Welcome to Gaia! ::

♥ In the Name of the Moon! ♥

Back to Guilds

A Sailor Moon based B/C shop! Come join us! 

Tags: Sailor, Moon, Scouts, Breedables, Senshi 

Reply ♥ In the Name of the Moon! ♥
[PRP] The Dark Inside Of Me (Tanzanite x Audrey x Elzo) Goto Page: 1 2 [>] [»|]

Quick Reply

Enter both words below, separated by a space:

Can't read the text? Click here

Submit

Orestae

PostPosted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 11:24 pm


How long had it been?

It felt like years, but no. Surely it had only been a matter of months, possibly even less, since Tanzanite had seen Destiny City. It couldn't have been more than eight... maybe nine weeks since Beryl had sent her halfway across the world with only a name and a sentence to be carried out. It had been a gruesome act, one that left more than physical scars behind. It was the kind that dug into one's heart and planted a seed of guilt deep within. It made sense, then, that Beryl had chosen the Captain who had so little heart left. She'd returned to a Destiny City that felt different, somehow changed – or had it just been her who had been so drastically altered in that short time? Tanzanite certainly did not look much like herself as she half-stumbled across Audrey's yard, setting one foot in front of the other with a relentless determination to reach the front door.

Her long hair was unkempt, tangled and draped over her shoulders, hiding the majority of her face. The usually pale skin was practically white, save for the parts where smears of blood hid her hand and forearm. That telltale uniform was torn in places, revealing half-healed injuries beneath. Each step was slow, as though her body took far too long to respond to her will, and jerky as though puppeted by some outside force. Step by step she made her way across the yard, all but dragging the monstrous right arm along with her. When finally she reached the door, it was the bloody, human hand which reached out for the wood and pounded hard.

Please, let her be home.

She can't save you. The voice hissed at the back of her mind, and Tanzanite felt a sudden, stabbing pain as the veins in her neck pulsed. The spines at her shoulder stood straight, twisting and extending, reading for her face as though to pull it in. The leathery skin moved up her neck like a sudden infection, turning black as the youma sought control. A deep, practiced breath and she shut the voice out, the darkness receding back to the joint of her shoulder. Inky blackness swirled in her right eye, was sucked into her pupil, and Tanzanite pounded the door.

“Audrey,” came the soft, rasping voice.
PostPosted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 11:39 pm


It was a nightmare that Audrey'd had many times while her parents were asleep in Destiny City's premier hospital, draining the funds of the HMO while she could barely keep food in the house on the money allotted by the life insurance plan. The nightmare was a pounding on the door in the middle of the night, the police coming to regretfully inform her that Jason and Shelley Collins were unfortunately deceased. So when the banging started Audrey shot out of bed and ran with dread down the stairs..but the voice on the other side was familiar. Too familiar, in fact. But months ago she had made a promise, and the promise would not let her keep the door shut.

'I won't let you get hurt again.'

The door was pulled open and almost immediately the bluenette regretted her delay. There, looking like death warmed over and washed down the drain a few times was Captain Tanzanite. "Tanz? Good God what happened. Come inside!" Light hands pulled the Amazonian Negaverser in through the front door, shutting it behind her and then standing in the silence. One was covered in blood and Lord only knew what else, the other simply dressed in a white tank top and brightly colored shorts who went into the nearby room to flick on a low lamp. "What happened? Where have you been? How..." Stunned and bewildered the questions trailed off as Audrey simply stood and stared at the woman she'd leaned on for so long, until she'd vanished without a word one day. What happened?!

nessy

Cuddly Hunter


Orestae

PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 12:09 am


Tanzanite held up a hand to slow Audrey's question, as though her mind could not process it at just that moment. Power, as always, had come with a great burden for the ambitious young Captain, and it took all of her focus to regain control and push the darkness out of her mind. She could feel them, like icy tentacles, slipping from her thoughts, and after a long moment she looked up at Audrey with those familiar grey eyes.

