Continuation of : Cofffe Clash
---
“Kairatos....” He corrected, before remembering that it was technically unfair, he hadn’t actually told her what to call him. “Really? I just summoned a bull out of thin air, and the guy who threw me through a window vanished into thin air and it’s the MARS bit that’s got you confused?” He pointed out, but followed, because he was kind of curious to see where this went and he shouldn’t hang around for the actually paid disaster-squad to show up. Especially when he was part of the disaster in question.
He was half surprised she hadn’t just concluded that he was actually referring to some kind of ridiculous boys club with a penchant for barely useful armor, but then again… she had also just seen things appear in and out of thin air…
----
“Oh so you do have a name?” Lena commented back as she slipped out the door, completely ignoring now that fact that her clothes were sticking to her body as she moved. That was until a light spring wind blew and made her shiver. Looking down, she realized the already fitted shirt and suit pants now seemed to mold to her like a glove...great…
”Well,... Kairatos…” She snapped back at him turning once they were clear of eye shot of the cafe. “If you haven’t figured out we live in a cursed city full of things that are unexplained. Just last night I was listening to a lovely news report of people seeing a flaming bull that burned down a store.” Arms crossing under her chest, Lena felt the clothes squish before dropping them again. “So, outside of once again knowing my insurance is going up or I need to move, yes...I don’t give a damn about your bull or mr broken nose. Magic is nothing but slight of hand or misdirection.”
“Now you mentioning Mars and visiting it, on top of the freaky glowy thing you just did...then yes I’m more worried and interested in that! Because that affects millions of dollars in research, hours upon hours of time dedicated to formulas and research making sure nothing it out of place. Not to mention jobs and dreams of thousands of people! And you are telling me you can just go to Mars? Go to Mars he says! Ha!” Lena was animated. Her arms were swinging as she talked clearly going off to another place. “Well listen here Mister Kairao...or whatever...give me one damn good reason I shouldn’t drag you back to NASA with me to start answering questions!”
--
“Well for starters I wouldn’t let you…” Kairatos noted, a bit more testily than he intended, as he tried to find a way to unhitch his cape to offer her. Stupid thing had to be attached in some reasonable manner, right? … Goddamn magic clothing.
“Second I’m not even sure my answers would help them much. I’m pretty sure if the Mars Rover wandered through someone’s territory I’d have heard about it… I mean maybe. Possibly not it’s a big planet and there’s only a handful of us, but I mean I’ve stood on Olympus Mons and I know I haven’t heard anything in the news about that. You might be smart enough to work at NASA but I’m…” He waved a hand in frustration then actively -yanked- the tattered cape off it’s moorings, one side after the other before holding it out to her. “I’m Me. I know what I’m good at. I know things work but I don’t have the answers to how they work. But I could probably take you if you want. I can’t see it doing any harm, you’re already pissed.”
Ok he supposed she could be an agent in civilian mode, but that seemed unlikely, and any agent who went through that much trouble to get to his wonder probably deserved to see it anyway.
---
“You…” Her hands reached out for the cape and she wrapped it around her body, at least the top half of her as her hands seemed to keep getting stuck in the holes at the bottom. “How…” Lena managed to get out now covered in red fabric. “You have stood on...that possible...The shield volcano Olympus Mons? That is the largest volcano we currently know about how…”
But then her eyes seemed to glow. The anger was gone and Lena stood there, exhaling and smiling. “Oh if only I could believe you…” She sighed...shaking her head. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m already up to here…” Her hand came from under the cape to make a motion above her head. “With my insurance company. I haven’t had my coffee today. My top is basically glued to my body and I was up all night working on codes. Yes, you guessed it, I work for NASA. My name is Lena...and well….”
Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. “It’s not possible. Human life couldn’t survive there...there is no air even! Even if there was, used to be...that would mean you were thousands of years old. But then again that would mean accepting I was talking to an alien…”
---
“I’m twenty six. Well… this time. It’s… a reincarnation thing.” He flinched when he said it, holding up his hands as though half expecting to be punched for tossing that onto the growing pile of unbelievable things she was supposed to digest before coffee “Nice to meet you Lena, do you want to visit Mars?” He offered, trying to make it sound lighthearted as he held out a hand. “Promise I’m not an alien… well. I mean… ok that does kind of get weird doesn’t it? Assume I’m not an alien. This time. And I don’t have all the answers you’d like… but maybe I can make up for getting chucked through the window before you got your coffee.”
--
The smile on Lena’s face fluctuated back to that of ‘you expect me to believe what before coffee?’ but she let it drop. Accepting that someone could walk on Mars ...let alone travel to Mars...without the use of a rocket was next to impossible. Throwing in reincarnation and she was sure she was still asleep in bed with Voyager sitting on her head.
Green eyes glanced down at the hand he offered and she exhaled. “You know what...okay.” Lena sighed and reached out to take his hand, still holding the cape around her. “Today has already gone way past weird so let’s keep going. But if you hit me over the head to transport me there, you will be the next one to find a heel in your groin.” She looked up at him...that look that was only half joking.
“That is if you have one.”
--
“See I reallllly want to make a joke about that but I think you’d take me seriously.” Kairatos sighed. “No hitting, just need your hand.”
OK. Ok concentrate. No pressure right? Only that she was going to think he was completely delusional if he didn’t do this right and that would do even less favors for Order than the news and he and Asterion already had. Note to self; maybe try using the net more, even if it is a bit unpredictable.
“I pledge my life and loyalty to Mars, and to Kairatos.
I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine.”
That was definitely going to get some questions… but at least he hadn’t forgotten his lines, and he knew he’d done something right when the smell of smoke and the whoop of Fire Engines faded out, replaced by the slightly rusty, familiar smell of the dusty, empty place that was his wonder.
They arrived in an open courtyard, near the stables he’d been dropped at a few times, though this time on the other side of the mostly collapsed walls to the fields where bulls and cows and calves had once grazed in thick yellow grass. The ground felt, stubbly under food, as though it were debating actually growing again, but he didn’t blame it for being stubbornly bare, he hadn’t been here since he’d had a falling out with his Code piece.
He sighed in no small bit of relief as he let her hand go, and waited to see what she’d do.
“Ok so… Welcome to the city of Kairatos on Mars. ...See why it’s kind of hard to explain?”
---
For a moment, Lena truly expected someone in a bed sheet to leap out and smack her in the head. “What was…” She never got to finish her words when before her eyes, everything...literally everything but the two of them...changed.
Standing there frozen in place, Lena’s hand did not return to her side as he released it. Those green orbs jetted around a mile a minute as her mouth hung open. To be honest, it was a wonder if she was even breathing! But that was answered as the jaw dropping o shape on her face was gradually replaced by a grin. Sounds of broken laughter came from somewhere in that frozen glare. Her mouth began to alternate between a grin and shock.
Finally the hand he had been holding drew back over her mouth and she stepped backwards. “No…” She managed to make out, head now jerking from side to side as she stepped away from him. Dropping the hand to clutch to the front of the cape she still held, Lena’s shock seemed become...giddy?
“It isn’t possible…” She was laughing, leaning forward and looking at him as if she had just lost her mind. “You...What…” She started, head turning once more before she realized she was kicking up rust colored dirt.
“Impossible…” But there she was! Everything was dropping back to wonder. To awe and amazement as the shock was finally replaced with a smile as big as a child on Christmas. Gazing up, she shook her head to see the skies above. “I’m on Mars...I’m on Mars!” Lena gazed back over at the man, truly amazed before she dropped the cape and ran over to him planting a kiss smack on his lips. “I don’t know who you are or what you are but this…”
And then she let go, running away from him towards the stables she could see in the distance.
---
Well… he… guessed he’d made her day then. Kairatos opened and shut his mouth again as she dashed off, not sure he could have been more surprised if she’d pulled a two by four out of her pocket and hit him in the head with it.
