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 Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:36 pm
Senri was at a well-known coffee shop, having ordered a hot cocoa in order to compensate for the cold, snowy weather of Destiny City. He drank from the milk-rich drink, finding no fault with it. The warm liquid slid down his throat, warming his body. Today, he was dressed in a blue coat with large collars and sleeves lined with white fur trim. Beneath, he wore a black long sleeve turtleneck. On his wrist were some silver accessories, Senri stylishly dressed for the season. But he certainly didn't sacrifice looks for comfort, ensuring that he was dressed warmly for this season.
A large TV screen sat admist the largest walls of the room, informing people of the daily news if they chose to listen. Other people conversed, or had meetings to contend with. However, Senri had no plans, half listening to the news. It just so happened that a particular phrase caught his eye;
"... And a senshi terrorist who has recently been suspected of multiple arson incidents have revealed themselves to be a part of a so-called organization called the negaverse.
Last night, they lit a building causing no casualties, but several officers suffered minor burns that are currently being treated. Further news will be announced as this case develops..."
Immediately, Senri knew who that was. There was only one fire-based senshi that Senri knew of. And even there were others, there was only one with a current track record of lighting buildings on fire. Senri liked to think that he knew Kaatje. At least a semblance of the person he was, and that person didn't include lighting buildings on purpose. His blue eyes narrowed in response.
"Meet me at Ted's Coffeehouse." The text appeared on Kaatje's phone, with no name or even as a polite request. Since Kaatje had called him out before, Senri had no problems doing the same now. And even if she hasn't, the arrogant male wouldn't have hesitated to call her to meet with him.
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 5:38 pm
Kaatje was in the bathtub, straining to relax after a stressful day. Winter break might be upon her--graduation might have been over--but she definitely wasn't having much time to herself. There was always Blood Moon business to attend to; always training, or propaganda, or brandings or. Just so much stuff to get done and she couldn't even take a minute to lay down and sleep for five uninterrupted hours. Just snatched hours of cat-naps, nervous she'd forgotten something or other.
She felt like she was turning neurotic. And probably she was.
When her cell phone buzzed, she practically jumped; leaned forward to grab the cell phone. To her relief, it wasn't Fallon or Johnny, texting to tell her she was late for a meeting. It was Senri, and she slid the Samsung Gravity3 open.
The message was terse, a little more terse than she'd been expecting; her temper spiked, something that had been happening more and more since her trip to her "home". With a few deep breaths, she managed to rethink the pissy, immature message she had been about to send (thanks so much for your consideration for my plans this holiday season) and sent one a bit more well-thought-out.
Give me a half an hour, I'm not dressed properly.
Because, she thought as she threw her phone back to its shelf and flopped back into the water, she did like Senri. He was nice enough. He'd helped free her from that creepster model, and he was a decent fighting partner. So she could allow him his little snips, ******** no, she decided as she dried off and headed out to her room. But she'd still show up. It was the least she could do.
Forty minutes later, she strode into the coffeehouse; the mottled-gray collar of her trenchcoat was turned up against the wind, and she smoothed it as she ordered her coffee and then joined the older male at his table. "What is it you want," she snapped, brushing damp orange hair over one shoulder.
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:26 am
They were in a bit of a secluded area, not meant for anybody to overhear them. This was an upper class coffee shop, and did cater to their customer's privacy. It didn't ensure complete privacy, but the last time Senri checked, you didn't come to a coffee shop for that. At least the pair could speak without worrying about people eavesdropping unless they rose their voices.
"I don't know," Senri drawled, both his elbows on the table, fingers entertwined while his chin rested on his knuckles. The smile was definitely there -- leading the young girl to believe that Senri had called her out on an useless whim. He could be a jerk like that.
He could tell that he inconvenienced her, yet that hardly mattered. Instead of his usual polite, if not somewhat useless small talk, Senri didn't waste their time. "..unless you count a senshi masquerading as a negaverse agent."
"Who lit a building on fire." His words began as deceptive lazy, but towards the end -- it was a caustic remark.
To anybody else, it was merely referring to the news. But to Kaatje and Senri, it wasn't exactly just news, was it?
"Is that their job now?" Senri asked sardonically, leaning back into the seat with a stare to examine Kaatje. He thought he had known her, but what if he hadn't?
