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 Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:49 pm
Most of the students had already gone home, but Daniela Rymner wasn't all that concerned. Her parents were used to her staying late, be it in the library doing homework, or going to the activity center for a trip up the rock wall. It was nice not having to check in with them for every little thing, and though she understood it was largely her mother's influence, she prided herself on orchestrating the entire arrangement. After all, she didn't even have a car! Couldn't drive! Was basically a single, highly attractive, teenage girl wandering around on her own after school.
Well, that was how she appeared, anyway. She was all of those things, but Dani also knew how to take care of herself. Not that she expected someone to attempt to mug her on her way home from school, but she liked to take runs around the park, and there were all sorts of things in the news lately that would make anyone's skin crawl. It was just better all around to be prepared, right?
She was more than prepared. She was a Senshi, for goodness sake. Not that anyone knew of that, since it was more than a little dangerous to g blabbing your secret identity, but Dani could handle just about anything thrown her way. She had so far, anyway. Maybe she'd only "awakened" a short time ago, but she was pretty confident overall.
Rubbing a hand along the back of her neck, she smiled, shifting her weight from foot to foot in front of her locker. Every day, she stayed after if she had homework, finished it at school, and left her books and things. It was rare that she had to take something home, usually only for projects, and that suited her. After all, it would be much more difficult to go for her morning run if she had to haul a backpack around!
A figure as fine as hers didn't keep itself, after all.
Closing the door, she turned, a small smile on her face. She'd taken a little more time on her homework than she wanted, but that was all right. She'd just go for a light jog around the park, and then she'd head home for the night. Easy as pie, right?
Thunder boomed, and she stopped, frowning. Oh, right. It had started storming toward the end of the day, which explained why there weren't a lot of kids hanging around after school. Some die-hard clubbies - she found them restricting, herself, and didn't have the time to devote to extra-curriculars - and a few stragglers in the library. Though if she remembered correctly, she was the last of them. Well, they weren't all that dedicated, were they? And who was afraid of a little rain?
She reached for her hips, the move habitual, when she realized she'd left her jacket in the library. Annoyed, she turned and fast-walked back down the hall, hoping no one had snatched it - it was a really cute shade of plum.
Peeking her head in, she saw only one other girl, and it seemed like she was returning a video or something. Pleased, Dani made for the jacket, already having decided to just run straight home and do some stretches, when there was an eerie voice over the intercom.
"Attention! Any staff and students still in the building, attention!"
Frowning up at the speaker, she waited. "What in the world?"
"At this time, no staff or student is to leave the premises. There have been reports of.."
She stopped listening, groaning out loud as the speaker continued to describe the detail of the lockdown. Great, just great.
Hands fisting in her jacket, knowing that no one had seen her out patrolling, she wondered who it was. Senshi, or Negaverse? Was she going to have to pull some tricky business, henshin up, and go see what was going on?
For now, there wasn't a whole lot she could do. The librarian shut and locked the doors, and was gesturing for the girls to get away from the windows.
Pulling the jacket over her uniform top, she shot an unhappy look to her classmate. Even though she was more in-the-in than the average student, she couldn't just go around acting like that.
"Did you see anyone? I thought for sure things had quieted down." Scooting along the floor, she patted a space next to her for the brunette. "I know we're supposed to be quiet, but seriously, there are a lot of strange things happening lately."
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 3:38 pm
It took a long time to get the librarians to trust you enough to let you borrow a movie. It took even longer for them to let you take it out of the school. Tate didn't trust the librarians, but she sure as anything knew they trusted her, and that's why she was still there to return the DVD on Tokyo the anime club had been watching. The club might be having a festival of some kind soon - she looked forward to it.
Well, as long as it didn't bring is so many new people she lost her spot. Tate gritted her teeth at that thought and turned to leave the library, but just then the announcement came over the loudspeakers and she frowned. It wasn't like she wanted to go home particularly badly - it would just be another evening of not doing her homework and playing Soul Calibur IV until she unlocked all the Create-a-Soul items or beat the story mode. Preferably both. She didn't notice the other girl's approach until she spoke:
"Did you see anyone?"
