Stargazing [Reira]

[Kira Yamato]

Kira sighed. It was well into the night and Kissira should've been well asleep by now. He had already agreed to help her, but he still had things on his mind as he did most nights. Her room was directly across the hall from his. He had made that a point so as to not seem to intrude on her. He slipped out his room careful not to make a sound as he slowly moved about the inn nodding to the keeper as he left assuring him he'd be back soon.

He meant to be back before Kissira awoke in the morning. Well before then in fact. He made his way down to the docks finding a quieter spot for the night. Last time he had been here it had nearly gotten him killed, but there was something about it that drew him back. The peacefullness of it drew him back. He leaned against the railing reaching into his pocket pulling out two items. A picture and a small Origama flower. He flipped it over to look at the back of the picture before turning it back over for a few seconds. It was a long outdated picture. It was one of him and his sister Cagalli as babies. After it he took care to carefully put it back.


He held the small flower in his hand as he sat down on the docks. His eyes were lost in the past as were his emotions. He held it a bit closer as he allowed his eyes to shut. That young girl back then just before the shuttle had headed for earth. He stll remembered that scene as it played out. The Blitz had wanted to kill him in that battle for the wound he had given him earlier so much so he had followed him into the atmosphere to continue the fight. Unfortunatly that shuttle had crossed the path. He had tried to reach them, tried to save them, but in the end it had done little. Once the Blitz fired it connected killing all of them the resulting explosion nearly killing him as well, but he had kept the flower. Kept it as a horrible reminder of what war could be.

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Key: Person to post next
Song: Fields of Hope by Rie Tanaka
Key: Thoughts; Dialouge
Notes: The Night of Learn and Share

[Saasha]

In the shadows, a single form watched him with a stoic stare. Kissira had been in the middle of her meditation when she had heard the lock to his door click. Rather, something had made her lose her trance just before she heard it. Strange, usually she was so deep into the trance that nothing except a threat could snap her from it. And so here she sat upon a crate in the dark of an overhang.

Silently she followed him through the streets, taking the opportunity to map out the areas she passed through for future reference. What was he doing out here? Not that it was not a beautiful night, but something within her told her that it was not the wisest idea to be out of doors at this time, hence why her saber bounced lightly at her side. As she walked, she marveled at how clear the skies were and how bright the stars were. Back on Coruscant, the heavens were always filled with smog and pollution. A fact that often lead her to take to the more forested planets for training and relaxation. It was nice to be put on a planet with such an wondrous view. Once they reached the sea, this view was only made better.

She was careful to make sure that her presence was not known, staying to the darker places and roofs, but now, she sat but a few dozen feet behind him, fulling enjoying the light breeze that ruffled her ponytail. When he brought out the two items, she was glad that she had remained out of view. This was getting interesting.

[Kira Yamato]

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Kira wasn't barely aware of his surroundings anymore as he began to get lost in more and more of his own memories. After that day they had arrived in the desert where he had met Andrew Waltfeld. He actually had gotten the chance to talk to him before again he faced him on the battlefield. He had tried his hardest that battle to protect those he cared about, to destroy those trying to kill him, and then he had to fight Waltfeld. Even as the tide of the battle turned he refused to giver up and he had to destroy him. He had been rescued later, but the reality of it was everyone he fought, everyone he had killed had a story, had something to fight for.

A few days later in Orb he had been forced to fight against his childhood friend killing another of his friends. In response he had killed Tolle. From there they had both tried their hardest to kill each other. He was starting to shake trying to fight, but the tears, but he knew they were coming, and in the end he still wasn't done. In the final battle, he had tried to protect her, tried to protect Flay, but he had still fallen short of even that goal losing yet another person he cared about. Leaving a terrible aftermath to the war everyone someone looked. If one looked they could see he was crying now. Even after the war a normal life hadn't been possible. He had found himself involved in yet another war where he had met one of the people he had hurt in the last war. A person he hadn't meant to hurt.

And in the end he gave them another reason to hate him by killing someone he thought he could talk to. That had ended with him vowing revenge forcing a fight and trying to take his life. Why the hell they have to build those G-Weapons in Orb? Why did his friends have to get involved in the war? Why did he even have to be involved? War was a terrible thing. How did people know when to end it? Did they stop when every last enemy was destroyed or whenever both sides thought that both sides had suffered enough? Who even came up with the idea of war in the first place? It really wasn't the people involved that suffered, but the effects were felt long after that and he had hurt so many people. Been unable to protect so many others.

