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 Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 10:26 am
It was always a strange feeling, being back at the Order Headquarters. There were senshi and knights who spent the entire past five years here, vigorously protecting what was considered one of their only safe havens. Delphine was only forced back here after she finished with a 'target'. She'd report back what information she had earned and lounge around until a new target was sent her way. Usually it would only take a couple of days at most to single out a new victim - there were far more Negaverse agents than there were for the Resistanc after all.
She'd kill time on planet Nemesis, but who knew when a target would come in, and she hated the idea of another team picking it up when she could do it herself. She could see her children, but they were better off with her parents, and she had already stopped by for just a couple of minutes to check up on them before claiming she had 'business' to attend to. It was either that, or she'd have a stare off with her son who had given her a very accusatory 'Where you been?'. Little snot.
No, it was best to leave them to her parents. Instead, she caught up with a few of the senshi she were still familiar with, trying to find out what new information about the war had been released. As Sailor Nemesis, Delphine often received first hand information, but who knew what other Shadows were bringing in, or what was coming from the city now.
With a soft sigh, she wondered how much longer they could hold on like this. How much longer would this really be a safe haven? She'd have to convince, quietly perhaps, that her parents leave this place before they got too heavily involved with the Resistance. Delphine flopped down into one of the chairs, trying to remain positive, but nowadays that was just too difficult to maintain.
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 8:56 am
It was stranger for Damon because his family now all lived in the Order Headquarters.
It wasn't as if he hadn't contemplating moving, but Coach Amary had a duty to his team on the Meadowview Basketball team. Maybe it didn't seem as important as compared to the goal of the Resistance, but Damon could not find it within himself to let the boys down. Besides, Talia too was comfortable with life in Destiny City, and he made enough trips down as it was when duty called for it.
He never missed stopping by to check on his parents and his niece and nephew; the latter would clamor around him and demand to know where his mother was. It was all Damon could do to be as good an uncle as he could be, even if it generally meant acquiescing to their demands for playtime and swinging the kids through the air like they were Superman.
"There you are." He said, finally locating her in a corner, pulling up a chair besides her. "The little punk said you swung by today."
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 2:02 pm
Oh god, she had escaped one half of her family just to run into the other half. But, it was better to have a family than be one of the many who now didn't... Delphine sighed rather dramatically as Damon pulled his chair over. She was on relatively good terms with her brother, and she liked the he now had the ability to protect himself. He was still a baby in the scheme of things, a powered individual who had no idea what their real capabilities were. Damon needed guidance - they all did, but Delphine would do her best to insure he survived this.
It was why she didn't mind that he had started to tag along in some of her work as a Shadow. There was no better way to keep track of him than taking him to work with her. "Yeah, just for a little bit until my next target comes in," Delphine explained with a casual shrug of her shoulders. Obviously she was experiencing a rare moment of downtime, which meant she should be spending it with her own children. But... clearly she had better things to do, or at least thought the kids were better off with her out of the way.
"The last one gave me jack s**t for intel, but at least it's one less agent of Chaos off the streets." Anyone Delphine got her hands on as Sailor Nemesis usually did not survive, not if they were being put through her interrogation techniques. The only way to keep herself safe, to keep her identity as a Shadow safe, was to kill every 'victim' she managed to capture. It was gruesome work, and she was genuinely surprised that Damon could stomach it.
"So, did you talk to your girlfriend about moving out of Destiny City?" she asked pointedly.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 7:38 am
It didn't matter to him that Delphine, as Sailor Nemesis, was technically a higher rank than he was in their powered up lives. She was still his little sister, even if she wasn't quite so little anymore. He would always be her older brother, and such, he had felt obliged to look out for her the best he could.
He had always been protective of her, and it was never going to stop just because they were adults. "I see." He said, as he seated himself in front of her. It had been... interesting, to say the least, to get a front row seat in observing exactly how Nemesis went about in her duties as a Shadow. He still remembered witnessing the first time she had killed someone, and he couldn't deny that he had been mildly disturbed.
But it was something he had to shake off. He was a Knight of Saturn, after all, the home planet of the Senshi of Death and Rebirth. In his days in the precinct, he had been called to see more murder scenes than he could remember, and corpses were something he had grown accustomed to.
It didn't mean that he didn't have faith in purification. It was just that he knew there was no forcing it upon them, and if they refused to see the light, then it was better to end them before they were manipulated into acts of destruction in the Negaverse's name.