Tate shook her head, the one pigtail beating back and forth between her cheek and her shoulder. Cheek. Shoulder. "No, I'm sorry," said Tate, "I was upstairs until a couple minutes ago." Dropping her backpack - it fell with an abnormally loud noise for its size - she sat down next to the blue-haired girl, crossing her legs.
"If it's a lockdown," said Tate quietly in an utterly inoffensive tone, "then it means there's danger outside, not in. We can probably talk."
Probably. The nearest librarian shushed her.
"I haven't seen you around," she whispered.
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 3:57 pm
Shooting a sulky look at the librarian, Dani nevertheless ducked her head in, deciding it was best to be close to the other girl and whisper than risk getting banned from the library. Nerd she was not, but she enjoyed the general atmosphere of the room, and the smell of the books. Plus, it was a great place to do her homework, and there were resources all over if she got stuck on something, the librarian herself being a great one.
"I think on lockdown we're supposed to be quiet too, just in case they're prowling the halls." She'd never been in a situation where a real threat was out there, at least, not while being locked up in a room. Really, did anything think it was smart to be a bunch of sitting ducks?
Of course, given that most students were just average kids who didn't know how to defend themselves from car salesmen, it was probably for the best. They'd just panic and start a riot, and people would get hurt.
Twisting the ends of her hair around her fingers, she wrinkled her nose. "I hope this doesn't take too long. I'm Dani." At a warning look from the librarian, she dropped her voice to a whisper again. "I don't think we're in the same grade."
Offering her hand, a somewhat comical gesturing considering they were sitting so close to one another, she smiled. "Nice to meet you."
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 5:39 pm
Tate, who was a junior and therefore in such a place as to know these things, thought that what the other girl was describing was a Code C. She didn't want to fight over it, though, so she let it pass.
"Tatiana," she said, "It's nice to meet you. I'm a junior." She stared at the hand for a minute and then shook it, wincing at the weird angle her arm had to take to properly grip the other's hand.
For a minute, she sat there in silence, and then she sighed. The rain against the window was hypnotic, and no matter how much she said she didn't want to go home... "What were you doing here?" Before the lockdown, she meant, but that ought to be obvious...
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 5:58 pm
It was definitely boring with just the two of them. Dani liked getting to know new people, sure, but she'd rather be doing something while she got to know them. If she'd met Tatiana while climbing the rock wall, or jogging around the park, or geez, even picking up trash on the side of the street, that would have been fine. A task, and a common goal to work toward, would have stimulated conversation that wasn't borderline painful and awkward.
Well. She didn't know if Tatiana would do most, or even any, of those things, but the fact remained she would have preferred to have something to do other than think about how itchy the carpet was against her bare legs.
"Me? I was doing my homework." Placing her hands atop her knees, she thought a moment, then reached into her jacket pocket for a couple of sticks of gum. She offered one. "Here."
Glancing to the window, she sighed as the rain lashed against it. If they were stuck at the school too long, she would probably have to call her mom and ask for a ride. She didn't need one, but her mother would freak out if she walked home in the complete dark, and her father?
It just went without saying that she'd be grounded. Even if it wasn't her fault.
Popping her own gum into her mouth, she chewed a moment in silence. "I wanted to go for a run, but the rain's getting worse, and who knows how long it'll take before they release us."
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 9:35 pm
Tate took the gum, but didn't eat it; she sort of settled deeper into her slouch against the wall and kicked off her shoes. The librarian gave her another odd look, but didn't hold the stare, so she assumed it was all right.
"Thanks," said Tate belatedly. She fiddled with the wrapper from the gum. Were there really senshi out there? It'd be kind of neat to go peer out the window to see if she could see them. That Sailor Nea person on TV looked kind of frightening, but Tate knew she was probably doing it all for the attention of her cold yet uncaring love interest. That's how it'd be in a manga, anyway, and sometimes real life did work like manga.
That was probably how it worked here, anyway.
She finally stopped folding the wrapper of the gum into an attractive paper crane and actually started to chew it. "Probably safer if we stay in here until they let us go," opined Tate, "just because. Those senshi... they look rather..." She shook her head. "Sailor Nea frightens me." That was a safe sentiment. Everyone in Destiny City was frightened of Sailor Nea. You'd be stupid not to be afraid of Sailor Nea.
