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Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:45 pm
It was a school night, but Valhalla found himself out on the town again, keeping an eye on the alleyways below, and pausing to try and detect the smallest traces of Chaos that might be causing trouble. He sometimes thought he could feel another senshi or knight around, and maybe a Negaverse officer, but the signals were too far for him to pinpoint, or faded away before he could get a chance to figure out just where they were.
There were flickers of that strange aura those copies gave, but nothing he could really focus on for long. The moon was eclipsed, as it had been for the past several nights. Obviously not a normal occurrence by anyone’s standards. Luckily he hadn’t seen any trouble with his own shadow just yet, and while he was wary about being out, he knew that he would at least be able to match it, should it come down to a fight. Besides… what could it do? It’s not like its magic was any different from his own.
An aura flared up nearby and took Valhalla almost by surprise. It seemed to be Negaverse, but with how strange things were these days, he wouldn’t be surprised if it was his imagination. Carefully, he stood from where he’d sat down on the edge of a low building, making his way to where the aura was, his hands already in the air to show he didn’t mean to harm them.
"Hello?" he called, trying to get their attention. Whatever they were out doing, if he could convince them otherwise, that was a lot better than a fight…
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Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:52 pm
Something was...amok.
Zircon had sensed it the first time she powered up at night, something shadowy and volatile in the air that didn't feel like any sort of magic she'd ever felt before. At first she thought that maybe the senshi had enlisted some additional strange force to their cause, but after a night's worth of observation she decided that it wasn't likely. This aura wasn't sickly saccharine the way that most Order members felt like, it was definitely something of a more sinister tone...which was saying something, considering the feeling of Chaos was warm and inviting by comparison.
Tonight, she was better prepared, and went out in search of the strange-feeling creatures. They were just as slippery as their auras implied, however, and even the glimpses of shadows she'd seen in the dim alleyways seemed to have no interest in her, flitting away before she could make any more out of their distant forms. At this point, she'd been at it for about three hours with nothing to show for it, and she was just about to turn home when she felt an aura that had much more substance to it, an Order member with a lot of power. And yet...not a senshi. Senshi felt like the oily slick surface of a bubble, bright and opalescent and dangerous. There was no doubt the power behind the aura was dangerous, Zircon could sense it from here, but it was nevertheless less menacing. It belonged, no doubt, to one of the Camelots. Knights, she supposed.
Either way, it probably wasn't a good idea for her to try and face down whoever it was, given the disparity in power, and so she began to scan the skyline for the fastest route home, calculating a few options for diversion tactics. However, she paused when she heard a male voice, a clarion call from within the darkness, and despite her better judgement, she turned to face it. Curiosity was getting the better of her, and she would see this other Knight for herself, eyeing him cautiously as he came into view.
"...Hello," she offered warily, her posture defensive but grounded. She let the silence hang, poignant and tense, before she decided to follow up her stiff greeting. "You found me. So now what?"
Zircon didn't feel like using fancy catchphrases or keeping up pretenses. She just wanted to know if she'd be fighting for her life in the next few minutes.
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Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 7:14 pm
A woman? Valhalla leaned slightly forward, as if that would help him see her better. He didn’t think he had seen her around before, or if he had, she hadn’t given him any trouble to remember her by… which was fine by him!
“Oh… uh…” he said lamely, his hands still raised to show he was unarmed. “I don’t know… depends on why you’re out here.” It didn’t sound like a threat — it was more curiosity than anything at this point. She didn’t have a half drained civilian with her, so that was good. She also didn’t seem to be all that ready to attack him, which was also good. Some might point out that he really didn’t have to worry about her attacking him since she was a Lieutenant, but since he really didn’t like fighting, any way to avoid it was good for him.
“I’m, Valhalla… of Jupiter,” he offered, wondering if she would do the same. Obviously she didn’t need to offer hers, but he figured if she wasn’t going to attack him, then why not? “Have those shadow things been giving you trouble, too?” he wondered, pausing to glance up at the moon above, covered once again by the shadow of the Earth.
So far he’d managed to avoid his, but knew that if it was out there, it would find him eventually. Maybe the faster it was gone, the better…? Or maybe one just didn’t exist for him. That would be nice.
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Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 8:42 pm
Zircon pursed her lips and tilted her head, confused. Was he really asking what she was up to? Most members of Order simply went to the blaming phase of the conversation, and once she got past her disbelief, it was kind of nice to not be immediately met with accusations. Normally, she would be armed with a quick retort and snarl, but the Knight's sincerity caught her off-guard, leaving her fishing for words to say. It would seem, at least, that they were both bewildered by the encounter.
"I...suppose it's just a general patrol. No harvesting, just investigating a little anomaly." She never stopped to think of what 'harvesting' would sound like to someone other than another Officer, but at this point she was speaking as if to one of her peers. After a moment, she paused, wondering if she was being too giving of valued information, but eventually thought better of it. It wasn't as if she was on some sort of Spec-Ops mission: by all Negaverse accounts, she was merely monkeying around in uniform. There was nothing classified for her to give away, she mused, nodding to herself.
