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 Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 6:41 am
Fallon was at a loss with Vanessa. She was a girl who had a hard time seeing things from other people's perspectives. There was only her perspective, and the wrong one. They communicated differently, lived differently, even spoke differently. The only thread between them was the fear and the need to do something about it. Fallon did something by trying to imbue her life with so much happiness that the evil seemed less present. Vanessa chose to chase it down with a crowbar. Same problem, two different solutions.
Touching at her forehead, Fallon stared at the ground, trying to compose herself again. She hated when she broke from the norm, no matter what the circumstance. Her composure was everything to her. "Vanessa, you do not understand. You ARE asking for it by doing this. They will find us all anyway, maybe at some point, but you are drastically altering your own probability and increasing it. Don't you care at all about self-preservation?"
Fallon had no idea when this had gone from an argument to an intervention, but here she was, trying to stop Vanessa from doing something stupid. "The things that you are chasing down are bigger and worse than you could ever imagine, and they will stalk you like lions on a damn savanna. The feeling makes my stomach drop every single time." Why couldn't Vanessa see reason? For all the times that Fallon had been attacked, she sensed youma twice as much. The feeling alone made her feel sick. The idea that someone would seek out the creatures that brought it on was unthinkable to her.
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Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:06 pm
For two people who hadn't met more than once, Vanessa and Fallon had certainly learned a lot about each other. They were polar opposites and, at the same time, exactly alike. Fallon revelled in control and logic, while Vanessa, by sheer consequence of her reckless personality, tangoed with chaos and unpredictability. These things gave both of them a kind of common strength, but also made it almost impossible for them to completely understand one another.
"I can look after myself," there was a clipped note to her voice. Vanessa was signalling the end of that conversation. The things Fallon said had stirred an awareness of something inside her, and Vanessa had no desire to let the other girl talk her out of this hazardous decision. She didn't want to talk about it anymore.
Vanessa couldn't believe she'd only met Fallon at Big Willy's the other day. For Vanessa, at least, it felt like they'd known each other much longer than that.
"I appreciate the warning," Vanessa told Fallon, "but I still want to help. Why are you SO sure that I'm gong to fail?"
"Lions can die too, but I'm not going to stick around and wait for them to collapse of old age. I don't get any feelings about them. I don't think I'd even know a youma if I saw it, but I've still gotta try- hold on."
Vanessa was pretty much back to herself. Her mouth was flapping again.
"What do you mean by feeling?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 6:16 am
Fallon opened her mouth and then closed it. She stood very still. Her composure had slipped, and in that moment, she'd said something she would have otherwise kept under wraps. Even if she wanted to share it with Vanessa, which she didn't, Fallon wasn't even certain that this feeling meant anything at all. It seemed like it did. She'd done enough accidental trial-and-error to know that following the feeling always led to attack and running from it always led to safety.
The only hold-up in this logic was the battle with the camera-carrying monster who attacked Abeline. She helped take it down with Sailor Cancer's assistance, but in the entire battle, Fallon never got the slightest prickle of anything other than the typical adrenaline rush associated with a dangerous situation.
That single event had her doubting everything. Was she really just crazy? The only other person who seemed to understand that feeling was Azzo, and she would hardly call him a dependable source.
A pregnant pause spanned the space between them. Fallon wasn't quick enough with her words; she internalized everything. A sharp annoyance flared in her magenta eyes. "I'm done with this," she said, and began to march away. Her hands hung tensely at her sides.
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:38 pm
Vanessa was no genius, but that wasn't a character prerequisite for being able to tell when somebody had switched gears into reverse and was attempting to hightail it out of an uncomfortable situation. Fallon had said something she didn't want Vanessa to know. The auburn-haired girl could see it, because Fallon was behaving the exact same way she did when she was being interrogated by her father.
"Wait," she called and raced after Fallon, darting in front of the other girl and holding both hands out to stop her. She was mindful of Fallon's injuries, and did not touch her. "Wait a second! You didn't answer my question!"
