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 Posted: Tue May 10, 2016 3:32 pm
Sleep had done him good. Sleep and a nice hot meal, and a nice hot shower…but the next night, Whisler was out again, powered and prowling around…though he wasn’t sure at all what it was that he was looking for. Or who it was that he was looking for. Or if he was even looking.
He hadn’t spoken to Arias since the fight, and while part of him was terribly upset by this…the other part was very angry…
It was hard being of two minds, and he was most definitely of two minds at the moment. It was as though he was being torn apart. With a sigh, Whisler rubbed his chest again, the burning not as bad right now, but still very there. He glanced around as though looking for something, and finally pulled the tiny starseed that Ashanite had given him and held it between his thumb and index finger, looking at the blue crystal with a mixture of delight and pity.
For a moment he thought about what Ashanite had said, how the poor senshi had been cocky and full of himself and had deserved this…and while the thought…might have delighted him a little, he was repulsed by it at the same time. Oh boy. This was just plain awful.
His eyes felt heavy for a moment, and Whisler moved, once more curling up on the park bench, holding the starseed in the air with one hand, just…just watching it. Wondering just what to do.
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2016 9:28 pm
Teide didn't want to disturb the Polaris knight. She bunched her hands in her skirt and approached him slowly, stepping carefully to keep her footsteps as quiet as she could. Surely he'd notice her before she got too close, right? He was all curled up, but... He didn't. The cosmos knight bit her lip and crouched beside the bench, her orange eyes focusing on the starseed he held. Maybe it had been a friend of hers, she thought, feeling sad. Starseeds outside of bodies always seemed so lonely to her. So wrong. She rested her chin in her hands. "It should go to the cauldron," she said gently.
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2016 2:41 pm
Whisler didn’t jump. He gave a little twitch of surprise, though he didn’t jump. He glanced over at the young knight that sat beside his bench and raised a brow. “What? What’s the cauldron? What should go? You want to cook some chowder?” He knew he was spouting nonsense…but what else was a cauldron for? “You a witch? Huh. I could have sworn you were a knight, like me. You feel like one at least.”
He didn’t even bother sitting up, though the arm holding the starseed dropped from its position in the air, moving to rest on his chest. “So, what’s up buttercup? What can I do for you, besides help you make some chowder?”
He was talking nonsense…this was bad, even for him. It was just time to go back, that was all there was to it. He was going crazy. Absolutely nuts.
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2016 8:57 pm
Teide frowned, confused. "No," she said, shaking her head. How - how did a knight not know about the space cauldron? He wasn't a Cosmos knight, but it still seemed like something he ought to know. "The Space Cauldron," she said. "So that it can be reborn. I don't want chowder." Starseed chowder would probably be... powdery. Or something. She frowned, remembering the taste of the one she'd eaten during her tenure as Astrophyllite. She hated to think about how good it had made her. It probably wouldn't make her feel good now. "Are you sad?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. He seemed bubbly, but... the kind of bubbly people were when they were trying to convince themselves nothing was wrong. She knew it well.
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Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 7:04 pm
“I’ve never heard of the Space Cauldron before. I guess it’s never come up…” He paused and sat up, stretching and looking down at the knight for a moment, then looked at the starseed in his hand. “…Wait. It can…be reborn? What?” That didn’t…make any sense. Starseeds could be reborn? The people could come back? What was this Space Cauldron…and who was this girl who seemed to know so much. Did she get a handbook or something? Clearly she had been a knight from the start. Clearly they learned everything. All he ever got was a crash course in whatever with a side trip to what’s going on.
Whisler sighed and shrugged, closing his hand around the faded gem once again, stroking it lightly with the back of his thumb. “I’m not…sad. Not really. Just thinking, I guess. Thinking a lot. Wondering…and trying to remember why I left the Negaverse…It seems like such a stupid thing to have done now….I regret it, to be honest…I want to go back.”
The words were soft…and for some reason, now that he had said them, he couldn’t meet this girls’ eyes. His own boyfriend had freaked out…he was sure this knight was going to go ballistic as well. So why did he bother mentioning it? Did he want someone to talk him out of it….? No. His mind was made up. He was going to see Ashanite in a few days and…and get on with it. And go home. End of story.