“Hi,” she said flatly, wiping the blood from her hand onto her skirt. There were no wounds there, which meant that at least that much of it wasn't her blood. There were places, however, where it clearly was. Scrapes and abrasions littered her knees and calves, and her cheek bore a half-healed set of scratches that were undeniably carved by human fingernails. However, except for a nasty cut across her side which looked freshly stitched by an unsteady hand, the Captain was in one piece, “I'm fine, I just...”

She just wasn't fine at all.

Her lengthy absence had cost the young woman her job, and thusly her apartment, her belongings, and the small bit of a human life she had managed to keep going. It had been on Ursula's insistence that she had done so, keeping a small part of herself reserved for those mundane, daily activities. They would keep her balanced, Ursula had said... but where was Ursula now? Not at her apartment. Not in the Negaverse subspace which Tanzanite could access. Ursula had been nowhere to be found, and in a panic Tanzanite had rushed to the only person she knew she could trust. To Audrey.

“I just need to catch my breath. I-” Tanzanite looked up, and for a moment there was a flash of shame in those eyes, “I don't have anywhere left to go. I...” Tanzanite paused, and sudden realization took hold of her features, “I don't have anyone left.”
PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 12:24 am


Ursula. Fingers combed through curls and clenched there for a moment in frustration with that whole situation and the news that she was about to deal to a very unstable individual. So the teenager immediately went into damage control mode, nodding silently and lightly touching Tanzanite on the arm very lightly. "Hi there." It was absurd, and she knew it. "I'm going to go grab a sheet for you okay? Just wait right here, I'll be back in a blink." Bare feet were pounding up the steps like a fury, reaching into the closet and yanking out the darkest thing that she could find. It hadn't taken more than Audrey's first month in the Negaverse to learn which colors hid blood the best, every idiot knew that white and powder blue were not even candidates.

It possibly was not even the thirty seconds to get up the stairs and back down again before the girl was back downstairs again and guiding her friend towards the couch. "You can sit here, catch your breath, tell me what the hell you've been doing while...while you were gone." Call it cowardly, but she just wasn't ready to handle the awful truth about what had happened to Aree's closest friend, Tanzanite's real queen. The fact that Audrey hadn't immediately reassured Tanzanite that she was there, that she was going to make everything alright was also fairly damning. Nonetheless her hands and voice were gentle, reassuring, understanding, almost motherly.

"My parents are still in their comas, so you don't have to worry about waking anybody up or anything. It's just me here for now, you got lucky." A halfhearted smile, a try at levity she didn't feel. "My cousin Victoria's been staying with me a lot." A firmer hand stroked the monster arm as it flexed in the darkness. "Are you back for good now?" It was a fairly simple question, a good starting place. Audrey was willing to give her time, but not without answers. She herself hurt too openly for that.

nessy

Cuddly Hunter


Orestae

PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 12:40 am


Tanzanite seemed dazed, and every comment seemed to bring a puzzled expression. An arch of her brows, the pursing of her lips, each subtle change adding to her concerned and confused look. How long had it been since she had left, when Destiny City was in the grips of a Queen Beryl whose wrath she had helped ignite? She had been the one to push Ursula, to push Beryl so hard, but what exactly had happened in the weeks that had followed? The aftermath was yet unexplored for Tanzanite, and the very thought of what awaited her was enough to send a chill down her spine.

“I...” she paused again, suddenly, as the youma made a grasp for control. The darkness of her arm surged forwards, up through the veins in her neck until her head arched back and her jaw opened wide in a silent, screaming expression. Her back arched, and for a brief moment the scaly skin had crept all the way to her jawline before the struggle broke and it was forced to recede. The inner turmoil lasted only a few seconds, but it left the Captain gasping for breath and looking weaker than prideful Tanzanite would have ever desired.