“Wow… um…” He floundered, and scooped up the ripped cape because he wasn’t sure what else to do. “Guess I’d better follow…”
He wasn’t sure what what would happen if he lost track of her in the city, and he didn’t want to be responsible if literally anything here was as dangerous as Mistral had been. Even accidently. A lot of things weren’t in the best condition. At least she hadn’t kicked him in the junk.
The stables at least were mostly… stable. So to speak, and perhaps because this was often where he ended up, some of the faded paint and it’s bright colors seemed to have returned, or at least, looked as though it were re-emerging from the weathered wood and stone, but otherwise were much the way he remembered, with empty stalls marked by gouges in the wood as high as the animals inside could reach, showing off their height. She was ahead of him, but he did have a few advantages on catching up, and called out as he caught up. “I don’t remember all the names, but that one used to have an enormous black bull, he was partnered to a girl named um…”
He had to think about it for a moment but finally added. “Her name was Ianthe.” He paused and put his hand on one of the posts, rubbing over a place that might have held a nameplate once. “Skiron. That was his name. She was really skilled, better than me at a lot of things. I don’t know what happened to her or if she ever went on to become a knight or if she stayed here. And Asterion was…” he pointed to the stall, a few further down the line. “There. The… real Asterion. Like the actual animal, not the summon thing that may or may not have any connection….” He shrugged, awkwardly. “...I only remember parts of it, and… only when I come here. I haven’t for a while.”
---
Her hands ran along the wood. Aged with time but even so, she marveled at the colors still there. “With all the sand and dust storms on this planet…” Lena spoke to no one but still shook her head. That was when she heard him.
Stopping, Lena gazed back at the so called ‘knight of mars’...which she was still having issues accepting...with a confused look. “Bulls?” Her voice cracked in surprise. There were bulls on Mars? “Out of all the possible animals, the planet named after the god of war raised bulls?” Lena had to laugh. “Oh wouldn’t the Romans and Greeks have loved that.”
Sighing, she leaned against one of the columns. “You could be making all this up or you could really have memories…” Then she shook her head. “I don’t care now...come onn! Show me around!”
The sigh was replaced with giddy smile. Lena was having a ball!
--
“The more time I spend here the better it seems to look. A couple other knights said something of the sort as well, their wonder or home base or whatever you want to call it, repairs itself when they visit. Never heard of anything more than plants or the like coming back, but the buildings and such… I mean it can’t get worse. First time I came I ended up in what I guess was for lack of a better word like… an office… and I made the mistake of touching a shelf and things just…” He waved his hands in an embarrassed imitation of the dust cloud. “Poof. No dust allergies fortunately or I’d probably have sneezed myself clean back home and back. I mean to earth and back…”
He knew it was his wonder but it was still hard to think of it as ‘home’ the way some did. It could be a house… but not a home. Home was other people. Home was what you lived to fight for.
“Great...uh… show you around. Right.” Ok where to? He had kind of a sense which area was residential, and which had been more for markets… And he was fairly sure the markets circled the temple or the coliseum or… both… He wasn’t sure what would be left there, old jewelry or pots, dust that had once been food maybe but… he wasn’t sure. Things in his own spaces had been sort of left as if he’d gotten up and never come back to them, but the rest he wasn’t sure.
“Well… there were markets and things sort of… that way… I think homes that way… or… well… some homes.” He was pretty sure his family had lived more or less in that direction, with easy access to things but just enough separation to not step out the front door into a throng of busy people. Maybe.
Perhaps it was simply his wonder being sort of… pissy… that he hadn’t been here in some time, but he had much more by way of ‘annoyingly vague impressions’ than ‘memories’ at the moment. Could wonders be pissy?
----
“Homes?” Lena asked, a confused look on her face as she nearly skipped beside him, crossing over between old ruins. Screw the rocks and red dust. People lived here? “How as NASA missed all this…”
Her thoughts trailed off...then she stopped and gazed around, thinking through things as she lifted her hand up to bite against her thumb nail. “A barrier. Has to be.” Was she even talking to him now? Walking again, eyes scanned, stopping long enough to look at one of the carvings. “Something advanced if scans, LIDAR and even basic snap shots can’t catch it. Not to mention…” Closing her eyes, Lena took a deep breath. “Air…”
“May I bring something back?” Lena asked, turning around to gaze at him. “Something to study. This information...these findings...it could put us light years ahead of everything. Not to mention if there is a barrier...if we could recreate it…” Clearly she was dreaming. There was a star like look in her eyes.
