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 Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 12:00 am
NPC RP LogKent existed as a personal NPC long before he became an official character, and as such, he's participated in a handful of solos and RPs, which are compiled here (and also under the 'NPC' header in the timeline on the front page). None of these count for requirements in any way, but since he was a part of some important things, I felt it was good to have them logged somewhere. The following are RPs in which Kent participated directly, as an NPC: The Most Important Thing Those Left Behind[R] Star Wars, Part 1* Radical Dreamers Big Bad World One Sad Melody, Loving Memory[R] I Did Not Forget* The Road Home Tactical Retreat One Night Only The Other Side of Truth Though Your Dreams Be Tossed and Blown+ The Great Pretender A Blip on the Radar New School Blues[R] Food, Family, and Friction One Door Closes, Another Opens[R] Finish Your Pi[R] Half Reveal and Half ConcealRequirements begin in the next post. Go forth, Kent Kavanaugh, and write your own story!
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Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:12 pm
Eclipse Viewing Party![ORP] The astronomical event of the season, which is reason enough for Kent to drag Tara out to see.
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Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:13 pm
Kent wasn’t sure what weirded him out more: that there was some sort of crazy astronomical phenomenon going on, or that Tara didn’t seem that interested in it. As they watched the news report about the strange recurring eclipse- the second since they’d gone out to observe the real thing- he watched her for signs of her old enthusiasm. Usually, something like this would have Tara talking his ear off, theorizing what might be going on and how she could observe it for herself, possibly with a mention of ‘when I go to space.’
Instead, she sat there quietly, staring at her bowl of cereal as she stirred it into a paste.
When had this become normal for her? For them? How long had he been poking and prodding at her, hoping for a positive response and getting absolutely nothing? Kent thought back, and was startled to realize that this had been going on for months. It was, he knew, partly his fault. He knew that something was wrong, something that he couldn’t help with. But out of respect for Tara’s privacy and a wish not to subject her to further torture, he’d left her to her own devices. She was a smart girl. Surely, if she needed help, she would seek it out. All he had to do was remind her that he was there when she needed him. Which he did, constantly. That made it feel like he’d been doing something active, when all he had done was delay the conversation that he knew they were going to have.
And even though his intentions had been good, Kent was flabbergasted at how he’d left Tara on her own to deal with her demons for so long. A few years back, he would have been willing to pummel anyone who so much as looked at his sister funny. Now, despite the fact that he knew that she’d been kidnapped and basically tortured, there was no effort to find the culprits. Having her back had been enough, at first. After that, when she’d started to shut him out, he felt like it wasn’t his place to intervene.
The hell with that, he thought rebelliously. If it wasn’t before, it is now.
So, he was resolved to do something. The question was, what? It was clear that the demons Tara fought with now were in her own mind. No amount of pummeling would drive them off. He could insist that she get professional help, like their parents had a couple of years back. But he suspected that was what had started driving her into her shell. There was no other way for her to deal with her situation, though. It was a catch-22: by forcing her to talk, he’d probably hurt her. But he was hurting her by leaving her to her own devices too. There was no ‘win’ condition.
There had to be other options. Tara was a master of looking at things from another angle, or at least she had been once. Now, Kent needed to see if he could pick up where she’d left off, for both their sakes.
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Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:15 pm
It was dark already. Normally, Tara looked forward to winter, because longer nights meant more opportunities for stargazing. Now she was just unsettled. She hated patrolling after dark, and whatever was going on with the eclipse made her nervous. All she really wanted to do was go home, huddle under a blanket with a cup of cocoa, and watch something mindless on TV. Forget homework, forget responsibilities. Nobody would be hurt if she just took a personal day.
You took a personal year, you idiot, the guilty part of her brain chastised. You’ve used up all your senshi vacation days. And it’s not like you have anyone to spend time with, since you chased them all away.
That hurt, and she even put a hand to her chest. Tara was a social creature by nature. The months of keeping herself away from others had been bitterly difficult, even painful. But, as it usually was, her conscience was right. Even Kent wouldn’t be back from work yet. Nobody was waiting for her.
~*~
Tara was only half right. Kent wasn’t home yet, true enough, but he was waiting for her. He’d been waiting for her for half an hour, sitting on a bench near the HITS entrance, using the oldest trick in the book to keep her from noticing him. When he spotted her coming out, he folded his newspaper, but kept it in his hands, in case he needed to pull his disguise out again. Kent was many things, but he was not a ninja. He was clumsy in his attempt to follow Tara, occasionally losing her in the crowd, sometimes straying too close. If she hadn’t been distracted by her thoughts, she surely would have noticed him. But he was counting on her being distracted, and managed to stay on her tail.
Whatever was bothering her, Kent was going to find out. He’d given her ample opportunities to sort it out for herself. The next step was to figure out what was going on, ideally without letting her know he was doing so. So he followed, looking obvious to any onlookers, but staying off of Tara’s radar. She wouldn’t be expecting him, so she wouldn’t notice him. Or so he hoped.
For a while, it looked like she was just going home. Then she stopped in front of a store, apparently looking in the windows. Kent checked the awning for the name, and was only mildly surprised to see that it was a bakery. Had he waited out in the cold just to catch her on a cake run? Was that her big secret? Impossible; he knew all about her sweet tooth. Besides, that bakery looked closed. He just needed to be patient, and hope that she would show him what she was so scared of.
~*~
“I’m hungry,” Tara whined to herself. She couldn’t go on patrol on an empty stomach, and it had been hours since lunch. Suck it up, her inner voice commanded. Not that there was anything to suck up, or she would have long since eaten it. With a reluctant sigh, she paused at a bakery. It was already closed- or maybe closed for other reasons, she thought, glancing up at the sky briefly. The displays were still set out, though. Maybe just looking at the cakes would give her enough fuel to get through a little bit of monster bashing.
The treats in the window did look delicious, but they only held Tara’s attention for a moment. The darkened window acted as a mirror, and in it she could see Kent a short distance behind her. Was he off work already? What was he doing there? He couldn’t be allowed to notice her, or her chance of getting any ‘work’ done would plummet. And while part of her was longing for any excuse to get out of patrol, this wasn’t the sort of thing she had in mind. Having him in the area while she transformed would make her nervous. With her luck, she’d probably draw a youma right to him.
As if summoned by that thought, Tara caught a glimpse of another figure in the window. Another Kent, closing in on the first one. Which made no sense whatsoever. But there was no time to think about that. If this was some Negaverse trick- which it had to be, because everything was- then she wanted to deal with it before Kent got pulled into the quicksand of the war. As fast as she could, she ducked into the alley next to the bakery, squeezing behind a dumpster for added cover. Her henshin pen was in her pocket, and it took a moment for her gloved hand to pull it out. Then, all that was needed were the words.
“Aquarius Zodiac Power, Make-Up!”
~*~
Kent blinked. Tara had just been there a moment ago, staring longingly at cake. Now she was gone. All he’d done was look at his watch, and she’d vanished. How was that even possible? He took a few steps towards the bakery, wanting to find her without making his presence known. Then, when it became apparent that she clearly wasn’t there, the panic ratcheted up a few notches, and he stopped caring if she knew he was following her. When Tara disappeared, bad things happened. He was not about to let that happen on his watch.
