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 Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 7:35 am
Mont Blonc was, for his part, determined to continue trying to patrol on his own when he could. Not because he didn't want to be around Aegir or Methone, no, it was just the opposite of that - he always worried, maybe irrationally, that he was being too needy when he bothered them all the time. Even if Methone had gone from 'friend' to 'girlfriend', she, like Aegir, was just so busy, and he... well, he wasn't. He couldn't be until school started, and even then he doubted he'd be more busy than the two of them with their ballet careers and all the hours he knew went into that.
Even now, walking on his own down the streets, he didn't know what he would have done had he encountered a youma or another officer; he was getting by, yes, but every time felt he was scraping along by his teeth. (In one case, literally.) He thought, not for the first time, of what Glitnir had said and how right he'd been. Some people, like him... there was no way he'd ever really take center stage, was there? He was a supporter. A helper. And he wasn't like Aegir; he didn't have defensive magic he could turn offensive. He had fists he barely knew how to use, limber limbs, and a definite and profound need to survive.
Needless to say, when he sensed a knight instead of an enemy, he felt a little relieved - and a little ashamed that that was the first thing to wash over him. With a slight sigh, but determined, he at least began treading the alleys to try and weave closer to whoever it was. Getting closer, that was always the easy part - it was when he was there, about to come upon them, that he always hesitated, his familiar nerves creeping back in.
But he was still trying desperately to overcome his flaws, even if he barely knew how. "Hello?" And his voice was painfully soft and tentative, nearly lost to the heavy night air. So much so, the page cringed when he realized, and tried a second time, "Hello?" Not much better, really...
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:29 am
It was hypocritical, maybe, for someone like Hvergelmir, who nearly exclusively worked alone, to judge other people for going out unaccompanied on patrols. Still, she couldn't help herself -- she thought of Hyperborea, who caused her so much lost sleep, and Aegir, who stubbornly patrolled after a long exhausting day of work in the middle of the night, all by himself -- and she thought of Thraen's BlackWatch initiative and all the pains he'd taken to try and get it off the ground only to see people stay with their old habits. She didn't like to imagine fellow knights and senshi wandering the streets by themselves, possibly getting killed with no one even to record the incident. Accordingly, when she sensed a lone aura, she began to pursue it -- tracking it along the streets in hopes of gently cajoling the knight into practicing safer patrol habits. The person she encountered was new to her, and a knight of Saturn, by appearance. She put on what she hoped was her friendliest smile, hoping to counteract the shyness of the first and second hellos he'd cast out into the dark. "Hi," she offered cheerily, cloak draped loosely around her lower arms. "I hope I'm not interrupting you. I'm Hvergelmir Knight of the Cosmos." The look on her face was one of inquisitive patience: an unhurried, but curious, And you are . . . ?
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 7:15 am
Mont Blonc was a little taken aback when he saw her - not anything bad, just. She was quite pretty, radiating colors and grace. Not the same pretty as Methone, of course. That wasn't a matter of 'pretty' so much as 'heart stopping beauty', further enhanced by her innate posture as a ballerina. But it was enough to make him take notice.
"Hello, " and he immediately felt like an idiot for saying it again, cringing a little and flashing her a rather sheepish smile in lieu of a proper apology. A knight of Cosmos, then. The second he'd met. Yes, he could see similarities between her and Eden, now that he knew. Although as far as the way they carried themselves, it was as different as night and day. "N-no, you're not, I was just - you can probably guess, " he finished a little lamely, a splash of color flaring up in his cheeks the way it always did on his far too expressive face. His naturally pale complexion did him no favors, either.
"I'm Mont Blonc, Page of Saturn." And at least he managed to do that much without any further incident, tilting his head politely to the knight before him. Oh - Hvergelmir! The one that Aegir had mentioned to him, more than once. What were the odds? "It is a pleasure, Hvergelmir. - I, uh, assume you're out for... similar reasons?" God, he hoped he hadn't interrupted her, come to think of it. She didn't strike him as annoyed, though.
