It's hard to believe that it's almost December once again. So much has happened, and yet at the same time, it seems to have passed so quickly. In fact, exactly a month remains until... Well.

It seems like I'm going soft. I should have told Mileina not to decorate the place, that it was a violation of the protocols that restrict obstructions, but... I didn't have the heart. Morale is slipping once again, and it's possible that "brightening the place up" will help. At least, that's what she said. But that's not the only reason.

I also don't have the heart to tell her that her taste in decorations are a little peculiar. While I acknowledge that Christmas decorations are generally brightly colored and lit up, I don't think any of the Haros appreciate being used as baubles. And as for the top of the tree in the mess hall... The less said about that the better.

[locked from Feldt]

Feldt seems to be avoiding me. Does anybody know why?

Don't be fooled - whoever that is, it's not Johann Trinity. It's a trap! For a start, we know Wang Liu Mei. We're still in contact with her! She would have informed us if he was still alive. We know for a fact that people can access our records and use them against us. I'm sorry to point this out considering the fact that they're now our allies, but the Trinitys did it themselves!

Whoever... screwed us all over in the first place can do what they want. That they should sink as low as this is revolting, but it's easily possible.

Approach this impostor with caution. We can try and assess him, but whatever you do, do not inform him of the location of any personnel or equipment. In the mean time, I'll try and contact Wang Liu Mei. If it's really him, she has a lot to answer for.

Mikaela. I. We.

We have a lot to discuss. I know you probably don't want to speak to me, but...

Please.

Just because Lyle Dylandy looks like Lockon Stratos does not mean you can tell him what you like. He is not one of us. If you wish to remain in possession of both your life and your full set of body parts, you will not mention one word about who we are or what we do.

You will also refrain from giving any indication of your location, or the location of any other personnel. You will not befriend him.

This man will be kept at arm's length until I have checked all appropriate data AND he has been admitted under our conditions of secrecy into our organization.

DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR, CELESTIAL BEING?

You can all threaten to kill me later for just disappearing, but that's really not the point right now. The point is I'm supposed to still... be disappeared, or however that should be put in a grammatically correct fashion, I don't know.

But I'm not.

I'm at the Pemberly's house, and I've locked myself inside one of their closets. Whoever thought to put locks on the inside of closets has my eternal gratitude.

There's something very, very wrong. Lockon's at the house too. He and Michael are...

I. I don't even know how to put this. It's all wrong.

Somebody help me.

Please.

Luckily for Tieria, personnel at the base never really came to see exactly what it was he was doing. Oh, sure, they knew he was fixing up that big machine of his, but beyond that, nobody really had any of the details. This was decidedly a Good Thing, because he didn't have any idea how he was supposed to explain the various odd new details that had been applied during repairs.

Odd details like the rough approximation of a stripped down Virtue Physical armor set. Or even odder ones, such as the peculiar new cockpit.

Gundams were single cockpit affairs, with just enough room for everything a Meister needed to pilot the suit, as well as a little extra standing space for any "unexpected guests". But that wouldn't be enough for what Tieria had in mind.

Although he could just about scrape by with no tactical advisor--

(He was, after all, perfectly capable of making adequate plans that frequently matched up with Veda's predictions in the past. Sumeragi was far better, of course, but she was nowhere to be found, and as such, he had to cope by himself.)

--it was extremely difficult to concentrate on piloting a Gundam and try to remember what stage he was at in the mission plan he'd drawn up previously at the same time. What he really needed was a tactical operator, and as this mission would involve total stealth, as well as crossing the border between worlds, what he definitely needed was an operator on board.

And so, Tieria Erde was currently hanging upside down in Nadleeh's cockpit, screwing the last panels of the new dual cockpit tactical interface into place. Behind the normal set-up for a Meister, there was now another seat facing in the opposite direction, looking at a large bank of screens.

Now all he needed was his operator.

This place is incredible, and seeing an Autobot up close like that too. They're amazing. I almost wish I had known about all of this sooner, I would have liked to learn more about them.

...I hope Tieria doesn't mind if I write this out here.