“I don't know,” came the weak answer, accompanied by a shake of her head. Fingers curled into her own hair, tapping against her skull as though trying to straighten out her scattered thoughts. It was unsuccessful, and soon enough she was digging them into her scalp to try and hold onto what few memories she could, “Europe- I. I was...” Again, a shake of her head, “I think -- I don't know.”
PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 1:01 am


Amber eyes were wide in bewildered terror at what was happening in front of her. It was absolutely the worst time for any of this to be happening...whatever the hell it was that was happening. It was putting Tanzanite through what seemed to be intense pain, and it was rippling her arm; the youma? Going down to her knees in front of her friend, hands touched her knees and looked up into those almost pathetic gray eyes. "Tanz, you've been gone for almost three months. You don't remember any of that?" It was a stupid question, but the two of them had already been through the fact that she was an idiot for falling off a building trying to...well. Be an idiot.

It was so hard to stay angry when the shattered remains of a strong person were sitting on her couch screaming silently through the pain of negative power. It was a dark reminder to the newly-made general of what happened when power went wrong, what happened when you gave too much to something. Tanzanite, no Aree had given up everything into the Negaverse and now the people that she had respected most were gone. Possibly forever, as Beryl hadn't quite promised to not kill them when they came back.

Life was too complicated for her to handle alone! Who had decided that it was Audrey's job, that it was Linarite's job? Fingers ran again through her air as Audrey tried again, grasping hands both monster and human in her own. "So if you don't remember the last three months, why don't you tell me what you do know? Then I can help you, and can tell you what happened here." The tone was slow and measured, but still the warmth that normally sprung from the girl was still absent. Apparently anger could settle, but hurt took a little longer.

Not even Elzo Xanis could banish her feelings for this odd young woman who had shown up again on her doorstep, badly needing her help. With any luck, this would end up much better than the last time Tanzanite had come to her with no one else to turn to.

nessy

Cuddly Hunter


Orestae

PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 1:18 am


There had been a point in time when Tanzanite had been a beacon of success and discipline amongst largely lackluster Lieutenants. A time when only a few of them had shone with potential. Now, she served largely as a warning, a physical embodiment of the line that should never have been crossed. A last shudder passed through her body, and the monstrous arm fell still beside her, having exhausted it's energy Tanzanite leaned against Audrey, and for a brief moment the girl seemed at peace.

“I went home,” she murmured, and every word sounded as though she labored to get each one out, “The doors were locked. I went to... to-” The name slipped her mind. Why had the name slipped her mind? She remembered a face, red hair- ah! Yes, “To Ursula's. To- ah... Gunn's. Charonite. General... General-King?” Though she remembered these things well enough, everything seemed to come out as a question. Each fragment was punctuated with an upwards inflection of doubt, as though she had reason to mistrust her own memories.

“Three months...?” Tanzanite looked horrified, and her eyes snapped up to meet Audrey's, “No. It wasn't- It couldn't have been that long. No, no. I went, and I found them, and I did what I had to and I came home. I came back. It wasn't... I killed them and I came right back...”

Those grey eyes, usually cold and mirthless, looked up to Audrey in desperation, and the emotion there was unmistakable. Tanzanite was afraid.

"What do I do, Audrey?"
PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 1:38 am


She might have been a warning and a sign, no longer any beacon of success, but she would always be a pillar of strength in Audrey's mind. The bluenette would always remember the battle on her birthday after she had gone from mocking Ursula in her apartment to skipping home with a milkshake, battling Sailor Alcyone to frustration. Then going through the turmoil of betraying Castor, the grief of losing her, finding her again, then the person who was there when Linarite thought she was going to die the next day - calling her an idiot like there was nothing wrong more than a broken leg. It shattered Audrey to see her pillar of strength crumbling, and refused to let it happen.

"It has been three months. That's probably why they locked up the apartment, rented it to someone else by now. Charonite is asleep, remember?" It wasn't a lie, not precisely. Charonite was very much asleep and would very much be that way for a good long time, if there was any luck. "Whatever you did must have pushed the youma to the front so you lost some time." It was all she could think of, there was no way an otherwise intelligent individual would lose such chunks of time and memory that way, it had to be that goddamn youma. Whatever had possessed Ursula to push it into her in the first place....no. There was no use for any of that. Curls fell over Audrey's face for a moment before she looked up again, trying so hard to keep composure.

