The walk back to her place was slow and Delilah made sure to keep the conversation light. She had already scared the girl enough and the young woman needed a break. So she instead just talked about the weather and the campus.
Leading the girl into her apartment just off campus and up to the 6th floor, Delilah opened to door to the little one bed, one bath, 1000sqft place. It was small but the only mess was a few dishes in the sink and some fabric lying around.
“Welcome to my home. Please Mercy, come on in.” She smiled back at the girl and stood out of the way of the door. “I have tea and coffee. I don’t keep any coke products so water is the other choice.”
“Uhm, tea will be fine. Earl Grey if you have it, anything else if you don’t.” Mercy said as she walked into the older woman’s apartment a bit wide eyed still. To be completely honest she was still shaken and floored from their earlier discussion, but she was trying her best to manage herself and be a good guest. Looking around the place, she gently ran her hand over the fabric that was lying about.
“Do you sew Ms. Delilah?” She asked, curious as to the reason all the fabric might be out and about. She had no idea what her hostess did for a living let alone as a hobby so it seemed to stand to the most reason she liked to sew if there was this much fabric lying around.
“This is a very nice place… Cozy, safe…” she said with a small, weak smile. “I like it.”
“Thank you. And yes. I’m a fashion major here at the college.” Delilah smiled as she excused herself to slip into the kitchen. A bit of rattling around and she found the tea pot her mother had given her. Normally Delilah would just throw a cup in the microwave but with a guest, she was going to do it the polite way. Water and onto the stove.
As she waited for the whistle of the pot, Delilah came back into the living room. “That one there is a dress. And the blue fabric will be a skirt. I’m sorry for the mess. Please, just push them to the corner and make yourself comfortable. But watch out for pins. I’m not sure I got them all out of that skirt.” She made a face on pondering as she eyed the fabric.
“The tea will be ready soon.” Heading towards the couch, Delilah sat on the edge of it like a proper lady. Something about Mercy made her feel polite. “So, where shall we start?”
Mercy took great care, both from the warning of pins, and from the fact that it was someone else’s things, to move the aforementioned articles away from her and to slowly sit down on the couch. She too, sat on the edge of the seat, proper posture and manner as best she could. She was in someone else’s home she needed to be polite.
“Oh that sounds like such fun, I’m starting high school in the fall, at Crystal Academy! I’m not sure what I should focus on though, and I haven’t even started to think about college.” She made a face then. “I probably should.”
“I am honestly not sure, Ms. Delilah,” She said finally, with a small sigh. “There was a lot to take in all at once, but I’m not sure even where to begin trying to sort it all out.” To be honest, she was a bit scared about it all now, but probably a bit of fear was warranted.
“Starting?” Delilah blinked twice. “Mercy, how old are you anyway? To be starting Crystal. I finished it last year.” She chuckled, though it was a nervous one. That would really explain why the girl was confused.
Inhaling, Delilah tried to calm her surprise. “That’s alright. Let’s start simple then. How did you awaken?”
“I’m 14, Ms. Delilah,” Mercy said. Clapping her hands together excited she gushed. “Oh! You’re an Alumni! Oh you must tell me how it is! One of my friends is attending but she doesn’t really like it… I mean, she says it’s full of gossip and all that… Oh and no boys, obviously.”
“Oh, my awakening was really, uhm, peaceful I guess, I ran into the cat, it gave me my pen and that was pretty much it. I’ve been trying to patrol but it’s really hard to sneak out.”
“So I probably haven’t been doing my fair share of patrolling I suppose.”
Who would have guessed it took literally two words to make a 19 year old feel, well, old. But that was how Delilah felt as Mercy gushed about knowing someone that went through Crystal. A long exhale came out of her mouth as she watched the ‘child’ nearly jump up and down. It was cute but still, Delilah did not like feeling old.
“Well Crystal is very different than places like Meadowview. Of course clear difference is, as you said, no boys. You will find very quickly that has a perk. Not many other places can you throw on your uniform, pull your hair into a ponytail and really not care how presentable you are in the morning. Girls learn very quickly that there is no one there to impress so why not be comfortable.” Delilah had a feeling she would see alot more of Mercy now that she knew they had Crystal in common.
“As to the awakening, that does sound about right. Amazing how those felines are able to figure out we have a sleeping power within us.” The smile on Delilah’s face was weak. Honestly, she was not that amused by it. “Don’t be too hard on yourself about patrolling though. I do hate but it seems to be one of those things that no everyone can do. I ran into my own fair share of issues when I lived at home. Most the time I claimed I was at a friends house. Ironically….” And now she smiled. “The friend was patrolling with me.”
