[B/A] Walking in Blind (Iris/*********) FIN

[Syusaki]

The moment the quarantine warning on Destiny City was lifted, Sydney hopped down the front steps of her house and into the streets. Although she was usually able to escape her aunt’s paranoid supervision by sneaking out of the house while the worried woman tied herself to the television, the past few weeks had become difficult as her aunt became more and more aware of the responsibilities she had been given when Sydney and her siblings were placed in her care. It was nice of her to finally realize that yes she needed to protect these kids, but Sydney could take care of herself. She wasn’t as careless and easygoing anymore. Not after her meeting with the creepy Frankenstein doll. Sydney had caught a few far off glances of other such monsters since then, but nothing dangerous. She would be okay.

“I’ll be fine, Auntie! Don’t worry your pretty little head off,” she called back, laughing as she ran down the sidewalk.

“Be careful of your surroundings, okay? You don’t know what kind of people are out there!”

You don’t know what kind of things are out there. Sydney sourly thought, offhandedly waving to show that she had heard.

A few minutes of jogging and she could see familiar shops and restaurants, though they still remained starkly empty and desolate. She frowned. Oh well, it was to be expected. A lot of the city was still holed up in the hospital, comatose, while the rest were probably too afraid to step outside of their houses for very long.

Plus, it was getting dark. Not many dared to walk alone at night.

Of course, it wasn’t like Sydney was paying any actual attention to the time. Psh.

She stopped and turned around, something clattering in the distance. Sydney suspiciously looked around in all directions, but found nothing threatening. After a few nervous seconds, she continued to walk on.

Click clack. Click clack.

She stopped. “Whoever you are, you can just come out now,” the tomboy declared, though her heart wildly thumped in her chest. Was it . . . ?

It was. A puppet-esque creature clumsily walked into the lamplight, clacking with each step. It had joints connected by a ball and its gender undefinable by the lack of hair and gender-specific features. Its head twisted into an unnatural angle while it stared at Sydney with its soulless eyes.

“Am I a magnet for doll monsters? I never even liked dolls as a kid,” she grumbled as she took a wary step back. Crap.

Its plastic lips somehow curled into a smile as it lunged forward.  

[LizzyMoo]

They had been trailing this Youma for a while. It was a stupid creature, but strangely durable and quick. Sailor Iris had used mere ribbons to attack before, which had been ineffective, and in all honesty the senshi was running low on steam.

However, the senshi still continued to push forward, eventually noticing that the puppet monster had located a starseed donor. Even in her loose jog, the senshi seemed to be stumbling a bit.

"Chin up!" a voice chimed in. As Sailor Iris continued to make her way towards the monster that needed exterminating, the cat she was holding in her arms nudged against her bosom. Iris straightened up a bit, but still seemed a bit off balance in the feline's opinion. She could have commented more, but something else seemed to catch upon her mind.

Ears perked up and whiskers seemed to twitch a bit as the pale green eyes of the manx looked ahead. They fell upon the red-headed girl that seemed to rival Iris in height.

"Take me to her, then distract the Youma!"

As the blonde managed to make her way forward, she could tell exactly what this meant. She had worked with this spotted cat for long enough to know what that meant.

Whoever Iris was giving the cat to was apparently a Senshi as well.

As she made her way to whoever this redhead was, Iris announced herself with a simple "Hey..." as she made her way towards the commotion. Probably not the most heroic or energetic of arrivals, but f*ck it! Iris was tired.  

[Syusaki]

Thank God for genetics giving Sydney the athletic skills of her father. Wide, panicked eyes watched the twisted doll inch forward and instinctively ran out of the way. She spun around and took cautious steps away from the monster at a steady pace. Make distance. Make distance.

She glanced in both directions. Was there a nearby weapon she could use? Was there anyone close by that could possibly be of assistance? Was it possible to run away? Despite the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins, Sydney was beginning to think more logically now. Yet she could only hope that it would be enough to worm her way out of this situation.

It slowly clattered towards her before launching into another lunge, which she narrowly avoided. “Heck. You walk slow, but have killer speed when it comes to actually attacking,” hissed Sydney.

