|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:38 pm
Zinkenite stumbled his way down the alleyway, he looked drunk, any one might have assumed that he was some frat boy stumbling home trying to beat the curfew unless they got a closer look.
He dragged one foot as he made his way along, stumbling and tripping over the most inconsequential dips in the pavement. Too unfocused to pick his feet up over any but the most serious of obstacles and then only if there was no way around them.
It had not been a good fight, he had been lucky to get away in all honesty. He'd been in fights before, but nothing quite like that, they had fought like someone possessed.
He was blessed, he thought... to have such a dark uniform. It kept people from questioning him too much, from looking too close. God only knew he had been too afraid to henshin down, too sure he had been followed when he couldn't even stand to turn his head fast enough to catch a pursuer without risking nausea and worse.
He had to stop, just for a moment while he caught his breath. He braced his arm against the wall and leaned his head against it while the world continued to spin, tilt and blossom into fireworks of agony.
Everything seemed simultaneously too sharply focused, and yet distant and detached. the bricks under his fingers too coarse, too sharp edged even with time to have worn them faded and almost pink where they peered out in their own 'colors' from tags and 'throw up' graffiti.
Just a little further, he told himself, trying to push away from the wall again. Somehow though, he misjudged, throwing himself too hard, or overestimating the strength left in his tired legs.
He fell hard, abrading his palms on the filthy pavement and adding fresh bruises to his knees before his arms shook so hard he simply collapsed.
Sound and sensation seemed to warp in and out at the edges and some small... logical part of his brain said in all likely hood he had a concussion, that he really shouldn't sleep. It was however, overwhelmed by the sheer need to retreat to some kind of 'safety' even if it was only the diaphanous borders of unconsciousness that closed behind him.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:59 pm
Perseus had been cautiously patrolling. She wasn't quite ready to be out yet, but she forced herself out of her loft and into her fuku, taking once again to the streets that the sight of turned her stomach. The world was no longer sunshine and roses, good and bad, right and wrong. Her silver blue eyes had witnessed death, and they were different because of it. When she heard the stumbling, she pressed up against the brick wall, heart beating in her throat. She'd been leered at by many a drunk man in her revealing outfit, and some had tried to do more than that. She wasn't prepared for another encounter, with anyone really. This was simply her step out of her loft, our of her comfortable blankets, wrapped up on the balcony, just watching the days and nights go by. When she saw the stumbling lieutenant, she knew it wasn't because of alcohol. The limp was different, sharp gasping breaths. Her face was filled with hate. His kind had ripped the life from another, heartlessly and without remorse. "Well, look where you ended up." If she were a less classy woman, she would've spit on him where he lay. As it was, she just stood in front of him, looking down on everything he was in disgust. He deserved whatever a** kicking a senshi gave him, they all did. The world was full of hate, and so was she.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:14 pm
If he tried to answer, it was lost to the inarticulate slured edge to his groan as he tried for a moment to push himself back up, back to consciousness, mobility, or some half way marriage of the two.
He thought he knew that voice, but he couldn't honestly say if he was afraid of it because he couldn't remember the face it belonged to.
Even trying to look brought only a dizzying nauseating blur of colors that seemed to spread out the whole world.
Senshi had been killing Lieutenants, and the other way around, the war had become dangerously and tangibly real, more so than he had perhaps been prepared for even with his notes and tallies.
