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Entry tags:
Challenge 014
Story title: Punctuality
Author: Ingvild
Word count: 598
Rating and warnings: Mentions of incompetent terrorists and winter
Characters and/or pairing: Wufei (slight mention of Wufei/Catherine), others mentioned
Summary: Wufei stresses (about) the importance of being on time
Wufei knows how important it is to be on time.
Being late means that he might not be able to save someone. Being too slow might mean the difference between life and death – for him or someone else.
As a Gundam pilot and terrorist, Wufei learned to time the charges on his explosives perfectly. He learned how to wait for the right moment before he attacked, in order to get the most out of the element of surprise. For a fighter, timing is unbelievably important. Wufei has transferred this attitude to his work with the Preventers as well. He is ALWAYS on time. It is important.
Sally knows this as well as him, but still, every day when he picks her up for work, she keeps him waiting.
(30 seconds. A full minute. Three minutes. Okay, that was a special case – her mailbox was on fire – but still.)
Catherine is even worse. She spends so much time combing the straw out of her hair that he’s left wondering if she’s going to show – really, they don’t have many opportunities for dates, it grates him when he has to wait almost ten minutes. It’s time wasted.
He has a schedule to keep, and in his more and more routine-filled days, he keeps it to the second. But others keep throwing it off (the meeting with Une dragged out, Relena can’t just accept her security detail’s arrangements but insists that bringing her puppy along to the conference is not a risk, the damned time-delay on communications to Mars drags out the vidphone conference with Noin, Quatre insists on catching up before he’ll get down to business...), and so, he has to adjust his schedule again and again. It’s grating.
Yet that is nothing compared to this.
Trains have a tendency to be delayed. There are different intervals of delay – the ones built on the model of the old Japanese Shinkansen, which has inspired a train network that now stretches over large parts of Eurasia, have an average delay of six seconds. Other places, the trains have a delay of everything from six minutes to three hours.
Why, in a supposedly civilized world, snow is still considered a valid reason for a delay, Wufei will never know. Earth, with its uncontrolled atmosphere and climate still seems a very messy place for someone colony-born.
Terrorists are hiding out in a mountain resort, but the best way to get there quickly is by train – nothing can fly in this weather (except possibly a mobile suit, and there are no more of those), and the locals just laughed when he suggested driving, as there is, at this no moment, no roads.
“Relax, will you, agent Chang?” says one of the local guides, a Mr. Elvbakken. “They were quite considerate, for terrorists, and rented the entire resort, so there weren’t any other guests, and all the resort staff have managed to evacuate on snowmobiles. They’re trapped there as much as we’re stuck here. There’s no rush.”
“Punctuality is a virtue. Delays are a vice. We have no idea what they might be planning, but if everything had been going according to my plan, I would already be there by now and resolving the situa---“
“Sir, reports from our agent in the nearby mountain rescue cabin. Looks like the resort has been hit by an avalanche.”
Elvbakken grins at Wufei, who is temporarily at loss for words. “Looks like a delay saved you this time. Loosen up, kid. Punctuality is all well and good, but occasionally, things work out for you even if you’re late.”
Author: Ingvild
Word count: 598
Rating and warnings: Mentions of incompetent terrorists and winter
Characters and/or pairing: Wufei (slight mention of Wufei/Catherine), others mentioned
Summary: Wufei stresses (about) the importance of being on time
Wufei knows how important it is to be on time.
Being late means that he might not be able to save someone. Being too slow might mean the difference between life and death – for him or someone else.
As a Gundam pilot and terrorist, Wufei learned to time the charges on his explosives perfectly. He learned how to wait for the right moment before he attacked, in order to get the most out of the element of surprise. For a fighter, timing is unbelievably important. Wufei has transferred this attitude to his work with the Preventers as well. He is ALWAYS on time. It is important.
Sally knows this as well as him, but still, every day when he picks her up for work, she keeps him waiting.
(30 seconds. A full minute. Three minutes. Okay, that was a special case – her mailbox was on fire – but still.)
Catherine is even worse. She spends so much time combing the straw out of her hair that he’s left wondering if she’s going to show – really, they don’t have many opportunities for dates, it grates him when he has to wait almost ten minutes. It’s time wasted.
He has a schedule to keep, and in his more and more routine-filled days, he keeps it to the second. But others keep throwing it off (the meeting with Une dragged out, Relena can’t just accept her security detail’s arrangements but insists that bringing her puppy along to the conference is not a risk, the damned time-delay on communications to Mars drags out the vidphone conference with Noin, Quatre insists on catching up before he’ll get down to business...), and so, he has to adjust his schedule again and again. It’s grating.
Yet that is nothing compared to this.
Trains have a tendency to be delayed. There are different intervals of delay – the ones built on the model of the old Japanese Shinkansen, which has inspired a train network that now stretches over large parts of Eurasia, have an average delay of six seconds. Other places, the trains have a delay of everything from six minutes to three hours.
Why, in a supposedly civilized world, snow is still considered a valid reason for a delay, Wufei will never know. Earth, with its uncontrolled atmosphere and climate still seems a very messy place for someone colony-born.
Terrorists are hiding out in a mountain resort, but the best way to get there quickly is by train – nothing can fly in this weather (except possibly a mobile suit, and there are no more of those), and the locals just laughed when he suggested driving, as there is, at this no moment, no roads.
“Relax, will you, agent Chang?” says one of the local guides, a Mr. Elvbakken. “They were quite considerate, for terrorists, and rented the entire resort, so there weren’t any other guests, and all the resort staff have managed to evacuate on snowmobiles. They’re trapped there as much as we’re stuck here. There’s no rush.”
“Punctuality is a virtue. Delays are a vice. We have no idea what they might be planning, but if everything had been going according to my plan, I would already be there by now and resolving the situa---“
“Sir, reports from our agent in the nearby mountain rescue cabin. Looks like the resort has been hit by an avalanche.”
Elvbakken grins at Wufei, who is temporarily at loss for words. “Looks like a delay saved you this time. Loosen up, kid. Punctuality is all well and good, but occasionally, things work out for you even if you’re late.”
no subject
That was fun. Chill, Wufei. Mother Nature will take care of this. >8D
no subject