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 Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 6:19 pm
Gunn sat on one of the comfortable chairs in the green room, waiting.
It wasn't often that she had attacks of conscience. Once or twice, particularly after the incident with the policemen, but she'd managed to smother those quickly enough. Nothing had happened since the start of Operation Rota--which, quite frankly, she fully approved of. It meant she was getting stronger, and better able to serve the ideals of the BMC. Wasn't what they were doing right? They fought to save humans, who couldn't protect themselves. They cleansed the world by destroying these people. When she hurt Wolframite, she didn't hurt a person, just a monster.
Right?
She wasn't so sure anymore. His cries and screams were bestial enough that she could hide it, but she'd thought he was Kres. She just... needed a day. She needed time to get her head on straight and remember why she was doing this. But to do that, she needed time away from Wolframite, and the only way to get that was to admit to Ares that she was...
That she was... Gunn leaned forward, elbows on her knees and head in her hands. If she couldn't even think the word, how was she supposed to say it to Ares?
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:24 pm
Sailor Albali had taken it upon herself to swoop into Tanzanite's cell three times a day to either bring Ares a meal or to order her to the green room to get one. She didn't do it with command in her voice. It was always a suggestion: "Ares, aren't you hungry?" or "I believe a cadet in the green room needed to see you. By the food." From others, Ares might have balked at this treatment, but she understood why Albali did it. The Senshi of Smoke looked beat to hell and back. It was hardly the kind of physique that demanded obedience.
And so, with Nemesis and Albali holding down her post, Sailor Ares allowed herself a break from the confines of Tanzanite's cell to grab a quick meal and maybe even a work out before heading back. It was fairly early in the morning. She hardly expected many people to be lounging in the green room. Most that were here were busy doing their jobs within the cells.
When she passed through a mirror and stepped out into the room, Ares found herself in the company of a troubled-looking Sailor Gun cradling her head. "Gunn," she said. "Did something happen?" The Senshi of Smoke was not accustomed to seeing her fellow Inner Sanctum senshi like this. It troubled her almost as much as Gunn herself seemed troubled.
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 8:58 am
And there was Ares. Think of failures and she'd appear, Gunn guessed, although in this case she honestly didn't mind. It meant that she'd get it out of the way, and the sooner she disappointed the leader of the Blood Moon the sooner Ares would forgive her--
Or, well, that was the operative theory and Gunn's hope.
"I haven't been sleeping well... not a lot of time for it, right?" That was a good bridge into what she was thinking. Maybe.
She fisted her head in her hair for a moment, leaning from left to right for a moment on her tiptoes. "I'm sorry, I ******** up--I dozed off and--" Her voice became inaudible for a moment, but when it came back it was to say this: "--thought Wolframite was my cousin, and he has my cousin's name, I want him to die, now."
Which was quite a change of pace, since before she'd been making joking references to keeping the Captain as a pet.
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 10:02 am
Gunn was one of the strongest in their ranks, stronger still now that she had entered into the ISS. It had been a wise choice, Ares thought to herself, to trust the girl with the fiery spirit. Now, standing in the green room and staring at Gunn wilt, the Senshi of Smoke felt a pinch of worry in her chest. The girl was slouched before her was the head of the most exclusive, loyal, and top secret team that the Blood Moon Court had. If she couldn’t handle Operation Rota, then what did it mean for the others?
The Senshi of Smoke attempted to hide her mixture of surprise, concern, and disappointment, but failed miserably. It sang from every line in her face. Gunn had… hallucinated? These things happened, battle fatigue and what not. Ares could forgive that, understand it even. But there was something shaken in Gunn, and that was what caused the Captain of the Blood Moon trouble.
Ares crossed over to the couch and took a seat beside the red-haired girl. “You have been working over time, I understand,” she said. “I woke up in Tanzanite’s cell two days ago and thought for a moment that I had gotten a roommate in the middle of the night at Crystal. I used to have that nightmare, actually… I’d wake up and there would suddenly be this stranger sharing my space.” Ares was trying to put Gunn at ease. The two girls weren’t really close outside of the faction, but she considered her a friend. More importantly, she didn’t want to lose Gunn, not ever. The Blood Moon Court needed her.
