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 Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:01 pm
Remarque nodded; he could understand the latter part of her goals, at least. Even he didn’t like the concept of civilians being badly injured. There was always the possibility that when he was gathering energy, he was draining from someone close to another person—either on his team or in the Negaverse. Remarque no longer had need to drain energy from merely the convenient, and he was far more apt to go out of his way to find a challenge.
Now, it seemed he only drained energy from people society wasn’t going to miss.
He couldn’t vouch for everyone else in this endeavor, but he had a good idea of who was a more suitable target.
“Well. Perhaps the Moon Princess hasn’t shown herself, then. Maybe she really is just unawakened. Though, with everything that’s gone on, it seems neglectful for her not to be around. I’m not so sure I’d even want to take order from a leader that was awakened so much later than I was. All I know is that she was the source of so much chaos, so much death. I could never follow a leader that brought about such misery and then abandoned her allies to fight her fight for her.”
He shrugged, playing it off casually. “But I suppose you don’t have to be fighting for her if you’re fighting. It just helps to have a leader with a set of goals similar to yours and can support you when you need it. Though I am curious about the ‘evil’ you are fighting. That’s…a very harsh word. Do you truly believe that things are as simple as ‘good’ and ‘evil’?”
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:26 am
"Well... but she's not really ordering us to do anything, is she? I m-mean, she'd have to be actually here to do that, right? And I haven't gotten any orders, besides the basic." She looked a bit dubious, though whether it was about her own words or his, even Vanadis wasn't sure. She frowned as she thought over his question. "I suppose it is. But I mean, I don't really mean like good and evil as in people?" She floundered a bit, trying to piece her thoughts together into a coherent sentence. "Like, I don't think there's really bad people, or even good people for that matter, there's just people, doing good things and doing bad things. D-does that make sense? I don't think there's anything that can turn a person completely evil, because no-one ever is. No-one human. I, um, can't really speak for any other species."
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:43 pm
Perhaps Vanadis was not yet run haggard by this war in such a way that she was willing to think she had been played a fool. Perhaps she was still optimistic in thinking that she was doing the right thing, fighting for he right cause. But aligning with the White Moon would bring nothing but more destruction—of that, Remarque was sure. A part of him dreaded the day when the Moon Princess showed up—for all the senshi that would be lost to her lies. A part of him eagerly awaited the day. Let the White Moon see their princess—for the coward that she was. He held no doubt in his mind that she was but a selfish, ignorant child who cared not for those who would fight and die for her, only for her own survival.
“I wouldn’t dream to have you speak for any species but your own. Though, if you don’t think there are good—or bad—people, how can you tell who is doing good or bad things? As easily as someone could be doing something good for the wrong reasons, someone could be doing something bad for the right reasons. Which makes an awkward gray area.”
Which the White Moon tended to see as being evil, anyway.
“The Dark Mirror Court,” he went on to explain. “…We have to gather energy. Typically it comes from civilians. But we don’t kill. I’ve never killed anyone. I think it’s just wasteful. And immoral. And I’m careful to select my targets. No innocents need to be harmed. But criminals? I won’t protect them. It’s two birds with one stone. Gather some energy so we can further our goal of saving everyone—and clean up the streets. I cannot feel regret for what I do because I know I am doing the right thing. So with your logic, is gathering energy,” he paused to clarify, “—no star seeds, just energy. Energy that will replenish itself with food and rest. With your logic, is what I’m doing good or evil?”
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 6:22 am
Argh, why did he have to ask such hard questions! Vanadis zoned out, completely forgetting about her company to think about what he'd said. It... didn't sound so bad. If he wasn't killing people, only took from criminals and the energy was easily replenished, really, didn't that sound OK? Only... a part of her insisted that it just wasn't right to do something like that, no matter the person's doings - taking stuff from people without consent was just a bad thing, all in all. "I, I, don't think it's evil, but it's probably not good either. I mean, you shouldn't ever take anything that belongs to someone else unless you have their consent - like, real consent, it doesn't count if they're doped up or drunk or too stupid to make their own decisions." She frowned, although it wasn't directed at him as much as it was part of her thinking process. "It doesn't matter if they're criminals, because you said it yourself, they might be doing the wrong thing for the, um, right reasons or something like that. They might be grey area too. I think people should always have a right to choose, and you're t-taking that right away from them. And you never know, that guy that you took energy from might have had a legitimate job interview the next morning so he could get out of the gutter, and 'cause you took his energy, he was so tired he missed it. That's not fair."
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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:07 pm
Remarque had not expected Vanadis to throw his own words back at him, but instead of retaliating or letting himself get all riled, he just donned a contemplative expression—as though he really had to consider the situation—and nodded. "You make a very good point," he said, though was far from swayed. "…I just find it doubtful that any of the people nestled in the dark alleys I prowl would have anything lined up in their future. It's like they've already thrown their lives away. Sometimes I think all they need is a little push onto the right track. A run in with me," he shrugged, "Might scare you, but that's about it. Like a bit of a bad dream. But I like to think more good comes of it than bad. I guarantee you that they'll stay off the streets for a few days at least—if not reassess their whole life situation. Maybe spooking them is what gets the criminals to want to get a legitimate job?" he offered as an alternative to her theory.
