|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:30 am
Shalott didn't know who it was she was heading toward as she crept along the back streets toward where he felt the energy signature. It was chaos and that was really all she was supposed to pay attention to. Maybe she should have let her husband know where she was going but she thought, at least, that if fighting had to be an option she could handle it.
As she approached the figure looked familiar but different from the last time she'd seen him. Virtus had powered up since she saw him last. Would be be any different to what she remembered? She shook her head, tossing away any pity she might feel or hope that he was still the same. They'd had a deal, hadn't they?
"We had a deal you know, and you broke it." She approached from behind, hands on her hips looking serious. "The only thing I told you was not to get caught and yet here we both are again. I assume since you look like you've advanced that you're getting good at doing everything they ask of you including stealing energy from civilians. I'm sure you realize what this means."
It meant he'd have to give it back or she'd have to make him. As much as she didn't want to fight, and she didn't, it was inevitable. Nothing was ever easy anymore but that was the deal and he'd known that. She could hide in that logic a long time and would probably have to in order to soothe her smarting sense of justice. No matter the reason fighting him didn't feel right. He was too innocent.
Though, maybe that changed too. She hoped and hated herself for it.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:28 pm
Virtus had been having a bit of issue recently with Senshi trying to stop him from gathering his energy. He was behind on his quota, which was not something he liked even if he did handle it in stride and with a smile on his face.
He just had to work harder!
And tonight he was. He was out to get as much energy as he could, and was even daring to move away from homeless bums and drunk people in bars. He was going to do what he had to do, and he could not stick to the 'easy' path forever! He had been training and practicing, dreaming and planning, and he was sure he could apply it all to reality.
He just needed to do it. Dive right in.
So he had managed to jump on a man's back in an alley. He wasn't drunk, or at least not drunk enough to be an easy target, and Virtus was struggling with him. Well. He was clinging desperately to the man's back while asking politely for him to stop thrashing and just let him borrow some energy. He eventually managed to get the man down and bring out his wraith, but then he had to stop when he heard a voice and felt an energy signature..
He smiled at her, though her words were right. They had made a deal. He wasn't supposed to be in her sight when he was working. The body he had drained was hidden behind a dumpster, but his feet were hanging out.
"That means we have to fight, doesn't it?" he asked, taking a breath and readying himself. A deal was a deal, and he had not kept his end of it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 10:24 am
"'Fraid so."
As much as Shalott might have balked at the idea she suppressed it now. Those were the rules and he was clearly breaking them, guilty of taking energy from innocent people. Stealing. No matter how nice he seemed that was not a nice thing to do and though people gained it back in time in her eyes it was almost like rape. Definitely theft, anyway.
"The rules were simple. You don't get a pass for being nice cause in the end you're still doing what they tell you, taking from good people. You'll be just like the rest of them soon enough."
She was thinking of Benitoite as she lunged, how he changed and wondering how long it would be before Virtus was just the same, twisted inside. She'd had high hopes for the lieutenant when she met him and now he was a black hearted sonovabitch captain. Tony was right, believing in them would only get her hurt. So she ignored whatever good inside that said not to do this and lunged, striking out at his side.
"Give it back."
Which, of course, would put him back behind his quota for tonight as well but that was not an Order problem. That was a Chaos problem and she was not on that side. She lashed out again with her other hand, moving to strike him and force him back. Shalott could not afford to pull any punches.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 10:34 am
Virtus, to be fair, had not meant to break the rules. He just happened to be in the same area as she was, not through any design of his own. If he could have controlled it and avoided her, he certainly would have. he did not like breaking his promises and would make up for it by taking the consequences as they were laid out for him.
He did not get her words outright, though. He was just like them, wasn't he? He was a member of the Dark Mirror Court and that meant a lot to him. And he considered himself on the same level as the others.
So of course he was like the rest of them. Right?
But then, he never witnessed what they did, or how they did it. Not really. He didn't know outright if there were similarities or differences in their approaches. Maybe he would go out and patrol with some of the others some time, so he could learn more about his team. He had been pretty selfish recently, focusing on his own training! He needed to open himself up a bit more.
"Give it back?" he echoed, though he had to focus on her attack. He tried dodging, stumbling but managing to get out of the way of her first attack. He paused, then moved toward her, taking a swing while she was doing the same. Her fist connected and it certainly threw him off.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 10:16 am
"Give the energy back." The squire growled though she wasn't sure how these mirror senshi worked, exactly, since it didn't appear to be in the same way the Negaverse operated. She'd never seen any of the Dark Mirror senshi give energy back before and wasn't sure it could be done. She only assumed since she'd seen other members of Chaos do it.
Shalott took the hit he threw but in her anger she didn't feel much of it though she probably would in a little while when her adrenaline wore off. She didn't allow herself to stop either, even as a dull thud of pain started. She had to hold onto the righteousness of her anger to keep going.
"You steal from innocent people. How could you? You're...a monster!"
So what that they gained it back. She didn't know what the hell they were using it for but since they were members of Chaos whatever it was couldn't be good. She knew enough about the faction and the few faction members she'd met to know that. And if it wasn't something the soft hearted senshi wanted to hear perhaps that was all the better. She could be underhanded herself, sometimes. Ok, often when it suited her.
He also hadn't seen or experienced what she had and she didn't know he was one of the ones taken with her daughter. Or that he'd seen her in space and tried to help her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 1:52 pm
Virtus was pretty sure he could not just give it back. He had never learned of a method for it, anyway, and if there was a way it was not something he had been aware of and that was probably on purpose. They wouldn't teach him how to do something he wasn't supposed to do.
