[indent][indent][indent][indent][i]That's called rain.[/i]

Even without looking up at the sky, it was quite clear now to Kamina, and likely to everyone else, that it was coming down by the bucket -- but he tipped his heavy head back to face the inky, sickly churning clouds anyway. He'd heard a siren start off with a trumpet from somewhere far off, and he closed his haggard eyes against the sort of penetrating braying noise. At first, he hadn't registered if and when the pipsqueak had gone off on his way, but Kamina kind of found that he was glad the kid had left him alone. Image after image jogged and skittered through his mind, like one morning where he was eating breakfast in his bed-nook underground and not knowing one way or another that rain or dreadful storms existed or transpired. And then another image passed through as if it were on its way in some great big hurry and couldn't be late to wherever it was going, and it came to him in just as much of a rush that he was remembering the first and only time he'd seen and experienced rain. 

It was the morning he'd swore he was going to die. Although a tad brighter, the skies had appeared much like they did today; the clouds had looked like they wanted to vomit or liked they'd drank something and decided they didn't want it anymore and were getting ready to spit it out and spray it everywhere. Except back then, Kamina hadn't been able to explain or even fathom what was about to happen. He hadn't been able to come to grips with why it had made him feel so sick and awfully dreadful all the way deep down in his stomach, either. At that time and also right now, he had reckoned that something like the smell of rain should have brought happiness and rejoicing to his heart, but all he'd felt was --

Not [i]fear.[/i] He didn't [i]fear.[/i]

Besides, he judged thoughtfully. It wasn't actually the rain's fault. It hadn't been back then, and it wasn't now. That day, as he was hoisted by his allies out of his mecha all bloodied and wheezing and convulsing but far from broken, the rain had begun to fall. He remembered that everyone had indubitably believed him to be a dead-and-goner even if they wouldn't say it with their mouths, and he even heard a few of his men and good friends cursing the weather in his name as well as their own. He hadn't been able to talk then because if he had been, he would've corrected them all proper right there. Kamina didn't hate the rain at all. The rain perdurably swooped in at just the right time, after all the ugly and all the sick and all the crazy, and its only wish was to patiently and beautifully wash the earth clean of the blood and lust and pride and wrath that stained it so savagely. Gracious gods didn't exist, and so rain was one of the things to be revered, something to be taken in with an open silver heart -- but he knew needed to live in order to prove that to anyone. And Mami had to live, too, if the feelings that he had now coursing through all his body held any salt at all.

His bare skin was soaked and so were his thick murky brown pants, "utility pants" as he called them though they apparently weren't so sturdy as he'd thought, and he felt a shiver drive through the breadth of his chest even though it was quite warm out there in the outdoors still. He came back to the world clearer than before, and with a jolt he heard a loud [i]shoom shboom crack[/i] and a sort of angry [i]grr grrr guhrmm[/i] and his shocked gasp turned quickly into an ecstatic grin as he remembered those noises to be what his old comrade Yoko called "thunder." He ran a big hand through the matted locks of hair on his head that were trying now to hang all sloppy and wet over his sort of lidded eyes like they were sopping curtains of blue tarpaulin or burlap. After it was all slicked back he still felt the streamlets of rainwater trickling onto his neck, but he was fine with it because at least now he could see where he was going.

He didn't know when his legs had started him walking again, but he was glad they had, for where they had taken him he would never have thought to turn. He had been planning to search for this so-called [i]shuttle station[/i] in the probability that he could bum a ride and reach the same destination as Mami, or even find her there at the station; but now where he stood was in front of a sort of tavern. Even though Kamina stood unarguably on the glorious surface, this kind of shambly beat-up place looked just like the types of tumbledown set-ups he'd frequented underground once he'd become of-age, though this one being slightly larger and not exactly protruding from a dirt wall. He moved the dirty, stained, damp little cloth to the side and ducked under the opening into the main room and hoped to see someone within, this place sitting just a bit farther away from the town center and therefore being a bit less likely to have been hit by the full brunt of all the panic yet, even if the whooshing of the wind and the beating of the rain against the rooftop would've had to have been at least a little noticeable.

