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 Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:21 pm
It had been some time since the.. unfortunate accident and while Khalla was adjusting ever so slowly, she still had a long way to go. Rohan had been more help and support to her than she could have imagined, doing so much to make sure life went as easily as it possibly could. Unfortunately, Khalla did need a break sometimes. Being with Rohan was way easier than spending time at home with Amara but even then it wasn’t quite the same as being alone with her thoughts. As time passed, she realized that she did need to take the time to do that. At least now that she wasn’t trying to block out every emotion and thought possible anyway.
So she’d stolen away into the night after telling Rohan she was going to go somewhere to think, though he probably assumed she meant the library – or at least somewhere indoors and warm. Instead she had found the tallest building she could in Destiny City, climbed to the very top, and was now sitting (mostly) comfortably on the ledge. This high up it was hard to be seen and she had no risk of civilians seeing her in her uniform.
Above her, the stars stretched out like diamonds on velvet, winking and dancing just beyond her reach. Staring at them all made her feel just a little less lonely, like there were connections beyond her that she just couldn’t quite reach. Regardless, it was a comfort to know they were all there, especially in a time when she felt so utterly alone.
Sitting there removed from the silence of the city below, she let the wind tousle her dreads. She could hear the dull drum of cars passing by on the streets, but next to her dangling foot they looked tiny and insignificant. Even in her powered form the chill danced along her skin and she drew one dangling leg up to wrap her arms around it. She couldn’t remember how long she’d been up on the roof and had no idea what time it was, but she meant to make the peace last as long as she could.
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:34 pm
"Dear god, what the ******** happened to your hair."
It was mere coincidence that Super Sailor Nemesis had managed to stumble upon one of the senshi she hated the most. Of course, Alkaid wasn't her absolute enemy. Nemesis had a few things up on the girl, one being that she knew her civilian form. Alkaid, in comparison, hadn't the slightest clue that Sailor Nemesis was Delphine Amary. That was probably the only thing that would ease the tension between them. Nemesis was still pissed that the girl had been awakened to begin with, and still held a small grudge against Chloe for doing it in the first place.
Perhaps that was one of the many reasons that Nemesis was drifting away from the Dream Team. It didn't help that she had chosen to ally herself within the BMC instead. She was growing up, and things were changing. Nemesis was changing - the Dream Team was too soft. They weren't getting things done, and half of the team were off gallivanting elsewhere. The team was falling apart, and though Nemesis would always be there for them, her interest was sifting elsewhere. She was done pussying around, fixing all her bows so that she looked nice and proper for patrol.
She had been patrolling up to the point, and her bows were not perfectly aligned and positioned. Her a**-bow was even drooping pathetically. Nemesis hadn't been sensing any youma, and the building that Alkaid had perched herself atop of was coincidentally the building Nemesis wanted to perch on to look for disturbances. It was like she was The Goddamn Batman. Almost.
"There's not any point in stargazing anymore," she commented idly as she strolled over towards Alkaid. She was being somewhat nice... for the moment.
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:53 pm
Alkaid glanced up instantly as Nemesis appeared on the scene, not realizing for a moment that she had actually said something. After a second of consideration, she reached up and touched the long dreads that she had become so accustomed to after all this time. "Oh, hmm," she dropped her hand and let her gaze slide back to the stars, "some red-headed woman and an unfortunate bet."
It probably was a good thing that she didn't know Nemesis' real identity or.. the whole situation would have been really bad right from the get-go. She wasn't fond of Delphine, but right now she was capable of tolerating Nemesis. Though it was probably good to note that her ability to handle people was a little rusty since the disaster happened.
"And why not?" she glanced back at Nem expectantly. Then she looked back at the stars, tracing the constellation she knew by heart with her eyes. "It's the closest I'm going to ever get to home."
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:59 pm
"The woman should have made you shave it off - it'd look better that way." There was that familiar wicked curve of her lips, not a truly feral expression, but it had that edge. Alkaid wasn't really pissing Nemesis off yet, and she was riding on that small high that Alkaid's hair was s**t, and that she still knew that Alkaid was actually Khalla. So, she took a seat down next to the other senshi, casually folding her arms against her chest. It may have been comforting to know that Nemesis was not in a position to shove Alkaid over the edge of the building.
