((Total word count 5,009 - 897 of Maru's words = 4,112 words. Backdated to April 17th.))

Super Sailor Orion was back on his home planet. He had been surprised when Orion had become available so quickly, but he didn’t question it. He enjoyed traveling to his home planet, it was comforting. Plus it was the one place he could be absolutely alone and know that no one would come looking for him, or bother him in any way. So, excitedly, he had locked himself in the bathroom with a bottle of beer and sent himself home.

He appeared on his planet, standing in front of his castle. Looking up at what had once been a great building was just as heartbreaking as it had been the last time. So, instead of looking at it he turned away, sipping his beer.

Now instead of the castle, he was staring at the multitude of wooden cabins that were laid out in front of him. He had never taken the time to inspect the cabins, his last couple of visits he had gone straight for the castle, the large building being more interesting. Well, now seemed as good a time as any to change that, especially since looking at the broken down castle was bumming him out.

Heading towards the closest cabin he inspected it thoroughly, walking a circle around it as he sipped his beer. It was a well built cabin, not overly big, but it had withstood the test of time only a few chips in the wood it was made out of. When he made it around to the front of the cabin he paused, what if he found dead bodies inside or something? That would be creepy. Shaking the nerves out he stood up straighter, taking another drink of liquid courage. He could do this, it’s not like dead bodies could hurt him anyways, right?

Stepping forwards he pushed away the large piece of cured animal hide that served as the door, ducking inside. The first thing he noticed was the lack of light, even with four windows the inside was dim. He could see well enough to inspect the inside though. It was one large room, no walls or doors inside. All the furniture was wooden. There was a bed, the mattress long rotted away, in the far corner, and directly across from the bed was a small kitchen area. A wooden box was in the corner, and a flash of memory let Orion know that it was what passed for a fridge, but it was more like an old fashioned ice box. Two tables were next to the box to act as counter tops, it was crude but useable. For a moment Orion wondered where they cooked the food, but then realized a fire in a wooden home was stupid. They probably cooked their food outside then brought it back home.

Looking away from the kitchen area he inspected the rest of the room. There wasn’t too much more to it. A wooden bench was pressed up against the left wall, and there was a table and some chairs on the right side of the room, but beyond that Orion’s lived simply. The floor was dirt and there weren’t even hooks on the wall for torches. The only extraordinary thing in the cabin was the large bear head that Orion didn’t see until he turned to leave. The head was mounted over the doorway, jaws in a snarl. It wasn’t as big as some of the heads he saw in the castle, but it was bigger than anything on Earth.

Shuddering he knocked back the rest of his beer before he shouldered his way through the leather flap of a door. For a moment he just stood outside the cabin, holding on to the empty beer bottle. What was he supposed to do with it now? He didn’t want to litter his home planet up with beer bottles; that wasn’t very cool at all. On the other hand he didn’t really want to carry an empty bottle around with him, empty beer bottles were sad, depressing things. For a long moment he just stood there debating with himself. Finally he decided he could set the bottle on a nearby rock and just remember to come back for it before he went back to Earth.

After doing just that he headed towards the castle again, it was a sad sight sure, but he still wanted to explore it. He hadn’t gotten very far last time, stopped by the vision he had had. He still wasn’t sure if that was real, or a drunken hallucination. He was hoping it was real though, if it was and the redhead really was him from his past life that would be awesome. Thor had been a giant; Orion could only aspire to be as big as him. Not to mention his girlfriend, or whatever she was to him, was hot. He had game if he was managing to tap that.

Heading up to the castle he crossed over the drawbridge, pausing to look at the giant skeleton that was at the bottom of the dry moat. He still didn’t know what exactly the skeleton was of, but whatever it was it had been huge, with a long neck and tail. Hell, it actually looked a little like what he thought the loch ness monster would look like. That thought made him laugh, did he have the real loch ness monster hidden away on his planet a thousand years ago? He doubted it, it was probably just some giant monster thing.

