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 Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 7:26 pm
He had been going on about lives repeating themselves and Ida wondered how much he really knew about the reincarnation cycle the senshi and knights were subject to... his monologueing struck her as terribly clique, for him... what was the point of calling up mental images of the pair of them eternally at odds...?
But his attitude changed after the memory struck her and Ida found him closer than she had thought he was, making her vaguely uncomfortable as a frown set a line between her brows.
"What happened to me? What do you mean..." War Veterans? Like PTSD? Oh... had she given some sign that her mind had been elsewhere? She didn't think it had been that obvious, but then, when she had memories like that, she was usually alone... and when she had been with Shang, he hadn't mentioned her going blank or saying anything... Ida sighed as she crossed her arms below her bust, slanting a glance at the tree beside her as though to confirm what she had seen in her mind.
"Not everything about me has something to do with or is about you, Bischofite." She said, feeling as though she were talking to a child, or maybe just to Alois, who had sometimes seemed much like one. "I just remembered something, that's all. I'm surprised the occurance isn't common knowledge in the Negaverse, though at the same time, I'm not surprised at all... I don't suppose there is much talk between the two sides about things like that."
The more she talked to him, it felt like, the more Alois she saw in Bischofite and it was a dangerous slope to be on. While it eased the horror she had been living with for so long, it also made it far too easy to forget that he was dangerous... He didn't know who she was, knew only she was an enemy he had fought over and over. She couldn't tell him either, reveal who she was, because there were more people she was protecting with her hidden identity than just herself. Still... it was hard to hold the same fear for this twisted man when she could remember watching him clinging to the toilet as he emptied his guts into it, racked with chills... when she could remember him crying in an excess of emotion brought on by withdrawl.
Turning away abruptly, Ida dropped her arms and followed the path her feet had tread a thousand years ago, her dark eyes sweeping grass that was far too tall. "When a senshi or knight is in the place that is the source of their power, they have a higher connection to their past life." She called over her shoulder, letting him follow as he pleased. "Sometimes, we remember things... awaken memories. I remembered what this place was, that's all. And I hate to disappoint you, but in all my memories, there is no Bischofite. There isn't even a Negaverse, and I wasn't a fighter... I was a healer. I was the guardian of this planet, but I never fought anyone. Ever. That life was about as opposite this one as you can get."
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:30 am
"Curious zat you can't recognize being teased." He gave in to a crooked smile as he cocked his head in acknowledging her. He wondered afterward if such a gesture looked more intimidating than impish in execution.
"I belief' Persephone mentioned it to me once, but I'f heard no more about it. She mentioned zat all senshi posses a planet, and likewise all knights, Negaverse agents, own a wonder. Evidently zere's no means by which we of Chaotic source can access zat wonder, zat planet, but it is zere." The thought of it unnerved him, that some looming post beyond the stars demanded that he fulfill duties abandoned a thousand years ago - that some fleck of space offered hints toward his life as a knight. "Is zere... Some way to discern ze knight identity of an agent wis'out purifying zem?" Luckily I don't draw my power from some dead husk of a world. But if I purify...
And that stirs another alarming thought. If their planets are so long dead as this one, did senshi possess far greater power when their homes sheltered a bustling civilization? These trees look largely dead and gone, but when they flourished and offered color and shape beyond my imagination... Could Ida alone have destroyed a significant portion of the Negaverse? If we are reborn, if they are reborn, why eliminate the senshi when they'll return to existence in ten, a hundred, a thousand years from now? Our strategy needs to change - needed to. But how can I keep focusing so greatly on a military that finds no use for me? Is it Chaos alone that compels me to do so?
During his ruminations, Bischofite cast gaze to the ground while he followed Ida in a manner that kept his visage in her peripheral vision. He folded arms into the tatters of his sleeves to mitigate the last of the tar, as it ran down and weighted the torn material. He searched for signs of life among the shaped branches of the trees while the pair walked. "You mistake me, Ida. My interest was not in zat potential past as somesing zat I preferred, but as a possibility among many. In looking at a past I never knew, zere are infinite possibilities to what it might contain. Like wis' Schrödinger's cat - if ze past is hidden wis'in ze box, it can be many sings, just as ze cat is bos' alif'e and dead. Its different roads are all true when looking at ze box, because you cannot disproof' any of zem.
