| It's a Small World, After All | |||
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| Summary: Johnny Domino is stuck in the Tunnel of Love with a girl. How horrible. | |||
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Johnny Domino is getting shipped off into space with a bunch of Zentradi. Honestly, there were better ways to die.
The young Agent, getting it into his head that he was ill and couldn't go on this operation, went to see a doctor and tried getting it into the /doctor's/ head that he was ill and couldn't go on this operation. The doctor was an idiot and prescribed pro-alien counseling. Son of a bitch!
Then Johnny tried to convince his superiors within A-LAWS that he couldn't go on this very valiant and super-important mission because, as much as it pained him, he had more pressing duties here on Earth. To drop everything and run off into deep space would be gross negligence on his behalf! But Johnny's superiors were a bunch of idiots who believed a super-secret Zentradi mission was more important, regardless of the sacrifices. Not only that, but they even complimented Domino on his bravery for 'volunteering' to go on this zany expedition. Bastards!
Running out of people to flail at helplessly and feeling the grip of inevitability closing around his throat, Johnny fell into a funk. In a few days he would leave Earth, trapped like some sort of tuna-sardine in a ship filled with giant aliens. Not only that, but it was a mission to /deep fucking space/. As an Earthnoid, the notion made Domino sick. Also aliens. Did we mention aliens? All around him? On a ship?
Deciding to make the most out of his last days on Earth, Domino sought to distract himself and HAVE THE BEST FUN IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! Which is why he is currently attending a THEME PARK, YAAAAAY!!
The sounds of children shrieking and laughing in delight pervades in the air, accompanied by the loud murmur of countless adults yammering away. A merry jingle plays in the distance, playful and inviting. The scent of sweets and baked goods floats through stalls and visitors. This is THE place to be in order to have the time of one's life.
Johnny Domino walks through the place with a face like death. Even without his A-LAWS uniform, the young man appears terribly out of place in this garden of delights.
Theme parks are pretty much calculated to exhaust people. They're hot, there's not much shade, the benches are ill-fitting and invariably made of warm metal. This one, sitting under the European sun, is no exception. The design of the park is such that people are kept moving -- always walking, stumbling and staggering if need be, to the next fun thing, be it a ride, a show, a gift shop, a photo opportunity.
All that walking tires people out. Tired people maybe won't think better of spending too much money for inferior food products. Of course, wealthy people also don't think better of spending too much money -- and Zero's charge accounts run so deeply that they border on the infinite. And that's why C.C. is at the Pizza Hut kiosk, buying one of those little individual things that are pretty much just microwaved after sitting in a truck for a million years and then in a fridge for a million years more.
Paying by charge -- of course -- C.C. signs Lelouch's name to the bill, and turns with her tiny awful pizza in its tiny, brightly colored box, only to face--
"Oh! Mister Domino!"
The green-haired witch raises an eyebrow. "If you're meant to be shadowing me, sir, you're not doing a very subtle job of it."
At some point in his zombish wandering, Johnny Domino decided he had to get away from the assembly line of visitors constantly in motion across the park. The sun was too hot, there was barely any shade, people kept stumbling and staggering into him, and let's not even discuss the children.
Ugh, the children.
The young Agent, so poor and pathetic was he, needed a quiet place. A shaded, dark, secluded location where he could simply sit and feel pitiful, away but not-away from the crowd of joy-goers. The thought of simply leaving and going home was unacceptable. Domino needed to feel like he was part of something good, even if he couldn't take part in it.
Where could Johnny in his depressed state? The answer is clear: the Tunnel of Love!
It was dark and quiet, and Domino could get away from the theme park while still being part of it. Completely missing the delicious irony in his strategic decision, Johnny makes for the Tunnel of Love ride, just a few stalls away from the Pizza Hut one. Cue a C.C. rudely interrupting Domino's funk.
The Agent stops in his tracks, blue eyes focusing on the witch standing right under his nose. What the! At the girl's words, a spark of irritation shoots up inside Johnny's stomach. Already his brain scrambles to snap a retort.
"Keh! If you're meant to be fronting me, /madam/, then... well..! Then! ..."
Alas, the spark of irritation fizzles out, failing to catch the rest of the Agent on fire. Besides, it wasn't that good a retort to begin with. Johnny deflates. "Ahh, forget it."