An unenergetic “Hey” caught her attention and she turned towards the voice, but made sure to constantly flicker back to the doll. If it came at her when she wasn’t ready, she’d be so effing screwed. “Erm, hey,” she replied, taking in the girl’s rainbowriffic outfit. “I’m assuming you’re one of those senshi people?” she added, recalling the term that boy scout from last time had used.

Then she noticed the cat. “And you have a cat,” Sydney obviously pointed out with a blank face.  

[LizzyMoo]

"Correction."

The yellow-suited senshi thrust the cat forward into the girl's arms.

"You have a cat!"

It was about this time that Sailor Iris recognized the girl next to her. Sydney Martin, the girl in Ellie Spectre's Chem class.

Sydney was a senshi?!

SYDNEY was a SENSHI?!!!!

For a moment, the blonde's gold eyes blinked almost dully as she began to fully comprehended this fact that her classmate was shortly going to be a Senshi.

Not wanting to stand around too long, she eventually forced herself out of the strange daze and turned to face the Youma. Though Iris was technically talking to the cat, she didn't direct the comment at anybody as she simply mentioned "Take care of 'er, will ya?" With that lingering on the air, the senshi launched herself towards the Youma. Her job at the moment was to distract, not to eliminate the creature. This simply meant she had to hold her ground, using her fists rather than any magical attacks, and hope that she didn't get killed in the process.

...Scheat...

The cat in this redheaded girl's arms shifted slightly, the right foreleg absolutely stiff thanks to a certain cast holding it in place. Since Sailor Iris had failed to answer the question this unawakened senshi had asked, the cat with a silvery star on her forehead simply gave the answer instead.

"Yes, she is one of the senshi."

There was a pause.

"...no, you aren't going crazy. There is a cat talking to you right now."

Pale green eyes glanced up from where she was at, getting a face-full of chin. It seemed like the cat was smiling, as if she already knew what sorts of reactions were going to be popping up shortly from the redhead.  

[Syusaki]

Startled, Sydney wrapped her gangly limbs around the feline, its soft fur brushing against her bare arms. Her large eyes, wide with disbelief, stared at the senshi, unaware of the fact that this girl was the girl she had partnered with on a certain chemistry experiment (that exploded in a lovely flurry of assorted colors, by the way). Oh glamour, how we love you so. She turned to look down at the feline and then back to the running figure of the senshi, her mouth opened to say something, but stopped. Not like the stranger would have time to answer back, she would be too busy fighting with the doll monster.

“Okay then . . .” she murmured, awkwardly standing in the streets with a feline in her arms. Was she supposed to stand there and wait?

Sydney nodded her head, glad to have her question answered. “See, that’s what I thou—“ She paused, blinking. Whose voice was that? Slowly, the redhead looked down at the cat, who had expected such a reaction.

Her mouth began to open and close, imitating a gulping fish. “Brain does not compute talking cat.”

The doll stumbled and crumbled forward when an unknown weight crawled onto its back. It blinked, listlessly standing there before finally realizing what to do and heaving the senshi off of its back. Clacking against the pavement, it took a few cautious steps away from the senshi. It paused, as if deciding what its next course of action would be.  

[LizzyMoo]

Yes, this was a more common reaction. ********* green eyes remained fixed on the redhead as she began to sputter what Astraea would probably call "nonsense." She let out a slight giggle, the cat pointing out "Brain better start computing shortly. I'd hate to see one of my girls done in because someone couldn't get past the fact I can talk."

Iris was worn out, it was very obvious. For a moment, her eyes ventured from the redhead's freckled face towards the action to see that Sailor Iris had somehow managed to mount the doll Youma.

The manx's attention returned to the freckled girl, patting her non-cast wearing leg against this girl's body. "Anyways, my name is *********... and I would suggest we get out of the way for now. If you can find an alleyway, that would probably be best for now."

"Hey cutie... wanna head back t'my place?" the blonde seemed to taunt the creature she was mounting for a short while.

It wasn't her usual tactics, but in all honesty, her energy was low and her mood was going somewhere between foul and flat out sarcastic. She had managed to crawl onto the Youma's back before a creepy clacking sound forewarned her of inevitable new place on the concrete. Fortunately, this creepy doll wasn't actually strong. So when Iris slammed against the ground, she let out a wheezing sound, but overall she wasn't out for the count. Rather quickly, she pushed herself back to her feet, leaning over her knee tiredly.

