Machholz rubbed her neck as she stared at the full length mirror in the bedroom she now shared with her girlfriend, Delila. She had literally just gotten clearance from the doctors to go back to doing normal activities as long as she took it easy at first. Powering up wasn't something she'd done in several months, since she first turned into a Dark Mirror Senshi. So this was the very first time she was actually looking at herself.
Her hair had grown a bit more, and in boredom, she and Lila had hombred their hair, so the tips of hers were green, in homage to her powered side. White and green hair combined with her dark uniform actually made her seem... darker. She missed her white bodice. Black was so harsh with her pale skin and hair. Even her eyes had changed with the side swap. Her once beautifully pale blue eyes had turned gold, matching the bracers on her arms. There was more lace in this form, another layer of skirt, it seemed. She felt bare. Her collar didn't connect, and because of that she was showing a lot more cleavage than she normally did. The petite Senshi of Poison would honestly have to get used to that. Swallowing a little more, she rubbed at her chest and just tried to pull her dress up a bit more.
"Stuid thing," she mumbled to herself, adjusting, tugging fruitlessly. Letting it go, the girl huffed and smoothed her skirts out, looking at her leggings and boots. At least they stayed the same. She still seemed to be poison, too, which was good with her. Because of her sphere, she'd taken up an interest in poisons and what they do to the body. All kinds of them.
Serenity, no, she was Annabelle now, she would have to try to remember that, had gone to the library every few days to read. The librarian thought she was some kind of nut job by now, only looking at books about poisons, and no doubt was going to call the cops one of these days, and yet she went.
Right after the change in her civilian form, it took her weeks to answer to the name she'd picked out. Serenity Kinderman was no more. She was dead, or missing... something like that. In her place was Annabelle Leigh, a girl who had no job, who had a scar in three places and no cover story for how she got them. Her fingers went up to her face now, touched that scar that laid there and stroked the harsh, puckered flesh. Her white brows knit as she did and Machholz just took a deep breath. "...Well," she started talking to herself, "this is going to take some creative mind to figure out. Need to ask her about it when she gets home." Yes, Machholz talked to herself a lot, okay? Clicking her tongue once, the girl powered down and took a deep breath as she did. It was taking a lot of energy. It was like she was still weak.
She went back to her bed and laid on it, dressed in an over sized shirt and a pair of shorts that she'd worn before she decided to power up. Her eyes didn't change back. No, they stayed that beautiful gold. While she missed her pale blue eyes, she got a lot more compliments on her gold ones, so that fed her ego. It was the last thing she needed, honestly, this inflated ego, but it happened. Egos were a part of her because she was a spoiled rotten girl since birth. Lila didn't seem to mind. She turned over on her side, tucking her arm under her head and let her hair act as a blanket, draped over her in shining waves of white and green, feeling it tickle the backs of her thighs. Annabelle didn't know when she drifted off, but she did, and that warm darkness that surrounded her right now saved her from thinking about things would drive her insane, normally.
Word count: 678
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 12:52 pm
Machholz was on patrol a lot lately. She was disappearing into the mirror in the bedroom more and more because dealing with things wasn't exactly her strong suit anymore. Since her run in with Buddingtonite, explaining things to Canopus, Machholz was in a sour mood. She didn't like remembering what happened to her. It hurt her, made her bitter and she got mad at her Erythrite even though she didn't know.
Erythrite had been doing her job, Machholz was doing the same when the pair of them clashed and Machholz lost that fight. Nearly dying and having her home world ripped from her was more painful than the fight with Buddingtonite and nearly dying at Erythrite's hand combined. It was the most painful thing she'd ever experienced and she didn't want to feel it again. So she was on constant patrol. Constantly trying to better herself, her fighting. She ran into small creatures in Mirrorspace, hostile ones that attacked her first. Very similar to youma, at least how she fought them.
The first time had been difficult. It was small and fast and Mirrorspace was really strange and she'd still been learning. But, luckily with her powers and what combat skills she had, Machholz brought the creature down with with little injury to herself.
The next day she'd gotten in even more fights with similar creatures, some larger, about half her size. She didn't come out uninjured then. They somehow cut her, bruised her, made her bang her head on things so she'd come home pretty rocky and shaky. Machholz went home, grabbed Lila, and the pair of girls just soaked in the bath together. Her cuts didn't need special treatment, but the next few days she was sore. Her bones ached from the muscle bruising, the bruising on her skin, and she was pretty sure her arm and leg joints felt like they were trying to pop out of socket. A couple of those creatures had grabbed her limbs and pulled, like they had been trying to rip her in half.
Despite the beatnig she took, Machholz was went back to Mirrorspace without so much as a bad word because she had to keep fighting. She had to keep bettering herself and these monsters seemed like they weren't going to leave her alone no matter how many she killed. A few of them tried to follow her home, but she'd seen them long before she'd gotten to her mirror and they were easily taken care of. She supposed the good thing about this was she was getting more muscles from constantly moving, constantly fighting. Her time spent as Annabelle seemed few and far between however. Some would say that she was losing herself to her powered side, as Dark Mirror Senshi Machholz, but she disagreed. Annabelle was still there, but that girl was strange to her. She wasn't Serenity, couldn't be Serenity anymore. So she ran from her.