---
“Honestly I’d be pretty curious to know what you found myself… but if you did find something… you’re gonna have to explain to someone how you got it. And you don’t know who’s got ears on that.” That was the big thing that stood out to him, that someone might find out she’d brought something back, tested it, and they might either connect her to the knights, or mistake her for one… and the unknown reactions they might have.
“What were you thinking of?” He didn’t know what would tell her much. Or if the magic that changed the place every time he visited would even allow her to learn much other than ‘there is dirt here, it’s red and smells like rust.’.
He was less sure about her taking… things… for the same reason he hadn’t taken anything he wasn’t sure had once been his, or… investigated the homes. It felt like a desecration, or maybe a reminder that at some point, at some time, he’d failed these people, kept them from being here now.
---
His questions had throw her off and caused Lena to stop her far off dreaming. He was...right. And that sunk her hopes.
“You know, do you break hearts as easy as you break windows?” Lena looked back at him, her face looking annoyed but a sigh showed she was more disappointed than upset. Her hands went up to the walls near by as she walked past and she brushed it down, sending red dust all over her legs and covering her hand. “They would fire me if I came back with something going ‘Guys!’” She went into play acting, a hyper cheerful voice. “I found this bull head on mars! There is houses too! Oh, but you can only get to them by the man walking around in Roman Armor!”
Sighing again, Lena brushed back her dark hair and looked away. “So I’m walking on one of the greatest things for the furthering of space research that could put us light years ahead of the game and I have to eat my words...or be committed as overstressed and underpaid. I would go nuts if I had to take time off…”
Walking off from him, Lena headed down the street he hand pointed at. At a whim, she slipped inside one of the ‘homes’...only to start coughing from the red dust on the door.
---
“...Sorry…”
He seemed to actually mean it, waving his own hand to try and clear the air (a futile gesture) as
he followed her in. “I didn’t mean to derail the moment but… I mean could be worse. What if it was one of that dicks superiors and you didn’t know it?”
He wasn’t sure who had lived here, but the stillness was eerie. “I haven’t been in here… watch your step alright?”
The inside of the house was unfamiliar, not, perhaps, part of his memories, or not the inside anyway, however often he might have once passed by, but it had a sort of disconcerting almost familiarity, like visiting a stranger's house. You knew they had mundane things like bathrooms and bedrooms and silverware drawers, but knowing exactly where they were was a different matter.
-----
Waving her hand in front of her face, more trying to clear her eyes than anything. “If you were one of the d**k superiors and I didn’t know, then I would either one, need to be looking for a new job or two…” She turned around and winked at him. “Make sure you and I got along VERY well after this. “ It was said with a playful grin as her hands slid along the walls.
“I’ll be careful. I wouldn’t wear heels like this if I wasn’t good in them.” Lena commented as she slowly crossed the front room. Her eyes were taking in everything.
“Interesting.” She commented finding the hallway that held back from the main room. Without waiting for him, she walked down it. “How many people do you think once lived here? And were they all bull riders?” She threw back not really expecting answers.
“Though I must admit, a bit sad there is no remains…”
---
“I can guess why you’d want them but at the same time… kinda glad there aren’t any.” He admitted, with a grimace. “...At least this way it’s easier to just… pretend they’ll be back...someday. Otherwise this place mostly just feels like a big reminder that at some point in the past they needed me and I wasn’t there…”
He knew some of the other knights and senshi had… a considerably stronger emotional attachment to their worlds and wonders, but damnit… he couldn’t overlook that there was pretty much nothing left here to protect, save the code piece.
“I’m sure there’s a graveyard but I’m… not sure I want to know what happened to anyone that didn’t get buried there. I think I’ll sleep better not knowing.
