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 Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 8:54 pm
Azzo was sitting on his favorite park bench with a psychology book on his lap and a box of cupcakes. Grams decided to go another one of her baking sprees so Azzo ended the day with a box of cupcakes left. He'd dropped a few off to people he thought might appreciate them, as he really couldn't eat them all.
Not after that Cake youma anyways he'd be full for a month even after working out at the gym and running to try to burn off the calories. So now he was sitting and staring at the box of cupcakes, with a third of them having not been iced, and debating if he was actually over cake enough to try to eat one. He frowned slightly and shook his head going back to the psychology book. Despite the fact he was still in high school... for this last semester he wanted to get a head start in trying to study for a 'serious career'. Hopefully, this book wouldn't make him start thinking he was crazy again.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 9:29 pm
Zee relaxed on a park bench, latte in hand as usual. This was the time of day she was usually walking the dog, though today he wasn't around. He'd had an unfortunate encounter with a skunk and her father had dropped him off to be de-skunked and groomed at some ritzy, overpriced place that was used to yorkies and chihuahuas in sweaters.
Poor groomer.
But she came to the park anyway because that was part of her routine and she tried her hardest to cling to it as much as possible since Zirconia had a habit of trampling on it at inconvenient times.
And now might not have been inconvenient but it was still unwelcome when Azzo was spotted and Zirconia was in a trampling mood again.
Zee passively recognized him as some kid caught in the Halloween Ball chaos but Zirconia remembered him as the human who knew her cavalier, and possibly her senshi. Obviously he must be interrogated.
Tossing the latte in the trash on her way over, the lavender haired young woman marched over and folded her arms, leaning far into his personal space. "YOU," She hissed while Zia's mind was pushed to the passenger's seat of their shared body, letting out a mental cry of embarrassment.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 9:41 pm
Azzo had been interested in his psychology book, perhaps a little more than he should've been as this lady approached him. His eyes widened when she sounded accusing of him, and was well considered in his face.
First words that came to mind were, "I'msorryIdon'tknowwhatIdidbutIwon'tdoitagain!" Came spilling out of his mouth as he tried to look for a peace offering, cupcakes... awesome. "Haveacupcake?" He offered one hand pointing over to the box with the transparent lid that displayed cupcakes.
He didn't even know the woman. Why was she mad at him? Ohh maybe he'd stolen her park bench. "... Is this your park bench?" He asked suddenly obviously it was a stupid question but he reallllyyy didn't want to be hit by a lady.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 10:14 pm
"No! Well..." Zirconia had to take pause and eye the cupcakes. It had been a while since she'd been allowed to gorge on something good, especially with that unsatisfying diet crap her host seemed to live on being the only thing available in her house.
She did accept the cupcake, and flopped down on the park bench next to him, licking at the frosting and keeping just a slight eye on a jogger close enough to see them if they bothered to look.
"Anyway. No, this is not my park bench. You. You're that boy from the ball. The one talking to Laocoon," She said like he needed reminding of who he was and landing a sharp poke to his chest before the jogger was long gone and she could shift to the form she was most comfortable in. Suddenly it wasn't a crazy prep student licking at a cupcake next to Azzo, but a large forest cat, trying to maneuver around the paper in the exact same manner before looking up at him with narrowed eyes.
"How much do you know about him? And Ares?" She asked outright before standing on her back legs and leaning on him with her front paws so she could try and get in his face better. "HMMMMM?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 10:28 pm
Azzo watched as she took a cupcake. Well that at least seemed to maybe clam her down a bit. He watched as she sat down beside him. He blinked curiously, it was perhaps not so weird for him to have a lady just talk to him but having been addressed in such a tone he was a little wary.
However he paused when she mentioned Laocoon. "Yeah I was at the ball...." He winced when she poked at his chest, gaze following the jogger that she'd been watching, "I don't remember you be--..." He stopped mid sentence as she was no longer there but a cat in her place.
He did remember the cat... That was attached to Laocoon's head... "Heh.... did you just....?" He rubbed at his eyes, man what was in that youma cake?! "You're a cat..." He muttered looking a little bewildered.
Obviously if there was magical superheros in skirts and cavaliers and villains he should've expected the talking 'sidekick'. However, this was still a shock to the poor already paste-white boy. His mouth stood open for a few seconds.
She was standing his lap too, to get in his face. "Ares perhaps knows me better than I know her. Since she knew me when she saw me... after she saved my a**... and her attack's pretty cool, the whole column of smoke thing..." He answered as honestly as he could, feeling it better to answer the talking... cat than to sit there and stare at it all day. "Laocoon I know is a cavalier and there's a prince? I've met the Queen, and there was a... blonde chick with a golden grappling hook chain thing." He let spill as quietly as he possibly could. Keeping his eye out for anyone that might think him talking to a cat was weird.
