|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 5:20 pm
Sailor Neso had been an active senshi for a long time, one of (if not the first) that Derp had ever awoken, but he had only recently started to fight. Ever since Prince Eon came to him in a dream, in fact. It was a dream he hardly remembered, though he had confided in Andeon about it. The male half of the Gemini had always been a pal, in this life and the last.
His first forays into the fighting world had been terrifying, and he couldn't call anything he had done successful. Most of the time, he just jumped in, grabbed the civilian, and ran away. His fist had only struck one or two youma, and he had only channeled his power a handful of times during the summer, his strongest time. But summer was waning, and the cold of autumn had already begun to sap his seasonal power boost.
With the loss of so many senshi, including the Zodiac Captain Aries, to consider, it was no longer acceptable for any member of their court, even a less powerful handmaiden, to be a weak link. Neso knew this, but he was lazy and easily distracted. All of his attempts to better himself ended with him somehow taking an impromptu camping trip, or trying to learn to knit, or whipping up some kind of photo collage for one of the other seasons or his Princess.
Tonight, however, Sailor Neso had some help.
It had occurred to the senshi of summer that he would need a teacher, but not just any teacher. He would need one that had a gentle hand. He needed, in a word, Virgo. After explaining his situation over some green tea and scones to the lovely senshi of innocence, Neso had gotten himself a battle coach.
Now it was time for the coaching to begin.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 6:00 pm
It was insanely intimidating to be considered as one of the most experienced Zodiacs. It was even more intimidating to know that Sailor Neso apparently thought of her as just the person to approach for battle advice. She still hated lifting her hand against... anything; it felt like an insult to her powers, which now were exactly perfect for destroying opponents without throwing a punch against them, ever. But with the recent boost in power, she couldn't turn down a request for assistance--teaching.
So she had told Grayson she was going out to meet with Neso, henshined up and met him outside the park.
Destiny City Central Park had a lot of memories for most senshi. Virgo herself had nearly gotten herself killed once, trying to save two inexperienced senshi from higher-level Negaversers. She wasn't sure why, exactly, she'd asked Neso to meet her here. Maybe just to keep herself in line? But no senshi had ever been in danger from Virgo. No senshi ever would be.
"Hello, Neso," said Soldier Virgo, her shawl pulled tight around her shoulders. It was starting to get chilly, which she knew wasn't good for her newest 'pupil'. The Season senshi were always strongest in their season. "Ready to go?" Poor guy, he looked so cold.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 6:20 pm
It was true. Neso's short-shorts did little to keep him warm from the cold. Senshi had a margin of temperature-resistance, but when your fuku was comprised of little more material than a dishcloth, it could be challenging. He had practiced meditation with his mother as a child, and before patrolling, he liked to try to center himself to guard against any uncomfortable circumstances. Many mornings spent surfing on the Atlantic-side of Florida had desensitized him to the chills a bit. It didn't stop him from hugging Virgo a little extra-long in his greeting.
When he released her, Neso grinned wider. "Man, Virgs, I've got a good feeling about this, y'know? With you here, I am bound to succeed!" Neso hugged her again. He liked hugs.
Turning to face the park, Neso extended his ams to the wide stretch of green. "So! What do I do first? Should I stretch? I stretch before hiking." He looked around for a moment. And then began to stretch.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 3:25 pm
The unfortunate nicknames had, as far back as Virgo could remember, been a part of the senshi of summer. It seemed that you became Sailor Neso and then suddenly she was Virgs, whatever that meant. Still, he was part of the Zodiac Court, and such things were to be endured. She patted his back, the feeling of skin on skin a little weird after being so used to her gloves. The bracers were more useful, though; they were shiny leather, soft and smooth against her skin, and they did brace her wrist like they were supposed to--
"We'll do our best," she agreed, cheerfully. The silky fabric of her veil slipped through her hands; for a moment, she puzzled over what to do with it. She tied it around her bicep as Neso stretched, fussed with it for a moment as if worried it'd fly off. It had been a while since she'd actually gotten any practice in herself, between a coma and her unwillingness to patrol after realizing how ineffectual she was. "Stretching might help," she said.