Continuing into the castle he paused in the entrance hall, entranced again by the statue there. The women- what had Thor called her? Dove? He had a feeling that was more of a pet name than her real name, but it was all he had to go on- was gorgeous. Orion felt a strange pull to the statue, or the woman the statue depicted. He wasn’t sure why he felt that way, it was a statue after all, and he had never actually met the woman (mainly because she was most likely dead by now), but he still found himself wanting to know her. After a moment he had to look away, the intense connection the woman was starting to creep him out, not to mention it made him feel a bit like he was cheating on Devi…with a statue…yeah, that was skeevy.

Ignoring the statue he walked straight past it, through the doorway on its left, his right. He found himself in a courtyard, while it had been taken over by wildflowers and weeds it was obvious that at one time it had been well taken care of. It was a large square, with several doorways that lead to various parts of the castle. Cobblestone pathways ran from doorway to doorway, crisscrossing the courtyard in a six-pointed star. In the middle was a large fountain, the water long dried up. His silver eyes ran up the fountain, widening at the statue that adorned it.

The statue wasn’t as large as the one in the entrance hall, but it was of the same woman. Only now instead of being draped in Grecian clothing she was completely naked. The fountain was very wide, and had two tiers not counting the basin. At the top sat the woman he decided to refer to as Dove, a stone leg hanging down to the second tier. The other leg was bent at the knee, making no move to hide her lady parts that Orion couldn’t help but notice were carved in painstaking detail. She was leaning back on her arms, stone hands gripping the top tier to support her body. Her face was delighted, staring at a stone dove that was perched on her knee.

All in all the statue was just as beautiful as the one inside- even more so since it was naked. Orion found himself having a hard time looking away. It was finally the thought of his girlfriend that made him look away. Devi would not appreciate him staring at a naked statue one bit.

He was about to turn away to collect his beer bottle and return home, but stopped catching the sight of a round handle sticking up in the grass near the fountain. What the hell? He paused only a moment before his curiousity got the better of him and he approached the ring. Doing his best to ignore the statue he crouched next to the ring, pulling grass and weeds away from it.

Slowly but surely he revealed a wooden trap door attached to the ring, and having come this far he wasn’t going to stop now. Orion positioned himself behind the ring and reaching down he got a good grip on it. ”Here goes nothing…” Gritting his teeth he pulled as hard as he could, but the door wouldn’t give. After a moment he stopped, pausing, before he pulled again. ”Errrgggghhh!”

Five minutes later he still didn’t have the door open, no matter how hard he pulled it seemed the door was stuck. Maybe the wood had expanded, or maybe it was sealed from the inside, he wasn’t sure. But he knew that he definitely wanted to get inside. So, he did something a little extreme. Stepping back he pointed at the trap door before calling out his super attack. ”Meteor shower!” He watched as the meteors began to fall, and he managed to focus them on the trap door as to not ruin the fountain.

When the meteors stopped falling he stomped out a couple small fires, and then approached the trap door. Or what had been the trap door. Now it was just a hole in the ground, with stairs leading downwards. The meteors had done the trick. With one last look around Orion descended the steps into the unknown.

The further down he went the darker and colder it got. Maybe heading down into the dark unknown tunnel on his own was a bad idea. But he couldn’t go back now, he could only hope there was some source of light at the bottom.

Reaching the bottom he found himself at a door, or at least what he thought felt like a door. It took some groping around before he found the handle. Luckily for him this door opened more easily than the trapdoor and all it took was a hard push to get it open.

He was greeted by a warmly lit room, the light coming from lanterns that evenly lined the walls. On closer inspection he saw it wasn’t a flame that was providing the light, but a glowing white stone. While he was intrigued by how the stone still cast light, he didn’t think too hard about it. He was just happy that it did give off light.

Looking away from the lanterns he inspected the room he had found. It looked to be some kind of cellar. There were a few wine racks on the walls full of bottles, but the predominant item were giant barrels stamped with an arrow. Approaching the closest one Orion managed to pry the lid off after a couple minute of trying. What he found inside surprised him.

The barrel was full of alcohol. Leaning down to smell the liquid Orion wrinkled his nose, it smelled stronger than anything he’d had on Earth. Curiously he wondered if the alcohol was still good. Well, there was only one way to find out.