Not every person Remarque had drained was so easy to justify. He had drained the energy of drunk teenagers stumbling out of bars, of homeless men and women curled up in the park—when he was in a bad mood, he didn't care where the energy was coming from, only that he got it. He had preferences and morals that he had yet to abandon for the cause, but he'd be damned if he wasn't making it work, anyway. The Dark Mirror Court was only as bad as they painted themselves to be, and there was no reason for them to paint themselves the villains.
Not when there were so many loopholes when it came to 'right' and 'wrong'.
How could you argue that it was wrong to target a thief? That it was wrong to put a criminal off the street?
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Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:53 am
Vanadis considered his words carefully. He was, well, he was kinda making sense, much like he had the whole time. "I, um, I kinda still don't think it's right but I can't really say anything to what you said?" She looked a bit quizzical, but also a bit embarrassed. Alright fine, so she'd never been the greatest of debaters, but it was kind of stupid to know right through to your core that something was wrong with this argument but being totally unable to put it into words. Frustrating, even. Okay, so they'd established that he was a much smoother talker than her, great, awesome, obviously it was about time for a change of topic! "So, why are you collecting energy? I mean, I know you said you'd do something good with it, but what specifically because you always have to be specific or it ends up like politicians who are like 'I'm doing something good for the city!' and all they're doing is lining their own pockets. Um, not that that's what you're doing, but I really have no idea because, er, specifics?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 7:10 pm
That Vanadis was not outright refuting his words was reassuring, though Remarque was a bit disappointed that she wasn't swooning to join the Court and begging to be lead to Ares straight away. Still, any progress he could make with any senshi was better than nothing. "I can't imagine what I'd do with that energy on my own, but I can see where you're coming from. No—the energy is useless to me, but Ares is doing what she can to help build the ideal world. A utopia, in honor of the parallel world she had to leave behind. Where we can reunite the rest of the universe. Where we can recreate what has been destroyed and forgotten. A place free of all this madness and fighting. We want what once was, and what can be again."
He nodded to her, "And we want to save the senshi along the way. The White Kingdom has long fallen. There's nothing left to cling to, and all that remains is more corrupt than you can see. The evil there hides behind promises of peace and justice, but the threads will come unraveled. I hope that one day, before it is too late, these things will become apparent to you, and you will join us. We could use all the hands we can get. Space is a big place," he said, glancing up to the stars. "We have a lot of work to do out there."
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:05 am
"Oh." Well, that sounded nice, didn't it? Very nice, and certainly more concrete than what she knew of the White Moon's goals; which was, admittedly, very little. Really, it sounded like just the kind of things Vanadis could get behind - she doubted that anyone could ever really create utopia, because humans just weren't made for that kind of thing, but a good attempt was still a good attempt. There was just, well... "Um, space?" She fiddled with her hair and looked confused. "I mean, uh, well, aren't you going to t-try'n make your utopia here? Space seems kind of, er, barren?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:13 pm
"Space is barren. And what's left of it is in tatters after that last war," he shrugged. What he knew of Space was limited to the time he'd spent at the Surrounding, but so many of those monuments had been in various stages of decay that it was hard to think that there was a single society out there that had been unaffected. And if there were—power to them. "Are you happy with things here, on Earth? Or doesn't it seem a little selfish to think that this is the only planet in existence that requires attention? There's a whole universe out there. And from what I know, once upon a time it was flourishing and full of life. Now, not so much. This planet will be left in good hands. But the rest of the universe? …Doesn't look like anybody else is rushing to help them."
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Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:10 am
"Er, well, if it's barren then there's not technically anyone you can rush out and help, is there?" Her brow was furrowed and Vanadis looked a bit confused, yet again. She felt like that'd happened a lot during this conversation. Anyhow, how was he thinking he'd go about getting into space, anyway? Did the Dark Mirror Court have some handy-dandy spaceships stored away somewhere? If so, she really needed to rethink this White Moon thing, because damn, spaceships.