She settled onto the grass, hands in her lap. "Well, do you know how to throw a proper punch? Make a fist and hold it up so I can see it, Neso." Virgo's tone was gentle, with a touch of steel behind it; she was a Soldier, and it was her duty to assist the Seasons where she could. And Virgo had always been one of the more... tender... Zodiacs, willing to teach the younger guards tricks she knew. She was not exactly competitive, even now. With an encouraging smile, she waited for Neso to answer her question.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:29 pm
After a few minutes of hasty lunches and side bends, Sailor Neso clapped his hands together once, then twice more for the fun of it. He knew it was supposed to be serious training, but he couldn't help but look at it as a game. It was his chief problem. Well, that and his legendary penchant for getting incredibly distracted.
There was a reason he and Andeon had never been allowed to team up on any task for the Zodiac court.
Extending both hands above his head, Neso jogged the short distance between himself and Virgo, hopping to a stop. She sat, and it made his extreme height even more distinctive. The senshi of summer didn't seem to notice.
"I throw a punch like Vahn Dahmm," he said, effecting his voice with a Sean Connery-style accent. Apparently he didn't know much about JCVD. One hand raised, his left, and he curled it into a fist, narrating as he went. "You want a strong fist, which means no tucked in thumb." He wiggled his thumb and then settled it along the smooth side of his hand. "You want to make a straight line with your two strongest knuckles here," he tapped one, "and here," he tapped the other, "so that your bones are aligned to add more force. Well, stability. I think it's stability..." He paused, then repeated, "Stah-bil-ah-tee," with his Sean Connery accentuation.
Then he beamed with the kind of smile that screamed, NESO DO GOOD? Y/Y???
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:39 am
He was distractable. So was Elke, but this changed when she put on the tiara and veil; she was watching him with a face that might have been carved out of stone, solemn, a little worried. The girl kneeling in the grass might have been a statue, except for the steady rise of her chest and an occasional blink. He did coax a giggle out of her with the clapping and then the stretching, and she tipped up her chin to stare at his fist. "Good, good," she said, holding up a palm for a necessary high-five. "No, that's just because you apply more force if you have a smaller area, you know? So it'll hurt more."
She stood up, brushed off the back of her dress.
...How exactly did you train someone, anyway. She settled her feet, then held up both hands. "Can you punch me, in the palms? So I can see how you do it?" Captain Aries had done this, long, long ago, for Soldier Virgo--for Arista, since Elke was Soldier-rank too now--and it was her duty as a guardsman to help the Hands in the best way she knew how. "Don't worry about hurting me, you won't," she said."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 11:28 am
High five! Neso slapped her palm with added fervor. Man, training had seemed like work, but now it just felt like fun to him. Maybe being a better senshi wouldn't be so bad after all?
"More force, smaller area," he repeated. "Check!"
While Virgo got to her feet, Neso took to punching the air in front of him like he was some DC version of Rocky ready to take on the next opponent. He stopped suddenly when she asked him to punch her. "But I don't wanna punch you," he said, still smiling. She said it wouldn't hurt, but Neso look unconvinced. After a brief period of uncertainty, he squared his shoulders to the senshi of innocence and fell into a battle stance. "Tell me if I'm hurting you."
Blue eyes burned with a flicker of concentration. Neso wound up and punched -- and it was like a ball being bounced at a brick wall. There was no ferocity behind it, no feeling. It was as if he had converted a sigh into a punch and then thrown it. No matter how much he wanted to impress Virgo, Neso simply couldn't summon up the killer instinct to throw an honest punch at someone he considered a friend.
He knew it was awful, but he smiled at her and said, "That was okay?"
Farther off, several feet away, an owl in a tree opened its eyes. Except it wasn't quite a normal owl. Spiny teeth slid into view, glazed in purple-black ooze. Tiny pinpricks of light glowed on the folds of its wings. It watched the two senshi sparring and waited, excitement and thirst building in its chest like a swelling balloon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:47 am
Her smile was a little more constant as she watched Neso, but it was with a faint air of bemusement. What was he even doing? "Be serious," she chided, "this is important! Do you really want to goof around when there's training to be done?" Her tone was a little stern, but still, the smile said she didn't really mind. Saturday morning training with Hero--a brief spasm of pain, through her chest--had been all solemnness, even with the angry-face punching bag, even with the time spent with her team. It was nice to have something so silly and simple.