The redhead looked around the cellar for some kind of glass or mug, but was unable to locate any kind of drinking vessel. Frowning he glanced at his hand and then the barrel before shrugging. It wasn’t like anyone was around to watch him be a slob. Reaching into the barrel with both hands, he cupped them together, using them as a cup. Scooping up as much alcohol as he could he lifted it to his lips and tilted his hands back.

Orion barely had a chance to swallow before he was coughing, alcohol spurting out of his mouth and going everywhere. ”Holy ******** hell” He pounded himself on the chest, trying to catch his breath and stop the burning. Whatever the hell that was, was way too strong for him. It tasted too strong for anyone, how the hell did Thor drink it?

Even that small sip of the ale was making him feel woozy and he slowly made his way to the nearest wall, leaning against it. How strong was that alcohol? A thousand proof? He didn’t even know if there was such a thing. However strong it was, he knew he couldn’t handle it well.

Sliding down the wall slowly he stared at the barrel of alcohol. He got lost in his mind, his eyes never leaving the alcohol…alcohol…alcohol. The longer he stared the more clear an old memory started to become until he was sucked completely in to it.

"Easy on the portside!"
"Gently lower her down a notch... there!"
"Anchored! You can park it!"

Alorie breathed a sigh of relief as the ship came to a standstill, her crew quickly scurrying about anchoring it down and hooking the floating ship onto its designated spot on the walkway above her tavern. It was a short walk down the gangpank from her ship to the roof of her tavern. She liked the placement -- even if the ship wasn't her's, and most of the crew were mercenaries hired from the Pirate's Guild... Eh. It was a ship, it got her around, and the mercenaries kept to themselves on the government owned ship.

She glanced to her right as her first mate entered her room. She really, really needed to consider expanding her tavern. Right now, her crew lived in cabin-like huts on the main deck whereas she had her nice and cozy captain's quarters. Was it right? Fair? Maybe, maybe not -- she was captain and owner of the tavern, after all.

With a shrug, she opened the hatch and went down the stairs leading to the lower hold where the main tavern proper was located. The entrance to her tavern was primarily through the door located there, leaving the hold-stairs staff only. But... A puzzled frown lit her features. She could hear a rukus from here -- what was going on? Even though she was Merope's senshi, her tavern didn't usually attract that many customers...

It wasn't until she stepped into the common room from the staff area that she found the reason why. "Tide take me," she swore, "This can't be happening!"

The source of the ruckus was a very large red-headed man in the middle of the tavern surrounded by other red headed men. Well maybe men was the wrong word, they were more like bears, especially the one in the middle who was wearing a bear skin, complete with head and paws. The bear-man was singing a drinking song quite loudly, his companions singing along with him. None of them were very good singers which was a shame because they were all singing at the top of their lungs.

The large one had a giant stein of ale in his hand and was swinging it back and forth, occasionally taking long drafts from it. He wasn't as nearly as drunk as he looked, and his sharp silver eyes betrayed this as he looked around the tavern. He had come to Merope to find its Sailor Senshi, he had ran into her once before and had been intrigued. A little asking around had led him to this tavern.

The red-head must have had a radar alert for female voices, because the moment the newcomer spoke his head swiveled around to her. "Hail, fair lady! What is a beautiful dove like yourself doing in a place like this?" Standing he swaggered over to her, his men parting for him easily. Once he was in front of her he pushed back the bear head revealing a mane of red hair and a thick beard. "You look like you could use the protection of a strong man, and luck have it I happen to be a very strong man." It was obvious his words were truth and not bluff because of his attire, which was one whole garment, a loincloth. Well, two if you counted the gauntlets. Three if you included his body hair, which most did.

There were bears in her tavern. The volume of their song was enough to make her take a step back, a glance sent sideways to the bartender. In comparison to the Orion men, he probably could have passed off as a woman. He certaintly looked feminine with his blond hair and purple eyes -- a rare find from the slave market, sold to pay off his debts. He had long since paid them off, opting to remain on her crew as a bar tender.

The bartender continued to idly polish the pint he was cleaning, signalling to her quickly in sign: They're paying customers.

