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 Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 1:04 pm
Anthony Darrow was taking his usual mid-shift break, opting to stay nearer to the library even than walking out into the nearby alley would be. Every place he went, the alley, the parking lot, the diner nearby, seemed to have some element of danger to it.
At least the Library roof was different. The largest danger he had faced was getting locked out of the library because he constantly forgot his keys. In fact, more than once he had been brought up to the roof to be left safe.
He was leaning on the railing, looking out over the city, a bottle of water in one hand. His cane was leaning against the wall next to him. His mind was wrapped around thoughts of senshi once again. Once again he had been saved by them, two, and one had powered down while he had been near. He knew who she was, saw her all the time in the library, tried to take care of her when she looked tired or like she needed a friendly ear. A sweet kid who seemed to have an actual friendship with Nate, which was impossible as far as Tony had learned.
And she was one of those fighters, giving their lives to keeping his world, their world, safe. He felt useless to them, in the end. He hadn't even suspected she was a senshi, though now he imagined her exhaustion and nightmares had to be related to that. How could he be so dumb? Blind.
He took a sip from his water.
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 6:53 pm
Tony wasn't quite alone. That fact was usually quite dangerous in Destiny City - if you weren't truly alone, then there was high chance that whatever was watching you wasn't benevolent.
This wasn't the case here, though - if Tony turned, he would see a familiar white coat, and long blonde hair. Themis looked tired, worn ragged - it was evident on his face, and his stance as he was crouched on the back of the roof, though his eyes were thankfully free of dark rings.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the boy was working himself out of his torpor, inside the fuku and out. He was starting to consider his options, and order the steps he would need to take to make things... well, a bit more right than they were now. He wasn't sure if things could truly be right again.
He'd been at the library often, lately - both as Xavier and as Themis, though the latter remained mostly unseen, perched just as he was now. From here, he could feel youma if they came close-by, and definitively feel one if it awakened inside. Thankfully, neither had happened on his silent watch.
Yet.
Now, though, his mental signals went flaring - and he rose to stand. "You might want to go inside." He said, softly. "There's a youma coming this way."
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 7:25 pm
Tony turned to see a shadow stretching across the roof. He had been following the flight path of a bird in the distance, and the shadow caught the corner of his eyes. He looked down and then followed that to the source.
He saw Themis and immediately felt two pulls of emotion. Sympathy, for his plight and confusion, which was always in his eyes when they talked. Or didn't talk. Or Tony just noticed him when he visited but didn't say anything. The other was slight surprise.
"A-a youma?"
Usually he was either under a youma before he saw it or it was barreling straight at him and he couldn't get out of the way. He looked around nervously, then moved a little out of the main space of the roof. He was closer to the doorway and overhand leading into the library, though he didn't run away. Maybe Themis was just trying to scare him?
He was going to ask how the senshi was doing, but a piercing screech stopped him short. A youma came leaping onto the roof, it's unnatural sounds bursting out before it like an invisible sonic boom. The sounds slammed into him and he shut his eyes as his head responded with an angry pulse. The youma charged forward, six legs, teeth and claws and spikes littering its body. It ran on four legs, and two hung low like gorilla's arms might, knuckles dragging.
Tony had never seen one quite so horrifyingly ugly before.
It wasn't going for the human, though, charging for the senshi.
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 8:20 pm
No, Themis meant exactly what he meant - what reason would he have to want to scare Tony off ?
Though the librarian saw the truth of his words soon enough. This one specimen was particularly ugly, and also particularly spiky, though the senshi wasn't afraid. No, he'd seen things grosser and more dangerous than this was.
The spikes, through, could indeed be a problem. The youma predictably charged him, and it was just as well. Trying to punch or kick it wouldn't end too well, so Themis tried to lure it down into the alleyway where there was sure to be something to use.
No, he wasn't asking Tony for his cane. Though, he knew better to know that Tony would just go back inside, so the luring had two purpose. If he jamp off the roof, well... It would be a little hard for the man to follow.
He didn't quite get there before something unexpected happened - the youma caught the tail end of his coat, and down Themis went.
So did his glasses, but they took a swan dive down the alleyway.
This... could be bad.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 8:42 am
"Sailor Themis!!"
Tony saw the youma charging to the senshi, but was too slow to intercept it. What would he be able to do, besides slow it down as it tore his body to shreds before continuing its way toward Themis to the same end? Despite knowing he could do very little, Tony's instincts remained. He was too slow to get in front of it, which was a blessing in disguise, but he still ran after it in an attempt to help. He had his cane, didn't he?
He had killed youma with it before. They had just been small and unintimidating, in retrospect, when compared to this thing.
The youma reached Themis and tugged him down, rearing back on two of its back legs and giving itself impossible height, as if rearing back to crashed down on top of Themis.
Everything happened at once.
Tony found himself sliding between the two on his knees, having caught up across the short distance and because the youma had stopped. Fear pierced his heart as he looked up at the youma, eyes wide, about to succumb to the fate he had seen in his mind. He would give his life to protect his friend, even if it only bought him a few seconds. Then something blocked his vision of the youma.