“Well it is good that you had a friend that could help you,” Mercy said with a small nod. She let the information she’d received about Crystal stew for now, she’d think on it and maybe have more questions later but for now they were on into more pressing matters and she wasn’t about to derail that conversation topic. “I mean I could try that I suppose, but I don’t think any of my friends are tied up in this mess so I wouldn’t want to ask them to lie for me if my parents were to call…” Which they would invariably at some point if she forgot something at home.
“I mean, how do you find out if someone is one of us? Do you do like we did and share identities when you feel it's safe enough to do so?” She was still somewhat confused as to the rules and regulations regarding etiquette between powered people.
“What are the rules of etiquette? Do I curtsey? I mean…” She sighed again. “I’m sorry I’m not being very smart about this am I?”
“Mercy, you are over thinking things now.” Delilah reached a hand out and placed it on the girl’s knee. “Rules of etiquette, from what I have found, do not exist like they do in day to day life. Take everything you know and throw it out the window.” She lifted her hand away from the girl’s leg and sighed. “You will meet so many people from so many different walks of life. Some won’t say a thing to you. Others, well, others won’t stop talking long enough for you to even say anything in the first place. Not to mention I have never met a youma that gave me an introduction. Most just try to bite me…”
“That is fair, I suppose…” Mercy said quietly before looking to Delilah. “So uhm, I’ve heard about these youma but I’ve never actually met one. Are they really that bad?” She was actually kind of scared. Monsters were indeed real. That was not a thing that she really wanted to have happen.
Well maybe Unicorns were real too, then, that mollified her a little bit. Only a little.
“I mean… I will try but… you know, it’s rude to not… be polite.” Her cheeks puffed a little as she said that, and said cheeks were turning red it was obvious she was either very sheltered or very well raised. Or both, both was good.
“I have met youma the size of mice and the size of a two story building.” Delilah sighed as she stood up, Turning so that she faced the girl, she pulled up the edge of her shirt and shifted her pants so that Mercy could see the healing scar on her left hip. “They are creatures not of this realm. They come from a place called the Rift. A place only the Negaverus can go. They hunt humans and senshi alike with the goal of taking our energy or our starseeds.” Delilah readjusted her clothes and returned to her seat slowly.
“I continue to fight to see them removed from this place. They are not human and will attack without warning. I don’t know enough about their origin to say where they come from but I can tell you they are bad news.” Her voice had been steady and calm. But now it shifted as she realized she most likely was scaring the life out of the girl. “But they are a great way to take frustration out after a bad day.”
“I see…” Mercy said, her eyes growing wide at the scar. Chewing her lip for a moment she was trying very hard not to get up and walk out of the apartment right now, go home, and shove the stupid pen in a drawer where she’d never find it again. “So, uhm… What does your boyfriend think of all this?” Mercy was of course, assuming that Delilah, a mature woman with a good head on her shoulders. Had a boyfriend. How could she not! She was pretty and probably smart if she was in college for something like fashion! Which meant she was also fashion forward.
Mercy made a note to get tips from her on what to wear - obviously Delilah knew her way in this world yes. She’d help her find a boyfriend for sure.
Yes, that was the only reason she was staying right now. The ONLY reason.
Not that she was scared to go back outside in the dark. NOPE!
The comment about boyfriend made Delilah’s face shift for a moment. She blinked several times in surprise before her lips curled into a smile. “Well, my boyfriend is also involved in the war. He is a Knight you see. One that I would like to smack over the head at times but…” She shrugged glancing around the room for her phone. “He seemed to forget common sense and transformed in front of people to fight a youma once. Not very smart.” She rolled her eyes thinking back to even before Quinn and she became a couple.
“He is more into it than I am. And...well…” Finally Delilah looked away and half chuckled. “He doesn’t know who I am yet on both sides.”
“Shouldn’t you tell him then?” Mercy said softly. “I mean… not to be rude, but… shouldn’t he know who you are on both sides if you know who he is on both sides?” She chewed her bottom lip, not sure if she was pressing things. It just… Didn’t seem fair to her that Delilah wasn’t being open and honest with her boyfriend. “A relationship should be based on trust, and you can’t keep secrets if you want to have trust.” That last line sounded like something she must have heard a thousand times before. Probably from one of her parents.
“... Sorry, I…” She realized she’d sounded really… preachy? Was that a thing? “I shouldn’t be meddling in your life like that… You obviously know better than I do you’ve done this more than me. I don’t even have a boyfriend… Heck I’ve never even been kissed so what do I know, I’m just a silly girl.”
