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 Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 7:49 pm
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Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2016 12:13 pm
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Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2016 8:31 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 6:09 pm
s o l o Only Human (1542 words)
"Caelum, your mother would like to speak to you... Caelum?"
The pink-haired boy was largely distracted, as if hypnotized by the television set rather than watching it. It took Rigel a few times of calling the boy's name to get his attention, but even when he did, Caelum's eyes appeared glossed over.
"Caelum, didn't you hear me? Your mother wants to speak to you."
"Oh. Uh." Caelum looked down at his feet. "N-not right now, dad. Just... Not right now."
Slowly, Caelum dragged his feet from the living room—leaving the television on—to his bedroom. Rigel would only watch his son walk like a cousin of the undead for so long until Fiora's voice on the other end of the phone pulled him back into their conversation.
"Well, is he going to speak to me or not?" she said rather curtly.
"Ah... He said not right now, Fiora. He doesn't seem to be in a good mood. Um, maybe later, okay?"
Rigel heard his ex-wife sigh on the other end. "If this is about us, he should know I'm not the only one to blame. We explained the situation to him, so he should not be upset with me. Just let him know that."
But you're the source of all of this, Rigel thought. "Yes, I will tell him. Er, goodbye, Fiora."
"Right, goodbye."
Fiora hung up first and, after hearing the click of the phone to the holder, Rigel did the same. He leaned against the wall next and looked down the corridor where the rooms of both of his sons were located. Conner, the eldest, was upset for a while, but ultimately accepted the inevitable. He knew Caelum would give them some trouble—the phone calls from school from a worried Danjuma lady were enough to warrant that—but he didn't expect it for this long.
The boy was difficult, but not intolerably so.
No matter how high he raised the volume of his headphones, Caelum couldn't drown out the thoughts racing through his head. His eardrums throbbed to the sound of Metallica to the point he couldn't take it anymore. Suddenly, he ripped them from his ears and thrust them onto the desk; cracking against the computer monitor with a snap of plastic on plastic. Getting up, he began to pace about his room; the guilt he was trying to keep at bay flooding in again.
I didn't mean to do it. I didn't mean to do it. I didn't mean to do it. I didn't mean to do it.
Caelum couldn't contend how long ago he punched that Negaverse captain off of the bridge. It was a mistake, he hadn't meant to do it, it just happened. The boy tried to reason it the best he could.
"H-he was an agent of Chaos. He... He wasn't in his right mind. He was evil... He..."
Even then, Caelum couldn't bring himself to accept such rationalization. He stopped trotting back and forth and looked up to the ceiling. Tears pearled in the corners of his eyes and he quickly scrubbed it away with his sleeve. he couldn't deny it then, no matter how he wanted to.
He was still human.
Caelum backpedaled and sat down on the edge of his bed.
Yea, he was only human. Even if his heart was corrupt, he was only human. And I... I killed him. I accidentally killed him.
Suddenly, the boy found himself struck with a need to do things. Find out what his civilian identity was; heck, find the body first! Then work up plans for a funeral; get a job somewhere to pay for it. Would a place even hire a thirteen year old?
"N-no, first things first," the boy said, pulling out his henshin pen. "I have to go to the bridge, see if I can find anything... Cadmus Asteroid Power, Make Up!"
In a swirling vortex of red sparkles, Caelum emerged as Sailor Cadmus. Pushing his room window up, he jumped to the opposing rooftop with a stumble, and then set off in a run in the direction of downtown Destiny City.
Rigel, realizing it would do him some good to actually talk to his son, marched down the hall to Caelum's room. Throwing the door open, he started "Cae, we should—" before he found inside bear of any life. Reflexively, his eyes scoured the room, and when he saw the open window he ran toward it and jerked his head outside.
"Cae...? Cae, are you down there?" he said softly at first, but then began fearing the worst. "Cae, are you there?! Caelum!"
Cadmus nearly lost his footing as he jumped to the tower where he had punched Aksaite to his death. The rush of the current below would've taken him far and, as Cadmus followed his eyes down the expanse of the river's flow, there was an unlikely chance it would've caught onto something jutting out of the water. Letting out a sigh, Cadmus still ventured down to the rocky outcropping lining the river's banks. Unfortunately, he turned up nothing. He did, however, find the pin Aksaite had tried to attack him with and he, subsequently, kicked off the bridge. Before, he wanted to have nothing to do with it, but this time he pocketed it before turning on his heel and bounding off back for home.
Rigel, who had ran from Caelum's room to the alleyway between their house and the next, cried out frantically for his son. Cadmus stopped just before jumping across into his room when he heard his father's voice. Watching him from above, he blinked a few times in both fear and worry.
