|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 11:14 am
It was strange, learning to depend on other people when you were the one that people usually depended on. The months since her initiation into the Dark Kingdom had been long ones, filled with new responsibilities. She was the medic, the care taker, the shoulder to lean on. What Kaia was slowly coming to realize, though, was that there were others with just as much to give.
One of those people was Lt. Fluorite, better known as Ashley during the daylight hours. After one insightful night next to the graves of their fallen comrades, Kaia had come to think fondly of her. It was the reason she had called her in the middle of the day, as Kaia. She was still suffering lingering sulkiness and what was a sister for if not to cheer you up?
That was why Kaia was waiting at a little cafe not far from the apartment she shared with Khal, sitting at a little outdoor table and nursing a cold coffee drink between her hands. Civilian life was strange for her, but she had to try to fit in with the rest of the Earth if she was going to fight for them.
That started with her comrades and, today, that meant time with Ashley.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 11:34 am
A wise man once said that the best laid plans of mice and men often went awry.
Ashley was now perfectly in agreement with that. Her brother's corruption, while successful, had backfired in a way that she had never imagined - and she had been quite certain that she had imagined every scenario, from the best to the worst.
Her brother being a senshi was never part of those scenarios. Fluorite had thought she would have helped a new lieutenant to get used to life in the Negaverse - she was now the handler of it's newest corrupted senshi.
Her first reflex had been panic. Matthew was still recovering - the corruption of a senshi starseed was never a gentle process - and was looking better as more and more as time passed - where Ashley looked worse and worse. The dark circles under her eyes, as she approached, were proof of that. She had attempted to hide them under make-up, but it had long since smudged away. Her right arm was still somewhat limp, through slowly recovering from the aftershock - still, she preferred not to force it, just in case.
She'd half thought to simply ask Kaia if she could come by later, but then it had hit her. There was nothing she could do for Matthew. She couldn't teach him to use his magic. She could not teach him how to fight in the way senshi fought.
Alkaid. Alkaid and Hiro were exactly what she needed.
"I... haven't kept you waiting too long, did I ?" She managed a smile for Kaia, through. It looked like today, it was Ashley who would need the comfort of someone else to guide her. What better than Guidance herself ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 4:18 pm
Kaia had picked up her little plastic cup to sip through the straw just as Ashley announced herself. She was caught by surprise and, as a result, ended up coughing in quite the unflattering manner. The span of a few moments went by as she tried to clear the remains of the milky coffee mix from her windpipe and by the time she was done, she was a little red in the face but at least laughing at her own natural disaster.
"Sorry," she said, coughing just slightly afterward and stroking a hand against her neck as if she could relax it from the outside. "You startled me." She clearly wasn't angry, just trying to breath. If anything, she looked a little amused by it all.
Then she saw the dark circles under Ashley's eyes, even if she was too distracted by the coffee to notice all the other signs of complete stress that read like a warning sign on the surface. Her smile faded slightly and she motioned to the chair opposite of her with one hand. "No, I haven't been here too awfully long." She could keep up the casual chatting as long as Ashley wanted to. Sure, she was curious, but she didn't want to pry. A lot of Negaversers were surprisingly distant about their personal lives.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 4:32 pm
"Ack !" Poor Ashley seemed just as surprised as Kaia was. "s**t ! Sorry, sorry, you okay ? Sorry..." And so it went, on and on, until it dawned on her that the blonde was both fine, and not upset.
Sleep deprivation at it's finest, right here - the purple-haired girl couldn't help but blush a bit as she sat on the offered seat. "Sorry, I... Well... It's complicated." Kaia's concern was evident, and also anticipated - Ashley knew she looked like crap. Had the situation been reversed, well, she'd probably have the same look on her face.
How did one start with something like this ? I corrupted my brother ? My brother's a senshi ? My brother's like you but also not like you because he remembers everything and... It suddenly dawned on Ashley that this was really a shitty thing to ask of Kaia.
Really, good job, Ashley. Good ******** idea right there. "...Really complicated. Im going to need more caffeine for this." She did her best to catch one of the waitress' attention and, once she had that, simply asked for the strongest thing they had.
It was probably a good thing they hadn't met up in a bar.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 9:23 pm
Kaia was patient enough with the endless apologizing. She wanted to tell Ashley that it wasn't really that big of a deal, but there were more important things at hand - like why Ashley wasn't getting enough sleep. She suspected it had to be pretty severe if it was showing up on a Negaverser's face. Even in civilian form, they had a better energy reserve than most civilians and just bounced back from things more easily.