Honestly he didn't know too horribly much. "I also know the ones I've met were all wearing black, where the rest of the senshi I know wear white." He was hoping he was seriously not having delusions, that was the last thing he needed to add to his list of issues. He looked at her and added the last bit of an confused statement fly, "And why can you talk? You're a CAT!"
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Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 4:16 am
Zirconia's yellow eyes widened at his apparent meetings with more parallels than she was expecting. Especially the queen. On some level, that put her more at ease since if he was a threat or enemy of any kind, she was certain Nehelenia or Ares would've figured it out and eliminated him by now.
On the other hand, she automatically considered Azzo an inconvenience and bopped him on the nose with as much force as a cat paw could muster. "And you just rattle off names to anyone who asks?!" She scolded, ignoring the hypocrisy since she was the one who asked, and not as a test.
She pulled her paws off of him and moved back to her seat in front of the half eaten cupcake and went back to picking at it, planning to ignore him until he got all his "YOU'RE A CAT!"s out of the way because duh, what else what she be? A talking dog? Because that would be absurd.
"I'm Zirconia," She introduced after a suitable pause. "Sailor Selene's guardian cat. By extension Laocoon and Ares'."
That was a bit of a stretch, even her mind. Well, not Ares. Ares was a senshi and would always be cemented in Zirconia's mine as 'her's'. Laocoon on the other hand was 'her's' because he was the Prince's who was the Queen's who was Zirconia's, so the cat felt she had every right to cling to the cavalier. Especially now that their numbers had been so drastically reduced.
She looked up to him again and stretch her neck up as far as it would go and narrowed her eyes again, trying to look somewhat scary despite the fact she was an incredibly fluffy cat. Like a scrutinizing mother-in-law, on a personal level, Zirconia was trying to see if he was 'good enough'.
She went back to the cupcake, waiting for him to introduce himself despite her attempt to bully and intimidate. It was only polite, she figured, since she'd graced him with her own introduction.
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Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 7:20 am
Azzo paused watching her, "Honestly..." He said when he'd finally figured out that he was either crazy or talking cats did exist. Which was probably less of a stretch than he was making it since there were youma and all this other stuff. "I figured since you attached yourself to Laocoon's head the other night you probably knew him.... besides if you were the negaverse I'm not sure you'd be a cat."
He paused, "Though I suppose I could be mistaken but you would've probably already grabbed my starseed and ran." He paused and tilted his head as she introduced herself.
"Azzo Wolf Crowely, useless human." He replied to her figuring if she'd given her title he might as well give 'his', "I got tossed into a mirror and ended up in the girls bathroom by Selene." He muttered rubbing his neck. "Does she do that often to people?" He tried to pull back a bit as she narrowed her eyes at him.
He blinked, "You know as fluffy as you are I'm tempted to rub you but as soon as I do I have a feeling you'd be biting my hand off." It was at least the truth that, she was pretty for a cat.
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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 5:59 pm
Zirconia gave a slight 'harumph' at his explanation for trusting her not to be some kind of inelegant enemy spy. In war such trust would get you killed and she was starting to wonder how 'useless human' had managed to stay alive this long.
When he asked about Selene she bristled and looked away instead of answering, reminded again of the persisting sting of loss that had been pushed to the back of her mind. Suddenly she was wishing Ares would magically appear and let her be clingy, but she wasn't going to. Laocoon, her second choice, wasn't either.
She just looked down at the cupcake paper and shifted her front paws in silence before he mentioned her biting him if he touched her.
"I won't bite you," She said and made an effort to huff it out but the attempt came out halfhearted before she sighed, almost giving up and flopping over with her spine aligned with his upper leg and her front paws hanging over the park bench edge. Her head just sort of flopped down with a depressed sigh as she lost interest in giving Azzo more of a hard time.
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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:03 pm
Azzo watched her as she seemed to suddenly get depressed. His hand moved over her fur softly. "I'm sorry?"
He said softly unsure of why but he felt like he should apologize. "I was in a weird dream thing for a while, er... well they called it a coma but there was a weird dream, none the less. So I guess I missed more than I thought I had." He was scratching behind her ear softly.
He frowned, "If I can help, I'll be happy to." He said after a second. "I apparently make good youma bait."
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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:41 pm
Zirconia was about to say something when she gave into the ear scratching and nearly rolled over in a purring daze, yellow eyes closed for a breif moment before she gave his hand a light swat and rolled back so both her front paws her resting on the park bench again with a clear 'that didn't happen' attitude.
Fickle as she was, she was still starved for affection and attention.
She glanced up to Azzo while her little feline brain swirled with all sorts of notions. Well, he was apparently acquainted with her 'family' and her loneliness taught her the value of company. Especially present company that had no reason to be mad at her. At least not for anything big like being incompetent.
