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 Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 10:04 pm
Why? Pascal didn't understand why he was doing this. Maybe he wanted to win, maybe his scientific mind wouldn't allow him to leave this all unfinished without being able to prove his theory, or maybe he was simply a masochist. It was easy to just go with the latter of the three but he decided it was probably closer to the middle. Either way, Orpheus had spent a good part of the night looking for Zia.
Hours had past since his search had begun and now the Dark Mirror Senshi was folding his hand down and giving up. Perhaps it was for the best that he didn't find her for a third time. He'd hate to be accused of being a creepy stalker again when she didn't know the full story. He'd go home soon but he was actually quite a ways away so he sat down to build up a bit of energy.
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 11:50 am
Zia had spent nearly every evening, with only one or two exceptions, trying to hunt Orpheus down. Which was surprisingly difficult, at least to her. One thing that had at least worked in both their favors, though, was that none of the DMC senshi she questioned seemed to know much, if anything about his existence.
In Zia's mind, this was positive. It confirmed a theory she'd been mulling over, and that was priceless, even if it made finding him more difficult.
But tonight, she was going to be successful.
There he was, just sitting there! Like he wasn't practically a ghost. But Zia didn't mind. She found him, and that was all that mattered. She flounced up from behind and leaned over the back of the bench like she was walking up to a friend, grin present on her face as she greeted him with a casual, "Hey, a*****e. How's your neck?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:38 pm
Zia had found him which solved a lot of problems but what caused one was the fact she crept up on him. He was defensive, terrified of a DMS finding him while he sat here exposed and in the open. This lead to the first thing he did when he felt her presence was hitting her, hard. After he'd done so, he jumped up and turned around only to sign with a large hint of relief when he'd seen it was just Zia.
"Oh," he chirped. "I am sorry about that but it's kind of nice to see the world finally take my side."
He looked over her carefully, keeping his distance like a smart man who'd learned his lesson. He just waited for her to compose herself, brushing the cloth of his clothing smooth while his hand unconsciously rubbed at the base of his neck. It was had been getting better but now it was finally healed up so now he could go see Doug without embarrassing conversation ensuing.
"It's healed," he said. He'd thank his senshihood for giving him that bonus but if it wasn't for this senshi business to begin with it never would have happened.
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:05 am
Ow. Though Zia took it in stride with a laugh, he did almost knock her over and it took a second to get her balance and rub the section of her arm where she'd been hit.
"Aw, ********, man," She cackled. "A little jumpy tonight?" She watched him rub his neck and gave a mocking pout. She wasn't going to lie, getting him down like that was still a victory in her head.
She hopped over the back of the bench to lounge and light up a cigarette. "So, Twitchy, I think we should chat. Like for real, not me baiting you and you trying to not care."
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Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:58 pm
Trying not to care? It wasn't that he didn't care buy instead that he simply believed it could be true. It sure made her baiting him pretty difficult though. What she said about them needing to talk was new, and given how their last co conversations had ended he wasn't entirely eager. He made no movement to move, standing there with his arms crossed.
"Then talk."
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 11:00 am
Zia grinned at him like he had just said something incredibly clever. Well, she thought he was being clever. But she may have been reading too far into his say nothing show nothing demeanor.
"Well, here's what I know. You're probably the only other person caught up in Ares' bullshit that hates her as much as I do. You're not buying into the cult mentality that they're your family, and I've got a research bank on this s**t almost three years in the making. You should be working for me."
She rolled back her shoulders and paused to take a few puffs while she leaned back against the arm of the bench. "But I totally get it if you don't trust me. Almost killing someone can do that to a relationship. And I already know your story. Kidnapped from life to the Surrounding to be turned and mirrored up and dropped into a new identity with no say in your own fate-- classic. So, let's even things out. Whaddya want to know? I am an open book," She laughed, moving one arm on a dramatic flourish for emphasis.
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:17 pm
The dark senshi watched her quite intently, still not even sure he should be here in the first place. She seemed to rub it in his face that she knew about his story but he didn't know anything about hers (well, other than all the stuff he'd found out as Pascal and bringing it up just made him more and more creepy). She was offering to change that though and he had to find the right question. Sure, he considered putting her on the spot by asking her more intimate questions but he preferred not being attacked again if he could help it.
"Where's your place in all of this? Why do you know Ares?" He asked as he decided his answer.