First, the bakery. It really did look closed, but he pounded on the window, in case anyone was inside. Nobody answered, and Kent was about to look away, when he saw a blur behind him. Something- or someone- moving fast. He turned around just in time to see what looked like a dark blue head turn down a side street. “Tara?” The clothes, what little he could see of them, didn’t look at all familiar. And Tara wasn’t usually that fast, unless she was late for dinner on pizza night. But who else could it have been?
There was, of course, no answer to his call. Gritting his teeth- why couldn’t she make this easier on him?- he gave chase, hoping he wasn’t about to angrily demand an explanation from a total stranger.
~*~
It had been a close call. The thing, whatever it was, had been mere feet away from Kent before Aquarius had body-slammed it down another street. Now it was focused on her, which mean that she had time to focus on it. Or rather, him. Because he looked just like her brother, if Kent had just stepped out of a black-and-white movie. Or one of those really old television shows that he liked to watch. For a moment, she wondered if it really was Kent. Maybe he was doing some weird publicity stunt.
“Kill,” the not-Kent growled at her, and thoughts of him being the real thing vanished. This was definitely a fake. Who had been tracking her brother, and probably not to compliment him on his good looks. Aquarius took a deep breath and charged again, aiming at the fake’s stomach with one of her elbows. She had to aim high, since Kent was a tall guy. But not a particularly talented fighter, which was apparently a trait this clone shared, since her elbow connected solidly, allowing her to drive him into a wall.
The thing rasped, and Aquarius frowned. Youma weren’t usually this human. Unless they were undead victims of an organ ring, possibly. If she hadn’t seen the real Kent moments before, she would have been afraid for him. Now she was just angry at this thing. “What do you want?”
“Kill,” it repeated, struggling to get free. Aquarius jabbed with her elbow again, then used her shoulder to pin the fake to the wall. Not much of an answer. It either didn’t feel like elaborating, or wasn’t able to. If it was the latter, there wasn’t much she could do. If it was the former, though, then maybe all that was needed was some more persuasion. She reached up and pressed on the not-Kent’s throat. Enough to be painful, she figured, without cutting off air entirely. Not that these things necessarily needed to breathe, but better to play it safe. Or as safe as she could be, while confronting her brother’s evil twin.
~*~
The side street was short, but with a sharp curve. Kent jogged down it, towards the sounds of violence that he could hear further along. He couldn’t see what was happening, but he didn’t like what he could hear. If someone was hurting his sister, they were going to end up in the hospital this time, if he had anything to say about it. The mere thought made him speed up, racing towards the source of the noise.
He stopped almost as soon as he’d started. The street had reached a dead end. A few yards in front of him were two figures. Tara was nowhere to be seen, which simultaneously relieved Kent and worried him. He hated that he still didn’t know where she was, but at least she wasn’t caught up in this. Whatever ‘this’ was. If he had to guess, he’d say it was some sort of gang fight. The girl was wearing a costume that looked sort of like what the terrorists in the news wore. Not at all practical. Her blue hood was probably what’d he’d seen, and wrongfully assumed was Tara. The guy was wearing a fleece jacket and black pants, just like him. Boots too, black with prominent steel toes, which he wore on cold days in case of icy patches. Then Kent saw his face, and he froze. It was his face. He was fighting a terrorist. Only he wasn’t. Was he?
It was impossible to make sense out of the situation. All Kent could do was stand and gawk as the terrorist began to choke the guy who looked just like him. Which wasn’t something he could stand there and watch. “Hey, stop that!”
~*~
The fake Kent froze when it heard the voice. So did Aquarius. She recognized it without turning around. Which didn’t keep her from slowly turning her head so she could see Kent standing there. So much for slipping past him without him noticing her. She wondered how much he’d seen. Not her henshin, surely. But the rest? The fact that she was beating up his mysterious twin? How was he reacting to that?
For the briefest moment, their eyes met. Aquarius could see the confusion in them, so obvious that it nearly drowned everything else out. But not quite. Kent was scared and angry. Possibly with her. He’d told her to stop, after all. He probably thought that she was a terrorist, beating up some innocent guy. Who happened to look just like him, sans color. The knowledge that Kent was afraid, not just of the situation, but of her, made her pause. Her grip on the clone weakened with her resolve.
Which was just what not-Kent had been waiting for. It surged forward, brushing off Aquarius grip and shoving her aside. Now that its real target was there, it had no interest in anyone else.
~*~
To Kent’s great surprise, the terrorist actually did stop. She kept her hands on her victim, who Kent still had trouble focusing on, but she slowly turned to look at him. A further surprise was the fact that she didn’t look at all angry at being interrupted. She didn’t look violent at all, despite her pose indicating otherwise. It took him a minute to work it out, but she looked sad, almost scared. Had he misread the situation? Was this guy, his doppelganger, the aggressor here? Was the girl just trying to defend herself?
Why did she look so hurt when she looked at him? Did his accusation bother her that much?
Before he had a chance to reflect further, the situation changed. The guy pushed the girl away and charged at him. All Kent could get out was “I didn’t m-” before he was the one slammed against the wall, staring into his own eyes. Now that the other guy was this close, Kent could see that his face was totally grey and colorless. It was like someone had photocopied him, and sent the copy to attack him. But why? What had he done to earn this kind of attention?
“Kill,” said the copy, with what sounded like his voice. Too creepy. Kent fought to get away, but every opening he found was swiftly blocked. He was trapped.
~*~
Aquarius crawled out of the pile of boxes she’d landed in. They had broken her fall, but impeded her movement. Considering what was going on, she’d rather have taken the blow full-on if it meant getting to Kent’s side faster. As it was, she had to waste valuable seconds extracting herself from her cardboard prison and getting to her feet. By that time, her brother was already in the clutches of his evil twin. It was targeting him; Aquarius had just been a diversion. Now, she had no doubt it was planning to make good on its threat.
“Not while I’m around,” she muttered. The thought of attacking still worried her a bit- would Kent think she was a monster?- but there was no time to waste on her anxiety. As long as Kent was alive, he could think whatever he wanted to think about her. Not that he knew who she was. And that bothered her too, even though it was exactly the way she wanted it. The alternative was too horrible to even consider.
The clone raised its hand, and Aquarius saw her chance. “Energy Equivalence!” she yelled, placing her hand on the brick wall behind her. The weight settled on her immediately, slowing her pace, but she didn’t have far to go. One step, two, and then she was within reach. She drove her shoulder into the copy, shunting it aside. That would have been the moment to tell Kent to run, but the words wouldn’t come. She knew she was protected, and that he wouldn’t recognize her, and still she couldn’t say anything. All she could do was eliminate the threat, so that words wouldn’t be needed.
~*~
One moment, Kent was in the clutches of his doppelganger, fighting the hands that wrapped around his neck, seconds from having the life choked out of him. Apparently, the girl had given it ideas. Then, just as quickly, the copy was shoved away. Kent leaned back, massaging his throat, as he watched the girl clasp her hands together and drive them into his face. His face. That was so bizarre. Weirder still was the way the copy vanished, fading into nothingness as he watched. He suddenly felt exhausted, which he figured was because he’d nearly been strangled. That would make anyone a bit tired.
