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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 7:46 pm
A text was sent out to Sailor Europa's phone, giving her the time and location of the dinner she was invited to. Christa instructed her younger brother Zach not to be too bizarre with her friend, and to try and remember his table manners. The Calloway patriarch was busy in the kitchen, preparing something he thought the vegetarian Tallulah might enjoy - pasta and veggie meatballs in your choice of red or white sauce. It smelled divine, or so Christa thought as she set the table. It had been too long since four people sat around the dinner table in their household. While the divorce had long since past, sometimes the subtle reminders brought back bad memories. Christa did her best to push things aside.
"Do you know what your friend would like to drink, Christa?" called her father from the kitchen. A side salad was being prepared as well. While most people thought that this was vegetarian food, Benjamin had been doing his research. He'd been wanting to convert the family to some meat-free products for a while now, and so far the only dissenter was his son. Christa didn't care much either way. To his question about Tallulah's choice of drinks, she shook her head in the negative. Benjamin returned to his pasta and was testing it every so often. "Hopefully she likes these veggie meatballs! I'm trying not to eat them straight out of the pan. Delicious! Don't know how they did it, but they're amazing."
The teen wandered to the fridge and opened it, inspecting the contents. "Soda, we also have orange and grape juice, milk, bottled water... I think we have most everything covered, dad. I'm sure she'll be fine with whatever we have. Do you think she'll like the brownies? I found a recipe for vegetarian brownies but... I think I'm afraid to try them." The last uttered statement made Christa bite her lip. She wasn't a cook by any means, but wanted to try and reward Tallulah for coming over in the first place. She did remember that vegetarians didn't eat eggs, so that had to count for something right?
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:01 pm
Tallulah Cowden was on the doorstep of the Calloway household right on time. She was perpetually punctual - a trait that had both its upsides and its downsides, depending on whether people really meant "show up at six" when they said "six," or "show up around six ten." She wasn't sure what kind of schedule Christa operated on, but she hoped she wasn't too early.
It was true that she was wearing an outfit made up partially of her Meadowview skirt, but Tallulah had spent too much money on school uniforms to stop wearing the bottoms just because she'd graduated. It was a cute skirt! Coral was a very "in" color! So she tugged on the hem, hoped her blouse and cute Mary Jane-style flats had made it unrecognizable, and rang the doorbell.
Hopefully she was just on time, rather than far too early. She could smell cooking odors coming out the open kitchen window - something smelled amazing!
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:20 pm
Christa knew the doorbell would bring Zachary thundering down the stairs and careening into the door in an attempt to answer it first, so the teen let him. She stood at the entrance to the kitchen, peering out to the front door to see what kind of damage her younger brother would do to himself (or to the door) in his haste. The boy was still in the throes of early teenhood and showed it - he was gangly and awkward, and his mess of gray hair made him look older than he really was. Gray hair does that to you. In a flurry of movements, the door swung open to reveal... ah, this must be Tallulah!
In the background, Christa tried to give her best apologetic look for Zach's behavior while her younger brother blinked up at the older girl. "Wow." was all he managed to say. Christa didn't say her friend was hot! JEEZ. Rolling his shoulders back (he had to remember to be gentlemanly! That's how guys got girls, you know.) Zach did his best to impress the recent graduate. "I mean uh HI! I'm Zach! You must be Tallulah. C'mon in! We got the table all set up and everything!" He grabbed at her wrist and pulled her inside with the intent of having her sit next to him at the dinner table. Man she was pretty. When did girls get pretty?
Before Zach could drag poor Miss Cowden along too far, Christa snatched up his ear and tugged. "What Zach meant to say," she corrected, pulling her younger brother behind her while she flailed about. "was that we're very thankful to have you in our home and we hope you like dinner. Obviously you met my younger brother Zachary. The man in the kitchen is my father, Benjamin. Dinner should be ready about now."
"Soup's... I mean... pasta's up!" came a reply from the kitchen and Benjamin, a man who looked cheerful but world-weary, brought in a pot of pasta complete with those meatballs he tried desperately not to eat. Handing off the younger spawn to the patriarch, Christa took her seat on one end of the table, motioning for Tallulah to sit next to her. Next out came the salad and associated dressings and extra plates. "Let me know what you ladies would like to drink. And welcome, Tallulah. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Leaning in, she whispered, "Trust me. I'm saving you from the raging boy-hormones. Pff." Tallulah was lucky to be an only child.