He didn’t know when it had fallen, and he didn’t like the idea that any of them could have potentially become youma. Dead was easier. Dead wasn’t crawling out of dark places and hurting people.
---
That made Lena reappear, slightly more covered in red dust. She gazed at, a moment in surprise before her eyes softened and her lips formed a smile. It was soft, meant to be sweet as she brushed back some of her black hair and sent a soft red streak through it.
“Look…” She walked towards him, her hand extending to place against his cheek. “I don’t know who you claim you are or if you have some true connection to this place but you believe you do.” She sighed now, still smiling up at him. “I’m sorry if I caused you more than than the broken window today. I mean no disrespect to your...this place.”
Dropping her hand, Lena gave him what she considered a ‘cute’ shrug. “Sometimes my mind gets away from me and I forget that it isn’t all science. To you this isn’t a place to be studied and here I am trying to pull it apart layer by layer.”
“Maybe I should save that for a second date.”
---
“N… Sorry I didn’t mean… it’s not your fault I mean. It’s one of the reasons I don’t come up here as often as maybe I should. If I did it would be in better shape, but… I mean someone should be able to understand this place, we should be able to learn from it, and there’s only so much I can tell anyone. I’m at best a biased narrator. I can’t even read the writing, I can remember what it said maybe if I read something but… that’s not the same thing. I don’t necessarily enjoy the reminder that these people were failed, that everything here is… gone… but if no one tries to understand it then it’s even more…” he waved a frustrated hand because he lacked the vocabulary he wanted. “It’s really gone.”
He couldn’t help break into something of a smile though at the date comment. “Usually I try and make a better first impression. And I don’t mean the kind in the drywall or flooring. And um… mostly the only time someone was sitting on one of those damn bulls was for a festival. They’re very… broad.” He pointed out. “Not everyone I think though… it was more like a specialized class, part of it was affording an expensive, carefully bred animal, and stabling it, and also having the time and talent to train with it. I mean… I’m pretty sure. Um…. here.”
He took the Amphora necklace from around his neck and held it out. “You might be able to smell it through the cork. There’s oil… There’s jars in the stable I think too but they might be empty. It was for war or sometimes for show… they put it on the bulls and lit it. Like my summon. The bulls were fine, it’s part of what they were bred for. Also… an excellent reason to be beside them… not on them… in an actual fight.” He chuckled, but it was sort of an apologetic, maybe even nervous laugh, not sure how she would feel about it all.
---
“Are you always so articulate?” Lena chuckled as she listened to him stumble a bit through his explanation. You could make out bits and pieces but he was still slightly tongue tied. Cute but she had to wonder if this was how he was or because he was out of place? She was leaning towards the later.
Slowly her head leaned to the side as she gazed at the necklace. It was simple and she was unsure until he began to explain the purpose. Reaching out her hand out and around the cord, she pulled it up to her face and gently smelled it. She pulled her head back, not expecting the smell. It was shock on her face...then interest as she tried again.
“You look like you could use a break.” Lena finally said as she didn’t ask but slipped the cork over her head and around her neck allowing it to fall to her chest. “Why don’t we go back and I’ll let you buy me that coffee you stole from me.” There was a playful smile. “Unless you have nothing else to where Sparticus.”
---
“Well since you’re holding my bull hostage, I can hardly refuse can I?” He pointed out, teasingly.
This sounded like an -actual- date. An actual, powered down date. With her. Or… well… he thought it counted as a date if you bought someone coffee. Might depend on circumstances.
“I mean I should warn you even if you wanted to I can’t get back here for another week, it… just works that way. Too much energy I guess.”
He couldn’t deny that there was a part of his brain that insisted, firmly, that agreeing to this might well be a terrible idea. A dangerous idea. And another part of it that said that as risks went, maybe it wasn’t the worst. He’d been to the RIFT. He hadn’t been sure he’d be able to come back from that. Compared to that, the risk that one woman might be an agent, that it might be part of some… impressively convoluted scheme of really ridiculously movie villain levels…
If the Negaverse actually wanted to get to him there were a hundred better ways to do it.