The girl was still there, staring at where his doppelganger had been a moment ago. Then she slowly let her hands drop and turned to face him. Her eyes were still sad, and afraid, as she studied him. Kent wanted to ask what the matter was, but he couldn’t speak just yet. If there was a problem- another enemy, an injury, or something worse- she would have to tell him about it.
But maddeningly, she simply stood there, staring at him. She didn’t attempt to give him any information. Just like someone else I know, he thought, annoyed with the situation. If this girl expected him to just walk away after being assaulted by someone who was basically him, she had another thing coming. And as soon as he was able to vocalize, she’d be getting an earful from him. In the meantime, he had to stop her from leaving, however he could.
He wasn’t the only one to have that thought. From out of nowhere, another hooded terrorist lookalike appeared, landing on the girl and pinning her to the ground.
~*~
Kent wasn’t scared now, not really, Aquarius realized as she looked at him. Still confused, of course, and there was his trademark frustration when he came up against a problem he couldn’t solve. If he hadn’t been gasping for air a moment ago, he’d probably be demanding an explanation. She needed to leave before that could happen.
She sensed the aura a split second before the attack came. Not soon enough to do anything other than register that something weird enough was nearby. Then came another figure, coming from above- the roof, probably- that drove her to the ground. Aquarius looked at her attacked. After what had happened, it should have surprised her less to see her own face looking back at her. It didn’t. She was totally freaked out by the person, or whatever it was, who was cackling at her discomfort.
Is this because I ran? Is the Cauldron trying again? And if it is, couldn’t it have chosen a less painful way of offing me?
That was as far as her brain got before the clone leaned in closer, putting its mouth right next to her ears, and its hand on the wall behind them. “Energy Equivalence,” it whispered, a maniacal grin on its face.
Aquarius’ eyes widened as her double took on the properties of the brick wall. Only her own power, still active, prevented her from being crushed underneath its weight. But she would run out of time soon, and then there would be nothing protecting her from the Aquarius-sized brick wall. She tried to move, but her body was still slowed by the extra mass. Dismissing her ability would increase her speed, but it would also leave her as flat as a pancake. And in terms of density, they were tied, and thus at a standstill.
All she could do was scream, as she wondered how much time she had left.
~*~
This was just too crazy for Kent to comprehend. First he came across a girl and his own doppelganger, the latter of which had tried to kill him. The girl had dispatched the clone somehow, but now had her own to contend with. Not that there seemed to be a whole lot of fighting going on. The girl in gray was just draped over the one who had saved him, and neither of them could move much.
The scream brought him back to his senses, and he knew he had to act. For an instant, Kent thought about leaving them to it. That thought was quickly dismissed. Even if he didn’t know what was going on, he knew that the girl was in trouble. Even if she hadn’t saved his life, he would have stepped in. Since she had, he really had to get in there and save her from herself, literally.
This was easier said than done. The clone was right on top of her, so it would be hard to separate them. Apologizing in his head in case this was a mistake, he kicked at the doppelganger, expecting his boots to do enough damage to get it to move. Instead, he just ended up with a sore foot. The copy didn’t even look up at him, still focused on the girl and laughing maniacally. What was this thing made of, rocks? How was he supposed to help, if he couldn’t even divert the attacker?
~*~
Why was Kent coming closer? The answer was obvious, and it warmed Aquarius’ heart even in her terror. He wanted to help. Of course he did, he was a nice guy. And maybe he wasn’t so scared of her after all. But there really wasn’t anything he could do, and by coming closer, he’d just be putting himself in harm’s way. She wanted to warn him off, but the pressure on her chest was overwhelming, and she couldn’t take a breath. Her vision swam as her brain began to shut down. Her energy was running out quickly. Soon her power would be gone, and so would she.
Sure enough, his attempt to separate them landed in failure. Any other time, seeing Kent hopping around, nursing his probably bruised toes, would have been hilarious. Now it just worried her more. Once she was dead, would her copy go after him? No, that couldn’t happen! She wouldn’t let it. But she didn’t have much to work with. She was equally matched with her opponent in every way, and in a bad position, with only a few seconds of juice left and nothing nearby that could help.
Or was there? Out of the corner of her eye, Aquarius saw Kent again. More specifically, his shoes. Steel-toed boots. Steel had to trump brick. Using the last bit of breath she had, she reached out one hand for Kent’s boot. The words almost caught in her throat, but she forced them out.
“Energy Equivalence!”
~*~
As if things weren’t confusing enough, what with terrorists, doppelgangers, and rock-solid people, the girl grabbed for his boot. Kent stopped hopping around. Then he stared at the girl, who seemed to get a second wind. At least, she was able to push her clone off of her and catch her breath. But that seemed to be the extent of her ability. All she could do get some distance, dragging her body along the ground. The clone was winded too, but not for long.
Kent didn’t know what he was doing; his body moved on its own. Later, when he was able to think, he knew that it didn’t matter. He would have done the same no matter what, using himself as a human shield, a wall between the girl and her copy. “No,” he said clearly, then coughed. His throat was still hurting, but this needed to be said. “You’ve done enough. Leave.”
The clone cocked its head, not convinced. Kent knew that as soon as it got to its feet, it would attack again. And despite his need to intervene, he wasn’t sure what he could do to stop it, heavy and solid as it was. There were even cracks in the sidewalk where the two terrorists had been struggling, for crying out loud. He was an engineer, not Don Diablos. What was he supposed to do in this situation?
Run, maybe.
It was a thought. Not one he listened to, instead opting to stay put and stare down the doppelganger, regardless of the consequences.
~*~
Success! Sort of. At least Aquarius was no longer in immediate danger. No broken bones or ruptured organs. Some bruising, sure, but that was no big deal compared to what she’d faced before. Her plan had worked, at least long enough to give her some space to recuperate and plan her next move.
The problem was that she was out of moves. Her magic was completely used up. Her body was still sore from being pressed like a panini. Even if she was able to wait for her evil twin’s magic to dissipate- assuming it would- she wasn’t sure she was capable of launching a proper offensive against someone of her own level. She wasn’t the best fighter even under the best circumstances. Now, she had nothing left to fight with. Any moment, her copy would come and finish what it had started.
As she took more deep breaths, her vision began to stabilize as well. She could see her clone, getting to its feet, readying another assault. And she could see Kent, standing between them, his arms spread wide. Even when he knew it was hopeless, he wouldn’t stand there and do nothing. It was touching, but it also twisted her heart and threatened to pull it apart. If he stayed there, he would be killed, and so would she. She hadn’t lasted this long just to be beaten by herself!
Glad to hear it, something in her mind said, but there was no time to focus on that now. Aquarius used the wall to support her as she stood up. Everything hurt, but that was to be expected. She could force herself to work through it, as long as she had a plan. With the straightforward options of magic and brute force out, she would need to get creative.
Aquarius smiled. The copy had already proven to be resourceful. Now, it was her turn to show it how a master worked.
~*~
“Come and get me!”