Following their previous encounter on the train, Johnny dug all around, seeking information about anyone answering to the name of Sissi with connections to Katharon. His efforts were all for naught - there was no Sissi. The weird girl from the train, Johnny concluded, was just some crazy woman. It made sense, too. She was /European/, after all. Bloody Europeans.
"Don't tell me, you're supporting the Divine Crusaders today. Myeah, whatever." Dismissing C.C. with a scoff, Domino makes to keep walking. It's not a good idea to stand rooted in place in the middle of the assembly line.
Johnny Domino's plan has a fatal flaw.
Because C.C. just walks after him, trailing a pace or so behind. She opens her pizza box and eats while she walks. She left Cheese-kun at home today, fearing he'd wander off in the crowd or something. Instead, he has the most important task of all.
BACK AT THE HOUSE ZERO BASICALLY STOLE
Cheese-kun sits blobbishly on a bed, accomplishing nothing much in particular. Fanned out in front of the doll are various plans for Operation: David's Sling.
HERE
"Oh, don't be silly," C.C. replies, rolling her yellow eyes as she skips ahead to keep up with the Agent. "No, I'm still hovering at the edges of Katharon command structure. In fact, we're going to be attacking somewhere or other tonight. Some big to-do about a wall. I guess Katharon very strongly believes in democratic and honest zoning laws." C.C. finishes the sentence with a shrug and then eats some pizza.
Still walking alongside Domino, she looks around, and then realizes where he seems to be heading toward: "The Tunnel of Love? /Mis/ter Domino! We barely know each other!"
Johnny frowns. That girl is following him, isn't she. Yes, yes she is.
Johnny frowns HARDER.
C.C.'s words about hovering at the edges of the Katharon command structure do not impress the Agent any. In fact, they pretty much enter one ear and leave through the other, pushing past Johnny's eyes and causing them to roll in the process. And then the best part - Katharon is going to attack a wall.
Yeah, right. A wall. Johnny Domino imagines the members of Katharon charging at a waist-high wall made of rubble, standing at the outskirts of some humble English village full of humble thatched-roof cottages.
Suffice to say, the Agent doesn't believe a single word.
SOME TIME LATER
Johnny Domino stares in growing horror at the fresh intel coming in from Russia. Apparently Katharon are "--attacking WHAT?!"
A wall.
NOW
Having allowed the girl to follow him undisturbed most of the way to the Tunnel of Love, Johnny kept his lips pursed in mute annoyance. But when C.C. makes her final comment upon realizing their destination, the Agent decides it's time to make things clear at long last:
"You're right. We /don't/ know each other, Sissi, or whatever your name is. Which is why I'M going in there and YOU are not."
"Sissi? Hmph. C.C. The letter 'C' -- then the letter 'C' again. Really, Domino, if you're going to get ahead in life, you should learn to hear people correctly." Of course, research into a 'C.C.' working for Katharon produces similarly negative results. It's as if she didn't exist until a month ago, and nothing of any import has been learned in that month anyway, beyond some notes about her spending time with Laura Rolla, one of the new Katharon aces.
"But then, you don't really seem to know what you want, do you?" C.C. finishes her pizza between thoughts, and casts the box into a precariously overstuffed trash can as they walk past one. "I mean, really. You start leading me toward the Tunnel of Love, then you declare you're doing in alone."
C.C. folds her arms, her lips twisting into a gentle, perhaps disapproving frown. "Either you're playing hard to get, which I strongly doubt, or you're just making it all up as you go along. Why, look at you. You're not even having any /fun/." Clearly, this would have nothing to do with C.C. hectoring him.
"So, you're not here to spy on me, you're not here to have fun, you're going to go on the Tunnel of Love /alone/..." C.C. rubs her chin thoughtfully. "Why /did/ you come here, then? Do you even know?"
Johnny pauses when the witch corrects him about her name. What the f..! it was C.C. all along?! No wonder he couldn't find anything! He should--
Wait, wait, no... wait. It doesn't matter. This girl is a crackpot. There's nothing going on between her and Katharon, Johnny made certain of that when he failed to find anything connecting between her and the organization. Although, uhh, apparently he failed because he didn't spell her name right?
"..."
Johnny starts feeling suspicion creep into his brain. Could it be that C.C. really is related to Katharon? Was the girl telling the truth all along? Could it be that she really is playing a very dangerous game with him? --Wait, no! Goddamnit, no! The key word here is /game/. And the Agent refuses to allow C.C. to play him the same way she did on the train.