Delilah’s hand came up to wave off the apology. “No, in the long run you are right and I will tell him. Just not yet.” She looked back at the girl. “I care about him but I also don’t know yet if he is ‘the one.’ We have only been together a few months and well…” She trailed off and shrugged. “If things end badly, I would hate fearing that someone out there knew both my identities.”
She trailed off on just in time to hear the pot begin to whistle. Rising, she looked back down and Mercy. “Excuse me one moment.” And slipped past the girl. Walking back into the kitchen, she grabbed a tray before pulling the pot off the stove. Pouring the hot water into her cast iron decorative pot, she put it, a cup of sugar, two mugs, a little asian box full of tea, and a small plate of sugar cookies onto the tray and carried it back into the living room.
“Here we go. Please, help yourself. It’s the first time I have really gotten to use this set.” She smiled setting it on the coffee table.
“But anyway, you before asked about black and white. Good and evil. I’ll tell you this. Youma are evil. Those you can go after and not worry.” Delilah shrugged.
“I will keep that in mind,” Mercy said quietly, then eyed the tea set. She rather liked the look of it, and took her time selecting from the tea box, putting the tea in the mug and filling it with water. She didn’t normally do sugar with her tea unless it called for it, but she went ahead and added a spoonful. Just to perk herself up a bit.
“So, uhm, what else should I worry about out there… you said something about agents?”
Delilah gave a nod as she picked out a peach tea and sat it into her mug. “Yes. That is what the members of the Negaverse call themselves. They are humans that have allowed chaos to be implanted into their starseeds. That chaos is what gives them their strength and power.” She wanted to add also connects them but she had no proof of that yet.
“They fight under the goal to rid this world of those that would enslave it. But like other senshi, each seems to have a personal goal as well.” She lifted the mug to her lips and blew across the hot liquid. “Some will talk. Others will plain and simple try and kill you. But you also now have the ability to sense them when you are walking as Sabine.”
“Oh, like how I sensed you there by the fountain…” Mercy said quietly. “I hadn’t really noticed it before, it was kind of strange. Hard to describe.” She murmured. “But I guess that is good, that way I can steer clear of them… Well try to anyway.” Once she was sure the tea had brewed long enough she removed the bag and drained the extra liquid back into the cup, before picking it up and sipping it slowly, her pinky, albeit naturally, lifting as she did so.
“Are you implying some of these… agents… are nice?”
Delilah looks out of the corner of her eye and moved her head from side to side. “Yes. In a way. I don’t know of any I might want to have tea with but there are some that won’t try to harm you without good reason. The trick is knowing. I always find it to be best safe than sorry.”
She sipped her tea again. “If you feel a chaos aura coming at you quickly, chances are, it isn’t friendly. It it doesn’t seem to be moving at all, a good chance you are safe. Also you want to pay attention to how strong that aura feels. Like senshi have ranks, so do agents. If it feels as if it will over take you, then Mercy, get out of there.” She lowered her mug, her eyes locking onto Mercy’s face. “I have yet to meet a General that had not allowed the chaos in its body to affect its mentality to a degree.”
“You say General… They have military rank?” Mercy wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Sipping her tea slowly, she felt completely out of her element. This was… adult stuff. She liked to think of herself as a woman, what with all the outward signs of womanhood charging at her apace. But at the same time.
She just wanted to cuddle with her unicorn plushies and have tea parties with Sir Fuzzington and Lady Floppymuffin. Was she… weird? Was it time for her to really grow up and listen to what Jonathan said and give up her silly tea parties and childhood games of talking to her stuffed animals?
“I… I will Ms. Delilah, unless someone is in trouble and I can help.” She said with a strange sort of set tone. “If they are doing wrong, I don’t care if it’s the biggest, meanest monster in the bunch, I will stop them from hurting people.”
Her determination made Delilah smile. “Just do me a favor Mercy. Make sure you call someone or let someone else know before you decide to take on a General.” Delilah locked eyes with the girl for a moment. “That way at least help can be on the way then should anything happen.”
“And yes, they are more a military system than we are. It has paid off as well in that they have more organization than we do. However,” She placed her mug down on a coaster. “I will admit to you that what little I know about the military came after I learned about the negaverse. And it honestly still confuses me. But it is better than disorder.”
“I don’t know anything at all about the military, it never was a thing… My brother Jonathan thought about enlisting but my dad quashed that really fast. He said maybe after he finished college he could get a commision. But I don’t think Jonathan really likes college. I don’t know if you’ve met him. He goes to DCU, he’s on a Football scholarship.” She said as she shrugged.
“Why are we so disorganized, I have been meaning to ask,” She continued, taking another sip of her tea. “It seems so strange that they are so organized and we aren’t.” This was so very confusing for her.