Kent paused his stare-off with the clone long enough to turn and stare at the girl. She was looking better, it was true, but not well enough to take on a brick wall. He wanted to warn her, to say that he would help. Anything was better than leaving her alone to face whatever monster that thing was.
Then the girl winked at him, and that shocked him enough to make him lose his train of thought. It was an oddly familiar gesture, and he wanted to ask about it. Not that it was a priority in their current situation. And before he could, she was gone, having jumped straight up into the air. Sure, the building next to them was short, just a couple of stories high. But it was impossible for anyone to leap to the top of it in a single bound. Or so he thought, as he watched her land on the roof.
His mouth open, he glanced back at the copy. Or he tried, but it had gone too, following the girl with the same unbelievable jumping ability. Now there really wasn’t anything that he could do, except watch and wait.
~*~
The wind on top of the building revived Aquarius a little. She took another deep breath and waited for her evil twin to follow her, sure that it would. She was not disappointed, though she did have to dodge a punch as soon as the copy landed. If it wanted to force a fight, she would need to do this quickly. Staying near the edge of the roof, she put up a fake guard, daring the clone to attack her. So it did.
Dodging was easier than attacking, though not by much. After a couple of missed punches, Aquarius found her strength flagging. Luckily, the clone was getting agitated. It drew closer to her as it readied a shoulder thrust. Aquarius waited until the last minute before stepping aside, kicking out behind her as she did. That was enough to send the copy over the edge of the roof. Not that the fall alone would damage it much.
This was going to hurt. Knowing that, Aquarius jumped off the roof right after her doppelganger, taking aim and slamming her feet into its back. The good news was that the clone couldn’t move. The bad news was that neither could she. When she landed, the shock traveled up her legs, and she sat down abruptly in the now-vacant space, as her copy flickered out of sight.
~*~
If he hadn’t seen it for himself, Kent wasn’t sure he would have believed it. Even after seeing it, he wasn’t sure he believed it. It was all just too much to take in. The girl seemed to feel that way too, since after her doppelganger faded away, she lay on the ground, breathing heavily. She showed no signs of getting up, and remained silent except for her gasps. Clearly she had no intention of explaining anything.
This would have been a good time to walk away. The danger seemed to have passed. Of course, he’d thought that before and been totally wrong. Considering the fact that he still had no idea what had just happened, he really couldn’t tell what he was supposed to expect. But the girl had dropped her guard, and he followed suit, not that he’d really had much of a guard to begin with. He’d been apprehensive of her at first, and still was, since she’d shown herself capable of superhuman feats. He had no doubt that she could break him in half, if she wanted to. But she had saved his life more than once in the past five minutes. That won out over his apprehension.
“Need a hand up?” he asked, offering one anyway. “It’s not a good idea to lie in the street.”
~*~
Incredible. After everything he’d seen, Kent was still trying to help her. Aquarius took his hand, which felt warm and safe, as it always had. She’d known her brother was courageous and noble, but part of her had always suspected that he was just like that with her, because she was his sister. Now she knew otherwise. Kent was a stand-up guy, period. The world needed more people like him.
And so, he could never be allowed to get involved with her, or this aspect of her life.
“Thank you,” she muttered, dropping the hand as soon as she could. She had no idea if her glamour extended to tactile sensations, and didn’t want to take any chances. Now was the time to leave, before he tried asking her questions that she didn’t want to answer. The last thing she wanted to do was figure out how to explain what had happened. Largely because she still wasn’t sure herself.
Kent moved in front of her before she could go. “Wait a sec. You owe me an explanation.”
She really did. For so much more than he knew. His words drove into the deeper problem: Tara had been hiding things from him for years. It was for his own good, but she had still been lying to him. She was about to lie to him again. And she would continue to do so for the foreseeable future. He deserved better than that, but he also deserved to live. He couldn’t have answers and life. The two were, she felt, mutually exclusive.
“I don’t know what’s going on.” That was at least partially true. “But in exchange for your help, let me give you a word of advice: forget what happened here today.” Her expression was pained as she spoke. “Getting involved with people like me will only hurt you.”
Without waiting for a response, she jumped up again, taking the roof-path so that he couldn’t follow her. If she hurried, she would be able to beat him home, and hide her injuries with blankets and bathrobes. He would never know the truth. And that was how it needed to be.
~*~
“Wait!” Kent shouted, not that it did any good. The girl was gone, and whatever answers he had hoped for had gone with her. He was left alone to make sense of the situation. Impossible. The situation made no sense whatsoever. All he had was a bunch of stuff that couldn’t have happened, that had happened. And he was supposed to forget it? That was even more impossible.
Getting involved with people like me will only hurt you.
Rather than being scared, Kent found the girl’s warning promising. ‘People like me’ implied that there were others out there who could give him the answers he needed. It probably would hurt, he acknowledged. But being left in the dark by everyone around him hurt far more. First Tara, now this girl. Did they think he couldn’t handle the truth? That he was some wimp who needed to be protected all the time?
Well, he’d had enough. Kent Kavanaugh was determined to solve the mysteries around him, and nobody was going to stop him.
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Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:16 pm
A box of pizza sat in the kitchen, full except for two slices. Tara had taken her dinner into her room, claiming that she had a lot of homework to do. It was a lame excuse, even by her standards. But Kent didn’t have the energy to press her for an explanation. Not when he was still working out what had happened on his way home. Hence the pizza; cooking was beyond him at that point. Even eating was beyond him. He just stared at the pizza as it stopped steaming and thought about what had happened.
First, his mysterious doppelganger. There was the possibility that it was just someone who looked a whole lot like him. And dressed like him. And spoke like him. It wasn’t very likely, but it was, he supposed, possible. Of course, the fact that it had been totally colorless was weird. And the way it had flickered out when it was hurt showed that it wasn’t human. It was, he figured, an ‘it.’ Beyond that, he really had no idea what it had been, other than dangerous.
Just thinking about the look in its eyes made him shiver, and he touched his throat gently. It was still kind of red, and there were nail marks on the back of his neck. His first act when he’d gotten home had been to change into a turtleneck, so Tara wouldn’t notice anything amiss. While part of him wanted to warn her, in case she had a murderous clone wandering around as well, he didn’t want to worry her unnecessarily. Something this bizarre had to be a one-off event. Besides, he’d have to keep following her until he found out what her problem was, so if she ran into trouble he’d be there to help. Not that he’d been able to do much to fight his own copy. If not for that weird girl, he truly might have died.
The girl. What was her deal? Judging by her clothes, he’d guessed that she was one of those terrorists from the news reports. She’d been fighting too, when he first saw her. But that was what saved him from his doppelganger. And her from hers, though Kent still wasn’t sure about how that had happened. Whoever she was, she had powers that weren’t normal. She cracked the pavement when she wrestled with her clone, and could leap short buildings in a single bound. Not to mention monstrous strength, to be able to lift what felt like a human-shaped rock. Those were the traits of a superhero, if not a very powerful one. But if the girl was some sort of hero, what was her deal? She had attacked his clone before it had attacked him. She had to know more than she let on, no matter what she said. That made her suspicious.
Still, he couldn't help but think that she was a good guy. The copy had been the real monster. As to what the girl really was, though...
