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 Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 3:06 pm
Evan had not been the smartest human, and he definitely wasn't the smartest youma. He had no idea how to properly sense energy signatures—and he really didn't even know what they meant, except that 'someone was around'.
So, when it was a Super Senshi, naturally that meant one thing: Lysithea.
Evan had been hopping after Sanidine, deeply interested in the ground as they walked when he first felt her signature; his ear twitched, he looked up, and before Sanidine could even register what was going on, Evan had bolted.
Evan was fast—not as fast as Sanidine—but Evan was small and dark and disappeared like a shadow into the night. All Sanidine could do was charge after him, calling his name and muttering orders to stop or slow down but they were all lost on Evan, who could only think about his friend.
It took less than a minute to reach her; he rounded a corner and seemed to have a big grin on his little youma face—only, it melted immediately and he skidded to a stop when he realized that was not Lysithea.
He had no idea who it was.
He stared, wide eyed and afraid, up at the girl—and then Sanidine busted out from behind the corner, full run, and narrowly missed slamming into the youma. He skidded to a stop, muttering a string of expletives, and grabbed the youma by the scruff of his neck.
"What did I tell you?" he seethed, the girl in front of them forgotten for a moment.
The youma just let out a pathetic little whine and pawed at the air, like he was trying to climb onto the Captain. Sanidine couldn’t seem to take the noise for very long and begudgingly muttered, "Fine," and drew Evan closer.
Immediately, Evan clawed his way onto Sanidine's back, wrapping his arms around his neck and perching on him like he was getting some sort of piggyback ride.
Sanidine pretended like he wasn't as out of breath as he felt and combed his fingers through his hair to try and smooth them out. The color out of the corner of his eye reminded him that they had company and he shot her a weak-willed glare. "What were you trying to do to my youma, girl?"
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 7:15 pm
Patrols had used to mean looking for danger, helping people. Fixing problems and making the city a better place…but now she was focused on one thing, and one thing only and the was still looking for Ida. She had no real leads…other than ones that were leads to destruction…people who thought Ida was dead…
Elvira shuddered at the thought and tore open the package of cookies that she had brought with her tonight, plopping one into her mouth and chewing slowly. No, there was no reason to go out anymore except to find Ida, so when she felt a chaos aura moving swiftly towards her and a youma nearly pounced at her, she let out a shriek and dropped her box of cookies, moving a few steps backwards.
When the negaverse agent arrived behind the youma, Elvira practically knew it was all over. Oh Arias was going to be so sad when she was dead…this was awful.
But then…the youma began to make strange noises and climbed onto the captain, and Elvira blinked. It sounded…really kind of cute. Like a baby whale or something.
Slowly she moved her hand to pick up her cookies, though paused when she was addressed. “I didn’t do anything. He just came up and scared me, that’s all…” For some reason, she was almost feeling guilty. For a moment, they youma had looked so…so afraid. And it was her fault he looked like that. “I didn’t mean to scare him…I’m sorry.”
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 10:47 pm
Sanidine's lips pursed but he shrugged and scoffed. "Whatever. Just be more careful, next time. It's his own damn fault too, though."
He tried to turn his head to glare at Evan, but it was short lived and not worth the strain on his neck. He wanted to be mad—and he had no shortage of anger—but he was tired, and Evan leaned forward so he was resting his chin on the Captain's shoulder.
The youma seemed curious, now that he had a few seconds to examine the senshi.
"Oh—what," Sanidine huffed. "Let me guess, you knew her, too? She's your other secret best friend?"
His eyes shot to the Senshi. "You know a kid named Evan or something? He used to be my roommate and I keep bumping into Senshi he used to know or something. Not sure when he had the chance to meet all these people considering how often he was trying to avoid people, but whatever."
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 6:40 pm
Elvira watched the youma watching her and gave a little wave. “Um…no, I don’t know anyone named Evan…why? Is that his name? He’s kind of cute.”
She paused for a moment and grabbed a cookie from the box. “Does he want a cookie maybe? Does he eat cookies? Do you want a cookie? You seem pretty stressed. Is everything okay?” The senshi hardly took a breath, jumping form one topic to another, her purple eyes moving up and down the captain. “Is he stressing you out?” She wasn’t afraid anymore. This captain didn’t seem…mean. He just seemed really worried about his youma…which, maybe it was like a kitten. If her kitten had run off she would be upset as well.
Well, at least she would if she had a kitten.
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 7:13 pm
Still, Sanidine watched her closely.
Evan didn't immediately respond, and even seemed afraid of the senshi, still. When she offered a cookie, his head cocked to the side and his ear twitched. He chirped, but Sanidine shook his head.
"He can't eat cookies, I don't think. The last time I fed him food he spat it back out. And then tried to eat it again, and then spat it back out." Sanidine certainly did seem stressed, and Evan let out a low whine and sighed heavily before lowering his head to rest against Sanidine.
