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 Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 11:52 pm
Pomona was certain that she had a good idea now of the hell military soldiers went through. With many of its citizens in unexplained comas, Destiny City had been quarantined and cut off from the rest of the world. Those that remained awake were scrambling to keep the city functioning whilst dealing with the own dilemmas. For those that were secretly living a double life – namely, those that were actually Sailor Senshi – life was doubly hard. Attacks by the Negaverse and youmas and increased dramatically, and the death toll had begun to rise.
Pomona was not personally aware of how many casualties there had been thus far, but the unease that was now her constant companion was enough to ensure that she never felt safe. She had taken to doing the majority of her traveling as Sailor Pomona, not wanting to be caught unaware and vulnerable, or having to waste precious time to henshin up. The downside was that she stumbled across many youmas now, so many that she had taken to fleeing from them if they didn’t pose an immediate threat to herself or a civilian. If she fought every youma she saw she’d be exhausted, and highly injured to boot.
This evening Pomona needed to get from the animal shelter to the hospital. She was splitting her time as best she could between her Senshi duties, trying to help keep the animal shelter operational, and visiting her mom and newborn sister in the hospital. Her mother had begun to grow suspicious prior to the quarantine, but the only small mercy that this situation had granted her was that it provided an excellent excuse for her increased absences.
Pomona walked quickly down an empty side street, coin fringe jingling every time her heel struck the pavement. There weren’t many people that walked the streets these days, and those that did were usually in a hurry, so Pomona hoped that she would continue to be overlooked. Nevertheless she avoided main thoroughfares and didn’t linger.
“ MeeEEEoooW!”
The yowl of a desperate cat immediately grabbed Pomona’s attention. Torn, she glanced around to make sure there was no one around before she trotted towards the direction of the cry. Glancing up, she spied what looked like a fat calico cat in the tree.
“ Stuck?” she whispered up to the cat, who gave her a baleful glare.
Pomona sighed, glancing around her once more before reaching for the lowest branch. Rescuing cats from trees was not part of a Senshi’s job description, but Pomona loved cats and couldn’t very well the poor thing in the tree. She pulled herself up, heeled feet scrabbling for purchase before finding a foothold on a knot. She was reaching for another branch when she heard a growl from above.
“ Sh, it’s alright, I’m coming to get you.”
She murmured, looking up when her hand finally grasped another branch. Squinting at the cat, Pomona realized that something was wrong. Very wrong. The cat had unnaturally large, solid black eyes. It was then that Pomona finally realized the niggling feeling was not mere tiredness, but a warning that a youma was close; very close inded.
“ Oh shi-”
The cat-youma leapt.
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Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 4:12 pm
Sinon realized the hell that Destiny City had become in a mere few weeks, but it didn’t bother her. At the very least, it didn’t appear to disturb the redheaded senshi in the slightest. Whether she was a civilian or a senshi the situation wouldn’t be sending her into a spiral of angst and depression, not yet, not now. Youma attacks were frequent, very frequent. Although she had not a clue as to how many creatures lurked around the city before the quarantine, it was simple to realize that attacks weren’t as commonplace as it was getting to be now. Plus, Sinon had gotten into more than one scuffle with those Negaverse lieutenants. Finishing off youma was one thing, but killing a human, corrupted or not, was another. She could never deal the last blow, so she ran away each time.
Like a coward, but a coward with morals.
As she never had the chance to experience senshi life before the quarantine, she treated it normally. During the day she would be in civilian form as Sydney Martin, save for the times she would encounter a youma. At night she would roam the town as Sailor Sinon, Senshi of Lies. Regretfully, she was losing her precious sleeping time, but patrolling was an obligation and a responsibility.
At least Sinon could run around in boots with no problem now, right?
She waltzed through the streets, fingers laced together and lazily placed against the back of her head. The senshi didn’t worry about citizens spotting her. Most had the senses to not bother her, and it wasn’t like her uniform was particularly eye-catching either. Dark colors, pants. The only real odd thing, Sinon thought, was the spider web design on the back of her top and her tiara.
Taking her precious time, Sinon murmured the lyrics of various songs to speed up the patrol.