Kent blew on his mug of tea, even though it was already cold. He didn’t have enough information to form a proper hypothesis, and he hated that. Despite his gratitude towards her for her timely information, he was also angry with her for telling him to forget it. That was never going to happen, even if he wanted it to.
But she had left him one valuable clue. “Getting involved with people like me will only hurt you,” Kent repeated. He was going to bear her advice in mind, but he wasn’t going to follow it. If others like her were out there, he would find them. Like it or not, he was involved in whatever this conspiracy was. Ignoring that wouldn’t help anything. Only by finding out the truth could he hope to manage the situation.
He looked up, at the door to Tara’s room. Closed, in more ways than one. For once, he was thankful for the rift that had sprung up between them. She had enough to worry about, without him telling her mad stories of evil twins and terrorists. Once he figured out more, maybe he could talk to her about it. In the meantime, she was better off in the dark.
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Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:19 pm
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Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:21 pm
“You’ve been spending a lot of time out lately,” Kent commented.
Tara almost dropped her forkful of spaghetti, but managed to regain her composure quickly. Considering they had been talking about TV shows just a few seconds ago, this was a total change in topic. And not the sort of thing they usually discussed over dinner. “Mmm,” she grunted, stuffing the spaghetti in her mouth to avoid giving a proper reply.
“I hardly ever see you anymore, except at dinner. You’re not avoiding me, are you?”
Apparently, he wasn’t going to drop it. Tara carefully chewed and swallowed her mouthful, trying to think of something to tell Kent to get him off her back. “Of course not,” she said sharply once she could speak. “You were after me for ages to get out more. To live my life. Are you mad that you’re taking my advice?”
Kent shook his head. “Why would I give advice and ask you to ignore it? That’s not it at all.”
“Then why-”
“I’d be fine with you taking my advice, if I thought you actually were.” Now Kent was wearing one of his serious faces, and he put his utensils down so he could fold his arms. “I’ve spoken with some of your friends-”
“Are you spying on me?!” Tara sputtered.
“I wasn't the one to reach out to them. I ran into Yvette the other day.” Tara froze as Kent continued speaking. "She told me that she wasn't allowed to come over any more- that you wouldn't see her anymore. And she's not the only one." It looked like Kent was going to keep speaking, but he paused there, waiting for Tara to fill in the blank. She didn’t, which only made him frown even more. “Why are you lying to me?”
“I’m not-”
“You are, Tara! You’ve been lying to me for years. And I let you, because I didn’t want you to have to think about things that would only hurt you. Even when you stopped going to school, or disappeared for Thanksgiving weekend, I never pressured you. I wanted you to tell me the truth, in your own time. I’ve been patient, haven’t I? Well, haven’t I?”
Tara could only gape and nod. Kent had been frustrated with her before, but he’d never unleashed it in quite this manner.
“And yet you tell me nothing. It’s obvious that what I’m doing isn’t helping you, Tara. Maybe I’m even making it worse, by letting you run away from whatever’s bothering you. Maybe Mom and Dad had the right of it all along.”
“What does that mean?” Tara asked, her body tightening up. “You’re not going to send me back to them, are you?”
Kent shrugged and threw his hands up in the air. “Maybe? We’ve agreed that nothing is changing here. And something needs to change, Tara. You’re obviously not okay. If you’d be better off back home with them...”
“No!” Tara stood up abruptly, knocking her chair over in her haste. “This is my home, Kent. I won’t leave. Especially to have my head dissected like some specimen in a jar!”
That was an unusually vehement objection. Did that mean he was finally getting somewhere? “I don’t know why you’re so against getting help for your problems, Tara. As for this being your home, well, it doesn’t seem like you’re making use of whatever connections you have. Even if you’re not hiding in your room anymore- and I’m not convinced that you aren’t- you’re clearly not spending time with your friends. I think a change of scenery might do you some good.”
He was really going to do it. He was going to make her leave. Once, Tara might have welcomed the chance to put some space between her and an endless chain of youma battles. Now, the thought of not being able to make a difference terrified her. She would not let other innocent people take the blows that were meant for her. Not again.
“I am twenty years old, Kent.” Tara spoke through gritted teeth, her words barely audible. “I am an adult, capable of making my own decisions. If you don’t want me here, I’ll get a job, find my own place-”
“C’mon, Tara, I didn’t mean it like that-”
“- but I won’t leave Destiny City, and you can’t make me!” As if proving her statement, Tara turned and ran to her room, locking the door behind her. She could hear Kent following her, and then him knocking on the door. He would stop eventually, she knew that. But at that moment, despite her claims that she didn’t want to go anywhere, staying in her room was unbearable.
It took a matter of seconds for her to transform into Sailor Aquarius. Focusing on the song of her Outpost was a bit trickier, especially with Kent banging on the door, but once she managed to single it out, she mashed the “HOME” button on her senshiphone, leaving the world behind, if only for a while.
Seconds after she’d left, Kent unlocked the door to her room, using the key he’d promised to only use in case of emergency. Normally, he respected her privacy, but she was clearly unstable, apt to do something dangerous. Like vanish from a locked room.
He looked around the room slowly, checking under the desk, the bed, even the comically crowded closet. Tara was nowhere to be seen. The only door had been locked. The window was still locked- from the inside. It was the proverbial locked room murder mystery, except instead of murder, Tara had pulled off some kind of amazing escape. How had she done it? Did it have something to do with the phantoms that haunted her?
For the first time, Kent wondered if there was some truth to Tara’s claims that he wouldn’t believe the truth.
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Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:22 pm
Aquarius reappeared in her room. It was still quite early in the morning. Kent probably thought that she was sulking, which suited her just fine. She tucked the phone into her sash and took a deep breath, as she let her henshin melt away. Tara Kavanaugh was left, still fully clothed from the night before. That would never do. Quickly she yanked off her t-shirt and jeans, replacing them with a long nightshirt and flannel pants in a starry print, with little rocketships. She ran her fingers through her damp hair, working out the worst of the tangles. Her legs in particular still felt grungy from all the sand, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. Once Kent came in to wake her up, she could take a proper shower.
“I guess you could say I had a bath last night,” she joked to herself as she sat on the edge of her bed.
”Baths are for the purpose of cleansing oneself. There was no cleansing involved in that spill you took.” Aquarius leaned on the wall, tapping a poster with one finger. ”The Periodic Table of Elements. I could have used something like this. It’s far neater than the classification system I was stuck with.”
Tara shrieked, then immediately regretted it. Kent would be running in now, to make sure she was okay. But she wasn’t, clearly. “What the hell are you doing here?” she hissed, burying her face in her hands. “I left you at the Outpost!”
”I am you.” The stock response didn’t get any less infuriating with repetition. ”You’re here, ergo, I am here. I can’t guide you if I’m thousands of kilometers away. Not that that’s even possible, since I’m you.” He made it sound so obvious, which didn’t help either. For a moment, she wondered if punching him would hurt her as well.