"...Let's skip this dance an' get t'the main event... what'cha say?"

She stood up to her two feet again, holding up two tightened fists lazily. "...bring it on, Youma."  

[Syusaki]

The cat uttered more jargon, which took Sydney a few seconds to arrange together in her head. Girls? What? What? While her brain continued to sizzle, she mutely nodded her head and robotically looked around for an empty alley. She was going to go out on a limb and believe t hat following a talking cat’s order would be the best course of action at the moment. Her gaze wandered back to the blond, praying for her safety before she walked into the shadows of an alleyway.

Unsure of whether this was the moment to set down the cat or not, Sydney continued to hold onto the feline, shifting her grasp on the injured cat. “Erm, okay. What now?”

It twisted its head to curiously stare at Iris. What were these unfamiliar terms that the senshi was using? No matter, it would simply take out her starseed instead of that foolish civilian. The Queen would surely be pleased with that!

The doll smiled faintly when it watched the senshi crumble to the ground. Yes! This girl would be reduced to a corpse; it was only a matter of time. She slowly got to her feet, grinning as once more she spoke in a jumble of nonsensical words. It frowned, at least it know the last few words she spoke.

And it would happily oblige.

For the first since meeting the senshi, it opened its mouth to let out an inhuman roar as it leapt forward.  

[LizzyMoo]

The cat wriggled in her arms before eventually jumping out of her arms. Sure, ********* had a cast, but she was a cat full of surprises. The moment she had escaped the redhead's grasps, she almost instantly changed into a silvery haired girl, her bare feet touching upon the ground as she landed. The cast itself, had vanished completely.

It was safe to say that ********* was significantly shorter than the redhead, since her pale green eyes had to glance up to the other girl's caramel-colored ones. A smile easily lit up her features, despite the fact a monster seemed to be reeking havoc on the streets. The top hat she wore at least obscured her cat ears.

"Now... it's time for a trick." The girl lifted up a hand, waggling a finger to the other, then lifted up her other hand. "Make sure you are watching my hands, and you'll spot something that is yours." With a wink and a giggle, she then held out both hands, palms open to the redhead. Her eyes closed gently, and once they were shut, the palms of her hands began to glow gently.

As the girl with the cat ears concentrated on a name which had been poking at her brain for a little while now, a strange indigo pen began to form within one hand, and a cellular phone shaped up in the other.

Sinon...

The roar was greeted with a grin as fingers clenched in preparation for the attack.

"Ya got such an ugly mug, even fer a Youma!"

Instead of concentrating on offensive at the moment, Iris rather strangely began to work with defense. If the Rainbow Ribbon couldn't do a thing to this strange doll, her fist on its own wasn't going to have much of a chance. So as the doll lunged forward, Iris carefully leaped back, keeping her arms up and ready. The blonde, however, was not fast enough to completely dodge, and received a pretty decent hit to the chin.

She wobbled back on her feet but caught herself, refusing to let herself fall. In the back of her throat, a sickening "HHHHHHHHHHCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK" sound escaped as she prepared a wonderful present for this sexless Youma doll.  

[Syusaki]

As she felt the cat squirm in her arms, Sydney loosened her hold and watched the talking creature hop out and land onto the ground with grace (or as much grace a cat with a broken leg could have). What happened next was absolutely mind blowing.

It turned into a human girl holy crap.

Sydney’s eyes just about went bug-eyed, so large that they were ready to pop out, just like those addictive cartoons that children and teenagers alike knew and loved. “Really? Because I thought turning from a cat into a human is a pretty good trick enough,” she replied with a disbelieving “heh”. Nonetheless she stepped forward, arms crossed, and kept her eyes focused on the guardian cat’s hands. What the heck would appear in the once-feline’s closed palms? Sydney had no idea, but whatever it was, it was sure to be good (because, well, it was coming from a talking human cat thing).

Which was why it was somewhat anti-climatic to see a pen and cell phone appear in her hands. Sydney’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry, but I already sorta have a bajillion pens at home, as well as a cell phone that is conveniently located in my pocket at the moment,” she replied, warily eyeing the items.

