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Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 2:48 pm
There were a few people that Kairatos knew in powered form, and felt concern for. A very few, but that small handful... after the things they'd seen he was very concerned about them. He didn't speak a word of Italian, but he'd understood enough from Castor's previous behavior in the park, and from Pollux's rough translations. Pollux had proved to be, best case, a disinterested handler to an rabid dog, worst case... he didn't want to really think about the worst case, what would prompt someone to deliberately allow their own unstable sibling, unbound in time in ways that the only other royal he knew was not, to declare war and threaten death on the people he should have been looking to ally with. They were a mighty army of two against an entire planet, but they were an unpredictable army with no scruples, and had already found a couple dedicated followers willing to shut their eyes and ears to the signs that there was something deeply, deeply wrong. "Last time I saw him it was down that way, near the biker bar. That was... also kind of when he broke my shoulder and threw motorcycles at me, but he didn't talk like someone who was fully invested in the Nega-Koolaide and buying it by the case. It was before we really talked. No idea if you two have met..." He kind of hoped they had. He had the feeling she'd be a much more positive influence on the situation. "He wasn't a Lieutenent, so he'd have been able to teleport out of that trap but I still gotta make sure... you know?" He was pretty sure Hver did know, but he had to know that Castor hadn't gotten there anyway. One of his short list. The one he thought might be the hardest to track down. He was a Knight and Castor had been able to throw him bodily against a wall. Titanlavenite might have been larger, physically more powerful, but he just didn't know. Shazari I'll check with Roma and talk about how they get Avalon to safety since I assume Roma would rather not have her (Avalon's)) nega-declared legally dead status revoked unexpectedly. <3
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 5:06 pm
Hvergelmir had only been half paying attention when Kairatos had told her where he'd wanted to go -- or, more specifically, what he'd wanted to do. Sailor Megrez's words were still ringing in her head. That oath of yours ensures that you'll be pristine forever. Hvergelmir had felt hollow, standing there in a room among people who didn't know she'd sworn an oath not to help them. People who didn't know that while she stood there, arguing against this violent course, begging their forbearance against their enemies, she wouldn't and couldn't actually help them protect themselves or anything else in doing so. People who didn't know that she was not one of them, that she'd abandoned them in their fight to uphold justice, that she'd left them to the front lines alone. They had a right not to hear her out. She didn't share their burdens. I'm trying to do something else. This war's a tragedy, and it deserves better than no one talking to each other.
Kairatos understands. Avalon understands.But did she? How much of anything did Avalon understand, yet? What a strange, cruel irony -- Hvergelmir had sworn her oath to Avalon in the first place. The Earth knight didn't even remember it now. Being around Kairatos was making her feel centered, so she'd stuck with him -- and the prospect of having something to do, even if it was something as simple as checking in on people he was worried about, was more than enough to cling to for the moment. Hvergelmir didn't want to go home and be left with her own thoughts. She wanted to keep moving, to keep from looking back. It was easier, for now. So here she was, outside a biker bar. "I may not know the person you fought," she told her friend, looking around with active curiosity. "I don't really hang out at places like this. But we'll give it a shot and hope he's around here, right?" She tried giving Kairatos a cheering smile. "Anyway, I'm sure he's fine -- like you said, if he can teleport, he's safe. I'm sure he's okay." That was a lie. Hvergelmir wasn't sure anyone was okay that she wasn't currently looking directly at -- not these days. Who knew when there'd be another puddle of blood, someone else dead? But Kairatos was a friend, and it was the sort of lie friends told each other to make them feel better when there was nothing else you could do about a situation. You both pretended to stay positive. They started walking the asphalt down in the direction Kairatos had indicated, toward where she expected they'd find rows of gleaming muscle bikes lined up like a movie set. She squinted, trying to close out the feedback from her other senses and see if she could feel out any Negaverse auras like Kairatos was hoping they'd find.
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 4:59 am
Ignorance was bliss, or at least the ignorant Captain Titanlåvenite was feeling in the realm of pleased. Bliss was too strong a word for most days. It had taken a while before he was willing to risk returning to the place- who could fathom the hunting habits of the enemy, really. Running into a Knight again, in combat, alone...it was too risky. But the place was really too perfect for filling quota to abandon wholesale on the mere chance the Bull of Mars would put it on a patrol rotation. So it was, Titan was at Michigan Jack's, settling down a finished water chaser and turning to leave with a pocket full of a large energy ball when he noticed nearing auric disturbance. Way out there. A knight. No, two knights. But only one knight-knight . Titan moved to the door, bending to exit. He didn't wait in the open or to summon his hammer. A few jumps brought him to the top of the telephone pole that flanked the parking line of bikes. He looked to the road, brow furrowed with concern- It must be him. And he brought help? To end me? Corner? Why. He knows I can leave with focus. Gods, what stupidity was at the last showing. How could he even think to need help after I proved so ill matched to even stand ground.
