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 Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:01 pm
For a couple of moments, Lydia felt a sense of accomplishment at having chosen a name that was both suitable and meaningful. While Psyche might want to choose her own name later, when she had a better idea of what had happened and what she was going to do with her life, this was a good place to start. That ********* thought so too meant a lot to her, and she smiled, quite pleased with herself.
That feeling went away rather sharply when Psyche- or rather, Anemone- spoke next, along with the last traces of Lydia's pity for the other girl. "Excuse me?! I have never stolen anything in my life!" The accusation was shocking and hurtful, and it only later occurred to her that her accuser wouldn't be able to understand her defense, so she switched languages and continued ranting. "Why would I steal anything from you? If anything, you're the thief, hanging onto ********* like she belongs to you and nobody else, when I've told you that's not true!"
As she spoke, she realized that the locket was still in her hand, and angrily thrust it back at Anemone. "You said I could borrow this, and now I am returning it, as agreed. Not the act of a thief. My name, as I have already told you, is Lydia. Irene is what I'm called when I'm..." How could she adequately describe henshining up in Greek? "When I look the way I did when I got here. When I look like this, my name is Lydia. You are Psyche when you look the way you did before, but we need to call you something different now. It's important that you keep the fact that you're Psyche a secret, okay?"
The more Lydia spoke, the more the anger drained out of her, so by the end of her speech she was more annoyed than infuriated. She had at least softened enough to add one more detail. "If you don't like the name Anemone, you can pick a different one. But it's really important that the you right now and the you from before aren't connected. If people knew you were the same person, they would come after you everywhere you went." And wouldn't that be a waste, after all the heartache everyone went through?
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Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:31 pm
The girl, otherwise known as the thief, was suddenly yelling something she couldn't understand a lick of. Lydia seemed to catch on quick though, switching over to a language she better insult someone with. It may have been hurtful and shocking but to "Psyche" that's how she seen it. This Irene person had rode up on her high white horse and wanted to take ********* away from her from the very start. She had been constantly saying lies like how ********* wasn't hers. Did it look like ********* wasn't hers? ********* loved her! She'd never leave her! The thoughts caused her to squeeze her arms around ********* a bit tightly before loosening up shortly after to take the locket back. She seemed indifferent about it, tucking it back into a pocket.
There were more curious things.
"Why?" She asked appropriately. It was the question of all answers. Why was her name this and then that? Was she two people? That didn't make any sense, at all. Why would anyone come after her? She'd never done anything wrong in her life! The answer to that might answer all her questions at once. Why did she have two names? Why would someone chase her over one? If she was always both, was she ever either? Who was she? All she knew was *********, it was a reality she was not ready to pass off to anyone. If anyone said otherwise, they would meet the confused thief Lydene's fate.
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Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:21 pm
Why? Lydia blinked. She had not expected a slate quite this blank, and wasn't really sure how to deal with it. At least, not now that lashing out was (mostly) out of her system. ********* would probably have a better explanation, but Lydia wanted to do this on her own. Part of it was a need to be useful. But mostly, she was determined to make this girl see that she was right, one way or another.
"I know you don't remember a lot, but before I got here, before you were Psyche, you were supposed to... to do something bad. Something terrible." Lydia didn't want to be specific; the way that Psychanemone was squeezing ********* made her nervous, and the thought of what might happen if she squeezed just a little tighter was frightening. "You didn't, because you're a wonderful person. But when the people who told you to do that find out that you didn't, they're going to be very angry. Angry enough to kill you, if they can find you." Lydia had no evidence to back that claim up, but considering that the Negaverse seemed to want most senshi dead, it felt like a safe bet that they'd want to get rid of Psyche as well, regardless of her history- if not because of it.
"I don't want that to happen. Neither does *********, or Ellie, and I'm sure you don't want it to happen either. So you need a different name for when you're like this, so they won't find you. Please." If this wasn't enough, Lydia was stumped. She was already having some difficulty conveying her thoughts. This subject matter was a far cry from the chats she was used to having with her father about the little things that happened in their lives, and her vocabulary for big, life-altering moments was somewhat lacking.
