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 Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:22 pm
Zia was sure Tara would not be happy about it, but after so long lingering without news (Or troublesome news from others) she had sucked it up and asked Kairatos for more information on Hvergelmir. Specifically, where to hunt her down.
The self imposed restraining order was over. She couldn't find Tara, and the last time they had spoken face to face was with a giant Exidor elephant in the room with them. The super special Cosmos knight she was not allowed to talk to was going to be talked to, damn it, because she was Zia's only lead.
She wandered the area, craning her neck this way and that and finally decided to break out the energy leaking cat girl form for an aura burst. Too impatient to see if that worked yet, she just went for the full use of her very strong lungs with an inconsiderate but impressive shout for, "HVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGELMIIIIR!"
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:42 pm
Although most of Hvergelmir's visitors were happenstance wanderers, there were one or two visitors who, on occasion, sought her out intentionally. But no one had ever sought her out quite this directly. The combination of the singular aura and the, she wanted to say, voice, tipped her off as to who it was that was seeking Hvergelmir's attention. Unfortunately, it left no clue as to why. Was she hurt? In danger? Frantically in need of cab fare to get home? " ZEE?" she called out, following the aura and the voice to their epicenter. "Is everything okay? What are you doing here?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:42 am
Fists parallel with her shoulders, elbows clenched tightly to her body and head angled up, the lilac haired cat-girl looked like she had been howling at the moon. But, you know, in a girly way.
"Oh," She looked over when she felt the aura and powered right back down, bounding on her sneakers and nearly flapping her arms, "You're a squire now!"
Stop, She had to tell herself and take a few deep, focusing breaths. She wasn't here to update her index or be creepy and touch Hvergelmir's hair or any of that stuff. She was on a mission.
"Look," She said, squaring her shoulders and putting on her business face. "I'm sorry I ran off like I did before, but Ta-- Aquarius, I mean... What I'm saying I guess is we have a mutual friend, and I need to know if you've seen her."
She decided against, at least for now, going into details about how she was forbidden by this very mutual friend from Hvergelmir because she would traumatize or confuse her or something, but now was not the time for keeping promises because so far that was going badly. Being respectful of people's space and their wishes was a hard thing for Zia, but she had attempted to do so for Tara even though it was really, really hard.
That clearly went badly, and she would reflect on this moment forever in the future to assure herself that she was always right and people just didn't know what was good for them.
"It's been a while, since I've seen her and she was... not doing so good."
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:55 am
Tara.Hvergelmir's heart sank. She looked down at her wrist, her eye catching on the jade circle wired like a charm on one of her bangle bracelets. "I've seen her," she admittedly glumly. "Around mid-July. She's alive." She hadn't seen Tara since then. She'd waited by the gate every Wednesday, hoping Aquarius would come out and meet her, agree to come home -- but the only sign that anyone still resided at Aquarius Outpost was that whatever small gifts and snacks (and one time, a potted plant) she'd left for her friend weren't there the next time she came. Clearly, Tara left the building -- just not when Hvergelmir was there.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 11:20 am
Zia's shoulders sunk. That was roughly the time Tara told her to go away because she had failed to deliver any assistance and seemed to have offended her by the assertion that the voice in her head was not the same as the voice in Tara's head.
Thraen's prompting recently had ripped the scab off of that guilt all over again.
"Do you know where she went?
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 11:38 am
"Yes," she said hesitantly. Pushing back on people who were asking her for things was not exactly what Laney's parents would have termed as being 'in her wheelhouse.' She didn't like doing it, and she wasn't always even sure how to -- but it occured to her that Tara hadn't told anyone where she was going, and Laney wasn't sure whether Zee's interference would help or hinder her coming home. She liked Zee, it was just... Tara was her best friend. A person only had one best friend. "Why?" Hvergelmir felt compelled to ask.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 4:13 pm
Zia opened her mouth to answer, and then realized it wasn't that easy and closed it again.
She looked down at the pavement and shuffled her weight from one foot to the other. "She came to me asking for help," She started, and fiddled with one of the many rings on her fingers, turning it around and around. "But I didn't know how, and I think I upset her. She ran away, and I haven't seen her since."
She bit the inside of her cheek, realizing that made her sound more unwelcome then she wanted to and if Hvergelmir was acting as some sort of gatekeeper then Zia was certainly not making a good case for herself.
"I guess I don't need you to tell me, I just wanted to know... Is she still...? Seeing..." She let out a long exhale like she didn't want to say the name Aquarius had dubbed her hallucination, and when she finally did, it was flat and monotone in contrast to her other speech. "Exidor?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:58 pm
Exidor. The ghost that Aquarius had been seeing? "The, um..." Hvergelmir tried, but she couldn't bring herself to say things like 'hallucination.' Things like 'yes, she's still seeing things.' "Yes, she's still -- going through that." For a moment, Hvergelmir felt a sharp stab of jealously so acute that it made her hate the woman in front of her. She came to me asking for help, Zee had said. All Hvergelmir could think of was, She came to you asking for help? Who the hell are you that you're so special? I'm her best friend, if she needs help she should come to me -- She was immediately ashamed. Was that who Laney was as a person, deep down? Someone who liked people so long as they gave her what she wanted? Where had all that bitterness come from? Hvergelmir looked down at her feet. "She's gone to the Surrounding," the squire offered, maybe as an apology for her uncharitable thoughts. "She doesn't intend to come back."
