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 Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 8:14 pm
The Truth
“I couldn’t sleep, so I went to take a walk in the park. The one right by the house, you know? And I got jumped,” she said. Cracked to a degree – that was going to be her line, that she got mugged in the park. “It was a woman and a man,” she continued, “and when they couldn’t find my wallet I guess they got pissed; the woman dropped me on the ground and stepped on my chest hard enough to crack my ribs.”
”What?” Lila gasped, and she frowned fiercely. “Cait, that was incredibly stupid – it’s dangerous late at night!”
“Yeah, I know that now,” she said, shrinking down as small as she could be. Lila frowned, and then she sighed, shaking her head.
“You’re lucky,” she reminded her, “that you got out alive. They could’ve been armed – god, Cait, don’t do that stuff. I never would’ve figured you for the type…”
“It was just supposed to be a quick walk in the park to clear my head and burn off some energy,” Cait said pleadingly, begging Lila to understand that she hadn’t meant to put herself in harm’s way. “I’m mostly okay, anyway…” Lila just shook her head, and the rest of the ride was back to silence.
When they pulled up to the hospital, Lila rushed to help Cait out of the car, making the younger girl frown.
“I hurt my ribs, not my legs,” she said. Lila gave her a Look, one Cait recognized from her childhood – a Look that said ”I am your older sister and I do what I want.”
Cait let Lila help her to the ER. It was rather empty, which seemed strange – shouldn’t it be more busy late at night, not less? – but she was grateful, because she got to a doctor quickly. It seemed that ribs were a dangerous thing to break – there was some concern that one of them might have punctured a lung, no matter how much she insisted she was breathing just fine.
The initial examinations were quick, but she was told she would be staying for several days in order to ensure she recovered. Cracked ribs, the doctor explained, had the potential to break.
The second day was the worst, because her parents, her twin, and her younger sisters all showed up. That had been an unmitigated disaster – she must have parroted the lie about being jumped a thousand times. She lied and lied and lied and lied, praying that they believed her.
None of them seemed to, but she kept lying. The truth was too dangerous.
There were three possibilities, she figured, if she confessed to being a Senshi.
One, they decided she was mental and threw her in an institution – which was obviously a disaster.
Two, they believed her – and she supposed whipping out her henshin pen and transforming would help with that – but also believed the propaganda that Senshi were evil terrorists and threw her out or sold her out to the Negaverse or something.
Three, and in her opinion least likely – they believed her and trusted she was still herself and therefore not evil, but one of them somehow slipped up and let her identity go anyway, putting her and them in danger.
No, as much as Cait valued the truth…in this case, a lie was the best course of action.
[WC: 606 words]
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Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 8:15 pm
Risk and Reward
Persephone has a very unlucky encounter with a Lieutenant, and is rescued by Eternal Sailor Corvus!
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Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 9:25 pm
I Think I Broke Me
Cait has a visitor at the hospital - an old friend who has quite a bit to say about her recent...escapades!
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Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 9:26 pm
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Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 3:12 pm
[CARNIVAL] The Rides
Cait goes to the carnival to have fun, but ends up having to power up when Chaos strikes!
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Posted: Sat May 25, 2013 9:28 pm
What Have You Done?
Her door was rather forcefully pushed open, and a Gabe more furious than she had seen in a long time burst in. Cait shrank.
Gabe, himself, was furious and frustrated. He had never seen Cait as a risk-taker, as someone to get herself hurt in a way that would land her in a hospital.
“What the hell did you do?” He asked, his eyes narrowed as he slammed the door shut behind him.
Cait whimpered pathetically, shrinking further into her pillow, and parroted the lie. “I went for a walk in the park,” she said, mentally reminding herself that telling the truth would only put both of them in danger and it just wasn’t safe to tell him and it would never ever ever be safe and she shouldn’t even consider it, “and I got jumped by two people. I didn’t have my wallet, so they decided to beat the hell out of me instead of taking my money.”
Gabe actually growled, and for a moment seriously considered punching the wall next to him. Sure, it wasn’t going to do much, really, but it would make him feel better. He hated seeing his best friend of years and years hurt like this.
“Why didn’t you call someone?” He asked, and his expression actually became mostly just sad, more than anything. “You could have been really seriously hurt, Cait,” he walked over and sat himself down on the bed next to her. She scooted a little to give him more space.