That was when pepper red began to pop against the darkness. She curious leaned her head out, picking up the pace of her casual walk. If it was a senshi it would be wiser to run, but if it was a youma or Negaverse keeping a quiet stroll would be better. Could even be a civilian that happened to be wearing bright colors. Decisions, decisions. How annoying.
However, once a flash of fur leapt out of a tree and at the person, did Sinon begin to sprint. Damn, would she get there in time? “Sinon White Lies!” she cried out, hoping that the threads would wrap themselves around the feline quick enough.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:52 pm
Pomona’s reflexive reaction to the youma’s attack was to try and lean away. This might have worked, had she not been in a tree. Instead she lost her slippery foothold – heels really were good for nothing, magical or not – and fell out of the tree. She landed on her bum with an ‘Oof.’ Shortly after that and unhappy, growling ball of fur connected with her chest, wriggling angrily, but Pomona was surprised when she did not immediately feel the sharp pain or claws or needle-like teeth. As she looked down at the youma in her lap she saw the problem: its head and front paws were tangled in what looked like white strings.
Seeing that the youma had already freed one of its hind legs, Pomona hurriedly tossed it off her lap. As she scrambled to her feet she spied an oddly dressed person out of the corner of her eye. She quickly put the facts together and realized that this person, this Senshi, was the one that had helped her. She could only nod her thanks as her mouth and hands were already busy, preparing her attack.
“ Pomona Pepper Poppers!”
She flung one of the peppers at the partially-freed youma, hoping to hit it while it was still disabled, thus presenting an easier target.
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Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 10:35 pm
As the weak threads began to cleanly snap, Sinon gritted her teeth and willed the threads to grow stronger, sharper so that the strings dug into the feline’s flesh. Her heart nearly stopped as the cat growled and hissed, its glinting claws determinedly reaching for the unknown redhead, but senshi’s attack firmly held it in place.
Whoever the girl was, she was clearly a senshi as well when she unleashed an attack of her own. Bright red vegetables—peppers?!—appeared in her hands and she flung one at the youma as it snarled and snapped at the threads, freeing itself string by string, bit by bit. Distracted with the task of escaping from Sinon’s attack, the pepper made a direct hit at its shoulder. Surprised by the irritating pain and burning sensation in its eyes and mouth, it wildly thrashed its head around, yowling. The sudden surge in strength caused the rest of the strings to rip apart, leaving the feline free to roam wherever it wished. After recovering from the pain it raised its head to glare at Pomona. You’re dead!
Sinon cursed. The threads hadn’t made themselves strong enough in time. She would have to get closer this time.
Without a second thought she sprang forward, her hands outstretched forward for another try. “Sinon White Lies!”
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:17 pm
Not about to be fooled by the same trick twice, the youma made to leap out of the way of the attack. Unfortunately for the youma it wasn’t quite fast enough and the attack still ensnared its hind legs. Twisting in mid-air, the youma’s front feet hit the ground first, but then it did a face-plant, unable to land properly with its hind legs tangled up.
Pomona decided it was time to do something a bit rash. She wasn’t able to get past the youma’s cat form, even though she knew that it was in fact a youma, and thus dangerous. Since she couldn’t bring herself to kill it, she decided to treat it like a feral cat. Deciding the best thing to do with an angry, feral cat would be to capture it somehow, she let her eyes dart around. In an alley not to far away she spied a dumpster; perfect.
“ Want to get the youma or the dumpster? Unless you have a better idea.” She asked the other Senshi. She didn’t take her eyes off the youma, but jerked her head in the dumpster’s direction. Lacking a better plan, she figured that one of them could open the dumpster while the other could hurry up, grab the youma, and toss it in. For good measure Pomona planned to pop a handful of peppers inside the dumpster before closing the lid. If nothing else it would give Pomona and the other Senshi time to think of a better plan.
Meanwhile… well, Pomona still had two peppers in her hands. She tossed one at the youma, which missed, and prompted the youma to get to its feet. Then she tossed the other one, hoping to get a hit. It would be easier to move the youma if it was tied up and distracted by the peppers.
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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 3:02 pm
Sinon cursed her luck. This youma possessed enough wits to evade her attack a second time. If only all of these weird creatures were incredibly stupid and weak enough to crack into dust with just one hit. Now, wouldn’t that make being a senshi so much easier? Then the only thing that all senshi would have to fret over was fighting those Negaverse baddies (and by this point in Sinon’s thought processes she imagined these battles like a regular video game, screens and all).