"Until you just did, anyway..." He grumbled, acting hurt.
"Tell me about zis place. What is it?" He knew nothing of the planet on which they stood beyond name and an intimate glance at its topography. Everything looked entirely foreign to what he knew on Earth - trees existed here, yet they formed in curious shapes known only by topiary. Additionally, a tower loomed in the distance that spoke of architecture wholly different from that of Earth - something uncannily natural, and he suspected it might've been a living structure at a time far in the past. He bristled, awash in goosebumps, both wary and in awe of the possibilities inherent in the planet.
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 6:18 pm
Teased? Ida felt her shoulders stiffen, but she kept her face pointed forward, hiding the sudden aching pain that statement brought her. Alois... you knew I could never take your teasing with any grace.
"The memories start out vague and short... they get stronger and more detailed as we gain in power. Not all knights have memories though... sometimes, a knight is not reborn, but inherits the post as it's passed down through their family line. In that case, they can call up the spirit of their ancestor for their guidance, rather than memories." Ida skirted a tree as she pondered his question, but there was no answer she could provide him. "I don't know of any way to learn of who you would be as a knight. I don't think even a Templar would know."
As they moved through the graveyard, she kept her gaze on the line of trees, but every so often, she tilted them back, catching the dark figure that shadowed her. It was so easy, when she wasn't looking directly at him, to forget who he was now. I wish I could have brought you here before. If we weren't Ida and Bischofite, if we were just Alois and Orah, you might have been able to see how truly wonderful this place is. I'm sure all you see now is a senshi world, home of the enemy, source of her power. How can you see the true beauty of this place, once dead and now slowly coming back to life, mysteries of the past buried in every branch and blade of grass? Do you see the sheer potential of an entire planet, left to its own whims of evolution? Our feet, the feet of the people I bring here, are the only feet it has felt in a thousand years, and when I finally die, it could be another million years before it feels them again.
"There are many things I don't remember about my past life and from what I do remember, I know that there were hundreds of thousands of lives that touched mine. Who knows? You could have been one of them... maybe you wore a different face, a different name. Maybe I hated you, or loved you, or never even knew you beyond passing you in a crowd. Maybe you came to me like so many others with some disease that could not be cured and I healed you. Would you appreciate that irony?" She said over her shoulder. "If you look at this place forward in time, rather than backwards, you can see your Schrödinger's cat. Infinite paths branch forward from this moment for this place. I can only have the barest breath of a touch on it with my limited lifespan."
As they reached the incomplete line of trees on the small rise of land, Ida drew a deep breath and let it out again, pondering on how much she wanted to tell him and how she wanted to phrase it. This part was... so intensely personal... it could mean nothing to him, a curiosity of Ida, but to her it was so much... a gathering of cosmic energies all focused on this one spot that echoed across time. Fate, Destiny... she had been here before, and now she was here again, a thousand years later. It sent a chill down her spine and Ida shuddered lightly as she stopped where she stood and stared at the empty grass beside the last tree.
"This is a graveyard, Bischofite." She said finally, simply. "Each tree stands at the head of a grave as a tombstone. I find it ironic that when I brought you here, this was where I landed, when I normally land in front of my tower. This is the first time I've ever come here, even. I hadn't explored this far before, to come across it. I remembered... the trees used to glow when touched... written into them is the entire genetic code of the person they stand above, preserved for as long as the tree stands. When someone dies, their kin plant the tree for them... they grow no where else. It was bred and grown only for this purpose."
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 9:05 am
The creature frowned slightly, eyes half-lidded as his gaze perused the offerings set upon them by planet Ida. "What a pity." A curiosity, at best. Learning of my past self beforehand sheds more light on what comes after purification, but would it change my mind on the affair? Even if I find my regalia akin to Hvergelmir's, I doubt that misfortune outweighs the boon of reacquiring a human visage.