It made sense to him!
When she called him a monster, though, he hesitated. This fighting thing was so difficult, and not just because he was terrible at the physical part of it. It just upset so many people, and he would much rather just take energy from people, let them get it back with some rest, and go on his merry way without feeling like he was hurting anyone.
Fighting was literally just hurting someone.
"I am not a monster, I'm just doing what I'm told! I know it looks bad to you and I understand your anger, but I promise I'm not bad!" He couldn't take any more swings, though, her words rooting him to his spot.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 10:19 am
"Nazis did what they were told and look how that turned out!"
Shalott was lulled into a momentary pause in combat once he stopped fighting back and she walloped him rather well on the side of the head. In her eyes blindly following orders was not an excuse and while he wasn't killing people, so far as she knew, it sort of amounted to the same thing. Closing your eyes, so to speak, while doing something wrong did not cancel out the action. You still benefited from the consequences.
Blind allegiance equated to not being able to think for yourself in her book.
Stupidly, though, she believed him when he said he wasn't bad. It was rather piteously spoken and he looked like such an innocent creature that no matter how she pushed back the guilt, like last time, it came creeping up again. The Squire sighed and backed off.
"Virtus, you seem like a good kid. How the hell did you wind up with this crowd?"
Maybe it was fate more than choice. She'd wanted to be a knight, like Camelot, and that was what she was but she couldn't imagine a kid like him choosing this side of the fence. In fact she had a hard time imagining him in this war at all. He seemed like too nice a guy to want any of this.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:33 am
Virtus put a hand to his head and looked at her like he was a puppy she just kicked. And he might as well have been. Though he was trying to fight, he was basically a toothless dog, gumming his way through a battle he had no chance in.
He might as well resign as a senshi, and start a new life as a punching bag. He would be much more efficient.
"I was awakened," he said simply, blinking at her, "I am a good person, and I know you are too! We are just doing what we're meant to do, we just happened to have been called to different teams."
He saw the world in a pretty black and white way, yet he did not define his enemies so definitively. He just saw people all doing what he was trying to do: what they were told, and what they felt they had to. He couldn't blame them for that, and while he was still trying to figure out how to be a soldier, he was pretty sure his mentality would not change.
"I just have to do what my Queen says, and I promised to be a good soldier for all my friends."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:24 pm
"So if this queen of yours told you to kick puppies you would?"
That probably wasn't the best example but Shalott had seen the downward spiral first hand and knew what a terrible descent it could be. She knew sooner or later he'd become what they wanted him to be and that would mean hurting people worse than he was now. It would mean more than stealing. She knew people could get seriously hurt in this war.
"Are you willing to kill if they tell you to? They will, eventually. They'll tell you to eliminate your opponents because they don't want competition."
Though she didn't know if he'd ever gain a weapon like the Negaverse did. She hoped not since he was a senshi. He might have been good once. Maybe he could be again if he could only see the light...
No. That's what she'd thought with Benitoite. He couldn't be trusted. None of them could be trusted. She had to protect her heart and her family. She couldn't risk losing anything else and God knew what Tony might do if she got her heart broken again wishing for something she couldn't have. There wasn't going to be a repeat of last time.
"You think you're doing the right thing but I've seen what the Negaverse is capable of. I know how they can hurt people and do. Just remember what being the good soldier might mean someday."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:48 pm
Virtus considered her question. Why would his Queen ask him to kick a puppy? Was it an Order aligned puppy? Or maybe a youma. But nothing like that had ever come across Virtus' path before and he was pretty sure she would never ask him to do something like that just for the fun of it.
Because what was fun in that?
"I will do whatever they ask me to do, but I'm sure they have good reasons to ask me to do it! We don't just hurt people because we think it would be interesting, or because we're bored! We're just like you guys are, we're doing what we have to do. We're just trying to make this world better."
That was what he was told, and that was what he believed. Whether it was the chaos or just his own naivety was anyone's guess. Or maybe it really was how he felt.
It was hard to tell, even for him. And unfortunately, he never questioned it.
He watched her, looking a little nervous. Her words were making his rose tinted world a little harder to distinguish, and his brain was trying to shut down just as much as it was trying to process.
"I don't want to hurt anyone. I know things will work out for the best! They always do, you have to believe in that too! Not everyone is a bad guy. We just don't understand each other."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 8:12 pm
Shalott listened in horror as he defended his position, unable to comprehend any kind of loyalty that bypassed the ability to question what happened around him. Her round eyes were frozen open as she stared at him, disbelieving. This wasn't a difference of opinion they were talking about. This was legitimate brainwashing.
"Wow, kid. Good luck with that."
Clearly there was no talking to him about this. His naivety was turning out to be the biggest influence in his life. There was no talking sense to him. She wasn't sure she wanted to keep trying. Talking to a wall wasn't her idea of a good idea. All she could do was hope he'd come out of it on his own. She wasn't going to put faith in it, though. She'd learned better.
"If they ask you to hurt people someday you stop to question that."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 12:55 pm
Virtus did not mean to be difficult to talk to, but he was who he was. He could not help the direction he had come in, and where he had invested his loyalty and faith. Things had just fallen out in this way for him, and he knew in his heart that he was where he needed to be.
"I will do what I can not to hurt people, I promise!"
The Dark Senshi tried to smile but he could see that she was upset with him. Moreso than before, of course, when she had attacked him. But he shook his head in wonder and would have wagged his tail if he had one. He hated making people upset with him but he had to stay true to his team.
He liked her as a person and he knew she was strong. She was doing what she needed to do, just like him. They were just, unfortunately, never going to get along.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