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Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 3:58 pm
"...Ok so..." It was sort of hard to miss the figure looming on top of the telephone pole as they approached. "...I'm... going to guess he remembers me." He wasn't sure she could even hear him as he pulled the bike around at what he hoped was a safe distance and stopped, raising his hands to show his empty palms. The gesture meant fairly little when you could summon a weapon at a whim, but it was the symbolism. "Hey big guy..." God it was a weird relief to see him though, as he pulled off the bike helmet and rested it slowly on the handle bars. "Not actually here to fight." He called out, hoping it was loud enough to hear. Leave the keys in the ignition, he wasn't sure they might not have to peal out to keep Hver from danger, since he wasn't sure how this would go.
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:29 am
Although, for obvious reasons, most people did not occasion standing atop a telephone pole, it actually made for a pretty good place to be, if there was a street lamp attached to it. From a practical standpoint, it offered a simple and straightforward advantage: you could see everything beneath you really really clearly, while the people on the ground looked up and got the best part of an eyeful of peach-white lamplight. Kairatos pointed out the man atop the pole, and Hvergelmir dutifully looked up, seeing him too: but it was little more than a pale, distorted silhouette behind a bright light. She couldn't make out a person, just the shape of one. A big shape, though. A really big one. Which, she decided, was either great news or was going to be the worst disaster. Hvergelmir put an arm up over her face to try and block out some of the light as she stared up. "Titan? Is that you?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 12:29 pm
Not must be. IS. It's IS the Bull of Mars. And...Hvergelmir?! He had choices- to stay there, what was hopefully well out of range of anything they had to bring to bear, teleport away, throw his hammer to initiate an offensive, leap down in active attack, or leap down ....and not attack. The last option. Titanlåvenite leapt down, bristled and ready, to what he hoped was only conversational range and not weapon range for that net. Or would give him a chance to react if the man gunned the vehicle. He extended his arm with hammer out-raised, "Why are you here, Bull of Mars?" And more pleading, "Hvergelmir?" This isn't the park. Will she join him in battle? 'not here to fight', it makes no sense. I couldn't take him, let alone the two of them. His eyes looked between them, uncertain and confused at her, opposition and confused at him.
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 12:40 pm
Kairatos flinched, shoulders tensing as Titan hefted that massive hammer, all too easily imagining the damage it could cause but tried to hold his ground steadily, hands in sight, and make no move that could be readily interpreted as aggressive. "She's here because I asked her to come. I swear I'm not here to fight. I was... well... we were worried. Consider me to be under her oath for the night." He didn't know how else to convince Titan that he really wasn't here to hurt him, but the fact that they knew each other was something. And it was a hopeful sign, he thought. "Hver, you want to explain this one? I think he likes you better anyway..." He joked weakly, glancing over his shoulder to her with an anxious smile. Bull of Mars. He liked that at least, though it kind of sounded like something he'd heard in one of the nightmares that seemed to be so common lately. He was also praying that Titan wouldn't decide that the 'treat me like I'm under her vow' thing didn't sound like 'perfect time to mash into a red spot on the pavement.'
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 1:11 pm
"This is..." Hvergelmir flinched. If she'd had any idea they were on their way to see Titanlåvenite, she'd have handled this so much differently. What could she say now? Kairatos is a Negaverse turncoat who wants to tempt you to abandon your post with them! Actually, me too, by the way, on the last part! She definitely could not say that. "Kairatos is a friend of mine. He means you no harm here, I give you my word. I didn't know it was you we were coming to see, or I would've sent warning." She frowned, biting her lip. "Something... something bad happened tonight. Two men from our side slaughtered a building full of Negaverse agents. Lieutenants, mostly, as far as we could tell. It was..." She looked down at the ground, shaking her head. There weren't words for horrors like that, done in the name of justice. "We wanted to see the agents we knew. To make sure you know we don't fight that way." She didn't know what exact history Kairatos and Titan had -- and without knowing, it seemed like too much of a stretch to say the whole truth, which was Kairatos was worried about you. Hvergelmir stepped between the two of them, offering Titan her back, then produced her distaff and stooped to set it delicately down on the ground between them -- like Titan had done when they'd first met. She stayed where she was, gesturing for Kairatos to do the same, and then stepped back, giving her weapon a wide berth. "Please," she said gently.