With all of this going through Domino's head, the distracted young man only half-registers what C.C. is saying to him. When she asks him why he came here, the Agent blinks, his attention swiveling back to his green-haired 'companion'.
"Isn't it obvious?", Domino snaps, indicating the Tunnel of Love. "I came here to love myself!"
If not for the constant hubbub filling the theme park, an awkward silence would have followed this dubious declaration. Instead, Domino glares at C.C. a moment longer, then looks away, mentally going 'What the hell was /that/?'. Love himself? The fuck did that come from?
"Look," the Agent makes another attempt. "Why I came here is none of your business." Yet despite it being none of the girl's business, Johnny continues without missing a beat, because he'll be damned if he's going to let the bitch be correct about him not knowing why he's there: "I came here for the experience. To just, you know, feel it. Not BE it, just feel it. And I'm going into that Tunnel to get away from it all. This includes you."
So there. Johnny feels he has sufficiently presented his case to the girl, nevermind the various paradoxes and holes riddling this little explanation of his.
C.C. frowns darkly at Johnny Domino's comments. Apparently they've struck a nerve. Maybe he's won a decisive victory over her, after all -- maybe he's finally figured out that all he has to do to get C.C. to back off is assert himself, be firm, establish himself as the alpha male.
But then she opens her mouth again, and her tone is one of indignant disgust: "I should /say/ that it's none of my business, if /that/'s what you plan to get up to in there, young man," C.C. (who looks a good five years younger than Johnny, possibly) snaps. She brings her hand to her chest, like an old-timey signal of being about to faint or something. "And yet for something that /is/ none of my business, you sure are keen to tell me about how you're going to... /feel it/ and /'love' yourself/. I -- really, Domino, you know they have cameras in these things, right?"
C.C. steps closer, jabbing a finger at the Agent's chest. "Or is that what you're hoping for? Are you here to get a sick thrill by doing -- /that/ on a theme park ride?"
Johnny Domino feels a temporary sense of accomplishment. He should have asserted himself as the Alpha Male all along. Just look at C.C.'s expression once he did. Maybe now she'd finally leave him alone and--
Guh!
The Agent is caught off guard by the witch's verbal assault. Eyebrows rising in shock, the young man automatically leans away when the girl invades his personal space, jabbing a finger at his chest. It takes Domino a good number of steps -- all of which are spent staring at the girl by his side in astonishment -- before he finds his voice again.
"My GOD," he exclaims. "You have absolutely no sense of..! of..!" Of what? Johnny never does figure it out. Instead, he concludes, "Now who's the one constructing some sort of sexual connotation in their mind?"
Oh yes, Johnny Domino remembers C.C.'s words from their previous encounter. Quite a bit of their exchange on the train stuck with him, and now he seems to be using the girl's own words against her.
But Johnny has no time to verbally spar with C.C. - he's reached the Tunnel of Love. Shaking his head, still rather astonished, he once again turns the tables by going, "You can believe whatever you want. I'm going in." Indeed, the young man steps up to the next empty swan-boat waiting by the entrance.
C.C. doesn't seem shocked by the attempt to turn her previous words back on her, but from the look on her face, it's almost questionable whether she even remembers them. She just rolls her eyes gently, and walks after Johnny, climbing into the swan-boat without a word.
Because if she says something before it's too late, then Johnny might possibly object and cause a scene, and she'd miss out on her ride.
Once the bar has ka-chunked into place to keep them /in/ the swan boat, C.C. turns to Johnny and smiles sweetly, as if she were joining him under the most innocuous of circumstances. "So. I assume that you don't have someone you'd be riding this with anyway," C.C. suggests, in her European (but /where/ in Europe?) accent that always has a faint air of boredom behind it. "Otherwise, you'd be riding with them, yes?"
C.C. glances around as the ride starts to move. "Oh, I love rides," she says, happily enough.
By the time the bar ka-chunks into place, Johnny's astonishment goes into hyper mode. Despite his jaw hanging open, no sound comes out. All the Agent is capable of doing is staring at C.C. as if she were the biggest freak in the world, his blue eyes threatening to fall out of their sockets.
Nevertheless, the gentle swaying of the boat as the ride begins is enough to snap Domino out of his stupor. Well... to a degree, anyway. Looking down at the bar, the young man tests it, pushing and tugging. The thing is made of sturdy stuff. It would require a lot of wriggling to get anywhere.
