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 Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:23 pm
To say it had hurt seemed like a gross understatement, if it weren't for the Princess, Abeline would have started screaming, as it was, her knuckles turned white, signalling that maybe she had held on a little too tight to the Princess' hand. She was sweating. And as the princess left her to heal Lucas, Abeline realized something; the healing had taken a toll on the princess.
She curled her fingers around the hem of her jumper, and said something that she wasn't used to saying. "T.... Thank you." without comparing her to something unfavourable.
She ran a hand through her hair, limbs moving with a measure of elegance. No more water, no more... well, green-skin, and back to.... back to life. "This week has been something right out of a nightmare. Personally, I'd like to know why half the student body is running around as the living-dead, and how the hell we can get out of here?"
She glanced at the almighty Door-Slayer.... if he could do that to a door... why not bust his way through the black dome thinger...? That said, there was an element of the unknown in this picture--- and oh god, she'd forgotten about Lucas!!!
Kneeling beside the unconscious body of her eternal unrequited lusts, she pulled off her jumper and used it as a pillow under his head. "Stupid heavy water-buffalo." She hissed.... totally affectionately.
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:29 pm
Ugh. Leave it to Elke to swarm the one person that was willing to give answers in this room with questions that HAD ALREADY BEEN ANSWERED.
"She already said she would be," Sue snapped at Elke. It was only Serenity's presence that held him back from adding a well-deserved dumbass to the end of that sentence. For God's sake, why did Elke even have to be here....
Oh. And then Sue realized the obvious, that one of those little dots was lined up with Elke. Making her whatever Abeline was. Making the both of them... whatever it was that those pens were used for. Making him....
He still didn't know. And ******** it his butt itched but he definitely was not making any moves toward it with that girl looking all... regal and... damn it, this all sucked!
But at least it didn't have to suck in silence anymore. He started by pointing to Abeline (who he was still keeping a distance from - just to be safe, nothing personal!) "What she said, and," he pointed up to his forehead, "what the hell is this about?!...... M'am."
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:43 pm
"All right. First things first. Let's do this in order."
The Queen took Elke's hand -- she had smiled at Abeline -- but looked serious as she pressed down on her fingers. "The Princess is fine, Virgo," she said. "Perhaps a little confused. Wanting to get back home. I would never hurt her -- she is the daughter of my husband's brother. My own niece, by marriage, my daughter's cousin. I'm a ghost, my bones are long since ashes, but the Zodiacs gave me a husband many years ago: and so, for him, I wanted to do what I could for you."
Ancient Lady. No princess herself.
"As for the solution, that's a little more difficult. I'll save that question, Sailor Cancer."
Astraea was hanging around the edges; she still could hardly bear to look at Serenade, darting looks every so often, openly wringing her hands. Then she folded them tightly across her chest, whey-faced and grim. Serenity was looking at Sue now and her eyes were grave, and she was still in her crapass plastic chair.
"Where to begin," she said. "Zue -- Sue. I'll spare you the ancient history. Let us speak of the now. You have inside you the soul of a brave, honourable guardian, much as Astraea does. You guide and watch over the Zodiac Guard. A year ago you were all killed by the Dark Kingdom -- the Negaverse -- and Chronos begged the Space Cauldron to have you all reborn. Barren Pines was a false school, a hoax. It had one purpose only, to grow youma. But it also was the rebirth of most of you."
She tilted Serenade's pretty head, eyes grave. "Excluding you, Sue Gottschalk. You were found worthy, and Zue rebirthed himself in you. That star is the mark of your duty. I hope you like cats, as that's one of your true forms."
"Ancient Lady," burst out Astraea, "where's the princess?"
Serenity closed her eyes. "I don't know. I wish I knew."
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:51 pm
Ugh, mean Sue. But her retort was cut off by the Queen taking her hand, and the answer to her question. Elke smiled then, relieved, and sat down before the Ancient Lady like a child at storytime. The Princess would be back, the lady-in-Chronos had promised. Promises couldn't be broken, not ever. And you certainly could never hurt your own niece, even if you were a ghost. Especially if you were a ghost.