“There has to be a better way.”
Delilah only shook her head to the comment about her brother. Between classes and senshi love, she had yet to go to a football game here. Though she was sure if she mentioned that to Quinn, he would have them in VIP seats so fast….
A weak smile slipped over her lips as she leaned forward. Elbows on her knees and fingers pressed to her forehead and temples. “Mercy I have been asking myself the same question for nearly three years now.” She admitted, rubbing the sides of her head. “I have been involved in things and seen things that make me wonder if there is hope for us here. People don’t listen to each other and if they do, there is no rhyme or reason to it. I don’t know if it’s the old saying of too many cooks in the kitchen or too much ego. But very few things make me proud to be what I am.”
With a sigh, she released her head and looked up. “A long time ago, before I was a senshi, I heard some used to form teams and work together. In a way, I think that is what we were supposed to do. I believe senshi and knights are stronger together. Stronger even than the negaverse and their corrupt senshi. But they have instilled fear. We have failed to instill trust.”
“I suppose if there’s not really any order to things that people would keep trying to make things go their way, feelings get hurt and nobody really wants to stop and listen to what anybody else has to say.” Mercy said softly as she watched Ms. Delilah. “To be honest, I’m a bit nervous, I feel like that if I were to try and bring something like that up with anybody they’d get mad at me because I’m… well… a kid?”
Did that even make a lick of sense? She hoped it did. She was honestly nervous of insulting Ms. Delilah, even indirectly, so she felt like she had to watch her wording of things. Even if they were technically equals in power, Ms. Delilah had seniority in both age and time as a Senshi. What did she honestly know? She was dumb to open her mouth and comment on things. She shook her head, and sipped her tea like a good girl.
It’s what would have been expected of her at home at any rate.
Huffing a bit, Delilah shook her head and smiled. “Kid has very little to do with it. Would you believe I have seen an eight year old transform into a senshi?” She looked over at Mercy. “That was a surprise. Even more so than talking cats.”
Leaning back, she spoke “So don’t think of yourself as a kid. You and I are both base level senshi. We are viewed equally to most. The looks I get when people realize I have been around three years make me laugh. And in that time, I have spent it trying to understand and learn.”
She stopped and feel quiet. “What do you think?”
“I think that eight is incredibly young to be plunged into this kind of danger,” Mercy said with a low groan. “That 14 isn’t any better…” He looked down into her tea. “That being a… base level senshi for three years has it’s merits or otherwise you would have given up by now.” There had to be something, a catch - a reason why Phact… Ms. Delilah, had not felt the need to spread her wings and fly higher toward the sun. Which meant she had probably been focusing on something more important that the pursuit of power.
“You said you use the fountain as your launching platform… To the Castle on the Moon.” She said the later part of the sentence with the same awe as she had at the fountain when they’d first met. She was still trying to wrap her mind around such a fantastical notion.
“You must spend a lot of time there. Instead of pursuing greater power here on earth.” She looked up at Delilah then, eyes wide and curious. “Is, is there something special there that is more important than what is going on here?”
“Once a month. When the moon is full.” Delilah smiled thinking about it. Honestly she really enjoyed her time up there. The silence and peace as she walked the forgotten grounds. She had to admit that she was pretty close to figuring out the number system in those old books. And the art work…
“It’s a lost kingdom but not an empty one.” She again looked down towards the ground. “That land, that forgotten castle was home to a Queen and Princess in an age called the Silver Millennium. A time they say when there was great peace. It is also a place where anyone who carries chaos within them cannot go.”
“I believe there might be answers up there. I’m trying to find them.” She finally looked over at Mercy. “I am not a fighter. I never have been and I won’t pretend to be something I am not. But I believe people have forgotten so much as time has gone on. And when we forget, we repeat mistakes.”
“Those that do not remember history are doomed to repeat it,” Mercy said, quoting someone far wiser than her. She’d only heard her father say that. “Ms. Jessie, the owner of the BookWyrm told me something similar not too long ago.” She nodded slowly.
Another sip of her tea and she raised the most obvious question. “What all have you found there, and is it of any use?” It sounded like this thing was ages old. Shouldn’t it all be dust by now?
“A whole bunch of rocks.” Delilah answered with a sly smile, glancing back over at the young woman. She waited a moment to see Mercy’s face before she began to explain.
“Those rocks used to be a castle. Inside the walls that remain I have found libraries, fabrics, statues and carvings. Things you would have expected to have long since been destroyed. But items have survived. Problem is that most of it is written in a language that there is no record of on Earth.” And that was the frustrating part. Pictures helped but it was only so much.