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:07 pm
Tallulah was slightly taken aback by Zachary, if only because she didn't regularly interact with fourteen-year-old boys and as a result wasn't especially prepared for his response. Apparently she had that effect on people? Who knew. She smiled gratefully at Christa when she rescued her, though. It wasn't as if she was about to have a fascinating conversation with a boy four years her junior, and especially one who looked to be fading in and out of a hormonal daze.
She took her seat and flashed a smile at Mr. Calloway, reflecting on how much Christa and her brother resembled their dad. "It's nice to meet you, too!" she replied as they passed around the salad. "Just water is fine- and everything smells delicious!"
She handed the salad bowl off to Christa and reached for the ginger dressing. "Oooh," she whispered, slightly sarcastically. "How do you ever survive?" Hormones aside, Tallulah was still jealous that Christa had a sibling. She bet it beat being a lonely only.
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:22 pm
Dinner flew by in the flash. The conversation drifted from topic to topic, ranging from school and work choices to hobbies and interests. Zach was too busy cramming food into his mouth to pressure Tallulah about a boyfriend (thinking that he'd somehow escape his older sister's wrath). Benjamin was jovial as usual, happy to have someone else in the house for a change. The fact that Tallulah had excellent manners and seemed very cheerful was a breath of fresh air. Too often his daughter would be incredibly stern - a trait she inherited from her mother.
Once the dishes were cleared off and the table cleaned, Benjamin pulled his son into the kitchen to help with the cleaning. He whined about it, but it was all to allow his daughter some one-on-one time with her friend. Cautiously, Christa pulled her companion to the side and out the sliding glass door to the backyard and porch area. A small, curled metal table with matching chairs awaited them. The scene was humble, but functioning, and the Calloways neither had the money nor the inclination to make the backyard a paradise. Instead, Christa thought it was rather rustic and cozy. Closing the door behind her, the seal allowed them to speak without being overheard, and the teen situated herself so she could look into the house at a glance and make sure no one was trying to barge into their conversation.
After a few moments, Christa began to speak. "Tallulah. I have some news for you that I think you might be interested in." she began, folding her hands in her lap. "Firstly, I suppose I'm free now to assist you and the others in any way possible. The Blood Moon just... isn't for me. Not in light of recent events and the information they'd kept. And Pasiphae is intent on joining us as well. I haven't spoken to the others... not yet anyway." She didn't want to elaborate on the failed mission against Zinkenite and felt she didn't really need to. Christa felt with every fiber of her being that it simply wasn't meant to be, and perhaps a court of Jupiter was.
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:35 pm
Tallulah nodded, taking the information in. Dinner had been delicious and a breath of fresh air, but now it was right back down to business. She saw less and less of a difference between her senshi and civilian lives - it was like waking and dreaming were slowly drifting towards one unified state of consciousness. And someday she would reach nirvana and combine the two but for now they were stuck speaking in lowered tones at a backyard picnic table.
"I still don't know much about the Blood Moon," she confessed, "But if you're leaving it for us then I guess we'd better get serious about organizing." Tallulah had been lax so far, as if expecting the team to accrete naturally like planets around a newborn star. But it seemed that if they really wanted to secure its existence they would need to work harder. "So that leaves... Ganymede - I'm sure he'll join, and Callisto - I'll talk to Callisto, I know where to find her-"
She wracked her brain. "Valhalla? The knight? I'll talk to him, too... and... are there any others?" If there were, Tallulah certainly hadn't met them.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:30 am
Christa tapped the table with an idle hand. "Cyllene. I met one called Cyllene not too long ago. I believe she's one of us too, but she's very new. I have no idea when she awakened, but it can't be too long ago. She didn't even know what a youma was on sight." The gray haired teen's brows furrowed. Could it really be possible to form a court together and educate everyone so they were all on the same page? Was that possible? With her primer, it may have been, but there were so many holes in it. She only had the most basic information.
"What worries me is that there are more Jovians out there and we may not be able to find them. I mean, we're working from a list of sixty-plus moons." That in and of itself seemed crazy and there wasn't exactly a senshi search function on their cell phones. ...that she knew about. "If there are more Jovians out there, how on Earth do we find them? I think that's our major goal after assembling those we know about. You really think Ganymede would join our cause?"
