|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 3:12 pm
“N-no….don't be sorry. It's….” She took a deep breath, giving him an anxious smile. The easy confidence of Aruna was gone, and in its place was the customary anxiety of Halia. Another deep breath, taking another second, and she was able to feel less afraid. “It's complicated. But….. if Maya knows you had anything to do with me, it'll end poorly for both of us.”
Even in the faint light of the street lamp, the large scar running down from her left shoulder to her elbow was vividly visible, as well as plenty of older, smaller scars that crisscrossed her upper arm. The smaller, fainter scars spok of years of pain that she went through.
Ah. Right. His sister. “You…..I would prefer it if you didn't tell her. Um. At least not about my identity? If it would help, I could walk you home as Aruna and explain things to her maybe? Seeing is believing, after all.” She gave him the tiniest of smiles, trying to keep her anxiety in check.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 3:23 pm
Complicated. Mason knew all about complicated. Complicated was a word that defined his childhood, his life - he knew about complicated. And he knew not to ask about the secrets he could see on her skin; not when she’d already shared - trusted him with what might be the biggest secret in the whole world, that anyone had ever had.
“I can do that,” Mason said, finding the compromise fair enough - he couldn’t not tell his sister that he’d almost died, but he could tell her that it was Aruna who had saved him, because that was the truth, and so she wouldn’t be able to tell that it wasn’t the whole truth, because it wasn’t a lie.
“But…unless you want to have this whole conversation all over again, at a much higher octave, for like, way longer than anybody wants…” Mason shook his head. “It’s better for everybody if I just tell her about it, and then she can believe me or not. One of us has to keep our sanity tonight, I think,” Mason added with a chuckle.
“I don’t talk to Maya. She’s the worst. I don’t know why that would change,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve never told her anything more than good morning, and I don’t intend to start now that her sister - who is like one million times cooler than she is - literally saved me from getting eaten. Like. C’mon. I’m not a total jerk, and that would be a total jerk move, right?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 3:24 pm
“It's….easier as Aruna, somehow. Like I'm somehow better, braver. So …..I don't mind.” Though she doubted that would hold up much longer. More and more, the bravery she felt as Aruna had seeped into her daily life. She had been able to stand up on her own so much more. But not to Maya. Never to Maya.
She saw how his eyes lingered on the scars and felt something twist inside just a little. “You can ask. I don't mind.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 3:27 pm
“Can you not do magic when you’re like this?” Mason asked, tilting his head slightly. He started to walk again, feeling somewhat more relaxed in spite of himself; walking down the street with a girl he knew from high school was way less brain-breaking than walking down the street with a girl who could turn monsters–youma–into dust.
“I think you and Aruna are the same, aren’t you?” Mason continued. “Like…however brave and strong she is…so are you. Because you are her and vice versa, right? Or–I mean, I guess you said something about souls that I didn’t totally follow but based on just what I’m seeing with my own eyes…” Mason shrugged. “You’re the one who rescued me, whether you’re in a fancy skirt or not, y’know? Besides,” Mason added, flashing her an impish smile, “maybe I just want to keep this as a you-and-me secret for a little while. I’ve never had a secret with anyone but Mads before, it might be kinda fun.”
They would be at his house soon; Mason halfway wanted her to power up (just so he could see it happen, maybe?) and halfway wanted to find a bench and talk with her, but the hour was getting late indeed, and Madeline really would be halfway to a panic attack by now. He was sure he had a thousand missed calls and texts from her; he had no idea what time it was, because he hadn’t checked his phone, because if he checked his phone, he’d have to call or text Madeline, and he…
He just didn’t want to do that right now.
Mason did not ask about the scars; not yet. There was only so much he could handle learning about someone who had been all but a stranger to him as of maybe an hour ago. Instead, after a brief companionable silence, Mason glanced back at her with another impish smile.
“I’ll spit in Maya’s food next time we sit together. That can be another just you-and-me secret.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 3:32 pm
“Nope. I can't do any magic like this. I have to henshin, what we call transforming, if I want to use Aruna’s powers.” A laugh finally left her lips, a light and airy sound that seemed to light her face up. “You know what the concept of reincarnation is, right? So a long long time ago, someone else had the mantle of Aruna. She died, and her soul, her starseed, was sent back into the cycle. And then I was born with it. I….Aruna is me, in the same way Clark Kent is Superman. But unlike him, I can only do magic when I'm wearing the superhero clothes, so to speak. Does that make sense?”