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:41 pm
Oh, if he'd interrupted her only relaxing day since... since forever... to just entertain him, she was going to break his nose in three places. She would shove his bones and cartilage back into his brain. In essence, she would be really pissed.
Then he got to the point, and she went wide-eyed. Possibly it hadn't occurred to her that there would people outside the Blood Moon that knew who she was; she hadn't exactly been careful about her civilian identity when she was among other senshi. And right now, she was seeing that little misconception falling down around her ears like a building being demolished on top of her head. There were more consequences than just her own guilt, than being on the news--as if she hadn't achieved an impressive amount of notoriety on her own!...
There were also things like this.
"Look, you don't understand," she said, keeping her voice low. Was the brand on the back of her neck throbbing? "You can't possibly understand. We're doing this for the greater good."
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:55 pm
Senri, as if he had picked up on her anxiousness, aggravatingly sighed. "I won't divulge any secrets." Which meant that Kaatje didn't have to worry about her secret spilling from anywhere else. Senri rarely stuck his head in other people's business, and when he did, he didn't make a point to make it other people's affairs.That at least was a quality that even Senri kept to.
His eyebrow raised, but Senri was willing to listen to her explanation. He gestured with his hand, "Greater good? Do explain so that I can understand."
This was vastly different from when the first time that they had met as Gunn and Zephyr. It was almost ironic actually. Before, he had kept himself seperated from the senshi side of this war. In actuality, he still did. But Kaatje, or Gunn was it? She had dragged him inside of this business, and Senri couldn't even believe that he was worried for her.
Or was it worry so much as him being agitated by Kaatje's behavior? It was difficult to tell.
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 1:07 pm
She set her coffee down in front of her, rubbed her temples hard. All the relaxation from the bath was bleeding away from her, and she was struggling to pull her thoughts together enough to explain.
"The greater good," she repeated. "Look... the news concentrates so much on the senshi, and how terrible they are, yes? But the senshi, they're the good guys. They're trying to save lives." She looked up from the table, met Senri's gaze. "I'm trying to save lives. The public needs to realize that senshi aren't bad, they're just fighting an enemy with the only powers they have. The negaverse, they're the bad side."
Kaatje ran a hand through her orange hair, took a fussy sip of her coffee and scowled when it wasn't to taste. Normally she would have complained. Today, she didn't want any more attention drawn to her than she had to have.
Senri being a model wasn't helping. She could practically feel curious eyes on her. "Do we have to do this here," she hissed.
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 1:53 pm
Senri looked around, and stood up. "I agree." He said somewhat flatly.
"This is going to take a while." Judging from her current explanations, this was not a 15-minute chat to be held in a coffee shop. And unfortunately for Kaatje, this had to be the one time that Senri would make time for her.
He picked up his hot cocoa, leaving before Kaatje did, leaving her to follow him. All the while, he had began to talk on the phone to a friend. "Pick me up at Ted's Coffeehouse."
They had only been waiting aside for a few moments, neither of them having a chance to talk as Senri dictated their location to the occupant over the phone. "I see your car outside, thanks." Senri hung up, and pointed to a car parked on the curb. He held open the passenger door for Kaatje, waiting for her to climb into the back seat. But instead of taking the front seat beside the driver, Senri climbed in after her.
Their driver was notably handsome, in a best friend way with warm blue eyes and sandy brown locks of hair. He seemed a little too comfortable with randomly being called and inconvenienced. But he was also the exact opposite of Senri, as a 'good guy.' Perhaps, he was used to Senri's demands.
"Where are we headed?" He asked to either occupant, to which Senri leaned an elbow against the door arm rest and answered, "Kaatje's place."
"Uh..." He looked to the person in question, with a somewhat nervous and apologetic look on his face as if he wasn't sure that Senri should have been treating her that way or if he had her consent. "I guess.. I should ask what your address is?" He tried to flash a smile to reassure the girl that he was entirely friendly.
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Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:43 pm
Kaatje was Kaatje, so she couldn't really set aside the instinctive Cute guy! that popped into her head. But because she was also Gunn, she didn't act on it with caustic sarcasm; she gave an address in a swanky part of Destiny City, one that turned out to be one of many townhouses that had belonged, once, to families that were part of the Social Register. The van der Weydins were not new money, but they were not old American money. Their presence on the block was view as a special kind of insolence.