Ganymede had always butted heads with her every time they met (with the exception of their recent battle, which was impressive to say the least). Christa was convinced they would all manage to work together, but Tallulah saying the senshi of lust would join up (or at least she was sure he would)... that gave her a glimmer of hope.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 10:59 am
"I think Ganymede would listen to me," said Tallulah tactfully. She wasn't sure where Christa's incredulity was coming from: after all, he'd seemed receptive enough every time she's spoken to him. "I don't know Cyllene - do you think she'll listen to you, or should I look for her?"
Tallulah didn't mind have to go looking - she was already penciling a conversation with Ganymede onto her list. "I can definitely get Ganymede, though," she affirmed. It was a lofty goal: although she and the senshi of lust got along well enough, it would be a stretch to really call them friends. She didn't know him well enough for that. But he did seem to buy into the talk of the unified jovian court.
"And! Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, suddenly remembering something very important. "I'm growing a garden on Europa! I brought the seeds and equipment from Earth, but I'm using water from there, and - it's working!"
Tallulah beamed at Christa. Hopefully the other girl would find this news just as exciting as she did.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 4:35 pm
"She may or may not listen to me. I'm not sure. Cyllene seems very... nonchalant, I guess. I'll have to track her down again and find out what she thinks. So at this point, I don't know. But I'm glad Ganymede will listen to you. He and I... butt heads from time to time. I think you're a better ambassador of our cause anyway." Indeed, she thought Tallulah's pleasant demeanor would win over the other Jovian senshi much more than her own stern countenance. But hey, whatever worked, right?
The mention of growth on Europa's moon made Christa's eyes widen in surprise and excitement. "Really? You really managed to grow things on Europa? How did you do it? Isn't Europa... filled with ice?" It was, at least, according to the Discovery channel. But then again, NASA hadn't discovered ruins on any of the major planets or their nearby moons, so it would make sense if Europa was somehow cloaked in the same magic that protected senshi's identities. "Are there other live spots on the moon? Suffice it to say... I've never seen it, but I don't doubt it's magnificent."
She leaned back into her chair and thought for a few moments. "Maybe I visited in the past. It would be nice to see, I think." Europa would certainly be a great deal larger than Kallichore - that she knew for sure. "Speaking of growth though, I found a large, open plain that still has grass growing on it. I thought for sure everything was dead!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:13 pm
"Aeroponics!" exclaimed Tallulah, leaning across the table. "I got the idea from the greenhouse on Europa, because it looked like it was setup for Aeroponics or hydroponics anyways. I found a kit at the garden center. Once I did the research it was really easy to jerry-rig it! And my lima beans are growing! I haven't seen anything growing naturally, but I might just not have looked hard enough."
Grasses? That was a great sign! "Wow! That's really, really good to know. Okay. Okay, so whatever wiped out the civilizations, it didn't kill everything, it just killed the people. And the animals? Have you seen any animals?"
She hadn't, but then again, Europa was covered in ice. There was a chance there hadn't been animals on the surface even when people had lived there. Now if only she had a way to see into the ocean... that was wishful thinking.
"Anyways, since my small rig is working I wanted to see if I can fix the greenhouse plumbing. It looks really simple, just gravity operated pipes. If I can figure out how to make them work then I can grow stuff on a way bigger scale. Wouldn't that be cool?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 5:33 pm
Christa blinked. She had... no idea what aeroponics was. She'd never even heard the term before. She tried not to stare blankly at poor Tallulah, but couldn't seem to help it. Sure it was great that she was starting to grow things on the moon but... how she was doing it was something else entirely. Christa didn't want to sound dumb and stop Tallulah in the middle of her excited tirade to ask what in Jove's name she was talking about, but the gray haired teen certainly couldn't contribute in any appreciable fashion. Not for a bit anyway.
The fact that something could be grown, or was already growing, meant to Christa that the civilization could be preserved in a way. It certainly couldn't be started again because, let's face it, all members of the cultures across the universe were dead. She doubted normal Earth people could survive without senshi magic on their respective moons or comets or what have you. Maybe their moons could simply be a beautiful resting place for what once was.