“Tara?” There was Kent, at the door. She was too flabbergasted to answer, or to notice that he let himself in without needing to unlock the door. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
She looked at him, desperately wanting to tell him everything. So much had happened that he could never know about. She had been foolish to think it would be easy to mend their relationship, when she would be lying to him for the rest of her life. If there was a way to explain without explaining, someone would need to explain it to her. The situation was unbelievably complicated. The last thing she needed was further complications in the mix.
Said complication looked on, but didn’t speak. Tara wanted to ask Kent if he could see the ghost that was haunting her, but didn’t. If he could, he would have mentioned it. So either this was all in her head, or she was the only one who could see her past self. Or both.
“Tara?”
“I’m fine, Kent.” Yet another lie added to the pile. Tara was so far from fine that she needed a road map to get back. Or a ‘shining star to guide her,’ perhaps. Aquarius winked, giving her the courage to speak up. “It was another bad dream, that’s all.”
Kent noticed that Tara’s hair was wet, but didn’t bring it up. Just as he didn’t mention her mysterious disappearing act. It seemed that she hadn’t notice how easy his entrance had been, and while he didn’t touch on that for obvious reasons, he filed that information away as well. Gone were the days of him letting little details slide by. Now that he had an idea of how high the stakes were, he needed to keep track of everything. It was impossible to tell which detail could end up being the crucial clue he’d need.
He did sit next to her on the bed and put an arm around her in what he hoped was a comforting way. “Look,” he said, trying not to smile as she leaned against him. “Last night, we both let our frustration get the better of us. We said things we didn’t really mean. Right?” She nodded, and he took that as his cue to continue. “I know we’ve been fighting a lot lately, because we don’t always agree. And that’s okay. I mean, you being annoying is practically in your job description.” His reward for that statement was a light jab in the ribs, which tickled more than anything else. “And I can be a pain in the butt sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
Her reward for that question was a light jab in the stomach. Tara laughed as Kent continued. “So let’s acknowledge that we’re going to fight, and agree not to let it get the better of us, okay? We’re both smart. If we put our heads together- instead of butting them- we can figure things out. Okay?”
”I like him,” Aquarius remarked. ”You clearly need a sensible influence. One you aren’t questioning the reality of, that is.” Was he mocking her there? Or just being truthful? So many of his words were delivered in a flat tone that it was hard to tell.
Not that it mattered, really. “I like him too.”
“What was that?” Kent asked.
“I like you too,” Tara said, this time directing her words at the real person in the room. “We’ve been through too much to sabotage it all by being jerks. So you’ve got yourself a deal.” She held out her hand, shaking vigorously when Kent clasped it in his own. It was as close to a win as he could expect, and more than he had hoped for, considering what had happened the night before.
She had no idea if she would be able to live up to her end of the bargain. If Kent insisted on leaving her with their parents, she would have to take drastic action. But in the meantime, if he wanted to make an effort, she was willing to meet him halfway for as long as she could.
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Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:23 pm
Two For the Road[Kent + Noah] Kent drops by his favorite eatery for a pick-me-up.
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Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 8:25 pm
Once, dinnertime had been sacred. Back when Tara still lived with her parents, it was the one time of day when everyone was practically guaranteed to be at home. It was when everyone got caught up on each other's lives. Even though Tara and Kent tended to see more of each other, they had continued that tradition in Destiny City. It was so ingrained in her that when Aquarius was needed at the Surrounding, she still made sure to be home for dinner every day, without fail.
She still showed up, because to fail to do so would signal that something was wrong more clearly than any alarm. But there was very little talking. The wrong word could lead to another argument. What if Kent discovered the truth? What if he tried to send her back to their parents? Or insisted that she get some sort of therapy? There were far more bad outcomes than good ones, and silence seemed to be one of the few things she could do to enforce the status quo.
Not that the status quo was good, not anymore. Exidor sat in one of the chairs that they reserved for guests, watching Aquarius with one of his high-and-mighty expressions. He didn't approve of what she was doing. This was nothing new; since he'd shown up, he'd approved of very little. Everything she did was wrong. Small wonder that she was too exhausted to talk at dinnertime.
"More meatloaf?" Kent offered a plate to Tara, but she turned it down with a small shake of her head. She'd been eating less too. Smiling less. Sharing less. It couldn't have been any clearer that something was wrong. And though Kent had his suspicions, he couldn't confront her about it without proof. If he did, he could easily end up making things worse. Not that he thought things could get much worse than they were already. A Tara who didn't do or say anything wasn't really Tara anymore.
The timing had to be right. So he watched, and waited, and followed. And in the meantime, he did the best he could to keep things as normal as possible. Normal was non-threatening. If Tara decided to share something, it would be because she felt safe doing so. Now, what normal, non-threatening comment could he make next? "Almost time for finals, huh? Worried about them?"
Finals? Oh right, she had those, didn't she? "Not really," Tara mumbled, stirring her mashed potatoes. If she passed, she passed. If she failed, she failed. Funny, she remembered being a lot more anxious about her classes the last time around. Now their importance was minuscule in comparison to the tightrope act she performed, balancing on the thin line between human and senshi. At this point, she only went to school to keep up the charade.
Well, that conversation starter was a bust. Kent fished around for another one, desperate to get Tara talking about something, anything. "Have you started packing yet?"
There was silence, broken only by a harsh clatter as Tara dropped her fork onto her mostly-empty plate. It took her several seconds of deep breathing to regain enough of her composure to get out a single word: "Packing?"
"Yeah, heading back home." Why was she looking at him like that? Was it too soon to bring it up? "I know you're focused on studying now, but you don't want to leave it until the last minute."
Another series of clatters, this one from Tara shoving the table away in her effort to get up. Exidor stared at her, alarmed. Kent was merely puzzled. "You said you weren't sending be back there!" He promised that they would work things out together! And she'd done her part, playing the role of the normal schoolgirl. So why this, all of a sudden?
"What? I'm not sending you anywhere, Tara." Kent stood as well, in a far more composed fashion. "We're going together, just like always-"
"Sure, we're going together." Her mind was reeling with the possibilities, none of them good. What had changed his mind? What was waiting for her? "But you'll come back and I won't. You know they won't let me. Not if you're on their side. I thought you were on mine, Kent! You're supposed to be the one who gets it!"
At this point, Kent desperately wished he was the one who 'got it,' but he couldn't understand what had made Tara so upset. "Tara, listen. You have finals next week. And after that, what?" She was silent. Thinking about it, apparently, but no answer was coming. And that was truly bizarre. "You know, end of December, every year?" Still nothing, other than a blank stare. "Christmas, Tara. We go home for Christmas break. Then we come back. That's how it works every year, remember?"
It took several more moments for the puzzle pieces to fall into place. When they finally did, her mouth dropped open. Of course it was almost Christmas. It was so obvious, now that she thought about it. But she hadn't been. That was part of the real world, and she barely lived in that anymore. Not that Kent needed to know that. "Right... of course. I'm sorry, I didn't mean- it's just, I thought about our fight and I guess I thought- well, anyway, I'm sorry."
That was the lamest lack of an excuse ever, and both of them knew it. Tara picked up her plate and brought it to the kitchen before Kent could protest. "I've been busy with, uh, finals and stuff. Maybe I should lie down a bit." Without another word, she went to her room and shut the door.