Gritting her teeth, she grumbled out another attack, more of the threads lazily twining themselves around the feline’s legs. She slowly walked closer, allowing easier access for the white strings.
“Unless that dumpster happens to have big chomping teeth or burning capabilities, I don’t see what good just trapping the youma into it will do. What’s going to happen when some unsuspecting citizen walks by? Not too good, don’t you agree?” she countered, not convinced in the slightest. It was surprising to see the difference between Sydney and Sinon. While Sydney was more whimsical and silly, Sinon was slightly more serious and paid more attention to the consequences of her actions. The wonders of shouldering responsibility.
“If you can distract it enough to let me wrap more of my threads, I can finish it off,” she grunted, the already-tied threads biting into the feline. A pepper popped by it, causing it to struggle to its feet, hissing and yowling at the pain of the strings. Some of the threads creaked and snapped away, allowing the cat more freedom in its movement.
However, Pomona’s pepper cleanly landed in its eyes, causing immense waves of burning pain. It cried out and wildly shook its head. Seizing the chance, Sinon called out, “Sinon White Lies!” Pushing the last of her fading strength into it, a barrage of threads captured the youma, immediately tightening and knocking it off its feet. She wasted no time in reigning in her hold of the youma, the threads quickly becoming sharp to cut into its skin.
With one last cry it dissipated into a flurry of dust that faded into thin air.
“Haaaa. How tiring,” she gasped, leaning over and placing her hands on her knees for support.
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Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:32 am
Pomona had her reasons for the dumpster idea, but... well, there wasn't much point in worrying about them now, was there? The youma was dead and gone, which was all that really mattered. Pomona was grateful that this Sinon had an attack that was actually capable of doing some damange, unlike many Senshi, herself included.
Nodding in agreement with Sinon's comment, Pomona was finally able to take a good look. What she saw made her eyebrow twitch.
" Why don't you have a stupid skirt?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:20 pm
Stretching out her back and arms, she curiously glanced at Pomona after hearing her question. “Hm?” Sinon chuckled. “Because I’m a guy of course, don’t be fooled by my feminine build,” she joked, flashing the other senshi a toothy grin. Then she shook her head and waved off her previous comment. “Obviously kidding. I don’t know why I have pants, but I’m very grateful to the gods above,” Sinon answered truthfully.
She brought out a hand for a friendly handshake. “Sinon. Senshi of Lies,” she introduced, bringing out her cell phone and flipping it open. “Wanna do that scanny thing with our phones?” She flipped through the few names she had acquired already. “Oh, and if you need any help as a citizen try asking around for a Sydney Martin. I make my way around the city a lot, so it can’t be too hard to find me."
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Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:31 pm
“ Whatever is controlling this magic crap has a strange sense of humor.” Pomona muttered before taking the proffered hand. “ Pomona, Senshi of Peppers.”
It took Pomona a moment to realize what Sinon was talking about with the cellphone. It had been one of her fellow Basterds, not ********* that had explained how to use the cellphone. She had all of the Basterds stored in her phone, but that was about it. Her forehead creased in a brief moment of concentration as she made her own red cellphone appear.
“ Alright Sy-” Pomona cut herself off with a strange, strangled sound. “ Sydney?!”
Sydeny the scarecrow, well-known joker and klutz, not to mention her friend for years, was a Senshi? Pomona was torn between so many emotions that she shoved them to the back of her mind to deal with later, settling on a slightly stupefied feeling.
“ That’s … Sydney, it’s me. Rose. Rosie.”
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Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 10:47 pm
Sinon chuckled. “Well, since I’m the one with pants I’m not going to say anything about that.”
Her question was met with confused silence. Wordlessly grinning, she eased through her list of contacts for a brief moment before Pomona finally realized what Sinon was talking about and took out her own phone, bright red to match her outfit. “About time you took it out,” she teased, holding out her phone and letting it scan the senshi of peppers while allowing her to do the same.
She cocked her head to the side. “Yeah?” Her head tilted even more at the name. “Rosie?” It was bit too much of a shock for the redhead to compute so quickly. A few seconds passed. Another few more passed.
