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 Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:43 pm
While foresight was not always her strong point, Tanzanite had an excellent memory. Her feet carried her, now in the formal attire of the Negaverse's only sub-Lieutenant, over the quiet suburban sidewalks that lead to the house of her friend and comrade. Quaint houses in quaint rows. Quaint little lawn decorations preceding quaint window treatments. Quaint mailbox numbers all perfectly aligned. Quaint little everything. It was a place in which Tanzanite stuck out like a sore thumb, looking like some kind of character plucked right out of the wildest of dominatrix flicks. Nothing about Tanzanite, from the tip of her boots to the her wild hair, was quaint.
The last time she had walked those streets it had been in the flat sneakers of Aree Cadence, dressed in the second-hand attire of her human half. It had been a night of pleasantries and girl time, a brief reprieve from the demanding life that both of them had chosen by serving the Negaverse. It had been much needed for the both of them, and Tanzanite remembered it with a fondness reserved only for such distinctly peaceful moments shared between two people who were anything but peaceful.
Unfortunately, as Tanzanite ascended the steps with a click, click, click of those stiletto heels, her business with Linarite was not so pleasant. Hands which had previously carried paper bags full of snacks and sodas were now wrapped tightly around the ends of her weapon, the cord looped snugly arund the back of her neck. She needed information. Information on which her future in the Negaverse, and quit possibly her life, depended.
Information which that sharp memory suggested only Linarite might possess.
Tap, tap tap, rattled her fist against the door, shifting her weight from one sharp heel to the other as she waited for the girl to answer.
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:57 pm
Audrey Collins was not much of a domestic housewife. That was her mother's job, and she was so snuggled into the role that it had never occurred to Shelley that her daughter might need to know how to cook, clean, and sew moderately. So that meant while she was 'cooking for Drew', in reality the teenager was simply sitting at the kitchen counter, chattering away about her friend's poor health as the older woman did all the work. Her father was happily ignoring what he termed 'girl time', as usual, up in their bedroom doing something or another that Audrey generally figured ended up being 'masturbating'.
But it was really wrong to think of your parents doing anything like that, so she was simply focusing on the onions being chopped for the soup when the door rattled. "Audrey, baby, would you get that? I can't come down right now." The masculine voice was easily heard from up the steps, and the thought ran again through her head, making the bluenette wince. "Yeah dad, I got it."
Pulling the door open, several thoughts quickly overwrote anything she might have previously been muddling over. First was that Tanzanite was back. Second was that Tanzanite was on her doorstep. The third was fairly similar, only noting that it was not Aree. Her face paled, colored, and paled again before she called back inside. "Be right back mom, it's just someone from school!" Yanking the door shut and snagging the Amazon-like sub-lieutenant by the arm, Audrey hauled her to the side of the house under the shade of a convenient tree.
A moment later, Linarite and Tanzanite were both beneath the tree, and Lina was not happy. "What are you doing, Tanzanite! You can't just show up at my house like that! I mean, what if there was a senshi nearby? You kinda stand out, especially with those damn jumper cables! You can't strut around suburbia like that, good Christ Almighty." Panicked and furious, she simply prayed that neither parent would come out and try to investigate the odd appearance of a 'friend'.
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 4:08 pm
Tanzanite had known what the response would be before she had knocked, but she hadn't the time for subtlety and being inconspicuous. She might have given a small smile as she was dragged away by one arm by the tiny teenager, but the circumstances of her visit did not allow for even an ounce of joy to penetrate her mood. Her expression was a familiar one; brows drawn down slightly over half-lidded eyes and lips pressed into a grim, mirthless line. She was a picture of stoicism, a portrait of a woman who had far too little happiness and far too many things to fear.
Really, she only had one thing to fear. One person. One General-King who was going to serve her a** to Obsidian on a silver platter if she did not complete her assignment. It was enough fear to motivate anyone in their right mind. Hell, it was more than enough to motivate Tanzanite, who few would argue was very much not in her right mind.
“I know, I know,” she said, almost apologetic, “but I don't have time for explanations.” In truth, she had come in such a manner because Aree Cadence was not nearly as imposing as her more powerful alter-ego. Even though Tanzanite might be directly subordinate to the bluenette, she was still significantly more persuasive than a skinny high school girl in second hand clothes.
Tanzanite's eyes clearly showedher urgency, along with a touch of the fear that anyone who knew her might find somewhat surprising. She watched Audrey for a moment, her gaze shifting the way they had come as though sharing the suspicion that her parents might come out to investigate.
“Audrey, I need to find Castor.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:34 pm
Lina didn't think there could be any greater shock than Tanzanite showing up on her doorstep in full uniform. She was absolutely wrong. The already pale lieutenant turned sheet white and her eyes grew incredibly wide as she stared up at her friend. "You want what?!" What had Nealite said? Had she put her up to this? What the hell was going on?! This had to be some kind of sick test by the new Queen, Lina could absolutely feel it.