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Key: Person to post next
Song: Fields of Hope by Rie Tanaka
Key: Thoughts; Dialogue
Notes: The Night of Learn and Share

[Saasha]

Waves of sorrow seeped into her aura well before the physical gave it away. As she watched, she took a look deep within his soul, his core and the sight that greeted her was surpising. The gray, the gray had vanished completely and now the white light within him was a pure and bright as the moonlight bouncing off of the waves. She listened to them as they slapped the underside of the dock over and over again: a grim reminder of the circles.

The circles of war, sorrow, and pain. Still they lapped at her mind, replaying themselves over and over. No matter how one pushed and fought to keep all of this from happening, nothing could stop those waves of pain. Passion breeds a hatred for those who oppose one's views. Hatred breed an insatiable need to dispose of those people. That need leads to war. War leads to sorrow for the lost. And that sorrow leads to a passion to avenge the fallen. And so on and on the cycle went without end. Many a time she had seen it happen and, though she didn't know why this man cried, his tears only served to remind her of the tears she had seen in her time. So many....

Kissira rose from her crate and quietly walked forward a few paces. She stopped a good ten feet or so from him, if Kira didn't hear her that is, stood with her arms crossed cupping each elbow. She watched him for a brief moment before her voice echoed softly and gently in his direction as she stared past him out to sea. "One so young should not cry such tears."

[Kira Yamato]

Kira wasn't aware anyone else was here until she spoke blinking a bit bebored moving to rub his eyes, but it was far to late for that, while at the same time putting away the small flower. ”I....” he started trailing off before stopping. He wasn't going to apoglize for it, but there was still the fact she was here. ”I thought you were asleep.” he said to her. He had thought he was alone here, but he wasn't going to deny it. He looked up as he heard flapping just in time to see his bird coming down.

It perched on the dock beside him his eyes betraying a bit more of sorrow from him as it threatened to continue through, but his whole body betrayed that same feeling. An important gift from a very important friend, he had once called it. Yet after all that he had still tried to kill that friend with evereything in him. His hands tightened slightly against the dock. His stomach churnning again. It was so easy to get lost on the battlefield, and yet once you got off of it, you could easily tell you had done to much, but that was war wasn't it? Waltfeld had once said that. Everyone had a reason and yet no one did.

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Key: Person to post next
Song: Fields of Hope by Rie Tanaka
Key: Thoughts; Dialogue
Notes: The Night of Learn and Share

[Saasha]

As the bird lighted the rail, Kissira noticed that the lovely little creature held no fear in it's form. It obviously knew Kira in some way. And what a lovely creature indeed. She decided not to comment on it at the moment however, that would be save for later. "I was meditating. That is until a small voice told me to awaken." She uncrossed her arms and came to stand on the side opposite the bird, not wanting to frighten it. "What troubles you?"

[Kira Yamato]

Kira didn't comment on the fact she was meditating. There was nothing to say. He again assumed it was something to do with the Force again, but that was something for another time, not now. Then came the question he had known was coming. He took a few moments as the birde hopped over flying a bit to perch right beside him now tilting it's head to look at him almost curious. ”Regrets from the past.” he said slowly. In reality thats what they were. How much simpler thing had been before the war. Before the Bloody Valentine incident.

[Saasha]

How well she knew that word. Regret. Many a meaning in that singular word. She turned her eyes out to the seas, the lost tides dashing against each other gently in their rushings. "Look at that, such beauty. I would like to think that the whole world is like the sea, ever changing and never still. The waters that you see now you are likely to never see again. They will be ripped away by the tides that they themselves create." She paused as a particular wave bent around the support beam below and small droplets of water rushed to mist the pair.

Without warning, they froze in midair. Hanging motionlessly within the web of the air itself, as if all time had stopped. Slowly they began to gather together between the pair into a small rippling ball of liquid. Kissira turned her gaze upon it as it formed. "It is a treasure, it is, to see these drops now. We may never again lay eyes on this orb." A smile formed as she spoke, "The memories that this water must have... It must have seen a lot in it's time indeed. And look how it sparkles in the moonlight." The orb twisted and morphed as she spoke to reflect the moon perfectly in its glass-like surface. "But in the end, it is just a drop in an endless sea of orbs." With this, the ball fell back to the ocean and disappeared.