"Lieutenant Zircon," she offered with a stiff nod and a straightened posture, her tone curt and polite. The gesture seemed to be practiced, as if she'd repeated the move hundreds of times for countless Negaverse officers of rank. His mention of Jupiter was curious, though his mention of the 'shadow things' was curiouser still, and she shot him an incredulous look. Was he trying to see how much she knew?
"I thought they were yours," she responded, referencing to his costume. "Why would something the senshi controlled give you any problems?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 6:57 pm
Valhalla felt himself able to breathe a little easier once she told him she was just out to investigate, and wasn’t bothering with civilians. Whether or not that was sincere, he had no idea, but he would take her word for it. He always did, and knew very well that it might one day be his downfall. But without being able to show they could trust each other, he believed peace would never be possible.
“Nice to meet you,” he said with a small smile and lowered his hands once it seemed as though she realized he posed no threat to her. She didn’t seem to be off her guard by any means, but maybe if he relaxed a little, she would too do the same.
“Mine?” he blinked in confusion, his eyebrows knitting together just slightly. “The senshi? No way, they didn’t cause these things to show up!” he said, shaking his head as he glanced up at the sky once more. “They didn’t show up until the eclipse happened… It might not have anything to do with what we know now,” he suggested, before trying to explain.
“I don’t think the Negaverse or DMC are behind it, either… I don’t know if you were in the city at the time that it happened, but a few years ago there was a large tree in the park that housed aliens from another world…” He hesitated, knowing that he’d been told the Negaverse had shown up to destroy them, and wondered if sharing this information was a bad idea…
But then he remembered what these creatures were capable of, and they didn’t discriminate between those of Order and those of Chaos.
“Sometimes I wonder if it’s something like that…” he concluded, not wanting to say he thought it was aliens or anything, but some otherworldly power was entirely possible, right? “They seem to only want to attack those they are mimicking… Senshi have fallen victim, as well as Negaverse officers.”
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Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 4:36 pm
Zircon recalled the incident with the tree a few years back, but hadn't been all that involved in the situation. What she did remember was that it appeared to be some sort of third faction, neither Chaos or Order-aligned, causing mayhem for both sides of what was usually a pretty intense ideological war. Was he suggesting that it was happening again? Zircon supposed it couldn't be too hard to believe: after all, it would be rather narrow-minded to assume that the only interests in the entire universe were those of her allies and those of the senshi.
Suddenly, she felt even smaller.
"So they're mimics? They don't really feel like either side, so at least for us it wouldn't be an effective ruse." The lieutenant's brow furrowed, and she crossed her arms as she looked away, scrunching her nose in thought. "Do they have an agenda? Any of the ones I've tried tracking just flit off the radar before I can get close."
This was curiouser and curiouser...she would need to report to Zinkenite and see what he knew. In the meanwhile, however, this Knight seemed pretty forthcoming with information, so she might as well see what the other side thought. Sometimes it was helpful to get a fresh perspective on things, even if from what was supposedly mortal enemies.
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Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 2:39 pm
”If they do have an agenda, I haven’t figured it out,” Valhalla admitted with a small sigh and lowering of his head, wishing that there was some way he could give her more information than he had. If they could figure out a way to work together on this, maybe they would be able to find a better solution to their problems. “From what I’ve gathered, they are exactly like who they’re mimicking in terms of strength… they even have the same weapons and magic, but seem only interested in killing whoever they’re copying,” he said with a small frown. A car alarm going off a few blocks away had him jumping, followed by a small nervous laugh. “Sorry, I guess I’m just a little on edge… We shouldn’t stand around too long like this… I don’t want to attract attention from anyone who might want to do us both harm,” he said with a small, sad frown. He wished there was a way to convince these shadow things to stop, but they seemed to take little interest in negotiations.
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Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:03 am
Zircon didn't jump when the car alarm went off, but her posture went rigid, and at Valhalla's suggestion she offered a stiff nod. There were dangers lurking in the shadows, for either or both of them, and she still had no guarantee that this wasn't a trap.
"Understood," she said, glancing around for any signs of trouble. She couldn't feel any other Order signatures nearby, but being so close to the beacon a fully-fledged Knight gave off was going to mess with her senses. "We should move together, until whatever it is has passed. I still have a few questions for you, anyways."
It occurred to her after the fact that with him being the fully-fledged knight and all, maybe she wasn't in the position to make demands, and she reigned in her curiosity for the moment. "That is, of course, if you don't mind."Guine Hey, sorry for the late response! If you want to go ahead and wrap this, you can just have Valhalla dash off, or they can roam together and do some 20 questions stuff. It's your call. smile
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Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 8:37 pm
He quickly nodded in agreement, and turned to move away from where they had been standing, before quickly shaking his head at her final concern. “No, not at all!” he insisted, standing up a little straighter upon feeling like he was important, or at least a somewhat useful resource of information. Not knowing anything about each other would only lead to more ignorance and hate.