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 8:15 am
Teide frowned and scooted a little closer, resting her hands on the bench. "No you don't," she said. "I - I was an officer, too," she confessed, reaching for his hand. She was scared he'd... squeeze it too tight, or something. "Astrophyllite. And I was beautiful and pure in Metallia's service until I wasn't. And sometimes I still feel like there's chaos inside me, making me mean and making me want to be cruel, but..." She slipped her fingers into his. "I can be better than that," said Teide. " You can be better than that. It's like..." She sighed. "You were a rock," explained Teide. "A lump of unformed stone. Metallia could make you into whatever you wanted and she made you into a weapon. But now you're a wonder. And you've been carved and you've been polished until all your facets shine like starlight. And... you're very pretty, see?" She indicated the crystals on his uniform, the glittering gold. "If you went back," she said, "Chaos would file you down into a rock again. But there'd be less of you. Less magic. Less... less of your essence. The things that make you you. You lost your memories - so did I. But... you'd lose the other half. There'd be nothing left. Just... a little rock." She made a fist, as if to demonstrate. "I know that... it's tempting," she said. "Chaos makes you feel strong and it makes you feel powerful and it doesn't make you have to think about why what you're doing is bad and maybe you don't remember why you left, but if you did... you had a good reason. The officer you were gave you a gift by getting you out. You shouldn't go back."
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 8:40 am
Whisler was quiet for a very, very long moment. He allowed the other knight to take his hand, and still said nothing. A rock? He would just be a rock if he went back? Part of that sounded…right? Normal…good, even. But…but to another part of him…well, it sounded awful. He didn’t want to be a stone…a stone with no memories that someone could mold and chisel and make into whatever shape they so desired…no, he wasn’t just a rock…
He honestly didn’t realize he was crying until a tear splashed onto the back of his hand that was curled into a fist. It startled him, and he reached up and hastily rubbed at his eyes. “I don’t understand. I think…I think you’re wrong. You’re just afraid of what’s going to happen in the end. There is no way we’re going to win this. I want to be on the winning side. They won’t make me into a rock.” The knight’s voice broke on the last word and he again looked at the little blue starseed. He had to make a point. He had to make his point known he had…to…
His hand closed around it and the fist tightened for a moment, though just a moment, and as his fingers re-opened again, more tears pooled in his eyes. How could he ever think crushing someone’s soul was a good idea.
Whisler grabbed the other knight’s hand and dropped the starseed into it. “Fine. You know what. I don’t…I don’t care. Do what you want with it. I’ll do what I want with my life. Thanks for your…” His chest burned and he rubbed at it without thinking. “Thanks for your helpful advice.” The word was spoken with as much mockery as he could muster. He stood up then, turning his back on the cosmos knight and rubbing at his eyes.
“But I don’t need it. I’ll do what I want.”
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 8:59 am
Teide took the starseed and cradled it, gently, cupping it over her heart. "It's okay to be scared," she said softly, undeterred. She knew just how scary self-doubt could be, just how strong Chaos's pull was! She'd been purified for over a year and still felt it sometimes, the need to twist the knife. But she was a better person than that - and so, she believed, was he. Otherwise he would have crushed the starseed. She hadn't missed the way his fist clenched. "You... you seem like a nice person," she said, voice shaking ever so slightly. This was what Hvergelmir did, wasn't it? Sat on her park bench and talked people through crises? Teide could do that, too. She'd been training to do that for all this time. "My name's Teide," she offered. "I'm a knight of the Cosmos. And before that I was Captain Astrophyllite. That's a kind of rock. It's a hydrous potassium iron titanium sillicate mineral... I had to look that up. And I was Astrophyllite because I was scared. I told myself I was Astrophyllite because I wanted to be Astrophyllite but the truth was I wanted to die every day that I was her." She bit her lip. "So yeah, it's true, you can do what you want, but you've got to know the difference between what you want and what you're scared of," she said. "You sound scared. If you wanted to do it, you'd be acting like an officer regardless of where your power was coming from."
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 9:28 am
Both of Whisler’s hands clenched into fists. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need this…this…traitor telling him these things. She was as bad as him. She would get what was coming to her one way or another.
“My name is Whi…Mariposite. My name is Mariposite.” He didn’t turn around. Couldn’t look at the pink haired knight for another moment. “I promise you now, Astrophyllite. I’ll make sure to tell them about you, I’m sure you’ll be back with us nearly as soon as I am.” There. That would get her off his case. Saying he didn’t need this. That he shouldn’t do this. She would go back to the Negaverse too. He would make sure they dragged her back.
He bolted then, wanting to be free from this. Free from her.
Free from the guilt that had already began to gnaw at him from what he said.
How could he be so awful?
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 5:25 pm
Teide started after him, but he was too fast, too desperate to get away. His threat to report her to the Negaverse rang hollow - she'd stayed off their radar by the good graces of her former friends, and she doubted he'd actually follow through. She didn't want to believe that he'd actually corrupt. He'd only be unhappy. She stared down at the starseed in her hands. "I'll take care of you," she said softly. "I'll get you home."
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