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:29 pm
Zia crossed her legs, now fully pulled up on the bench and shrugged. Well, that was the obvious question, wasn't it? And she should probably tell him, if the point of this was to be gaining trust and and all.
But she still didn't trust him. He wasn't Ares' b***h, but he was still a creepy a*****e, and she didn't want to announce to him she was the host to the last uncorrupted Black Moon soul in the entire dimension. Which meant finding a way to phrase how she related to his situation a real word puzzle.
"Okay, story time, I guess. Because it's a long a** story. You know you're the second generation, right? There were prototypes before the Dark Mirror Court," Zia didn't think this was a terrible bent on the truth. Zirconia vehemently disagreed, but she wasn't driving this car anymore.
"That queen. That b***h. I knew her. And that's it's own whole mess, which is pointless because the b***h is dead, and she couldn't do much with me. Not special enough to be a senshi." Just the cat. "But one of her creations was Ares, and... I dunno what to call it. Pet human along for the parallel wild ride. It's this whole big long history... But at some point, <********>, man," Zia made a few motions as she tried to think of how to put her experiences with the Blood Moon Court in as few words as possible.
From her demeanor about the good old days, Zia could've easily switched the topic to something like stereotypical college party days and the motions and tone wouldn't have changed much. She took a small break to think about the next part, which she wasn't as enthusiastic about, and needed a brief pause to blow smoke out in front of her and stare at is as it dispersed.
"Ares wanted to be a tyrant, long story short." She unzipped her sweater to show off her brand. "She gave me this to show me who I ******** belonged to. ******** that, b***h, I don't think so. And from there? Jesus ********, she decided to go give herself to some freakish occult power and start turning people into creepy little dolls she could make listen. Her first batch of experiments were some of my girls, second one, well... you got caught in that one." She moved to zip back up and cringed a little when she felt the bruising on her arm where he'd punched her. So instead she slid that arm out to poke at it and let the cold air deal with it. That ditzy girl who bounced around the gym squealing and laughing and playing stupid was becoming more and more obviously a lie at this point.
"Anyway. I dunno, I guess that's my story. Trying to be a thorn in her side after she ******** ruined my life. Sorry I attacked you and all, but up until recently, I didn't even know you guys had the ability to have, yanno, thoughts."
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:36 pm
When Zia had said story, she really meant story.
Sailor Orpheus tried his best to listen to what he liked to think of a s**t pile of insanity but given it was now basically his s**t pile of insanity he had little choice in trying to force himself to understand. He couldn't quite put a finger on it but he felt like he wasn't getting the entire story here but he also wasn't sure he wanted the whole story here because now it felt like the Zia he knew was just a figment of something barely even real anymore.
The only relief was that Zia clearly stated that she wasn't a senshi. He hated senshi so much that he even was disgusted with himself and the thought of Zia secretly being a senshi as well would have been unbearable. The knowledge caused the weight of his body to shift from uneasily to distant but when she showed him the scar over her chest his heart dropped. It explained a lot and he didn't like it.
"I accept your apology," he said. He didn't quite forgive her but at this point he was finally capable of accepting her apology. "What do you want to do now?" She did keep attacking him but now she knew better so it was her chance to make it up to him even if he was a creeping peeper.
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:55 pm
No, he hadn't gotten the whole story even a little bit, but three years was a lot of time to cover, especially when nothing had ever been calm and consistent with Ares and she had no intention of giving him the flat out truth that involved her being a parallel.
But what did she want to do? Two weeks ago Zia didn't have an answer for that. She had been lost and lonely and floating through space without ties or hope of ever doing anything again. but so much had happened in the last two months. Reconnections, revelations, and then this. At some point, those wheels stopped turning, and clicked, and that's why she was here now.
"I've been hanging back. Lately. I mean, I don't have my girls any more, and I'm only human in this huge war full of super powered aliens. And the worst one wants me lobotomized into a possession? You know what I want to do?"
She grinned and she looked a disturbing combination of excited and trying to hold back laughter.
"I want to <********> with that b***h's head. There's more than one way to start a war. Work for me."
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:04 pm
Sailor Orpheus surely must have looked like a misplaced rockstar, perhaps one who had a bad hair day because he simply wasn't looking very impressed. It wasn't even unreasonable to say it was like some bird s**t in his ice cream given the expression he had on his face. He was listening, and thinking about what she had said to the point it was showing on his face.