Bischofite paused, turning gaze toward the sky where moons hung large and brilliant beyond the atmosphere. One shone aglitter with a foreign sun, its rays cast over the wet shine of sea toward its southern horizon. From there, his attentions drifted beyond the vast hues of empty sky, searching the depths for some glimpse of Earth. Finding nothing, he returned to their meander through the graveyard, though his attentions darted between the organic headstones with no recognition of their true intent. I wonder if she will choose to leave me here, among all these silent trees. Colorful they may be, but lacking purpose - lacking use. Empty resources abandoned to the weight of time. And that would be my fate: to die among the stars, in total solitude.
His mind drifted toward comparisons between Ida and the Rift, how both stood as Heaven and Hell to each other. The vast caverns of the Rift crawled to life with a myriad shadows, all of different background and appearance, each slowly devouring the fruits of the Earth in their search. And Ida, a land pristine and absent all life, effectively desolate, yet slowly regaining its outwardly enticing topography. A land of rich vegetation, and apparently healing, from what Ida referenced in her tangent.
I wonder if the universe fosters a sense of irony. Perhaps it's just us, ever looking for it.
"A graveyard..." He started, gaze darting about the myriad organic headstones newly revealed to him. "How fitting. Perhaps your planet recognizes zat I'f built a necropolis beneas' my name." A jest, yet he listened nonetheless. "So even in your world, certain life forms are purposed solely for deas'. How paradoxical. And here zey lie wis' a perfect map of zeir genes, but for what purpose? Decoration?" The creature strayed from her side, reaching out to touch one of the many coiled plants sporting buds. It never stirred, likely lost to the slow death sustained by the planet.
I wonder - are senshi, then, running their planets dry? Utilizing such power consistently, sucking it away for no other life form to use? How curious.
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Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 8:08 pm
"From what I understand, nearly every race on Earth marks the resting place of their dead in some fashion... why should Idans be any different?" The senshi said as she studied the tree to her left, measuring the distance between it and it's neighbor with her eyes before sliding to the right a more or less equal distance. A fizzle of nerves made her stomach clench and most of her attention was on her search, rather than him...
"Most people want to be remembered in some fashion as well, after they pass. Storing your genetics in a living device is something like leaving a piece of yourself behind for others to see... but its useful information as well, and far too much to store together in any one database." Memory teased her, and while she knew what she said was true, she couldn't recall where the thought had come from. "Genetic defects can be replicated and studied to protect future people from suffering the same way... as can genetic immunities. Even in death, there was science..."
Ever, Science. Study, learning, building, making, growing, healing... now that she thought about it, there had been precious few memories thus far that had not centered around some duty as Ida. There had been the one, with that man... but he had pulled her away from duty. There was also the one, singular memory of playing in the garden with her mother... but that had been before Ida, when she had been Eden. So much responsibility had come with the title, it seemed. And all of that... had ended here.
Stepping forward, Ida made her way over the empty space and its equal interval, studying the ground. It was so hard to see... the grass was so tall... Sinking into a crouch, the senshi began to tear up handfuls of grass by its roots, tossing it off to the side as she slowly cleared the area around her feet. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but there had to be something here. Bischofite's questions, his search for purification, were nearly completely forgotten now, pushing to the back of her mind as the past teased at her.
God damn it, Ida! I am not going to leave you there!
The sudden voice out of her memories was like a ghost, sounding and then gone. Ida frowned as she ripped up grass and tossed it aside.
I've already given instructions to not allow you on any shuttle until this is over. If you try to force the issue, they have orders to confine you. Please... you can't break quarantine. I'll be fine, I promise...
Ida's fingers suddenly touched stone and she rocked back on her heels, more purposeful now that she had a reference point. In moments, the grass had been cleared for a circle a foot or so across, revealing empty soil encircled by a ring of smooth rocks. Ida felt a shiver run down her spine and she pushed herself suddenly to her feet, her eyes darting to find her 'guest'.