"The queen is dead," She mumbled, signaling a shift back to being docile and snuggly for who knows how long this time. Other than when she broke down immediately after she saw Nehelenia for the last time, she hadn't really had a proper opportunity to actually act as sad and broken as she was over it.
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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 8:14 pm
Azzo pulled back when she swatted, he chuckled. Cats were amusing creatures, and the fact she was also a girl was well, he felt a bit weird however she seemed to need it.
Azzo didn't know much about what'd happened after he woke up however when she said the queen was dead his jaw dropped. "Huh!?"
He blinked and shook his head, before frowning. "She seemed so strong..." He was confused on such an abrupt ending to the queen, he knew she'd taken on two negas by herself. It was his fault she'd had to do it, and he mentally winced at the thought.
"I'm sorry Zirconia...." He added softly leaning back on the bench. He was watching the purple feline lay there, "I'm guessing the others aren't taking it well..." He knew how bad a loss like that could be, after having to deal with his grandfather's death he didn't want to think about what'd happen if his grams was gone to.
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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 8:29 pm
Zirconia didn't feel awkward about snuggles and scratches in the least. She was a cat first and foremost and probably a born housecat through and through thanks to the track record of service to a tight knit group of particular people.
She took note of Azzo's reaction and decided inwardly that she liked him. She was hard to win over completely but the quickest way to Zirconia's approval was reverence for the queen. Anyone who could recognize Nehelenia's superiority, obviously, was smart enough to know their place on the totem pole.
"No, but we will press on." She said with a firm nod.
"She didn't die from weakness in battle," She added for clarity. It would be a crime if that was the assumption. "She made an honorable sacrifice." That last part was almost like she was reminding herself more than just informing Azzo. It had become her mantra for trying to come to terms with what had happened, but, to her shame, she still felt wronged and selfishly wished it hadn't happened.
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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 9:21 pm
Azzo nodded as he listened his hand couldn't help but rub her purple fur. It was silky and pretty for a long haired cat.
"I'm glad." He said after a second, in reference to the fact they'd press on. "Its so easy to give up after a loved ones death."
He paused, nodding again. "Still... It's almost too surreal really. Honorable sacrifice or not." He sighed softly looking past Zirconia now, "I felt like I owed her my life in some aspects, at least saving my sorry a** if nothing else." He did, he didn't often return favors out of the want to return them, at least the minor ones... He would however, rather have been able to return this one. It's not everyday a queen actually gets herself beat up in the process of saving someone's life, most queens that Azzo knew of wouldn't even think about it.
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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 10:02 pm
"...There were plenty of losses in the crisis," Zirconia muttered, though she counted few of them to be in the same tier, much less notable. The Parallels were the ones in her sphere of consideration, and they were more than enough to cause a broken heart.
She took a moment to just be silent, which turned into several moments and while it seemed like she was just being a lump of depression, time to sit with someone else who knew Selene and simply miss her was therapeutic.
She probably could've sat with Azzo and watch time pass forever on that park bench but a stomach rumble brought her back into activity. She wasn't fond of sweet things but she still found herself swatting at the cupcake box until she hooked a paw over it to peek in and see if he had any left.
She would've asked for one but as she smacked her lips she came to the conclusion that dessert wouldn't be very satisfying. Recalling Zee had a stash of bills in her purse that she most frequently saw traded for food, she gave Azzo an affectionate nudge/headbutt usually reserved for her claimed, adopted charges.
"Azzo Wolf Crowley, let's go get real food," She suggested. She got up on all fours and arched her back for a long stretching before hopping down to retrieve Zee's purse. "My human will pay," She said with a confident nod. Human sounded better than 'host I am commandeering' right?
The purse had been irresponsibly left under a park bench, but since the area was deserted enough that she could sit there and be a talking cat trying to push him around, she wasn't worried about thieves. Actually she wasn't worried at all about Zee's stuff but the prep student sharing her head had been complaining and flipping out nonstop at first.
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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 10:21 pm
Azzo nodded, "Yeah I saw the papers." He said softly, recalling a rather unfortunate list of names. He wondered sometimes if it'd been about a tenth of the city.
He watched her as she looked at the cupcakes hooking a paw in the box and was about to offer her another one when she suddenly suggested real food. "Huh, um sure." He said with a nod... though 'my human' seemed a bit awkward to him for her to say... it was like Zironcia was a different 'cat' than the 'person' that'd came up to him in the first place.
He grabbed his box of cupcakes and followed, "You don't have to use my whole name ya'know? You can just call me Azzo."
He shook his head and looked around for the food joints that might have what she considered real food near by. "What do you want to eat?" He asked.
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