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 Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:36 pm
"Well, I'd certainly feel bad for you if you had to call yourself Sparklypoo," he said thoughtfully. He had heard many of the strange names senshi got given, but nothing quite that bad.
Camelot was also glad for his own pants and the chain mail he had lucked out with. Poor senshi, got the short end of the stick.
"Been to Camelot? I..." that was a bit of a trick question, though he might not have noticed when he asked. Of course not. Tony had been to 'Camelot' once before, long before he had become a knight of the same name. He had gone to a terrible dream version of it, when he had been stuck in a coma. It had been one of the strangest periods of his life, though now it was nothing but a fading memory.
But he didn't think that was what Babylon meant.
"You've been to Babylon? How? I mean... what do you mean? This is the first time I've ever heard anything like that."
'So you're what's become of us'. Camelot looked thoughtful. He wasn't sure what he would do if he had really heard that, from some apparent being in the place he was meant to represent. That sounded like a fairly condescending thing. He examined Babylon's face, trying to read it.
The tapping of the glowstick was distracting.
"I haven't been, but I'm sure you're not a disappointment in any sense. You have to find what you believe in, what you feel like you must do with these powers you've been given. For me, I must find a way to bring this war to an end, or at the very least stop the death and horrors senshi and the negaverse are doing to each other. And protect civilian life."
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:55 pm
"Lina told me about it," said Babylon, getting restlessly to his feet. "She said there was, like, an incantation or something, but that she couldn't tell it to me? I didn't believe her at first, but then a couple days ago I remembered these words I'd never heard before, and they took me to this old city on Mercury when I said them. I don't think I can tell you them, though - they seemed kind of tailored, if you know what I mean." He doubted the words that took him to Mercury would work for a Page of Earth.
He shrugged and walked back towards the platform with some sense of finality. "I'm not sure if I'll be going back any time soon, though," he said dejectedly. It had been pretty depressing and he was still wrapping his head around the first trip. Another so soon would probably just drive him mad.
He glanced over at Camelot. "How do we stop them from fighting?" he asked. "Like, do you think we're a third side entirely?" He'd never considered it like that before, but, then again, he'd never considered it very much at all.
And besides, how did you stop a war that you barely knew anything about? It wasn't like he could read about this stuff on Huffington Post like he did when he wanted to learn about famines, genocides, and revolutions. Life had gotten a lot more complicated since he got into all this supernatural stuff.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:39 pm
Camelot nodded his head.
If he found these words for himself, would he be taken to Camelot, or that dream version of it? Would he just be left here on Earth, but some time in the past, not Camelot at all? Or would nothing happen, because he was a Page of Earth, and it was meant for space?
He, of course, didn't have the answers to any of those questions and he wasn't sure why he was asking himself them.
"A third side, maybe. I know I support the senshi, but I also know I've met Negaverse soldiers who are not... lost causes. There is change to be made. Some of these kids just don't want to be fighting, but they have to. There are always different types, but I think everyone is entitled to a normal, civilian life. Or a space alien life. Whatever. Free of war, and fighting, and killing one another and the innocent with them."
He took a breath, straying from the question.
"I think we have the ability to step in. We can literally step in and stop fights between them, or we can talk. But there are still the dangers of the youma, and the Negaverse draining humans for energy. We have to balance our efforts and never forget to protect the innocent."
He was talking about his own version of 'we' now. Not him and Babylon, per se, but the knights he had already found agreed with him.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:11 am
"So we're the peacekeepers," nodded Babylon. This much he could get behind - he was always supportive of peacekeepers in his real life, and he wouldn't mind being one. It seemed a fair night job for someone whose life ambition was to be a park ranger.
"Only you can prevent interstellar war, something like that?" he asked, in his best Smokey the Bear imitation. The young Page leaned against the railing and stared out over the dark park. All intimations of wanting to climb were gone - now he was more curious about the larger war than just using his powers to goof off.
At this thought, he hesitated. Babylon glanced back at Camelot. "I've never been very good with responsibility," he admitted quietly. This hopefully wasn't two much of a surprise - in the last ten minutes alone he had probably revealed that he had the equivalent maturity level of a capuchin monkey.
"I guess I'll just have to work on that."
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:11 am
"That's the way I see it, yes," he said with a nod. Peacekeepers was a good way to phrase it. Peace promoters, maybe, as there wasn't much peace to keep at the moment.
He chuckled.
"You're young," Camelot said, with a nod, "responsibility is difficult, even when you're older. You'll learn, and you'll find your place. It's not something you can rush or even know. You will find it, though, or it will find you. In either case, dedication will get you closer. If you need help, though, you have mine."
He, at least, was not unused to young people. His son had taught him some patience. It was easier to believe in everyone else now, in a way, and though he would never admit to it he often treated the senshi and his fellow knights around him more like sons and daughters, if only because they seemed more inclined to succeed and seemed to need or want his help much more.
He needed them just as much because of it.
"You've only just started as a knight. We all have. Whatever that voice meant, asking if this is what they've become, if you are, he hasn't seen and doesn't know what you can do yet. As long as you believe in something, and work for it, you'll be more than he yet knows."
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:47 am
Babylon smiled at the older knight. Weakly at first, but strengthening as he turned the last statement over in his head. He was going to get better, and then he was going to go back to Mercury and prove that ghost wrong. "Thanks," he blushed. Aw, shucks.
He thought he sensed something vaguely paternal in the way Camelot was treating him - not that he minded. It made him feel warm and fuzzy, and despite his initial thoughts about the knight - frustration at being made to come down from somewhere dangerous - he decided Camelot was okay.
Babylon started down the stairs away from the platform, but stopped short. He glanced back up towards Camelot. "D'you have kids?" the boy asked. "I bet they like you. Anyways, I'd better be going."
He flashed a friendly wave, and then bolted into the night.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:03 pm
Camelot had to laugh at the parting comment, looking down at the floor. His son certainly did not like him, as far as he knew, but he tried to do right by his son anyway. And he loved Nate, regardless of how hard a time the teenager was constantly giving him. Even if he did feel like a lost cause most of the time. Wasn't that just what teenagers did?
He watched the other page go, then sighed. He had to climb down from this thing as well, now. It was slow going, but eventually he managed to get down and out of the water park.
Thoughtful, but feeling like he had done some modicum of good tonight despite not running into a youma or something like that, he returned to his patrol, turning everything he had learned and talked about over in his mind.
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