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 Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 9:13 pm
Mintaka was sitting in the park, no tea, no snacks. Her legs were curled close around her and there was a small sniffling sound emitting from the small ball of white hair and dark fuku.
She had mostly been left alone for the night, leaving Lance's apartment to come out here and cry, again. How many nights had she been out? How long had Auro been missing?
She hadn't stepped foot in the newly furnished manor they had built together. She hadn't even felt very....settled in her home before he had gone missing. She had no clues, no leads. Nothing. She had nothing.
Her sobs deepened and she curled even tighter. What good was being Mintaka, when she couldn't do anything with her? What good was joining the Dark mirrors, if all that happened was bad things, after?
She just felt so lost.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 9:32 pm
August rolled around again, and Hydrus returned from his summer abroad to find Destiny City no more worse for the wear than usual. He had a very small circle of powered acquaintances - he figured about three, maybe - and he'd contacted no one about the state of the magical side of the city. Some part of him almost wished it would just fade away, so he could go back to his studies and not spend half his night chasing after monsters.
Yet...
He wandered through the familiar park, somber. She was gone, missing. Though he'd met her cousin, he'd not found hide nor hair of Mintaka for months. They'd found each other, reminisced about a future he couldn't quite remember, and then she'd vanished. Seemed almost too good to be true.
A wave of intense darkness flooded his senses and Hydrus tensed up. It felt... different from the monsters, but he wasn't sure what it was. He crept through the rest of the park, towards it, crouched towards the ground in case he had to spawn the leviathans. Shudder. Provided the leviathans didn't go after him this time. He rounded a corner, hand almost touching the ground.
What he found was a mass of white hair and dark cloths making some sort of... crying sound. Hydrus blinked, tilted his head, and rose from his position on the ground. She didn't look threatening... upset yes, threatening no. Unless it was how she sucked in her victims, he doubted she was going to attack him. Yet, to be safe, he approached slowly, hands out, and gave off the most nonthreatening expression his face could pull off.
"Miss... are you alright? Did someone hurt you?" he asked calmly, hair falling over his shoulder as he approached.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 9:58 pm
She could feel the aura approaching her, sensing it as a basic order senshi. She didn't know who was stupid enough to approach her at the moment, but if they started something, they would feel the smart strike of her origami shapes against them.
The voice sounded familiar though, and as she tilted her head up, looking at the form, she was glad to see it was someone that decidedly not mess with her, as well as being someone she actually knew and trusted.
It had been so long since she had seen him.
"Hy...Hydrus?" Her once blue eyes were deep red, and swollen with tears. But her pale hair and features remained the same.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 10:12 pm
He was not expecting that.
He was not expecting that at all.
Hydrus froze, eyes wide as Mintaka looked up at him, as those red eyes of hers (weren't they supposed to be blue?) met his. Chaos seeped from her yet, that was her. That was Mintaka, his Mintaka, the young woman he'd promised to protect and be a friend too.
And she was crying.
The senshi of the Leviathan didn't care that his senses threw warning signs and shouted at him that she was the enemy now. He moved, crouching in front of her and burying her face into his chest. He hugged her tight, almost desperately and so out of character for the usually stoic young man. Hydrus functioned on autopilot, relief and worry clashing in his heart. Why did she drip of Chaos? Why was she crying? Who'd done this to her? Had she chosen this for herself? If she had, what brought her to that decision? Where was that boyfriend of hers, Auro-something? Why was she crying alone?
He pulled back and tilted her face up ( he still couldn't get over those red eyes of hers ) and looked at her with a concerned expression. His clear blue eyes betrayed him, saying what he couldn't bring himself to at the moment.
'I've missed you.'
"Why are you crying, Miss Mintaka?" So many questions to ask, yet he decided to start with the easiest of the bunch. The rest could come after.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 10:29 pm
There was a lot going on emotionally.
She was very glad to see him. Alive still, and okay. She had meant to call, to find him and tell him of her new change. To ask him, if he still wanted, to be a knight for her, to join a family that was better. But time had hit them, and she couldn't talk to him with the chaos identity she did have now.
But he was the same Hydrus and she was still the same Mintaka, and when he bent down and embraced her, something that was so out of character for him, but still so in character at the same time. She buried her face into chest and heaved some more sobs.
It took a couple of minutes before words formed, and she was apologizing profusely for wetting his fuku.
