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 Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 1:16 pm
Sometimes, Florence Court felt claustrophobic from all the boarded up windows. Finn did his best to keep it feeling warm and homey, to keep the dust off the baseboards and keep the fridge stocked and the beds made, but there were still apartments that had been locked years ago and never reopened. Their inhabitants were long gone: fled or corrupted or dead, their ashes scattered to the many winds, their starseeds safely back to the cauldron, Cosmos willing, waiting to be reborn in a better, safer time. He stood the watch alone, continuing the work that he'd begun with Gunn. They'd been so optimistic then, and there had been some early successes - but everything had gone to s**t in the last few years and he had a duty to carry on. His wonder, Babylon, was a place of safety. He had memories now to prove to him just how long it had blazed against the oncoming darkness of the Silver Millennium's fall, and he had a duty now. He had to make Florence Court like a Babylon on Earth, and offer safety and protection to all who needed it. Finn was just settling down to watch a movie on his aging television set when his signet ring flashed with an incoming message. How many miles to Babylon? It was code, an old nursery rhyme turned shibboleth. He wrote back three score and ten, to tell the sender the way was clear, and went to wait by the back door, eye pressed to the peephole. After a few moments, a young woman with dark hair turned down the alley, and Finn opened the door a crack for her. He'd known Erika Adalsteinn a long time, and yet he was still often surprised by the amount of courage she'd manifested when the war turned sour. Sailor Callisto had been timid when he first met her. Now, she was as integral and brave a spy as any other. He ushered her inside and shut the door quietly, locking the three deadbolts behind them and re-arming the security system. "Good to see you," he said. "How can I help tonight? I have some leftovers from dinner if you're hungry." He didn't generally use any of the street-side apartments anymore - too much risk of making noise.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 5:28 pm
Time had a way of changing people, but Erika Adalsteinn was one of the more extreme examples of this. Not physically - no, physically she was much the same as she'd been when she had assumed the mantle of Sailor Callisto, save that she had grown a half-inch and grown out her hair, which she now kept tied back - but with the option of letting it hang around her face if she felt the need to conceal it. However, the dark changes that had shaped the world for the worse had only brought out the best in Erika. The dark-haired girl who had been afraid of her own shadow was now in one of the riskiest positions of the resistance - that of a Watcher, living and working directly under the nose of the Negaverse in order to pass along vital information to her fellow Order members. She didn't have a large enough income to function as a Sponsor - her ability to hide away in small spaces, her long habit of following rules and being mostly unremarkable, coupled with her independence and work ethic had all combined to serve her well in her chosen place. Still, that didn't keep her from being just a little nervous until she was safely inside with the deadbolts locked and security system armed. "No thanks on the food," she said, shaking her head. "You need to keep those leftovers in case anyone comes through soon." Gray eyes narrowed as she scowled, expression serious. "Negaverse has been upping investigation in my regon of the city; they haven't picked up on me yet - their search area's still pretty wide - but anyone stationed near me could need a safe house and evac eventually." She didn't know who was stationed in her area, not directly - it was safer that way, in Erika's mind. She knew Babylon because they worked far from each other, rather than nearby. "I'm hoping they give up rather than tighten their search, but you know how they get when they think they've caught a signature." She made a face and leaned back against the war, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "Makes me sick. I'm working on finding out their target - could be an unawakened for all I know, but I thought I'd pass it on anyway... Well, and deliver this." So speaking, she slipped an old backpack off of her shoulders with a grunt, dropping it to the floor. "It's not much - I'm no sponsor, but work was having a sale so I picked up some food and gauze and stuff... there's some school supplies and things, too. Every little bit counts, yeah?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 10:33 pm
There were supplies to spare for the moment, but if Erika said she didn't want anything then he wasn't going to force her. Finn fought back the urge to offer her tea, to try to extend his hospitality in some other way - he always felt paternal towards the younger members of the Watchers, which was probably inappropriate, but the tendency had only grown stronger since becoming an actual parent. "If they're zeroing in on someone unawakened," he said, picking up the backpack and poking through it. Antonia and her friends would be thrilled to have new crayons. "Do you think it's a senshi? Or a knight? I could go in, see if I feel a page getting reay to wake up, and then we could arranged to get them out." "I'm glad you're keeping track of everything," he said, setting the supplies out on the coffee table in the lobby and handing the empty backpack back to her. "If stuff starts to get hairy, send me an SOS and we'll get you out of there. Tallulah would kill me if anything shitty happened to you." Okay, actually, he couldn't just put her back out on the street without trying to offer some kind of hospitality. "So I know you said no to dinner, but can I get you anything before you go? Tea? Coffee? It's a long shift here manning the house, and it's good to see a familiar face."