It wasn't working well. Worry and desperation to make some sense of what was going on showed in her face easily in the dim light of the living room. "You can stay here for now, you know that. There is the daybed in my room that nobody uses and even if mom and dad wake up tomorrow they would not throw you out." A light smile touched around the edge of her mouth. Somewhere to stay was easy. What to do about the fear. "I can try and help with the rest. Okay?" She hoped that was okay.

There wasn't anyone else to help.

nessy

Cuddly Hunter


Orestae

PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 12:39 pm


It made sense, but Tanzanite could not imagine losing control. Not for as long as the chunks of time missing from her memory suggested that she must have. Her last thoughts were of the youma arm reaching out for a face, a terrified young woman with green eyes that she would never forget. She wasn't a senshi, but the Guardian cat who had been waking them. The skin had crawled up her arm, her face, the blackness took her vision and then a darkness that lasted longer than she cared to know. There were flashes of memories; sitting in a cafe in France, reading a report of 'vigilante superheroes' in Denmark. She'd woken in a heap outside of the Destiny City hospital, with no idea how she'd gotten back into the country or what had happened.

But she remembered those eyes.

“Yeah,” she murmured softly, and the way her features softened gave the impression that she was regaining her awareness, “I just,” her human hand squeezed Audrey's, “..Thank you, Audrey.”
PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 3:02 pm


The sound of a motorcycle was a sound Audrey might have come to expect at such hours. It was just after the hospital visiting hours ended and her newly acquired boyfriend would arrive to make sure his girlfriend wasn't alone. He'd been living at his dad's hotel for the last few days, hunting for apartments for himself and his brother once the younger Xanis sibling woke from his coma. He had been planning to get an apartment for months. In his mind, his brother would wake, and so, he needed to plan for it. Until then, Elzo Xanis was the occasional resident of the Collins house, sleeping alongside his girlfriend while their families remained in their unnatural sleep.
As the sound of the engine was killed in front of the house, Elzo's voice could be heard from outside, already calling out Audrey's name, expecting her to open the door, welcoming.

Elzo's voice changed quickly however, from happy and expectant, to frantic worry and the young man looked down to the sight of blood on cement, leading up the walkway of his beloved's house. "Audrey! Audrey!" Worry and fear flooded Elzo's mind. Blood was never a good sign. The fact it was going right up to Audrey's house was even worse. Hundreds of terrible fates that could have happened to his girlfriend were in his head, screaming at him to find her, save her, help her. Frantic hands grabbed at the door handle, jerking it before relixing it was locked.

A man driven to utter fear fumbled with the spare key she'd given him. A key for 'emergencies'. Elzo felt blood on the door. He considered blood an emergency. "Audrey hold on! s**t! s**t! s**t!" Keys fumbled into the socket, but once the lock clicked open, the door was flung wide open, leaving a rather nasty mark on the wall. The mark was unnoticed. All Elzo could think of was to find Audrey and make sure she was safe.


iStoleYurVamps

iStoleYurVamps


Trash Husband


nessy

Cuddly Hunter

PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 3:16 pm


s**t s**t s**t was beyond accurate. Audrey had remained kneeling on the floor and giving a warming smile to her friend in response to the genuine gratitude being pushed her way. It didn't quite heal all the wounds that the general had incurred since Tanzanite had left town, but it went far. The balm on the entire thing was the experience that the young woman had had in Europe...or wherever she'd gone. Maybe she'd never even really been gone at all, simply had spent three months in a warehouse somewhere, hallucinating.

