SOLO: Making Things Happen
[Backdated to July 15th.]
Porrima had a feeling that she was getting a bit complacent with this whole senshi thing.
After the big brouhaha in the Rift, the powered world seemed to go quiet. Nothing had happened that held any significance she was aware of. Life went on. It was kind of depressing, really. Porrima found herself wanting a little more out of life than she was getting.
Her 18th birthday came around, and there was a great big celebration, not just for that occasion, but for her being college bound in the fall. Silas and Alia had both come home to celebrate with her, and there was cake and presents (mostly of the practical sort, though a new tablet was involved, which was absolutely fantastic). It was nice, but now that she knew that there was more out there, it all felt so mundane.
So, the night after her birthday, Porrima was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, extending her senses as far as she could, sniffing for even the faintest whiff of Chaos. Anyone would do. Heck, a Lieutenant that had literally been recruited yesterday would do. Nonetheless, the city seemed empty. Had Order really dealt such a blow to Chaos that they weren't sending wandering agents out anymore? That couldn't be.
She would soon learn to be careful what she wished for.
Porrima had stopped for one minute to get her bearings when she felt something prickle on the edge of her senses. Chaos had found her, which wouldn't be so concerning if the prickle weren't getting bigger and bigger by the second. She felt her heart thump oddly in her chest; she might just have landed in trouble. Shuddering, she stepped back, and then took off in the direction she came in, running as fast as she could and sailing over rooftops.
Unfortunately, the General on the other side of the prickle was much faster than she was and had teleportation to boot. A green-clad General came into existence in front of Porrima, and she slammed into him. He grabbed her, gripping her tightly to keep her from pulling away. “Just a basic senshi?” he snarled. “I was hoping for someone a little more important, but I’m sure your starseed will do just fine.”
Porrima tugged and tugged with all of her might, but she couldn’t pull free from the General’s vise-like grip. “Let me go,” she said. “Go find that more important person you’re looking for.”
“Why should I? It would be a good idea to take you out before you become important.” A wicked grin revealed a gold-capped tooth. The General reached back and and was about to plunge his hand into Porrima’s chest when a man’s voice cut through the air.
“Found you!”
Glitnir bounced over from a nearby rooftop, tackling the General with great force. The General released Porrima, who squeaked in reflex. “I can’t just let you go without consequences, especially if you’re about to attack an innocent senshi!”
The General snarled under Glitnir. “I thought I lost you. It looks like both a senshi and a knight will die tonight.”
“Yeah, go for my starseed, I dare you,” Glitnir said. “These chain marks aren’t just for show.”
“I’m not an idiot, Transcendent Knight of Mars,” the General said. “I may not be able to pull your starseed, but I can still kill you!”
The General’s weapon, a longsword, materialized in his hand, and Glitnir got off him to avoid getting his head chopped off. He summoned his scale and began swinging it, hoping to conk the General in the head with one of the baskets.
Porrima, meanwhile, had been watching in awe of her surprise savior. She couldn’t just stand around doing nothing, but she had a feeling that her magic wouldn’t be very useful. When direct fist-to-flesh attacks were banned, most weapons were able to exploit a loophole as an indirect attack. Still, she guessed that it wouldn’t hurt to give Glitnir that extra bit of insurance. Pointing at the General, she called out, “Court Objection!” and banned direct physical attacks for him.
The General dodged Glitnir’s scale and charged towards Porrima. “You think slinging magic at me will save you? Not a chance!” Having his back turned to Glitnir left him vulnerable, and he took a scale basket to the side of the head.
While the General was staggering, Glitnir pushed down on one scale basket to activate his magic. “Go think about what you’ve done,” he said.
The General was assailed by unnerving thoughts and weighed down by a heavy pressure. Growling, he began to crawl away. “Dirty trick,” he grumbled. “You live tonight. But the Negaverse will hear of this, and you will be hunted.” Pulling himself up with a struggle, he jumped down from the rooftop, at which point Glitnir stopped the flow of magic.
Glitnir exhaled heavily and walked towards Porrima. “Are you okay?”
Porrima shuddered in an attempt to shake out her nervous tremors. “I guess. A bit shaken, but not stirred. Thank you.”
Glitnir extended one gloved hand. “I’m Glitnir, Transcendent Knight of Mars. How about you?”
