Lt. Colonel Hudson set up his occupying forces. Or more specifically, in a green metal building near the main gate with Tomobiki beyond it.

A sign hung on its door, reading:

"DO NOT DISTURB BEFORE 9:00AM UNLESS LIFE AND LIMB ARE ENDANGERED!!! THIS MEANS YOU!!!!"

"FROM THE MANAGEMENT."

The sign was written in English, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, and at least three other languages the young Marine Captain standing before it didn't understand.

Captain Gatewood sighed in resignation as he glanced at his watch. 8:21AM.

Gatewood, 36 years old with a wife and two children back home in Missouri, didn't like risking reprimand from a superior officer who'd only just turned 25 two months ago today.

Resolute, Gatewood braced himself and poised his finger over the door buzzer. The Captain slowly depressed the button.

BUZZZZ....

"Wha-wha-whaat? What is it? Can't you read the sign?!?!"

'So far, so good,' Gatewood allowed himself a smile. Presently he shouted, "Captain Gatewood from Tokyo, sir."

"Is it a riot?!? Deserter?!?! Orders from HQ?!?!"

"Orders from General Garth, Colonel Hudson, sir!"

The door cracked open, revealing a pair of beady eyes.

"What are the charges?" Hudson asked evenly.

Gatewood blinked, "what? No charges sir, only orders from General Garth."

Hudson breathed a noticeable sigh of relief, "Spill it, Captain."

Gatewood nodded, "In three days time the Mendou family patriarch, Kazuo Mendou, will be celebrating his 75 birthday. The family has requested a very special, and the General stresses, *very* humble favor from the US military. In view of their cooperation with us we have decided to grant it."

Hudson opened the door wider, revealing that he was only wearing his regulation green underwear. "What favor, Gatewood?"

"A barrel of Chinese honey."

Hudson seemed a bit confused, "So give it to him." 'Is General Garth angry with me again?' Hudson thought about asking Gatewood, but decided against it.

Gatewood coughed, "General Garth made it very clear that you, sir, are to be the 'purveyer' of the gift. You and a local representative."

"Oh?" Hudson nodded, "all right. Is Priest Masaki available?"

Gatewood coughed again. Hudson caught it with, "you better have a medic look at that, Captain."

The Captain nodded, "the local representative has already been choosen, and your assignment is to begin immediately."

Hudson didn't like mind-games before he'd had his morning cornbread. "Where do I pick up this local representative?"

"Colonel, the representative is clinging to my right leg." Gatewood pointed down discreetly.

Hudson gazed followed Gatewood's right leg down to...oh no.

"Mr. Occupier!" Cherry, the poor Buddhist monk of Tomobiki-Cho, squealed out in horrid English parody.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Wednesday, September 6, 2000 - 09:07:
(RP ON)
Lum and a very concerned Ataru were buzzing around Tomobiki at an insane pace, when Lum suddenly stopped and began staring off into the distance. Ataru, who was too busy trying to hold his own lunch in to look up, complained.

"What? What are we stopping for?"

Lum squinted and peered harder.

"Looks like another ship coming down.. maybe THAT's the one from the people who are trying to kidnap Ten!"

"What? NO! Wait! Remember what happened last- AUGH!"

He began screaming loudly again and grimaced as he nearly felt his arm snap loose from it's socket. Lum was moving again, at an incredible pace at that.

By the time they reached the ship, it was already dis-embarking it's cargo... a single passenger. After he jumped out the airlock, he waved to the ship and covered himself as it took off again.

Lum settled down in front of the figure, leaving Ataru in a disfigured heap. She frowned and stared at him. Most of his features were concealed by a heavy cloak that shrowded most of his features, including his head.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Out of my way Oni child, my business is not with you." He stepped forward, shoving Lum out of his path. She saw a small energy surge come from his hand when it contacted with her, but it was too late to react. Seconds later she was a few good feet away, lying on her back with one hell of a pain in her stomach. She struggled to her feet and looked around. The figure was gone.

"Child indeed!" she snorted, helping Ataru to his feet.

"Lum.. lets.. rest.. a.. moment..." he said slowly, breathing hard. His words fell on deaf ears, however, as once again his arm was being yanked on. The force this time seemed to be sufficient to cause damage, however, as he heard a very loud crack as Lum took off. He was too tired to scream, however, and fell unconscious from the pain instead. Before fading into darkness, he wondered which was more painful, going against Lum, or with her.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Wednesday, September 6, 2000 - 22:38:
(RP ON)

"Mr. Occupier?!?" Ryouko asked; snapping Sakura and Cherry out of reverie.

"Yes, um..." Cherry chuckled nervously, scratched the back of his head. "I use to tease Hudson-sama quite often."

Ryouko didn't like that, "why?" she asked with just the right edge of scorn in her voice.

"Well, he was the military occupier of Tomobiki-Cho for seven years, Ryouko-sama. A benevolent occupier, yes, but he still symbolised Japan's failure to be victorious over the United States." Cherry sighed, sipping some stolen tea.