However, there was no hint of this. Kaatje thanked Senri's friend, and led the way through the house. It was sparingly decorated, more along the lines of Kaatje's taste than her late departed parents; there was an elegance born of austerity rather than fine furnishings. Despite the modernistic appointments, it still gave a feeling of luxury, and this feeling carried through the whole house.
The place where she stopped walking was a bedroom, recently renovated; it was bright and airy, with large windows that had no curtains. She offered no explanation for this as she pulled a chair away from an easel, upon which was set a canvas. Kaatje took a seat on a chest at the bottom of her bed, tucked her long, thin legs up under her trenchcoat.
"I am a member of an organization known as the Blood Moon Court, serving the Queen of the same." Here, in her house, she managed to look proud; anyone with eyes could see the fear lurking in her posture. "And in order to turn the tide of popular opinion against the Negaverse, we're demonizing them by associating them with a figure the populace already hates..." Her voice trailed off, and then she put a hand on her chest. "Myself."
There was a wry smile before she continued. These words had a tone of rote recitation: "Who doesn't know of the arsonist senshi, Senri? Who doesn't hate her and want her caught? And, well, if there is an organization supporting her, giving her backup, they must be as bad as she is. So they affiliate me with them. And I blacken the Negaverse's name just by being myself."
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Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 12:30 am
He stepped into the bedroom with little trace of the relaxed demeanor that he usually held. If their circumstances had been different, a bedroom could be misconstrued for something other mere talk. However, and unfortunately for Kaatje, Senri was not the same person that she was used to dealing with.
He settled into the chair, making it comfortable since he was taking the effort to be there. "The Blood Moon Court?" Senri repeated after Kaatje, looking with a contemplative gaze towards the uncovered window with a mocking smile. While Senri wasn't completely active as a senshi, there was talk to a similar effect. Even Senri wasn't oblivious to the rising tension amongst the already disorganized senshi.
And that name.. Senri didn't like the sound of the way things were going. His expression didn't look particularly happy. What the Blood Moon Court was doing, Senri might have found himself doing it. But that was exactly why he didn't like it. There was a sort of twisted logic to Kaatje's explanation. If there were any doubt in your mind; and if you listened to it long enough, you could be persuaded into their way of thinking. However, Senri wasn't that easily fooled nor deceived.
"Is that so? And you're all right with that?" It was the way he asked that particular question, as if he had doubted everything that Kaatje had to say.
Kaatje's indifferent tone, her acceptance of the situation had Senri's eyes narrowing in response. He stood up abruptly, even his chair teetered, almost falling in his haste. He grabbed Kaatje's chin, forcing her to face him. "Why are you acting like nothing's wrong?"
"Stop pretending." His words were cold, yet Senri wasn't. Senri seemed to be smiling, yet he wasn't. The fear in Kaatje's eyes was easy to detect, Senri hardly appreciated being an idiot that Kaatje could merely recite some lines to and assume that he would believe it.
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:21 am
If a tree falls in a forest where no one can hear it, does it still make a sound?
Even if Kaatje had dragged the older male up to her bedroom for the express purpose of ******** his brains out, no one would have commented. The household staff was very well-trained and would avoid this area of the house, and her elder cousin was off visiting his lover himself. Their conversation would, essentially, go unheard. It may as well have not happened, as far as anyone outside the room was concerned.
As obvious as it was that she was a little frightened by what she was doing, it was also obvious that she wasn't going to stop. That she honestly believed in what she was doing, even though it scared her. Which wasn't exactly admirable, but the serious girl had always been devoted once she'd made a decision, and always carried through. Still, she flinched bodily when he told her to stop pretending, clenched her delicate hands into fists. What was she supposed to tell him?
She sat up straighter and scowled at him. "Of course I'm all right with it, as long as I don't get caught." And as long as any civilians weren't hurt. A few of them had gotten burned, but at least no one had been really seriously injured... At least there was that...
"Maybe things are a little wrong," she said after a moment's silence. "But that's how things've always been, haven't they? Why are those stupid cats recruiting teenagers to fight some kind of inter-galactic war?" She pushed herself up, gestured at herself. "Senri, do I look like I was made to be a terrorist? That's what we are. So what if I'm just using that to get the Negaverse gone? Once they're gone, I'm free. I can go to college and do whatever the hell I want and never wear a ******** sailor scout uniform again."