"I've just...So many bad things have happened in this week. I'm not handling it well." She hitched, "Auro and Tantalus have gone missing, but I am not sure of where...I can't find anything. I feel so lost, and I just..." she laughed pathetically.
"Where....Are you okay?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 10:43 pm
Hydrus just smiled and rubbed her back, telling her to not worry about the wet spots. Auro ( that was her boyfriend, yes ) and Tantalus (who he did not know, or didn't remember who he was) had gone missing. That was unsettling. He did not like how people just went missing on the fly. He frowned, gently petting her hair.
"That seems to happen a lot of people... I am sorry, Miss Mintaka. We will find them." He smiled encouragingly at her, moving a piece of hair out of her swollen eyes.
"I've... been out of the country. Father sent me to Japan for the summer to study abroad. I only recently came back." He settled on the grass in front of her, legs tucked under him. "I've been alright otherwise. Wondering why you suddenly disappeared, though I suppose now I know? The eyes... suit you."
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 10:57 pm
She didn't feel comforted by the words for finding them. She looked, she asked. She had done everything. Even Damocles hadn't heard anything.
But she didn't let it cloud her feelings of joy for him, and to see him again. It was just what she felt she needed, after losing three of the most important people in her life.
"I'm sorry. Did you enjoy it though?" She flushed just a bit, then wiped at her eyes, even as he moved some of her hair out of the way.
"Yes. Oh." She looked down and laughed a little, then played with the transparent overlay of her fuku. A small ringing sound came from the bells on her bracers. "Did it throw you for a loop?" She smiled a little. "I should've told you...does....Does it bother you now?" She looked around. "I....understand if you don't want to be friends. Because...being a white moon senshi, and now I am chaos..."
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 11:14 pm
There was a tight lipped smile that spoke more volumes than his words could. He'd enjoyed it yes, the coming home not so much. "It was very nice, yes."
He looked down at her overlay and the new fuku. It wasn't so new, just embellished and black. It suited her, contrasting her hair very well. If she wasn't crying, she'd almost look happy with it. Though in Hydrus' eyes right now, her decision didn't seem to bring her happiness.
"It was a shock... My... intuition? Keeps screaming at me you are not a friend, but it doesn't bother me." He smiled at her, touching her arm. "You are still Miss Mintaka. I will not abandon you because Chaos flows in your veins now. Our... friendship has transcended time. It can survive this, my dear."
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 12:17 am
"I'm sorry..." She reached over and brushed a piece of his hair back behind his ear. "I'm sure coming home was hard." She pursued her lips. She didn't want him to feel guilty, but she also didn't want him too....lament.
she wanted to tell him that in truth, she was far more happier in the dark mirrors, then she could ever be with the white moon. It was just ill concieved timing on both her and the universe.
She wanted to believe that.
"It must be scary, but I promise, I would never do anything to hurt you. Ever. You were one of the only people I considered a friend on the white moon court, Hydrus." She touched his arm back, "And even in the future, as our roles were reversed, I still trusted you." She took a deep breath in.
"It's not bad here. It's not bad with the family I have now. I know it seems doom and gloom because of..." She waved down her face, "But it was just...timing." She couldn't possibly tell him about Chariklo. Purification of the one who first offered her a place in the dark mirror just...stung.
"If you ever wanted to join-" She...left the words hanging, "But I would never force you. And I would never want you to unless...you wanted it as well." She laughed, "I will still be your Mintaka, and you will still be My Hydrus."
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 12:43 am
"Just a reminder of reality, is all, nothing to worry about," he said, patting her on the head. A rather rude reminder of reality, but that was his father and there was no pleasing that man. That mattered not at the moment however, and he listened quietly as she spoke.
Bad timing was an acceptable answer for her crying state. He couldn't imagine what she was going through, having the people she depended on vanish on her like that. He gave her another encouraging smile, though he shrugged his shoulders some.
"I... do not know where I fit in all this. Some of the White Moon want to abandon Earth for their homeworlds, others say no. I've never even considered going to mine, though perhaps I should change that. Yet..." he glanced down at his fuku for a moment. "I will admit you are my only friend among those of us magical people, besides the acquaintance I keep with Athene and Liryn. My own fault I suppose, I'm not that much of a social butterfly."