“And then there is the barriers. Walls put up inside the castle. I still do not know if they are meant to keep us out or something in.” Shrugging, Delilah finally decided to go first and reach for one of the small sugar cookies. “But I can tell you that senshi are far older than anyone could believe. That we come from all reaches of the galaxy. And that something on that satellite of Earth wants to help us…”
“That’s amazing!” Mercy said, she wiggled in her seat a little, having trouble containing her excitement at the prospect of it all. This was really something out of a fantasy! Sipping at her tea again, she placed the cup down gingerly before reaching out for one of the cookies, bringing it to her lips to gently nibble on it.
“So much we still don’t know… That I don’t know…” She continued dreamily, as she nibbled the cookie. Her eyes were a little wide, she was still trying to process a whole lot of information that had been thrown at her in a relatively short amount of time, which made her somewhat askew as far as understanding everything went. But she was trying to sort it all out.
“These are really good…” She finally muttered, shyly casting a glance at Delilah. “Did you make these yourself?”
Those red eyes lit up hearing Mercy’s excitement in her voice. At this point in time, Delilah had begun to think no one else saw the importance in the moon anymore. And yet, someone did. It made her truly happy.
“Make them?” Snapping out of her joy, she glanced towards Mercy and then back at the plate of cookies. It took two blinks to register. “Oh no!” Laughing as she shrugged, Delilah had no problem admitting she was not a baker. “There is a little cafe not far from here. First place my boyfriend and I went together actually. They have a wonderful selection of cookies. And their coffee is pretty good as well.”
“I might be able to sew but I am no homemaker.” Much to her father’s dislike. “I just have never found the time to learn.”
“Oh…” Mercy said, a bit of color rising to her cheeks as she’d automatically assumed that Delilah was of the homemaker bent. She nibbled sheepishly at the cookie. “They are really good yes…” She murmured. It wasn’t that she was disappointed or anything. Embarrassed she’d gone and assumed something and was wrong maybe.
“Yeah, baking is hard, I’ve tried it a few times and my stuff isn’t that great,” She added, trying to find a common ground with the older woman. She didn’t realize that she’d already made her incredibly pleased about caring about the moon. But it was just… SO INTERESTING. It wasn’t the news about the discovery of unicorns granted but it was still interesting!
Once she finished the cookie she picked up her tea again and took another dainty sip, watching Delilah for a moment in thought. “Is your boyfriend over often?” She didn’t know if she was… intruding on what could be personal time for the older woman.
“Baking is an art form I hear.” Delilah offered with a look of defeat. She had tried and some of cakes had turned out alright. But it was a science to them. It wasn’t like she could just keep adding butter until it worked. No matter what Paula Dean said, that was not a good solution. “I can cook enough to keep myself fed at least. Nothing fancy. And please, keep a grill away from me.”
At the end of her comment, she gave a small smile. “But most men enjoy grilling enough that I don’t have to worry.”
Lifting an eyebrow at her question, it took the older woman a moment to process before she shook her head. “Quinn and I see each other when our schedules allow. He is an architect major and they spend a good deal of time in studios. But we make time for each other. However,” And now she cast a big sister type look at Mercy. “Never ever drop everything and make your entire life about a man and his schedule.”
“Ah, I see,” Mercy said quietly, maybe a little disappointed now. She had maybe been secretly hoping that Delilah and Quinn had this whirlwind romance that she had magically stumbled upon, but maybe those things really were the fantasy. As Delilah spoke to her about never dropping everything to make her life about a man she snorted a little.
“Have to find one first…” She said with a small little, grumble? It wasn’t a whine or anything but she was grouchy about that little fact of her life. She was 14 and hadn’t even kissed a boy. Granted, some would argue that was too young to even THINK about kissing boys. (Her father probably ran that camp, to be honest). All the same, Mercy was curious about what being in a relationship was like. All she had to go off was her parents and their love life was. Stable?
No, boring, it was really, really boring. Maybe there was romance behind the scenes she didn’t see, but as far as she was concerned they just smiled and made faces at each other across the table when it was time for dinner. She didn’t get it. Not at all.
That grumble did not escape Delilah’s ears. She might have been nineteen, going on twenty, and she sure as heck did not have that much of a history with men but she also knew what it meant to be a strong, free thinking, independent woman. A boyfriend was nice. Having one was wonderful. Throwing away your life for one?
Oh heck no.
“Miss Mercy. Do I hear you wishing away your life hoping for a boy?” Delilah raised her eyebrow and thinned her lips at the young woman. “That is a foolish choice. You let those boys come to you!”