"I don't want anything to do with this war, why would I work for you?" What was in it for him Zia, what was in it for him?
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:32 pm
Zia made a sort of 'there you go' motion, which didn't seem to match his rejection of her pitch. "Let's see, job perks. Revenge against the mirror skank who stole your humanity, the ability to do something other than sit around waiting to die, my endless resources..."
She flicked her cigarette butt in the grass and hopped up, pulling her hoodie back up and zipping up. "Come on," She started walking, not even bothering to look behind her and see if he was following.
"I'll show you what I've been working on these last three years."
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:41 pm
Yes, the idea of getting revenge against Ares for virtually stealing his life did sound nice but he was a man of science, not passion. He would argue that the second point probably referred to her more than it did himself because he didn't sit around waiting to die, he sat around waiting to life. He worked hard, and he did things with his life to make up for what was stolen. The last did tweak his interest, but how could it not? He did love resources.
He followed with caution, kind of dragging behind her as he followed. Hey, at least this way he wasn't being a creeper and he could keep an eye on her. It was sort of ironic in a way but he made no effort to laugh at it because he knew the minute he did life would slap in across the ******** face with a frozen tuna.
"Three years huh?" He said. He couldn't quite picture it but it couldn't stop him from wondering.
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:43 pm
"Well. Two years, three months months, twenty-two days and seven hours. But we're getting there!" Zia chirruped and turned to give him a bit of a wry smirk. "And no one's managed to get me yet."
When they finally got to what she sarcastically called her little piece of hell, a temporary storage structure on a half built piece of property, that any normal person might've assumed contained construction tools or the owner's spare junk. But Zia put one hand on the door latch and flashed Orpheus a grin and a wink. "And behind door number one..."
Maybe the reveal was only grand in Zia's head because the place was like the world's grittiest office. Though upon closer inspection, most everything you could see outright related to space, physics, and senshi magic. And lining the walls were boxes. And boxes and boxes and filing cabinets of logs and notes and books, all of which Zia had kept up tirelessly. It had evolved, it had grown. It was more than logs now, it was entire binders of theories and histories and by now it was a library.
In addition was her computer, a desk and chair, and a futon in the corner that looked like it had been crashed on one too many nights. A top level that dropped off before truly being a top level had more files, and an excess of mirrors. And the walls had been written on and wiped down like a white board. Her current scribble was trying to reconcile the Planck constant with starseed energy and a few minor things about parallel universe theories.
"Intelligence, strategy, personnel. That's the job they gave me," Zia said, rolling back on her heels as she stared through the door at her little research center. "And ******** Ares, if she wants to play war than I will too." And she turned to Orpheus, holding up her arms in that dramatic flourish again. "And all this can be yours, if you just say the magic words."
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:03 pm
You'd think the first thing Orpheus would see would be all the boxes that lined the walls but no: The first thing he seen was one of the most ridiculously large mirrors he'd ever seen in the most useless of places. Why would she need a mirror in here? OR AT ALL? He couldn't think of anything else, or even think of saying anything before his eyes direly looked around. Boxes, boxes, boxes, ********. Boxes, boxes, boxes, ********. Boxes, boxes, boxes, ah ha! There was a couch and on the couch was a blanket. Immediately Orpheus grabbed the blanket and then gingerly, although almost bitterly, covered the mirror. He'd break it but Zia hit him enough without a reason so he'd hate to give her one.
Phew. He felt a bit safer with that covered, at least. He couldn't even imagine why she had one in here if she was hiding from Ares, but hey, as long as nothing could possible be watching him from the other side of that thing he felt better. He'd feel safer if it was broken and disposed of but he'd work with what he had.
"You'd save a lot more space if you just went digital," he joked, almost as if he hadn't probably done the most crazy thing ever for a Dark Mirror Senshi. Okay, so maybe the first words out of his mouth could have been something more about the situation itself but then he might have to tell her the throw the mirror out and at least this way his inner nerd could show. It was very true though, regardless of any awkward reasoning or timing. A digital database would be space-saving, easier to browse through and just simply better. If she backed it up and then someone suddenly decided to burn the building down to destroy the mirrors then she'd still have all the data. Yep.
He thought about his options, gingerly swaying on his feet.
"Get rid of the mirror, and all sequential mirrors, and I'll think about it," he bargained. ********, he really hated mirrors.
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