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 Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 2:10 am
Virgo was not a dancer. Virgo could not be remotely construed as anyone having any relations with a dancer, unless you counted an uncertain friendship with Sailor Cancer, who was in fact a true-blue ballerina. The fact that she was not a dancer or graceful enough to be one didn't exactly stop her from trying to pirouette down a street, slipping sometimes on a patch of black ice.
It was cold. Her knees were cold. She speculated her toes were blue as she finally came to a stop, peering down an alleyway like her patrol buddy would be hiding down there. And for all she knew, they might be! It was just, she wasn't very good at the whole "fighting" "thing". Everyone else wasn't either. That was okay, though, they had time to learn. Not as much as they needed, but they did.
Down the next alleyway, she didn't find her patrol buddy. She did find a boy with brunette hair, though, a boy who had an armful of kittens and a tiara-circlet thingy. Virgo smiled, bright and happy and honest.
"You're carrying kind of a lot there," said the bluenette cheerfully. "Can I help you with them? They're so cute!" And Virgo loved kittens.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:04 am
The cold was something that, strangely enough, you got used to after a while. Not that it made it any less unpleasant, but after a while you came to expect it, brace yourself for it. Atlas was never so grateful to have sleeves. They weren't really much, the fabric felt like it was paper-thin, but from what he'd seen it was still a lot more than the uniform offered to most other senshi. Definitely more than Sailor Thuban -- the poor guy, sleeveless and in a skirt to boot. And those sandals. Those could not be pleasant trudging through the snow in.
Atlas's patrol had gone on like how they typically did: he and Alcyone jumped around some buildings, reluctantly (at least on his part) drenched and squished a youma that was prowling around the red light district, and after that they called it a night and went their separate ways. It was getting late, and they were hoping the Negaverse was as reluctant to go out in the cold as they were. According to Alcyone they could be as impractically dressed as a senshi, anyway.
He was making his way back to Hillworth -- taking a shortcut through some back alleyways -- when he heard a shuffling noise from within an overturned box. Three more kittens for the shelter. As usual, he couldn't pass them up, and gingerly gathered them up in his arms.
What he wasn't expecting, though, was to run into someone who share his sentiments on the plight of the helpless animals of Destiny City. And especially not about fifteen seconds after he'd made his latest "rescue." However, that's how it was, and there she was, a sailor senshi he couldn't recall ever seeing before.
"Um... s-s-sure," he decided, after a moment taking in the other's presence. She looked sincerely cheerful, an absolute opposite in demeanor to the slouching, nervous boy before her. "I-if you w-want to, I mean."
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 3:27 pm
She gathered up two of the kittens, pressing her face into the ginger fur of one of them. Cuuuute, they were so cute. The other senshi--she thought he was a senshi--was cute too. He was stuttering. Was he cold? Shiver shiver--if she had a coat, she would be shrugging it off and giving it to him. Only she was definitely wearing less than he was, her skirt barely long enough to really qualify as so much as a shirt.
Virgo seemed blissfully oblivious of this fact as she patted the gray kitten's nose. Finally--a bit late--she looked back at the boy. "Of course I do," she said, duh layering her voice thickly. "Kitties are cute, aren't they? Look at this one's pretty blue eyes..."
Then she looked back up. "Hi, by the way, I'm Sailor Virgo. You're a senshi too, aren't you?" Another smile, a bigger smile, and then she tucked one kitten into her elbow and pulled him in for a one-armed hug.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:14 pm
Atlas was, as always, a little sad to let two of the felines get lifted out of his arms, but his mood brightened back up as quickly as it had dimmed when she saw how much the other senshi enjoyed the company. And now that one of his arms was free, he could resituate the white cat he was still holding and give it a scratch or two behind the ears. It was calming for a moment, just standing there and listening to Virgo fawn over the cats.
And then, of course, that bubble was broken as Virgo added her name to the long and still-growing list of people who had ever invaded Simon's personal space without warning or provocation.
He was being hugged. He was being hugged by a complete stranger.
Atlas had enough trouble processing random acts of kindness and displays of affection when they were from people he knew. Needless to say, he was completely baffled. And felt completely awkward. In spite of the face-numbing cold his cheeks were burning a little.
After a moment of feeling terribly out of place, he answered, "Y-yeah. S-s-sailor Atlas... um... h-hi."
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 8:14 pm
She let him go after a moment, apologetic. "Are you cold," she asked, arms full of kittens again. "You're stuttering. Are you cold? My parents are staying nearby, we can find something to do with the kitties and then you could come warm up."
That was Virgo, about as intelligent as a rock. See a stranger? Invite him in, sure! Hold some kittens for him! Hugs, too. Virgo hugged just about everyone, though, she was a touchy-feely person, the kind of person who held hands with people she barely knew and had no problems resting her head on the shoulders of anyone with whom she had shared more than three words. Atlas had, in fact, said at least four words: "Yeah", "Sailor", "Atlas", and "Hi".