All he saw was a simple wooden circle, with two straps in the middle of it. Large enough to slide an arm into. Tony instinctively reached up and grabbed it, and everything changed. There was a light he couldn't understand and a rush of thrill, of something. Adrenaline? Faith? Had he died without even seeing the youma fall down on him?
Then he felt a heavy thump, a strong weight, against the wooden circle that was now attached to his arm. He expected his arm to break. But it didn't. It held, and he pushed up suddenly, making the youma stumble back. Standing now, Tony looked at his hands, his arms, his chest, his feet. He was wearing things he had never seen before.
Camelot turned to look at Themis, breathing heavily and looking baffled. The youma bellowed its terrible screech and moved toward them again.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 9:15 am
This could indeed be very, very bad.
This was where reflexes kicked in - Themis turned himself over with a good kick to the roof. He had to get the hell up, and soon, or else he would be very likely to become a senshi pancake. He did turn, but only in time to see Tony get in between him and the youma, to which Themis let out one word. That word, however, will not be retold here just in case there might be children reading.
He didn't get time to react before a bright light blinded what fuzzy vision he had left, the hand that had reached to try to shove Tony away instead falling back to cover his eyes. Now they were both gonna end up pancaked and skewered. Superb.
Until the sound of the creature hitting wood rather than them made his eyes widen. One of the first things he had realized as a senshi was that you couldn't trust what your eyes told you - and this was even more true now that everything not directly in front of him became fuzzy around the edges.
What sense you could trust, however, was one you did not have before being awakened - your ability to sense auras. And now, there was an aura right in front of him. Not a senshi, but definitively not negaverse either.
This was something else, but one thing was certain - Tony was just as confused as he was.
There was no time, through - Themis finally got up, and both arms grapped at the back of the shield. "We should be able to push it off and send it on it's back." He hoped. "We'll do ourselves more harm than good if we try to hit anywhere else, but usually the belly area is left unprotected even on ugly ******** like these."
"One..."
"Two..."
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 9:39 am
Tony couldn't spend his time staring at Themis in confusion and helplessness. He had a lot to deal with quite suddenly.
First, he was obviously not the same as he was. He was stronger, his leg was sturdy, he felt half his age. There was a tingling in the back of his neck, though he didn't know what it was. Something good, and strong, and he realized that it was coming from Themis. This was a lesson in senshi that he had not learned, as he did not know they could sense each other.
And he could now sense them. Which meant...
The wooden shield had held, but it didn't look like it was holding up well. The wood was old, older than something that had just popped out of no where should be. It was cracked, splintered, with a chunk missing now, but it was not yet falling apart. Just barely.
The youma was pissed, and it was not going to let some glowy strong men get the best of it. It wanted their power, and its thurst and hunger fueled it into a frenzied hunt. It wouldn't stop, not until it was dust.
Not that youma ever knew when to stop.
Camelot nodded his head, listening to the count and joining in saying 'three' as they shoved the youma backwards. It toppled, as imagined, falling backwards, its multiple limbs lashing out everywhere as it did so. It was not exactly built to be on its back.
The new Page, exhilerated, looked at Themis for more guidance. "We need to kill it!" On instinct, he grabbed his cane to aid him.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 8:55 am
They did manage to turn the thing over, thankfully before Camelot's little-shield-that-could couldn't no more - Themis nearly faceplanted in the process, but managed to catch himself.
Fighting with no glasses was doable, but it sucked. But at least he... had backup ?
His mind was still reeling.
"Neck and stomach are usually weak points. Hit it, ill keep it down." And so, he called on something that Camelot would be familiar with.
"Themis Noise Storm !"
Now that the creature was too busy chasing invisible noise to get up, it would be an easy kill if Camelot aimed right. "Oh, and." Themis' whisper came out almost as if he was screaming, from within his own sphere of influence. "Shield your eyes. They tend to explode in dust."
They didn't call it dusting youma for no reason, after all.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 9:11 am
Camelot's face was set in stunned confusion, and it might well stay that way given the sheer amount of 'I don't know what's going on' bouncing around in his head. He nodded his head as Themis offered him tips, knowing he would never remember anything with his mind reeling. But he could certainly try.
Focus, Tony, he told himself. Er. Camelot.
The name was just in his mind, and he didn't know if it was because he was supposed to know it, or if he had, in fact, just been thinking about his books since his new outfit looked so much like something out of them. A fantasy come true. But, considering his actual trip to Camelot some time ago, he wondered if this was all part of some nightmare as well.
He winced at the alteration in the noise level, remembering the attack from what now felt like an eternity ago. He nodded his head, realizing he was supposed to kill the thing, now that Themis had brought it down and made it useless to fight back. Which was good, as Camelot would likely get his butt kicked if he had been alone.
He nodded his head, though, and moved to attack the youma with what he had. A battered wooden shield and a metal cane. He went for the head and neck, batting it as hard as he could until it burst into dust and he lost his balance, falling to the floor and landing on his rump, covered in youma dust.