Kent looked at the door, then at the plate she'd left on the kitchen counter. She'd eaten most of the meatloaf, but barely touched the mashed potatoes or green beans. And she hadn't asked about dessert. If she really was stressed about finals, eating poorly wasn't going to help. But she said she wasn't worried about them, and he believed that. There was something far more important bothering her, enough to make her forget obvious things like the impending holiday.
How much time did he have left to get to the bottom of things, before something irreparable happened?
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:10 pm
January Afternoon[Kent + Cherry] Coffee, recipes, and the usual chatter with one of Kent's favorite baristas.
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:11 pm
When Kent started tailing Tara around town, he'd been expecting to discover something. It was totally obvious that something in her life was making her miserable. Equally obvious was the fact that she was trying- badly- to hide that from him. His plan wasn't elegant, but it was simple. He would follow her to the source of her unhappiness, and punch it in the nose for messing with his sister.
A good plan, he thought, except for one tiny detail: whatever was causing all of this trouble was also really good at hiding. Kent stopped counting his unsuccessful trips when they made it into double digits. When the year ended, and he still hadn't discovered anything new, he began to get discouraged. When Tara's birthday went by and he was no closer than he'd been when he started, he began to wonder if there was even a point. He even stopped following her for a whole week. And sure enough, she wasn't coming home any worse off than when he'd been chasing her. That seemed proof enough that his hard work was totally meaningless.
But the problem was still there. He could see it, in the way she stared into space when she thought he wasn't looking. She was eating less. Sudden movements and noises startled her more than they did before. And though she stubbornly insisted that her life was in Destiny City, he never saw her going to hang out with friends, except for Laney on occasion. Sometimes she claimed to be coming home from social activities, and when he wasn't checking up on her, he had no way of knowing for sure.
The hunt began again. Not as often as in its first incarnation; while Kent used leave work early to trail his sister three or four times a week, he cut it back to once or twice. He had a life too, and shutting that out wouldn't help either of them. He put in extra hours at work, and occasionally went out afterwards, to have drinks with coworkers or to take a spin around the park when the weather began to get nicer. He came home and watched sitcom marathons on TV, and made festive dinners. And every so often, he'd go out and see if he could learn anything new, beyond the fact that Tara had a knack for getting lost in the crowds of Destiny City.
Time passed uneventfully. Sometimes, while he was chatting with friends about the silly things they chatted about, he'd feel guilty for having fun while Tara was still so desperately unhappy. Then he'd order another drink, and remind himself that at least one of them needed to be emotionally sound. If she wasn't, he needed to be strong enough for both of them.
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:12 pm
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:15 pm
Kent had his suspicions. Two and two were beginning to look like they could make four. But he didn’t have proof yet. And so he continued to follow Tara after her classes, whenever he could make the time. It was the only time that worked. In the mornings- or early afternoons, since she didn’t take early classes when she could help it- she was on her way to school, and wouldn’t have time to do anything unusual. And in school she was, well, in school. He wasn’t about to sit there and make sure she actually attended her classes. He wasn’t a stalker. Really. His intentions were innocent. Good, even. This whole crazy thing was for Tara’s own good.
And honestly, he felt that he would have been justified in making sure she did go to class. When she had been abducted, that was under the pretense of some fancy new school. A couple of years ago she had stopped attending class for several weeks, so that Meadowview had no choice but to expel her. And that time she’d managed to fool him for a good while, acting like nothing was wrong during dinner, claiming she was working on some sort of extra credit project that got her out of the house early. Kent was still kicking himself for believing that one as long as he had. And he couldn’t help but wonder what else he had believed, or still believed, that wasn’t the truth.
Whatever was going on with Tara, it was serious enough that it made her lie about it. Not just avoid the subject, but outright lie. At first, he had been hurt that she felt the need to go to that extent. Now that he had a better of idea of what the situation might be, that didn’t bother him so much. If she was as mixed up in shady dealings as he thought, it only made sense for her to try and keep him out of it. It was actually kind of touching, to know that she cared about him that much.
That didn’t stop him from needing to know the truth for himself. All of it. No matter what the cost was.
He put his newspaper up just in time, as he watched Tara walk past, hunched in her denim jacket and knitted scarf. It was a brisk day for May, which probably made her grumpy. And of course, that she was coming from a final meant that she was tired and restless. More prone to making a mistake, possibly. Kent had stopped counting the number of times he was right on her tail, only to lose her when she went around a corner. It was frustrating, but it made him even more certain that he needed to find out what she was up to, and quickly.
And then what? Once he had the answers that he had put so much effort into searching for, what would he do with it? Kent bumped up against that question every so often, when he felt that he was getting close to the truth. He wasn’t looking for knowledge for knowledge’s sake. It was more important than that. The answers he got would, he hoped, tell him what course of action to take. Because it was painfully clear that he had to do something. And even more painful that he still had no idea what that something was.
Tara was chilly, and grumpy, and tired. That exam had taken every bit of energy she had, and some more on top of that. At least it was done, and she was finished for the year. "And good riddance," she muttered. All she wanted to do was go home and take a long hot shower. Maybe curl up with a good book, or even call it an early night. She was much more tired lately, probably from all of the fighting she did. Most of it against one opponent, who wasn’t with the Negaverse. He wasn’t even alive.
”Your lack of dedication to your duties is really quite shocking.”
“Can it, Exidor,” she grumbled out of the corner of her mouth. The last thing she needed was another lecture from her past self. Or for people to think she was going nuts, because at the moment, she had no argument to the contrary. She looked around furtively, just to make sure nobody saw that she was talking to herself. Fortunately, nobody was looking at her. Except one guy on a bench, folding a newspaper. A very familiar looking guy.
“Kent!?”
Hearing his name, Kent froze. He slowly looked up, seeing exactly what he was afraid of: Tara, staring at him, slack-jawed with shock. “Oh, there you are,” he blurted out. There was a story he’d come up with, something to tell her in case he got caught, but it took him a moment to remember it. “I thought we could go for dinner at Niko’s tonight. Get out of the house a bit, you know. Celebrate finals being over and all. What do you think?”
Tara was too busy thinking about what this meant. It was possible that this was all just a plan to surprise her with a nice dinner. But then, why didn't he say anything until she spotted him? She had been too distracted to notice Kent sitting right there, even when she’d walked right past him. Once she knew he was there, it was so easy to recognize him. His posture, the newspaper, the steel-toed boots again. Just like when he’d been nearby when the clones had attacked. She hadn’t thought about what he was doing there at the time, too busy freaking out over his brush with magic and death. Now, though...
It wasn’t just then, she realized with growing horror. There had been someone reading a paper by the entrance yesterday. And the day before. How long, now? “You’ve been following me.”
“Tara, I-”
“How long?” Tara didn’t want an explanation. She had a pretty good idea of why Kent was following her, and she didn’t want her theory confirmed. All she wanted to know were the facts.
This was a disaster. Kent tried to think of a way to explain, but he knew that Tara wouldn’t listen until she answered him. His voice was calm as he thought back and did the math. “On and off, since October. Not every day or anything, but...”