Fair game. Atlas was now in Virgo's "protect" club. Not up there with Zodiacs, that was hard to do, but she'd jump in if he needed it. Easily.
"What brings you outside finding kitties this late? I was patrolling, but I lost my partner. He's shiny, have you seen anyone shiny?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:10 pm
"N-n-n-no, s-s-sorry, I-I..." he stammered in response, fidgeting his hands around the feline he was still holding. "I-It is c-c-cold, but I... b-b-but I j-just talk like this. S-sorry." His face was drawn into a guilty frown, as if he thought having a stutter was some sort of crime -- and honestly, it was something he was self-conscious about. He was always so sure people would listen to him struggle to talk for ten seconds and then give up listening. "I'm f-f-fine, you don't h-have to bring m-m-me inside or anything. R-really."
That and he didn't like staying off the Hillworth campus for too long. It was already getting late, and he was pretty sure he'd be getting dragged off to another practice in the morning.
He slowly shook his head, looking apologetic still, at Virgo's question. No, he hadn't seen anyone shiny. Not if you didn't count that somewhat horrifying watch salesman he and Alcyone had ran into, who wore his merchandise all up one arm. They'd thought for a split second he was a fabled city serial killer with a big golden hook for an arm, and Atlas almost underwent cardiac arrest over the whole ordeal. It had taken Alcyone the better part of half an hour to calm him down.
"I-I've been p-patrolling, too, b-but I was on my way back... I didn't s-s-see anyone sh-shiny, though, sorry..."
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:40 pm
"I haven't seen anyone shiny either."
The new soft voice entering came from above them, a girl of small frame and outrageous hair color joined the conversation leaped down from the rooftop. She had been listening from their introductions, not quite sure to attack the pair until they were confirmed senshi. (She was not making the cavalier-mathingajig mistake again okay.) From her soft looks now, it was quite hard to tell that Serandite had been injured so badly a few weeks ago. Most of it had healed over by now.
"Saving kittens is such an overused classic. Ugh, come up with something new already." She flicked her hair in a show of contempt although one could argue from her brown eyes concentrated on the kittens that her words were different from her thoughts. TRUE, it was an overused classic. But those kittens were entirely too cute. It made Serandite wish she could come in and take one off their hands for herself.
"Have you ever noticed how they make the dogs and the pandas adorably cute as stuffed animals but never the kittens or cats? It's a shame, really." She sighed in disappointment, tipping her head to the side.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:51 pm
She pursed her lips, looking skeptical. Then, as if the words speech impediment had gone off like a light inside her brain, her expression cleared up and she said, "Okay, Sailor Atlas." Virgo paused to listen to him, and sighed when he said that her patrol buddy had gone unseen. But then, 'shiny' was really a very subjective term. A lot of things were shiny. Ornaments on christmas trees were shiny, too. She brushed that off, because she was doing okay, right? "Only once we take care of the kitties, you should head home, okay?"
I haven't seen anyone shiny either.
Virgo watched the girl descend, blinking curiously. She didn't know the Negaverse from Jude. Well, except she knew Jude. Point was, she had no idea what was going on with the pink-haired girl or why she'd be antagonizing anyone. "No," said Virgo, "Not really. Maman only let me have teddy bears." She had a French accent that came out around the usage of the word 'maman'.
A keen observer of the obvious, no one was surprised when she shifted the kittens and pointed out the pink-haired girl's stuffed animal. "You have a stuffy," she said, "Did we wake you up?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:15 am
Atlas fell dead silent when he heard the girl's voice above them, watched pensively as she leapt down the rooftop with unnatural ease (normal people were not supposed to be able to do that) and continued to talk to them. She was... she seemed harmless, had started up a harmless conversations about stuffed animals of all things. Atlas couldn't really contribute much to that, so he remained quiet while Virgo talked.
This girl...
Atlas wasn't so sure they should be talking to her. Not only the roof stunt, but despite how innocent she was acting something about her presence made the back of his neck prickle with unease. He wondered if he was just being paranoid. Virgo seemed just fine.
His gaze darted between the two; he was chewing on his lip, weighing the pros and cons of speaking and remaining quiet. He didn't want to interrupt anyone, but... "M... m-m-m-maybe we sh-should get going. It's l-late..."
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 12:26 pm
A stuffy. That was a new name. An adorable name. Serandite reminded herself to keep that in mind for later.
"Yeah, you woke me up. It's quite unfortunate that it had to be you two that woke me up though." She let the foreboding words hang in the air, clutching her bunny loosely. True, she shouldn't be picking a battle with two senshi. She learned this from last time with Pegasus and Flora-- but who could pass up a delicious chance like this? She itched in anticipation for a battle-- and she wouldn't lose.
She smiled at Atlas, a rather dark smile, a hand over her giggling mouth. "Teehee. Looks like one of you guys are smarter. But even with your IQ combined, I'm pretty sure you two are still as dumb as a brick." After all, these weren't the brightest senshi out there, obviously. She stepped in front of them, covering the alleyway's exit.