It was an ugly thought, and one for later as her new boyfriend was at that very moment trying to beat down her door, yelling her name like...like he'd find a big bad monster standing over the vulnerable princess within. Had it not been such a dire situation in the making, Audrey would have laughed herself insensible with the irony and hilarity of the entire situation. Instead, all she could do was swear vehemently and crawl to her feet to hit the doorway of the living room before Elzo. He could not see Tanzanite! ******** ********!" Feet carried her into the foyer and hands pressed to the Hillworth graduate's chest to keep him still. "What the hell is all the yelling about? The cops will lose their s**t if they get called out here and find out I've been living here the whole time, remember?" Stalling, stalling. Maybe Tanz could hide. Or shift down into Aree. Could she even become Aree again? Elzo was already pushing past her into the rest of the house - it was clear she was hiding something. Or he was that desperate to make sure that nothing was amiss in the house, either way it was not fortuitous.

s**t, s**t, s**t.
PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 8:55 pm


By the time Audrey was up and blocking Elzo's entrance, Tanzanite was already undergoing the struggle to push the power of the Negaverse out of her. There had been a time when staying in her Negaverse form for more than a few hours was an exhausting effort, and now it seemed to be quite the opposite. Her eyes were closed, and beads of sweat had already appeared on her forehead as she struggled to find that glimmer of Aree Cadence that still existed inside of her. The naïve human girl had died long ago, at Beryl's feet, but her visage was still accessible. Tanzanite grabbed hold of the memory in desperation, and pulled it to the front of her thoughts. The chaos of Tanzanite's memory was pushed aside, giving way to an Aree who, without the power of the Negaverse, was beyond the youma's influence.

The girl who took Tanzanite's place looked little like the one that would have come to mind had her former friends been asked to imagine Aree in her days at Crystal. Her frame was thinner, almost skeletal, and her eyes were underlined with deep, blue-purple crescents that marked days without sleep. Still, she could have passed for an overzealous college student in the midst of finals week. The arm that had been contained in human skin looked normal enough, save for fingertips that had turned black well beyond the nails. The skin was blackened and cracked, as though burnt. As Aree pushed her skinny frame to a standing position, slowed by the half-healed wound in her side, she stuffed the blackened hand into the pocket of her hoodie and moved into view.

“Stop yelling,” she said flatly, in the authoritative tone that she couldn't quite shake after spending so long in her Captain's form. For a long moment she simply stared at Elzo, looking him up and down in a clearly appraising manner. Judging by the way her jaw tightened and her brows drew down, he hadn't scored particularly high.

“Who the ******** are you?”

Orestae



iStoleYurVamps

iStoleYurVamps


Trash Husband

PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 9:23 pm


Audrey was safe.

The wash of relief fell onto him in a relaxing wave and he embraced her, pulling her into a tight hug. His mind had filled with terrible fears of her hurt, or worse. The negaverse was more violent and active in these darker days, and the idea that they might someday get to Audrey...
The irony of his worst fears actually happening would never be known to Elzo. Nay, they could never be known.
Still, looking for the source of blood, the woman who entered the room gave him his answer. She looked haggard, like an abuse victim. Someone Elzo saw far too often as a senshi while patrolling in the red light district. Still, skinny girl wasn't a threat, and Audrey didn't seem to be hurt. The chick might be a friend even. Not his but Audrey's. And any friend of Audrey's was...not to be any enemy of his. Kissing his girlfriend's forehead Elzo gave her another hug. "Sorry, I just saw blood outside and...you know people are vanishing more often. I just-" He buried his face into blue curls for a moment allowing the last of his fears to melt away.
Placing Audrey between himself at the purple haired woman, Elzo was very clear in his body language. He was close to Audrey. Close enough he could hold her and not be pushed away. "I'm Elzo, Elzo Xanis. Audrey's boyfriend." He held his out out before letting it fall to his side. This girl was the injured one.