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Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:36 pm
Psychanemone's arms fell loose, allowing ********* to drop into her lap when Lydia gave her the news. Her mind didn't know what Lydia was telling her but her heart sank a little. Her body remembered even though her mind did not, and like before when she was toying with the idea of killing ********* and finding a place she belonged her heart twisted and turned. It was ironic now she had a place she belonged but she didn't understand its worth to her now. Right now, all she could think about was the thought: If she was such a wonderful person, why was she going to do something terrible? Lydia said she didn't do it in the end but it didn't help her feel any better. She must have been, must be, a horrible person.
"What... what... Anemone do?" She asked, at least showing progress using the new name.
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Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:51 pm
So much Greek. It was enough to tempt the cat to add that to her list of things to do in the near future. It would be handy, but by the time she learned the language enough to have conversations, Anemone would probably know how to speak English.
However, when the silvery haired girl finally acknowledged herself as Anemone, the cat perked up slightly.
"Right now... I think we need to get Ellie back to her home. She lives nearby... Lydia knows where she lives. I don't think you'll be able to lift her all by yourself anymore..." Without being powered up, Anemone would essentially be lacking some of her prior strength.
"...we get Ellie home... then we can work on figuring more things out..."
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:21 pm
Lydia let out a sigh of relief as Psyche- no, Anemone- began to use her new name. She wasn't totally sure that the question was meant to refer to what they were supposed to do next, but since ********* interpreted it that way, Lydia was more than willing to go along with that. This whole transition was meant to put the person who was once a corrupt senshi aside, in a much more thorough way than she'd ever imagined. There was no point in dwelling on the past now.
"I agree, getting off the street should be a priority." Even though they were powered down, that was no guarantee that someone unsavory wouldn't find them. Ellie was out for the count, and Anemone barely knew what she was. Lydia couldn't guarantee that she would be able to protect them all if it came down to that.
So, getting moving. "Could you help me carry Ellie please, Anemone?" Though really, it would probably be Lydia doing the helping, since she wasn't particularly strong. "And *********, while I do know where Ellie lives, I'm not totally sure how to get there from here. Could you please make sure I don't take any wrong turns?" That was the disadvantage of relying on taxis all the time; Lydia's sense of direction wasn't exactly the most-developed thing ever.
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:08 pm
Anemone frowned because she didn't understand what ********* was saying. The words were here and there but they didn't make sense when she tried to put them together. It didn't make sense to her as an answer to her question. Why didn't ********* speak to her in a way she understood? Did ********* not want to talk to her? Briefly tears peeked the corners of her eyes before she wiped the back of her hands over them and looked at Lydia.
Lydia spoke words she understood but they also didn't answer her question. She would do what was asked of her though, setting ********* on the bench and throwing a good part of Ellie over her shoulder while allowing room for Lydia to pick up the rest. She didn't know where she was going again so once again she relied on ********* direction. This time, however, Anemone looked at the sky instead of *********. Would the stars answer her question?
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:31 pm
With a nod, the feline hopped off the bench and stepped in front of the two girls as they shifted and worked with getting Ellie comfortably draped over their own shoulders. "I can't give you the shortest route since that is more a route for a cat... but I will take you along the shortest path for a person. Just follow me and soon enough we will be there!"
The cat somewhat seemed to be hopping in the snow ahead of the pair similar to a rabbit, pausing every so often to look back and make sure she wasn't going too fast. After a long trudge, the trio (and the deadweight) made it to the front steps of a rather bland looking two story house. The manx paused long enough to mention "I'll be back really quickly!" and scampered off with her little bunny-hops.
Before Anemone had time to panic over the sudden disappearance of her cat, said cat had returned with an odd rock in her mouth. Stepping up to Lydia, she dropped it down in front of her.
"...the key's in there..." she mentioned as the girl momentarily ducked down to grab it and find it was a plastic rock. Soon enough everyone was inside and up the stairs (not before ********* carefully returned the fake rock back to its proper hiding place). They managed to hoist Ellie onto her bed, and then everyone was finally able to somewhat relax.