"…I guess, give me a cookie," Sanidine finally said, and then remembered his manners. "Please. Might help with the stress."
He rolled his eyes, circling back to her question. "It's a pain in the a** to have to watch out for one of these things. Always running around, always getting into trouble. Trying to make sure he isn't getting dusted."
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 8:04 pm
Elvira waved at Evan again, giving a bright smile. “He sounds so cute! I promise I won’t hurt him…do you think he’d let me pet his head? Is he fluffy? He looks pretty fluffy.” She offered the box of cookies to Sanidine and thought for a moment, chewing one that she took for herself. “I’m sorry that you’re so stressed…maybe I can try to do something to help you? Do you think I can do anything? I mean…”
She shrugged, one hand going to her pendant. Ida had liked it…and Athene hadn’t wanted to touch it…he had been to upset…but maybe it would make this guy feel better…if he was so stressed, he could use some good thoughts…
“I mean, I have this pendant, and I think it might make you see something that will make you happy? My friend Ida…she saw something and it made her happy, and I tried to get another friend to touch it, but he got too upset…see Ida’s missing and we’re really worried and…and yeah…but if you want to hold it, you can, and I can pet your cute little youma. We can be friends.” Elvira never had thought she could be friends with a youma…though she had never heard a youma sound so adorable either.
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 8:15 pm
"He's soft," Sanidine confirmed, shamelessly taking a cookie from the box she offered. He took a bite of the cookie and then handed the rest to Evan. While the youma opened his mouth to eat the cookie, he chewed it, made a face, and then let the crumbs fall out of his mouth before sighing heavily. He head butted Sanidine's cheek but seemed disappointed.
Sanidine was more distracted with the pendant Elvira was talking about, though, and tilted his head to look at it. "…I don't know if that's such a good idea," he said hesitantly, but he wasn't adamantly opposing it. Especially not when he was already thinking about snagging another cookie.
"If you want to pet him, you can, I guess. He's never really attacked anyone. How does your pendant work?" he asked. "I'd just hold it, and then you think it'd help? —And that's not you being sneaky, trying to catch me in a trap or something, right?"
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2016 7:10 pm
Elvira held her hands out to Evan, excited to snuggle a youma. It seemed super dangerous, but super fun. If he was soft, well, there couldn’t be that much bad about it…and he didn’t seem…mean…just scared. And cute. If all youma were like this, well, they would have no reason to dust them, now would they!
“You just hold it, I think. In your bare hand and maybe you’ll see something nice…remember something nice or something. I don’t really know how it works, but it’s not any sort of trap. I’m not really one for the traps…all of my magic helps people be happy…like poinsettias make people happy at Christmas!”
The senshi’s face lit up as she said that, still looking at the youma, ready to snuggle. “I won’t hurt you, little guy, you can come here! We can be friends!”
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2016 7:41 pm
Evan seemed hesitant; he looked up at Sanidine, as if looking for some direction or instruction, but when Sanidine only nodded, the youma's brows furrowed. His gaze turned back to Elvira and her extended hand and, very carefully, he leaned forward and held out a hand.
And then smacked it, in a perfect high five.
She probably couldn't see the way his little tail waggled eagerly, but he watched her closely, as if anticipating some sort of response.
Exasperated, Sanidine just sighed. He had to wriggle his shoulders and reach in an awkward position just to grip Evan, and finally he pulled him off and set him down in front of him.
Evan seemed sheepish but hesitantly scooted towards Elvira. He gave her a few quick, shy glances, and then reached out to poke at the flower on her shoe.
Sanidine watched carefully, making sure the senshi had no intention of hurting him, and then drew in a breath. He held the crystal in his hand and looked at it, and at first nothing seemed to happen.
And then little things changed.
He started seeing things—good things. Happier memories. He saw Evan laughing, or cooking in the kitchen—so focused, he didn't even hear Zack come in. He saw Cambria sprawled out in bed next to him. They were little things—happy memories, and thinks that had become hard to think about.
All he'd been focusing on were the bad things, the miserable things.
But there were happy moments, when he stopped to remember them.
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 8:33 am
Elvira gave a little excited squeal at the high five, thinking that it was just the cutest thing in the world. “Oh gosh I love you!” She wasn’t even paying all that much attention to Sanidine who was holding the pendant in his hands, all of her attention was focused on the youma who was being so adorable and poking at her shoe.
Just poking at her shoe like that was the most normal thing in the world. Elvira cooed and tried to make a chirping noise like she had heard him make earlier, but it didn’t sound quite right. Gently, slowly she reached out a hand and rubbed the little youma’s head. “You gave me a high five. You are adorable. Let’s be friends.”
She felt…amazing. Making friends with a youma and…
Her eyes slid towards the captain and she smiled, half worried, half excited. “Well? Do you feel any happier? Any better?” She noticed that the pendant had gotten a little more color added to it, and that excited her. It really did. She wanted to know what would happen when it all turned from a boring clear crystal…to a colored one…it would be worth the wait, she was sure.
