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 Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 9:11 pm
Breathe in the rhythms, out. In. It took everything- the focus to be sure of the starseed despite her fighting, to keeping the hand steady where the victim was not, and last to draw it back with a deliberate resistance. The sweat sheen was palpable under uniform. Schörl tried to steady the pale shoulders and sought the knight's eyes, "In battle, in war, time-" "is-" "precious. " "You just 'died', beauty. I don't want it to be real in the near future. Decisions you need soon. "
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 7:27 pm
Hvergelmir gasped, swallowing hard in a bid to regain her breath. She clutched her hands over her chest, still leaning weakly into Schörl's arms. "What was that?" she gasped, throat dry. It felt like she'd just given blood and needed about three juice boxes and a cheeseburger to recover herself. And for a moment, it had felt... like the world was receding, winking out like a distant star behind a cloud. Death had trailed its fingers down her spine. "What did you do?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:07 pm
Schörl rested the girl on one arm, shifting it back around behind her shoulders to support her and tapped the forefinger of the other hand against the decorative plate over her breast. "Starseed." "At least that is what I've heard them called. I don't know what religion, if any, you follow. Maybe you could call it soul, or something else. But all people have them. Lose it and your body falls to coma and dies. But in it is some connection to your other place. To your...Cosmos, you said?" "It is the mark on your soul that says you aren't from here. You're from there. The greatest of the users of the strength of the Negaverse can change the mark on your starseed and make you belong here. It is painful to transform one thing into another. " "Or to transform a plain person, with no power of their own for this war outside of regular politics, into someone who is a player of it. I was just a person, and one of them brought me up to help defend the Earth from the invaders and the old war. " "If you're serious about being willing to talk to them, you should know that much- that belonging here and the process of it hurts. But it is only those moments, and then it changes. And you belong. And I, and others, could welcome you and guide you with open arms, books and hearts. "
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:12 am
Hvergelmir listened quietly, storing away the word 'starseed' for further reference and trying to make sense of what Schörl was saying. Something caught her mid-sentence, though, something she hadn't really expected, somehow, and she felt as though her blood pressure were plummeting again, a profound fear overcoming her. Your body falls into a coma and dies.She had always assumed her year-long coma had been -- weird, but some kind of a medical anomaly, not a magical one. Had she been wrong? What had happened at Barren Pines all those years ago? Schörl was still telling her about starseeds and their connection to magic. Hvergelmir sagged in her embrace, dizziness swamping her, ignoring the overfamiliarity of letting herself be held by someone who'd just nearly killed her. Laney had always been an overly touchy person anyway, eager to lean on people. It was as natural as breathing to let someone as steady and decisive and self-assured (and if she were being honest with herself, as handsome and elegant) as Schörl bear her up, and it took a few moments before Hvergelmir collected herself enough to straighten up and square her shoulders again. I was just a person, and one of them brought me up to help defend the Earth from the invaders and the old war.Hvergelmir didn't know much about Schörl, she recalled. What she'd been through, or what had brought her to where she was today. It was a mistake to assume that only knights and senshi like herself and Tara had been drawn into this conflict against their will. "Did you have a choice?" she asked, her voice softening. "When they changed you? What was it like for you?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 1:25 pm
Schörl stepped back from the girl when she'd regained herself enough to straighten, "Choices may still be choices, but not the ones people want them to be. " "I went looking for trouble, as I often do. One of the greater watched me and decided my initiative in spying on the war was worthwhile. She gave me a choice- die or join." "I still think of it as a choice. I don't fear death; I am proud of my accomplishments in life already and it will come to an end sooner or later. Choosing to join was like waking up, walking through a skrim of razors. It felt like that, what I started with you just now. " "It lasted longer and I was changed in that crucible of pain. Now I find answers to what was going on, and the possibility of learning ever more. Now I can try to do something to help this place I call home. " Schörl desummoned her crop and sketched a bow. "But I think I risk more than I bargained for, without having the clearance from my betters to tell you more. I will let them know of you, Hvergelmir, as one that would learn more and might...after all...be worth trusting."
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 5:04 pm
What Hvergelmir understood -- other than the fundamental fact that Schörl, who was not afraid to die, who felt she'd accomplished many things in her life, and who was incredibly content with her lot in life, was extremely different from Hvergelmir -- was that she was being given a reprieve. Schörl, evidently, believed that Hvergelmir would be true to her word, and willing to give due consideration to what the Negaverse had to say. Hvergelmir intended to do just that. "Thank you," she said, taking a step back. "Thank you for giving me a chance. If there's anyone I can talk to -- I'll listen."
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:36 pm
Schörl nodded and turned smartly on her heal. "Til our next dance, milady." And strode, returned, to the shadows of the city. Shazari Thanks for being up for finishing this!
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