This is where everything came to an end... where the memories stop. What does it mean, that I have no tree? I think I know, and its... so sad... Ida brushed her hands free of debris, taking a calming breath.
"Do you have any more questions? Because Earth is waiting for us... we can't stay here talking like old friends forever." I almost forgot for a moment there who you were... Once we return, we will be enemies again. This moment of peace is fleeting.
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Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:30 pm
"Funerals are an occasion for ze living - tombstones an effigy established for ze living. Ze dead no longer care for memory, for festivity, for tradition when passed. A corpse cannot chastise you for picking a shoddy headstone, or a cheap pine box. Curiously, deas' rites are very much centered around life, Ida - not deas'. Zese sings - ze genetic code inside - are meant for ze living, used by ze living. You sink of homages to ze dead in asinine ways." You likely believe that dying involves your soul floating away, looking down at your lifeless body. How trite.
The creature strayed just close enough to one of the organic headstones to pluck a single bulb from its curling branch. He examined it in careful grasp, studying the luminescent pinks and purples ghosting across its surface like a haze. "I suspect it is not science here, anymore. Science is... More a precursor. Ze predecessor. Zis, Ida, is nature - evolution in motion, perpetuated by zese studies you speak of." In parting his fingers, the bud tumbled to the ground unceremoniously.
Her furious digging alerted him to the fact that she ignored him entirely - a realization that pulled a seething sigh from the depths of his lungs. With hands dropped to sides, the creature paced toward Ida's frantic digging, an unamused stoicism set on his face. Soon she cleared enough area to uncover a small clearing, encircled by stones. Is that a plot? It looks rather similar to the rest, bereft of a tree. Looks like someone lacked the fonder folk to attribute a headstone to this grave. What a shame, what a pity. I suspect I will share a similar fate. But will you, Ida? Perhaps there are senshi of other planets who love you, respect you. Perhaps you have a family that treasures your presence. I suspect so, with your benign and unimaginative reasonings - your flight to pathos in every argument.
So it will be, Ida. So it will be.
"I haf' but one last question - would you want to watch me in torment on ze fateful night?" He asked as he extended his hand toward her, fingers outstretched in a loose reception of her slender grip.
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Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:28 am
Ida wanted to roll her eyes at the hypocrisy of him calling her asinine... like his own misanthropic views of the world were so much more worthwhile than hers. Even now we argue about our differing philosophies, perhaps more than ever. At least before, it was easy enough to distract ourselves with something we could both agree on.
The last question he offered her came as a surprise and she was taken aback for a moment by the fact he offered it to her and her intense emotional reaction to it. Chest tight, she hesitated before she took his hand, though it was not in revulsion of touching him this time.
You don't have any idea who I am really am, but you offer me this chance to find my closure... I don't think feral youma could drag me away from it, from seeing if you meet your end or your new beginning. I have to -know- what fate has in store for us. I can't keep going on like this, letting this monster of despair and self loathing eat me from the inside out...
"Yes. I want to be there, but not to watch your torment... you've suffered enough, perhaps. I want to see you reborn... I want to see what you become." She said softly as she curled her slender fingers around his twisted, taloned hand without fear. He could so easily kill her right this very moment with her guard a forgotten memory, but she wasn't afraid of it. She'd told him once before, the only way he could truly hurt her was if she gave him access to her heart... and he already had that. Physical death was no comparison.
She couldn't pick out the precise moment when she had started loving him, but she suspected it had happened quite a while ago and she'd just refused to see it. It was such a twisted thing... Ida knew the feelings were entirely one-sided, but that didn't make them any less real. She had spent the last few months in perpetual anger and denial... had she finally reached the stage of... acceptance? Had everything finally burned itself out to leave nothing but ashes? New growth came from ashes and she desperately hoped that point had finally come. She couldn't break any more than she already was.
"I'll be waiting to hear the date." Ida said softly as her phone appeared in her hand and her thumb found the button that would take them back to the war-torn city they both called home. Back to their destiny.
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