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 8:38 am
The stub of a tail might have been a bit more obvious now; Evan wagged more with her praise, and even though she was a senshi he didn't even seem to mind the way she rubbed his head. He had bristled, only for a second; the hackles on his back had raised and he had an urge to push away.
But he didn't, because Sanidine hadn't told him to—and he didn't care who it was; the sensation of fingers against his fur was soothing.
And she had pretty shoes.
Sanidine was still looking at the pendant when Elvira spoke. "Huh?" he asked, somewhat dazed. "Oh."
His eyes drifted to Evan and he couldn’t help but smile at how happy the youma was.
"Yeah," the Captain finished. "I think I do. Thanks."
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 9:04 am
Elvira beamed. “I’m so glad! If you ever need me again, I’m Sailor Elvira, senshi of Poinsettias!” She leaned down and kissed the top of the youma’s head, before getting back to her feet. “You have the sweetest youma in the whole world, I hope you know! He doesn’t seem mean or scary or anything. It’s almost like he’s a good youma, just waiting to be helped…like he doesn’t want to be a youma…does that sound silly? It does sound silly I think.”
She laughed and glanced at the captain once again, holding her hand out for the pendant. “Or, it might mean that you’re not supposed to be a bad guy. That maybe you have a lot of good in you, and he’s learning from that, and maybe…maybe you should come to our side and bring him with you and we can all be friends.”
The senshi pulled some of her hair back over her shoulder and shrugged. “I’m sure they could help. I’m sure someone could help…if my friend Ida was here…she’d know what to do…I know she would. She’s so smart…”
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 9:22 am
Sanidine watched her for a moment and then slowly nodded. He was still trying to figure out what to make of this Senshi. Usually he wanted to bash their faces in, but…usually they were also trying to hurt Evan.
And here she was, kissing him.
And even though Evan was covered in a layer of thick fur, he could see him squirm with embarrassment. "Don't press your luck. I'm happy where I am," he said, but maybe…
He wasn't.
Still, she'd mentioned youma—helping youma. He pursed his lips and glanced to her.
"He wasn't always a youma. Sort of a recent development. Used to be a friend of mine, good kid. Not like you or me, no Senshi or Negaverse business. Just…got in the crossfire. He's not supposed to be a youma. Evan's not a bad kid. Never was. Just got the s**t end of the sick. A lot."
…A lot, because of him.
He kept his face stoic and sighed.
"…You don't know, by chance, do you? Any way to…undo it all? Or, those friends of yours, do they know? How to fix a youma?"
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 9:45 am
The youma had been his friend.
This poor captain’s friend had been turned into a youma. Her purple eyes filled with tears. “I’m so sorry…I can’t imagine how sad you must be without him with you! That’s so awful…I don’t know anything about fixing youma…but I’m going to ask! I’ll ask everyone and anyone I see! I mean, there’s tons of us and I’m sure at least one of us knows something! Right? They have to!” She was full of determination and nodded excitedly. “I think maybe you should make sure you don’t let him forget who he was, I mean…who he is. Maybe it’ll be easier to help him if he still knows that he’s not supposed to be a monster!”
Elvira paused and knelt down in front of the youma again. “You be good, Evan. We’re gonna save you, I promise. We’ll do whatever can to save you…maybe soon you’ll be human again and we can be friends and get ice cream and run around and just…be friends!” Her eyes were bright, and she wiped away the tears that had collected in them with the back of her hand.
“We got this, Evan. Me and…and…” Glancing at Sanidine, she shrugged. “Me and this guy will help get you back to who you were, and then maybe…we can get him to leave the darkness of the Negaverse, and we can all be friends.”
She had to talk to the youma like he was a person. Because he was. Because he could be. Because he would be. Again, she ruffled his fur and stood, looking at Sanidine. “I’ll talk to everyone I know…we can save you both, I’m sure.” Elvira pressed her box of cookies into the captain's hands as a token of her new friendship.
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 9:50 am
Sanidine's jaw clenched; he didn't like her crying, much less giving him pity. He refrained from telling her that it was his own damned fault and he was responsible for Evan's current predicament, but he wasn't one who liked to bring up his own shortcomings if he could avoid it.
…But she was energetic, and excited and determined…and he could use someone like that to talk to the ranks of Order, because beating information out of them wasn't working as well as he'd liked.
Evan looked up when she told him to be good; his ears twitched and he seemed to have an idea of what she was saying—and almost seemed to smile. His tail wagged again, but he seemed to understand that they were getting close to parting ways. He hesitated and then moved quickly, hugging her leg before he scampered back to Sanidine and climbed up to perch on him again.
Sanidine offered a faint smile. "…I appreciate your help, Elvira. My name's Sanidine, so don't forget it." He accepted the cookies with a nod. "And thanks for these, too. If you pull through for me…I'll owe you one. Big time."
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