Is he all right?
As quietly as possible, Cadmus sneaked down the side of the building and powered down when his feet touched the pavement. Peeking out to his father, he took a deep breath, and said hesitantly, "Dad? What's wrong?"
"Cae? Oh God, Cae!" Suddenly, Rigel launched himself at his son, dropped to his knees, and gripped Caelum is a binding hug. Caelum wiggled when he thought he'd lose feeling in his arms for being embraced so tightly. "Thank goodness you're okay! I... I thought you had fallen from your window or something!"
Caelum said, "I didn't... S-sorry about that, dad..."
Rigel held him at arms length. "What the hell are you doing out here anyway, Caelum? How did you get down here? It's at least a two story drop!"
"Uh... " Swallowing thickly, the boy said more to his shoes rather than his father, "I, uh, I... wanted to go somewhere." The look of his father gave him was unnerving, but Caelum wasn't creative enough to come up with anything better. "Being in that house—our house—is... It's hard, dad." Caelum clenched his fists. "It doesn't even feel like a home anymore, just a place I live in. And our family is just falling apart. Mom's gone, your always working, Conner's always off with his friends... Nothing feels right."
"Oh, Caelum..."
"Dad, I just hate this. Hate everything." He stepped away from his father's hands on his shoulders. "Ever since we left home, nothing's been the same. Everything's just got worse and it sucks."
"Cae, I understand how you feel, but we can't return to how things were before," Rigel said. "I don't mean to put you down, but your mother and me are really no more. And your brother, Conner, he just adjust to things easier. You'll have to accept this as well. I'm sorry."
"Why, though?" the boy shouted. "Why the heck do I have to accept everything? I don't have to be happy just because you tell me to." His father's following silence provoked his anger again. "When mom was here, it was always about you guys. You never thought about how Conner and me felt, you just argued and argued about what you guys wanted, what you guys felt, what you guys didn't do. It was so selfish and wrong!"
"I'm sorry, Caelum," Rigel said. "I know I shouldn't been mindful of both of you, but... I'm only human. I couldn't help just thinking about my own problems."
"Yea, I know."
Feeling there was no more to be said, Caelum took the initiative and went back inside. Rigel followed after him and, after entering, the two split ways—Rigel to the living room and Caelum to his bedroom. There, he just dropped himself into bed, and he eventually fell into a deep, exhausting sleep. He tossed and turn in a nightmare of colliding situations; of Aksaite and how he threatened him with the pin still in his pocket, his mother and father berating him for his actions as Sailor Cadmus before turning on each other to argue, of the youma that first chased him before Hadaya awoke his new powers. It struck him so to the point the boy launched himself up from sleep panting heavily and drenched in sweat.
Smearing a hand across his brow, Caelum got up and walked over to his window. Shutting it now as the cold air had made his room feel akin to a freezer, he returned to his bed, and felt a shudder pass through his form.
This is... taking so much out of me. What am I going to do?
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:47 pm
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 9:54 pm
s o l o Almost Giving In (575 words)
Caelum shoved his window open and leaned out of it, but for once in the brief time he was in Destiny CIty, he decided not to transform into Sailor Cadmus. He figured he'd take a rest that day and reflect on how far he'd come not just as a chibi senshi, but also as the boy named Caelum Dawson. He looked up into the sky and despite the brightness of the city, stars twinkled from the heavens above like diamonds strewn across a sheet of velvet. They reflected in the young boy's eyes and he found himself entranced by their beauty; even wishing he could be among them.
Suddenly, he was hit with a memory and scuttled off his bed to get his senshi phone from the top drawer of his desk. He looked over the dial pad and remembered the button Lenka had told him would take him to his home planet if he concentrated hard enough. He was almost tempted to power up and press it, but he reeled before the idea weaseled its way further into his head. Instead, he placed his phone back from whence it came and closed the drawer.
"I said I wouldn't, so I wouldn't," he said, dropping down into his computer chair and spinning a few times. He hoped that would shy away the itching in his fingers for travel, but his attempt came to no avail.
Control yourself, Cadmus— Cae. Today you are a human and will do human things like, err, ahhh...
The boy couldn't think of anything. When he clutched his chin between forefinger and thumb and tried to put some thought into something to bide his free time until dinner, the only thing that came to mind time and time again was to power up into Cadmus. He sighed and instead turned his computer monitor on. Loading up Google, he typed in his asteroid's name and scroll through the search options, but much to his chagrin, he came up short.
There really isn't much here, he thought. But apparently there is some mythology about me? Hmm...