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:57 am
"Not sure yet," Erika admitted, watching Finn poke through the bag without too much concern - there was nothing in there that could be too embarrassing (well, there were some feminine hygiene products, but those were something always needed in a refugee camp, and a married man would definitely understand that), and definitely nothing harmful. "I'll need to watch for a while longer before I can judge - yeah. I wasn't going to ask, but if you're willing..." She sighed and shook her head. "Every body counts, especially with so many..." The black-haired woman swallowed, shaking her head. "Well. Senshi or Page, if they're about to awaken, they'll need out." Pausing, she couldn't help but add, "I'm pretty sure Tallulah wouldn't kill you. Not when you have a kid to care for. She might conspire to make you miserable, though." Taking the backback, she smiled at Finn - a genuinely warm expression in her otherwise solemn face - and nodded. "Coffee would be great," she said, quietly longing for a bit of contact, herself. Senshi of solitude she may be, but she still needed contact with friendlies now and then; it helped keep her from losing herself to her work. "It's a long trip back home; I could use the caffeine boost."
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 6:22 pm
"That would be worse," said Finn, following Erika up the stairs. "Tallulah has Cthulhu on a leash." Well, basically. Her eternal-level spell packed a hell of a wallop that he wasn't sure the young woman had ever felt: it wasn't exactly a trick to be trotted out at every cocktail party. Also, no one had thrown a cocktail party in years. He showed Erika into his apartment, which had taken on a bit of a cavelike ambiance with all the windows boarded up. "Sit wherever you like," said Finn, setting up the coffee maker. "Just, like, watch out for vagrant stuffed animals." Antonia hadn't been to Florence Court in weeks and he was still finding scattered toys. "We'll figure out what's going on as it develops," he said, watching the coffee drip into the pot. "I'll pass along that something weird is up, and you can keep passing me new information. If your hunch is right, well, we'll take care of that kid." He had a soft spot for the clueless and newly awakened. Always had and always would.
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 8:45 pm
"Good reason to keep me in one piece, wouldn't you say?" Erika asked, giggling despite the grim circumstances. "I'm sure she could find something suitably Lovecraftian to do to you." Stepping into the apartment and taking a seat on the couch - pulling a small stuffed teddy bear out from under her as she did so, she took the moment given to her to relax, sinking into the cushions with a tired sigh. Being a watcher was highly stressful, and even when you were good at it... well, there were close calls. "I'll make sure to do that," she said, rubbing at her temples to fight back an oncoming tension headache. "I probably won't be back for a while, though; not if they end up tightening their search area more. It won't be safe to risk the trip." Which meant other methods of communication, but that wouldn't be difficult. It was merely the fact that she was going under the lens for a prolonged period of time that had Erika stressed. Being observed - even if it was only her area, due to suspicion of an unawaked kid - was very, very stressful. "I really probably shouldn't stay too long now, if I'm being honest. Just in case they decide to do a night raid again. It'll look worse if my place is on the scan list and I'm not there."
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 8:16 am
Finn handed Erika a mug of coffee and eyed the teddy-bear. He missed Antonia like burning, but he only had a few more days on his post here and then it would be time to go back out to headquarters. Sometimes he felt like a terrible father and husband. If he'd had all his druthers, this was not the lifestyle he would have chosen. "Well, we'll keep in touch," he said, sitting on the coffee table. "If you need an intervention or an extraction or anything like that, we'll get you out. No one's going to risk losing you." She was too valuable. After how many people they'd lost, everyone was too valuable.
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 9:15 am
"For fear of Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fhtagn!, yeah?" Erika asked, and handed the teddy-bear to Finn before taking the coffee. "Don't worry, I'm sure Tallulah won't call up all of the haunts of the deep on you, even if I do get found out." She paused and took a sip of her coffee, then smirked. "Probably only a third of them. The others would all go after the Negaverse." It was odd, how the terrible way everything had turned out had awakened a sense of humor in Erika that she didn't even know she had - but then, fear no longer controlled her. And when you weren't caught in the grip of terror... well, it made a lot of difference. "Going back to your kid soon?" She asked, taking another sip of the hot, caffeinated beverage. "Bet she'll be glad to see you." It was hard to imagine a child as young as Antonia growing up in a world like this, but - as she was growing to learn - no matter how terrible things got, life went on. And would go on, at least until all of the universe was snuffed out.
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 9:55 am
"I've been hit with her attack before," said Finn, not sure that Erika had ever heard that story. Order boot camps felt like they were a world away. "And once is enough for a lifetime." He settled the teddy bear in his lap and dug out his phone. "Yeah, she's at the age where every time I see her she's learned something new," he said, flipping through the photographs. He held it out for Erika to see: the picture on screen was one of Antonia wearing a crudely-fashioned foil crown. "Hvergelmir calls her Pretty Princess," he said. "And it's kind of going to her head." Not that he minded - Antonia was far from spoiled, and whatever semblance of a normal childhood he could give his daughter, he would. "She's a good kid. We're lucky." He'd had so many reservations when Arkady was pregnant, and they'd lingered even after Antonia was born. Finn was still uncertain what kind of world his daughter would inherit - most days it felt less like they were fighting a war and more like they were spitting in the face of the apocalypse - but it was hard to regret someone who brought so much joy into his life.
