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 Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:55 am
The clatter of metal against metal was overwhelming: a ringing that filled the small weapon's room and escaped, even with the door mostly closed, through the practice room next door and into the hall. Swords tumbling one into the other, an entire row of neatly-hung-up weapons clattering into a pile on the floor.
Raph probably wouldn't have been surprised by Veer, once again, turning order into chaos. His room at home looked worse than this, piles of clothing that built and built and built and never seemed to shrink; trash cans that overflowed to spill McDonald's wrappers under his desk; papers fallen behind drawers to fill every nook and cranny. He wasn't good with cleaning up, with tidy. With organized.
He wasn't good at looking innocent, either. His eyes wide, he stared at the swords at his feet, and a curse slipped between his lips. Quiet, at first, it built up toward a frustrated frenzy as he attempted to pick them up and put them back into their hooks, to set up the neat row as it had been before he got there. It was hopeless, and each time, he only made it worse.
He finally gave up with one last creative expletive and kicked one of the swords hard, sending it skittering across the armory floor.
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:41 am
Perseus had finally had some time to explore now that most of the civilians had been bandaged and put about as well off as anyone could manage. It was strange seeing so many unpowered up people wandering around the hallowed halls of space.
She'd been tentatively exploring around the several floors of Chronos' Castle, almost feeling like she was sneaking out at night and was going to get reprimanded by some angry Zodiac ghost. It didn't necessarily help her nerves when the huge clash of steel rang out like a gong through the normally silent space.
She entered the room cautiously, shocked to see a sword spinning along the ground towards her. Perseus stopped it rather quickly with her boot, angling the sword up enough to pick it up off of the ground. It was much lighter than it looked, and the steel almost seemed to glow somehow. "Are you alright? I heard a noise..." Looking at the floor around her, she now knew what had made it.
Swords were everywhere. "We should probably set this to rights."
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:51 am
"...it was like this when I got in here." Instinct; Veer's mouth opened and the words came out before he'd even properly thought it through, his eyes locking on the approaching senshi. If she tok a step forward, he was going to retreat back, pacing himself to keep some distance between them. To be fair, this time it really had been a completely innocent mistake. Well, mostly innocent. He had been trying to pick up a sword, and maybe he'd been planning on making off with it, but...
"I was just trying to, uh, clean up. And help out." See, he was very helpful. He made eyes at her and utterly failed, once again, at playing innocent. Slowly, Veer stooped to grab a sword of his own, just in case.
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:15 am
"Well then, I wonder what made that awful sound that drew me here then." Perseus left it at that. If he wanted to lie about it, she wouldn't call him out. That didn't mean she wouldn't let him know that she knew.
At least he had given her an out to the awkward situation. "Well that's good to hear. I was just exploring myself. Though if you had it in your mind to set this place right again, I'll certainly stay and help." Checkmate. If he really was lying, then he would have to stay and help her to cover his butt about it, and the problem would be righted regardless.
Wordlessly, she took the sword in her hand and hung it on one of the ornate pegs lining the wall. It fit in like it was meant to be here. "It shouldn't take too long to set this place to rights."
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:27 am
"Yeah, good luck with that." He propped the sword -- carefully -- up onto his shoulder. The edge was still sharp, and that alone should have been enough to speak toward magic. These swords had probably sat here, unused, for who-knew-how-long and they were still without rust, still keen. Veer made a point not to touch the blade, nor the tip, nor anything but the flat and the grip.
"I was trying. But every time I got four or so up on those damned pegs the whole thing came down again." And for now, he watched her do it, to see if she'd have the same problem. Instead of wading in to help, he took one step back, away from the potential path of tumbling swords, his head tilted to the side. There was a screw loose at one end, perhaps, because the contraption did seem a bit wobbly.
As she went for the next sword, he took another step away, certain it was going to happen again.
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:44 am
"It's all about balance." Instead of hanging the next sword right next to the first, she hung it up on the other end of the rack. "You have to hang them up by size, moving from the out in." It was possible that the rack was broken, but before the civilian came in it had probably stood on this wall for hundreds of years.
"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help?" Perhaps he was afraid of getting cut, perhaps he just didn't want to do work. Either way, she was going to try her best to get this civilian to help her right what he had knocked off the wall.
"I'm Perseus by the way, it's nice to meet you." He was just a civilian. Despite his lying introduction, pleasantries were pleasantries.
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:53 am
"Veer. And you seem to be doing a good job there. You know the old saying." He held onto his own sword, eyes shifting from the swords to the long length of bare leg Perseus was showing off, lingering for maybe a bit too long before he blinked up onto her face, instead. He'd lost his train of thought for the moment, and had to struggle to remember where he'd been going with it. Old saying. Something that would get him out of work -- oh. Right.
"Too many cooks in the kitchen. I'd probably knock it over if I tried." He spoke from experience, it wasn't just an excuse. He'd done it three times already, after all. He shrugged, rocking onto the balls of his feet and then back.
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 12:16 pm
"Well it's a good thing we aren't in a kitchen then." Perseus turned just in time to see the looks that he was giving her. She couldn't pretend that she hadn't seen it before. She walked up to the boy rocking back and forth and held out her hands for the sword he was holding.
"It's my pleasure Veer. Though I would be more pleased if you could help a sailor out." Charm was her specialty, and she was laying it on thick. There were a lot of swords that had been knocked over by Veer and she didn't want to just leave them. It was a challange to get him to right his wrong, she saw, but that didn't mean she would give up.
"If you don't want to hang them, at least hand them to me. They need to be in order from longest to shortest though." Otherwise the whole thing would come undone. If she couldn't get his help to hang them up, at least she could make him do a little work.