---
At the words, Lena looked down at the item that hung around her neck. Picking up the cork again, she chuckled,as it laid in her hand. “So this summons the Fire Lord? Why do I suddenly feel like I’m standing in a video game…”
Letting it drop again, Lena shrugged. “Well then, I guess you will get it back in a week when you bring me here again. Next time I’ll be ready and not feeling like a fish out of water when you magically teleport us here.” Giving him a wink, she added. “Don’t worry. I won’t let my cat eat him. Just think of this as insurance that you don’t get to burn down any buildings for awhile.”
She could sense some hesitation so she walked back to him, hand reaching out and touching his arm. “Promise, I only bite when asked.”
---
“Oh well ok then.” He cleared his throat, trying to ignore the fact he was turning something a little like the color of his ripped off cape. “Well that’s...considerate.” He almost fidgeted with the marks on his face where Cinnabar had done her damnedest to take out his face, but forced his hand to drop again. Different lady. Entirely different scenario. Definitely… different implications.
And even for a coffee date he had to power down. Not. a situation he had prepared for tonight.
“Does this mean you’re less steamed about the coffee shop or is this an elaborate ruse to try and get me arrested?”
He half joked, but on the other hand…
---
His half joke wasn’t missed on Lena and she blinked towards him in surprise before cracking a smile and a laugh. “And here I was starting to wonder if you had a sense of humor. That’s a relief. “
Her hands went back to the necklace she was wearing of his and she played with the cord around her fingers. “Oh no. I’m steamed Sparticus. Which is why you are going to make it up to me. As for arrested…”
She didn’t finish that sentence as she walked past him, out of the little house they were standing in. Gazing down at the red dirt, she shook her head. “How would I get back up here if you were in jail? The human transport rockets are years away and they require a space suit that well…” She released the necklace and pretended to look like Baymax. “...is not made for comfort.”
Dropping her arms again, Lena winked one eye. “Besides, you wear red well. I don’t think Orange or Black and White suits you.”
---
He couldn’t help it, he laughed. Orange not suiting him had immediately brought to mind one of his civilian use ‘uniforms’. “Remind me to never show you my goddamn motorcycle gear.” He laughed. It was hard to argue with it for road visibility, but he also couldn’t argue that it was probably not the most flattering shade of orange. And retrospectively might have a bit in common with ‘prison orange’.
OK fine. It was a gamble. But he made gambles.
“Fine. I’ll get you a new coffee, but you’re going to also have to let me know how to get in touch so I can get my Bull back.” He added. Two could barter as well as one. “I promise to try and be a little more… conservative… in when I pull him out. But you’ve gotta admit. He makes an impression.”
---
That really caught her attention. “You ride?” Her eyes lit up again. Okay, maybe she was a bit into going fast….really fast...down the road. Either way, did it matter? The entire idea that this man could belong to some sort of cult didn’t seem to matter anymore. He was cute, he could bring her to Mars, and he had a motorcycle. She could overlook the flaws or a flaming bull and leather armor. At least for one ride.
Not to mention Lena could already tell he blushed easily. Oh she was going to enjoy this!
When he threw back a retort, Lena felt herself grin. Walking up next to him, she reached up a hand and placed it against his face, tapping his cheek lightly. “I can agree to that. Mr. Bull Rider. But I might make it more than coffee the second time. You have been warned.”
“Now,” Her hand dropped. “Back to Earth for coffee. Do you have something else besides….?” Her eyes gazed over his attire. “Or do we need to go to a themed cafe?”
---
“That’s… Well I’ll show you when we get back. And yeah I do. It’s not like I can spend all day running around on foot, right?” He grinned. “But it’s back in the ‘I just do it I can’t explain it.’ territory. I mean hell, we do have regular lives, or… most of us do.” He still wasn’t sure how some of them did, either glowing or… being part monster, so he had to assume they didn’t… not really… but
Not his problem.
He was glad at least that he couldn’t blush any harder than he probably already was.
“But um. Yeah. Coffee.”
Coffee was a good start.
--
Ryuthulhu