He looked at Themis, eyes wide.
"What... just... am I... one of you?" Something told him he wasn't, but all he knew were Senshi and Negas. If he wasn't one of them, then what was he?
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 1:14 pm
Themis let his arm down and took a few steps when the youma was dusted, holding his out hand to let Camelot back on his feet.
"I have no damn idea. You're not a senshi." Well, duh. "Thankfully for me, you're not a negaverse agent." Double-duh. He'd never seen a youma attack one of their own, anyway. It would be pretty stupid.
"Soooooo I have no idea, but you are now among the plethora of Destiny City's strange and weird phenomenons. Congrats ?" It was all tongue and cheek, through. "So what's your name, partner ?"
This was so weird. Literally. He had never expected to see something like this.
"And we... should probably go look for my glasses." He looked down the side of the building. "...Or what might be left of them..."
Ugh.
With that, though, Themis simply leaped down without much of a care, fully expecting the newborn knight to follow him. Why not ?
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 2:39 pm
Bewildered still, Camelot took Themis' hand and got to his feet. He dusted himself off and shook for a moment, trying to absorb what had just happened and steel his nerves a bit. He had just killed a youma, and felt thrilled because of it. But it wasn't enough to overcome his confusion.
He nodded.
"Not a senshi, then. I... I don't understand... but whatever it is, it certainly feels... good. Not in an obvious way. I mean. I don't feel inclined to hurt you," he laughed. The youma knew he was good, and it seemed Themis could sense that as well. Tony had no doubt that he was still the same man he had been moments before, only now he had a shield and some chain mail.
Which was kind of awesome.
"Camelot," he said, when asked for his name. "That I seem to know. My name is... Camelot, of all things." He laughed. Fate might have been mocking him, he had no idea. When Themis went over the edge of the roof, Camelot followed him, stopping before he jumped down.
No. He was not jumping off a roof. He took the harder way down, climbing on what he could and dropping shorter distances, but he managed to get to the floor eventually. "Find them?" he asked, focusing on the missing glasses rather than all the other crazy things he could be thinking about.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 3:37 pm
Camelot. Hmmm. How... strange. Something related to myths, perhaps ? Themis hadn't heard anything about knights yet - this was his first encounter with one - so unfortunately, he didn't have any answers to give.
What had awakened him, through ? He had been awakened, then upgraded, by a cat. What had done it for Tony ? The only thing he saw was the shield, and he hadn't felt anything else nearby.
Hm.
When Camelot had finally made his way down, Themis was still crouched, and he looked up when he heard the older man speak. "Nothing... Oh."
There they were.
Well... One could have called those glasses once. Now they were sad little wire frames. One len was missing entierely, and the other was cracked.
"Whoops..."
Whoops indeed. Where was he going to get the money to get new glasses ?!
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 4:25 pm
Camelot looked at the glasses sadly, and guiltily. He hadn't thrown them over the roof, of course, but he still felt responsible for their untimely end. Were they part of Themis' costume, or his actual glasses?
Camelot rubbed the back of his neck.
"I can get a new pair for you. Or... pay? I mean, you know who I am and where to find me, so if you get a new pair and..." he would have offered even if he hadn't even seen the glasses fall.
They looked so sad, all broken and cracked.
He would have shoved his hands into his pockets, a nervous habit, but he wasn't sure he even had them on this outfit. He crossed his arms over his chest instead. It occurred to him that he didn't know how to get out of this get up. The clothes had come out of no where. He doubted he would stop being Camelot if he just went back in and got changed. And where did his other clothes go?
He knew, somehow, that he knew the answer to this puzzle... it just wasn't coming back to him in a hurry.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 4:43 pm
"No... It's alright." Themis shook his head. "It wasn't your fault. They all go for the glasses anyway. Well, the agents like to try." He let out a laugh, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Camelot looked like a kicked puppy. "Kind of ironic that it was a youma that got them in the end."
A very confused kicked puppy. It was almost amusing, but at the same time, he remembered being where Tony was at the moment. So he took a wild guess as to what might be on the man's mind at the moment.
"Just... think of you as yourself again. You should fall out of transformation. At least, it's how it works for senshi."
If that didn't do it, well... Themis had no damn idea.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 5:55 pm
Camelot looked surprised. Could senshi read minds? More likely, he was wearing his confusion on his face like a mask, which he often found was the case. He was very easy to read.
He'd probably have to work on that.
Taking a breath, and making sure no one else was around to see him, Camelot focused like Themis said. Sure enough, he managed to get himself back to Tony, and he looked damn proud of it. He trusted Themis with his identity completely. So much so that the idea to be nervous about the whole thing didn't occur to him.
After all, he had awoken because he was protecting Themis, as far as he knew, so it was obviously supposed to happen.
"Ahah, that did it. Well. That was... I'm not sure... and I can do that again? Just... think myself Camelot and I'll be him? This is a bit... overwhelming." He needed to sit down, so he found the nearest trashcan and sat.
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