Elke paused, looking over at Astraea. "The princess is right here," she said, "Well, um, her body is, but she promised Chronos would be okay." Really, what was the kitty-girl talking about? Also, Abeline was a Zodiac too. Chronos would be happy. So would Serenade. Hero, though, Hero might be mad. She seemed to be mad a lot lately. It made Elke unnerved.
"I was killed?" Her tone of voice could best be described as what the hell are you talking about. "I died in a fire, but that was last week, not a year ago..." She paused. "How'd I die? What's a Space Cauldron?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:00 pm
It... took Sue a couple minutes to wrap his mind around what Serenity had said, honestly. It wasn't a small bit to have to process, after all, and most of it he sort of... had to check. Asking things within himself, like calling out questions to a canyon and waiting for the echo to answer him. For that part of him that was Zue to answer him, he guessed. To assimilate the facts between his head and his soul, see what felt right.
The strange thing was... it all did. Those tangles began to work themselves out, picking themselves apart with ease when all the wrestling he'd been doing had just made them worse. There was still so much that was unclear, but....
He was still Sue Gottschalk. His mother was still Kathleen; his father was still a son-of-a-b***h that had stuck around long enough to give him the ******** meanest name in the world, then skipped out. None of that was invalidated, and the meaning of his life was made no less.
But then there was also this new piece. Zue. The one that could feel all these things, who was drawn to the very mention of the name Chronos, that could call the names of the Zodiac Guard for what they were and reach into nothing to find the henshin pens.
They were two different sources, perhaps, but they were still the same thing - and with the strings being drawn out properly in his mind, weaved here and braided there but nowhere heaped together into a mess, Sue could finally feel that.
And then he could feel something else, too. An enormous, insurmountable sadness - and guilt. "... So it was my fault, then, that the Zodiacs died, m'am?"
She didn't need to answer, really. Sue wasn't even waiting for her to answer, but was already turning away, stunned by the breadth of understanding he now had. Sue already knew the truth of it. He was the Guardian; he had failed in his duty. Therefore, it had to be.
And if it happened again now, it would be again.
"... Cancer," Sue called out, his voice softened from its usual sharpness. He pulled the pen out of his pocket and offered it out to her. What its purpose was, was still a mystery to him, but at least Sue (Zue? It felt so easy to identify by either, now) was certain of one thing about it. "This is yours."
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:03 pm
And there they were calling her a cancer again, it made her blood bo--- wait, SAILOR Cancer, as in... Elke was Virgo... were they trying to recruit her into the criminal ranks of the senshi!!?!
Well.... well.... it was only natural, these poor mortals, in need of her beauty and presence to lead them to victory against the corrupt governments of the world, as they fought for freedom, and Abeline Froust, the stunning, confident wonderous dancer that she was.
Well, that was a question... why on earth did they want to recruit a dancer to their strange ways? Abeline crossed her arms, raising her eyebrow. "If the Zodiac senshi were killed a year ago, how is it that you think they will be able to triumph this time round?"
Aside from the fact that Abeline was wondering how a bunch of one-year-olds were going to defeat anything. And this all sounded quite dangerous to her. Part of her wanted to hessitate and tell these criminals that this was no game, lives were at stake here... but, she could see from the looks on their faces; these people knew it. The last few weeks of school had robbed most of the students of their innocent belief that everything would work out. And Abeline wouldn't let someone else make a decision for her, she wasn't going to let some outside force control her destiny.
"But more importantly, I want out of this nightmare. I won't let us just be fodder for this youma! Even if I have to protect everyone myself because I'm surrounded by short-tail fuzzballs- you've got some sort of secret weapon, right?"
Abeline was all fired up. And probably that was the most she'd ever spoken to any of these people here. Fewer words was usually her style, but she was trying to control the part of herself that made teachers cry-- at least so she could find out what they had to do to help.
She didn't even hessitate to take the pen from Sue. Okay, she had a pen!