"So you like exercising, I guess?"
Tate did not do homework. It wasn't that she was lazy, it just... wasn't worth it.
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:59 am
Sailor Nea... that irritated her. Some senshi running around causing trouble, giving the others a bad name - since now she was well aware there were others, even if they weren't nearly as dedicated to the cause of righting wrongs and whatnot as she was. Thanks to Nea, whoever she was, it was getting tougher for Dani to do patrols without being chased all over creation and back by the police.
As if her job wasn't hard enough. Hmph. It was just a good thing she went on daily runs, otherwise she might not be able to keep herself from being incarcerated. And, oh, wouldn't her parents love that.
Fingering the edges of her hair, she glanced over to Tatiana, mused a moment. It was a little annoying to have one line of thought going through her head and a totally different conversation going on, but she'd get used to it. After all, she was no fool.
"Yeah. I wouldn't want to get cornered by someone wearing a costume and thinking they had super powers." There. That was properly derisive. Pretend they didn't even exist! It was a good plan to direct attention away from herself as one of those costume-wearing, super power-bearing fighter chicks of justice.
After a brief pause, she couldn't resist adding, "Though I think I could hold my own. I exercise a lot, and I could defend myself until I ran away. I'm pretty fast."
She felt a little better having mentioned as much, and smiled, shoulders relaxing against the wall. "And yeah, I love it. It just feels good to get out there and run, you know? Plus, I want to live a really long time, so I figure I'd better start taking care of myself now."
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:22 am
Dani was either brave or stupid, decided Tatiana, who would as soon face off against one of these murderous senshi as throw herself off a bridge. Actually, she'd probably have a better chance of survival if she took the jump. At least death by all your bones shattering on impact with water would be faster than getting... comatose, like those victims were. And then they always died. Fffttt... Life was miserable, but Tate didn't necessarily want it to end.
It didn't seem bright to disagree with Dani, at least, not if she could really defend herself against one of the senshi. Still... She frowned. "Seems like it'd be better to just avoid the problem entirely." It did sound smarter, but... Who knew? One of those senshi might be fast enough to pull you back. "In that one video, Sailor Nea jumped two stories. I don't think anyone but another senshi could beat her."
Tate shrugged. She hated gym. She hated it a lot, with a burning passion. "That sounds like a plan," she said, carefully noncommittal.
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:42 am
Not at all perturbed, Dani lifted her shoulders in a shrug, voice still pleasant. "Maybe. If you can't defend yourself, or run very fast, I'd definitely say to avoid the senshi. Who knows what they'd do to you if they got their hands on you, right?"
Frankly, she wasn't too worried. She'd like to get her hands on Sailor Nea and emphasize just how displeased she was with the current situation. It was bad enough that she had to sneak out of her house and make sure her parents didn't find out she was prowling the town, but to have to deal with some renegade senshi and dodge police? Talk about a major headache.
Of course, she would mostly have to rely on her own strength and the limited self-defense classes she'd taken, as her power sphere really.. wasn't all that amazing in the offense department. She'd think of something, though! No way would she back down when someone was giving her a bad name and causing trouble.
Winding her arms around her knees, she added, "But it's not like we'll have to worry about it, right? If you stay inside at night and avoid suspicious places, there's no reason to be afraid."
Not that she was. Definitely not.
But Tatiana was just a normal girl, so best to reassure her.
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:10 pm
Tate didn't want to know what would happen to her if some senshi got her. Like before... jumping off a bridge was probably safer. She pursed her lips, and picked up the crane she'd discarded moments before to unfold it and then fold it again. It was a useless skill she'd picked up from a manga version of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.
She wondered if senshi were like Spiderman - the way they were because of radiation. Could someone get poisoned from being too near a senshi?
It wasn't worth wondering about. Senshi weren't like normal people, so it wasn't like she could be sitting right next to one at any given time. Really, she'd know, wouldn't she? Senshi were evil.
