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 Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:33 pm
They must have thought they were ninjas, sneaking across the Sovereign Heights campus in the dead of night, clad all in black. The only thing to possibly give them away was the occasional glint of light off their hair - pale brown on one boy, flaming orange on the other. But they moved with stealth that belied experience - this was a route they'd walked half a dozen times before, hauling all sorts of ridiculous miscellany the four blocks from their apartments to the quad.
"Remember," Finn whispered to his friend as the set the cardboard box down and got to work. "If anyone asks, you don't know anything about this and you definitely weren't involved."
A large plastic sheet of something unfolded onto the lawn. Finn slouched his backpack off his shoulder and pulled out a small battery-powered air pump, which he attached to a nozzle on the suspiciously pink something.
"There should be a banner in that box," he added, turning the pump on. The plastic began to slowly rise in rhythm with the electric hum. "We're gonna string it between the rabbit and the flag pole."
The giant, inflatable Easter bunny was taking shape nicely. Finn grinned at it and set the pump down on the grass. "Come on, let's go tie it."
He pulled a second sheet of plastic out of the box and began to unroll it. "You've got the plastic eggs, right? This is gonna be awesome."
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 11:14 pm
To be honest Dietrich wasn't sure if this was really a good idea. If security caught them they'd be in huge trouble, and it went against some kind of moral of his to basically trespass on the school's grounds. Then again he was a student, he wasn't just some person. But despite his worries he followed Finn with a second box, donning his darkest and most concealing clothing. A black beanie would do well in covering his bright orange hair, right?
When they finally settled Dietrich put the box down and opened it, digging for the sign he was talking about. When he found it he looked up to eye the bunny Finn was inflating. Damn, he was really going to blow that whole thing up? At least he had a pump. He cast a furtive look around their immediate area for any signs of security or life that didn't belong; an electric hum of a pump in a silent campus was sure to catch attention. "Okay." He replied to the instructions, letting Finn take the sign. Plastic eggs? Umm, sure! He'd check for those before he helped tie the sign up.
In truth, Dietrich wasn't quite sure what this display was for. He had forgotten to ask, all he knew was that Finn needed his help and he was happy to offer it. Bunnies, eggs...it must have been an Easter thing. What was so bad about Easter? He'd have to ask! Eggs, eggs...oh! There they were. "Got them!" He announced, holding up a tray of them.
That was when he felt it, a presence he'd felt before. There was a youma nearby. Dietrich did his best to stay calm, but he couldn't help the way he tensed and looked around with narrowed eyes while Finn's back was turned. Where was it...it was nearby. He could feel it. Beside him the inflatable Easter Bunny's eyes flashed briefly with a flicker of light, a dark shadow overtaking it and then disappearing, leaving the rabbit to look cheerful and adorable.
But something was off about it. It seemed to quiver and shake but not just because of the fact that it was being filled with air.
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 6:05 am
If Finn sensed anything, he didn't show any sign of it. Most likely because he didn't. He took the other end of the banner from Dietrich and unfolded it - it was too dark to read what it said, but knowing Finn, it wasn't anything good. Probably some statement about the real and present danger of cadbury creme eggs.
"Here," he said, fumbling with some twine at the end of the banner, wrapping it several times around the flagpole. "It goes like this, see, bro?" he asked, and tied his length tight.
"You do the other one," he added, giving Dietrich a hearty pat on the shoulder and jogging back towards the boxes. "I'm gonna get started on the eggs."
Finn lifted the three cartons of plastic, brightly colored easter eggs out of the box. Each and every one was lovingly stuffed with a disturbing tidbit about how Plastic American Holiday Gimmicks were produced in foreign sweatshops.
Oh, and a piece of chocolate. You could never forget the chocolate.
Eggs in arm, he started across the lawn in broad steps, dropping an egg every two paces or so. He did not notice the strange grin that his easter bunny wore, and it was getting worse with every further inch that it inflated.
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 3:07 pm
Something really, really wasn't right. Dietrich could feel it. He frowned and did his best to not make it look like anything was bothering him, trying very hard to pay attention to Finn. Okay. He'd do the other one. Just..tie it to the rabbit. He watched as Finn walked away and sighed quietly to himself, digging into his pant pocket for his senshi phone. He slid it open and pressed a few buttons to check the map, spotting...a source right in front of him. Wait, what? If it was right in front of him...
Dietrich looked up at the inflatable rabbit. This thing? No way..then again, it could be like when he was awakened to his senshi powers.