There were a lot of reasons she stayed in Mirrorspace, stayed powered up like she did.
Darkness surrounded her like an old friend, a lingering feeling on her skin, almost tingling. It felt familiar. It felt so good. Golden eyes were closed as she stood on top of the streetlight that she'd short circuited with magic. She breathed in the air that was colder than autumn but not quite winter. Somewhere in the middle. Breathing out left her with a shiver of anticipation that ran down from the nape of her neck all the way down her spine. Goosebumps raised on pale flesh before she let out a soft giggle.
As soon as her eyes opened up, Machholz jumped off and towards a building. She was heading to where she knew a full length mirror was. Heading to an abandoned warehouse so she could go into her second favorite place; Mirrorspace. If she could she would live there forever. Machholz would drag in her girlfriend and they would just spend their days there. Yes, it was a bit confusing at first, but they could make it. Between her, and the other Dark Mirror Senshi, Erythrite would learn how to navigate Mirrorspace like she was actually part of Machholz's court.
The reason Machholz wasn't in Mirrorspace right now was because she was going patrolling. Buddingtonite was still at large for what he did to her. He was just the worst thing to walk this earth, and Machholz had seen some things in her short time alive. Alas, there was no such luck finding him tonight. She didn't know if she could take him one on one; the last time she'd tried, she'd gotten help from a wonderful companion. While Machholz appreciated the help, she was hoping to have taken him by herself. Shaking her head of the thoughts, the white haired girl dropped to one knee in front of the warehouse of her chosing and grinned. Home sweet home, here she comes. A manicured nail ran over the old brick as she waltzed right in. There was no energy here, human or otherwise, so she felt fairly confident in being alone.
She made her way through the fallen building pieces, ceiling fans, fallen light fixtures, parts of the roof.. Jumping onto a catwalk that survived, Machholz's heels clicked as she made her way to the upstairs office, hands dusting railing that was squeaking and rusting under her weight and the swinging. Back on solid flooring, she wandered into the office and stopped in front of the mirror. “Hello beautiful,” she whispered to it, running her hands upon the dusty reflective surface. There were some tarnished spots along the corners, but it should still get her where she needed to go. With her overlay, the woman dusted the mirror off as best as she could without proper cleaning supplies and just stared at her reflection. There was a jagged scar on her face, long, going from just under her right ear to almost touching her nose. She traced that scar with a sigh and just frowned. Buddingtonite had done it to her, along with the scar on her arm that matched up perfectly with the scar on her side. Him and his stupid weapon.
Anger boiled as she thought about the battle. She didn't remember a lot of it, admittedly, but she had nightmares, possibly memories. Of course Machholz couldn't be sure. She just knew his name and the fact that he'd given her those specific scars.
Her girlfriend, however, had given her a different set of scars, the kind that couldn't be seen. She loved Erythrite. She loved her to pieces, but she couldn't help but think back to the day they both descovered who the other was. Machholz, for the second time in less than a year, was on the edge of death. Erythrite had nearly killed her before Machholz's magic was at it's limit and she powered down. That she remembered. Her brows knit as her heart twist in her chest like someone was squeezing it. That had been a really hard time for her, for Erythrite. Still, she couldn't hate Erythrite. The woman brought her to Leto, who brought her to the Dark Mirror Court. The pair of women saved her life.
“Well this took a turn,” she murmured barely above a whisper. Her fingers stroked the edge of the mirror, then traced the randomly ornate frame as she pulled herself out of her darker memories. “No. I need to focus on the good. I'm going home.” Forcing herself to smile, Machholz tapped the mirror and then pushed her hand through it, feeling it ripple around her. It was liquid almost, like water, or something a bit more dense. She sighed as she just kept pushing forward, feeling the mirror accept her, hug her back felt like her mom used to. Warm and welcoming and she would never get used to it. It was a very hard feeling to describe in all honesty.
Somewhere in stepping inside the mirror, her eyes had closed. When she opened them it was that beautiful space that she called home, that she knew Leto called home. “Honey, I'm home~” Her voice was sing song as she made her way through the ever changing space. Of course, no one answered, but that was fine. If something did answer her it was probably one of the Mirror Wraiths and she was probably about to get attacked. In all honesty? Today Machholz wasn't feeling like fighting something, even if it was a Wraith. Mach didn't even feel like fighting youma.
She stopped mid step as she realized she didn't know where she was heading. Tilting her head to the side, Machholz's lips tugged into a frown before shrugging. Maybe she'd go see her new puppy, Damocles. He was always fun to play with. Honestly, she felt a connection with the male instantly. Too bad they were both gay and taken by their respective partners. Not that Machholz would ever cheat on Erythrite. Oh, no. She loved the woman way too much to ever dream about cheating on her. Still, if she could ever have a boyfriend, she would pick Damocles.
“Yes, to Damocles we go.” With that in mind, she continued on her way, head held high.
Machholz was unaware of the set of eyes on her, watching her every movement. There were always dangers lurking within Mirrorspace....
Reply