Everything hurt.. everything had gone so utterly wrong and showed no sign of getting better.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:19 pm
"Pathetic." She shook her head, and he could probably hear the sound of her heels clicking away on to the alley. Her hate would've probably lasted all the way home, had she not looked back. He looked different, lying there, without the will to move. His face was pained, and helpless all at the same time. She paused in her flight from the alley. It was hard to look at Zinkenite like a cold blooded killer. Her previously hard silver blue eyes softened. She reached back to her butt bow unconsiously, fishing out the small panda bear keychain hidden within. Normally, it sat on her desk, but she took it with her on patrol, in case she happened to run into the lieutenant again. He confused her, so much more than he should. One moment they would fling insults, and the next he would give her smoke pellets, or a prized keychain. <********." Well, she couldn't call the cops or an ambulance, that was for sure. It would do more hurt than it would any good. Which left about two safe places in the city for the agent of evil laying in the alley; where ever their headquarters were (not that she was about to find them and waltz in- she had a feeling they would no appreciate her gesture much), and the loft of Adira Perses. She ran a gloved hand through her hair. Did she want to do this? It...felt like betrayal. But weren't they about love and justice? It didn't feel very loving to leave a boy dying in the street, regardless of any transgressions he may have committed in the past. He had a family, just like her. He had a teddy bear named Tenebrous. She tucked the miniature version back into her bow knot, and walked over to stand next to him again. Reaching down, she took a hold of his jacket by the shoulders, attempting to pull him up. She now knew the meaning of 'dead weight', and it was much heavier than she'd expected. With an 'oof' she dropped him back onto the pavement. Taking a breath in, she tried again, now prepared for the weight of the shorter boy. Perseus managed to get him up standing next to her, supporting his weight on her body. "s**t, could you BE any heavier?" Who knew the lieutenant was a secret fatty. He was lucky that she'd been working out lately.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:40 pm
Dead weight was bad enough when it didn't sporadicly try and fight you, which is unfortunately what he was doing. It wasn't much of a fight to be honest, but the vague leans like a listless tide could prove to be fairly inconvenient in their own right.
Of course neither his own movements, or attempts at movement, nor her own did anything for the basic nausea and dizziness he was feeing at present in so much as he was conscious enough to be aware of it. He tried in some vague way to lean away from her, somehow sure he was being abducted, or even that he was about to be stuffed into some unknown closet or locker like a 'normal' school day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:57 pm
"DAMN IT LIEUTENANT. STOP fighting me." She leaned in close to his ear and said it as loudly as she dared, hoping he would get the picture. Him fighting her like this would not be good for anyone, particularly the girl who was desperately trying to keep her balance. She wasn't much bigger than him after all. When he leaned away from her, she gripped into the front of his shirt, pulling him in closer. She gave him a small shake for good measure, hoping to get it into his head that she was trying to help him, as crazy as it was. Why was she doing this again? Perseus had no clue, other than her personal morality would not allow it. After everything that had happened with the negaverse, she didn't want someone else to die. Regardless of who it was. The sailor looped her arm under the boys, spreading it across to grab the cloth on his opposite shoulder. Might as well try and get him moving while he was still conscious, it would alleviate her workload. "Come on, lets move." She stumbled forward, attempting to adjust the added weight of the fatty. After a few steps she got the hang of dragging him along. It wasn't long before they were near her apartment and she realized on crucial piece of information. Perseus was henshined up. Her building had a doorman, and cameras. No one would recognize her, and they would stop her and call the cops. "Crap." She paused for a second, wondering what to do before remembering the back stairs, and angled them that way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:06 pm
He muttered something that sounded oddly like "no tape, no locker." before he sagged and stumbled against her guiding hands with a hiss of pain as he tried to stumble along with her.
Lieutenant, they called him lieutenant, the words filtered through his brain and somehow created the illusion of safety, after all senshi would just call him scum and the like... wouldn't they? God he was so tired... why did did they have to haul him around like this?
He leaned into 'the abductor' and found them warm when he felt so cold... just a few minutes...
Surely they wouldn't begrudge him.
So much for wakefulness, it seemed to have slipped away from him once again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:41 pm
Perseus was a bit startled when she felt the boys head practically nuzzle into her neck. What on earth was he doing? Rolling her eyes, she hauled him around to the back stair that led to her floor. Seeing the door however, made her wince. She'd forgotten! Perseus propped the boy against the wall. "Stay right here, and don't move!" Thankfully, the building had key locks in the back, and not terribly tough ones considering the rest of the doors were either completely secure or doormanned. Thankfully, one quick kick to the door was enough to set it off of its lock and pop it open. Super strength had its advantages, as did magic heels. She swore that absolutely nothing could break them, it was amazing. Focusing on the task at hand, she grabbed the boy again, and wrapped her arms around him. Unfortunately for both of them, her loft was at the top, and 8 flights lay between them and the safety of her room. The flight up was not an easy one, considering zink was swaying in and out of consciousness dangerously. She was sweating by the 3rd flight up, and by the 7th her muscles felt like butter. "Almost....there." She panted, trying to haul him up the last few stairs. He swayed even more, causing him to topple out of her grip. "********." She repeated the words a few more times before rushing down to help him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:49 pm
By now he was no longer sure if it was reality or another nightmare, the two had blended together into a jarring half reality.