She didn't hear anything after the word 'October.' It felt like a physical blow. After everything Tara had done to keep Kent away from her senshi life, there he was, trying to walk right into the middle of things. She patrolled most days after school, waiting until she was a safe distance from the campus before transforming. If he had seen her even once, there was nothing she could do to save him.
“What did you see?”
“Nothing. Honestly Tara, all I know is that you’re good at disappearing. But I knew that already.” Even though he was busted, and Tara was (rightfully) angry with him, he had to work that reminder in. All of this was because she left him out of the loop and went off to do potentially dangerous things. It wasn’t his fault that he had to resort to spying to get information.
Tara ignored the dig. “I’ve been keeping you away from this for a reason! It’s dangerous for you to know what I’m doing.” Even disclosing that felt like she had given him too much information. And she still hadn’t gotten over the fact that he had gotten tired of waiting for her to talk and decided to take what he wanted, knowing that she didn’t want to share it. “What happened to respecting my privacy?”
That point, Kent felt, was moot. “I do respect your privacy, but not when I think you might be hurting yourself. You need help, Tara. I’ve done everything I can with what I know, and it’s clearly not enough.” How could she not see how obvious her pain was? If she had been trying to hide even the fact that she was upset, she had been doing a terrible job of it. And if she expected him to let her go on hurting, when there might be something he could do to stop it, she really was crazy.
“What gives you the right to decide that? You’re not Mom or Dad!” At this point, Tara was near hysterics. All of the work she had done to keep Kent safe was, possibly, for nothing. He was about to send her back to live with their parents. There was no way this situation could get any worse.
”For what it’s worth, I think he’s right. You do need help. Yelling won’t change that fact.” Exidor was standing behind Kent, looking at him appraisingly. ”If you won’t listen to me, at least listen to him. It’s clear that he only wants to aid you.”
Now there was no way the situation could get any worse. “I don’t need you butting in, okay?”
“Well, I’ve given you ample opportunity to help yourself. You’re not better, Tara, you’re worse. You keep getting worse, and I can’t help but it feel that it’s my fault for letting you go this long without talking about it.”
”If you didn’t need help, I wouldn’t be here in this capacity. And I am clearly not the only one who can see how badly you need it.”
It felt like Tara was being attacked from two sides. It wasn’t enough that Kent was on the brink of finding out what she was. It wasn’t enough that her past self felt the need to come back from the dead for the sole purpose of finding fault with her. They had to team up against her. The whole world, it seemed, was against her. If she couldn’t trust her family, or even herself, who could she trust?
“Just stop it, both of you!”
Kent opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again, confused. Exidor looked unimpressed with her outburst, but was willing to listen, if only for the moment.
“Just… enough. First him, now you… I can’t take any more. I know that I need help, but there’s nothing that you can do, okay? Nothing that anyone can do.” Tara started to cry, more out of helplessness than sorrow or fear. If she couldn’t keep Kent away from the truth, or earn approval from herself, what good was she? What meaning was there in her life?
The whole thing had exploded in a totally unexpected way. Kent had expected Tara to be angry with him when she found out what he was doing. But this kind of outburst was more than he had been prepared for. It was another piece of evidence that her situation was more serious than he’d initially thought. And what she just said seemed to prove it for sure. “Tara, is someone else watching you? Right now?”
Tara went rigid. Only her eyes moved, to look at Exidor. He also seem startled by the question, and was looking at Kent instead of her. ”Hm. He’s a clever one.”
“Tara, if you’re in trouble, we can figure it out together. I promise, everything will be okay.” It was a promise that Kent had no right to make, but he was worried that if he didn’t try, Tara would just close up even more. “If you don't want to talk to me, go to Dad, or Mom. Or your friends. That's what they're there for! You have to get someone else involved-”
And there was where he made his fatal mistake.
“No one else. Not now, not ever.” Tara gave a short laugh. “They can’t do anything, anyway. Nobody can. Not you, not me. I just wanted to keep you out of this, that was it. And I can't even do that right.” She was stalling, really. Kent was probably seconds away from hauling her in to talk to someone. There was only one choice open to her, and she didn’t want to take it. But if she didn’t now, she never would, and everything would be even more ruined than it already was. “I’m sorry, Kent. Really.”
Then she ran, back towards the school. Kent, in his shock, was a moment too late to catch her arm. He ran after her, his long legs closing the distance between them. But Tara was more familiar with the layout of the school. She ran around the science building, slipping in through the back. This was a shortcut she usually took when she was late to class. There was a restroom right by the staircase, and she ducked in there, her pen in hand.
By the time Kent entered the building, his shoes squeaking on the linoleum, Tara was already gone.
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:17 pm
To his shame, it took Kent almost a half an hour of searching the school to realize that Tara was, in all likelihood, no longer there. Half an hour of wandering around while yelling her name, interrupting classes and charging into empty classrooms. One of the teachers, frightened by his attitude, called security, and he was dragged down to a tiny room where he was forced to explain himself. By this point, he had figured out that the school was most likely a diversion. She would have ducked in and out, leaving him to comb the building for her.
Once he showed the guards his ID and explained that he was looking for his sister, who was a student, they let him go with a warning. Kent had to keep himself from sprinting out of the school, to the car. Then, of course, there was traffic. He found himself leaning on the horn far more than usual, earning a number of rude gestures from other drivers. Not that he really noticed them. He was fixated on getting home before it was too late.
Even without concrete evidence, he was convinced that Tara was involved in the terrorist activity in Destiny City. Which, he surmised, was not related to terrorism in any way. Unless it was some sort of evil plot to rescue people from their murderous monochromatic clones. That would make him a terrorist as well, he realized, remembering his meeting with Yvette. No, this situation was deeper than he could comprehend. That was the real reason he had insisted on finding out more about it. Not because he had any doubts that Tara was involved.
There had been so many clues. The fact that she had been kidnapped was, far and away, the most obvious one. He had suspected that she knew more about her abduction than she let on, even then, but hadn’t wanted to pressure her. Since then, he had noticed little things that she said or did that supported his theory. Her newfound hatred of news reports. Her attempt to fight that weird snow monster, even though she was plainly terrified. There was the way she had reacted to the Don Diablo Battle Royale, and the masquerade ball, and other events that were later linked to terrorist activity.
Then there was the key she had given him, to her jewelry box. Not long after she had given it to him, he’d snuck in and checked to see what was inside. At the time, nothing had looked unusual. Some hair ribbons, jewelry, and an oversized pen. Yet when she had been attacked on the street, she told him to get the box. Why did she have it with her, that night? What was so important in there?
Whatever it was, Kent felt confident that she would go back to the apartment to get it. He felt equally sure that she planned to leave once she had it, to protect him, or herself, or both. It was possible that he was wrong. Never in his life had he wanted to be wrong more than this instant.
If he wasn’t wrong, then his only chance of stopping her was to get there before she fled. It was his last chance, after he had foolishly wasted the others. After everything he'd seen, he had more than enough hints to figure it out. He had thought there would be more time, more opportunities to put the pieces together into one cohesive image. That thought made him sloppy. Now, he was paying for that, and the final grains of sand were slipping through the hourglass.
And if he got there too late?
“Come on!” he roared, honking his horn for a full ten seconds. “Let me through!”
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