He shifted, his feet slowly going numb under him. "Let us leave the option open for now? I'd like to... make an informed decision on the matter, if that's alright with you." He chuckled internally at the comment. His 'informed decisions' were going to be the end of him eventually. Yet he had one year to decide his civilian fate; perhaps he'd come to his powered fate in that time as well.
"Now, I'm guessing powering down in front of you is probably unwise for both our sakes, but I do have a thermos of tea and some cups with me, if you give me five minutes to wander around a corner," he said, standing up and shaking feeling into his feet again. "I promise I will come back."
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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 12:57 am
"They are often cruel." She amended. She did not have to know what happened to know that Hydrus's family probably fell underneath the more stricter....types. She had remembered they had shared more then just a love of tea and philosophy. A similar background had helped as well.
"I've heard of that. Many wish to leave, and take only few with them." She laughed bitterly, "You should." She leaned back now, resting her hair against the tree she had been sitting against and nodding. "They are truly wonders, the home planets. I can't say I miss mine, since I did visit it before coming to the mirror's side, but I am sure later down the road I will." She breathed in deeply, her sobs had disappeared almost immediately. The tear track still stained her cheeks, but she was rubbing it away as gently as she could.
"Aurostibite is like that...." She chuckled a little, her heart clenching with sadness. She wanted her lover back. She wanted him to come home to her. She wanted to stop dreading the days she spent without him.
"I would love that." She mentioned of tea and nodded, "Because...I am chaos now. I can't show you." She shook her head, "Even if I trust you, there is no way I could." It would put Hydrus in more danger.
"I'll be here. I don't go home...."
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Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2015 12:03 am
"I will be right back," he reassured her. Hydrus patted her on the head gently, then wandered off to find a good place to power down. He made sure to get a good distance away, and ducked behind a tree. He powered down, letting the magic slip from his fingers until Drake stood in his place. The young man fished through his book bag until he found the thermos and the two plastic cups he carried with him. He placed them on the ground before he powered back up. He really hoped the tea was still hot...
Hydrus walked back over and sat down on the bench, thermos in one hand, cups in the other. "I have returned with tea!" He opened the thermos and sniffed it, feeling heat waft up from the container. Wonderful! "I hope you don't mind ginseng."
He poured her a cup, and handed it to her, cautioning her about its heat and to make sure not to burn herself. Once she had her cup, he'd pour himself his and slowly sip at it. Mmm hot tea....
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Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2015 1:26 am
Mintaka's hand almost reached out for him, but she held it down with the other. Both shook with the underlining fear that Hydrus would be just like Chariklo, and leave. Order was tricky like that.
She half expected him to disappear on her anyways. She was a emotional wreck. No one wanted to deal with that, did they?
She felt the aura of order disappear, and started to curl herself up again. Even if he didn't return, she would still be there.
But the moment she felt the doubt thicken, he was there again, giving her tea.
"I love all tea..." She sniffed it, instantly calming her down and smiled into the cup. "I hope I'm still not inconveniencing you." She laughed a little....
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 7:53 pm
Hydrus smiled at her and shook his head. She could never inconvenience him. Simply worry, but that was something he was rather unused to in the grand scheme of things. Hydrus - and Drake by definition - had never cared for anyone like this. For most of his life, he actually assumed he was rather incapable of it, and was okay with that. He'd have some years to attempt to find women attractive, in the way most young men were supposed to, and find a nice young lady his father approved of to settle down with.
Now though, he found that he could... care about people. And not just in a "yes you're paying me to tutor you pay attention" way, but in a sudo-affectate way. Almost like... a brother. Yes, that was rather quite it, wasn't it? He found her to be like a younger sister, to be protected from the outside world.
He patted her head gently, brushing fingers through her white hair. "You could never inconvenience me, Miss Mintaka. I'm happy to be here." Hydrus sipped from the cup again, letting out a soft sigh. Ah, good tea. A little strong, but not bad at all.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:43 am
She closed her eyes at the affection and sighed. It was hard not to fall into the comfort of someone else when she felt desperate like this. Clinging to the nearest person when she felt her heart tightening with fear and crumbling under pressure.
With Damocles and Hydrus around though, she could feel herself stabilizing. If she could not find Tantalus and Aurostibite right away, or anytime soon, she would not go crazy looking for them.
What she needed to do was clear, build the alliances she needed. So she could survive until they returned.
"What is Japan like?" She asked, just to hear him talk. "It's summer...was it warm...muggy?"
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