“N-no?!” Mercy jolted a little when Delilah spoke, not quite expecting her to pick up on the grumble, actually not entirely aware that she’d said it. Blinking at the older woman for a moment she blushed hotly then looked immediately down at her lap. “O-okay, maybe a little… I mean… It’s not like I have boys lining up or anything.” She said weakly. “I mean, none of them in my dating range anyway, and I don’t think older guys would date me since I’m… so young.” She made a face at that, her cheeks still hot.
“I mean… What do you suggest I do?”
“I suggest you spend your time figuring out who you are and enjoying yourself. You do things that make you happy. If you try to change yourself for a boy, well, when you wake up one day that you aren’t really happy then it is a complete mess.” Delilah sighed as she rolled her eyes. “You know, in high school, I honestly was single most of it. Quinn is my first serious boyfriend after all but he likes me for who I am.”
She was watching the young woman. How do you pass on knowledge to someone at that age? “Tell me, would you rather be the girl they marry or the girl they sleep with?”
“I… Really hadn’t put much thought to it,” Mercy admitted weakly. “I mean, truthfully I’d love to find someone I want to spend the rest of my life with, but can’t I be both?” She blushed hotly. The concept of sex (in all its messy, icky glory) was still somewhat foreign to Mercy. She understood the BASIC concept, that is, how one went about the thing as told by her mother in explicit detail once she’d started having her monthly visitor. But still, the actual… technique of it was something she had zero understanding of.
“I mean I don’t want to change who I am, don’t get me wrong, that’s gotten me in plenty of trouble already let-me-tell-you…” She started to ramble, sure sign that she was so beyond her element and frazzled that she had no idea what she was doing. “But… I don’t know, I mean, I guess I could be single…” She shrugged. “I have been this long I suppose.”
Reaching a hand out, Delilah placed her palm softly on the girl’s upper arm. “One day you will. But at this age Mercy, men have one thing on their mind and it isn’t marriage.” Delilah sighed as she squeezed the girl’s arm in a caring manner. “They are coming into their own body as much as you. Now, you don’t have cooties but you have parts they want in other manners.”
Watching Mercy, she smiled weakly. “Boys mature quite a bit slower than us. Frankly, until they hit twenty five, they are a bit slow. Have you ever heard that a man thinks about sex at least six times every minute?”
“Is that actually true?” Mercy gasped, a bit scandalized by the thought. To be fair the idea of sex crossed her mind at times, but not anywhere NEAR that often. It seemed, if anything, like an afterthought. Her cheeks however, grew more red as the topic turned to more adult lines of conversation. “I mean, I can understand that, they were teasing one of the girls last year cause she started to develop early…” She looked down at her own chest and winced.
“And I’m really glad I’m going to crystal this year because I kinda don’t want to deal with the same.” She muttered, actually feeling a bit ashamed of her body right then. She hated her chest, she really did. It was awkward, often painful and just… unpleasant overall. She let out a slow sigh, shifting a little so she could try and minimize the profile of her chest unconsciously.
She was still very shy about it, to be honest.
“You know, at your age, I would not put it past them.” Delilah calmly smiled. “Of course most will grow out of it.”
Watching her gaze downward, Delilah first wondered if the girl was pondering and then she she watched how Mercy moved. Delilah smacked herself mentally. The girl was fourteen!
Calming her voice, and relaxing her body, Delilah reached for another cookie. “It is a perk about Crystal. You don’t spend your days trying to impress anyone. And the teachers are very understanding about female problems. If you say you don’t feel well, they let you go to the restroom or the nurse's office. They have anything a girl could need there.”
“That’s good to know,” Mercy said softly, before sipping her tea again absently. If it were possible for the girl to be any redder, she would be. Why did she feel so awkward all the time? Was it supposed to be like this? Was this how adult conversations went? She felt completely out of her element and at a loss until finally she managed.
“The tea is really good, thank you for inviting me over.” She internally cringed, immediately falling back on what manners said to talk about. This was not what she wanted to talk about. She wanted to learn more about Delilah and the Moon and EVERYTHING.
WHY WAS SHE SO AWKWARD!
Leaning back against her couch, Delilah gave the girl a moment. She then rose to her feet. “Would you excuse me a moment? I need to use the restroom.” And with that she slipped back into the half opened door that was her bedroom.
As she flipped on the bathroom light and closed the door, Delilah gazed at herself in the mirror. She could see the bags forming under her eyes again. Cold cucumbers would be needed soon. But she was more using this as a moment to allow her guest time to relax. Mercy was flustered and Delilah could tell. Why though, the woman was not completely sure. So she had excused herself to allow her to regroup, refocus and, if Mercy wanted to, flip through some of the note books she had open to fashion sketches. Just something to calm the girl.