The other girl's refusal to acknowledge her with an answer spoke volumes. Vanessa was drawing wild conclusions.
"What the hell is a youma, and what does it feel like when they stalk you?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 5:29 am
Fallon did her best to wobble away, but she was injured and slow moving, an easy target. Vanessa caught up to her in no time, but she refused to stop. She teetered away, even as the spandex-clad girl trailed her.
"Go away," she hissed. Vanessa didn't listen. "I said I was done talking." Vanessa was still there. "Now you are stalking. I will call the police."
No matter what Fallon said, Vanessa persisted. She really shouldn't have been surprised. The effort of attempting to speed walk took its toll on the cinnamon-haired girl. After five minutes of this bizarre dance, Fallon threw her hands up in the air and spun to glare at Vanessa. "A youma is a monster. A youma is a thing that attacks people. If you haven't met one, you should feel lucky. The only reason I know to call them that is because I met Sailor Virgo, one of the magical schoolgirls running across town. And you know what? She didn't even kill the one that attacked me. She grabbed my hand and we ran away." Fallon paused for dramatic effect. "If a real senshi runs away, then what makes you think you would be able to stop one?"
She completely ignored the second part of the question.
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Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:45 am
Monsters.
Vanessa's eyes flashed with something intelligible, and Fallon's explanation sent a shot of adrenaline racing through her veins. This news frightened and excited her at the same time. As stupid as she was, Vanessa wasn't delusional. It wasn't about pretending to be a senshi. It wasn't even about killing the bad guys. (Well, yes it was, but that was only part of it.)
It was about being brave and standing up for something. It was about protection.
"No, please, don't call the police," Vanessa sounded desperate. Fallon knew where she worked. Fallon knew where she lived. "They'll tell my dad."
Of course, that is what she would worry about. A grounding.
"What makes you think I think I can stop one?" Her mind was full of the metrognome-man she had helped defeat in the mall. She had no way of knowing he wasn't a youma. He had been pretty freaky, but Vanessa had been able to hold her own. Kind of- except, she hadn't been able to feel him before he'd attacked. Her golden eyes shone on Fallon's face.
"What is this obsession you have with judging me? I told you I want to help. I want to do some good in this place. You're so certain that I'm going to die- but think of the lives I might be able to save if I try! If I don't do this, then I'm not saving anyone."
She wasn't a complete fool, and had an inkling of how dangerous the situation was. It was why she had refused to let John Jr join her on this quest. Vanessa wasn't smart like he was. She knew this, and didn't mind anymore. John Jr would be the astronaut, and she would make sure he walked on the moon.
The way she saw it, Vanessa didn't have much to offer the world other than her protection. And even that wasn't enough. Fallon was right, but Vanessa wasn't frightened of death.
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Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:56 am
Fallon sighed. Two manicured nails lifted to rub her temples. Slow, deep breaths. Calming thoughts. These were things Dr. Price encouraged. "You have no clue what you're up against, Vanessa." Her voice was plaintive now, almost maternal, but it held its hard edge. No amount of pity in the world would make Fallon think what Vanessa was doing was anything more than stupid and reckless.
She really hated reckless.
She took a step toward Vanessa. It wasn't aggressive. "The best thing that any of us can do is try to avoid trouble. Only fight when you have to, don't seek it out. More people die from attacks than survive them. You want to change the world? Great. Stay alive. Your death won't accomplish a damn thing." Her eyes narrowed. She was trying to prove her point.
Fallon eased her pointed finger back down, shouldering her purse. "You think you know horrors, and maybe you do. But I doubt you know them like I do, or feel them like I do. So do me a favor -- and trust me when I say that what you are doing is dangerous and stupid and will get you killed." Barren Pines had done a number on Fallon, and she largely assumed that the only people who could understand evil as she felt she did were those who survived it too. Vanessa was not one of them, and therefore, in her mind, Vanessa was unfit to judge danger in Destiny City.
