Collaboration Does Not Cooperation Make

[nightburst]

TITLE: Collaboration Does Not Cooperation Make
FANDOM: Sengoku BASARA
CHARACTERS: Mouri Motonari, Chousokabe Motochika
WARNINGS: N/A
WORD COUNT: 1,272
CHAPTERS: 1/1
SUMMARY: Takes place somewhere during SB3. A strategist and a pirate attempt to work together under duress. Yoshitsugu-shaped duress.

Motonari had, hours before, deduced the real purpose of this so-called collaboration.

How he'd gotten wrapped up in this idiocy was a simple story. Yoshitsugu had gotten an idea, a brilliant one, and inquired of Mitsunari if it would be all right to realize it. Mitsunari had impatiently approved the motion -- probably half-listening for all Motonari knew, as Mitsunari seemed too obsessed with his own frothing rage to pay much attention to anything else -- and because the commander of the Western Army had decreed it, then it was to be carried out. No questions asked.

Design a mechanical weapon that will prove useful to the Western Army, Yoshitsugu had said.

Do so with Motochika Chosokabe, he'd said.

Your combined expertise will guarantee its efficacy, he'd said!

Motonari's initial concern had been coming up with something halfway workable that didn't involve divulging the secrets and details of his clan's technology. The Solar Nexus (soon to be Stellar Nexus, should he play his cards right), for example, was not something he wanted Motochika to know how to recreate. This concern was shared, for as proud as Motochika was of his Rising Suns and death traps and assorted other dangerous gadgets, Motonari could at least (reluctantly) credit him with having enough sense not to blab about the finer details of how he put them together. (Perhaps that pirate had some semblance of a brain after all.) Ultimately though, Motochika's ability to rub two brain-cells together has proven mildly inconvenient for Motonari.

In all honesty, Motochika's engineering know-how surpassed his own. Though a lowly pirate through and through, he and his ilk occasionally produced machinery worth emulating, and Motonari was hardly above wanting to seize that technology for himself; to learn from it and improve upon it. This is, of course, not to be confused with petty piracy and thievery. The first step to victory is to utilize all available resources, and making use of the spoils of war is entirely justifiable, thank you.

But that is neither here nor there.

Yoshitsugu must have known this was doomed for failure. Motonari has played along as best he can, both to see if he could get Motochika to divulge some trade secrets and to avoid certain death at the hands of Mitsunari for refusing to give the Toyotomi aid, because heaven and the glorious sun itself both know that's how Yoshitsugu would frame this issue should he just up and leave and refuse to speak one more word to Motochika Chosokabe.

"Motonari is not interested in doing all he can to bring Ieyasu to justice," Yoshitsugu would drawl. "This is an act of disloyalty to our noble cause."

And Mitsunari, that brainless, suggestible man, would eat this explanation right up and stomp right on over and press a blade against Motonari's jugular, and Motonari does not feel like spending his already rotten evening convincing the Dark King once again that murdering your allies is usually to one's own detriment -- sacrificing expendable pawns notwithstanding. Motonari himself is far from expendable, thank you.

(What possesses Yoshitsugu to feel any kind of affinity for this lunatic, Motonari will never know, though he supposes he can't say he understands feelings of affinity in the first place. Sentimentality will be the death of them all.)

But this, too, is not quite getting to the meat of the issue.

The real reason Yoshitsugu arranged this was simply to revel in watching them both sit here and fail miserably at their assigned task.

That's it. That's all. He's certain of it. Such petty villainy, and yet... undeniably effective. It was like pulling teeth just to discuss and draw up the scant blueprints they've managed so far -- pulling teeth in a time before anesthesia was an inkling of an idea. At some point Motochika groused that Motonari was "intruding on his artistic vision", or some such nonsense. That was not how he worded it, but frankly, Motonari could not be bothered to commit the details of his complaint to memory. In any case, this artistic vision focused around an oni theme, and Motonari was not about to have that marring the image of this rather celestial weapon he was beginning to envision.

This may be a stupid charade set up for Yoshitsugu's amusement, but should this machinery actually materialize, he is not keen on having its integrity ruined by Motochika's bizarre sense of aesthetics. Especially not if he can make use of it himself. No, a sun motif is the only way to go.

He eventually concedes to giving the accursed thing the devilish appearance Motochika wants just so that they can get this over and done with, and because this is not the hill he wants to die on. Perhaps the sun need not be present on this contraption. There are better, greater things it can be represented in. Such as... ah, he cannot wait to get back to work on the Stellar Nexus. The glorious sun will power those mirrors with a heavenly fire, and every threat to Aki and the House of Mori will be melted away, incinerated, like the darkness faced with the approaching dawn -- !

"If you're going to just ignore me, perhaps I should write up the rest of the schematics myself...?"

Were "god damn you" a phrase in Motonari's vocabulary, he surely would have toyed with letting it grace his lips. Instead he fixes Motochika with the iciest, most supercilious glare he can muster -- without looking like he is trying too hard, of course. Most would quake at the sight, but Motochika brushes it off.

Motonari knows he had not looked too out of it, but Motochika's watchful eye notices more than he's given him credit for. He has one eyebrow raised and is sitting cross-legged. The blueprints on his side are messy and disorganized, but that does not appear to bother him in the slightest. Hmph. Of course a pirate is used to disarray. He is the very picture of a casual, lawless man, whereas Motonari is sitting regally, formally.

"That will not be necessary," Motonari replies coolly, displaying no further distraction. One of his more useful skills is the ability to recover quickly from being taken off guard, much like how cats tend to knock things over and then pretend they had nothing to do with it.

If there isn't mutual participation going on here, Yoshitsugu and Mitsunari (who is only going to care because Yoshitsugu cares, the imbecile) aren't going to be pleased. If push came to shove, Motonari is certain he could fight one of them, but he isn't going to press his luck combating the both of them at the same time when they're at full strength. And should one be killed without the other following in quick succession, the remaining fool will almost certainly rise to the occasion in search of vengeance. Yes, it's too early to take action. All the pawns have yet to play their respective roles, and rocking the boat now is ill-advised.

The second step to victory is knowing how and when to bide one's time.

If only it were easier to do so in the aggravating presence of Motochika Chosokabe.

Motonari, calm and composed as he is -- or tries to be -- refrains from allowing himself a sigh or betraying any other such signs of how much he doesn't want to be here and takes a serious look at the sketchy blueprints for what is surely the ten thousandth time.

The third step to victory amounts to praying to the sun for blessings, good fortune, resilience, and --

Perhaps mercy? ...As if he would ever make such an unnecessary request.