Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was such a relief to be back in her uniform. Elke fluffed out the ends of her hair from the collar of her Crystal jacket, like she was going to be wearing it for a while. She waved to Serenade and flounced out the door, her jacket slung over one arm.

Once she made it outside, she rounded the building. This was the opposite side of the dorms from Hero's window, and Serenade's--it pained her to hide things from her Captain. It pained her more to hide things from her Princess. But she couldn't find any Zodiacs, which happened more often than not, and... She pulled out her pen and transformed, ran her hands down the soft green fabric of her dress. Her shoes clicked against the concrete of the sidewalk.

She did not consider that she might have been seen, or that someone might recognize her as she stood there checking that nothing had changed.

Virgo rolled her shoulders, pressed her hands against the side Hematite had stabbed her on. She had really only gotten out a day ago, and torso movement was... restrained. She couldn't really stretch side to side... ugh. Virgo sighed, and patted her side again. Well, nothing for it! Just head out, stick to easy youma...

The look on her face was guilt. Pure unadulterated guilt. "I'm not," she said, hugging Scylla; she was glad to see Scy, but she was not glad to be caught going out when she shouldn't. It was sort of a double-edged sword. "They don't want me going out at all without another Zodiac."

This statement did not jive with the clearly transformed Virgo. She gave Scy an embarrassed look and stared down at her toes. "But I need to patrol, I've been gone for forever, how many people have probably died because I got myself hurt I don't even know," but doubtless she was thinking about it "but it's not fair to them for me to wait for things to get better. Because they won't. You know? Right?"

She flinched back a little, hands going to press against her side. "It wasn't your fault," protested Virgo, "It wasn't! You did really well, Scy, if I was as good as you we would have all been fine and they would have been left there in tentacles for forever. You were amazing." The look she directed to Scylla was full of admiration, bright and smiling in the way of a little girl who didn't know much better.

"Doesn't matter if it's fair to me, though. It matters if I can keep people safe." Her smile was a little worried as she patted Scylla's shoulder, but it brightened when the older senshi mentioned going to the movies.

Bouncing in place, she clapped her gloved hands. "I've never seen that, please let's go--" Then she remembered she would have to drop henshin to reach her billfold, and she looked guiltily up at Scylla. "--like this? As senshi?"

Virgo was sorry to make Scylla unhappy; sorrier still that she couldn't change her power to make her friend smile. In that desire's stead, she beamed at the older girl, traced one finger along her own lower lip as if to say big smile! Patiently, she waited for Scylla to smile back, and when she did, Virgo nodded and dropped her senshi transformation. "Can I buy the snacks then," she asked, patting her coat pockets. ID card, billfold! Everything she needed to have, actually. "Pleaase."

It wasn't really a request. She would pretend it was, though, if it would make her friend more likely to agree to it.

"It's not really worth worrying about me getting hurt," said Elke. The doctor's words came back to her--she was just a high school girl in the end, what could she do if the cops couldn't do anything?

...She could kill the Negaversers...

She shook that thought out of her head. Going to the movies with Scy was not a melancholy thought time! She fluffed out the ends of her hair--apparently she had already redyed it, the reddish roots gone back to bluish teal. "Since it's bound to happen again anyway. Right?" And she looped her arm through Scy's like this was any other patrol.

"Jada," repeated Elke; she smiled again, pointing out Jada's Scylla-like qualities to herself. Without all the gold in her hair, it looked more pitch-black than faintly blue-gray; her eyes looked really, really purple against it. Facts like these were not meant to be hidden, as she'd been taught by her American family. "You're pretty, Jada." They shook hands, looped their arms together and walked down the sidewalk path.

For a bit, she was quiet, just smiling over finally knowing who Scylla was in Civilian form and out; but soon she was beginning to chafe at the silence, and she asked, "Is the Lord of the Rings the one with the elf with the long blonde hair? What was his name? Lego... something?"

Her green eyes were big and earnest. Elke knew a lot about classical literature, because of her education in the college; she knew a lot about romance novels, simply from personal preference and experience. Movies and high fantasy were not so much her preference.

"I heard Faramir is pretty," she said in a lull.

"I know the elf," she said knowledgeably, "My best friend when I was in the college in Paris had a big cutout of him! I didn't like sleeping over her house because he always watched. Staring, staring, all the time."

This was oddly reminiscent of the conversations they had had in the hospital, when she was under much more powerful drugs. Looking at Elke's eyes confirmed she was very lucid, though, so why she would be rambling about staring cardboard cutouts was very odd. "She thought he was un beau garcon."

Like this was a funny joke, she smiled at Jada. The story as described sounded like a good time, light versus darkness and--

They came to one of the theaters in town; the only one that actually had The Lord of the Rings up on the billboard. She looked at the posters along the walls as Jada bought tickets; maybe she and Grayson could go see Alice in Wonderland together. Maybe... As they walked into the lobby, she linked arms with Jada and looked around--the line for the concession stand was frighteningly short.

The bluenette giggled, resting her head for a bare moment on Jada's shoulder. "But he never blinked! That was the scary part!" As if there was anything not weird or scary about having a cardboard cutout of someone. Elke tucked the ticket into the pocket of her coat as they hopped on line, and pulled out her billfold. It was a girly little thing, the zipper weighted down with little charms--smiling cupcakes, a plastic heart.

It was a very Elkeish billfold.

"Will Turner?" She would have to inquire of this person with Grayson. Her brother would know, he knew everything in the world. "Nevermind!" And she got a tub of popcorn, Jada's coke icee, and her own fruit punch.

(You cannot drink soda after midnight, after all.)

She pulled Jada along to the theater--the pair of them flashed their tickets at one of the ushers--and then settled into a seat in the very back. The theater was almost empty, which Elke found a little pleasant and a little disturbing.

"Grayson loves hot dogs," she was saying quietly as she draped her coat over the back of her chair, "he puts so much stuff on them though! How does he even taste them, I don't know."

"No, Grayson has a science to it," she said confidently. "Grayson knows exactly what he is eating, I think, even if he cannot see it." She didn't seem to startle or anything when Jada rested her head on Elke's shoulder; she did shift a little to be at a more comfortable head-resting height. The two of them were within a quarter of an inch of the same height as each other, and it was always more comfortable to rest your head on the shoulder of someone just a little taller; Elke pulled her feet up under her so she was curled up in the seat.

She brushed at her hair on the side of her head away from Jada. "So what is going on," she asked in a whisper, one hand cupped like that would help block out the rest of the world from hearing their conversation.