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:05 am
"I don't think I've ever heard that story," Erika said, taking a long drink of her coffee. "Have time to tell me about it before I leave?" She couldn't stay long, no, but friendly contact was something she knew very well not to take for granted. Besides, this sounded like a very good story to her ears. "They grow up fast," she added after a moment, and crooned approvingly at the photo of Antonia when it was shone to her. "Let her be a Pretty Princess," the senshi murmured, smiling - but the smile faded as she added, "And just hope she never actually is in line to be one." They could use more senshi, yes - and knights, too - but it would be far, far better if little Antonia was just an ordinary little girl. She might eventually be able to live without being a walking target, if she was normal. And no parent needed to see their child actively hunted. "Everything going well here? No close calls or anything?" They needed to talk about something business-related, after all - this was more of a meeting for information exchange than a social call, and Erika knew she needed to start acting like it. "Nothing new of note in this part of the city?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:48 am
Finn laughed hollowly. "Erika," he said, "I'm personally descended from the lines of Babylon and Mistral, and the last sailor Virgo before the fall of the Silver Millennium. Her mother is Avalon. That makes Antonia heir apparent to three different knighthoods, and maybe a Zodiac post if all three of those skip her. I can't hope for her not to grow into one of those birthrights - I have to make certain that she's ready for when she does." But he'd promised her the story about getting hit with Europa's attack, hadn't he? So he had to deliver. "So this was... years ago. Gunn used to run these training sessions - Order Boot Camp. Every month she'd do a different topic, and somehow she got it in her head that the best way to test how well we could all operate under pressure and deal with trauma was to have Europa hit us with her best shot. And let me tell you - I've seen a lot of really horrifying s**t." Degrasse page, shredded to a pulp, and Cove's disembodied hand still clutched in Hvergelmir's--"But I have never experienced anything quite like Deep Ocean Terror. If she were a Shadow, the Negaverse would be running scared." But Europa wasn't a shadow. Finn sighed. "Nothing to report. This neighborhood's pretty dead," he said. "If the boards on every window on the block didn't tip you off."
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 12:12 pm
"Providing you stay alive, you won't have to worry about her becoming Babylon any time in the near future," Erika countered softly. "But... if it helps any? She has a lot of people who'll look after her and keep her safe if and when she does awaken to something." The story made her eyebrows lift in surprise - everything they'd seen in the past five years, and Europa's attack still made the top of the list as one of the most terrifying things he'd ever seen? She shook her head and managed a little smile. "Maybe we should just get her in a position to use it on a General-King or three. They'd be too scared to fight back." It was a sort of joke, of course - going up against one General-King was suicidal, let alone three at once. Even if Europa's attack was as dramatically terrifying as Finn said, it wouldn't do any good in that situation. Still... even impossible scenarios sounded nice when they ended in a victory - even a small one. "Dead's a good thing, in this case," she said, and cradled her near-empty mug in both hands. "It means you're that much safer, all things considered. We need that."
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 3:36 pm
"There's an idea," said Finn approvingly. "I saw her take on Zinkenite once, years ago. She's like +5 super effective against him." Not, of course, that anyone had seen Zinkenite in, well, years. That information did everyone approximately zero good. " Europa wasn't a princess, though - and going up against royals several orders of magnitude stronger than oneself was always a major risk. Even he was tentative about tangling with them - and he stood eye-to-eye to General-Kings in terms of power. "I'll check the security cameras before you leave, just to be safe," he said. "Be careful around here at night. Just because the Negaverse isn't interested in the area doesn't mean there aren't more ordinary criminals lurking around." She'd gotten this far, he thought. She could take care of herself.
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 7:44 pm
"Sounds good," Erika said, finishing off the last swallow of her coffee and placing the mug down. She got to her feet with a tired sigh that made her sound over a decade older than she actually was. She smiled at Finn and stretched, tipping her head from side to side to work a few kinks out of her neck. "A little extra caution never hurt, in my experience," she added, shaking her head to shift her hair so it fell around her face. "It's saved a lot of lives, though." Her own among them.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:57 am
Finn checked the cameras. "Yeah, we should be all-clear if we go now," he confirmed, and followed Erika down the stairs. "Not to sound like a total dad," he said, pausing at the back door. He was, in fact, a total dad. "But send me a text when you get home safely? We've got to look out for each other." He undid all the locks and held the door open for her. "It was good to see you."
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