Though... now that she had thought of the idea, she kind of regretted not acting on it while she had the chance. The blond senshi continued to talk, and the next words out of her lips were intriguing. Oh, Nemesis was going to have a bunch of fun tonight. "You're lucky then, my home totally got bulldozed over by something. It's nothing but a bunch of dark ruins. Lifeless. I think all senshi home worlds are, though."
She was baiting Alkaid, trying to draw the girl into a brief 'what the ********' moment. Then, it would be a simple task to hold it over Alkaid's head that Nemesis knew how to visit her home planet while Alkaid sadly did not.
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 3:13 pm
Alkaid frowned at the comment. Her eyes snapped back down to look at Nemesis, watching her quietly as the senshi of decay sat down at her side. She had little patience left, but at least she had the good sense to keep her mouth shut about it - she didn't really feel like a fight on top of everything else right now.
"Right, I'm lucky because your planet got destroyed." She scoffed slightly and rolled her eyes a little, looking back up at the stars. Then the enormity of what she had said hit her and Alkaid looked back at Nemesis quickly with narrowed eyes.
"What are you talking about? You aren't honestly trying to imply that you managed to space travel, are you?" She seemed disbelieving. Alkaid hadn't henshined up in a while, hadn't been patrolling, but she was pretty sure she would have heard if the cats had somehow created a magical spaceship undetectable by NASA.
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 3:30 pm
"No, you're lucky that you haven't seen your's destroyed." There was a certain gravity to Nemesis' voice. She was still disturbed by the sight of her empty planet. There had been nothing there, and what she had glimpsed of the past (or maybe hallucinated), what had been there had long ago been destroyed. She couldn't find even the smallest relic, all it had been was old brick, crumbled by age. Even thinking about it now irritated her. Was there really nothing there? She hadn't thought about going back, not beyond escaping from this world for a little while.
"And what if I am? It's pretty simple to do, actually, once you learn how." Again she implied that she wasn't going to be the one to teach Alkaid, like the knowledge was her's and her's alone. She was the only one who could go to space, and she wasn't going to share it with Alkaid. "You shouldn't doubt these things. Uh, it's magic." In an over-exaggerated gesture, she made 'spirit fingers'.
Spirit fingers aptly described the whole process. "You should consider yourself lucky that you haven't learned how to. It'll save you some pain and suffering."
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 3:36 pm
Well, Alkaid certainly didn't need any more pain and suffering. At the same time though, she really hated when people withheld information. Especially people that withheld for the purpose of being a complete b***h.
"Well, I'd like to say I believe you, but that's still ridiculously absurd." She frowned at Nemesis and looked back up at the stars. "We wouldn't even be able to breath up there and the gravity difference in some places would outright crush us regardless." She dropped her arms from around her knee and let her leg fall back to dangle with the other one over the ledge. Her hands fell and curled around the lip of the rough stone, holding on tightly as she glanced up into the endless sea of stars, planets and any number of other celestial bodies.
"I think you're full of it, or yourself," she said finally, pushing herself up onto her feet as she did so, "and I'm not in the mood to listen to it or put up with you right now." She glanced down at Nemesis one last time, then turned, hopping easily down onto the roof inside the small ledge. She would just leave the pain-in-the-a** senshi here and go home. Rohan would probably make her some hot chocolate, or tea even.
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 3:42 pm
"I told you, apparently we're supposed to abandon all logic -- hello, we're magical girls running around Destiny City in skirts." Nemesis was amused that, for once, she wasn't the one getting pissy and turning away. No, Nemesis was the better person in this, patiently trying to explain things to Alkaid. It was a Christmas miracle, or Nemesis was really just that full of herself. Honestly, she couldn't help but rub it in Alkaid's face.
She drew her phone out of the subspace pocket she kept it stored in, arching a dark brow at Alkaid all the while. The girl was going to run off, and that would hardly do. Nemesis wouldn't get to tease the girl with information... so, she was going to be generous today. She was going to invite Alkaid to come on a trip with her. "Are you so sure you want to leave?" She called out over her shoulder, and slowly rose onto her own two legs. Turning around, she fixed a stare on Alkaid, an expression that foretold how serious she was being.
"I'm going to visit home now, if you want to come with me, you can. I'll prove to you that it's possible, through the gracious will of magic. And space men."