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:43 pm
This time at least he did help some -- picking up a sword absently and holding it out toward her. It wasn't exactly an easy thing to do. He didn't want to grasp the sharp edge, but if he held onto the hilt, she'd have to be the one to do that. He compromised by balancing it on his palm, fingers splayed, dark against the metal. Veer looked thoughtful.
"...so, tell me..." The question started out very serious, his eyebrows raised, but there was a spark behind his eyes. If she'd recognized the look he'd been giving her, maybe she'd recognize this, some, too. Something teasing.
"...do you get to choose the outfits?" His tone was full of false innocence. Just curiosity, of course, not commenting on the short skirt or the cut of her bodice...
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 1:18 am
She counted it as a victory to have even a little help. Perseus took the sword from him gingerly, picking up the blade just underneath the hilt and between his hands. "These have such perfect balance. It's amazing really." She'd tried fencing a little when she was younger, but had never taken to it. The foils always felt too light and flimsy in her hands, like her mind felt it was wrong to hold something so foreign. Thinking about the sheath that hung on her side she had a feeling that it had something to do with her past.
Perseus turned at his question, raising an eyebrow at the look on his face. Upon completion, she smirked. "If I only had a quarter every time I've heard that question. No, we get no say in the matter." The sailor turned to try and gently hang the sword on the wall, only for the individual hook to break, sending it clattering to the floor.
After jumping away like a housewife seeing a mouse, Perseus steel her resolve and simply moved on to the next hook. "I'd like to think I'm one of the luckier Senshi as far as amount of clothes received." Despite the low cut blouse and the short cut skirt, she actually had a rather large amount of skin covered compared to most.
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:38 am
Veer's instinctive reaction was a snicker -- both to the tumble of sword at her feet to her comment about the amount of clothing she had on. He struggled to cover it up, turning it toward a cough, instead, his head turned away and a hand waving in front of his face. The sword hadn't actually brought up much dust when it fell, but he could still damned well pretend it had, use that as an excuse for his expression --
"...uh huh. At least you have the legs for it, though, right?" Yes. He definitely looked again, as he stooped to pick up her dropped sword. Her outfit was definitely not bad. And he was definitely an a**. Veer couldn't smother the grin, now.
"Who chooses, if you don't? Big boss man somewhere who puts all the ladies in the kind of clothes that fill his....uh. I mean. Who chooses dress code?" Saying 'fetishes' to the girl with the sword was probably a bad idea.
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:25 pm
Perseus sighed and took the sword from him, wiping the dust off. It left a gross streak of gray on her white gloves, but it didn't really matter much since everything came back clean and repaired. She'd dealt with boys who made suggestive comments before, but had never really had someone so abrupt about it. Most people made insinuations or off color comments...not direct compliments.
"Uh, thanks I guess." She had a feeling it was no use fighting it. The sword went up on the next peg which seemed much sturdier than its neighbor. She'd given thought to his question before, but had never figured out an answer. "I have no idea who chooses the outfits." With another two swords hung they were getting to the end of the pile. "They just appear on their own, and then change on their own when we upgrade. I assume that each has an ancestral tie to the planet they came from." It was logic more than actual fact. From what she'd seen, the fuku's had drastic differences, but all had common elements; white bodices, skirts or shorts, and tiaras.
Perseus chose to ignore his comment about what she assumed was going to be 'fantasies' or something equally as disturbing. The thought of some greater power dressing her up in provocative clothing was not a good one. It was time to change the subject. "So are you a student?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:02 am
She was exactly right: left to his own devices, Veer definitely would have made a snickering comment about her ancestors. And her planet. It likely would have been that same mix of offensive and complimentary -- but she dropped the question on him before Veer had time to do more than just open his mouth.
Blink. Pause. Redirect.
"...eh. I do classes and s**t..." Which wasn't really the same as being a student, was it? If his attitude had been different, Veer's life could have gone another direction: entrance into Azure Academy, after school programs that easily equipped him for DCU perhaps, or perhaps wandering out of the city, to somewhere grander. Things hadn't gone that direction -- and honestly, Veer didn't care much.
If he worked harder, he wouldn't have time to play so much WoW. Things were pretty good, in his book.
"Mostly, though, I school people." He offered the last sword to her with a grin. The emphasis was wrong for him to be a teacher, but she might not pick up on that right away. Especially if she didn't play a lot of video games with boys.
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 7:55 am
It seemed that herself and Veer were even further opposites, this time in motivation. "How charming. That was a video game reference, was it not?" She understood the lingo, just not how to use it in context. It was hard for her to speak in such a slanged manner, and anything she tried came out sounding incredibly awkward.
"What do you play?" She was almost done with the swords on the wall, only a single blade lying in the middle yet to go. Perseus picked up the final sword, once probably a huge and beautiful blade but it was rusted and chipped with age. It wasn't long before it was hanging up on the wall with the others. Her gloves were reddish black from dust and rust, but it didn't matter too much. Better on her gloves than her hands. "There, see it wasn't that hard."
Perseus took a step back to admire her work before turning to Veer. "Thank you for your help. It went a lot faster that way." She was rather cheery, despite having to do everything herself.
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Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:29 pm
"Uh huh. I play horde." His expression was innocent, hands shoved into his pockets, with that same spark of amusement behind it -- thoroughly expecting Pegasus to 'what the hell?' It was perfectly logical, really. Girls didn't play World of Warcraft. Girls barely played video games, as he understood it, and when they did it was usually Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Right?
"Undead rogue." A roll on his feet, he offered this as clarification...but god help him, this might also have been his way of flirting. Perhaps this was why Veer didn't have a girlfriend.
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