The sensation of falling was a new twist to be sure, the half aware notion that he should try and catch himself, or grab something was slow to be received by his actual hands, like his mind had gone from cell phone to the pony express and was sending a letter from New England to California.
He made a half hearted snatch for a railing and found only open air before the ground seemed to fall away.
It was probably due to his almost boneless state that he didn't end up with something broken in his trip back down that flight of stairs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 12:31 am
By the time she got to the bottom of the stairs, it was highly apparent that the lieutenant was not doing so well. She could hear him breathing, but there was no other response, even when she lightly slapped his face. Trying to haul him up, it was apparent that there was even more dead weight to add to it, at least before he had been kind've helping. It took her a few grueling minutes to get him up and into her apartment. She practically dragged him near the living room, laying him on the hardwood floor right before her living room carpet. Moving to her sofa, she laid out her red blanket. After all, if he was going to bleed, at least let it be something she could wash. With one final effort, she managed to get the boy onto the couch. Perseus was kneeling on the floor beside him for a few minutes, trying to catch her breath. After that, she made sure he was alive, and then also made sure he was asleep, which both proved to be true. Leaving him, she staggered her way into the downstairs bathroom, shutting the door behind her and de-henshining. She exited the bathroom carefully, keeping her heels from clicking on the floor. As far as she could tell, he was still way out of it. Adira slipped off her shoes, and practically crawled up the stairs to her bedroom. God, she was going to be so sore tomorrow. It didn't take her but a few minutes to change out of her normal attire. Tenebrous Jr. was placed safely in a hidden drawer, out of site, along with her henshin pen. She changed in to a pair of dark pinstriped bermuda's and a flowy tunic shirt in blue, one of her older shirts that she didn't mind ruining. It already had a few spots of paint on it that matched the colors on her walls. Choosing to go barefoot, she grabbed the first aid kit out of her bathroom and headed back down (stairs suck). It didn't take very long to strip the agent of his coat and shoes, which were placed in the kitchen on something she could bleach later. Adira wasn't sure what was internal, but she treated the things she could see. It took her about an hour to get all of his various cuts and scrapes cleaned, disinfected and wrapped. She glanced at the clock on the wall briefly, before tiredly covering him up with her other spare blanket. It was early, and the girl was thoroughly exhausted. She didn't even think about the consequences of falling asleep with a corrupted lieutenant sleeping in her living room. The sun rose in the sky, which could be seen through the wall to ceiling windows that were directly in front of the couch where Zink was slumbering. To his right was Adira, curled up in a round chair, hair falling over her face, sleeping soundly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 5:23 pm
His head hurt, it seemed inconsequential at first when combined with the other aches that he became more and more aware that he was feeling still. Something about being unconscious had pushed the awareness of the injuries further from his mind and made them more bearable, they seemed to rise again with the sun though and pulled him with them.
By the time he risked opening his eyes, too well aware that it was bright out, and therefor day, it felt as though the world cup were being played with his eyes
The sun washed out the colors of the world into a haze of painful white like a hangover involving mental fire works and he had to shut them again quickly curling into himself only to realize that that too hurt, though at least not as bad as he thought he remembered hurting last night.
Though... as he managed to open his eyes again, blinking repeatedly as his eyes adjusted, or tried to adjust to the enormous windows and bright sunlight that did a tango with his pounding head, he realized something rather vital.
Neither his dorm room, nor his house had windows of those dimensions. In fact... no one he knew had windows of such dimensions. Alarm brought him further to wakefulness and he froze like a cat caught with a canary carcass. Should he pretend to be asleep still? Was someone watching?...
Where the devil was his coat... where the hell were his SHOES?!