"To mourn the past is a good thing at times. But it is only one memory out of many to come. Just a drop in the sea. We all have things we mourn Kira. But is it the wisest choice to dwell on the past, when we have so much ahead of us? Especially when those memories bring unbearable pain."

[Kira Yamato]

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Kira listened to her as she spook looking out over the water with her, but she was right. He knew that, it was the reason he came her. Usually the water helped to clear his mind. Watching the waves was almost calming. He too liked to think that perhaps the world could be like that, but not for the same reason as her. For him it was a hope that one day the world could be like them. Serene, one thought, one mind. Not caring about race or height or age, in the same way the ocean didn't care if some of the wave hit first. It never fought itself never tried to. And perhaps that was because it knew.

It made him recall a conversation with Shinn he had when he had met him on the shoreline. He had said that the flowers couldn't be fooled and that no matter how beautiful it would always be stamped out by the waves, but it'd keep coming back and keep trying to gain that peaceful relationship with it. At least he liked to think so. He blinked a little as the mist was suddenly stopped in mid air figuring it was something Kissira was doing.

”Even if it's only a drop it's capable to producing a ripple that can evolve into something more given time.” he replied. Numerous people might be. Each had their own purpose. Their own reason for existing. And each one that was taken was just another one that ceased to be and perhaps maybe enough to cause a cry of outrage later. The very thing that had started the second war. That lingering hate that still existed in a handful of people that was pushed into a full scale war.

”Our past is what defines us. Good or bad. It's something we can't change, but hopefully it's something we can learn from and grow from.” he said pausing a bit. ”Focusing on the present and the future is important, but if you forget what it was that lead to this moment then what good does it do you?” he asked slowly. He knew there was a time and place to remember the past and look towards the future, but not stopping every once in a while to reflect was just as bad. First look after the living then take care of the dead.

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Key: Person to post next
Song: Fields of Hope by Rie Tanaka
Key: Thoughts; Dialogue
Notes: The Night of Learn and Share

[Saasha]

"There are some parts of the past, that if forgotten, will prove devastating to the future or even the present. However, mourning over things that you should forgive yourself for is the first step to freeing yourself. To remember is a fortunate thing, it ensures that things that one holds dear shall never truly be lost." She looked to the bird and reached across Kira. She held her hand in front of the bird's chest to which it tilted it's head a bit, then stepped onto her fingers. Drawing it back, let two fingers gently caress it's metal head, a gentle smile gracing her features. Her long silver hair tussled a bit in the light breeze as she spoke.

"The past does shape your future, but..." Her smile dimmed into a line. Her face fell as the memories of her own past flooded back to her. Duke, the beatings, the betrayal, the hatred, the despair, the blood... "Some things are better forgotten. But that is not always possible is it? Then again, depending on the nature of the past, remembering all can be a comfort if only to show how far one has come. The past should not control you completely." Her smile returned and she gazed lovingly at the ring that the mechanical bird perched a few fingers above.

"Even the most gruesome of pasts hold lessons and stories that should be carried. But they should not be a burden."

[Kira Yamato]

There was still things that might be better off forgot. He was sure, but he was also sure that there were some things in the past that should never be forgotten. He watched as the bird tilted it's head to look at Kissira before moving to stand on the offered fingers. Kira paused for a few second before replying for her. ”It's difficult when it's most of what you know.” he said slowly. What he had been made for, what he knew, what he had known since he was 15. What he had been trained for since Lunar Prep school. He had tried to avoid the war, but even still he had been dragged into it. Kira didn't know it, but Kissira of all people would know.

[Saasha]

"Believe me, my friend. I know." Her voice now twinged with a solemn sorrow, agonies once held deep within the crevasses of her mind now coming to light. Memories she had long since vanished returning in full color to the woman's mind. The pain she had suffered all those years ago- physical, mental, emotional all rushing back a fresh in her mind. Memories she had buried since the joyous birth of her children. How was it that this young man, with a few simple words, could remind her of that pain so easily?

"Past mistakes are not easy to erase. In fact, that action is neigh impossible. But, learning to forgive yourself for the past... is the first step to forgiving those that have wronged you. Or those you have wronged."