"What the hell is this for?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:50 pm
"It's for turning into Cancer, you little dimbulb," snapped Astraea, but Queen Serenity held one hand up. This stopped Astraea dead (at least something did).
"Luna," she said, "be gentle."
"I was gentle for three years!" The guardian cat was not happy. "I was gentle for three empty, barren, miserable hellish years! Being haunted by Charonite -- losing Nova -- no Bunny -- no nothing, no nothing, nothing, just, nothing -- "
She beckoned Astraea forward. Astraea did what a tired child did; she slumped down and put her head on Serenity's thigh, hiding her face away from the others' smirks or judgement. "Be gentle," she said, "be gentle with yourself. Today is a good day."
Serenity leant back in her chair. "The Zodiacs dying was nobody's fault," she said. "Not yours, Zue. The traitor Charonite lured Chronos, and used her as a trap -- not even a senshi can escape an exploding building. You died together, you died all trying to save her. You fought valiantly. Including their guardian. The Dark Kingdom is evil; uses evil; fights evilly and thinks evilly."
The Queen looked to Elke now. "The Space Cauldron is the font of all the universe's life, the universe's souls -- hard to explain in a few words, without seeing it and beholding it. Let's just say that when your souls went back in, Chronos bargained to get them back out, as it were."
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:14 pm
The next glance Elke gave to the silver-haired girl was pity. Pity and commiseration. She reached out to pat the other girl's shoulder, idly curious as to who Bunny was. But she was not going to ask. That would not help the kitty-girl feel better. She didn't know if shoulder-pats were called for here either, but you know, she had to work with what life gave you. And right now, that was not exactly hugs. She had a half-conceptualized idea of getting her eyes scratched out, which would suck. She needed those eyes for doing Virgo-like things... You know, if she could actually. Become Virgo again.
She threw an narrow-eyed look at Sue. He might not have a golf club, but heck if he probably wouldn't try and strangle her anyway. He looked ornery as usual. "At least I died good," said Elke reflectively. "I wish we'd saved the Princess, though."
At this new information about the Space Cauldron, she nodded and then asked what was probably her best question yet (not like that said much, she hadn't exactly been asking brilliant questions so far): "But why did the Charonite guy want us dead?" She couldn't recall doing anything to him; for that matter, she had only a vague memory that she might be making up of having been killed before. Why would someone be trying to kill other people for not doing anything?
"And! And why can't I change over to Virgo?" The connection between the black sky, the commentary about Charonite closing the campus, and her lack of ability to henshin seemed to be going far over Elke's head (not like that was hard).
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:17 pm
When Serenity said it, Sue almost felt like he could believe it. It wasn't his fault, this carried-over tragedy. It was nobody's fault but the one who had perpetrated it. It wasn't as though Zue could have known, could have prevented it.
Of course, by that logic, lots of things weren't Sue's fault. Nobody had died in that fire that he might have been able to save. Piper and Zeke, their deaths weren't on his hands either - his inattentiveness that had put Zeke one-on-one with a zombie in the other gym, or allowed Piper to slip away from the group. And Nibs....
As was said. Sue could almost believe it, hearing it from Serenity. Her voice had a way of making him not feel like fighting; like he should just accept her version of events, her interpretation, and call it good. If only. The thing he could do, though, was to shut up and not argue it. Now that his head felt straightened out again, he had a little more storage space left now; he could afford to stash a few more feelings for later.
"So what do we do from here?" Sue's voice was still sullen, even if he was stifling the cause. "There's a bunch more like Cancer out there- Zodiacs, right, m'am? And probably at least half of them are zombies. And the place is still swarming with greenies besides." He didn't even get to the final question of and once we get everyone, how are we going to get out together. All that Sue knew right then was that the Zodiac Guard was scattered, and before they should be doing anything else, they needed to round up the rest. Before someone really did get themselves killed, for good.
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Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:34 am
Foramen had been quiet so far, because he had been busy hyperventilating and pointedly not-moving in order to not fall over. At first he'd thought the sudden instinct to drop to his knees was a prelude to passing out from using his attack again. But then the girl on the floor had stood and he'd seen her deep blue eyes, and everything new and magical running through his veins had jumped and starting screaming in his head.