He sat up carefully taking inventory of bandages, bandaids and disinfectant smell that still clung to them which at least calmed him some. If someone wanted him dead, surely they wouldn't have bothered would they? The world tilted dangerously as he swung his feet to touch the floor and he had to grip the edge of the couch to make sure he didn't tilt over. God... at last time he'd felt this bad there had been illicit alcohol involved at least.
He scanned the room for information trying to process it but it felt like the majority of it slid through his fingers like sand, at least till he realized that there, to the right was a young woman sleeping in the chair.
Dark curled hair obscured her from view, but he did not -think- that he knew her, there was nothing past a vague resemblance to a handful of people he had ever spoken to. She could have been the tooth-fairy for as much familiarity as he could discern at that moment.
He let his gaze drift to try and find the door...the exit. Perhaps he should just try and leave, it might be safer, he had no idea if she was a Civilian or some new Lieutenant. If he had to... he supposed he could take her starseed, he was still, blessedly in uniform. His identity was safe enough... though not for the first time he found himself wishing he could corrupt rather than just kill. How much more interesting that would make things...
He tried to push himself up and had to smother a curse and a yelp of pain, his ankle felt bruised and tender... not broken thank god but he'd likely twisted it sometime during or after the fight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:07 pm
The yelp of pain, regardless of how smothered it was, woke her up with a start. Her eyes snapped open and she looked around her, a bit bewildered at the sound before remembering who exactly was on her couch. Silver blue eyes, still a bit tired from not having sleep, locked on to the boy sitting on her couch. "You're awake." It was a statement more than anything else. Not being one to fidget, Adira stood, and straightened out her shorts. "You shouldn't try to stand just yet, you were pretty bad off last night." She tore her eyes from Zinkenite, turning instead to track the path to the kitchen. The girl stopped behind the counter, and finally looked back up at boy. She was trying hard to keep calm and cool, and finding it difficult. The girl managed to keep it off her face however. "If your hungry, I can make breakfast. There is plenty in the fridge...I'm not the best cook but I could whip something up..." Her small ramble ended quietly with her just staring at him. Adira was at a lost for words.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:22 pm
"I..." He started to say, and then realized he had no idea what he'd been about to say when he started talking.
I what... I have no idea who you are? Not the best opener perhaps.
"W...who -are- you..." He hazarded. "How did... " His head throbbed indignantly to remind him he had other matters that it considered MUCH more pressing than information at this time. Lord knows it didn't seem to want to process anything just at the moment.
"Christ..." he cursed gingerly pressing a palm to his aching head as though he could push back the headache that still lingered. Apparently one of the people playing soccer with his eyes was using his brain as the goal and had just scored.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:36 pm
"I'm Adira." She noticed his pain. It didn't take her long to grab an ice pack out of the freezer, and a towel and bottle of aspirin from one of the drawers. She moved back over to the couch, sitting down on the corner and handing the items to him. "I wouldn't take more than 2 or 3 right now, considering its a blood thinner." Crap. Her brain raced as she tried to figure out an explanation for WHY exactly she had brought him to her apartment that didn't sound crazy, or didn't reveal her identity. "Last night, I was coming home late. A girl ran up to me, I think she was one of those senshi, that you see on the news." She paused, as if trying to remember what happened next, when in reality she was planning on what to fabricated. Thank goodness Adira was an excellent liar. "She told me to get some help for a boy in the alley that she'd found." She turned her eyes up to his. "When I saw you, you were still conscious. You weren't too bad off, other than the superficial things, and you could stand though you were out of it. The hospitals are so full lately, I couldn't justify bringing in another patient, when I could just as easily help out myself." She shrugged, and hoped the story was believable.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:47 pm
He leaned slightly away from her as she sat down eyeing her like she might suddenly sprout extra arms... or a hand gun, hard to say. but did accept the asprin and icepack with a murmured thanks.
He looked more confused than ever though at the mention of the 'mysterious senshi' who was sent to his aid. After all... why would he expect to hear a senshi sent someone to help a Lieutenant.
Further more he didn't remember -any- of the trip to the apartment despite apparently having been at least semi mobile which after a long moment of trying very hard to recall it, he admitted.
"I... I don't...remember any of that..." he said hesitantly and sounding embarrassed. "Er... what... did they look like? You... know thats rather reckless to do, not, that I'm not grateful mind you..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