It snarled. Ugly? It’d like the senshi to say the same thing after it finished mauling her face. The thought made its black, beady eyes shine with glee. Feeling the satisfactory feel of its fingers clawing her chin, it psychotically grinned. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Unaware of Iris’s vengeful intentions, it continued to clatter closer. Click clack. Click clack. Forming the resolution that this would be the final blow, it lunged forward, an arm outstretched to grab the starseed inside her chest.  

[LizzyMoo]

Once the two items had completely formed, pale green eyes opened up again and once again located the caramel pair she had looked at earlier.

"It is a pretty good trick... but I like this trick better. Doesn't get me in trouble as much!" Her lips curled into a pretty decent sized smile. In this form, she was more or less bait for any Negaverse Lieutenant. She had been lucky so far, but the sooner she got this cast off her leg, the better. Less energy leaking that way.

Whether this girl liked it or not, soon enough ********* literally leaned in against her and planted the cell phone somewhere on her person, regardless of whether the soon-to-be-senshi wanted it or not. "Yes, yes, I am certain you have a million pens. Most people do. I don't think you have one like this."

As she stood herself back to up to a normal position (her bells singing softly to accent her motions), she winked to her companion. "Take it, then shout out as loud as you can 'Sinon Power, Make-up!' Do that much, and I promise you'll see why it's not like your other pens." Once more, her hand was offered, extending the strange indigo pen to her.

As the Youma drew in closer this time, the yellow-suited senshi grinned once more before doing one of the least lady-like things possible. She spat a big nasty loogie into one of the two black eyes creeping over her form. As Ellie Spectre, she had plenty of practice with the art of loogies, so she was able to hit her mark rather easily.

"I think that's an improvement" she crowed out in an exhausted tone. She wasn't going to be that easy to take down. Since the Youma had its arm extended out, the blonde grabbed onto it, then ducked down in an effort to try and throw the creepy doll with a gob of spit in its eye.  

[Syusaki]

Sydney had no clue what kind of trouble the cat girl found herself into, and she wasn’t going to bother asking or she just might end up even more confused than she already was. By now the redhead was already starting to piece together the fact that something was going to happen to her and she was hoping that it was going to be for the better rather than for the worse.

The phone’s plastic was cool against her warm skin. Reluctantly wrapping her fingers around the phone, she slipped it into one of her back pockets, incredulously eyeing the indigo pen in her hand. It certainly was a unique pen. The back end of the utensil was a silver emblem; its spidery design was something she had never seen, but strangely felt entrancing and nostalgic. She hesitated, staring into the stranger’s pale green eyes. Really?

She grimaced, her hold on the pen becoming tight. “Sinon Power, Make-up!”

Large, thick spider webs surrounded her and when she looked down, found herself nude. Resisting the urge to shriek, millions of silvery threads wrapped around her body, forming a sleeveless white top and dark purple pants. She curled and uncurled her fist as fingerless gloves shimmered. A tiara, collar, bows, and a belt popped out with a flurry of sparkles.

Where Sydney Martin stood, was now Sailor Sinon.

“Well, crap,” she casually swore, turning around and spinning to examine her new threads (pun intended?). “So you mean . . . crap.” Eyes wider than ever, she looked at the cat. “So what, does a magical video game screen appear and tell me my powers or something?”

The ball of spit directly hit into the youma’s eye. Unfamiliar with the gooey saliva, it shrieked and immediately began to slow down, its free arm flying up to cover the targeted eye. “Wha-What’d you dOOO!?” it rasped out, completely helpless as the senshi grabbed an arm and flipped it over with ease. It was, after all, a doll and not a full-fledged human.

It screamed.  

[LizzyMoo]

The moment the pen was taken away, the cat-earred girl backed up a few steps and merely watched. She had seen it many times, yet it was always so unique every time to see how it worked for each senshi. Her eyes watched with interest as the webs practically engulfed her, not seeming even remotely worried as the clothing vanished.

When the new outfit appeared and the girl was suddenly set back to the ground, ********* leaned forward with a showman's bow, careful to not let her top hat fall off. In greeting, her voice lifted up pleasantly with a simple "Sailor Sinon, Senshi of Lies." Once more, she straightened up, using a thumb to straighten her hat a bit. There was no hesitation in her action as she took up the Senshi's hand and tugged her along.

"Nope... no video game screens. Just me!" She glanced back and flashed a toothy smile.