Ryouko nodded, "all right, but you still haven't answered my question."

"Oh, yes," Cherry composed himself, "Mr. Occupier came out of an attempt to get Hudson to lighten up a bit during 1947."

Ryouko frowned, "lighten up, why?"

Cherry looked up at Ryouko in his rare serious moments, "Hudson-sama wasn't as spiritually healthy in those days as is now. If you listen, I'll get to that part of the story in just a few minutes."

Meanwhile, Sakura was looking at the telephone on her desk, thinking about how long stories go much better with large quantities of take-out food. Cherry caught it, "Sakura, I'm in the mood for hamburgers right now."

Sakura nodded, but wised up, "pay for yourself, Uncle!!!"

"Oh Sakura, Sakura..." Cherry shook his head.

Ryouko wasn't up for any of this right now. She simply had to know about Warren-kun's past!

Cherry was about to try and weasel Sakura into paying when he felt a bag of yen drop unceremoniously onto his head. The old monk spun around, facing Ryouko.

"Start talking, Cherry, Sakura-sensei will handle all the food arrangements."

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Sunday, October 1, 2000 - 09:45:
(RP ON)
The odd hooded figure that had entered Tomobiki dashed across the rooftops, following his prey. He was definately on-target, the size dimensions, the agility, stance, and general attitude were all within target specifications.

As he noticed a turn in the road up ahead, he moved upwards a couple more buildings, then perched down at the corner, watching down below. He squinted in confusion.

"Odd, where did she go? Surely I haven't become this lazy over time.."

Figuring there might just be something he was missing from above, he leapt off the building. Yanking out a small staff, he pressed a button on it. The bottom half extended sufficiently to brace his fall, and he landed perfectly. He quickly concealed the device again and looked around.

Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed him, wrapping itself around his neck in a professional maneuver he was highly familiar with. The smallest pressure in the correct area would result in the failure of his mission, so he held still.

"Alright buddy, I've got this thing about being followed, and lately, I'm tried of my days turning to shit. So would you mind explaining exactly what the hell you think you're doing?"

He smiled inwardly. "What makes you think I was following you?"

"Oh, gee, I don't know, maybe the fact that you've been tracing my steps exactly for the past 4 blocks!" She tightened her grip slightly.

"Terra, I had to confirm that you were the person I sought. For I carry critical information for you regarding one Doctor Ginkobot." He heard the surprised exhale he was expecting.

"Ginko...? Hmmm."

Terra released her grip and allowed the figure to move a step away and face her. The hood still concealed her face, much to her chagrin.

"Alright, speak up, but be quick, I got places to be."

The cloaked figure nodded. "Of course. All you need to know is this: Your star is not yet fully bright."

After recieving no response, the figure snapped his fingers in front of her face. Terra didn't even blink.

"Excellent. Now, remember this Terra, for I will only say it once. Tomorrow evening at roughly twenty-hundred hours, you will meet me in the park area. You will come equipped, and you will follow my instructions to the letter at that time. Before leaving, you will divert the guards on a false alarm. How you do it is irrelevant, just be certain that defense around the party location, which I know will take place, is minimal. Now, in 2 minutes you shall become yourself again, and remember nothing of this. Begin now."

His task completed, the hooded figure leapt away, back onto the rooftops. He had one more task to perform before waiting for the next day to come.
(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Monday, October 2, 2000 - 21:05:
(RP ON)

When Cherry got back to the narrative. He was described Warren Hudson's daily routine as Chief Occupation Officer of Tomobiki...

Hudson, Gatewood, and Cherry walked three abreast to each other into Tomobiki's Ginza. Hudson had not had time to grab breakfast so he approached a familiar noodle stand.

"You hungry, Captain?" Hudson asked merrily as he strolled with Cherry over to order.

"No," Gatewood answered as if disapproving of Hudson's actions.

And so, with Hudson paying, Cherry and Warren began walking with Gatewood again while busily slurping down cups of noodles.

Warren noticed another thing about Gatewood; the man hated everything around him. 'At least,' Hudson told himself, 'he doesn't appear to be stupid as well as mean.'

Particularly, Gatewood seemed to be "disapproving" when Cherry and Hudson stopped to talk to a group of schoolchildren who were throwing rocks at birds. It turned into a story/lecture.

Finally, they arrived at the local US Occupation Force depot for supplies. It was no small amount of time before they had the barrel and a jeep to transport it on.

As Gatewood drove, Hudson glanced back at the barrel. "Christ, this thing is big..."

The barrel was one meter long and a quarter of its length in width. It wasn't even made of wood, but standard one-inch thick stainless steel. It had a "Property of US Occupation Forces, Tokyo, Japan."

It was so much honey, that Cherry was soon nagging Hudson to let him sample "just a little" first as his "priestly duty."

(RP OFF)