Trying to fight against it only made it worse, and even Kirin had to give up fighting. (He wouldn't dare think even to himself that fighting might be futile because this was something he actually FELT, not a product of brainwashing. There would be no thinking that way!)
He gave in. Foramen immediately stepped forward and dropped to one knee. Golden eyes remained locked on this strange, glowing girl as though she had all the answers he never knew he needed. Plus, she had shut Astraea up. Foramen was ready to nominate her as the Second Coming for that alone.
"My lady," he said, bowing deeply over one fist clenched to his heart. Somewhere deep inside, Kirin wailed, but the voice of protest was small and quickly silenced. "I live to serve you."
Something within him mourned that she didn't know the location of the princess, an echo of this feeling of worship flowing over Foramen at the thought of her. But they could only work with what they had, so he focused past the voice urging, 'Find the Princess! Protect the Princess!' and picked up as much information as he could: Charonite, Zodiacs, Space Cauldron, deaths and rebirths...
The part of Foramen that was purely Kirin snapped his head up at the mention of begging the Space Cauldron to have others reborn. "What kind of a bargain does a Space Cauldron strike, in order to bring someone back?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:05 am
Many questions, all at once. Queen Serenity was still stroking Astraea's head; Astraea was still hiding herself away. Her blue eyes were still sad and old in Chronos' young, pretty face.
"A terrible one," she said. "The Cauldron demanded a soul to keep, to take back within itself forever. And so Prince Eon -- who held the crystal of the Epoch -- gave himself to the cauldron, not to be reborn. It was cruel. The Cauldron can be cruel. And so Chronos' prince and cavalier is gone forever. It was never what I would have wished for her. Nor my daughter -- who but for mercy's sake has the prince she loved out there, somewhere, still. But that is beside the point." She separated out the strands of Astraea's silver hair. "That's my own Small Lady's joy, and Princess Chronos' sorrow."
She looked to Foramen. Her expression had warmth in it. "You have lovely manners," she said, "but I am not the Queen you serve! One day you will see her and she'll be glad of you."
Sue got her gaze now and it was a little overpowering. "Zue. Virgo. This is the reason. Cancer -- all of you -- listen closely. Your enemy is the Negaverse, the Dark Kingdom, who would kill my daughter stillborn before she even managed her rebirth for you. He's cursed the area. Nobody will be able to transform. I'm stuck inside your Princess. Until all of the zodiacs are found and gathered -- even in their human forms -- and even then... we'll need all the strength we can muster."
Queen Serenity pressed Astraea's head away, gently, and she stood. "I can revive, but not truly uncurse," she said. "Zue, if you lead me to the Zodiacs, I will do what I can. For my niece. And when you're all together, you must pray and believe in the power of the Zodiac Crystal. Believe. Have faith. That is what is going to save you.
"We have a bodyguard in Sailor Foramen. We have Astraea, Virgo and Cancer. I'd say that's a beginning, wouldn't you?"
And she smiled.
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Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:25 am
Foramen's face fell at the price paid to the Space Cauldron. No, that wasn't acceptable. Another way would have to be found... Ah well, it could never have been that easy, anyway.
"You have lovely manners," the Queen said, and something unthinkable happened.
Foramen blushed. Face as red as his hair, he gaped, then quickly turned away. Working his throat, he blinked rapidly. "That's not the word most people would use," he rasped. No one had thought him 'lovely' or spoke to him with such warmth since... not since his... Foramen swallowed again, and fought to regain his composure. Perhaps his reaction wasn't so unexpected - if the missing Princess Serenity was Foramen's true Queen, then speaking with this spectre of the old Queen Serenity was like meeting a God. Suddenly Foramen had Faith and Devotion, born in the holy light of this woman. Such a shame it wouldn't last long after Queen Serenity left.
Still, while she was here, Foramen was imbued with the spirit of a loyal senshi. He bowed again. "As you command, my lady." Gather Zodiacs, pray, break shield. Check.