"Holy s**t you're bleeding. Jesus. Audrey, where did you say the first aid kit was? In the hall closet right?" Elzo's panic button had been hit again. A woman was hurt. His natural reaction was to help. That and the adrenaline of Audrey freakout hadn't fully faded. Before his love could even answer Elzo had let her go to get the med kit. Someone was hurt, that someone was obviously in need of help. She didn't look that friendly but hell, she was a girl. She was bleeding. She was 99.9% probably Audrey's friend. Like he could just let her suffer with out at least trying to help!
PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 9:34 pm


There was an almost Animal Planet nature show voice playing in Audrey's head as (thank God) Aree emerged somewhat shakily from the living room to glare at Elzo's sudden appearance and grabby hands. The voice was doing some boring speech about the sleek panther that had been too long between meals, eying a rather plump and docile bird as it fluttered about her head. The bird thought it was out of harm for being so high up, but would never be. The predator was too close, and not at all stable. The hands didn't really perturb her, Audrey was used to being pulled around and coddled by her overgrown puppy of a boyfriend, and she rather preferred it in all truth. But in front of Aree it felt almost...wrong was not the proper word yet the situation was too far from comfortable for the bluenette to relax.

Hands fisted in her hair yet again to show her frustration at the whole debacle, waiting until poor Elzo had lumped back down the stairs to let her voice loose from her throat in a burst. "Yes, Elzo, this is my friend Aree. She's been evicted from her place due to a misunderstanding about tenancy and they have all her stuff stored somewhere; won't tell her until she pays up on rent but money's rough." A reproving look was sent towards the irate Aree. "She was dumb enough to try and rough it out instead of coming here. Like a dummy." Alright, it was immature, but the meager points she was able to score towards the ravaged woman were all she'd ever get.

Hands reached out to pull the medkit away from Elzo and all but march back into the living room, snagging Aree's arm and dragging her with. "Sit back down. You shouldn't be standing, I can't pick you up if you faint from dehydration." A look from amber to gray eyes apologized, but the teen wasn't about to let poor Elzo anywhere near the arm that even she could see was straining against the restraints of a human form. Youma were so impatient. "Never a quiet night at the Collins household." If she wasn't rescuing Victoria from one of her many over-eager suitors, Elzo was here, or she was out filling her collection of star seeds. Now two of the most unlikely people were in her living room, and Audrey wasn't entirely sure that Tanz wouldn't simply try to kill Elzo.

That would be bad.

nessy

Cuddly Hunter


Orestae

PostPosted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:35 pm


Audrey's boyfriend.

Before Elzo had even gone to fetch the medkit, Aree's nails were so deeply embedded in her palm that they had drawn blood. Fortunately, it just blended with the rest that was smeared over her hand and forearm, leaving the imprints more or less unnoticeable. Her eyes were narrowed in Audrey's direction, racking her mind for why her companion would be so set on embarrassing her. Every affectionate display between the pair made her expression linger on the border between annoyance and confusion, watching Elzo the way a child with a magnifying glass watched an ant while waiting for noon.

It was more than just territorial instinct which had the young Captain on edge. Her own vulnerability was not something she ever wanted to show. Certainly not something she wanted attended to by a complete stranger. And absolutely not by a complete stranger who just so happened to also be Audrey's boyfriend. She bit the inside of her cheek and forced a smile as Elzo turned to fetch the medkit, and didn't stop until a familiar, coppery taste had saturated the left side of her mouth. Aree felt like an awkward guest. Inside of her, Tanzanite felt like a caged animal.

She didn't resist as Audrey dragged her along, processing all of this new information. It took her a while to grasp it, to pick out the details and sort it all into a smooth line of information that lead from point A to point B, all of which was filed away in that impeccable memory.

“It's not my fault you're-” Aree paused as she fell back onto the couch, replacing the knee-jerk accusation of weak with a more suitable word, “-short.”

Then: "You have a boyfriend."
Reply
♥ In the Name of the Moon! ♥

Goto Page: 1 2 [>] [»|]
 
Manage Your Items
Other Stuff
Get GCash
Offers
Get Items
More Items
Where Everyone Hangs Out
Other Community Areas
Virtual Spaces
Fun Stuff
Gaia's Games
Mini-Games
Play with GCash
Play with Platinum