She looked away in time to see that she was spotted, a flush immediately rising to her cheeks as she noticed his choice of attire. She had been to Orion once before as Sailor Merope, and... well. As Sailor Merope, normally she could punch a Merovian man and still come out the victor. Trying that with an Orion? Her knuckles still stung.

"I-I'm sure you are," Alorie replied back, forcing to meet his eyes. She will not stare at the loincloth, she will not stare at the loincloth. "However I can take care of myself quite well, thank you. What brings you to the Wayfarer's Rest?"

She really, really needed to visit the slave market for some bruisers or bouncers sometime. Or hire out from the Pirates Guild, even if their rates were ridiculous when there wasn't a voyage charted in their contract.

Behind him without their leader the men had devolved into grabbing nearby tavern wenches and pulling them onto their laps, their hands going in places they probably shouldn't be going, but they didn't seem to care. Thor himself didn't seem to notice, his eyes fixated on the little thing in front of him.

Of course he didn't recognize her as Merope, but she was very pretty and a nice distraction. Downing the rest of his ale in one large gulp he passed it off to a passing wench then stepped closer to her. "I'm sure you can, dove, fortunately I have many other skills that I am sure you can find a use for." He grinned the look in his eyes hinting at just what kind of skills he was implying.

The look dropped from his face though when he answered her question. This was serious business. He had heard that Sailor Merope owned the tavern, which was why had chosen it to hole up in with his men. "I'm looking for the owner of this tavern, do you know where I can find her? She has been difficult to come by." He looked honestly disappointed about this, raising a large hand to rub his beard.

The tavern wenches, had a variety of different reactions. Some playfully squealed when grabbed, delighting in the attention. Others hefted the trays they used to carry several pints of ale and used them to whack the men in the face before squirming and dashing away. All in all, it was pretty obvious that some wouldn't be spending the night alone.

What. Alorie took another step back as he stepped closer, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides. There was something to regret: gloves. Her eyes dropped to his chest as he hinted at the his other talents. Why were Orions so... forward? This was nothing like the subtlities of courtship she was used to. Then again, Chios was different from Rogueshaven, and a Rogueshaven girl that spent her teen years in Chios... Well. In some ways, Thor's directness was a welcomed change. In others, it was whole new territory that she was completely unprepared for.

"I might," she ventured carefully. "What do you want her for, stranger?" She was somewhat curious, given the recent trip. She did, after all, take back one of their self-proclaimed wives back to Merope after that particular Grand Crew member noticed his daughter was missing. Did Orions hold grudges? She hoped not.

The crew members that were whacked in the head didn't seem to mind, instead laughing it up and patting each other on the back as if it was what they wanted to happen.

Thor's silver eyes flicked over her and even though his breath reeked of ale he wasn't as drunk as any other man would be that drank as much as he had. He noticed her hands, and the way she looked away from him. Maybe she wasn't used to such advances, he didn't know the customs of Merope very well. Mainly he just stole their women away.

"I bear gifts from an admirer of hers, and I can only give them to her directly." Of course, he was speaking of himself, and he wouldn't hide the fact that he was Sailor Orion if she pressed him. His Senshi identity wasn't that important to him. He had more important things to do, like lead his men on raids and find Sailor Merope and convince her to marry him. He may have only met her once, but the way she tried to punch him was cute and he found he couldn't keep his mind off her.

"An admirer," Alorie repeated flatly, crossing her arms and staring up at him. She couldn't help but to arch an eyebrow, puzzled at the statement. She felt as if she'd seen him before... But given that most Orion men were all bears, she couldn't tell them apart.

"Alas, whoever this admirer is, is going to be heartbroken." She announced, gesturing to the tavern, "She isn't here, and probably won't be for aw-"

"ALORRRRRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Son of a --" Alorie cursed, turning away from Thor to head towards the staff area. " WHADDYA WANT?"

" I THINK WE WERE FOLLOWED FROM ORION AFTER YOU PUNCHED THAT ONE G-ohey, no waaay." From around the corner came Alorie's first mate Cleena, who immediately shut her trap to stare. The green-haired lass looked from Alorie, to Thor, to the gathered Orions in the main lounge before turning around and beating a hasty retreat.

With her back still to Thor, Alorie sighed and pinched the bridge between her eyes, cheeks burning brightly.