Then Johnny leans over the side of the boat, peering at the artificial river flowing through the tunnel. It's probably not deep at all, but it is rather wide. And who the hell knows what's in these waters, anyway. Various bodily fluids and pieces of rubbery garbage... eugh.
Johnny Domino pulls his upper body back into the boat proper. He turns to look at the girl next to him. The last thing C.C. will be able to clearly see of his face before the boat enters the Tunnel and engulfs the couple in ever-growing darkness will be an expression that all but screams 'I am going to kill you'.
C.C. responds to the look with that smile of hers. It's something. On the one hand, she looks sweet and wholesome in a way that is sketchy, at best; her thin, high-cheekboned features and bizarre hair color sort of dampen the effect in favor of making her look like some kind of Eurotrash couture model. But behind her yellow eyes, something is clearly going on. She can't just be so simple and aimless -- right?
"I'll take that as a 'no' regarding your relationship status, then," C.C. says, quietly, as the ride rolls into the darkness, the only other sounds being the sloshing of the water and the faint sounds of the other swan boats, spaced far enough apart that they can't be readily eavesdropped upon. "Anyone you /fancy/, then? I'm sure if I asked you who you'd rather be on this with, you'd just be a smartie and say 'anyone,' though."
C.C. slaps her fingers on the metal bar idly, like it was a pair of bongos. She taps out a triadic rhythm pattern, but lazily and without much conviction. "Also, I'll have you know that if I hear the sound of a zipper, I'm going to punch you."
"/You're/ going to punch /me/--?!"
Johnny Domino is still in hyper mode. Trying to get over this situation and reclaim his senses, the Agent looks away from C.C. and takes a deep breath. An attempt is made to get a grip over his thoughts. When this fails, he turns back to look at C.C., who has, by now, turned into no more than a gentle silhouette.
"You are fucking unbelievable," is Domino's final observation. More like an accusation, actually. Perhaps even a very harsh judgment. "Maybe I SHOULD open my zipper, just so you'll storm the hell out of here." But despite this wild fantasy given voice, Johnny does not follow up with his threat. Any and all zippers are left mercifully zipped.
"Just... just... my GOD," returns the familiar exclamation. "What do you /do/ with your life? Are you always like that? Don't you have any... any sensibilities? Any /social sensibilities/? Self-restraint? Anything?"
"So I'll storm the hell out of here and... go where?" C.C. replies calmly -- more than calmly, chidingly, as if she were a schoolteacher indulging the frantic, unfocused tantrum of a little boy. She raps on the metal bar again, as if to remind Johnny that it's there.
As he questions her, C.C. sits in silence. The Agent's questions are all good ones, and she seems to give them quite a bit of thought, complete with a nearly-subsonic little sigh of consideration. Her silhouette can be observed just enough to know when her head is turning -- when she's looking at Johnny. "Well, I told you what I did with my life already, young man, and you seemed disinclined to believe me. As to the other questions, those are all matters of perspective, I'd say."
C.C. can just barely be seen to shrug. "But we're talking about something /important/ here, stop trying to distract me. The fact that you /are/ distracting me suggests that there /is/ some girl -- or boy, if you're so inclined -- on your mind. But you're self-conscious about it. And it probably hasn't gone anywhere because instead of making a move you're the sort of person who acts like /this/ in the Tunnel of Love. Am I correct?"
A matter of perspective his ass!!
Johnny doesn't actually say that. The time it took C.C. to consider his questions seems to have done the Agent good, calming his nerves... at least partially. His brain is no longer a blank, nor is his blood raging in his ears. Why, the young man even has enough of his mental faculties back to address C.C.'s own persistent line of questioning.
"No, there is no girl!"
And that's that. That's all Johnny addresses.
The fact that Johnny didn't get flustered at the mention of 'boy', coupled with how he automatically defaulted to 'girl', seems like proof enough that he does not swing that way, not even on a subconscious level. Though who knows!
Unfortunately, the way he snapped his answer at the witch, so staunch and vindictive, seems to indicate that Domino didn't actually give it any thought. His response was simply an adverse knee-jerk reaction, meant to antagonize the girl rather than form any meaningful dialogue. So while the Agent's sexuality may have been properly ascertained, the query of whether a girl actually exists remains a potential mystery.
"What is it to you, anyway? Don't tell me this is your way of hitting on me."
"Ah, so there is one. Good to have that settled."