Mercy fidgeted in her seat for a moment, setting the tea down slowly when Delilah excused herself. Sighing a little, she looked around absently, worried she might of said or done something wrong to upset Delilah now. Chewing her bottom lip for a moment in worry, she reached out and picked up one of the notebooks laying around. She looked it over for a moment, curious as to what Ms. Delilah might be working on.
She found that she liked them, the drawings at any rate. She wondered what the finished products would look like. She wondered even, if Ms. Delilah would even show her one day. She started to relax as she looked over the sketches and notes, reading it like one would read a book, sitting and taking in each page as she went.
It wasn’t long before she’d nudged her shoes off and brought her legs up onto the couch, reading with the notebook placed against her knees.
After some time had passed, and Delilah had messed with hair a bit more, she flushed the toilet and washed her hands just to give the sound effects. Honestly she didn’t know what one could hear in the living room or not. When she opened the door and slipped back in, the college student smiled at the sight.
“See something you like?” She was standing in the door frame, leaning against it as she watched Mercy make herself comfortable. “That book was from my senior year of high school.” Pushing off the door frame, Delilah walked towards the desk she had set up away from the living area. Grabbing a black bound book, she came back to the couch and offered it to Mercy. “This is some more recent things. They like us to be more abstract in college. At least this year. One class had us doing designs based on mythological creatures.”
Mercy almost jumped when Delilah started speaking, she started to straighten up a bit but once Delilah continued she nodded her head slowly and looking at the offered book, reached out and took a hold of it, bringing it to her lap as well to open and read through. “They’re all very pretty… You haven’t made any of them have you?” She said quietly as she skimmed along the drawings with her eyes. “D-did you design any around unicorns?” She asked a bit sheepish, when Delilah made her statement.
“I’d very much like to see that one, if you did…” She blushed a little again, but not nearly as badly as before. Mainly because she knew if she did see it, and it wasn’t made, she’d probably ask Delilah to make it for her…
“Unicorns hm?” Delilah walked back to her desk to grab a pencil. Holding it between two fingers, she rejoined Mercy on the couch and reached for the book the girl held. Flipping to a blank page, it took her meer moments to have a female form down on the page. “Unicorns.”
As soon as the form was done, she moved towards the head. “All I know about them is they have a horn.” And she drew in a point coming from the top of the woman’s head. “Tell me, do you think they would wear a dress or pants?”
“A dress, Unicorns should be graceful and flowy…” Mercy said quietly, watching Delilah’s hand with awe. “Probably light though, they’re free and need to move around a lot…” She added. “They’re magical too, and are usually white, because they’re the purest animal.” She nodded her head sagely.
Mercy knew a LOT about unicorns. She only owned… three wallfulls of the things after all. She looked over to Delilah with a slightly sheepish smile. “If, any of that made a lick of sense.”
“Of course.” Delilah smiled as she started to sketch. It was a light hand but the lines were still clear. “White is easy. Just leave out the color.” She added with a chuckle as two lines came down on either side of the figure. The dress was long and the way she was drawing it, would move as one walked. The bottom was loose but as she came up to the waste, she formed it a bit more to the body. A dress had to stay up after all.
“Something like that?” She asked as she picked up her pencil. It was just the skirt of it currently but she looked over at Mercy for instructions.
Mercy nodded her head sagely. “Yes, perfect, that’s exactly right.” She said still completely in awe at how quickly Delilah was putting it all together. Mercy did not have such a talent, or at least, if she did, she did not know she possessed it. She hummed a little bit, looking at the lines of the skirt for the moment. “Yep 100% spot on.” She looked up at Delilah again with a smile.
“You are really good at this Ms. Delilah.”
“It’s because you are very good with the subject matter. Now, what about for the top?” She put her pencil back to paper. “What do you think would be most becoming of such a mystic creature?”
As words came from her lips, her hand moved. “A sweetheart neckline? Something off the shoulders perhaps? Or sleeves?” She looked out of the corner of her eyes towards Mercy. This was her design now so Delilah waited for her response.
Mercy thought about it for a moment. “It should show as little cleavage as possible, since Unicorns are pure creatures… and if it has sleeves they should be flowy like the skirt.” She said with a nod. She looked to Delilah, clicking her tongue a little in thought as she looked at the image before her. “Yeah, I think that would work, a conservative neckline and long flowy sleeves.”
After all, Unicorns favored virgins and all, so they had to be innately pure themselves. So showing off womanly parts was a no-no in her mind. It could still be pretty, but it was about the form of the dress at that point, not the shape of the figure wearing it. At least that’s what her brain was thinking. It had nothing to do with her own insecurities. Nope, none.