"Uh...Finn? Where did you get this rabbit?" What a strange grin. Did it have that before? Dietrich saw a glint flash in its eyes and he tensed. He needed to take care of this somehow. But how...how was he...how could...he needed a chance to escape. Could he pretend someone was coming and run? No, he couldn't ditch Finn for even a second. s**t!
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:12 pm
"Um, ten bucks at Big Lots," Finn called back, continuing to obliviously drop eggs. The trail was slowly leading him back around towards the rabbit. "Why?"
The rabbit had by now finished inflating, and Finn set the carton of eggs aside to crouch by the pump. A couple of switches and a plug and this baby would ge good to go. Another masterpiece, if he did say so himself. The electric hum stopped, and Finn set about detangling the pump from the bunny.
The bunny looked suddenly lopsided - it was tipping towards him. Finn set the pump aside and looked suddenly up. The rabbit was tilting down towards him, and its mouth was open, and it had suddenly developed rows of razor-sharp ********," screamed Finn, kicking at the puffy plastic covering his legs, to no avail. It suddenly weighed a ton. "********, ********, DIETRICH, MAN, IT'S MOUTH ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE OPEN, ********."
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:55 am
So he got it at an honest place, he wasn't given it by some stranger on the side of the street or in a store no one had ever heard of before. Great, just great. Looks like he'd be giving Finn ten bucks to make up for what was going to happen to his rabbit. Sigh. Dietrich groaned and dragged his hand down the side of his face, really hoping this was just a strange reject rabbit. He bought it like this, right? He was already backing away from the thing, one hand over his face and the other in his pocket where his henshin pen was; Dietrich always carried it on him even if it didn't seem like he would need it, just for times like these.
Okay, mouths weren't supposed to open with rows of teeth like that! And even Finn was freaking out, so this was clearly not what the rabbit was supposed to do.
"Finn. Get out of here!" Dietrich ordered him, running at his friend and shoving him out of the way of the rabbit trying to eat him. He needed him gone. He needed him to get away so he could transform and fight off this thing. He didn't want Finn to get hurt, but he couldn't...just let him see. One, it was kind of embarrassing. Two, he worried if people aside from the senshi knew who he was..there was no telling what stupid things could happen!
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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:19 pm
"BELIEVE ME, I'M TRYING!" Finn screeched back at is friend in a manner that was decidedly unmanly. The rabbit refused to retreat, no matter how many times he tried to kick it. No, it just got closer, its huge teeth getting closer and closer to the young man's face.
Strangely, all that Finn could wonder was whether or not they'd ever find his body. When his face was bathed in blue light, he thought for a second that it was heaven come to swallow him up. Which was why, upon opening his eyes and trying to focusing on the space in front of the rabbit, Finn was exceptionally surprised to see a glowstick hovering in the air in front of his face.
He wrestled his hand free and grabbed it, because if he was dying he was taking the unexplained cosmic phenomenon with him.
There was a blue flash. The rabbit was thrown back two meters. Finn, glowstick still in hand, scrambled to his feet, unsure of what had just happened. "Dietrich?" he called uncertainly. "Dude, man, did you see that? What just happened!"
The bunny was coming back. Finn Derouen - the newly minted Babylon Page of Mercury, although he hadn't had time to think about that yet - turned tail and beat a hasty retreat towards the far end of the green, rabbit in hot pursuit.
More cursing followed: "********."
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 5:01 pm
Dietrich bit down on the end of his thumb and watched as Finn struggled with the rabbit, looking down at the henshin pen in his pen. What was more important? Keeping this a secret at the expense of someone's life, or saving someone's life and saying to hell with the secret? If one person knew...that was okay, right? He knew Perseus and Rosalind's identities, and they knew his. He suddenly wondered why he was even debating this! His friend's life was at stake, letting him see he was a senshi was the least of Dietrich's problems! Taking a deep breath and shaking his head as if that would get rid of any doubts and worries he had, Dietrich then raised the arm holding his henshin pen. "Gianfar Power, Ma--what.." He was cut off by the blue flash of light and the rabbit being thrown, scrambling back a few steps and looking around. That flash..what the hell was that? Had that been another senshi that happened to be nearby and saw the situation? That had to be it.
But then why was Finn standing there looking like he was...an agent of the negaverse? Dietrich's jaw dropped and his eyes widened, confusion clear on his face. What the hell just happened? "Finn? Is..that you?"