"I don't care how complicated it is." Her eyes were kind and worried and the expression on her face made her lips pout a little in a delicate frown. She cared easily about others, especially those that put as much of themselves out as Ashley had that night on the hill, and when she cared she put all of herself into it. If she couldn't fix whatever was hurting Ashley, she could at least be support to help Ashley fix it herself.
"Just tell me?" She reached out with one hand and set it on the table between them, almost as if she was reaching for Ashley's hand and stopped. She was still a little off about physical affection. "I promise, I won't judge or reprimand you or tell anyone anything. I'm actually helpful, despite my.. setbacks." She leaned back in her chair then and watched Ashley with steady eyes, ready to hear whatever it was that she had to tell her.
She wouldn't budge now that she knew something was up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 12:33 pm
Ashley received her coffee rather quickly, and was still mostly fiddling with her cup when her hand reached for Kaia's when it was offered. Ashley had zero problems with personal space, really.
Though, the dreaded girl's last few words made her head snap back upright. "You don't have setbacks. You are the strongest person I've ever met and im quite certain that if I was in your shoes, I wouldn't have been able to deal with it. If anyone tells you anything stupid like that, I am going to beat the unholy s**t out of them, and I don't even care if I get punished for it afterward."
Tangents, go ? Though at the same time, the whole matter had gotten a little more... personal. Really, it was too late to back out now.
"You can tell others about it, it's fine... People in our... night job, that is." She was really getting better at talking code, really. She paused to gulp some of her espresso and made a bit of a face. "It's... my brother. I have an older brother." It occurred to her that Kaia probably didn't even know that. She had never mentioned her brother to any agent before Serandite. Scheelite only knew thanks to having past ties with her, going long before her involvement in the Negaverse.
"He was energy-drained a few weeks ago. It was a mistake and there was no way she could know, so I wasn't mad or anything, but... It made me think. It made me realize that he wasn't as safe as I wanted him to be... And that I really had no way to keep him safe, really. Not as long as he's in Destiny City..."
She sighed. No use trying to dodge the bullet. "But then I started thinking about how useful he could be. He's so good with computers, and keeping track of things... And well, it's selfish, but I just wanted my brother. He's my only sibling, and we always tell each other everything. But I couldn't tell him about all this. So I... I got Schee to back me and I set up a meeting point so that he could become one of us. General Queen Tanzanite came with me to do it." Her voice was kept carefully low, now. "It... didn't work out as I thought it would."
That was ominous, and she only realized that after she spoke the words. "He's alive, he's fine, but... We didn't get a lieutenant, Kaia. The one option I didn't think about was the one that happened. If a cat had gotten to him before we did, he'd..." She choked on her own words, then. "He's a senshi, Kaia. The backlash was like if I shoved my wet fingers in an electric socket." That explained the stiffness in the hand holding her own, at least.
"It's the stupidest, most selfish thing I've ever done, but at the same time if feels like it's the best thing I ever did, because... Just... the thought that I could have fought him... Fought and hurt my own brother... Just makes me want to throw up. But he was in so much pain, Kaia... It's like he died in front of me, then was pulled back to life right after." Did she remember the feeling when she was brought over ? Was she stirring horrible memories ? "Im sorry, I shouldn't be dumping all this on you. It's not fair." She sniffled. It wasn't fair that Matthew remembered everything and Kaia and Ammolite had their lives ripped away from them, leaving only black holes behind.
It wasn't fair, but selfishly, she was glad. She couldn't pretend otherwise. But she knew that a part of her would forever hates herself for putting her own brother though so much pain.
Her cup of coffee seemed very interesting, now. "I thought I would train a lieutenant. I've got a senshi on my hands. I... I need your help. And Hiro's. I can't tell what his magic is, or teach him how to use it. I don't know any of that... I just... I never thought..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 8:47 am
Kaia's brows rose at the tangent that burst out of Ashley's mouth, though she resisted any arguments - they simply died on her lips. This wasn't about her, it wasn't about her very obvious setbacks or the fact that she was little more than a gun in an army of soldiers. This was about Ashley and whatever was wrong with her and Kaia was perfectly capable of setting her own problems aside to help Ashley with her own.
She sat in attentive silence as the purple-haired teenager spilled her guts. She couldn't relate to the business of family, though she understood as well as a person without any blood ties could. Then those words passed her lips 'If a cat had gotten to him before we did' and Kaia didn't even have to hear the rest of the sentence. Her heart sank and her hand squeezed gently around Ashley's, as if that small pressure could help alleviate some of the heartache.