Trying to recover, the bluenette tried to make her voice cool and bewildered. "Why are you asking me? I mean, yay I'm happy to see you and all, but I don't really know much about senshi habits." Which was a truth and a lie all at once. She was indeed quite happy to see the sub-lieutenant. After being forced to spend all her time looking after the woman, Lina'd developed an affection for her that had her sometimes thinking about the purple-haired amazon at odd moments. But at the same time, she knew exactly how to find Castor.
And she wasn't about to betray him without being backed into a corner first.
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:15 pm
“Audrey...” Tanzanite's voice was soft. It was unusual, something which very few others ever heard from the usually callous young woman. It was not Tanzanite's way to ask for anything, and it certainly wasn't like her to beg. Nevertheless, there was a pleading tone to her words, an arch in her brows that spoke of a poorly hidden desperation. Her grey eyes were not half lidded as she lifted her hands to cup the younger woman's face, but slightly widened. She did not know what there was between Audrey and Castor, only that Castor had spilled his guts about a mysterious bluenette and that he had before given her a glance that could not be mistaken for anything but familiarity. Whether that familiarity was just friendship or something more, she did not know.
She did not ask.
It simply wasn't her place to do so. What mattered is that there was something, and that something could very well be the key to her redemption. She had to know. Her place in the Negaverse – hell, her life – could very well depend on it.
“Audrey, Charonite is giving me one chance to redeem myself, and...” she paused, closing her eyes for a brief moment, “That one chance depends on me finding Castor. He almost killed Ursula once. I know you don't like her, but she's not just Ursula anymore. She's not just Nealite anymore. She's our Queen, and our future is tied to hers. Everything we have depends on her. Castor is a Super Senshi now. How long before he's more than that? We have to finish this while we can...” Tanzanite drew one deep breath, holding onto her secret for a moment. She couldn't ask for this information without letting her know why. “Charonite is sending me to end this, and if I don't, then there won't be anymore second chances.”
When Tanzanite lifted her eyes to meet those brown ones she found so comforting, her voice was barely a whisper, “Please, Audrey. I need your help.”
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:07 pm
Had Linarite been any more of an emotional girl, she might have broken and cried right then at the look on her friend's face. Tanzanite was the crazy Amazon warrior of the Negaverse. She didn't plead, she didn't beg, she never bowed for even a second, not even when cleaning the throne room from top to bottom. There was no doubt left in the girl's mind that she was utterly serious about the gravity of the situation.
Gently, Lina lifted her hands to wrap around Tanz's wrists. Closing her eyes, she took a deep, calming breath and tried to shut down her mind. All but that small part of her that was all business. Instead, all she could see were bright blue eyes, and the dopey smile that Castor had given her at Christmas. When he'd told her that he was in love with her. How she felt around him in general, how special he'd made her seem. All of that had to fade away, had to be pushed away in the name of her cause. Of her beloved Negaverse.
Deep honey eyes opened and looked up into Tanzanite's stormy ones as she pulled the woman's hands from her face and held them reassuringly. "I'll tell you what I know, don't worry. If our Queen orders it, and the General King says this is your last chance, I won't go against any of that. After all, what is a senshi to me?" Besides everything lovely. Her voice was steady, but Linarite's eyes clouded as she spoke. "On the east side of the park, there's a bench flanked by planters. You can't miss it, it's one of the only ones of its kind, right by a flower shop. Big planters, you know? He generally hangs around there from time to time." Looking for her, of course.
Smiling reassuringly, she turned away to step back out of the shadows before she said anything else she didn't want to, and stopped. Silently, Linarite faded again to plain old Audrey Collins and the teen quickly turned and gave Tanzanite a quick but firm hug. "Good luck, okay?" Blushing furiously, she ran back towards the house definitely sure that hanging around longer would now be awkward. After all, Aree wasn't exactly a feely person...but still.
The hug had been necessary, and Audrey didn't feel bad for. After all, she was leaving on a dangerous mission and it was supposedly her last chance. The girl didn't know who to pray for, and quietly was going to pray for them both. Maybe some God somewhere would take pity on them all one day.
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:28 pm
There was a pain in those big brown eyes that the teenager's voice did not betray, but Tanzanite felt it nevertheless. It was a strange sensation, the feeling that welled up in the pit of her stomach, momentarily displacing the hollow, empty feeling that usually resided there. Whether it was guilt or sadness she could not quite decide, but it gripped her as strongly as Audrey did for one brief moment. A far, far too brief moment.
She watched as Audrey turned her back, the well wishing echoing in her ears. It took a long moment before she realized that one hand was stretched out in the direction Audrey had gone, and Tanzanite let it drop limply to her side. One deeply drawn breath and a moment of thought was all it took to shove all of those emotions back into place, replacing them with the empty, single-minded focus that made her who she was.
Calling upon the power given to her the day Charonite had corrupted her, Tanzanite leapt up, landing upon the roof of a neighboring house. One glance back towards the front door of Audrey's home, before she took off across rooftops and empty sidewalks. She raced towards Destiny City's red light district; she knew where to find Castor, now she needed the bait to draw him out.
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