"So, mister speech problem and miss innocent, are you feeling up to a battle perhaps? Or do you not know what a battle means?" She tipped her head up as she looked at them, giving off a distinctively contemptuous air, her hand flicking her hair in a snobbish (probably crystal academy) gesture.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:23 pm
She looked at Atlas, all confusion, and then to the girl in the pretty kimono. "We're sorry," said Virgo contritely, "I would've been quieter if I knew you were sleeping, er... What's your name?"
Then, watching the pink-haired girl block the only exit, she seemed to finally get something wasn't quite right. Her olive-green eyes looked from her senshi friend to the somewhat scary girl she had thought was a senshi, too. Her only experiences with either side so far had... Well, she didn't know a thing about Negaverse. Carefully, she set down the kittens; they twined around her feet as she stepped rather purposefully in front of Atlas and said, "I don't know what you're talking about, but Atlas said he wants to go, so we're going to go, okay?"
The kittens meowed, flopping on her feet. "I don't want to fight you," said Virgo. "No one has to fight. Okay?"
Virgo: a pretty shitty negotiator.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:44 pm
Olive-green eyes met briefly with ones the color of sea-glass, before Virgo stepped in front of him. Atlas's eyes could be kind of drowningly sad a lot of the time, but right now they were pleading a warning, enforcing his unsteady suggestion of leaving with a clearly-spelled desire to in his gaze. Looks were not deceiving him, this pink-and-bunnies girl was spelling bad news, and he wanted to get away before they became the headlines.
Virgo stepping in front of him really looked kind of ridiculous. Atlas was almost a foot taller than she was, and that kind of put a whole damper on the "protective stance" part of the equation. He could still see the other girl's face, over the top of Virgo's dark blue hair.
His own cat-for-the-evening slunk out of his arms, padding over on the concrete to tease its companions and bat at the long ribbons trailing down the back of Virgo's skirt.
Atlas fidgeted, anxiously.
He didn't want to fight either, but had a feeling saying so wasn't going to stop her from trying -- so he just allowed Virgo to talk as cold dread grew in the pit of his chest, waiting for what was going to happen.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:20 pm
Serandite took a low bow, a hand spread out at her chest as she straightened her posture again, introducing herself. "Negaverse Lieutenant Serandite, at your service. Just though I'd spell it out for you since you didn't get it the first time around." She said sweetly, glancing down at the kittens. "I'm evil, just so you know." Serandite said informatively. This was getting ridiculous, treating them as if they were elementary kids instead of high chool kids.
She looked back up, taking a small step forward (avoiding stepping on the kittens ok.) This Virgo.. didn't want to fight? How the hell would the world get anywhere without fighting? Peace was a nice ideal.. but as Serah learned, it was an unrealistic ideal.
"Wow, you are the stupidest senshi I have met." She said, accompanied by a look of baffled amazement. "Let me spell it out for you. As much as I don't want to fight you, I do want your starseeds. If you would rather go down without a fight, that's fine with me. In fact, it would be so much easier for me honestly." She clapped her hands together with a smile, as if she had suggested a great idea.
"Why don't you put those kittens away and we'll settle this starseed manner, hm? Or did I not spell it out clearly enough? Please tell me one of you understand or I'll have lost hope in senshi altogether." She met Atlas's unsteady gaze and then her eyes traveled eye-to-eye with Virgo's. (Perhaps not completely, she was pretty sure she might be a bit shorter the Virgo after all.)
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:27 pm
She slid back, bumping into Atlas as she stared at Serandite, lips puckered as she thought this whole situation through. Negaverse? That struck a chord in her. Hadn't the Ancient Lady-- "Oh right," she said, smiling, "Queen Serenity talked about that..."
If all this Serandite person wanted was starseeds? Their starseeds. Hmm... Wait. That wasn't a good thing, was it.
Starseeds were in your chest, Virgo knew. She also knew that they weren't supposed to come out. So, therefore, Serandite could not have her starseed or Atlas's. This was not a good situation, but maybe it had all just been a big misunderstanding. "Wouldn't that hurt," Virgo asked, "it'd be awfully mean, too."
Innocent she might be, but she wasn't dumb. Her best hope was to not fight, because Virgo's offensive ability was measured in millimeters.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:46 pm
There it was, the magic word: negaverse. Negaverse. The people Astraea had warned him of, but told him nothing about; the side he'd learned of more personally over the still-bleeding corpse of an old woman at an animal shelter. Virgo still sounded cheerful; if Atlas had tried to talk his voice would possess none of that brightness. As she stepped back and bumped into him, he found his hands had risen up to rest on her shoulders.
He didn't want to go down -- didn't want to see Virgo go down. But he still didn't want to fight.
They had to get out of here. Virgo could feel Atlas's hands trembling, he was shaking all the way down to his knees, it could even be heard in how his breath was staggering. Like his stuttering, it wasn't just from the cold either. He was afraid.
"L-l-let's get out of here..." he muttered, his voice so tiny it barely even reached Virgo's ears. "Please..."
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