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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 9:30 am
Shy. Very, terribly shy. Hvergelmir remembered feeling that way once, years ago, as a new page. Most of it had faded not with time, but with experience: in her line of work, she had to talk to strangers constantly. Her own lack of self-confidence hadn't really mattered. Nowadays, it all came a little more easily. "Patrolling for monsters," she confirmed with an easy smile, hoping to put him at ease. "Here, why don't we take a stroll together, combine forces." She held out her arm, elbow bent for him to link arms with her if he agreed. "You can tell me about yourself, how long you've been a knight."
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Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 6:57 am
Mont Blonc hesitated for all of one moment before his manners came into play; he stepped forward, rolling his shoulders to try and loosen himself up so he could stand tall. "Alright. That - sounds like a lovely idea." More and more, he tried to rectify his bad posture and stooping shoulders. It didn't always work, but tonight at least he was aware.
None of this stopped him from blushing crimson as he took her arm though; that was a quirk of his not nearly as easy to rectify. His smile, too, was still soft and meek. "A-about three and a half years, now." Saying it out loud, it made him cringe a little not. That long and he was still just a page. "I wasn't very active, though - I'd moved to France for awhile, and - I only just returned this year, " as though he owed anyone an explanation for his lack of participation in this secret war.
In his mind though, he did. Even if he knew the timing had worked out for the best, with people like Aegir and Methone waiting for him, he still felt badly for his shortcomings. For his absence that had dragged on far longer than he'd meant it to. For his inability to do anything vaguely useful even when he came back.
"And you?" He glanced at her, coaxing another smile. "Aegir, my - he's - he's a good friend of mine - he's spoken of you a few times."
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 4:01 pm
Hvergelmir reacted to the news that Mont Blanc had been a knight for over three years without any particular alarm. Here, at least, she could be reassuring. "Oh, that's nothing to worry about," she stated confidently. "I was a page for over a year before I became a squire at all, and I wasn't even out of the country. I was right here, just -- being a loaf, I suppose. Thwapping the occasional youma, and that's it. And if you know Aegir, then you'll know he had some time away, too, and he's great." She was a little surprised to hear that he'd spoken of her, though -- she hadn't assumed their meeting had made that much of an impression. Maybe at least that meant he'd taken her advice and had stopped patrolling on his own. Which reminded her... "I do have to ask, though -- what exactly are you doing out here on patrol by yourself? Isn't it much nicer with someone to keep you company?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 7:44 pm
In spite of himself, Mont Blonc couldn't help a small, soft peal of laughter at her description of herself, as much as he tried to stifle it. "Forgive me. Just, when I imagine a loaf - t-there's certainly not much loaf-like about you, as far as I see, " and he was just speaking honestly (and he was a terrible liar so there was no other way for him to be but honest). Look at the way she carried herself, with so much elegance and all that. Certainly the last thing that came to mind for someone like that was anything resembling a loaf that went around thwapping monsters.
The question did not exactly phase him, but he did look down again, his cheek burning a little brighter. "Oh, y-yes, of course. I have - I have a lot of really wonderful people in my life, I just - " Then, the blush darkened, a little more out of his own shame than anything. "I've just - I rely on them too much, is all. I'm not really very - I'm not strong, " and that was the best way to say it. "They keep having to save me and - I just want to be able to get a little stronger, maybe. Or at least do something. You know?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 11:15 am
Hvergelmir looked away at the scenery, her eyes lingering for a while on the dimmed lights of a furniture shop. It had been vacant for a few weeks, by the looks of it. "Forgive me for saying so," she ventured softly, her mind half-present and halfway across the city, thinking about Tara. "But there are better ways to improve your combat skills, if that's something you want. This -- going off on patrols by yourself . . . this isn't trying to get better. This is trying to punish yourself for not already being better." She waited a few moments to let it sink it, to see if he'd immediately balk at that suggestion. "Not everyone's a front-line fighter -- that doesn't mean you're wrong for knighthood. I'm actually not a combatant at all. There are other ways to make use of the powers we're given, not just fighting."