“What do you want to know…?” he wondered, looking up at the buildings, trying to catch sight of anything lurking in the shadows. He still wasn’t sure what these shade things were, nor could he always pinpoint them until it was too late, but he figured he might as well try and keep an eye out.
“Do you remember what life was like before all this…? The magic and knowing you could be fighting your best friend and not even realize it…? It’s like… my childhood was a completely different life, separate from who I am now,” he said before she had a chance to ask her questions. He quickly shook his head when he realized he was probably asking and saying strange things. “Sorry… I guess I got unnerved seeing myself attack me…” Fallen_kitsune_thief It's okay! I'm sorry for the wait as well! Val would love to answer questions! Of course, I'm sure you already know he's kinda a talker when you get him going. orz;
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Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 7:50 pm
It was easy enough to feel safe with the two of them walking under streetlights, keeping alert for the sights and sounds of danger. Zircon never turned her back to the Knight--that would be sheer idiocy--but she did maintain a watchful countenance, her eyes scanning back and forth among the shadows.
She glanced back when he asked a question first, her eyebrows lifted in curiosity before they furrowed in thought. "My life before the Negaverse wasn't worth much. That's why I joined their ranks." She slid her hands into her pockets and shrugged her shoulders, her thin lips puckered. "We never had to deal with magic ourselves, and none of my friends have ever turned out to be anything other than fellow officers. It's a separate existence, yes, but I prefer it to whatever I might have been stuck doing beforehand."
"And now, a question for you." Something metallic clattered a few blocks down, causing the lieutenant to pause, but after a moment's careful watch she caught the movement of a few stray cats, setting her mind at ease. "You said that you were 'Of Jupiter', but other Knights have told me that you fight for the Earth, like us. Which is it?" Her understanding of Knights had been severely stunted by the lack of information in the database, and it would be refreshing to hear the truth straight from the source.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 4:59 pm
Valhalla nodded in understanding, immediately feeling guilty for seeming like he forgot that people didn’t have as stable as a life as he had, despite his father being away most of the time and his brothers being several years apart in age. Still, he had a pretty normal life in comparison to many.
But her question surprise him a little, and he glanced over at her curiously. “I mean…” he glanced down at his outfit for a moment, before lifting a hand to point to Jupiter’s symbol. “I’m not sure how much you know, so please forgive me if I’m giving you old information…” he said with a small, sheepish smile.
“Believe it or not, Valhalla is a fortress on Jupiter. I’m not sure of the politics around it, but even in the past, knights were from Earth… And they either inherited their roles as guardians of their Wonders or were reborn or chosen… who knows… Or at least the Valhalla before me was from Earth. He didn’t fit in very well with the locals,” he joked, but thought it was rather weak for what could be a rather serious subject.
“We fight for Earth because it’s all we have. I know there are people in the Negaverse worried about some Moon Queen taking over, but I haven’t met a senshi or knight who wants that, either. There’s nothing for us in space, and maybe we’re all here for a reason,” he paused and shook his head, realizing he was getting off topic. “I say I’m ‘of Jupiter’ because when I close my eyes and… feel who I am, it’s just natural to say. But Earth is my home and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect it and those living on it.”
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:00 am
As a civilian, Zircon had lived a relatively sheltered life, the only child of a wealthy family, and though she might not have experienced difficulties compared to many of her allies, she certainly seemed to believe her existence was an eternal struggle. After all, when the world had been at her feet for years it was so easy to feel victimized the first time anyone had told her 'no', and while the Negaverse had its own series of conditions she had to live up to, they had told her 'yes'.
She regarded Valhalla's response with a serious nod, folding her arms. Her understanding of the distant past was minimal, and filtered mostly through her encounters in Elysium, but nothing he had said thusfar seemed out of keeping with what she knew. "So you're from Earth, but have been assigned a station on Jupiter...like a remote base." She nodded again, as if she was giving herself confirmation.
Looking up at the mention of Earth as his home, she offered the smallest of sympathetic smiles. "We're not so different, then, at the core of things, though I've never been assigned a specific post." As a member of the Negaverse, she belonged to chaos, but that was a matter of course for all of their Agents. It was all-inclusive, to be commonly bonded to a single force, and something in Zircon's gut withered at the idea of feeling so isolated and alone.
Nevertheless, curiosity took her still, and she paused before she asked another question, this time in a smaller voice. "Does that mean...you've been to Jupiter, then?" She'd heard rumors of space travel from the other side, but she'd never had the chance to confirm the theory. Her need to see the stars was fervent, but bitter, a sweet memory tainted by scars, and though it caused a lump to rise in her throat to think about it she knew that she had to have the answer for herself.
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