There wasn't time to really figure out what the hell was going on, the rabbit had regained its footing and was chasing Finn. s**t. "Gianfar Power, Make-Up!" He finally cried, allowing himself to be enveloped in green light. His fuku materialized around him, starting as pastel lace until it solidified into real clothing. Once he was ready he took off running after the rabbit and his friend, a deep frown set on his face. Once he was close enough he leapt off the ground and toward the rabbit, slamming into it and sending it and himself tumbling away from Finn.
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 6:00 pm
Whatever weird, homoerotic magical boy s**t had just enveloped his friend, Babylon hadn't seen. He was too busy being backed up against a wall by a giant rabbit, trying to ward it off with the feeble blue light of his glowstick. He still didn't know where it had come from, but whatever magical being or Force or god or whatever had sent it was useless as all get out, because the rabbit was undeterred.
Luckily for Babylon, the rabbit was shoved away by a blur of green fabric and pale yellow legs.
Babylon boggled at the scene before him: flame-haired pretty-boy fighting a giant, demonically-possessed easter bunny. "Dietrich?" he asked, because for some odd reason he suddenly wasn't sure. "Is that you? "
Babylon circled the momentarily-immobilized rabbit. "...What the hell are you wearing." He looked down at himself. "What the hell am I wearing."
The rabbit reared back on its hind legs and made a terrible sound like nails on a chalk board. Finn flung himself back at it, crying, "IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT," as he did. He stabbed uselessly at the side of the thing with his glowstick for a moment, then began fumbling around on its backside, looking for the plug that he had just sealed moments earlier.
"I AM TOUCHING DEMON RABBIT BUTT FOR YOU, OKAY? LIKE, YOU SHOULD THANK ME."
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 8:00 pm
When he heard his name he stupidly looked up, forgetting he really shouldn't be answering to it while he was Gianfar. ********, what was he some newbie? Ugh. Though it seemed that it didn't matter, Finn wasn't himself right now anyway! He was...who the hell was he? That was Finn, right? Who else could it be? Unless Finn just vanished into thin air. "I'm..not Dietrich, my name is Sailor Gianfar.." It was technically the truth! He jumped away from the rabbit and watched The Guy Who Must Have Been Finn But What The s**t Was Going On With Him, frowning with half-hearted suspicion. If he was a negaverser...no, he had a feeling this was not how that kind of thing went. He'd never seen how one was recruited to the negaverse but somehow he doubted it went quite like this. Still...he had an outfit like them, and he had a stupid as hell weapon like their lieutenants...
Wait a second! This was not the time for that! There was an insane youma-possessed rabbit attacking them! Gianfar sighed and ran in, laughing helplessly at the things he was yelling. That was definitely Finn, but he didn't seem to be...corrupted. But that was definitely not a senshi fuku. Gianfar ran in after the other man, throwing a clenched fist at the angry rabbit and punching it square in the face. "I'll thank you later or something." He told him with a laugh.
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 8:09 pm
Gianfar? Oh god who what how where when why - Finn had no idea what was going on, and worse than that, he had a growing sense that his name wasn't even Finn anymore. No, every time he started to try to articulate anything, he was caught with a sudden urge to shout words he'd never heard before.
Instead, he bit his lips shut and groped around the struggling rabbit's butt. But the words were still trying to get out. He couldn't hold them in--
Word vomit. Hurled at the back of a vinyl rabbit he was pretty sure wouldn't care.
"IN THE NAME OF MERCURY, YOU'LL NEVER MAKE IT TO BABYLON AND WHAT THE ******** AM I SAYING."
Babylon's hand caught on the hard plastic plug, unfortunately placed right where the rabbit's a** ought to have been, and gave it a resolute tug. With a sound like a fart, the rabbit began to deflate.
Babylon gave it a few more frustrated pokes with his glowstick, trying to speed the process. At least it had stopped trying to eat him. He tried to think of something witty to say, and found himself at a complete loss for words.
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 9:41 pm
Okay, he definitely wasn't a negaverser if he was doing things 'In the name of Mercury'; they were agents of Earth, it was the senshi who originated from other planets and stars and moons. Mercury definitely was a senshi thing, but he was the strangest looking senshi Gianfar had ever seen, and there were some strange looking senshi out there. He lifted a leg to give the rabbit a good kick, intending on just distracting it well enough for uh..Mercury? to do whatever it was he was doing back there.