Two names passed through her mind, two wonderful names that had meant so much to her. This first had taught her to love, the second had taught her to forget and move on. She loved them both dearly, but the second... Oh what she would give to hear his voice echo through her mind even once more... If only her connection were not severed. A small tear rolled down her cheek as she turned her face to the moon, though her face remained completely stoic in every way. But this tear was one of not just pain, it was also of the first realization of her freedom in a long time. "If not for the agony and brutality of my past, I never would have met my husband, I never would have had my children, I would have been nothing. Less than nothing actually. I would still be a slave... Nothing more in the eyes of the world than the dirt beneath our very feet. Because of the mistakes I have made, the horrible things I have done... No, because I have conquered them..."

She closed her eyes and set the bird upon the rail, " I am free." Her sight now clear and a grin upon her lips, she gazed upon the boy with understanding and compassion. "Oh believe me, I know."

[Kira Yamato]

Kira lifted his head at her words. What was it he had struck in her? He simply nodded as she spoke, but even as she spoke it was easy to tell that her thoughts weren't truly here. They were in the past, lost in her own memories, but those memories. Kira just listened once again as she spoke once opening his mouth to speak as he saw the tear, but thought better of it and just let her talk. ”What exactly.....happened to you?” he asked slowly. The memories were still there. He didn't mean to make her feel bad, but he wasn't sure what it was she was talking about. He didn't mean to push however. If she didn't want to talk about it he wouldn't.

[Saasha]

She started from her thoughts when she realized what she had just said. Oh well, nothing to be done now. "I am afraid that I have spilled much more than I intended. This night was not meant to be one-sided. May I be graced to hear your story before I delve into mine further? The choice is entirely up to you of course. I do not wish to dredge up memories that we have already agreed are best left unsaid."

[Kira Yamato]

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Kira shook his head. It was only natural. As one told a little about themselves they usually did so in the hopes of learning more about the other person. ”When I was 16 I moved to avoid the war that was sweeping two of the three super powers on our world. It started as a result of the Bloody Valentine Tragedy. A tragedy that was committed simply they had their genes worked on. The Earth Federation launched a nuke on one of the PLANT home worlds killing everyone on it. It’s a colony in space. I’m sure you’ve have something similar.” he said taking a moment before continuing.

”Orb was a neutral nation, but their colony had been helping the Federation to build G-Weapons. A more advanced robot to continue the war they were losing. It was on one of those days that we found everything was about the change. It was that day that I found myself trying to find shelter for a girl I had never seen in my life. As fate would have it, she turned out to be my sister. That was the first day I ever piloted a Mobile Suit. From then on out I had no choice, but to pilot it. It was either that or be killed. Let my friends be killed. Soon after our home was destroyed in the next battle. I managed to salvage a malfunctions life pod that the colony ejected, but still we were on the run from those pursuing us.” he said pausing. He wasn’t sure how much of this she really wanted to hear, but even now it was all still fresh in his mind.

”Not long after that I killed my first person. Before we got to Earth each of us was offered the chance to leave since we were helping out about the ship. I was going to, but my friends decided to stay. I had to stay to protect them. Just before the battle a small girl came up to me and gave me a small flower.” he said explaining the flower he had earlier to her. He kept it. ”It was supposed to be thanks for protecting them, but in the next battle. The shuttle they were on was caught in the crossfire. And I…..” he said trailing off still disheartened by the memory of it. ”I couldn’t save them.” he finished.

”Time and time again after that I was forced to kill on the battlefield. It’s much easier when you’ve never met the person, but if you do meet them, it makes it worse.” he said referring to his encounter with Waltfeld. He still remembered what he had asked him that day. ”War has no time limit and no points are awarded. How then, do you determine the winners and the losers? At what point do you put an end to it?” he said quoting him. There was one finally thing he had to share with her before he stopped for now. He held out his hand as the small mechanical bird jumped on it.

”This, was a very important gift, from a very important friend. Unfortunately we ended up on opposite sides of the war. I killed one of his friends and he killed one of mine. We tried our hardest to kill each other after that. In the end he won destroying both machines.” he said remembering how it had exploded at so close a distance. Even now he shouldn’t be alive. ”It’s difficult to describe the feeling when you wake up. Realize you’re still alive, and remember everything your done. It’s difficult to understand why.” he said slowly. And that was a little of where he was coming from in all of this.

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Key: Person to post next
Song: Fields of Hope by Rie Tanaka
Key: Thoughts; Dialogue
Notes: The Night of Learn and Share