Welcome to Gaia! ::

Eve was not the senshi of flowers. She was the senshi of spring. But, spring was the time of flowers. So, they seemed to go hand in hand.
However it wasn't spring, it was winter, and many flowers were dead.
So you might imagine her surprise when Eve woke in her hospital bed to find her room covered in an assortment of flowers. Each surface that could be covered, was covered. Rainbows bloomed and in the middle of it all, was Marlo and Elzo Xanis, sleeping in the corner, snoring, (it was Elzo snoring).

The sound of the hospital bed creaking woke the younger who immediately jumped up, and went to Eve's side. "Eve, you're awake!" Duh. His brother's voice roused Elzo, who managed a 'Whaaa?' before falling out of he seat. he scrambled over to his brother side, (with angry glares). "
Eve! Hey!" Elzo's grin was finished by Marlo's cough. He was holding out a bouquet of lilies. "These are for you. From the both of us."

"But he's the one who bought out the flower shop. if you didn't notice."
"Shut up!"

The squeak on the bed, surprisingly enough, had not been Eve Summers, who looked worse for wear, but thankfully alive. In fact, the sound had come from Rea Marshall, who had come to visit her (and coax her into divulging just how she wanted those negaverse agents to pay -- tar and feathering, drawn and quartered, or maybe she'd just kick their face in over and over.) When the strawberry blonde haired girl had first stepped into the room, it had taken all her willpower not to sneeze, her eyes swiveling to all the flowers in the room, surprised and a little thrilled for her blonde roommate. It was clear that it wasn't her parents who had sent them all, (although she could see a few that had the potential,) which left the only explanation possible -- Evie had a secret admirer.

She had approached as quietly as she could, making sure her snow-dusted boots didn't make any sound as they moved over the tile, sitting down and wincing a little as the bed gave a squeak. This, of course, not only awakened her roommate, but two others who seemed to have been sleeping in the room, hidden by the garden of flowers. Elzo and Marlo. Of course. Rea scowled a little. She had just a little bit of history with the two, and none of it had been too endearing. One had tried to steal her underwear. The other's girlfriend apparently beat up Eve.

She narrowed her eyes a little, keeping quiet and giving Eve a little shrug at the sheepish smile, blue-green eyes turning to flicker between the two brothers. Skeptically.

"I like all the flowers." Eve said sincerely, her eyes wandering around the room with dazed wonder. Her parents would probably be surprised at the sudden increase in floral arrangements when they came by to see her again. For a moment, she distracted herself from thinking about how she had gotten beaten up by imagining the look on her parents' faces.

"I feel like hell." She deadpanned, looking serious for a moment. Damn those three who had landed her in here to hell. They could have killed her. Killed her. She could have been lying here with the sheet up over her face with everyone mourning over her if it hadn't been for Rea and Elzo. That didn't exactly alleviate the annoyance she had towards him for being in love with Linarite. Now that she knew the bluenette, Eve didn't feel as accepting of this little tryst as she did when first introduced to it.

"I want out as soon as possible." She groused. She hated hospitals. It was boring, save for the visits she got. But those didn't last long. "Maybe you could get me some cake, Marlo? Hey Rea, do you want anything?" She quirked an eyebrow at the strawberry blonde.

Normally, he would have asked 'What kind?' or 'Allergies I should know about?' but not this time. This time, Marlo had left the second Rea had failed to give him an 'order' for anything. Elzo didn't even have time to tease him about his willingness to help before his brother had vanished out the door.

"You know, he's probably going to get the most expensive pastry in town now. If you want anything in specific, Let me know so I can text him." He smiled. "I am serious. He will buy you the who bakery down the road if you want him too."

After a few moments of silence passed, and they were sure Marlo was not returning soon, Elzo's smile faded and was replaced by a passive look. "I'm glad you got Marlo out. I've kept him in the dark about my...part time job." A hand went into his pocket to fiddle with the henshin pen. "Speaking of which, i suppose I owe you," he looked at Eve, then at Rea, "I owe you both an apology."

So, they were going to have an intervention after all. A little late, but better late than never, she supposed. Rea leaned against the white, sterile wall of the hospital, still peering out the window, as if the negaverse agents were going to appear any second to try to finish the job. Her expression was the picture of blankness, unreadable, with the exception of her eyes. Blue-green eyes seemed to be fixed on some point past the horizon, her eyebrows furrowed just slightly, the only indication that she was at all disturbed.

It was a humanized game of cat and mouse. The most dangerous game.

"It's not your fault that it happened to be your... girlfriend."

Rea swiveled her head back towards the other two, keeping her arms folded firmly across her chest. "It could have just as easily been Hematite. Or Nealite. Or any number of the who-knows-how-many lieutenants they've recruited. However," She settled her eyes on Elzo. This probably wasn't going to go very well. "She wants to KILL US, Elzo. Even if she wouldn't kill YOU, which I'm not convinced she wouldn't, she wouldn't think twice about taking another life. That life could easily be your brother's."