"Do it anyway," she advised. "There are plenty of Negaversers who look as cute as I do." She had even met a few. "You'll have to punch them just the same. You won't hurt me, I promise." Virgo settled her feet again, just in case, and held her palms up a little higher. Neso was tall, and she was small; the target was about at his chest, held in front of Virgo's face.
The punch was... disappointing. She quirked an eyebrow, made a silly face and shook her head. "Nooooo," she sighed. She dropped her hands, shook them out at her sides; balled them up into fists and threw her own punch at the air. "Carry through. Knuckles towards you at the start, parallel to the ground when you finish. Don't extend your arm all the way or it could get broken." Then she put up her hands one more time, at the same height. "Again, harder. You aren't going to hurt me, Neso, I promise. Would you rather punch a tree?"
She shuddered, then. Something was watching, wasn't it? Virgo looked over her shoulder, but all she saw was an owl; she looked back to Neso, and missed seeing those sharp, sharp teeth. "C'mon," she urged.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 11:26 am
Sailor Neso stopped dead in tracks. "Do you want me to answer that honestly?" he said, trying to look serious. It was impossible. "Because I'd rather goof off." It was hardly necessary that he finish the thought, but he did, shifting his weight from side to side. His smile dropped when she moved on to punching pretty girls.
Um... what?
His arms fell limply to his sides after he struck her. "This isn't right," he said. "You aren't supposed to hit girls. I would never seriously hit a girl." Neso folded his arms. "Maybe I'll just always patrol with you and let you hit the girls." The disapproving faces of his mother and grandmother flashed through his mind. Some of the most important people in his life were girls, like Chronos. How could he ever summon up the anger to hit one?
Even though she showed him how to do it again, Neso shook his head. "I'd rather do it on a tree," he declared, walking away. He stopped, turned, and said, "That's what she said." And then crossed all the way to the very tree that the youma was perched in. Virgo might have noticed the owl, but Neso was oblivious.
Squaring his shoulders with the tree, Neso balled his fist and steadied his stance just as Virgo had said. He took several deep breaths, rotated his weight, and then slammed his fist into the tree. It hurt like hell, but it was the best one he'd ever done!
It was a shame that it sent the owl youma skittering out of the tree and dive-bombing right into his face.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2010 6:16 pm
Virgo shook her head, disapproving. Why in the world would you want to goof off when you could train instead? But then, wasn't that the modus operandi of Neso and the Gemini twins? She wanted to roll her eyes, but refrained. Instead she just shook her head at him. "They're not going to refrain from hitting you just because you won't hit them," she said. How weird was it, to have an opponent who was more afraid of hitting her than being beaten? She shook her head, blonde hair all over her eyes as she sighed and said, "Sometimes, you have to go by yourself. You'll be defenseless if you can't engage offensively with all opponents."
She set her hands on her waist and watched him carefully, evaluating his stance--his joke went right over her head, and she tipped her head a bit off and she squinted.
That odd owl...
"Neso! Watch yourself! Virgo Exquisite Refraction!" He was surrounded by a greenish glow at Virgo's expansive gesture. It looked like there was going to be a more-than-practical part to this sparring.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 7:53 pm
Neso was not watching himself. Neso was just trying to punch the tree. He didn't realize there was an owl living there. A flare of guilt clutched in his chest, but quickly faded when he realized the nature of the beast that had just glued itself to his face. Just as he braced for the pain of it, Neso realized that there was nothing there, no pain, just a weird sensation.
His eyes flicked open. The youma was still there, still fighting, but he didn't feel it. In a flash, there was a burning memory of the senshi of innocence's power. Innocence. The memory was faded, as if he was staring at it through a fogged window, but Neso knew that he needed to act fast to spare one of his favorite Zodiac ladies some unnecessary pain.
Flipping backward, Neso glanced uncertainly around. A hand flashed out, grabbing on to the owl youma's wing. It immediately began picking at his hand, the kind of pecks that would tear flesh away normally. With a grunt, Neso slammed the youma into the side of the tree, over and over, until it broke free and took to the sky, preparing for another dive-bomb.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 3:45 pm
Oh yes, thought Virgo, she definitely would need to at least see a doctor after this. It was a matter-of-fact consideration, free of rancor or blame; one that was rather sad, if you considered the fact that she was a pretty sixteen-year-old girl with a loving family and adoring boyfriend and should have blamed everyone for this sort of thing. Instead, she tried to muffle the instinctive scream at the feeling of flesh being bodily ripped from her hand. She was only partially successful in that instead, she just whimpered.