Quickly removing the lines she had lightly placed over the chest, Delilah did something a bit different. From shoulder to shoulder came the line. It swooped across the figure’s collar bone but came no where near where cleavage would be. Enough fabric wrapped around the top of each arm that she could bring it down into sleeves. The were fitted at first around the bicep but by the time they reached the elbow, flared beautiful. She looked at it a moment and quickly erased the fabric from one side of the sleeve making it long on the back of the arm but short on the front.
“How is that?”
“I like it, it looks lovely,” Mercy said, her hand hovering over the page lightly. She was chewing her bottom lip and staring at the paper. It really was a pretty dress, one that she would probably not be able to wear given that it was almost formal in its make. That wasn’t to say she didn’t attend formal events, she had to a few times for her father but most of the time she’d just wore the age appropriate dress her mother had picked out.
This was a woman’s dress. A REAL woman’s dress. Something she’d pick out and wear somewhere to dazzle people with her style and grace. Mercy wasn’t normally vain, but even she liked to be looked at in a positive light. Licking her bottom lip she looks at Delilah. “Would it be hard to make?” She asked.
Delilah had completely been expecting this since she picked up her pencil. It had been risky but thank the lord that the girl had not wanted ruffles. “That all depends.” Delilah kept her voice casual as she added a few more detail lines. She was starting to pull notes out. A cut here. A band there. Something there to add sparkle.
“You see, a dress like this would be poor to make on a manique.” Delilah commented, turning her head side to side, studying to design. Most of it was for show. “I need a live model for it. Someone who could shine when she wore such a gown.”
And her eyes turned with a knowing smile towards Mercy.
“I… could help with that?” Mercy said sheepishly, color rising to her face again, as she clapped her hands to her cheeks trying to hide it for a moment, “I mean, if you think I’d be a good fit…” She said, shooting Delilah a wary glance. “I could even see about providing the materials for it if you needed help with that…”
Okay maybe she was pushing it a little hard. But it was such a pretty dress on paper and she could only imagine what it looked like for real. She was a girl, a girl with a dream of a pretty unicorn dress, okay!
“My my my. I just think you might be able to. “ Delilah plopped the book down in her lap smiling. “I don’t think anyone else around here could do it justice.” She was grinning. “But I won’t make you pay for it. Fabric, especially a good one like this deserves, can be pricy. Not to mention…”
And Delilah picked up the book again. In the corner, she was making notes of different accessories. “I think something old fashion needs to be on the neck and ears. I know just the place. But you will have to come with me to pick out everything.”
Seeing the young woman smile, Delilah was thrilled. This is why she wanted to design. Not to be famous but to make people happy.
“I’m free this weekend if you are…” Mercy said with a small smile. She was thrilled. She honestly could not believe this was happening. She was getting a dress?! How she came about this turn of events she didn’t even know. But she was thankful for it all the same. “T-thank you… M-... Delilah.” Mercy said, turning her gaze back on the older woman, somewhat wary she may have misstepped by not using the honorific.
It was new ground and she was still finding her feet, but Mercy got a sense that if there were more people out there like Delilah that being a Senshi would be… okay. She was nice, and kind and sweet. Mercy didn’t have an older sister. The closest thing to that she’d had was Hafwen. She made a note to see her soon as well, to talk to her about all the things. Not the dress though, too complex to explain!
She turned to look at what time it was, and the color left her face completely. “... When did it get so late?”
“When you became a senshi.” Delilah smiled as she slipped the notebook off her lap and onto the couch. “You will come to find that some how, it gets late quickly.”
Stretching, she rose off the couch again. “Want a ride home?”
“Please?” Mercy said with a small smile, standing up slowly and stretching a bit. “I mean, I’ve still got to SNEAK into my own bedroom, but… Uhm… Yeah, I wouldn’t mind a ride home at all.”
She was so excited. But… Oh! “I need to get your phone number so we can work out when we can meet up again…”
“Alright. Here.” Delilah walked toward her purse that had been sitting on the far side. Digging inside, she pulled out keys and a phone. “Put you number in mine and then text it to yourself.”
With a light throw, she tossed her phone over to Mercy. Thank goodness Droids were hardy. “That way you can reach me anytime. And…”With a smile she shouldered her back. “Next time you need to put me in your powered phone as well.”
Mercy nodded and caught the phone, plugging her number in she texted herself and saved the number. “Thank you, Delilah,” She said with a smile as she brought the phone back to the older woman and placed her own pack in her own pocket. “I will do so the next time we meet up.”
She stifled a yawn and stretched. She was going to sleep like the dead when she got home.
Torvil
