((OMG but I LOVED it Kanzu! Such a good post to respond to as well! I think I'm gonna have fun with this one! XD

Also, remember to blank out your curses, ZAFT. I don't want this thread getting locked over it.))
Blade - Tags: OtterWhen Otter instructed him too, Blade closed his eyes, and tried to relax as he pictured this all. He was soon drifting on Otter's voice, a serene, peaceful look on his features as he began envisioning what he'd be like. Reliving his childhood... he'd follow the same path... he couldn't... couldn't follow his father's words. Where would he be? Well he wouldn't be rich... he certainly wouldn't have a family... but... maybe he would actually... but no kids. Or would he? But if he'd been open about his past... about his... "flaw" then... then would sharing it be possible today? Probably... except of course... Nick's death. It loomed over him, like a dark shadow, a black blight on his history, one that told him his father was right... and it stung.
Tears sprung to his closed eyes, but he didn't even try and stop them right now. And Otter was totally right... following his father's path... he'd be in nowhere's ville... no Dusty... no Nick... no joys in life. No team. And no being here right now. No meeting Otter... no helping him to safety... no nothing. So who would he be? Blade knew full well who he'd be... but could he say that out loud? Could he reveal it to Otter knowing the stigma that existed with it? But when the F-18 told him he was blind to himself, that struck Blade like a lance through his heart... he was... blind... blind to himself... and yes... no one EVER asked him if he was OK because... no one knew. He kept it all secret... all behind him... all locked away... it was a festering wound, but it was deep inside... internally hemorrhaging him as he slowly bled to death in a spot no one could see...
"I'm..." Blade began, his voice shuddering and his tone indicating he was trying not to cry. His eyes were still closed, and he wobbled a little on his landing gear. "I'm wounded inside yes... yes because... because I've been terrified of exposing it... but... but you're right... I need to start somewhere... and I may as well start with you... because... I dunno I don't think... I don't think you'd judge me... but... it's so... hard... because I was told my whole life it made me... wrong... a freak... a... well I'll stop here, but it was something I should never reveal. My father even threatened to kill me once if I ever spoke about it again... and I was so scared... so scared until I wasn't... because when I wasn't... I could be myself..."
He swallowed hard, and opened his eyes here. "I'll... I'll start at the beginning..." he said slowly, trying to gather himself for this. "If I can... I only hope I can..." his eyes remained fixed on Otter, knowing the jet couldn't see him, and never did they waver, as if Otter was a rock for him. "When I was small... I realized I was a little... different. I was shy... reserved... didn't fit in well at school... that kind of thing. Uh... so I wasn't sure why but then... I kind of figured it out. I was different because I didn't..."
Blade stopped himself here, feeling his heart leap into his throat before he swallowed it back down again, keeping his eyes fixed on Otter. "Heh... I didn't... like... girls..." he said here now, this being the first time he'd admitted this to anyone in over 30 years now. "Quite the opposite in fact... and you know how taboo it was back then. Sure... we're becoming more open about it... but you can probably guess the rest of my story. And why I felt like... like Nick's death... only confirmed what my father thought about... aircraft like myself. That it was wrong... a perversion... and only terrible things awaited aircraft like us. I haven't... I haven't told anyone this in... more than 30 years. Probably close to 40 really. It didn't help... even when I learned that others like me... were some of the greatest in history... but... I don't know... I don't know where I was going with that." he confessed, closing his mouth now and looking up to the sky as he finally took his eyes off Otter.
"People have hated me for what I am... have despised me... what... what do you think?" he asked now, as it was all he really could ask.
Oskar and Skipper - Tags: Shinn, Rush"Not BAD?" Skipper asked darkly, glaring at Shinn.
"Oh come on! It's not the Marriott, herr Skipper... no offense. It's a nice little local place but hardly..." Oskar stopped as he caught Skipper glaring at him as well.
"We spend our New Year's in here typically... lot of fond memories... you want to ruin those?" he grumpily asked.