“In the grand scheme of things, I am Aruna and she is me. There's only one person inside me. That being said….I do have some of the previous Aruna’s memories. Recovered them when I visited her planet.” She paused then, seeming thoughtful as she looked up at the stars. “Senshi get our names from celestial objects. Aruna itself is technically an asteroid somewhere near the planet Jupiter. My friend Murikabushi, for example, is named for a star cluster of the same name. Or Kerberos, for another example, is a moon of Pluto, I believe.” She had looked into the astronomy behind her and her friends names recently, curious about all of it. “So when I say there's an endless amount of us, I mean literally as many as there are stars in the sky. Stars, asteroids, comets, each and every one could have had a Senshi. It's amazing to think of…” She had a wistful, almost dreamy expression on her face as she spoke, clearly in love with the lore of it all.
The comment that came, about spitting in her sisters food, made Halia laugh. Hard she covered her mouth, doubling over just a bit as she shook her head. “She would kill you!!” The smile she gave him was unlike anything she had ever shown back when they were in school together. It was vibrant and genuine. “You're not allowed to get killed after I just saved you from a youma. Especially not by my sister.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 3:34 pm
Mason beamed as her laughter pealed out - it was like sunshine in the middle of a thunderstorm. It grounded him, and gave him something to hold on to - something sane, in the midst of what could only be described as not sane.
“She would try to kill me,” Mason corrected, still smiling. “I’ve been fighting off Madeline since we were in utero, so I have–” he paused, to make an overdramatic and incredibly incorrect karate gesture, “--plenty of experience with sisters.” Mason paused. “...Then again, Madeline does usually kick my butt, so…maybe I’d just have to trust Mads to avenge me. And trust me when I say, Maya wouldn’t stand a chance against Mads. Mads doesn’t need to be able to do magic to turn someone she’s mad at to dust - she just needs to fix them with her angry face and they’d crumble all away,” Mason chuckled and shook his head.
“Out of curiosity, when am I allowed to get killed? Or does the ‘don’t get killed’ order only apply to pissing off your sister?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 5:01 pm
"I'd prefer it if you didn't die period." She laughed again, shaking her head. There was something nice about this, something warm. Maybe she could still hold onto the softness that was undeniably her.
'All that aside, would it help if I walked you home as Aruna so your sister doesn't think you're crazy?" She didn't mind transforming again, especially if it made it easier on Mason.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 5:31 pm
Mason considered, tilting his head slightly as he thought. On the one hand, it would be easier to have living proof standing next to him while he tried to explain why he was late, and what almost killed him but didn't, thanks to Halia-slash-Aruna.
On the other hand, Madeline was Madeline, and there was no universe in which Mason bringing home a girl didn't result in a bigger blowout than the whole 'monsters exist, ask me how I know' thing. Mason knew his sister, and he knew her priorities were...
Wonky, sometimes. He loved her, but sometimes she was a little nutty.
"Honestly," he finally said, "I think maybe that might be helpful at some point in the future. But first she's gonna have to yell at me because she'll be mad I wasn't texting back, then she'll cry because she'll be worried something had happened to me, and then maybe she'll actually be able to listen to the truth. Whether she'll believe it..." Mason shrugged. "We're twins. She'll be able to tell if I'm lying. The fact that I'm not will go a long way. But then she'll want proof." Mason paused; they were just around the corner from their house, now.
"Maybe...if you give me your number...I could text you? Or call you? When she's ready to see for herself? Or do..." he gestured vaguely at her whole outfit again, "do people who can do literal magic not need something as boring and pedestrian as a cellphone to communicate? Do I just need to send out a psychic blast, or a bat signal or something, and then you'll arrive and save me again?" Mason couldn't help but smile - he had no idea how he was going to repay her, but he'd figure it out somehow, someway, some day.
"Really," Mason said, glancing over his shoulder as he came to a stop. "Thank you. It's--that's not enough, for literally saving my life, but--thank you all the same. I would be...well, I'd probably literally be dead if you hadn't happened along, so...thank you." He hesitated a moment, and then gave into the impulse of reaching out to squeeze her in a tight hug, hoping that the warmth would keep her safe on her own walk home.
"Get home safe, okay? I don't want to have to come save you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
