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 Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:07 pm
Camelot tiled his head and looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry it is so difficult for you, but just to get through each day is an incredible feat. Sometimes we regret the choices we make, or the choices we are forced to make, but to keep going after them is something we should always be proud of. If you can continue fighting for the things you believe in, regardless, then you deserve respect for that."
He smiled and nodded his head but let the subject shift to himself. It was easier to talk about, because he couldn't insult himself as easily as he did others.
But he was usually quick to insult himself.
"I do it because they need someone to. And I have the power granted to me to do it. Every night I see monsters and villains attacking people, and I stop them. But if I wasn't there, what would happen? It's my duty." He frowned at her comparison, but shook his head. "I can't tell what's going to happen, I just know what I'm working for. Peace isn't just going to fall out of the sky."
He shrugged.
"There is a lot of darkness in this war, and Chaos is to blame for it. And the idea of war itself, it allows people to do terrible things in its name. All I know is that I want to find an end to it, and an end to Chaos. I'll keep working on it."
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:24 pm
"Amazing."
Zia's shoulders just sank and she looked bewildered at the whole thing. "Everyone I was supposed to be protecting ended up dead or corrupted," She sighed, sounding exhausted over the whole thing.
"So sometimes I think it'll work out better if I just hide in my apartment and catch up on sitcoms or something." She became distracted by the cut on her palm and the itchiness resulting from the blood trying to scab over. "I mean, peace isn't going to fall out of the sky, sure, but apparently everything I touch turns into piles of dead bodies. Operation Rota, the DMC, my bad." Depending on how she was feelings she told that differently. Sometimes she was Ares' victim like the rest of the world and other times it was indirectly her fault for not keeping the crazy b***h on a leash like a proper guardian. Apparently tonight was the latter.
"I guess at least you've got a good start with the whole 'Chaos is bad' rhetoric, though," She muttered, preoccupied and not giving him the attention she was a moment ago. Stupid hand. "I mean, half the new senshi I talk to are like 'we just don't understaaaand them'. No, dummy, it's a force of evil and it gets in your head and it messes with you. But hey, why bother with the information bank that has memories of that s**t and how it screws up your head?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:39 pm
Camelot looked at her with a bit of pity and a bit more understanding on his face. He shook his head, waving his hands in an effort to quiet her and keep her calm.
Clearly he had struck a wasp's nest with his words.
"I feel the lack of information and readily available training to newly awakened senshi and knights is crippling more so than any lack of clear leaders, or the organization of our enemies. I hear a lot of complains like that, but we should work with what we have, not complain about what we don't have. Anyway... ah... I'm sorry if I upset you, I didn't realize how much you've gone through..."
He placed his hand on her shoulder lightly.
"You can't control the things that happen around you, no matter how hard you, or we all, try. Some things slip out of our grasp and control. Giving up won't change things, it can only make them worse. One less force of good doing what they can to defend those that can't. To help those that need it. I don't think your duty is far off from mine. But you can't do anything if you're unhappy, and if you're scared. If you need help or support, you have it. But don't let yourself become bitter, that's almost as damaging as Chaos itself."
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:01 pm
Even though Zia was talking about dead bodies and the various lives on her conscience, she spoke with an attempt to be casual that was so over the top it was hard to place on the sarcasm meter, or if she was just trying to cover. But Either way, when Camelot put his hand on her shoulder, she had the sash piece he'd given her earlier in her teeth in an attempt to tighten it, and looked up at him with surprise like he'd totally interrupted her out of nowhere.
""Erm..." The offer of help and support caught her off guard, and she just sort of glanced around awkwardly like how she was supposed to act was just going to come to her. She had developed a knee jerk reaction to just kicking away the, admittedly well meaning, attempts to force feed motivation down her throat. And then there was her not-boyfriend who said things like 'cry, but don't elaborate' which she gravitated towards in moments of stress and just felt kicked in the stomach about afterwords when all those implications sunk in.
Ugh, feelings were dumb. And Zia was blank. "Uh... thanks?" She said, trying to play like she hadn't bothered listening, even though his comment about becoming bitter was like a sudden smack upside the head as her thoughts wheeled around.
"Umm... I. Anyway. My name's Zia, by the way," She said, realizing she spent more time on Zirconia's introduction than her own and held out her wrapped hand first, realized the mistake, and quickly switched hands in her best polite greeting gesture.
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:35 pm
Camelot watched her as she struggled, with a kind of a tug of sympathy. Feelings were very complicated, and he often failed at reacting to things in reasonable ways. He was awkward and stiff most of the time, or extremely goofy and embarrassing.
When she introduced herself he decided it was not too fair to know her identities, as they stood, without her knowing his. Checking the area to make sure there were no other auras around him, as well as glancing around to check for any unwanted pairs of eyes, he powered down.
"Anthony Darrow. Tony." He chuckled and shook her hand, then realized by powering down he made all her work on tightening the sash he had given her useless. "Oh!"