And sure enough, even though it was by and large empty of the living souls of patrons and even the familiar heavy and almost stifling stench of liquor and men that any self-respecting bar-type place should have at all times, he spotted an old bearded geezer standing behind the counter and leaning on it in a sort of bored and impassive way like today was just any old other slow-traffic day. Kamina sort of smiled to himself. This guy had to know what was going on outside even if he didn't register the storm as anything out of the ordinary because his business had completely emptied out. He could tell it had happened suddenly, too, because there were unfinished drinks and decks of cards and other leisurely type things strewn everywhere. So that must have meant that this dude just didn't care. Kamina could sort of respect that, but he was also very very curious. He had taken a breath, fully prepared to raise his voice like usual and introduce himself, but the old man was already slamming a big fiendish glass of what looked like some hard kind of whiskey down on the countertop.

"Ain't got any more cash on me, geezer, sir," he spoke up in a respectful way that sort of surprised him to hear coming out of his own mouth. "Used it all last night if you, uh, know what I mean."

The man was gazing at him quizzically, like Kamina was talking some kind of lizard language, but shoved the glass forward so far it looked like it would fall off the counter if the shirtless blue-haired man didn't lunge forward and grab it fast, which he did. That was when he realized he was still shivering. Understanding it all in an instant as some sort of great gesture of kindness, Kamina nodded and then tipped his head back and downed the fiery liquid all in one go.

"Thank you very much!" He exclaimed; the warmth had already began coursing through him in waves. Then he heard a gust of wind and sheets of rain coming through the cracks in the wood from the outside, and he swore the place [i]swayed to the side.[/i] On the inside he shrieked a little but on the outside he looked as strong and resolved as ever as he folded his arms and jutted his chin out to address the old-timer. "Anyhows, you got any idea where I can find this [i]shuttle station?[/i]" After a beat, the guy uttered what sounded like [i]Uh?[/i] except with that damned weird stiff accent, and Kamina could already tell that this guy no speaky his language.

He stepped up closer and peered into the elder's thick gray eyebrows, like as if eye contact would help the poor fellow understand him any better -- but he reasoned that maybe it would and maybe it was one of those weird psychological quirks people supposedly had. Kamina didn't know much about it, but he figured maybe he'd give it a little try and so he opened his mouth. He decided to speak more simply, too. "I," he began slowly, pointing at his chest with his whole hand. "Looking," he said with a quick few jabs toward his eyes and some real nice blinking. "For [i]friend.[/i]" He finished his statement at last by miming a pair of round tits with both of his hands. [i]"You understand?"[/i]

It took a few moments, but the man finally opened his mouth, too. "I sorry," he replied. "No breast, only drink." The old man looked quite satisfied with himself, but Kamina only groaned and slammed his palms against his forehead in frustration.

"No, old-timer," he tried again. "My [i]friend[/i] took a [i]bus.[/i] I [i]need[/i] the bus." He sort of made a motion like as if he were driving a vehicle high off the ground and adjusting some invisible brimmed hat and convulsing in place like the bus had just hit a series of bumps. Another crack of thunder sounded and Kamina jumped for real.

[i]"Boss?"[/i] The man attempted repeating.

"Oh, dammit to hell!" Kamina screamed loudly. "Screw this, I gotta go before this place collapses! I'll find Mami even if I have to swim to a mountaintop!" He made his rather large vow and then began rushing for the "door" he'd come through, when the man called out [i]Oi![/i] in a deep, thick kind of voice and when Kamina looked, the barkeep was pointing toward a heavy slab of wood on the wall to the back that looked sort of like a proper door that the man in all his preoccupation hadn't even noticed at all before.

"Boss ride that way," he enlightened Kamina at last.

"Oh! Thanks!" He beamed. He began to jog to the door but when he opened it, he stopped right where he stood, even as the rain marched in like an army of men with whips and gave his shoulders and his face a good hard lashing. He turned around to face the elderly dude with a hopeful look on his face. "Y'know, old-timer, you're all right. But I think you should get out of here. The world is already short enough on real men like you." And then without any further pressuring the man, Kamina gave a big grin and a nice wink and sprinted off on his way. He could already see lots of tiny bright bright blinding yellow lights flashing in the distance like stars and heavenly saviors, and the people below them just as tiny, screeching and clamoring and heaping one on top of the other with their own desires of what the lights would provide.

"Mami!" He swished through the rising ocean of rainwater and shouted the only thing that mattered above the racket of storming and siren-braying. "I'm on my way!"[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]