“Whattttt. ROSIE BABY!” Sinon laughed and immediately brought her friend into a crushing hug. Far too excited to realize the aching pain in her muscles, she lifted up the smaller girl into the air with ease. “Rosie Rosie Rosie!”
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 7:11 pm
Pomona snorted slightly as she saw the gears turning slowly in Sinon’s head. She could sympathize; she wasn’t certain her own mind had fully caught up with the situation. She opened her mouth to offer further proof of her claim when she was swept up into gangly arms.
“ Ack! Put me down you big goof!”
Despite the protests, a grin had appeared on Pomona’s face. Knowing that Sydney was Sinon made was starting to her feel slightly gleeful. Now she’d have someone to patrol with, someone to gripe to, and someone to help her come up with better cover-ups. Speaking of which…
“ Well, I guess it’s safe to tell you now that this is the real reason I’ve been flaky lately.”
She remembered that she fed her friend some half-baked excuse about jump rope and a hurt ankle, but that hadn’t been the truth. In retrospect it was kinda ironic that she had been lying to the (unawakened) Senshi of Lies.
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 12:07 pm
“But it’s so good to know that you’re a senshi too!” she protested, gleefully prolonging the last word as she swung the smaller redhead around in her arms.
Reluctantly, Sinon plopped Pomona onto the ground and pulled back her long arms, letting her hands slide into her back pockets instead. Now that the battling was over, a grinning redhead looked up the senshi of peppers, from the tip of her head to the bottom of her toes. “A certain someone is looking spicy, am I right?” teased Sinon, playfully poking a finger at one of Pomona’s shoulders. “Really suitable for a senshi of peppers, yeah?”
She thoughtfully nodded her head, linking her fingers behind her head. “Ahhh. Yeah, that makes sense. Been busier myself nowadays.” She scratched her head. “You part of a team? I hear there are a few teams and such. Pretty snazzy, I guess.” Sinon laughed.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:22 am
Pomona flushed and crossed her arms with a huff. " It's suitable, but it's also ridiculous. I can't sneak around because I jingle when I walk, and it took me forever to figure out how to run in these shoes. Not to mention the skirt."
Unpleasant memories of twisted ankles and revealing winds made Pomona scowl as she recalled them. This senshi stuff really needed a how-to guide for newbies.
" Yeah, I'm part of a team." Pomona paused at that, then looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing. " Well, sorta. It's more of a group for gathering information. It's a pretty eclectic bunch, but most of them have been senshi for a while."
You could almost see the light go off over her head as a thought occured to her. Eyes gleaming, she poked Sinon as she said, " You know, there should be a group to help new senshi; initiate them, as it were."
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:01 pm
Sinon merely grinned at Pomona’s complaints, a gloved hand reaching out to idly flick the golden coins that decorated her arms. Each hit created a soft chime, causing the senshi of lies to giggle and murmur “jinglejinglejingle~” multiple times as she occupied herself with fiddling around with her friend’s uniform. Why couldn’t her uniform be more fun to play with? Not paying attention to the fact that having a jingly-tastic uniform like Pomona would undoubtedly attract attention—for better or worse was all based on opinion.
She nodded her head slowly, a thoughtful frown creeping its way onto her face. “For a while, huh? I wonder how long ‘a while’ is,” she mused, appearing to be serious for once. Sinon looked pensive, mulling over various issues and questions that swarmed in her head.
“Oh that’s a real peachy idea!” chirped the redhead, snapping out of her sullen daze. “Though I guess that means getting a couple experienced senshi, too.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 4:16 pm
Pomona didn’t bother to suppress the desire to roll her eyes as her friend began to play with some of her outfit’s frivolous decorations. It was more of a gesture or habit then true annoyance though; Sydney was much the same as ever, Senshi or no.
“ Yeah, experience would be good. Hm… most of the experienced Senshi I’ve met are already on teams. Guess we’ll have to patrol more to meet and recruit people. Maybe we should make business cards.” Pomona snorted as the mental image of her flinging business cards at a bemused Wolframite came to mind; that’d be good for a laugh, if nothing else.
" Lemme think... Iris is the only one I've met that I'm not sure is on a team, but her personality is... well, it left something to be desired." Given her brief encounter witht he Senshi of Rainbows, Pomona didn't know that Iris was, in fact, a part of a small team. " The only other Senshi I've met are my Basterd teammates."
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