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:54 pm
Kaatje's scowl brought a faint smile to Senri's lips, seeing that she was still the spirited girl that Senri had seen last. But rather then amusement, he felt irritated by her narrow mind of the situation. "And when you're caught?" As of now, Kaatje still walked along a fine line. But there was no guarantee that things would continue to work in Sailor Gunn's favor. All it would take would be a simple slip, a mistake, or even a moment to alter the outcome of a dangerous situation. With those thoughts in mind, Senri chose his words carefully.
"And what if, by chance," Senri let go of Kaatje, although his hand momentarily caressed Kaatje's cheek, tilting her face up - Senri studying the blue eyes that mirrored his so well. ".. you do kill somebody, are you prepared for that?"
Senri understood Kaatje's reasons. Why wouldn't he? Judging from the way his gloved hand balled into a fist, and the irritated gleam of his eyes, Senri had been dragged into far more senshi situations then he cared for. It was similar to the very same reasons that echoed from their first meeting. How ironic. But it didn't mean that he agreed with the senshi of wildfire. "And because the public deems us as terrorists, we now cater to them?"
His eyes raked over Kaatje, as if she was insignificant as she stood up. "...Tch," A disappointed sound. "Right. When did we start following the orders of the public?" He stood up, stepping away from Kaatje. He glanced back at the high school girl, sending her a dauntless glance, "Don't kid me. You became a terrorist the moment you set that building on fire."
He turned around, his back faced towards her when he asked, "When we first met, you told me that you didn't want to hurt anybody. That has changed, hasn't it?"
He might have known the answer from the start. But he wasn't above asking, even if it was deliberately cruel.
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Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 1:09 am
"Then if I don't henshin down they can't catch me," she told him, but her confidence was shaken, her hands were shaking, balled into fists at her sides to keep the tremors from being too obvious. It was like he was reaching into her head and grabbing all of her insecurities, then dragging them out before her; she was more grateful than ever that there was no chance of anyone hearing this. Senri was discreet. No one would ever know.
It was important to her that no one ever know. Normally, the casual contact of fingertips and cheek would have set her face ablaze; she was a pretty girl but she'd never dated, and the idea of a relationship was still foreign, and Senri was a cute guy. Today, though, she was pale, even her lips looked bloodless under the gloss. "I'm not going to kill anyone," she said, her voice going high-pitched, "Except Negaversers! And Negaversers aren't people and-- aren't you even listening?"
He wasn't. He wasn't listening. "We have been terrorists since the moment we were awakened! Unless you mean to tell me you've patched up every single mess you've ever made? Because you haven't! I know you haven't. Remember fighting Spinel and... the guy with the tonfa? We ******** up that store! And that makes us terrorists. So what if I'm just using it to get them to turn against the people who really cause all these problems?"
At his last question, she fell silent, staring after him with her shoulders tense. "Get out of my house," she said to the floor, "Leave me alone."
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Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 2:21 am
Senri knew that he was causing Kaatje to suffer, that everything he said unnerved and pained Kaatje. He was being deliberately cruel again. Yet it was necessary. It had ended like this, but it hadn't began like that. This hadn't been Senri's intentions when he called Kaatje for an explanation. But Senri couldn't reach out his hand to soothe Kaatje. He wasn't that type of person.
When Kaatje implicated Senri as well as a terrorist, Senri could only scoff. His glove hand settled contemplatively over his chin, bent in a disbelieving gesture. "...My apologies," Senri had made it clear that it was anything but, "I meant when you purposely set that building on fire." He didn't seem surprised when Kaatje all but kicked him out. He had known that Kaatje was reaching her limits, and so was he.
"Excuse me while I see myself out." Senri stepped out, ready to leave completely when he turned around once more. "One last thing." His hand lingered on the door frame, Senri glancing back one final time.
"Your precious court and the Negaverse may be one and the same." He didn't bother to say anything else, doubting that Kaatje would consider anything he said in that state.
What was justice? Could you define justice? Or was it merely a matter of ideals forced upon a population? Upon examination, both the Negaverse and senshi were fighting for their own ideals. Both were so willing to fight for their ideals, to the point of killing one another. The negaverse blamed the senshi, and the senshi blamed the negaverse. All it would result in was an endless circle of blame. Were they really so different? Who was right and wrong? It wasn't an issue that Senri cared to debate in.
It wasn't Senri's problem. "Don't contact me for a while." And he left with a casual wave, as if they had just discussed the weather over tea and cookies.
But this interaction had left Senri's mood dim.
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