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:00 pm
The Bull deferred to Hvergelmir, which Titan could identify with himself. She was a fair, high lady built for diplomacy. For talking in tense situations. So much so she was doing exactly the right things with the right words. More than 'I swear', since that was not swearing on anything at all. Swearing on some god? On his wonder? What. But a personal word was something, and something that she had proven worthy of trust so far. She enacted a disarmament to back it up. "Slaughter is a powerful word. " Not one usual to Senshi and Knights, but not impossible either. Not from Ladon's experience. It sounds like something worth hearing. She didn't send word on note, like that other poor one- there's something behind that. She knows I would have retrieved the bodies to give to their families as much as we are able and allowed. The hammer was incrementally lowered. Shifted to haft in one and head supported in the other hand before Titan carried it forward to the distaff and set it down beside it. He kept his eyes on Kairatos. Did this one understand this ritual for what it was? For hallowed as it was? I shouldn't be nervous- I can summon my hammer to my hand. And I don't really need it. They cannot touch starseeds as I can. Their hands never seem so deadly as ours, even disarmed...But not having the weapon to hand still fluttered in his gut anywhere near the knight who had seemed so completely terrifying the last they'd met. Titan straightened and backed away from the two arms.
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:14 pm
"It's an accurate word." Kairatos added, with a slightly hollow note to his voice as he summoned his net, glancing at Hver again, and put it on the ground near the other weapons. He could summon it true, but he was surprised how much more vulnerable he felt with it just sitting there on the ground, in sight but not in hand. "It's my fault... Sorry Hver. I didn't catch his name." Even if he had, he was pretty sure he'd have forgotten it when that hammer had hit. It had driven almost everything else out of his mind. Had he just ruined one of Hver's contacts by panicking over Castor and Pollux' slaughter? He was tempted to argue that while Castor and Pollux showed as Order... but after the threats they'd given... definitely not on their side. Only on their own side...whatever that meant, though instead of arguing he just stepped back, to create more visible distance between himself and his weapon... and Titan's weapon.
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 3:16 pm
Well, that at least would be an icebreaker. Introductions. I can do introductions.Hvergelmir looked at Titan, raised both hands, and indicated the Mars knight. "Yonder knight of Mars is called Kairatos. Like 'chiropractor,' but.... 'toast.'" Then, switching her arms around and facing Kairatos: "And this strapping captain of the Negaverse is called Titanlåvenite. Like 'titan,' but..." She gave a helpless shrug. "...longer." It would've been nice to leave it at that. Slightly goofy introductions, they'd all shake hands and go home, job well done, Hvergelmir! But blood still stained the hem of her skirt, still mussed her shoes, and they had come here because Titan deserved to be warned of a very real threat. "Knights can't communicate very easily," she began, looking for a starting point. "But senshi have these cell phonesthey can use to call or text each other even when they're powered up. Kairatos and I only turned up to the warehouse because of all the auras in the area, but -- these two brothers, they -- apparently they sent out a fake distress call to all the senshi in the area. They wanted to show off their handiwork." She shuffled her feet back and forth, finding one of the long strands of hair that hung loose from her updo and twisting it around her finger. This was hard to talk about. It was brutal and shameful. "When we got there, the brothers, they were talking about how we should all be targeting the Negaverse's weakest officers and -- torturing and killing them wholesale, to send a message to the Negaverse's higher ranks that we're merciless and they should be afraid. They claim this is their declaration of war on Earth. According to their philosophy, true war has no rules. And at least one of the brothers had severe hallucinations, too." She wrapped her other arm around her midsection, remembering the scene, and with it, her flashbacks to Mistral. She felt cold all of a sudden. "Kairatos had met them before -- I hadn't. He could tell you more."
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 4:28 pm
Once the net was set aside as well, Titan visibly relaxed- like a cease fire was really just that simple and certain. Hver's version of introduction pulled at half of his mouth, trying to turn the serious set into something lighter. It at least softened his visage, even if it didn't quite manage a smile. What she described though sound plain odd. "Were they trying to recruit for their war? Why would they use a distress signal when they could just call people if they wanted to brag? " "Honestly, there are not really so many rules to modern war- there are the things governments say they follow, but none of them do when the media is not watching. " He sounded wholly disapproving, but unsurprised. "If there are senshi formally declaring war on the Earth, then they fulfill everything that our throne has recruited us for." It wasn't a happy thing, that some of these young lords had gotten it into their heads that they had any claims or reasons to threaten the people of Earth. At least the negaverse had already been stockpiling and training. If there was a focused effort on the lieutenants, maybe the SpecOps should suggest a tightening of ranks. A lot of things, like the supervision of the upper ranks over the lower, had grown more and more over his service. Even his own General was rarely seen. "Who are these brothers? Can you name them?" He looked to Kairatos, since Hver had said he knew more about them.