Suddenly the rabbit farted clouds of black dust, letting out an agonized shriek as it deflated and the dust was blown away by a mysterious breeze until it faded into nonexistence. Gianfar just stared, looking as confused as he felt.
...Well then!
Gianfar rubbed at the back of his neck and nudged at the deflated rabbit with his foot, looking very wary of it now. That seemed...too easy. He gave the immediate area a good look around to make sure there weren't anymore youma lurking in the darkness. Nothing, good. He didn't sense anyone or anything. Now all that mattered was him and...er...Finn? He turned to his friend with a small frown, tilting his head. "Who..are you?"
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 9:49 pm
The strange Not-a-Senshi-not-a-negaverser turned to blink at Gianfar. He was fairly bewildered by all this, and the question didn't register at first. After a moment, he said, with quite an effort to think about it, "That is... actually a really good question."
He cupped his chin in his hand and gave it some thought. He twirled his glowstick with his other fingers.
He gave the deflated rabbit a kick and said, "I think that I'm Babylon Page of Mercury. I mean, that sounds about right, doesn't it? I mean, it doesn't, it sounds weird as ********, but it also sounds right, and are you Dietrich or not because, you know, process of elimination, how many other pretty redheads are hanging out on campus in the middle of the night?"
...Was he flirting?!
"So this is your idea of fun? Running around in tights? Weird, man. I'm glad..." He tugged at his uniform. "I'm glad I've got pants."
...No, he was just being Finn.
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 12:25 pm
Gianfar's eyes were trained intently on the glowstick, making sure it stayed there it was and wasn't thrown or shot at him like some kind of Negaverse weapon or something. Seriously, it looked stupid enough to be one of their weapons! He still remembered the antlers and the toy gun; he would never forget the antlers. Finally he gave a name...a strange name. A Page of Mercury? Well that definitely confirmed he wasn't one of their agents. But if he wasn't a senshi, and he wasn't from the Negaverse..what was he? "Babylon..huh. I've never met a page before, I thought pages were just for royalty back in Medieval times or something." Or, you know, pages in a book. Gianfar refrained from saying that out loud.
When Finn aka Babylon asked if he was Dietrich he was about to say no, he was Gianfar, but he kept talking until he was essentially hitting on him. He laughed and rolled his eyes with a shake of his head, crossing his arms with his hands lightly gripping his elbows. "I'm not usually over here, usually I'm patrolling around certain parts of the city." Parts that had been deemed 'Vogue territory' or whatever. Though he did often deviate to see other parts of the city, meet with other senshi and all that. He glowered at his friend as he made fun of his tights, giving him a nice one-finger-salute. "I do have pants. Just because I'm more fashionable than you doesn't mean you can take your jealousy out on me, man." He got quiet after that, finally approaching his friend now that he knew for sure he was safe.
"So...Babylon?" He tilted his head a little with a faint frown on his lips. "Gotta say I'm really surprised.." Gianfar looked around quietly for a moment, reaching into his coat to get out his senshi phone. He opened it and checked the map for any signals he couldn't sense on his own. Nothing. They were safe, and so that meant it was safe to change back. He put the phone away and allowed his fuku to dissipate, the different pieces of clothing shifting to a bright green ribbon-like quality until he was left in his normal clothes again. From senshi to ninja. ******** yeah. How Babylon would do the same he had no idea, but it was clear Dietrich was done for the moment. Besides, he was basically giving his friend the answer he wanted. "Soooo how long has this been going on?" Considering his behavior, probably not long, but he still wanted to pretend he was hurt. How could Finn keep such a secret from him! Stuff like that.
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 12:34 pm
"Hey, cool phone," said Babylon, tugging at his jacket. It was kind of weather inappropriate, but he couldn't find any buttons. He basically seemed sewn into it. "Do I get one of those?"
No, apparently not. All he got was some lame glowstick. He gave it a shake, wondering if it might do something cool, but it just kind of sloshed lamely at him. Babylon frowned. "What do you mean how long?" he asked, watching his friend return to his usual civilian self. "Unless by 'how long' you mean 'since right now'?"
He tugged on the neck of his uniform, wishing he was wearing something - anything else. Fur! Leather! In April! He'd really won the super-power lottery. Not. And then, in a puff of blue light, it vanished.
Finn breathed a sight of relief and fanned himself with his shirt. "Hey, you," he said, hooking an arm around Dietrich's shoulders as they started to walk away from the sad-looking deflated rabbit. "Same question. How long." He couldn't say he wasn't a little bit hurt, because he was.
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