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Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:26 am
They were talking each other in circles; two forces pulling on a rope that refused to snap. There would be no yielding, no tumble into the proverbial mud-pit. There would only be the pair of them, warring ceaseless with one another, because both adamantly refused to be removed from their post.
She didn't step away when Fallon stepped forward, but her nostrils flared warily. Fallon had packed a lot of punch behind that purse- Vanessa had no desire to get hit again. Her chin felt tender where the purse had connected, and she suspected that there would be a bruise there later. A minor one, but still.
Vanessa knew nothing about the horrors Fallon had seen, but her eyes flashed again as the other girl mentioned them. She had never seen a boy kill somebody with a skipping rope. She had never been able to feel the evil things that stalked her, if any ever had.
She wished that she could sense them.
It occurred to her that Fallon might be a very useful friend to have. She bit her lip, and the rusted hamster wheel that was her brain squeaked to life. The hamster was very fat and it huffed at the work it was forced to do, but it worked nonetheless.
"That's why I'm doing this, though," Vanessa smiled kindly at Fallon, "If there's a chance that I can stop anything like what's happened to you from happening again- I have to take it. It wouldn't be right not to try."
It was difficult to forget the things Fallon had said. It bothered Vanessa to have to guess at the things the other girl had suffered. Her imagination was running rampant with terrifying possibilities. This time, when her heart went out to her, there was no anger laced inside it. Only concern.
"Where are you going all by yourself?"
Fallon sounded like she was a magnet for trouble. It sounded like she shouldn't be left alone.
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Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:18 pm
Fallon groaned. She dug her expensive manicure into her hair. It was a very unusual action for the girl who normally clung to her composure like a life raft. "You don't get it!" She let her hands fall. They slapped against her thighs. "You can't stop anything. You can't save anyone. We're just human. Those others? They're something else." In her own encounters with senshi and negaverse alike, Fallon had never really stopped to ask what they were, if not human. Magical powers seemed to differentiate them from the rest of the race, but maybe it was more than that. Maybe these people who waged war on Destiny City were not humans at all? It was a logical thought, given the other-worldly nature of the youma who prowled the streets too.
The stalemate was locked tight, and even Fallon realized that neither would back down. If she weren't the one fighting with Vanessa, she might have even respected that tenacity. Instead, it annoyed her. "I am going wherever you are not," she said, tapping each finger to her thumb in a meticulous rhythm. She was counting beats, calming herself down. Her OCD might be a caged beast, but it still growled beneath her skin, aching to break free.
An accusatory finger jabbed toward the alley she had fled from moments before. "And I am going in the opposite direction of whatever was lurking down there." It had been a youma; Fallon knew it. The sense had struck her enough to make these things recognizable. And if she was ever wrong? The only outlier was the Cardian attack, but Fallon was still trying to figure that out.
She had nothing left to say to Vanessa Rae on the subject.
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Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:13 pm
It was clear to Vanessa that Fallon didn't want any company. It also seemed to Vanessa that Fallon was frequently in need of rescuing. She was definitely a damsel in distress, and Vanessa was a hero without a path to follow. Fallon may not have been aware, but she had just provided the auburn-haired girl with a light at which she could direct her purpose. Fallon was already-made bait, and Vanessa was going to exploit her for it and, of course, for the good of the city.
Vanessa wasn't actually that diabolical. In her mind it was simple;
Bad guys hunted damsels in distress. That was why there were such things as damsels in distress. Damsels in distress needed rescuing, and Super Van was just the hero for the job!
Mind thoroughly made up, she relented her interrogation and let Fallon go, giving her a minute or two to get a reasonable head start. Then, tossing a curious glance back at the alley from which she'd came, debated about following the girl with the cinnamon hair or adventuring on her own.
She chose the former. It was probably the smarter choice- as long as Fallon didn't catch her. Vanessa moved quietly, collected her skateboard and her crowbar, and hurried after the injured girl on foot.
Now she was stalking her, but for the good of the city. So that meant it wasn't creepy.
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