C.C. is -- and this is a matter of historical record -- awful. Just awful. She sounds so smug and sure of herself, as if she'd just pieced together a jigsaw puzzle all by herself. "And no, this isn't me hitting on you. Unlike you, I'm able to /articulate/ what it is that I want. I was just curious. You're an interesting man, Domino."
C.C. pauses, as if trying to figure out where her monologue should go from there, and then continues: "I meet plenty of people who are interesting, but you seem rather steadfast in your refusal to relate to anyone. Or maybe it's just me that you don't want to relate to. In any event, you seem frustrated by your inability to control or understand me. So I'm trying to understand you. Funny how that works."
C.C. lets the boat continue on a bit in silence, before cutting into that dead air with: "So what's her name?"
Johnny Domino slowly looks away from C.C., turning his gaze straight ahead. If this were a more cartoonish environment, the Agent would have grasped at his hair at this point, gnashing his teeth and popping veins all across his forehead.
Thankfully, ANIME JA NAI, boy! ANIME JA NAI! This is real life, and all Johnny physically does is remain motionless, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. His turmoil remains private, rampaging deep within and out of sight.
Perhaps the young man is becoming exhausted of this conversation, and seeks to lay down arms. Perhaps C.C.'s infinite patience is finally beginning to chip away at the Agent's sour disposition, and her frank desire to understand Johnny is disarming him all on its own. Hell, perhaps the girl's nonchalant admission that she is, in fact, NOT hitting on him somehow managed to knock the wind out of Domino's sails and he is now nursing a bruised ego. Whatever the case may be, when Johnny next speaks up, his words are dull and calculated.
"I just told you - there is no girl. If you must know, there /were/ girls." A pause, letting the words settle as the boat continues swaying onward. The Agent tries to get a feel of whether he wants to say something more. Apparently he does: "Nothing ever came of it. They're all a part of history now... and I'd rather history remained history."
"Well, of course history's going to remain history. What else would it be?" C.C. still refuses to let Johnny Domino rattle her. "That was an elegant little way of trying to deflect me, and I suppose that I've turned into a bit of a soft touch in my old age, because I'm going to indulge you and let the topic sit."
The ride continues in darkness. C.C. stays true to her word and lets the topic sit for about four seconds. "I suppose I'd be the same way in your shoes. Relationships always complicate things, don't they? Better to just be... /professional/. Even if it doesn't leave you particularly happy. I don't think I could live that sort of life, myself, but it's good to know there are people willing to make that sacrifice."
Of course, 'make that sacrifice' is probably the single poorest choice of words C.C. could use in relation to the Agent's work right now. But how would she know? There's another brief pause, and C.C. says, "But you know, I've always found people remember a grand exit more than a grand entrance -- it sticks with them longer."
There's the sound of some rustling, and then a clatter of sound off to the side, as if someone... jumped from the car to one of the platform walkways running in the dark tunnel. But she couldn't have.
But then, when the ride emerges into the light, Johnny Domino is alone.
Johnny refuses to look back at C.C. as she speaks, but his eyes do narrow when she comments about her 'old age'. This girl's entire way of thinking is just screwed up from top to bottom. There's just no other way to explain her behavior and how she phrases certain things.
Still, it's nice to know the witch can stay true to her word. If only for... about four seconds, geez. And Domino was starting to think he could spend the rest of the ride in peace, too. A hushes sigh as C.C. resumes talking, and then a wince. 'Make that sacrifice' was indeed a rather poor choice of words. The Agent would much rather make no sacrifices ever. Especially not within the next few weeks.
Then, the next thing Johnny knows, the boat jerks rather violently from side to side. "The hell!", the Agent cries out. "Are you trying to knock this thing over? I have no intentions of drowning, thank you very much!"
Bah. Whatever it is C.C. did, it doesn't repeat, and the swan-boat settles down. C.C., too, seems to have settled down. "I swear," the young man mumbles in defeated agitation. He doesn't finish that sentence. Instead, after another few seconds of silence, Johnny is the one to speak up.
"What about you? Any boys on your side?"
Silence.
"What, refusing to indulge me after I indulged you?"
Silence.
"Aren't you a charming little--" the Agent stops short when he finally looks over and sees the empty seat. His wide eyes are forced to close a moment later as the ride emerges back into the sunlight.
All that remains of C.C. is a reel of small photographs, showing her sitting next to Johnny on the boat.