Sailor Iris didn't remain to gloat for very long after the doll had been put down to the ground. It was a durable Youma, so she couldn't afford to be sloppy on her feet. Rather than linger by the limp figure, the yellow suited senshi leaped back.

When the senshi of rainbows felt she was at a reasonable distance, she noted something rather blandly.

"...oh... so ya can talk, eh?"  

[Syusaki]

Lies. Her powers had to do with lies? Sydney frowned. How was that going to work? She made her opponents babble lies and nonsense until they went crazy? The girl sincerely wondered if that was going to be of any use in a fight at all. As the newly-awakened senshi was pulled along, she sighed and reluctantly followed. It seemed that the only way to see what she could do was to use her powers in a real battle.

She wasn’t particularly looking forward to that. “Is that supposed to reassure me?” The corner of her lips was twisted upwards into a skeptical sneer. “Because yeah, a talking cat girl is definitely reassuring.”

Both of its gangly arms covered the slobbered eye, scratching away at the spit. Its remaining eye widely stared at Iris, simmering with hate. “I c-caAAAn,” it screeched. “SurprIIIIISED?” It took a step forward, softly tapping against the ground. “You’re gonna get it . . .” it whispered, diving forward at Iris with a wild speed.  

[LizzyMoo]

"Eh... no so much surprised as I am amused... kinda thought th'Negaverse was makin' ya Youma stupider so they didn't have t'listen t'ya talk!"

Sailor Iris would have cracked a grin if it wasn't for one thing catching her eye. *********, or at least what she assumed to be *********, was pulling out the new Senshi from the alleyway. And the Senshi that was Sydney Martin had pants.

PANTS!!!!!

"What the F*CK is this bullsh*t?!!!!" It was probably a bad time for her to get distracted an angry, but that didn't really seem to matter right now. HOW UNFAIR WAS THE THING CALLED DESTINY?!!! No, there would be no grin emerging on her features, and instead, a rather large scowl emerged in its place. Mother f*cking girl senshi can get pants for their...

It was about this time Sailor Iris got rammed in the gut by the Youma. A decent amount of wind got knocked out of her and she wheezed out "Son ova' b*tch!"

Pale green eyes happened to catch the hit which her girl took, and rather quickly spun to face Sinon. "I am full of surprises, as are you, Sailor Sinon! Now, do as I say, and I can promise you that you'll get the hang of it soon enough."

Turning again to the monster that was practically on top of Sailor Iris by swiveling on the ball of her bare feet, ********* made what seemed to be a dramatic pose as she pointed to the overly large doll. "That is a Youma and your target! I want you to concentrate on it. Think about all of the white lies it has told in its time on this Earth. When you can picture them, shout out Sinon White Lies. I believe you will know what to do from there!" She turned back expectantly, not saying a word about getting started now, but that gleam in the cat-girl's eyes seemed to demand that it was time to get serious.  

[Syusaki]

Sinon innocently turned to stare at the outrage Iris just as she got football tackled by the youma. She winced; that must’ve hurt. Subconsciously she grabbed at her arm and rubbed it, imagining the pain of being of forcefully knocked down by the monster, as light as it appeared to be it was beginning to appear ferocious for one reason or another. Had the other senshi provoked it somehow? “I’m supposed to fight those youma things? It really makes you wonder who makes these creepers,” she noted nervously.

She shook her head, lightly smacking the sides of her head. This was no time to be a coward! She was no longer Sydney Martin, but Sailor Sinon! It was her responsibility to do something about these youma creatures, right? Swallowing, Sinon firmly nodded her head, intently staring at the doll as it struggled to reach for Iris’ starseed.

White lies. White lies . . . She repeated inside her head, grinning when she could feel all its lies swarming in her head. “I’ve seen through your lies.”

Sprinting forward, the words came to her with ease as she punched the air. “Sinon White Lies!” Thin, white threads that glittered in the light sprang out from her fist, lazily draping around the distracted youma. They quickly constricted, the weak web digging into the even-weaker doll.

Quickly realizing that its movement was becoming restricted by the razor-sharp strings, it gasped and struggled against it. Yet no matter how it tried, it eventually found itself slowly pried off of Iris. “NooOOoO!”

“If you want to do the finishing blow, feel free,” Sinon calmly offered, arms crossed as she blankly stared at the wriggling youma. Lies personified as threads, hm? Not bad.