"No, no, no," she spoke quickly, "it's fine." She shook her head as if to dismiss Ashley's apologies, but even as she did so her free hand crept up and brushed across her chest - exactly where the crack lay beneath her glamor. Still, as she listened to Ashley speak through her sniffles, she forgot most of what hurt her about the story and focused only on her words. She dropped the hand from her chest and leaned forward on the table, grasping the hand she was already holding with both hands instead.
"He's lucky, you know, that he still knows you. It is.. a painful process, but it could have been so much harder on him if you had discovered this too late." She pressed her lips into a thin, serious half smile and tilted her head a little to the side as she watched Ashley. "You still have him, and he has you, even if things might be a little stressful for the time being."
"As for the magic and all, Hiro will be infinitely more helpful." In fact, right about then, she wished they had been 'hanging out' at the apartment so Hiro could listen in, or that she had some easy way of summoning him as a civilian. "I'm afraid your brother and I have very little in common, despite the nature of our.. being." Ashley might have been growing used to the code but she always found it a little awkward. Then again, she spent so little time as a civilian that it probably had something to do with her lack of practice.
"From what I've learned of the others, Vivi and Spinel mostly, this won't be an easy transition for him. He won't know his name, or his power, maybe not even his sphere." Her voice got quiet towards the end and almost hesitant, spoken only loudly enough for her companion to hear. She let go of Ashley's hand with one of hers and brought her cup up to take one long sip from the straw. "That's really all I know, though. I wouldn't even know where to.. start with this. Maybe Hiro will."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 8:42 pm
Vivi. Spinel. She filed the names to her memory, made a note to look out for them later. A network. She needed a network. She'd buy one.
She was calming now, as Kaia held her hand, her friend's calm slowly calming her as well, and her free hand went to down the rest of her cup. "What, we don't know what his magic is, no." Sphere ? Was it what senshi called their magic. "Or his... sphere. Through... his uniform has stars and eclipses on them.... so maybe something like that ? I don't know." She sighed. This was so much more complicated than she expected.
But she had Kaia. She would make something of this. It would work out. She was more confident of this now than she had been a few minutes ago. "His name is Alunite. I don't think he does know his real name, no." Senshi were named after stars. Alunite was a mineral. This was a thing she'd looked up in one of the last few sleepless nights she had spent at Matthew's side.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 1:36 pm
She was pleased that Ashley had calmed down and seemed capable of holding a normal (if this could be called normal) conversation now, as opposed to the meltdown that she had started the meeting with. It let Kaia feel just a little pleased with herself for being able to help. It was what she lived for, anyway.
"Sometimes fukus are helpful for deciding, but sometimes they are just for the aesthetic appeal." It wasn't meant to discourage Ashley, it was simply the truth. She aimed to help others but she was also honest - she would never lie about anything or mislead someone just to make them smile. "If that were definitely true in every case, I would be the Senshi of Tigers." She offered her a sympathetic smile and brought her cup up to sip it again.
When she told her the name that he had taken, she simply nodded. "That sounds right, both Vivianite and Spinel have mineral names. It may be that he'll never actually know who he was.. meant to be." She pursed her lips at the way it came out - it was the truth, but it sounded harsh. "We all make sacrifices for this duty, but our consequences are different depending on the circumstance."
She gave Ashley's hand a simple squeeze and then set her coffee drink back on the table. She watched her friend for a few minutes and then leaned in again, giving her companion's hand a soft tug.
"He'll be alright, Ashley, we all are in the end."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 10:00 am
The senshi of tigers bit had Ashley laugh - not as cheerful a laugh as usual, but this was better than before. Just letting it out to someone who understood always helped so much... Now it was just a matter of steeling herself, truly accepting that this was reality, and then continuing life as usual.
There was no other way, really.
"That's true, though you'd match Hiro even more if you were, no ?" She said with a smile. But she had a point there - she couldn't take the stars and eclipses on Alunite's fuku as any kind of hint as to what his... sphere was.
"Different sacrifices, indeed." Even the normal agents made their own sacrifices to protect Earth, each at different levels. No matter how, the senshi purified into their fold were lacking a part of themselves they would never get back - be it their previous life on Earth, or the previous life before that. "I will help him as much as I can, but... I know there are things I won't be able to help with." She said with a sad smile. "I just need to be prepared for that... And help with what I can help, rather than dwell on the things I can't change."