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 5:25 pm
"I'll point out they haven't gathered much of a following, especially when they said they'd do the same anyone who tried to stop them." He let his eyes deliberately drift to Hvergelmer, hoped it sunk in that not only would people that Titan didn't care so much about be in danger, so would people he did seem to. Not that he blamed him. Hver just had that kind of soothing effect on people. Most people. And she'd SERIOUSLY kicked a** in that conversation. "They're Castor and Pollux. There's something... wrong with Castor. He was... confusing the past and now. Pollux was basically playing... I don't know... interpreter? Worlds crappiest handler?" He didn't know how to describe it. "Castor is unpredictable and dangerous. A few weeks ago I ran into him alone. He thought he knew me, from before, so he threw me against a wall so hard I thought he'd broken something. Just for not answering fast enough. Told me I was not absolved of my sins and I'd pay for them... then the next minute he's all smiles and buddy time and offered me the name of a..." He turned a bit red as he glanced toward Hver again. "...A brothel. He told me I could use a brothel he knew as a safe house. Didn't tell him I didn't need it." Blame it on the white hair and sparkles but mentioning brothels in front of Hver was sort of like swearing at a Nun. You weren't sure if they actually cared or not, but you were pretty sure you were doing something wrong. Maybe he should have someone look up the place though. If Castor was a regular enough customer that they knew 'Cassie' by name... he had to wonder if he'd snapped at one of them. His senshi powers could... ...They'd already seen what he could do. He wasn't going to dwell on that right now. He'd talk to Themiscara later. And tell her about the amusing introduction. It... was a decent way to explain how to pronounce his name.
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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 6:49 am
If Hvergelmir had been fully paying attention, she might've had an eyebrow arched for the news that this Prince Castor proudly had a "friend" who worked at a brothel that he thought he could send his friends to impose upon. It would've been difficult to imagine a person like Castor having the sort of personality that a sex worker would genuinely want to keep around and not just uncomfortably humor on a professional level. Fortunately, that was a thought to ruminate on for another time. She'd lost the thread of the conversation somewhere down the way. Instead, she was staring at Titan with a thunderstruck, stricken expression on her face. If there are senshi formally declaring war on the Earth, then they fulfill everything that our throne has recruited us for."Oh my God," she said stupidly, hands wringing. "Oh my God, Kairatos, he's right." She looked back at the Mars knight with new dread. "It's not just that he's torturing people, he -- he's a White Moon prince and he's declaring war on Earth. He's going to give their straw man a face -- he's legitimizing all the lies Metallia tells. Kairatos, they'll kill us all. He's giving them the excuse." She looked back at Titan, pleading. "Don't believe it. Please. There's no war -- it's just two men thinking they can paint the rest of us into a corner and make us join in. They speak for no one but themselves."
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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 4:55 pm
Mention of a brothel at all was a little confusing in how it was supposed to be taken as a piece of 'knowing more' information. How someone found such a thing, why they'd want to, why they'd even bother going to one, was just more mysteries. Maybe their nobility had trouble finding someone willing to sleep with them without being paid for the 'honor'? Being crazy could have something to do with that. It is unpleasant. This does not sound a noble of any sort that I would see throned in any capacity over the Earth. And if the other is of the same mind... "The actions of the two will speak louder than words from other nobles who are already trespassing, I think. All the senshi and the knights here had not asked leave or pardon from our throne. The Konge ...I don't know. " Hvergelmir's panic looked genuine. Considering how little success either side of the war had seen so far in eliminating the other, it seemed premature. What she said in the panic was just more strangeness. It can't be a lie if it just happened, can it? Why call it a lie? More importantly, how does she know Metallia's name? I have not said it to her, and it didn't seem like we were to speak of the Queen specifically to enemies. I ...guess if I've spent time with her, what is to say other agents haven't. Maybe others that have looser lips or loyalty? Another failing of the Spec Ops. Maybe I'm too far myself. Titan sobered still, considering both his own actions and those of prospective others he'd never even considered before. A neutral party was certainly something, but he'd not heard of any recognitions of her neutrality the way there were with Switzerland for all the regular countries of the world. And if a name was out, how much more information was being given to their enemies, maybe even through Hvergelmir's sweet manners. She WAS with 'Realgar'. She was standing by a traitor who could be a very source of leaked information. A Man who had left the service of the Earth to swear to Mars somehow and some-why. "There's been a war this whole time, Lady. Before Castor and Pollux. People have been dying. If there wasn't, we wouldn't have to set our weapons aside at truce. " Maybe news of all this was already reaching the Generals and Konge. He wasn't sure what to do. "The difference to me is my first time hearing of one powerful enough to take a royal title making any formal declarations of intention against the Earth itself. Maybe the Konge will not be surprised, or have heard these before. One senshi can be enough to cause a problem once their magic is involved- all those lieutenants lost..." "Lesser nobles always bow to greater in searching for favors and offering fealty. It probably won't be two for long. Promises of new titles, lands, money, or...I guess... brothels...whatever a noble who wants to be a war chief can bring to buy others to his cause. " "If so many of the other nobles do not agree with him, such as yourself and ....Kairatos, why don't they silence his declaration themselves?" "And why does it worry an outlaw what another outlaw does?"
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