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2015 5:29 am
The words were like a slap in the face, whether she meant for them to be or not. He didn't recoil from the suggestion, but rather his eyes widened and then honed on on the ground under their feet, hair hanging down into his face.
This is trying to punish yourself for not being better.
Was he? - he hadn't been trying to do that, but - was that what he was doing?True, he'd started trying harder to patrol on his own since Ploutonion's corruption; that was when he'd really realized how little good he did as a page. But he hadn't been - had he? Mont Blonc thought he'd been trying to do the right thing, trying to get stronger, but he felt stumbling or failing and feeling worse and -
It was like when Sessrumnir had said those things to him, back when he'd called him useless; he couldn't sit there and pretend it wasn't true. He was a damned terrible liar and everyone knew it. Mont Blonc opened his mouth as if to say something, but thought better of it, his eyes still downcast and a touch of red still on his face, quietly ashamed and struggling as hard as ever against the weight of his own tongue.
Thankfully, she did not let the silence linger. And in that, still quietly digesting what it was she'd said to him, Mont Blonc found some scraps of his voice again. "I know, " but he was quiet and soft, still struggling with his own self-inflicted guilt and shame. "I know there are other ways, but... I - I don't know what that other way is." It was even more shameful to admit that to someone so radiant and grateful; it'd been hard enough to admit it to Colin that night. "I don't get anything from my wonder, I'm - I'm no healer, no scholar, no teacher, no warrior - and it's not that I don't want to be here, but I - I just want to do something, and they say I do, Aegir and the rest, but."
It wasn't that he trailed off. It was meant to be there like a dead end, because he didn't foresee it changing. "I'm sorry, " he blurted suddenly, blushing harder still and shutting his eyes. "I only met you just now, and here I am just - " But this was what he did. He met people, started to get comfortable, and just unloaded. And even if he knew it, it was like watching a damned train wreck. He could see it happening, and he could never do a thing to stop it. "I'm so sorry, Hvergelmir."
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:13 am
Hvergelmir halted in her walking, one arm still looped through Mont Blanc's -- and a good thing, too, since he didn't seem to be looking where he was going anymore, just following alongside her with certainty that she wasn't about to walk him into a lamp post. She pivoted so she could stand in front of him, reaching up to cup her palm soothingly against his jaw. He really was taller than he looked. "It would be a rare person who could talk about something very personal to them without feeling anything deeply about it," she said. "Emotions are not shameful. Never think so. They're how we connect with each other, and that's a very natural thing. To me, the ability to feel things deeply -- pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow -- makes life a very rich experience. To bare your heart to others, to show them your honest self -- to be vulnerable and make it safe for other people to do the same -- that is a great strength, and nothing worth apologizing for." She waited, not moving, not rushing. They were in no hurry to get anywhere, after all. "The rest of it, we'll work out together. Do you want to?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 8:45 am
The palm against his jaw made him start, tensing for a moment in a way that spoke not ill of her, but more of some of the touches he had endured or avoided throughout his life. Though the way he relaxed mere moments later told a story of a man trying desperately to be better, to put what had been behind him and become something more.
"I... " Her words took him by surprise, his too-expressive yellow eyes widening enough to see the whites around them. The redness in his cheeks contrasting sharply with those eyes and the paleness of his skin. He'd never heard it put that way before, much less so poetically, so strikingly. It sounded like a verse of poetry from one of his books back at him, tucked neatly on their tiny shelves.
"D-do - do you really think so?" and the question slipped out unbidden, thick with achingly, desperate hope. As for the rest, well, "Y-yes, I'd - if it's - if it's okay, I - yes, " and he still felt guilty, he still felt terrible for unloading onto this woman like this, but he - he felt safe doing it, still, felt comfortable and safe and like maybe Aegir had been right in that she really did come from the same place as him.
