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 Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 10:38 am
Katherine was walking home from one of her trips to the library, carrying in her hand a heavy bag of books. It was Friday already, and Katherine was thinking over how fast time had passed since she arrived at Destiny City the past Monday. Her days had been spent mostly at the library, but...
As she pondered over her past days, Katherine absentmindedly wandered into an area of the city she was not yet acquaintanced with. A cool wind blew past her, chilling her with its frosty breeze. Suddenly brought out of her daze, Katherine realized that she was lost.
It was getting to be dark, and shadows were beginning to grow across the streets, covering it in darkness. Looking around for someone to ask directions from, Katherine spotted a humanoid figure standing near a building. As she came closer, Katherine saw that the "person" she was approaching was only a cardboard stand-up figure. Katherine sighed, and looked around for someone else to ask directions from. Seeing no one, she leaned against a large statue of a feline-like creature that was partially concealed by shadows.
Katherine was met with a puff of air at her neck. Turning around, Katherine saw that the statue she was leaning against had moved. It's maw was opened wide, and Katherine screamed at it attempted to bite off a peice of her. In those moments where one is close to death, the world slows down and a new sense of though comes to mind. Katherine, in the back of her mind, told herself to move her hand, which was still holding the heavy bag of books.
The bag of books and the creature's jaw collided with a loud smack, sending the thing, or whatever it was, backwards, away from Katherine. Wasting not a minute, Katherine propelled her legs fowards and began running as fast as her legs would take her, hands still clutched tightly to the heavy bag.
For a moment, it seemed like the creature had died, but Katherine's hopes were crushed when it, screaming its recovery, began bounding after her in large strides. Knowing that she would not be able to outrun the thing, Katherine began screaming in the highest pitch she could muster, as loud a her lungs would allow her, for someone to magically appear and help her from her situation."SOOOOOMMMEEOONNEE PLEEEEEAAASSSEEE HEEEEELLLPPPP MEEEEEE!!!"
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 12:10 am
It had been the vague, discomforting feeling that had drawn her here, away from what was her normal patrol route. The creeping unease that said there was something unclean and dangerous stalking the shadows of the city. Ida knew this feeling well... it was the feel of a youma, loose and wandering with no agent of the Negaverse to control its actions. Monsters like this... they were exactly what the senshi had cut her proverbial teeth on when she had been just starting out and continued to be a staple of her work.
Thus, it wasn't the feel of the monster nearby that pulled Ida up short as she landed on the corner of a building down town, her heeled boots scraping on stone. It was the scream of someone in distress that jerked her head up and widened her eyes.
Crap.... she hadn't been fast enough. It had found someone before she had managed to catch up to it...
The eternal senshi frowned in concentration as she oriented herself on the source of the wrong feeling of nearby youma and she jumped from the roof, touching down lightly on the sidewalk below. She took off at a quick run, casting about as she emerged from between two buildings for some visual confirmation of what she was feeling inside her head. It was close... she could feel it...
There!
She just caught the flicker of movement from the corner of her eye and when she turned, Ida got a good look at some large, hulking shape chasing what appeared to be a civilian down the street. A thrill shot through Ida, mingling excitement with apprehension as she turned and ran towards the fleeing pair. The girl was in very real danger, but youma were easy for an Eternal Senshi to handle... if she could just reach them before the monster caught up to her, she could save this one.
And every person saved is one more tally in my pathetically short successes list. Ida thought as she closed the distance between them. Running made it too difficult to pull out her magic at this point, so she lowered her shoulder instead and moved to clip the beast with a body check, hoping to knock it off its feet long enough to call for her bow.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:30 pm
Katherine could tell that the thing was getting closer and closer to her. She was pretty sure that the monster would reach her in a matter of moments, and that when the monster caught her, she would probably become part of the monster's dinner.
As she ran for her life in a way she had never run before, Katherine began feeling as if she was in a dream--albeit it be a very realistically feeling one--and that soon she would wake up in bed covered in sweat and find that what she was going through now had simply been a dream. Yes, she was certain of it. This had to just be a very bad dream. It had to be...
In the midst of her self-convincing, Katherine thought she heard the sound of heels running across the rough pavement, and thought she heard the sound of a body being whammed forcefully into something big and bulky. She noticed in that brief moment that the sound of lumbering prances that was the thing chasing her had suddenly stopped, and was replaced with a crash, the sound of something being roughly slammed aside.
Taking a quick glance behind her, but not at all stopping her running momentum, Katherine saw that she had actually not imagined the sounds, but that what she heard was completely and entirely true. Someone actually had body-checked the monster that was chasing her, and the thing had been flung to the side. Some people say that seeing is believing, but Katherine was not entirely sure she could believe what she was seeing.