He pulled out the cloth he used to clean his glasses, brand new since the last one had gotten lost in a similar situation, and offered it to her as a replacement. He bumbled a bit, nearly dropping the rag but gravity and a slight breeze actually worked in his favor and he didn't drop it completely.
It wasn't his fault he was awkward. He went from powerful knight to goofy librarian in the blink of an eye.
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:58 pm
Zia blinked at the offered cloth and ended up breaking into a light laugh. "Nah, dude, it's pretty dried up now. It's just a scratch!" She held up her palm to display. And maybe a sprain too, but why worry him further? Especially when she had suffered worse injuries in the past.
Camelot, or "Tony" was endlessly baffling. Maybe it was because of his age and the fact Zia was raised with awesome life lessons like 'men who show emotion are weak'. But no one said she wasn't already a little messed up just by regular civilian life before she even got into the body swapping, memory muddling business.
She looked him up and down and tried not to giggle at her mental tally and ended up pressing her lips together and glancing in the other direction to avoid seeming amused by the shift. She didn't want to insult him. On purpose, at least.
"Well it's nice to meet you, Tony," She said, and glanced down at her suddenly really interesting nails while she mustered up the nerve to be sappy. "And... um... thanks."
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:43 pm
Tony smiled and nodded his head, chuckling. He put the cloth back into his pocket. He was glad she hadn't asked him why he had one, since he wasn't wearing glasses.
It was usually odd to have to explain that he liked to keep his walking cane clean and shiny.
"Well, you're welcome, for what it's worth." He chuckled and shook his head, smirking a bit. He knew he had not done too well in reassuring her. Or whatever it was he had hoped to do. In any case, he was going to make sure she stayed safe.
The older man shoved his hands into his pockets.
"I work at the Destiny City Central Library. If you ever want to find me, I start my patrols there, as well, and tend to stay in that area, or at least return to it. Feel free to come find me, if you ever need help or want to talk."
Because he was so good at talking.
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 4:00 pm
Zia's brow raised at how openly he gave the information on where to find him and the offer to talk. And for being a guy she was having her first real conversation with just now, the gesture did give off a general feeling of security, even if part of her wanted to argue that she was a big girl and she could do just fine on her own in spite of complaints.
Even when blatantly untrue the instinct to argue that point never really went away.
"Oh, thanks... I mean, I wouldn't want to impose but..." She said quietly before she shook off the what little agreeability she felt like she had been deceptively lulled into. "I, wait. No. Dude! Don't you have a family or something?" Why would he bring his civilian life into this? Well Zia was but she couldn't exactly turn off Zirconia when she powered down so she felt like she had an excuse.
"And while we're on the topic, I know I know born to serve and protect and all, but don't you think they might miss you if you become youma food or catch a nasty case of Chaos?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 4:21 pm
Tony looked serious at her question and nodded his head gravely.
"I take their safety to heart, and I think of them every time I'm out on patrol. I protect them first and foremost, and I know I can't do that if I get myself killed. Or worse." There were worse things, he imagined, and he shuddered to think what Chaos would do to him.
He had seen what it could do to others, and knew that no heart, no matter how strong it seemed to be, no matter how pure under the White Moon, could resist the corruption Chaos could cause.
He shook off the very idea of it, though, watching her thoughtfully.
"I am very careful about them, and myself, when I need to be. But I trust the White Moon and everyone aligned to Order. To varying degrees, of course, but I believe in our unity. Anyway, I doubt you're going to go turn me in to the Negaverse, right?"
He smiled again, the last remnants of his darkened mood vanishing.
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 5:59 pm
Zia saw this as the perfect set up to a joke at Chibimoon's expense, but, given her audience, managed to bite it back. She definitely wasn't going to be spreading his identity around anyway. Even in her little pokedex, secret identities were simply left out. It wasn't a senshi phone, after all, she couldn't hide it away in subspace.
She just kind of glanced at Tony half starry eyed about how he could drag his a** out here on a regular basis and fight and then somehow twist the reasoning enough that she did actually believe he was doing better by his loved ones by fighting rather than cutting ties and hiding out like she had.
She ended up not doing anything other than nodding in agreement.
"I should get home," She said, mostly just because she wanted to go hide away and think for a while. "Um... thank you!" She said, waving a bit before taking off, "Thanks for the picture!"
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 1:53 pm
"You're welcome!" he said in surprise, waving as she ran off. He smiled a bit and shook his head, hoping she was not going to disappear into the city, like some of the senshi and knights he met did. He always worried about them, after the fact, and hated when he didn't get updates.
He shoved his hands into his pockets again and watched her until she was out of sight, then looked around to make sure nothing followed her from the area around them.
Maybe he was getting a little paranoid.
Once he was sure things were quiet and there was no one around, he powered up and turned back toward his duties. He had a patrol to finish, after all, but the conversation made him want to get back to his home as soon as he could. He had a family, after all.
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