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 5:53 am
Zia was nothing but wide eyed obliviousness in response to Hvergelmir's mannerisms, but she stomped one foot in frustration and started angrily talking with her hands at the answer.
"She's-- to-- whar--" Talking with her hands as she spewed frustrated babble, at least. The fact that Tara had absconded away to the Surrounding was no surprise to Zia and if she was capable she would have gone there to check herself, but the part about staying was just absurd.
"She can't live in space, that's so stupid!"
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:44 am
Hvergelmir folded her arms across her chest, letting some of her own frustration with the situation show through. Zee seemed to have no problem with being visibly exasperated, and that felt like some kind of permission for her to follow suit. "Tell me about it," she said sulkily. "She won't listen to me, and I have no idea how to get her to come back. Do you... were you two close?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 5:10 pm
"Um..." Zia rolled on her heels, wondering if Tara would consider them close. While her answer was a yes, there was a lingering insecurity that came with it that it wasn't not seen the same way on the Zodiac senshi's end.
"Sort of, yeah. She told me about you when we had a sleepover once. Before I met you in person."
Which was the unfortunate source of Zia's perception Hvergelmir was a delicate flower prone to fainting spells and if her precious constitution was tried to the point of being overwhelmed like Tara was afraid it would, Tara would never forgive her. Ot that was the amplified version her brain had come up with since the night she promised to leave Hvergelmir alone and never overwhelm or distress a hair on her head.
But Hvergelmir had a lot of hair so maybe she could handle it.
"Your rank up suits you, by the way," She said, managing a smile in the wake of hearing that while stubborn and off world Tara was at least alive and stuff and Hver had yet to collapse from their interactions.
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 5:43 pm
"Thank you," Hvergelmir said, a little surprised. Other people had noticed her newer rank in the last month or two, but Babylon had been the only one to really offer her any sort of congratulations on it. She supposed she didn't come off like someone who'd really earned more power, considering her lack of fighting drive or prowess. It reminded her that Zee was a guardian cat, and had nurtured a confused young page when she'd prodded her with questions. Hvergelmir remembered how grateful she'd been -- that she'd declared Zee the best guardian cat she'd ever met. And then Zee had run off, and Hvergelmir hadn't seen her again. It was like getting parental recognition when you thought they'd written you off. Sort of like with Laney's parents, except that they'd never actually offered parental recognition. "I didn't think I'd see you again," she admitted. "I thought I must've said something wrong."
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 7:26 pm
Zia's eyebrows shot up at the hint someone else may have had some lingering insecurities or self doubt and while basic logic said everyone must've experienced these things at one point or another, it didn't always feel that way. Especially not when she had been wallowing again.
"Noooo," She said, her expression suddenly washed over with guilt and her arms waved in an ungraceful flapping flail as she suddenly realized her mistake in how she had flubbed the previous social interaction and felt an intense impulse to fix it combined with having no idea how.
"I just had no idea who you were when we talked and then you were until you started talking about her and then I realized you were the one knight I promised I wouldn't go hunting for but by then I already indexed you and everything I'm very sorry please don't feel that way!"
Hvergelmir was then subject to a tackling hug motion without warning or permission as Zia babbled in massive over correction, and would realize seconds later she was doing a terrible job and not being overwhelming as it all came out in one burst.
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 7:37 am
Hvergelmir didn't mind hugs. She didn't get very many of them -- but they seemed to come around more often when she was crying or freaking out about something, courtesy people like Camelot or Babylon who let her trail along after them like a lost puppy. In situations like this, everyday conversations, they were a little less expected. But not unwelcome. She fell into the hug with confused gratitude, putting one leg back to catch them both from falling off-balance. "W-what do you mean you promised not to go hunting for me? You promised Aquarius?" That was... why? Was something wrong, that Tara didn't want the two of them to meet?
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 9:13 am
"Oh. no, it's my my fault," Zia said with a deep inhale pulling back and giving Hvergelmir a few quick little primping pats as if her general appearance needed to be corrected after the impromptu hug tackle. She had all of the sense of boundaries as a typical cat even in human appearance, and did not think anything of adjusting and 'fixing' the squire's bangs without permission.
"I can get a little overbearing and possessive and greedy I guess..." Her first inclination was to avoid throwing Tara under the bus, but then she remembered she was mad at Tara for being a stubborn butthead who ran away to space and that was the entire reason she had run out tonight to howl Hver's name at the moon in the fist place. "I-- wait, it is not my fault. She said I was going to overwhelm you and that she needed time because you were new and fragile and how is anyone supposed to get her obstinate a** off of the Surrounding anyway?"
Some subjects may have started blurring together with that reminder.
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