menial | 1 ~ when did I stop believing in Santa Claus? [audio/action]

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1 ~ when did I stop believing in Santa Claus? [audio/action]

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[A teenage boy is extricating himself with some difficulty from having been dumped, or appearing, in the middle of the fountain in the center of the village. He's muttering to himself and clambering out. He's dressed in the generic-enough North High uniform, but of more interest may be what he's saying -- which is picked up by the split-open journal next to him.]

...Really, Haruhi? After all of that, I'm in some other time and place again?! Oh, boy. She really just doesn't stop... Where the hell is it this time?

[Once he gets up and brushes himself off, he can be found staring with slightly less bewilderment than you might expect at his surroundings.]

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In my experience, there aren't that many normal people who can get through to her.

'Unless the other shoe (or scarf, in this shop) drops and it turns out, once again, she's some ancient doomsday android in the shape of a cute girl.'

I like to think I'm pretty normal. What does that make you then?

'Good question.'

An anomaly?

...you know, that makes sense, considering. Does it bother you?

At first, sure. These days I generally tell myself it means I have as much of a a special role to play as anyone else in the Brigade. Representing some semblance of sanity.

[At least, in his version of the Brigade.]

Yeah? ...what can you tell me about the Brigade where you guys are from? She only really briefly mentioned it.

'Weird to think the Brigade is any different, really. I still don't know how much is prudent to say, though. Maybe the version for the public?'

Well, it's a pretty long story at this point. But basically Haruhi got to high school looking for something interesting, joined all the school clubs, left them, and decided to start her own. Cue forced conscription of various people that, whether by luck or design, ended up working a lot better than you might have expected. To keep her entertained, anyway.

...she was looking for something interesting here too and started the Brigade. She usually makes announcements trying to get new members every couple of months, and sometimes she forces people but it's like...some of them just join on their own.

[He hesitates.]

Well, the odd thing about that is that--for us, there was never really a serious question of getting new members. It was more... subjugation of the conquered. Grinding the boot and all that.

'Sometimes literally.'

In fact, recently there were Brigade tryouts, but we didn't end up taking any new recruits, in the end... There was one girl who nearly made it, but it turned out she couldn't do it. I'm surprised that ... 'That all that we specifically meant to her was a pastime?' she felt the need to make the same thing here.

[His discomfort with the whole idea is fairly clear in his tone.]

I think...it was more the fact she was lonely. It keeps her busy, keeps her from thinking about the things going on here. It's become such a huge fixture in this place, after all.

'What can I say to that? It seems churlish to disagree with something that's important to others just because it represents something that's, well, important to me. At the same time, I can't help that feeling.'

Maybe that's it. It's just a weird situation for me to be thrown into. For that matter, I don't know if I've been this far into the future before.

'At least a couple years, she said, right? I suppose it's not a huge gap, especially if what I saw... well, forget it.'

[A shrug...and then a curious look.] 'This far'? So what, you've been into the future before?

'...Am I usually this indiscreet?'

--Aren't we all perpetually entering the future as every day goes by?

Nice try, but that's not going to work.

'Sigh.'

...Well, I'm not entirely sure if it was the future or if I just ate some bad shellfish, you know? In either case, it would probably be best if you didn't tell Haruhi.

Well...I've got to start keeping secrets from her sometime, right? So what actually happened?

'Not the most encouraging way that that could've been phrased.'

In all honesty, I'm not sure what it was. Suffice it to say that one moment I was in April, and the next moment, without any warning, I was falling onto Haruhi's bed and it was the middle of May.

'And then let's not get started on that bit where we were on that campus.'

...and you have no idea what could have caused it. [Because she's got an idea, but that's different.]

It was a bizarre situation already, and that was just making it more bizarre.

[Which isn't saying he has no idea what caused it, exactly, but hey.]

[Shiki's been trained to realize when someone's being vague about a subject. Sorry bro.]

That still doesn't exactly answer my question.

'Damn it. Seems like someone's hacked her Perception stats or something.'

Well, I'm pretty used to strange things happening when Haruhi's around.

Yeah, I'd noticed that. Do strange things happen that often?

Remarkably often, but then again, she often goes looking for them. 'Or producing them.'

[And then here...they happen whether she causes them or not.] Define strange though...I've got my own idea of strange, but not sure it's the same.

It's hard to define what strange is as anything except something out of the ordinary. For example, we entered a baseball tournament with a ragtag team of novices and defeated an experienced college team. That's rather strange.

'Of course, the strange part was Nagato's bogus cheating magic.'

Why, what's your idea of strange?

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