"It... will be alright." And for the first time since that night, it actually felt true. "Thank you, Kaia. Would you like something to eat, maybe ? It's on me."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 11:25 pm
When Ashley finally laughed, Kaia's smile brightened and she felt a little bit of her desperate need to cheer her friend up lifted off of her shoulders. She knew then that Ashley would be alright, that she would recover from this, and that panicking or stressing out about something so momentary would not do her any good. She would just focus on keeping Ashley happy, that was it.
"If you can help him with whatever you can, the rest of us will pick it up where you can't, I can promise that much." Alunite needed her because she was his sister, but he would need the rest of them for very different reasons. Neither of them could provide what the other had to offer, but that was called teamwork.
"And I'll be here for whatever you need too, okay?" She squeezed Ashley's hand again and sat back in her chair, her half melted coffee drink forgotten now. At the mention of food, though, she did realize that what she'd had of it wasn't enough to fill her empty stomach. Normally she would refuse but she really didn't have an income at the moment and she suspected it would do Ashley good to actually be in control of something right then.
"Sure," she said finally, with a pleasant smile, "lunch sounds nice."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 1:26 pm
There was something about Kaia, really, something special. Did the other girl realize that ? It was so easy to calm down in her presence. She was like a grounding stone for Ashley, right now. It was much easier to be calm and think about what would need to be done, and how to face this new reality, now that she knew she had help.
"I think this cafe have pretty nice sandwiches, actually ? I've eaten here once, I think.... Or I know there's an amazing italian place right down the corner if you'd like." Ashley was more than happy to let Kaia chose whatever place she might prefer.
"Do you think I could have a word with Hiro, too ? Sometime tonight maybe ? I'd definitively rather get this whole magic thing figured out sooner than later, so that he can at least defend himself..." She could not keep her brother in her side all the time. Funny how it was the lesson that had led to this whole thing in the first place.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 1:55 am
Kaia was usually bad with decisions, if only because it was easier to let others decide so that they could be happy with how it turned out ultimately. She was never upset or disappointed by it - as a person that lived to make others happy, she was always happiest when they were. Still, if Ashley wanted Kaia to choose, Kaia would try.
"A sandwich actually seems nice," she said with a smile, glancing up at the inside of the cafe, on display through the large picture windows bordering the outdoor dining area. "Besides, it's nice to be able to just sit out here and enjoy the sunshine." And it afforded a lot more privacy than an enclosed restaurant would, for sure.
She made a little motion to flag down a waitress as Ashley was speaking, taking it upon herself to handle it while her friend continued on with the conversation. When she finally glanced down, she followed it immediately with shrug before she spoke again.
"I don't see why not, he's probably just at home, bothering Khal." Her roommate and her cat didn't get along particularly well, but then, so few of the people she knew got along with Khal anyway. Well, it was mostly the other way around, because Khal didn't want to try and get along with anyone to start with. She made a mental note to call him, in fact, so he wouldn't be a total grump when they arrived - or at least less of one than normal.
"I'll just.. apologize in advance in case Khal decides to be particularly childish today." She was still smiling, as if it might be a joke, but she knew it wasn't. At least Ashley hadn't asked to bring Alunite with them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 7:26 am
It was a good thing that Kaia had decided to, well, decide - else might have started an endless loop where Ashley would have likely insisted Kaia be the one to decide.
"You're right, the sun is pretty nice today." She was all smiles now, through the weariness still showed through, nearly bone deep. She would need some sleep soon enough, but now was not the time.
No, Ashley just needed to power through a little more. Vivianite. Spinel. She had to find one of them. Then she could rest.
The waitress came back with menus for the two girls, and Ashley ordered a smoothie for herself - a little less dynamite-like than her previous coffee, at least.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 12:20 am
Kaia was pleased to see Ashley in such a good mood. She seemed a little less lost and helpless and though Kaia was not particularly a vain or conceited person, she knew that she had helped in this and it gave her a swelling feeling of pride. She could still help others even for all her flaws, and as long as she had that, it was all that mattered.
Her smiling face turned down to look at the menu that the waitress handed them and, after a quick glance, she ordered a fruit salad and a iced green tea. Then she simply passed the menu back to the waitress and waited for her to move out of earshot.
Her gaze slid back up to Ashley and she inclined her head just a little. "Everything has a silver lining, you know, sometimes you just can't see it in a rainstorm."
She leaned back in her chair then and folded her hands into her lap. Life was rarely normal, but in that moment she was more comfortable as Kaia Delaney than she had ever been. It was all because she'd realized Kaia could help people too, just in a different way. As much as she had helped Ashley, she'd have to thank her for showing her that tiny revelation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