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Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:48 am
If Sue had just walked onto the scene without any prior knowledge - no suffering through Barren Pines, no watching classmates die, no soul-awakening or senshi powers or catgirls transforming - he would have known, without any doubt, that everyone in the room was completely out of their gourd. He would have seen Serenity's influence as the power of the cult, and felt genuine fear for all those caught in its grasp.
But caught in the context, with the certainty of Zue's experience (if not the benefit of his knowledge), it was a different story. Sue was totally drinking the Kool-Aid on this one. Serenity said that there was a way out, and all it took was... well... what he would have probably done on his own anyway, now that he had a convenient mini-map plinking away in his head.
"We should get going, then." This Q&A time was nice - really nice, actually, to finally have the situation put before him, so it was something he could bend over and examine like a map on a table, rather than be swallowed in like the reality of the school around him. But even more than pressing for more details, begging to learn how things had come to be, Sue was driven to find the others. Had to find them, before something went terribly wrong....
He took his mental bearings, shifted around physically to orient himself. There was a blip in his head - he didn't think it would take long to reach it. There was no smile on his face, only a grim, pressing readiness. "If you're ready, m'am, I know where to go."
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Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:46 am
Abeline crossed her arms and silently stared at the catgirl who was fawning in the other woman's lap. If she hadn't just met a catgirl, been brought back to life from her second existence as a zombie and seen a pen materialize out of a glowing ball of nothing--- not to mention Foramen's magical door-slaying power.... then she would worry that the senshi weren't just criminals, but also some sort of strange cult who wanted her to join in their unusual little fantasies. But the last few days of her dying, coming back as a puppet, dying, coming back as a zombie, and then... being brought back to life, made her a believer. At least in the idea that there was real odd power going on in the background and that these people thought that Abeline could help them tap it and get out of the whole mess.
As it was, Abeline had a really good come back, but instead she just started playing with the business-end of the pen, wondering how to open it and thus transform... or maybe she had to write on something. Well maybe the transformed senshi-boy would know? She turned to Foramen and stepped up to him, her dark blue eyes half-lidded, her tongue running across her lower lip and her fingers binding over the pen as she held it to her chest, the picture of innocence and need--- And then the ghost-possessed senshi told her that she couldn't transform anyway, so in Abeline's opinion, there was no point asking the boy. She whirled and tucked the pen away like the question hadn't been on the tip of her lips that she wanted to ask. Perhaps Foramen had a charm for the women, after all, Abeline was hard to read as a zombie, and his hair was pretty spunky, and he obviously wasn't that dastardly Kirin who had disfigured her face, so why /would/ she not fall for his silent and obedient charms.
Quite simply, because Abeline was strange and liked the boy she seemed to loathe the most. Because some girls are walking contradictions and live to make boys cry in confusion. And thus, one second, she slid closer to the boy, as though to ask or confess a deep, dark secret of her young self, and the next she turned around and acted as though she had lost interest in whatever it was altogether.
For Abeline, this was pretty normal behavior, since she was usually quiet and conversations ended quickly, and her attention span was not too hard to divert.
"Okay, well, I would suggest we leave ghost-possessed girl here, while those of us not inhabited by beings of strange energy power go and search for the other Zodiacs--" oh god she made that sound normal, like a bunch of dancers for a scene that was about to come on--" but since the barricade is busted, maybe we should move as a group?"
There had been a lot of grasping of information in this situation. A lot of other students might have screamed and fainted long ago. As it was, Abeline saw these guys as her best chance to take control back over her seriously out-of-control life. And also, the idea of lifting a curse from herself and a few other people, did sound like a... uhm... smart move. Because of course, Froust was here, and any failings before were simply.... because she wasn't there. The world hadn't been revolving properly. Which was sad, but natural. Oh, yes... Abeline had an ego.
As it was, maybe someone who was passing science would have been able to explain away all these strange mysteries and stuff. Abeline wanted to believe in magic. Because after all, she was a ballet dancer. (and yes, for Abeline, that explained /everything/)
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