((Feldt is in giant robot heaven, checking out the Autobots whilst stuck in Tieria's body. :D))

Things are going fairly well. A more paranoid person might say too well, but at present, I am simply enjoying the progress being made.

However...

Feldt Grace. Get the Doctor to drop you off here at some point in the near future. I'd like to talk to you in person, please. I need your help.

[locked to Feldt so thoroughly that she'll have to hack it to see it herself]

Any belongings you have on the TARDIS - bring them. Pack as much as you can without it being suspicious. You won't be going back for a while, I think.

I'll explain when you get here. I promise.

And bring Haro.

[/locked]

I don't have time to talk at length. There is always more work to be done.

My initial suspicions were incorrect. They are aging.

Nena came by this afternoon. She came to tell me that she had selected a birthday, and wanted me to start making preparations. And that's what got me thinking.

You can see it. You can see that she's almost a year older than when we first met her. You can see it in Michael, too.

I don't know what to think about this. For there to be such a critical difference, even just a single one, there is the high probability that there are more. That, in truth, they are something else entirely. They seem to be, for nearly all intents and purposes, normal human beings.

((OOC: if you're not sure if you're a close friend, just ask~))

Status report, Allelujah Haptism.

...for once, I seem to have managed to make a secure connection. Excellent.

I believe it's time to "make friends and influence people". They've accepted Phase One with minimal disbelief, and apart from a couple of mishaps (thank you, Lockon Stratos), virtually nobody knows.

People will do anything for a sweet girl with a smile on her face. Ridiculous.

But so very useful.

Tieria awoke. Not with a start, but with a simple snapping open of the eyes.

Darkness. He'd been dreaming, but even with the lack of visual input, the memory of the dream started to fade quickly. It hadn't been good. He wondered what a good dream was, sometimes. But wondering like that again could wait for another time, a time when he knew where he was and what was going on.

It wasn't just the dream that he was finding hard to remember - the day before only existed as fragments in his memory.

The school.

The mansion.

Exia.

...Setsuna F. Seiei.

Something stirred beside him in the pitch black night, and Tieria reached out to grab it.

Who knew? How many of you knew and kept it from me?

Tieria was putting the finishing touches to his makeshift disguise while waiting for the others to arrive. He had found some baggier clothes that belonged to Mikaela that managed to fit him, and he had managed to scrape his hair back into pigtails.

He didn't currently make the most fashionable girl, but it was enough. After all, despite what other people said, he still found his appearance rather male, and the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself by obviously being a man shopping for girls' clothes.

He decided to give make-up a miss for now, however. He didn't trust himself not to make a complete mess of it.

"This is ridiculous," he sighed, looking at himself in the mirror.

...she's right, I'm never going to blend in like this.

I need help. As of now, I am enrolled at Mikaela Banes' school as a transfer student. I will be there primarily to collect work for Mikaela, and to take notes so that I may assist her in her learning.

However, as you may have noticed, while my appearance is only mildly unusual on my world, I have been told that on many others I would seem bizarrely feminine for a man.

Including here. This, coupled with my need for a false persona means that the most obvious course of action is to become, for all intents and purposes, a woman.

The changes will only be cosmetic, of course. I simply need new clothes, make-up, and some... easily available augmentations. This is where you come in. I need some of you to help me choose items that would be appropriate for the type of "girl" I will be, and for the 21st century. In case you hadn't noticed, I am not particularly good with "fashion", even normally.

So basically, what I'm saying is...

...do any of you want to go to the mall with me?

Tieria was alone in the house. Mikaela was still at the base with Apollo, and her mother was at work. Again. She worked far too hard.

He was waiting for Motoko in the living room. She had insisted on coming to see him, and seeing as she had even offered to allow him to remove the location information himself, he had allowed it. All there was to do now was wait.

57 minutes. In the last 24 hours, I have been awake for only 57 minutes. Something is wrong, and it is getting worse.

...I try and spend most of my time awake with her, but seeing her like that only exacerbates whatever is wrong with me. Additionally, she needs so much rest at the moment that we are virtually never awake at the same time.

I cannot help but feel somewhat responsible for her injuries.