But she was the senshi of Innocence, and she was pathetically used to this. She raked her uninjured hand over her face, ignored the feeling of nausea as best she could--the fear of the dark had been shaken but the sight of her own blood had not been, no amount of singing about hemoglobin goblins or absorption of her past self could assist with that--and leapt after the owl. "Neso, are you okay," she called, in a voice as pain-wracked as it was confident; which was very. She knew he would be fine. Virgo was a perfect shield. Of course he would be fine.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 4:32 pm
The sound of Virgo's whimpering broke Neso's heart. He was the cause of this pain for her. He hadn't asked her to do this, but she had because it was what she did, always. "Virgs," he murmured, sadness seeping into the empty spaces. It sounded so unnatural in his voice, like a different person was forcing those sounds into his throat.
Above, the owl youma let out a screech. Sailor Neso whipped around to face it, his jawline set hard against the flat stretch of skin. "I'll make it stop, Virgs," he said, raising a clenched fist over his head. Ripples of heat began to radiate around it, even in the dead cold of the night air.
One foot planted into the ground. The owl began to dive. "Summer..." His knee bent. "Heat..." The forces around his fist swirled and pulsed like they were living. The other leg bent. "Strike!" In a flash, Neso propelled himself into the air, twirling in a neat circle like some kind of ice skater. The owl youma did not have a chance to redirect its course. Fist and beak collided mid-air.
Sailor Neso toppled back to the ground, rolling at the last moment to lie face-up on his back. A faint glittering of youma dust followed behind, coating both Neso and Virgo as the senshi of summer struggled for breath in the cool air.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 4:45 pm
Her attack ended forcibly with the youma's death; the wounds couldn't fully refract because of this, and it only disturbed its dust as it fell upon them. Instead of missing chunks of muscle and skin, though, she only had a single deep gash. The skin was still pretty mangled, but it was repairable, and for this, she was relieved. She yanked her veil free, wrapped it tightly around her hand; the claw marks along her collarbone, on her face, were the pink of old scratches now, as thin as if they'd been caused by pins instead of claws; and those were rapidly fading, like the slice on her hand was knitting back together like some obscure stop-motion video. A condition of Exquisite Refraction was that she was never more injured when it finished than when it began, and her magic was working to make it so.
She was crying when she settled next to Neso, but they were furious tears, not pained; it hurt, still, but it was a dull, throbbing pain and it was slipping away quickly. It was more that she was ashamed that Neso had seen her whimpering, acknowledging it hurt, and that now Grayson would be so angry at her, and after all of that she was still only sixteen despite her soul being millenia old. "I'm sorry," she said to him; her back was towards him, her knees up in front of her chest. This lasted for only a moment before she was turning, her green eyes sincere as she told him, "You did really well, Neso, you did! I'm so proud of you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 9:19 pm
At first, Neso was scared to get up and look Virgo in the eye. She was such a good girl. She really didn't deserve the kind of power that she had. Why couldn't she just get an impenetrable shield for herself? Why had the cosmos instead forced her to take on other people's pain? Neso was certain he couldn't handle that. Well, unless, of course, it was for Princess Chronos. But Virgo did it for anybody! That was just the kind of person she was.
The youma was dead, and Neso was full of feelings he hated. So he made the decision to push them out. Again, Virgo was stronger than him. She came to his side before he could summon the courage to go to her. The senshi of summer sat up briskly and threw his arms around Virgo, pulling her into the gentlest hug he could manage. "I'm so sorry, Virgs," he said quietly.
She was crying, and that broke his heart too. But Neso never cried. Not like he should. He refused to give into tears. He fought to bring on a smile instead. "You did much better. And so pretty too." The smile was there, but it didn't beam with its usual wattage. "Why don't I take you back to my place and make you hot chocolate? I bought marshmallows yesterday. We can watch a movie, whatever you want." Neso tried to widen his smile. It was only mildly successful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