Porrima accepted the handshake. “Porrima, Senshi of Laws. I keep people from punching each other or using magic, but only one of those at a time.”
“Sounds handy,” Glitnir said with a nod. “Were you planning on patrolling more, or…?”
“I don’t think I should push my luck.” Porrima looked down at the ground, then back up. “I should probably head home.”
“How about I walk with you? I know being powered up at home is a bit dangerous, so I won’t take you all the way.” Glitnir paused and added, “Just in case that General’s friends are waiting for us.”
“That sounds like a good idea. Thank you.” Porrima turned around and took a few steps in the direction of her house. “It’s this way.”
The knight and senshi followed the rooftops towards Porrima’s home, chattering idly about different things they had seen on the job. After a while, Glitnir began to recognize the neighborhood, and started to wonder just who he was escorting home. As the pair went down to the sidewalk and drew nearer to Glitnir’s family’s home, he couldn’t stay silent on the matter any longer. “It’s funny. My family lives around this area too. I’ve got an apartment near DCU, but I still come home sometimes.”
“That’s nice,” Porrima said, wondering why the knight mentioned such a thing. “Who’s in your family, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“There’s my mom and dad, and then I have two sisters, one older and one younger.” Glitnir paused, then added, “What about you?”
“Mom, Dad, my older brother, and my older sister.” Porrima’s eyebrow arched at the similarities. “Funny how that works out.”
Glitnir stopped walking. Sure, his family was definitely not the only one with two parents, an older sister, a middle brother, and a younger sister, but red flags were starting to raise in Glitnir’s mind. Porrima had black hair and grey eyes like he did. He had learned to be very careful with potential coincidences. “Yeah, that is kind of funny. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but… who are you, really? Civilian, I mean. If you’re not okay with giving out your civ identity, that’s fine. Just thought I’d ask.”
Porrima had gotten a few paces ahead of Glitnir, so she turned around to face him. She took a moment to mull over the potential ramifications of revealing herself to the Knight, then decided that she was getting close enough to home to have to power down soon anyway. She shrugged and said, “I’ll show you,” before powering back down into Laura.
Glitnir’s eyes damn near bugged out of his head. “Laura?!”
“You know me?” Laura said, grinning at the knight’s surprise. “Well, then who are you?”
Glitnir released his powered form, becoming Silas once again. “Your brother.”
“Oh,” Laura said, genuinely surprised. She wondered how she didn’t catch the similarities sooner. “Hi, Si.”
“All you have to say is ‘Hi?’” Silas said, shaking his head. “I think we need to talk.”
“About what?” Laura said. “I think the situation is pretty self-evident. I’m Sailor Porrima, and you’re Glitnir Knight. We can fight evil together. Isn’t that nice?”
“You’re being awfully cavalier about this,” Silas said. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”
“You’re not supposed to give out your identity like candy,” Laura said. “Besides, I didn’t know you were also powered. I didn’t expect anyone to believe me if I told them.”
“Fair enough,” Silas said with a sigh. “I guess it’s good that we found each other. How about we patrol with each other? It’s always good to go in groups. My starseed might be safe, but yours isn’t, and having me with you will make Negas think twice about jumping you.”
“But then I won’t be able to fight any Negas at all,” Laura half-whined.
Silas narrowed his eyes. “This war isn’t just about fighting whatever Chaos comes in your path. It’s also about protecting what’s important to you, and you’re important to me. Besides, I think the opposite might be true. I’m pretty sure that Negaverse agents are at least required to report transcendent knights in their territory, if not actually challenge them.”
“Fine.” Laura looked down, shifted her weight, then looked back up. “I’m sure you’ll be helpful. Just don’t smother me or kick me out of the action, okay?”
“Laura, please,” Silas said. “Yes, it’s important for you to get combat action, but I’m not going to let you die in the process.”
Laura sighed heavily. “It must be a big brother thing,” she mumbled. “I’m tired. Let’s go home. Mom and Dad will be happy to see you. Alia hasn’t been around for a bit, so you’ll have to call her later.”
“All right,” Silas said. “It’ll be nice to be home.”
With that, the two Bright siblings headed home, with two completely different outlooks on the situation. Silas was deeply worried about what Laura was getting herself into and how well she could handle the rigors of senshi life, while Laura was pleased with having made a powerful new ally.
Only time would tell of the pair’s success or failure.
[Word count: 1708. 3x Solo Bonus.]
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