Somewhat. As best as anybody could relax in a relatively messy bedroom. At least there was a beanbag chair at the base of the bed.
"There we go..." she sighed before hopping up on the bed to take a look over Ellie for a bit. "...thank you both..."
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:05 pm
It was a long haul back to Ellie's house, and Lydia was quiet for most of it. Talking while carrying (or rather, helping to carry) someone as tall and unhelpful as Ellie was took a lot out of her. Besides, it gave her time to think about what had happened, and process it, so she was feeling a bit less overwhelmed by the time they arrived. Only a bit, but that was still better than being as confused and clueless as she'd been in the park.
Somehow she and Anemone managed to get the door open and Ellie lugged up the stairs. Lydia let Ellie fall onto her bed with a bit less care than she would have liked, and then collapsed into the beanbag chair at the foot of the bed, breathing heavily. After that, she had certainly gotten her exercise for the day.
"So... what do we do now?" Lydia looked at Ellie, then at Anemone. The former would probably be fine after a bit of rest. The latter, on the other hand... "If we don't know who she is- I mean, who she was- then we don't know where her home is." She didn't bother translating those problems into Greek, not wanting to burden Anemone more with issues she really couldn't help with. Heck, Lydia wasn't sure if she could help with any of this. She was only a magical girl, not a psychic or a time-traveler!
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:46 pm
The cat eventually pulled her gaze away from Ellie to look to Lydia as she spoke. It was the question of the evening it would seem.
Carefully, the feline hopped off the bed and meandered to the newly dubbed Anemone's ankles, rubbing up against them.
"...even if we knew where her home was... we can't take her back now. Her identity was compromised..." It was a horrible reality, but it was unfortunately the reality they were stuck with.
"...I think... for now... it would be best if Anemone hung out here for a while. Ellie's parents aren't around much... they leave early in the morning for work and come back relatively late... and I know Ellie's mom goes on business trips frequently." With a slight sigh, she added "...I think it would be best if we all slept on this... taking a rest to recharge our batteries..."
With a halfhearted laugh, she added "I think after today, we could all use a recharge!" With a pause, the cat pointedly looked to Lydia before gesturing her head towards Anemone.
Apparently she needed a slight translation so the newly purified girl could get caught up to speed on the current subject at hand.
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:15 pm
Lydia's eyes widened as she took in what ********* said. Even when she had been warning Anemone about the Negaverse coming after her, she hadn't realized how much that ruined everything. Even if Anemone could remember anything, she still wouldn't be able to have any connection with her old life. In a way, Lydia wondered if it might be better than she'd forgotten. To know one's family, but never be able to see them again, or to not know them at all... which was worse? It was not a question she really wanted an answer to.
"That's good for now, but it's not a permanent solution." Lydia bit her lip and looked at Anemone again. "We should get together- all of us, I mean- and figure something out. I'm sure I can help, I'm just not sure how, yet." Maybe her father would feel kinship for a countrywoman stranded so far from home? But that meant that Anemone needed a backstory that wasn't "former bad guy turned amnesiac hero."
"We're going to rest for now," she said, yawning as she did so. "You can stay here with Ellie- and *********- for now, while we work on getting you settled someplace. A new home." Or, more accurately, a new life. "I shouldn't stay much longer, but is there anything you need before I leave?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:25 pm
Anemone was a little less tact than Lydia, sitting down on Ellie's bed with the unconscious woman. She simply sat there, staring at the floor where ********* was. She felt distanced from her and yet drawn to her at the same time. She wanted to bundle the cat in her arms and hug her but at the same time she couldn't understand why Lydia would talk to her and ********* wouldn't. Before it was simple but once Lydia was thrown into the mix suspicions had arose. She didn't know anymore.
Her head shook to Lydia as a sign there was nothing she needed, after a prompt nod to say she understood what she was saying. She'd stay here with Ellie (otherwise known as the girl she kept dragging around) and ********* (otherwise known as her cat who spoke but not to her).
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