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 Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 7:14 pm
Ganymede listened. She was far more quiet and contemplative than she used to be, back when she’d hated everything about what she’d become. The years had changed so much around her, and she had changed with them.
“Transcendence is a gift that can’t be sought,” she said mildly. “Hoped for, maybe, but I think it comes easier when it isn’t wanted, when your focus is on your world and what you can offer it, rather than what it could offer you. You know, ask not what your country can do for you, or whatever Kennedy said. That sort of thing.”
There was no judgment in her voice, no distrust or disappointment in the placid look that settled across her face. Transcendence was a topic she simultaneously had a wealth of experience with yet very little certainty. It had been unheard of when it happened to her, and she had no memories of it in her past to draw from. To this day, she could not explain why it had happened to her when it did, or why it was bestowed upon some but not others. Maybe it differed from world to world.
What she knew for a fact was that the absence of it meant nothing about a senshi or knight’s convictions.
“The only one responsible for your corruption is Metallia,” Ganymede continued. “And whoever stuck their hand in your chest, and whoever orchestrated it, if there was more than one involved. As for your new wings…”
Ganymede turned to Cybele with another smile. “I’d argue that you saved yourself. I do think the potential for it exists for more of us than we realize. It’s just… a matter of being ready, and then opening ourselves to it.”stari_maga I'm so sorry it took me so long to tag this! I've been struggling hard with depression and anxiety for the last several months and ended up dropping the ball a lot! emo
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Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2023 8:13 am
Cybele respected Ganymede enough that she hung on her words, even if those words weren't exactly what she wanted to hear. She glanced at the great tree that she'd decided was a symbol of this place, and, as such, was the thing that had heard most of her complaints about it. "I feel that what goes on between you and your country, or your world, should be a bit of a give and take," she said. "I have been doing better lately on a least trying to focus more on giving, and relationship, and just on things that aren't strictly Transcendence, but," she trailed off, and shook her head. If she thought about it specifically like this, she was on a slippery slope back to where she'd been, angry, instead of appreciating some of the other progress that she'd seen in recent months as the forest came back to life. It was a relief that at least Ganymede did not seem to be judging her for those feelings. "It's hard to describe exactly what it felt like when it happened," she said, talking about the wings. "I was desperate, but also, hopeful?" She shrugged. "Like I almost knew there was something more I could do, even though at the same time, I still don't believe it."
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Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2023 10:20 am
Ganymede tipped her head in acceptance. Her experiences with her own world gave her insight, but no authority on any one subject — transcendence, royal power, memories, any of it. That wasn’t to say she didn’t have a habit of forcing her opinions on others, but she was mature enough now to know when it might not be the best time for that.
So she kept her smile and allowed that Cybele might have a point, though it would take much more debate on the subject of transcendence before Ganymede would change her mind about it.
“Desperation tends to do that, doesn’t it?” she said. “I awakened in a moment of desperation, transcended in a moment of desperation, became a Princess in a moment of desperation. Just once it’d be nice to tap into something useful without a dramatic near death experience. Not that there’s any further for me to go.”
She’d reached the limit, she was sure. And it wasn’t enough. It could be when utilized properly, when combined with the strength of others, when luck or some other cosmic power was on their side, but changing the tide of the war would take more than a handful of royals with a dream.
Ganymede didn’t let herself think about it for too long, wary that she might become a bit of a downer again. She didn’t want to be. She wanted to have hope, but the last few years had made it so difficult.
“You’ll settle into this Princess thing sooner than you think,” Ganymede said, then added jokingly, “Just wait until people flock to you like you have all the answers, and you have to pretend like you know what you’re doing so you don’t freak them out.”stari_maga I almost had her say "You'll find your feet sooner than you think" but then was like uhhhhhhhhhhh wait maybe she shouldn't be using feet idioms sweatdrop
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Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2023 9:13 am
"Perhaps you'll get lucky," said Cybele, still trying to hold on, white-knuckled, to that hope for the both of them. "Even if it's not something dramatic as becoming a Princess, we're always discovering new magic. You could find something else, too, without it even being in some kind of emergency situation." It was a bit of a stretch, and it didn't take long for the more realistic part of Cybele to kick back in. Her smile edged sideways. "Wouldn't that be the dream?" The comment about everyone coming to her to the answers got something that was almost a laugh out of her, and not one that was particularly pained. She'd already had a small crowd of people asking her for advice before all this had happened. Ganymede was probably right that it was about to get so much worse. For example, she was out here asking Ganymede all sorts of things specifically because she was a Princess. "That part should be all right," she said. "I've gotten fairly good at faking it until I make it." She'd had to, with the memory loss, and the fact that most people on the street wouldn't even begin to understand the story of her life. "We can probably go back soon, but thank you," she said, and she meant it. "For being someone who I don't have to fake it around."
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2023 8:42 am
Ganymede didn’t quite laugh; the sound that left her throat was a bit too breathy for that, but her smile looked more genuine the longer they spoke, despite her worry, and her constantly waning hope.
She didn’t know what the future held. She knew much of the past, and most of the present, and something distant and murky about a future that hadn’t come to be. She had doubts, and too many concerns to address at any one time, but she also knew nothing was set in stone. Their circumstances were constantly changing. The war kept growing more layers, more branches, stretching across Earth — and further, out into the stars.
“Thank you,” she said, reaching for Cybele’s hand again, her grip full of love and gratitude and pride. “For bringing me here. For sharing this with me. For being someone I can rely on. For trusting me to do the same. Maybe we won’t be able to turn the tide of the war, maybe we will, but either way… Together, I think we can put up one helluva fight.”
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