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 3:53 pm
Alkaid pretty much ignored Nemesis' first words, choosing silence over saying something ridiculous and uncalled. That is, until she heard the girl talking about going home. She whirled around in a swirl of dreads to find Nemesis standing with her cellphone out. Really? The cell phone? She really never learned how to master that thing.
"Are you serious?" she sighed a little under her breath as she realized she'd been baited again, but walked the few steps back across the roof to Nemesis again. "Fine, show me you 'magic'," and here Alkaid mocked Nemesis by splaying her own hands in spirit fingers much like Nemesis had done to her previously.
She still highly doubted this was possible, but if there was just the tiniest chance that Nemesis wasn't lying through her teeth then Alkaid was willing to give it a try.
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 4:08 pm
Nemesis smiled that knowing smile when Alkaid started to walk back towards her. Yes, she knew that it sounded ridiculous, but she also knew that Alkaid was stupid enough to actually believe her. She imagined the girl had a severe case of 'placing faith in others'. "I'm not quite sure how well this works with two people, but hey, the space man took like... ten of us into space. I'm sure I'm capable of taking at least one." If she happened to lose Alkaid along the way, well, she didn't care about the girl so much that she'd grieve over the loss.
"You should probably hold on to me, and shut up so I can concentrate." It was easy to feel the pulse of her planet when she was alone, when there was no one around to distract her and break her concentration. If Alkaid was smart, she'd shut up and let Nemesis get down to business. Idly she held out her arm for Alkaid to loop her own through, her other hand flipping open the Mau technology-infested cell phone. She needed this quiet, and slowly as she tuned Alkaid out, the sound of her own planet reached her ears.
It was the familiar dark hum, the sound and feeling that made her stomach twist in knots. Yet, aside from this effect, it was welcoming. It was almost as if her planet was beckoning for her to return home. She had been gone for so long, and the last time she had been there, she had only stayed for about an hour. The planet Nemesis wanted its senshi back.
She didn't feel Alkaid's arm around her, perhaps she was concentrating too hard. Whether Alkaid was holding on or not she frankly had no idea - she was going home, and she was going home now. Nemesis dialed home, and the darkly themed senshi, along with her companion, were transported off of Earth and to a place that was so much more grim. "Welcome to... Planet Nemesis."
Alkaid would see what Nemesis had already familiarized herself with a dark planet that was devoid of life. The land around them was scattered with shoots of giant white crystal. In the distance, what appeared to be a mountain (though it was hard to tell within all the darkness) loomed. That was something Nemesis... had not quite noticed before. Perhaps this place DID have something in it.
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 4:23 pm
Alkaid had, still not quite believing whatever Nemesis was trying to feed her, walked closer and hesitantly hooked her arm through the one that Nemesis offered. Well, that felt ridiculously silly. She was standing on a roof top arm-in-arm with someone she could barely call an acquaintance, let alone a friend. Regardless of all of that, she simply stood there and let Nemesis do whatever she was trying to do.
Imagine her surprise when she felt a strange.. something and was suddenly whisked right off the ground she was standing on. It didn't take much longer than a blink before she was set back down on.. where were they? Suddenly she realized that all the tales Nem had been spinning were actually true and that her feet were now planted firmly on alien soil. Was it even alien? She had no idea what the right word for it was, other than completely strange.
"This is your planet?" she murmured softly, almost as if she were afraid of speaking too loudly. Was there even anyone here to overhear them? She dropped her arm from around Nem's and narrowed her eyes in an attempt to try and peer through the swelling darkness around them. "It's so.. empty."
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 4:32 pm
"Mmm, yeah, cheeriest place in the galaxy I reckon," she joked halfheartedly. Nemesis seemed discontented by the fact that her planet was so dead. If Alkaid was expecting a grand tour of the place, well, this was it. There was nothing but dark blue soil and crystals. While the crystals were pretty to look at, they got pretty old after staring at them for a whole hour. "I told you that I wasn't lying. Just think if you had actually walked away, you wouldn't have been able to see all of this..." She spread her arms wide, gesturing to the vast emptiness of her planet. It was nothing to look at, really, but now that Nemesis was here, she was not leaving so easily.