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 9:34 am
A grin widened across Hvergelmir's face. It was such a charming question -- so innocent, so full of fearful hope. He reminded her of Teide, this one. It was something in the way hope sat on his shoulders like it did on hers: like a timid bird, hidden but not lost, ready to burst from the bushes into flight at the first sign of a real chance. All it needed was someone to say, it's safe to come out now. "I really think so," she assured him. "Well then," Hvergelmir went on, returning her hand to her side, "Why don't we start at the beginning? I'll tell you what it is that I do, as a knight, and then I'll tell you the secret of how it is that I got into my line of work. Have you had any luck in finding your signet ring at your Wonder yet?" She held up her own hand, fingers splayed loosely, to give an idea of what it might look like.
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 9:54 am
The reassurance, coupled with her smile, made the page rather helplessly smile back at her - it was a less timid smile at least, less tentative and more at ease than it had been.
What she did as a knight - yes, he nodded along without words to what she was saying, both engaged and enthused. Yes, he wanted to hear. Beyond knowing that she was peaceful, Mont Blonc had to admit he didn't know much about what she did or where she fit into the scheme of the war. He assumed healer, mentor, things like that. It probably wasn't right to assume, though. There could be any number of things she did.
Oh! But the ring!
"Yes, I - I have that, " he said quickly in his quiet way, lifting his hand and displaying the ring in question - at least that was one thing he'd done right. In this case, though, he'd cheerfully forget to mention that he'd failed at traveling to his wonder for who knew how long because he'd been overthinking it the whole damned time. "It's got a, uh - hold on, " and he brought the mocking blue print up again, brow furrowed and a slight frown on his face. "I need to ask Ash about this, or I've been told she can probably help me - she's a cat, " he added a bit more quietly, because he really couldn't assume that everyone knew everyone. "I don't really know what this is for, though... the blueprint, I mean. Do you?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:54 am
Hvergelmir, at first, shook her head at the blueprint. Then she leaned into study it more closely, recognizing some of the shapes, and . . . "Ah! Actually I do recognize it, I think. Those are the blueprints for Mistral's upgrade." She lined up her own hand alongside Mont Blanc's, so he could compare the differences. His, unadorned but for its seal; hers, similar, but with a delicate little addendum to one side like a little gem or a tiny microchip. "It's an add-on to your ring that makes communication easier. The way they start out, each ring only works for sending letters, which you have to stamp and send to get them on their way. It's slow and has been really dangerous before. Not much fun when you need someone to come take you to the hospital and you're rifling around the street for something you can use as a pencil. With the upgrade, you can make calls kind of like a phone, or leave messages for people. If it's knight to knight and you have the same upgrade, you can see the other person like a little hologram. Here, look -- " She lifted her ring toward her face and said, "Message to Mistral of Mercury: Hi Mistral, it's Hvergelmir. I'm here with Mont Blanc of Saturn, and he's got a blueprint for the signet ring upgrade, and I was hoping you could help him get set up with it? Just let one of us know if you think you have time -- thanks! Send message." Hvergelmir looked back up at Mont Blanc. "Simple as that. If you send a voice message to someone who's not on the upgraded signet system, it just converts into a note." frayedflower a slight detour for monty's edumacation~
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Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 7:03 am
Mont Blonc certainly wouldn't have been that surprised or disappointed if Hvergelmir didn't know a thing, but he was certainly delighted when it turned out she did, a radiant smile lighting his face - because finally, a lead! "Mistral? - I've not heard that name before, " he admitted, and 'Mistral' really could've been anyone or anything. He assumed she must be someone important, though, if she'd figured out something like this; he himself being anything but a tech buff, the details that went into the blueprint confounded and impressed him that much more.
Especially when Hvergelmir showed him and explained, rather patiently, what exactly the upgrade did. "Oh! Combien utile, " he murmured under his breath, examining the little gem more closely - as though that really did anything to help him understand it more. But to think such a tiny thing made such a difference! "That's so much better, just - wow, " he breathed out. "I didn't know one single person was responsible for - Mistral must be brilliant."
Belatedly, he blushed and fidgeted, glancing at his feet and back. "Thank you, by the way - for explaining, and for that, " that being the message, of course. "It was very kind of you."
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