"Practice is just starting up and the boys are excited for the upcoming season to start. I doubt Meadowview High would take it kindly if I tendered in my resignation; it's too late to find a replacement coach." Damon was shifting the conversation away from Talia; he himself had his own selfish reasons for staying. "And look, if I just disappeared, it would be suspicious." It was for that reason he had also hung onto his job at the precinct just a little longer even when the truth had been revealed to him about the so called terrorists they had been constantly warned about.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:19 am
"Then retire at the end of the season and move," Delphine answered in a great display of patience with her older brother. She always had a nagging way of wanting to get Damon to do things the way she felt they should be done. He couldn't linger in Destiny City - not with it so deeply rooted in the Negaverse's control. His only chance of safety was to get away, and if he kept flinging excuses at her she was just going to drag him out of the city herself. There was certainly a boon to be had in the difference of their strength as powereds. Let some silly little page try to stop a Princess from forcing them somewhere they did not want to go.
If he was extra nice, she'd go back and grab his girlfriend too.
"The longer you live there, the more likely you are to fall to corruption. It'd be a pain in my a** to have to find you and convince you to purify, so don't make me." Delphine wasn't so heartless she could kill her brother, and if he wouldn't be purified she'd more than likely let him go despite the consequences. She just didn't want to think about losing him, not when she had already lost so many. She still couldn't even get Gehenna back after his fall into corruption... and she had been prioritizing his rescue for a long time.
If only anyone could get some proper intel on him, and then Nemesis would happily show why she was a Shadow if it gave her a chance to save him. "I'm not kidding, Damon. Finish up your students' stupid season and get the hell out of the city, before you piss me off over it." Delphine had, after all, managed to convince her parents to relocate. Their relationship was a little better, but still strenuous. It didn't help that Delphine had practically abandoned her children onto them. But, what else could she do? She had a war to fight, one that likely would see her dead by the end of it.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:46 am
"The season ends in February, Delph." He said wearily. Damon didn't like arguing about his current location of residence. Was he glad that his family was away from the corruption of the city? Certainly. But there were children in the city who did not know any better, who were being taught the "truths" the Negaverse spun out. And though he could not say anything to besmirch them and to sway the opinion of the young impressionable kids, he could at least do his best to give them as normal a childhood as he possibly could.
Deep below his gruff exterior was a soft spot reserved exclusively for children, even if he wasn't even a father yet. He supposed he had Delphine's to blame for it.
"A lot of Watchers live there too, Delph. We wouldn't be able to get intel without them." He reminded her with a deep sigh. Besides, there had to be some people in the Resistance that shuttled between the city and the headquarters in order to pass around those sensitive bits of information. "And I'd rather die than be corrupted."
He had believed in the Negaverse once, as a cop. Like hell he was going to be warped to work for them ever again.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 9:33 am
"You're not a Watcher," Delphine pointed out abrasively. Damon had followed her into Shadow work, residing in the city wasn't the smartest decision he could have made in regards to that. There was no reason for him to remain in Destiny City when there were so many risks, and no one would question a basketball coach getting a better job elsewhere and having to move because of it. Why was he so determined to hold on to that home? If all went poorly, none of them would have homes anyways by the end of this.
"I'd rather you not die or be corrupted, so listen to me. Move here for now, at least. You can be with our parents and my children, and I'm sure you'd be happier." For as long as happiness could last here. But, Delphine tried not to share her pessimistic views with everyone, especially her own family. After five years of losing, it was hard to see a victory coming. Their numbers had dwindled too far, there were not enough new senshi to fight the loss. Cats couldn't risk awakening more senshi, not when they could so easily be corrupted in those first few months.
"Bring your girlfriend, I know she has to be one of the reasons you're so damned determined to stay in that city." Delphine scowled at her brother - she wouldn't budge on this topic, and now that she was stuck on it Damon would find it difficult to sway her away to another subject.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:57 am
A spy he was not, indeed. Damon could be stealthy enough in the shadows, and being a Knight of Saturn helped, but he was not someone who could effortlessly tease information out without rousing suspicion. Though the whole point of his flimsy argument (in Delphine's eyes), was that he served as one of the liaisons between the Watchers and the Headquarters, since it was too risky for the Watchers to be even suspected of being anywhere close to the main base of the Order faction.
Would he be happier here? Perhaps. Being close to family was something important to Damon, though he was not someone to easily admit it. "Look, I'll promise you I'll talk to her about it." Being able to convince Talia was not a promise he could easily make, however. His girlfriend was as stubborn as Delphine was; idly, Damon wondered why he was surrounded by such headstrong women.
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