"Yeah," agreed Tate; not like she had that kind of problem, since she mostly stayed indoors playing video games, but there wasn't really a point in telling Dani that. "That's good advice."
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:15 pm
Nodding, appreciating that Tatiana had acknowledged her good advice, Dani lapsed into a brief silence. The other girl didn't give her much to go on for conversation, though to be fair, neither of them wanted to be there. Dani's entire day was going to be thrown off by the loss of not just her afternoon exercise, but the time she invested in it - she was going to have to head home and get straight to cooking, and she'd probably be grumpy about it.
Still, she ought to be able to think of something. They were a couple of girls around the same age who went to the same school, right? Maybe they could strike up a conversation about something really interesting and become friends! That would be awesome!
Much as she liked talking about herself and her own interests, the quickest way to figure out if they were going to be compatible at all would be to, well, just start asking questions.
Turning to her, voice still low, she asked, "So, did you have any plans for today?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:47 pm
It wasn't that Tatiana didn't want to talk to Dani, it was just that... Tate didn't like to talk. At all. She didn't have the largest vocabulary and was always afraid of saying the wrong thing. In stressful situations, like a school lockdown with murderous demon senshi outside, she had to be careful not to get herself thrown to the wolves.
"I... was returning the video for anime club. And then I was going home and read a book, or there's a tournament on xBox Live today. For Dead or Alive. I play Kasumi."
She paused. Was that too much information? Probably.
"You were going to jog," said Tate, to show she remembered.
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:36 am
Oooh, so she was in a club! That explained why she was still here. Nodding, apparently satisfied to have made this connection, Dani listened while she elaborated a little. She knew what an xBox was, and had even played it a few times. Video games weren't really interesting to her, because she had to coop herself up and basically sit around and mash buttons, but they were kind of fun sometimes. Now, the Wii, she liked that - all the jumping around and whatnot could actually justify playing a game once in a while. Oh, and DDR - she loved that game! She had no actual idea how to dance, but the game made it seem fun and gave her a work-out, so she loved it.
Expression bright, she leaned over a bit, possibly too eagerly. "I play Dance Dance Revolution sometimes. I don't actually own a game system, though, it's just when... someone brings it into school for field day or something." True, she was usually outside running around, playing something on field day, but she could be drawn in for a tournament of DDR. It get her competitive juices flowing, and the music was usually pretty good.
"I don't know that game though. What kind is it?" Though Tatiana mentioned her jogging, Dani waved a hand, dismissing the topic. She couldn't do it, so she didn't want to sit around and think about missing out - she'd rather try to find some common ground with the girl.
Hey, maybe she had DDR. They could play together sometime, or something.
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 7:25 pm
Tate leaned away, her expression somewhat freaked out in the 'bad touch bad touch' way. She didn't like people being particularly close to her if she didn't trust them, and Tate trusted precious few people. But she tried on a smile at Dance Dance Revolution.
(She had liked it before it was cool.)
"There's a nice arcade with Extreme 2," she offered, thinking maybe if the senshi didn't bust through the window at some point she could play against Dani. "Near Hillworth?"
Then her eyes lit up, and it was quite clear that Dani had hit on something that Tate really liked. "Dead or Alive is a two-person fight simulator that can be played over the LAN with XBox 360. It's been running for several years now."
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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:53 am
Apparently oblivious to the need for personal space, Dani didn't actually notice that Tatiana had leaned away. Instead, she listened to her talk about a game, brows drawing together just slightly as she searched her brain for knowledge on the subject. Dead or Alive? No, she didn't think she'd heard of it.
Maybe she'd seen a commercial for it or something, but Dani actually watched very little television, so that also wasn't entirely likely. Still, the other girl seemed to really like it, which... was a little odd, to Dani.
A fight simulator? Was that just a fancy way of saying fighting game, or was it something else? She felt like asking would make her look stupid, and considering Dani was not in the habit of looking stupid if she could help it, she decided she'd try to catch clues from the conversation. If she still didn't know after she pursued the topic a little, well, she'd just ask.
"So..." She pursed her lips, thinking a moment, and asked, "Do you do... like, tournaments and stuff?"
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