"No..." Oskar replied slowly, looking over at Rush here and sighing. "I guess... I shouldn't ruin those memories, eh?" he asked the other Corsair. "What you gonna order us? I could do with a Heinecar myself. I picked up a taste for it over the years. Dutch beer for a German plane, ja?" He couldn't suppress a chuckle as he outlined it.
Dusty - Tags: ShadowDusty could tell she was flooring it now, and as they began heading around to begin their turn, Dusty banking and she spinning, Dusty throttled back only a little, but was used to high speed radial G turns, and this was no problem for him. He cut the corner slightly faster than she did, but she was keeping pace rather well. "Heh! For winning or losing?" he asked her here, pushing himself into the red now as he began climbing into the 270s... 280s... 290s... and soon, he was over 300 mph now. "Can you keep up?" he called down to her. He could see he was ahead once again, but maybe he should back off? Let her win? It would be the gentleplanely thing to do after all... and who cared about one little mock race?
But... nah! Dusty was a competitor first and foremost... though was being nagged by his polite attitude towards others as well. He'd see how she kept up now that he was in the red, and faster than any car should be capable of going. How would she do on the home stretch? Her actions might affect his in this... and determine what he did from here on out.
Finn - Tags: Spray, sort of Doc"We're agents... not spies." Finn corrected now, about as annoyed with Spray's use of the term as Shadow had been. "You don't refer to yourself as such... and nobody uses that term in our field either. We're intelligence and counter-intelligence agents." he informed the plane. He was about to turn and rejoin his son when suddenly, something the plane said caught his interest, and he turned back to him. "From your... past? But haven't you always been an FBI agent? You shouldn't be working with agents of our kind. We're international... you're domestic. So what are you talking about?" He inquired here.
Miles - Tags: Spray, Doc"Well hello to you too..." Miles murmured to Spray's insult of him. He'd been threatened already by this black plane, and now... this blue car was standing up for him. He then launched into an explanation of... something. "SIR Tow Mater? They made him a KNIGHT?" Miles asked in disbelief. Was he referring to... that red race car over there? Lightning McQueen? Oh yes... he had almost killed him because he'd chosen to run Allinol instead of regular fuel, and he therefore had to be killed as the final part of his plot. "Charming little statement there." Miles responded to Doc's telling him he wouldn't be treating him nicely. "Why would I flee? So I could invite an explosion of my petrol tank? Sounds rather reckless to me you know."
Miles had caught the wince and the uttered curse as he was right in front of the Hudson, and frowned slightly at the display, a curious look crossing his features. "You all right? You look as if you're in some sort of pain." He hadn't answered the accusation that he'd tried to kill Lightning, but there hadn't been an opportunity really at the moment. "And I'm not sure what you're expecting me to say... I've been sentenced for what I did... that's over and done with. I was found out at the last moment... and my scheme was subverted. But... if it makes you feel any better... I originally didn't want to hurt anyone. I only felt compelled to after your McQueen insisted on using my Allinol instead of regular fuel. I never wanted it to get as far as it did... and thought by the second race it would've been finished for sure. I'm not a murderer Mr.... I don't think I caught your name. I never actually killed anyone... Professor Zundapp murdered Agent uh... Torque... Redline or something or other... but I never had any oil on my wheels so to speak. I may have ordered his death, yes, but it was never carried out... making me not a murderer. It wasn't a case of me firing back because I was being fired upon, sure... that'd be self-defense. I knew what I was doing... at the time. Not so sure now... I'm not expecting anything less from you than your utter revulsion and ire. But then again... I'm not expecting you to understand my point of view either. How I grew up... what I went through... sure I threw my life away... but I am... a..." He stopped here, realizing he was about to say too much, and silenced himself there, closing his lips tightly together and exhaling slightly. He'd been tapping his tire on the ground to emphasize his points, as he was prone to do, but that stopped now as well, and he seemed to tighten up a little here, holding whatever he was going to say next back.