Behind her was a lady wearing what looked to be some sort of a cosplay-like costume, complete with a ruffly mini skirt, leggings, and boots. What was really strange though, was the fact that the lady seemed to almost be glowing. Like, literally glowing with the kind of glow you'd see in those neon glow sticks in the dark, or on those 'OPEN' signs in front of shops that light up when night comes.
However, despite the oddities behind her, Katherine did not stop running until she was a good fifteen or so meters way from the monster thing and glowing lady, far enough to be out of range, but close ought to see everything that would soon be happening in detail. Whimsical Blue Time for Ida to whip youma butt!
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Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 10:46 pm
Ida could hear the girl still running as she skidded to a stop and spun to face the monster and she mentally praised her for having the good sense to get clear. It would be easier to fight if she wasn't worried about a civilian being under foot. The eternal watched as the youma rolled and got back onto its feet, snarling hatefully at her for having gotten between it and its prey.
Ida's mouth set in a firm line as she faced it down, squarely in its path if it wanted to take up the chase again. Sweeping an arm up in front of her, petals fell in its wake and began to glow.
"Heavenly Orchid Arrows!" The senshi called as the petals formed a glowing bow and she grabbed hold of it. Pulling back the string, an arrow of light formed between her hands and she aimed it square between the youma's eyes. There was no hesitation then, or worry. Only certainty. Youma were like vermin and were to be dusted at every opportunity. One less youma could mean countless people made safe. There was no question what to do with it.
She released the arrow with a flex of her fingers and it roared as it flew through the air, spraying a trail of light behind it in a smooth arc to the target. When it hit, it didn't pierce as one might expect... rather, it exploded with a flash and rush of air shoved outwards, flinging the youma backwards with the force of it. Ida felt a rush of warmth, even as the loss of energy dragged her shoulders down a knotch. If that didn't do it, she had two more arrows to feed it, and then it would be her fists or her feet that would finish it off.
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 11:38 am
She...Petals...Arrow...Light...Flash...
It would be an understatement to say that Katherine's mind was going on overdrive. It was irrational in the greatest degree, impossible in all terms of science, absolutely destroying all the laws and logic she had been taught her entire life. In that single moment, everything Katherine had though to be true was shattered, broken up by the awesome scene in front of her. Simply put, Katherine could not believe what she had just observed.
The costume-glowy-lady-person had just summoned a...a bow..which was made of petals...and fired an arrow...just smack dab out of nowhere...hitting the monster......How was that possible? Was it an illusion of some sort, or perhaps a hallucination? Katherine knew, just knew, that thing like this were just not reasonable. There was no way the glowing lady had just summoned that arrow. Come to think of it, there was no way the monster chasing her should have been real either. Unless it really was real, and that she herself had been misled her entire life...
Nope. Definitely not real. Katherine quickly shook the thought of the view in front of her being even even the slightest bit true. There was absolutely no way it could not even possibly be real. Outrageous, completely outrageous for this to be real. A dream...perhaps...yes...a dream. That's what it has to be. A dream.
In the brief moments of the exchange between the lady and the monster--the dreamed lady and monster--Katherine became utterly and complete convinced that she was in a dream. There was no use saying otherwise. The logic of the reverse was unreasonable. She should--and would for the matter--just relax, and knew that soon, very soon, she would simply wake up in bed, and everything would be a dream.
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 8:40 pm
The monster roared as it got back up onto its twisted feet, angry that a senshi had gotten between it and its meal. But at least what had interrupted them looked even more delicious... it gaped its jaws wide as it snarled, dripping salivae.
Ida frowned, her mouth tightening before she threw her arm up again and called her attack a second time. She couldn't afford to drag this fight on... not with a civilian nearby. And apparently too shell shocked by what was going on to run, which upped the danger level.
"Heavenly Orchid Arrows!" The senshi shouted again before she loosed her arrow, feeling a fierce satisfaction when it hit its target dead on. The monster was flung backwards and rolled a few times before it dug its feet in and tried to struggle to a stand. Ida rushed it without hesitation and hit it hard with her fist. The abuse proved too much and with a screech, the youma disintegrated into dust and collapsed to the ground, tendrils of dust swept up by a stray breeze.
Ida breathed deeply as she let the adrenaline fade, coming back to where she was... and who she was with. Turning slowly, the senshi gave the girl a once over and slowly approached her, hands spread unthreateningly.
"Are you okay? Did the youma hurt you? Don't worry... I'm a friend. I'm not going to hurt you." It was so hard sometimes, to know who had bought into the Negaverse propaganda that said senshi were terrorists. She didn't want to scare her any more than she was, really.