"I'm going to start walking towards that really dark mass, I'd advise coming along, or you might get lost." Nemesis also hadn't told Alkaid exactly how space travel worked, so the girl would have trouble figuring out how to get back home if Nemesis wasn't there to take her. It was part of the plan - Nemesis did not want to explore this place alone. Something about her own planet creeped her out, sent chills traveling up her spine.
"There's not much here, so I want to see if I can find something to make this trip worthwhile. I was planning on bringing homework with me - I'd get it done in no time when there's no distractions." It seemed almost disrespectful, though, to use this place for something so mediocre as homework.
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 4:45 pm
"Mm," Alkaid murmured in response to Nem's half-hearted joke, curling her arms closer to her body so she could cross them over her chest. Being on a planet with almost no light was kind of eerie. She chanced a glance at the sky, only to be further disappointed. She couldn't see anything, except maybe a few distant blurry blots behind.. clouds? She had no idea what it was looming over them. That was a horrifying thought.
"Fine, I'm coming," she fell into step quickly behind Nemesis, not wanting to be left behind and certainly aware that she didn't have the knowledge on how to get home without her dark guide. So she just accompanied her as she started to walk towards the dark.. blot thing against the sky in the distance. She hoped that was a mountain of some kind and not something that might kill them. However, as she fell into a walk, feeling the crunch of blue (she thought it was blue, anyway, it was hard to tell) soil under her feet, she couldn't help but furrow her brow more deeply.
"You know, this places feels.. dark," then, realizing Nemesis would probably just mock her for such an obvious statemtn, she added "not just the whole.. lack of light thing, I mean really dark." She waved a hand at the darkness around them before she tucked it back in against her chest. The addendum didn't really help though, at least not to her ears, and she simply sighed at her inability to express what she was feeling. "I guess it might just be that it's so different from Earth." After all, she had no where else in the galaxy to compare this to - maybe they'd all feel funny to her.
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Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 5:38 pm
Nemesis doubted that there was anything living on this planet, so whatever was waiting ahead for them would likely pose no threat. If she got lost on this planet, she could easily dial herself all the way back home. There was nothing to fear her, and most of all, this was her home. This was the last place that she should fear. All in all, she found this almost absolute darkness to be... comforting. Everything was the same, nothing changed. No surprises to just piss her off. Perhaps she should start planning a week vacation to her home world. That would do just the trick to put her into a good mood once again.
"I think you're exaggerating," Nemesis answered with a roll of her eyes. Naturally she would rise to her planet's defense. So... what if it was a little dark? She was sure that other planets out there were just as dark. Her's couldn't be the only unfortunate piece of rock in the galaxy. "It's not that dark. Goddamn, but it still could use a little light." All right, so it was dark, not just because it lacked a decent light source. Nemesis would admit that much to herself.
"Hah, I knew it was a ******** mountain," she said after a while of walking, the mountain's shape slowly becoming clearer and clearer. It was a monster of a natural creation, towering above the swirl of clouds. Nemesis couldn't even see the peak, and she imagined as they got closer the immensity of the mountain would be all that more clear. Right now, though, it looked huge as ********>
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Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 6:40 pm
Alkaid frowned, glancing up at Nemesis where the darker senshi was walking at her side. She didn't honestly think she was exaggerating, but she wouldn't insult Nemesis anymore by pushing a subject she didn't want to talk about. She knew the planet was creepy though - and somehow, she guessed that Nem did too, even if she wasn't the type to admit it.
"Oh!" Alkaid stopped in her tracks, letting Nemesis walk a few steps ahead of her. "I can make light," she added, bringing one hand up like she was preparing for an attack. "I have to use it on you though, it won't work on me, and it will.. smart a bit." She figured she could just use the single guiding light since.. she wasn't really tracking Nemesis, she was just using her for glowing purposes.
Without really waiting for Nemesis' yay or nay, she drew her hand back and spoke the words - "Guiding Light!" A ball of light formed in her hand and she instantly tossed it in Nem's direction. It no doubt hurt, though probably no more than a punch, and once it landed it bathed Nemesis in a soft, glowing white light.
"I just have to concentrate on you and it'll stay up as long as I have the energy." Which was probably harder than it sounded, but at least she didn't have to walk in total darkness anymore and they could actually see what they were doing.
She glanced away from Nemesis briefly to stare up at the giant blot, realizing that Nem was right - it was a mountain. A really, really big one.
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