To be fair, she was probably preaching to the choir. He probably knew this, all of this, already. In fact, she was sure he did. But Rea Marshall was not a sensitive person. She found it very hard to be sensitive, struggled with it even with people she cared deeply about. As much as she regretted it, Sailor Castor wasn't going to be spared in this case. She felt far too guilty to be any type of sympathetic towards anyone in a relationship with a nega-lieutenant.

"I will say this," Eve said in a very low and dangerous voice. It was a tone of voice she rarely used and her face was grim, much grimmer than normal. Perhaps it would be strange to see Eve not smiling as usual, but after having a brush with death, who could still smile? She could force out a smile for the sake of others, but inside? The blonde was angry, angrier than she had ever been in her entire life. Possibly because of the first time in her entire life, there emerged something that would very well take her life all away. Take anyone's life all away. "I will say this because you're my friend, and I don't want you to die."

"Because this is exactly what you're doing now. You're playing with your life." She hissed. "You're playing with your life as you develop feelings for her, as you try to make this relationship work; I have no ******** idea," Did Eve just swear? Yes she had, "if she does the same. I don't want to hear you protesting that she does." She threw up her hands in disgust. "I'm not even sure we're supposed to kill them. Are we? I thought we were supposed to be the protectors, the good guys. Are we supposed to kill them and become murderers ourselves?" This question seemed to be directed at Rea; Eve seemed a little confused. "We need a senshi handbook, in all honesty." She muttered, mostly to herself, then continued. "But there's one thing I know. They're out there trying not only to kill senshi. They're out there killing civilians. One life after another. More people get into hospital every single day because of the Negaverse. I don't know how you can live with the fact that the girl you're in love with is on the opposing side, is a murderer..."

"You're stupid, Elzo." She finished. "Stupid because of love." Then she fell silent, fiddling with the blanket, clenching it in her fists. "I'm sorry if I sound harsh. I'm... not in a very good mood." Perhaps she was mad because she had lost the fight, perhaps she was mad that she had to stay in the hospital which was as boring as hell, or perhaps it was a combination of both.

"And no, I'm not allergic to nuts or cream or whatever." She said brusquely, turning her head to the side as she expelled an exasperated sigh. Somehow, even though she had spoken so much, she didn't think Elzo would listen. Still, it was good to rant, to get some things off her chest.

As Eve and Rea fell silent, the room was filled with the light ticking of Elzo's finngers on his cell. His face was impassive, blank, and he seemed to be ignoring the two. As the phone snapped shut, Elzo smiled as if they had just been talking about a pleasant spring day. Raising a leg, he rolled up his pant and push down his sock. Underneath, was a thick, jagged scar looping around his ankle.

"Funny thing about the whole 'playing with you life' deal. I could say the same about the simple fact we are senshi. Fact is, every time we henshin up, we're asking for a fight. We are taunting fate. Death." Putting his leg down, Elzo face was no longer an emotionless mask. It was slowly contorting with anger.

"People die Eve. Had we not showed up, you would have died." Arms crossed. "And you know what? I'm expecting it to happen. Sooner or later someone will die. We're going to have to kill eventually. Do I know Linarite is the same? Yes. Do I care? No." His voice was a bar below yelling. "I don't care. She is a murder. But sooner or later, we'll have to murder. Because right now, I don't seen the negaverse open to peaceful negotiations. Until some one tells me different, I am going to try and kill them."
He'd stood up by this point, body tight and full of anger. "I didn't choose to fall in love. But I made the choice to pursue it. If I die because of it, I will die by my own choices." Then, with a deep breath, Elzo's tense body posture and anger seemed to float away.

"I know it's irrational. Dangerous. But I can't just change how I feel." Flop. Back in the chair, slouching.
"Anyway. Point is. You're alive, healing, and on your way to a full recovery. I am a fool for love and it might get me killed. If it does, it'll be my own fault."
...
"Just... drop it. Linarite is my personal battle. I shouldn't have gotten you involved anyway."

Rea's eyes narrowed. And narrowed. And narrowed. Until you thought that she might actually end up closing her eyes before she was done, and her face was the picture of unamusement.

"I sincerely disagree."

That was all she said. She dropped it as Eve did, with much the same sentiment -- grudgingly. I was obvious she had plenty more to say on the matter, but was respectfully not, if not for both parties, than certainly a certain blonde one. Had the circumstance been different, and they were not in a hospital room, with Eve bandaged to high heaven, she probably would have fought longer and harder than she had a few moments ago. It was amazing, the level that she disagreed with Elzo on.

In truth, the whole lot of them probably needed an entire cakes-worth of triple -layer chocolate cake.

Now that that conversation had been abruptly closed, things seemed to get awkwardly quiet awfully quick. What did you say after that? 'Nice weather we're having. So how about them donkeys?'