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Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 4:40 pm
Dust. That was all that remained of the monster that was chasing her. Dust. Only dust. Yet, it couldn't be dust. There is no way that monster was made of dust. Or was it? Katherine knew that weird things happen in dreams, but this was just too strange.
Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. In. Out.
Katherine felt her heart rate slowing, and her previously tense body began to relax. The monster was dead. Or, at least she hoped it was dead. But this was a dream, and Katherine figured that if the monster respawned from the pile of definitely-cannot-be-dust dust, it wouldn't be much of a surprise. This dream was already crazy enough. If it got crazier, so be it. As some people say, when it rains it pours. You get a drizzle of craziness, be ready of a thunderstorm of strange.
As she looked away from the monster's remains, Katherine realized that the glowing lady was walking towards her. Her mind slowly registered that the lady was trying to calm her, and was approaching her with a non-threatening stance.
"I...I...I'm...Uhhhh...I'm..."So, it came to be that while her body might have felt calm, but her mind was still in shock. Deep shock. Her mouth was moving but she didn't seem to be forming any words. Katherine swallowed, took a deep breathe, and tried again."I'm...I'm fine. And uhh...no, the monster didn't hurt me. I had these books here to save me. Thank God for whoever like invented hardback covers. They do come in handy at the strangest times."
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Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 8:16 pm
The senshi watched the girl relax slowly, but she was still wary, and a little worried. Her stuttered attempts to talk showed down deeply shaken she was. Ida wanted to wrap her up in a hug, giving her the warmth of another person, but... would it help, or would it only make things worse? She was still in shock, struggling to process what had happened. Maybe it was better if she sent her home... and maybe kept an eye on her along the way. She shouldn't be out in this state.
"Yeah, a good book can be really useful for lots of different things." Ida agreed with a small smile, lowering her hands while trying to stay unthreatening. "That must have been really scary... you should go home and rest, don't you think? It would be safer too than being out on the streets."
Of course, there wouldn't be much she could do if the girl didn't want to go and refused to. At that point there would be little but to just... keep an eye on her. Eventually, she'd have to go somewhere safe.
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Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 8:59 am
"Yeah, umm...well, about that...I'm like a little lost. You see, I'm not...from here exactly, so I like don't quite know my way around. And so uh, do you like by any chance know the way to this hotel?"Katherine fished a hotel card from her pocket and showed glowing lady the hotel she was staying at. It seemed like glowing lady knew her way around the city, so in a short while, Katherine Found herself with a set of directions to go back to her temporary "home." Normally, Katherine would not be quick to trust random strangers to give her directions that would lead to where she had asked. However, after the past event, the glowing lady seemed...not untrustworthy. A sense of trust and justice radiated from her, letting Katherine feel to naturally trust her. So, she decided to follow glowing lady's directions and hope it wouldn't get her even further lost.
Before she started on her way, though, Katherine voiced a question she had started forming after the shock of the situation began to wear off and her mind began functioning again."Thank you for helping me, ma'am. But like, just out of curiosity, who exactly are you?"
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Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 2:41 pm
Ma'am... What an amusing thought. Ida hardly considered herself worthy of that title. Miss maybe... Princess had been more common once, but she wasn't worthy of that any more either. There was really only one name that fit her any more and even that needed no titles.
She gave the girl directions to the hotel she asked about, remembering it's general area. It wasn't one of her normal patrol areas, but she knew of it. The request for her name was met with a warm smile as the senshi laced her fingers together.
"My name is Ida." She said. "It was nice to meet you. I wish it could have been under better circumstances though. Have a safe walk back to the hotel, ok?"
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Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 4:53 pm
Katherine smiled and nodded her head in answer to glowing lady Ida's question."I'll try, and, well, hopefully there aren't like any more monster-thinghys on my way back."And, in her mind, Katherine voiced a certainty she would hold on to for as long as she could. I definitely won't forget this. Definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely.
Yet, as she walked onto more familiar ground, Katherine felt that the past event that night had just been a dream, a vague confusion with reality. But is wasn't a dream, was it? Or perhaps it was.
Only time can tell such things, Katherine decided as she stepped into the main lobby of the hotel. Besides, dream or no dream, she was glad to be back in a place where she knew she would be safe.
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Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 8:04 pm
"I'm sure there won't be." Ida said as she smiled, watching the girl go. "You'll be okay."
The senshi started the other direction before she made a detour and circled back around at a run. She trailed the girl all the way to the hotel, only feeling at ease once she had walked through its doors. At least that was one more person safe, at least for now. It wasn't the end of anything, but it felt good to have averted at least one potential disaster. And her family was no doubt grateful she'd come home safely.
Ida carried that in her heart as she headed back to her apartment, singing softly to herself as she went.
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