Further Googling came up with a bunch of vague myths and facts about who he was. Unfortunately, Caelum wasn't sure how accurate they were, and felt a burning to pursue who he was. Like before, just as the idea began to become a deep-seated desire, he pushed himself from the keyboard to his computer and spun himself in his chair again.
Are you ever going to listen to yourself, Cad— Caelum. Your name is Caelum, you are currently not powered up as Cadmus! Rrragh!
What was self control? It was certainly Caelum didn't have at that moment as he quickly snaked his hand into his desk drawer, withdrew his henshin pen and cell phone, and had decided to give in and go to his asteroid. Standing in the center of his room, he clutched his pen tightly and tried to concentrate.
"Cadmus Asteroid—" he began, but was suddenly interrupted by his father's voice.
"Cae? Hey, Cae? Can you help me with dinner?"
Caelum felt a deep frown etch himself into his features. It seems it took an outside force to intervene in his acts before he gave it. He almost did though, much to his chagrin. Sighing, the boy dropped both his henshin pen and cell phone back into the drawer and exited his room.
"Yea, I'm coming, dad," he called to Rigel with a flippant tone.
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Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 9:40 pm
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 2:05 am
s o l o Tension (647 words)
"Hey, Cae, you wanna come?"
Before Conner left the house, every time he would turn to Caelum on the living room sofa and ask the same question. Likewise, the pink-haired boy would silently shake his head and offer his sibling an apologetic smile before sinking lower in his seat come the shut of the door. However, this was a different time—it was like Caelum didn't want to be alone. So when his elder brother forwarded the question to him, he sheepishly stretched his neck and locked eyes with him.
"Yea, sure," Caelum said, sliding off his seat. "I'm coming."
Conner's eyebrows rose an inch and remained that way as he watched his brother slip on his red hoodie and march out the door without even his skateboard. Something must be wrong... he thought as he shut the door behind him and trailed after his brother. However, when Conner noted the hunched position of Caelum's shoulders, he decided not to pry; whatever was gnawing at his brother's a** was either something incredibly depressing—like the topic of their mom—or something he just couldn't understand.
Caelum had a lot of secrets lately, it seemed.
So Conner decided to broach a subject he knew Caelum could relate to and, incidentally, might have been something in common considering their ages. Picking up his speed to match his brother's, Conner mimicked Caelum and shoved his hands in his own hoodie pockets.
"So, Cae, you got girlfriend yet?"
This stopped Caelum in his tracks, leaving him a sputtering, flushing mess. Conner's eyebrows rose a level again; he hadn't expected him to be so taken aback by such an, in his mind, innocent inquiry.
"C-Conner, we've haven't been in D.C. long!" the boy cried. "I..." Caelum averted his eyes. "It ain't like I'd get one so soon..."
Conner shrugged a shoulder. "I was just asking," he said. "I'm not saying you're a veritable charmer or anything, but I had a girl to call up every once in a while when I was your age."
Caelum pursed her lips and stared at his brother. Though he had no idea was "veritable" meant, he figured his brother was doing that comparison thing again. He always did that—put himself at the center of things as an example. Caelum was tired of correcting him that his life and experiences didn't revolve around his. Like being a sailor senshi, for example.
"N-nah, I don't... have anyone like that yet," he said, running a finger under his nose. "Haven't really... considered it..."
"Well, you at least met a few girls, right?"
Caelum's mind immediately ran on the several chibi girls he happened to meet while powered-up as Sailor Cadmus. "A few," he said reflexively, not really putting much thought into his words then and there. When he caught himself, he blushed again. "B-but it ain't like I wanna get with them or anything! They're... just cute. That's all. Just... Cute."
Conner almost wanted to laugh. Cae looks so... offended, he thought to himself. It's so uncharacteristic of him.
"Yea, I got you, Cae. I'm not rushing anything, I just wanted to know."
Conner shrugged a shoulder and, with that, the two started to walk side-by-side again. The older Dawson continued to watch his brother from the corner of his periphery and he noticed it again; that tension in his form. It bothered him because, at some points, he thought Caelum had somehow forgotten how to breath.
"Hey, Caelum?" he asked, stopping. Caelum walked a few steps ahead before turning around to him. "Is something bothering you?"
The tension in the boy's form dropped. He's putting on airs, Conner thought.
"No, there's nothing," Caelum said. "Why?"
Conner shook his head slightly. "Nothing," he said. "Just wondering."
Then the two continued their walk and, for once, silence was upon both of their mouths.
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 9:33 pm
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 9:42 pm
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 3:30 pm
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 3:33 pm
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:50 am
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 2:23 am
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 2:26 am
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