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Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:14 pm
Remarque had to make an effort to keep the friendly smile on his face. It wasn't exactly easy; he didn't like a mass of questions when their whole purpose seemed intent on tearing down his beliefs or goals. Regardless, he could not blame her for curiosity, so he could only continue in the direction the conversation had taken. "But do you know that?" he prompted. "The people of this planet have but skimmed the surface of what is out there. I've been to space. I've seen things I never thought imaginable." But, then again, who imagined rainbow roads in space? "I should think you—a senshi—you would understand how limitless space is. The possibilities? Endless. I mean. Talking cats? Magical powers? If you believe in that, how can you not believe that there are things out there for us?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 9:57 am
"Er, well, it's not so much a matter of believing, I think..." She'd never really looked at it like that; it was just that suddenly reality had turned out to be a lot different from what she thought it was, and belief had never really factored into it. It just - was. "For me, a-at least. But, just, if there's no people out there, why go? W-wouldn't you get awfully lonely?" She thought for a second. "I guess if you go with your friends it won't be so bad, but you'd never meet anyone new, would you? I think that'd be kinda sad, 'cause meeting new people is really fun. "Like this! W-well, not really fun as much as it's interesting, but it really is interesting. Does that make any sense?" She looked a bit dubious, not quite sure her meaning had come across properly. This wasn't exactly what she'd call a fun conversation, but he'd made her think about her principles in a way that no-one else ever really had. Being a senshi had never been a choice, it'd just been something that'd happened, she thought - but talking to Remarque made it clear to her that somewhere down the line she had made a choice, and this was what she'd chosen. He was a bit weird, yeah, but he'd helped her out even if he didn't know it, and in Vanadis' head that made him a friend. But granted, she'd pretty much consider anyone her friend so long as they weren't trying to bash her head in. Vanadis wasn't picky.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:29 pm
Remarque glanced to Vanadis and thought for a very brief moment before flashed a smile. "It makes sense," he reassured. The conversation was interesting to him—and he enjoyed trying to pit the senshi against their beliefs until they understood how foolish the White Moon was. Vanadis might not have been new, but neither did she seem completely lost to their lies. Yet. Still, when prompted with the option to fight or chat, he imagined conversation would get him further than brute force.
She seemed convinced that there was nothing in space for them to go find—but surely, in that great expanse of everything, there had to be someone—somewhere.
Something was up there. Ares had her mind set on something, and Remarque had trusted her so far—he wasn't about to give up, now. Whatever idea Ares had was one he would at least explore. Space held so many opportunities, and it wasn't his fault if Vanadis couldn't imagine what sorts of things might be waiting out there for them.
"We'll find out what's up there one day. I'm sure it's not as barren as everyone thinks. And imagine all the things just waiting to be explored, hmm? I figure, no matter what corners of the universe you find yourself in, there will always be someone—something—out there. Earth can't be the only hunk of rock that's sustained life for this long. Maybe there's another planet out there, just like this one. Maybe it's full of secrets. Maybe it's full of answers. We won't know unless we go looking. Buuuut," he drawled, still wearing that charming smile he liked to put on for the ladies. "Maybe deep space isn't cut out for everyone, hmm? But if we find anything neat out there, I'll come back and tell you about it. Maybe you'll change your mind and want to come with us."
…Not that Remarque was particularly aching to head back into space. There were still nights he woke up in a cold sweat, dreaming about mirror pools.
For all his words, he liked Earth, thank you very much.
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 7:03 am
Giggling, she was easily charmed by his handsome smile and nice words. She wished she could be as elegant, as suave as Remarque was; it was a bad thing to feel, she knew, but there was a little kernel of jealousy in her, still. Why did she have to be so, so awkward when he could charm anyone just with a smile and some fancy talk? If she could be as smooth as him, she'd have tons of friends everywhere, she knew, and she'd probably be fantastic in like, talky classes like English Literature instead of really bloody awful. But maybe that sort of thing just wasn't meant for her. Vanadis gave a little sigh, before getting around to giving him a reply. "Yeah, s-sure! There's gotta be like, tons of adventures to be had in space, right? So either way, you'll probably have a really great time with lots of fun stuff to do!" And if he really did find someone out there, well, she couldn't dismiss that she might be a bit tempted to go with him and explore everything. Seriously, who wouldn't want to live in space? "And even if there's no-one there, you could just like, make your own country? Country-planet? Kingdom? I dunno, but yeah, that'd be kinda cool! Although I g-guess you'd have to bring a ton of people if you want to sustain a viable population and such." Why was she getting so excited about this idea, anyway? It wasn't like it was her going into space, it was just... she couldn't quite resist the adventure of it.
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:54 am
"Now you're getting the idea," Remarque confirmed with a slight laugh. "Maybe then people will realize how much the Dark Mirror Court could do for them. But, we'll see. At the very least, it'll keep things interesting, and I'll sleep well at night knowing that I'm working towards a damn fine cause."
At least he had a cause. What was there for the White Moon Senshi to do but flounder about and pollute the planet? They might not have meant any harm by being there, but until they came to their senses, they were just lost souls wandering for direction. There was no structure among their ranks—just a crowd of senshi waiting for guidance that wouldn't come.
On the off chance that someone ever did appear to structuralize and lead them, Remarque couldn't think it would last long. If the Moon Princess was as bad as Ares had claimed, he could only see havoc in the future—for everyone. Any soul he could help save before all hell broke loose would be spared that betrayal-and the Dark Mirror Court really did need more numbers. There was only so much they could do while so small in size, but he'd be damned if he was going to let numbers determine anything.
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