She smiled, tried to be consoling. “Wolframite will die soon, Gunn. But we aren’t done with him yet. When his time comes, you can be the one to end it. I can promise you that.” The Inner Sanctum would meet quietly that day to discuss their final phase of Operation Rota. Ares just hadn’t spread the word yet. “At our Sanctum meeting tonight, I can go into all the detail on the final phase I had in mind. If you want to move up the timeline, we can.” Her eyes hardened. “But he can’t die now.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 5:47 pm
She was disappointed. Trying to hide it, sure, but Ares wasn't exactly... the dissembler of the ISS. None of them really were. Laocoon, maybe, but everyone else... well. Gunn just shook her head for a moment, put it back in her hands as she tangled her fingers into the red locks. Pulling on her hair gave her a grip, an anchor, even as Ares told her story.
When Gunn looked up, she was smiling a little--a cynical smile, but still, it had to be better than that blank face, didn't it? "You almost did. During the coma sickness, I was assigned to your room." At least she'd never had reason to grab Fallon out of her dorm at Crystal; it would have been awkward to explain how she knew where it was. It was less awkward now, to just share that stupid little thing. Another anchor. The person in that cell wasn't Kreszant. It was Wolframite, it was a monster. Kres was safe at home and no one could hurt him.
Soon. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. "Soon," she repeated. "And I can end it?" It was the only way to be sure. She trusted her Blood Moon brothers and sisters, but she wanted to kill Wolframite with her own hands, see the light leave his eyes--the only way to keep Kres safe was to keep Wolframite dead. Right?
"May I--" Deep breaths, she thought. "Until the meeting, may Birhan Isat watch Wolframite? I'd rather... not... until my head's back on straight."
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:23 pm
Ares didn't like surprises, but the one that Gunn gave her was harmless, anecdotal. She smiled, a quick laugh escaping full lips. "You were assigned to my room?" she said, shaking her head. Someone in the dorm had mentioned something about her almost having a roommate once, but Fallon had written it off. She thought she would have known if someone had been inside her room.
Ares tried to imagine what it would be like to live with Kaatje. A disaster, no doubt. They'd end up killing each other, she was sure of it. "It was fate for us to meet, obviously," she said, trying to soften Gunn's hard edge.
What she hadn't expected was for Gunn to ask for time off. The smile on her face dipped into a frown, her hands falling into her lap. "Our numbers are depleted already, Gunn. We've lost a few of the cadets to fatigue of it. They just quit. If one of the ISS can't hack it? I don't like the message that sends..." There was no anger in her voice, just wariness. The mission was more important to Ares than anything else. She needed Gunn to be with her; she always did.
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:58 pm
Obviously. That calm acceptance soothed Gunn a bit, and she picked up her head to settle her chin on her knuckles. She kind of wanted to see what living with Fallon would be like--terrible, she was willing to bet on it. Terrible for Fallon, that was, Kaatje was generally easy about people touching her things...
Ares was worried, of course, for the cause. Gunn could understand that--they really couldn't appear to be weak. "I'm not going to leave," she said. She was a member of the Inner Sanctum, wasn't she? "Or go home. I haven't been to see Uranophane or Tanzanite, and... well, I think if I do anything else to the Lieutenants they might just explode from looking at me." Wry smile, because it wouldn't be sad when any of the three Negaversers died. How could it be? They were all monsters.
"Could frame it as generously spreading my talents around," she sighed, finally calmed. Fire was Gunn's element, as long as it was already there for her to work with. With a box of matches, well. "I've been really selfish, you know. Only setting the more minor targets on fire."
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:52 pm
"I would never expect you to leave," Ares said, a softness touching her voice.
Outside of the parallels, Gunn was the very first person that she had approached about joining the Blood Moon Court. She looked at her as an invaluable part of their unit, but more importantly, she saw her as the very first White Moon senshi who had trusted her enough to go on this journey. She asked her, specifically, to lead the Special Forces. There was very little that Ares would ever hide from her.
The idea of having Gunn out of commission for a few hours, let alone days, seemed unthinkable. "Yes, I'm sure we could explain it away, but our numbers are stretched so thin." Ares didn't want to cause Gunn pain, but she wasn't going to make it easy for her to shirk her duty either. "What exactly happened that has you so shaken?" she asked.
Ares paused. She didn't have time to go over the details, and she trusted Gunn to know her own limits. "You know what -- okay. Just... take a few days? But then we need you back." And just like that, Gunn received her hall pass.
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