"Animals? No, I haven't seen any animals. I do keep seeing people, though." The thought worried her because she was thoroughly convinced she was doing nothing but hallucinating. The people she did see never lasted more than a few seconds. A blink and they were gone. It wasn't until recently that she'd heard any of them speak, and it turned out to be Not English. "That frightens me a little bit. Tallulah, have you seen people on Europa when you visit? Or am I going crazy?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:03 pm
"Aeroponics..." Tallulah tried to think of a way to put it into layman's terms. "It's growing plants without a soil medium. I use mesh netting and a mister. It's working pretty well so far!" It certainly wasn't a balanced diet, and it would be a while before she could make it such, but it was a good indicator. She hadn't even thought about whether civilians could visit planets - it might be something she wanted to ask around about before she'd try it herself.
"You mean the ghosts?" she asked after a moment. "No, I've seen them on Europa. My past self, and Ganymede, and Callisto? But Ganymede couldn't see them on Europa and I couldn't see them on Pyxis, so I think it must only work on our homeworlds."
Senshi of madness or not, Christa was just as sane as she was. "I see a lot of how their government used to work. Parties, meetings..."
She remembered watching her past self curled up in bed, crying into her pillow and wrapped in the plump arms of the serving girl, and silently amended things I maybe should not have seen.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:12 pm
The explanation of aeroponics aside, Christa couldn't help but be intrigued by the notion that they were seeing ghosts of the past on their home worlds. She wondered then who the green haired woman was that she kept seeing. Without knowing their language and without being able to communicate with her, she was simply another mystery Christa couldn't solve.
Leaning forward, Christa thought that this was some kind of cosmic secret only they could share between each other. How creepy was that? Seeing glimpses of the past and not having any context to it. It seemed very sad as well. "Tallulah, how did you know who these people were? Like, how did you know the person you were seeing was your past self? Did you recognize them? Same thing goes for Ganymede and Callisto. Or is it some kind of gut feeling you had?" She was certainly interested in how all this worked. She'd seen glimpses of other people, but that one woman seemed to remain constant.
The teen curled her fingers in on each other. So I'm seeing my past. My culture's past. What could be triggering these visions if not the senshi themselves? If Europa couldn't see the ghosts when she was on someone else's planet, then it had to be a power of her own. It doesn't make sense any other way. "...was it sad? To see how your world worked before it was destroyed?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:03 pm
"With me... my past self, I mean," Tallulah clarified, "I sort of knew it was her because she looked a lot like me, and she was wearing an old senshi uniform, and - I just knew, okay? Context clues and things. Her name was Signy." She drifted off into thought, recalling the visions of the other Galileans. "Ganymede and Callisto I wouldn't have recognized except for I heard their names. I - she - was talking to them."
"It was a bit melancholy," she agreed, tracing a finger along the pattern in the tabletop. Perhaps she'd been looking at it too scientifically, though. Tallulah had been watching the memories for information, perhaps a way of learning about the great calamity that had befallen them. Maybe she needed to look at them more organically.
"But it was more fascinating than sad," she reasoned. But also confusing. Tallulah was flashing back to another conversation in another back yard, over a year ago, going back over the same old questions. What about reincarnation? If you had lived before, what did it mean to live here and now?
"She looked so much like me," sighed Tallulah absentmindedly.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:20 pm
Christa was impressed that Tallulah managed to learn all this information about her past self, including her name. The younger teen had none of that, but Tallulah had been a senshi much longer. She had had more time to discover these things. Perhaps, when she felt stronger, she would return to the moon and figure out what it is that she kept seeing. Who she kept seeing. There had to be a reason Christa was confronted by the same woman over and over again.
"Perhaps you'll find some more information that will be beneficial to all of us. And probably some things that are interesting too. I think it would be fascinating to learn about the government and inner workings of your past civilization. Imagine all the books you could write about it..." Christa trailed off, pondering in her own mind how the court of Jupiter kept tabs on so many moons and so many representatives. Did they interact with each and every moon, or were only the large moons really in the spotlight? How did it all work?
Christa also wondered what kind of coincidence it was that Signy looked so much like the present Tallulah. Perhaps it was something about destiny and reincarnation at work then. "Once I'm able, I'll travel to my moon again and see what I can find out. If you were connected to Ganymede and Callisto in the past, who's to say we weren't all connected somehow?"
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