“I didn’t have my phone, either,” she said softly. “I told you, I wasn’t anticipating trouble. And hey…I’m alive, right? That’s gotta count for something.” She said. “Though…the only reason is that I had a knight in shining armor. Somebody heard me screaming and scared them off, and we ran together.” She wanted to tell him more, give Jude’s name as her rescuer, but it didn’t seem fair. Besides, then Jude would have to deal with Gabe’s particular overenthusiasm – and subjecting him to that seemed a little tiny bit mean. “But enough about me,” she waved her hand, “tell me about you, c’mon. Or aobut your girlfriend. What’s up with Vythica? You haven’t talked about her a lot lately.”
“Don’t change the subject, Cait,” Gabe said, but his face still sank. Vythica was a very sore subject, lately. He didn’t want to talk about her, and he really, really hoped Cait would just drop the subject, as unlikely as that seemed. Cait was never one to drop a subject when she smelled something of interest, and there was plenty of interest there. She would recognize the change in mood.
“Oh, not…going well, then,” she said, feeling rather perceptive right then. Gabe just looked so depressed, she couldn’t help but feel concerned. “Do I have to find a Crystal b***h and beat her up?”
“No, nothing like that,” Gabe said, and he frowned more. He really didn’t want to explain this, but did he have any other choice? Not really. “We broke up,” he said.
“What? Why?” Cait asked, looking alarmed.
“We decided it wasn’t really…working between us,” he said, sighing heavily. This was going to be so tough. “I told you it all happened really fast, right? That it happened before I really felt like I knew what I was doing?” Cait nodded. “Well, that’s…kinda the problem.” Gabe glanced out the window on one wall, glad she was in a corner room with some light. “We didn’t know each other well enough. There was no friggin’ way it was going to work. We got together too fast. It was mutual, Cait, really.” It was an effort to keep the sadness out of his voice.
“You still care about her,” Cait said, her face falling even further. It was so incredibly obvious in everything he was saying and doing. He had loved that girl, no matter how quickly things had happened. It had been obvious whenever he talked about her – which had been often, for the months that they were together. This breakup was clearly messing him up.
“Yeah, I do. Probably always will. Always something about the first, and all.” He shrugged, trying to downplay it a little. Clearly it wasn’t a big deal, he’d get over it – that was what he wanted to portray. “Esme’s gonna be really depressed when she finds out,” he said, and he laughed a little. Cait did too – Gabe had told her about his pink-haired friend and her Thing for shipping. She was still hoping to meet her someday.
“As long as you’re really okay with it, I am too,” Cait told him, giving him a faint smile. She reached over to squeeze her friend’s hand, and he smiled back at her. “You know it’ll be alright, yeah? Plenty of other girls out there just waiting for the right crazy conspiracy theorist who has all the answers for them,” she teased playfully. Gabe just shook his head, still smiling.
“Yeah, I know.” He said. “I’ll find someone else someday, I guess. Or maybe I won’t. Not a big deal. Big deal, though, is you being in a hospital bed.” He stood up, pulling his hand out of hers, and put his hands on his hips. “For which I was not actually done lecturing you.”
“Aw, come on, can’t you let it go?” Cait asked, looking actually sad.
“No!” Gabe frowned. “You got yourself hurt, bad, and I’m worried about you!” He glared down at her. She shrank a little. Oh god, he was really serious. “You can’t do things like that! It was stupid and dangerous, and you could’ve gotten yourself killed – there are dangerous people out at night, Cait!” He whimpered. He was one of them. He knew her, and he wasn’t exactly going to go ripping friends’ starseeds – but other Negas did not, and they might just kill her.
“I know that now. Gabe, I am so sorry, I shouldn’t have done it, and I worried you and Lance and my family…it was dumb. I should’ve brought my phone, or some cash to shove at them so they would leave me alone.” Not that it would’ve worked with the particular muggers she’d dealt with. “I…promise I’ll be more careful?” She asked, iving him a wide-eyed, puppy-dog sort of look.
“That’s the best I’m gonna get, isn’t it?” Gabe asked, frowning. Cait nodded. He sighed and relented. “Alright,” he said, and then he walked over and gave her a very careful hug, not wanting to upset her ribs further. “Stay safe, Cait. And no more wandering the park late at night!”
“I’ll stay safe. I promise,” she said, and she waved as he turned and left, then sank into the pillows.
Well, that had been an adventure.
[WC: 1,157 words]
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Posted: Sat May 25, 2013 9:37 pm
In the Daylight
She practically skipped down the park path, pausing to glance behind her. She knew one sibling or another was following her; they always were, and even more so since she'd gotten herself badly hurt, but whichever it was, her sister (or, she supposed, her brother, but Alex always seemed to be more willing to accept that she could handle herself) was doing their best to remain hidden. Ah well, she wasn't going to let it ruin her day.
Her eyes lit up when she spotted a beautiful blooming cherry blossom. Usually, by May, the flowers were beginning to drop, but this one was hanging onto it. There was even a bench underneath - wonderful! She trotted over to it and sat down, leaning back and stretching. Why yes, today was an absolutely lovely spring day.
The whole family would be meeting in the park later for a picnic, and she wanted to enjoy some solitude before that happened. She preferred to take a little time to avoid her family, if she could – it was really ideal to her that she get as much time on her own as possible. Living in a house with two parents and, until very recently, five kids (Lila insisting on moving out once she started college had been an absolute godsend, really) was cramped and crowded, and they had all been fussing over her terribly since The Incident.
It was forever just The Incident because thinking about it as more than that made her want to snap her henshin pen in half, never power up again, and just hide inside for the rest of her life. But as she’d once told Benitoite, she knew she couldn’t do it. Sure, she’d couched it in terms of tropes, and in a joke, but it was the truth. She knew things now, things she could never un-know. She’d seen the truth and realized who, and what, she was. She was a warrior for love and justice, Sailor Persephone, Senshi of Pomegranates – she was strong and powerful and magical.
Sure, things might be scary…but here in the bright sunlight, with cherry blossoms falling into her hair and the spring breeze ruffling her clothes, the things she knew lurked in the dark didn’t seem so scary at all. She was in danger, and she knew that. Being a Senshi would always put her in danger, it was part of the job description.
But damn it, she was a magical girl, and she was going to be the best one she could possibly be.
If that meant that she got hurt, or worse? Well, as long as she went down keeping people safe, she was doing the right thing.
[WC: 595 words]
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:09 pm
Blind Idealism
Persephone runs into Sailor Albali, and finds herself on the recieving end of some very harsh truths.
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:19 pm
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:28 pm
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:37 pm
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 10:32 pm
One Voice
Intensely unappealing.
As she sat down on her bed and powered down, she found her mind circling back to one Super Sailor Albali.
She had finished the patrol route as Albali had instructed, and then gone home on autopilot. Her encounter with the Senshi of Echoes had left her feeling lost and confused, more than anything else. She had really settled into the idea that she was a hero, that she could really do this, that even if it would be hard things would end up alright.
Apparently, three years of war had made Albali think differently. More than anything, Persephone felt…sad for her. She hated to think that would be her in three years – jaded and dishing out advice to new Senshi about how maybe, maybe they weren’t the good guys.
Albali had no reason to lie to her, she knew that much for certain. What did it mean, then? Was she truly a fool to believe that she might be on the right side? Certainly she could believe that people in positions of power were jockeying for it. Wasn’t that what always happened? Give a man power and all he ever wants is more, more, more.
It was troubling, to say the least, to realize that Chaos was probably far more organized than Order. There had to be some merit to their military structure; she had seen it at the carnival that went so quickly straight to hell. Maybe Order could benefit from that, but she couldn’t help but imagine that if Albali was right – and she had to be, she had been doing this for three and a half years – then all the jockeying would get in the way of what needed to be done.
Cait stood up and smacked her palm against her bedroom wall. It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t right, either. Why did people have to be so damn stupid? Why couldn’t everyone see that there were more important things than who got credit for what went right?
This was a war, and she’d seen that firsthand. She’d watched civilians die, watched as a Knight lost his starseed and was rescued…She knew how terrible this war was, and she was only seventeen-going-on-eighteen and a kid. A stupid, naïve kid, who was suddenly burning with the desire to punch the next person in a position of Order leadership she saw in the face.
There was one thing Albali was wrong about, though, she realized. Or, well, only half-right about.
Whether she was old enough or not, she was thoroughly caught in this. Persephone couldn’t imagine putting her henshin pen away and never powering up again. It simply wasn’t on her radar as a thing she might do.
Maybe there was something else, though. Sure, she’d be one lone voice…but one lone voice asking for cooperation was better than nothing.
Right?
[WC: 528 words]
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:02 pm
The Fun House
A great final battle at the carnival against a massive Youma!
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Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:13 pm
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Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 9:11 pm
Beep beep click
Cait meets Mei Xing, a photographer who promises her a cosplay photo shoot!
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