"Isn't here?" His face fell at that, he was hoping she would be, while he could try and charm this Alorie into bed to distract himself, he really wanted Merope. He was about to turn and gather his men and leave a defeated man when the voice from the staff area stopped him. Followed from Orion? It was his turn to arch a brow and then he grinned. It seemed he had found his girl.

In one smooth movement he stepped forwards, swept the bear skin off of himself and settled it on her shoulders. "Alorie, is it? It sounds like you're the woman I'm looking for." He leaned down his hands gripping her shoulders. "It was cute when you tried to punch me, it tickled a little." Whipping her around he bent further down pressing his lips against hers in a searing kiss. Pulling away he grinned. "Marry me."

It was the words ‘Marry me’ that snapped Orion out of the vision. What the ******** ********? It was that woman again from the statues, Alorie they had called her. Thor wanted to…marry her? Why had he wanted to marry her? He had only just met her, that made no sense. What was he in a past life? Some kind of creepy stalker guy? That wasn’t very promising for the future of his life now.

But after a moment to recover from the shock he knew Thor wasn’t just some creepy stalker. He had loved Alorie from the moment she punched him. Orion had felt it in the vision, his intense need to have the bluenette. If only he knew who she was, and if she had been reborn as well, he could…No, he couldn’t. Even if he knew who the woman was he couldn’t go after her, he had a girlfriend and he didn’t believe in real love, the kind Thor felt for Alorie, anyways. It only ended up in hurt and heartbreak.

Orion pushed himself up, unable to stop thinking about that past vision. Had Alorie agreed to marry him? He had never gotten that answer, but…he remembered the first vision he had seen. They hadn’t seemed married then, quite the opposite actually. Thor had had to tie Alorie up to get her to his castle. Orion supposed she had said no then. This thought brought an unexplainable sadness to his heart.

Shaking the feelings off he managed to start climbing out of the cellar. He couldn’t sit and think about this any longer. His past life didn’t have any bearing on his present one, sitting around and mooning over a woman he had loved a thousand years ago would do him no good.

Stepping out into the light of day Orion blinked, raising a hand sticky with alcohol to shield his eyes. He was starting to get a headache and he just wanted to go home. He had seen enough for one day, he didn’t want to be assaulted by anymore visions.

He managed to stumble through the castle without looking at any of the statues, he didn’t want to be reminded of who they represented or what she had made him feel. It wasn’t until he was outside the castle on the drawbridge that he stopped moving, pausing to catch his breath. Feelings had overwhelmed him again; they came in waves, residue from his vision. He had to grip his chest trying to stem them, but it was impossible. It was like being out at sea, everything calm and perfect and then suddenly being smashed into by rogue waves. He felt like he was drowning in them.

And then as suddenly as they began they stopped, leaving him gasping for breath. What was going on? He hoped the feelings would stop when he got back to Earth, he didn’t want to be forever assaulted by feelings that were no longer his own.

When he was sure he was in control of himself he started walking again, almost forgetting that he had left a beer bottle to be collected. Luckily he did remember before he sent himself off and he was able to go and collect it. He stood for a long moment, holding onto the empty beer bottle. Maybe his vision had just been a drunken hallucination like he thought the last one had been. Only…only drunken hallucinations didn’t usually come along with the intense feelings he had just been overcome by. Or at least, he had never heard of anything like that happening. Of course, he had stuck his hands into a barrel of unknown liquid and drank it. Not exactly the smartest thing to do. For all he knew the liquid could have been some kind of hallucinogenic, liquid LSD or something else ridiculous. That thought made him laugh and he realized how ridiculous he was being. The vision had been a vision, not something he needed to worry over. And the feelings…well he could just ignore those.

The empty beer bottle was tucked under his arm and Orion summoned his cell phone, sliding it open. Closing his eyes he focused on Earth and when he heard its familiar song he pressed send, disappearing into the nothingness.

A second later he reappeared at home, in the bathroom. The phone was let go into its pocket, and the beer bottle was thrown away. Super Sailor Orion became plain old Damian Cole, and staring at his face in the mirror he felt better. Whatever he felt on Orion seemed to stay on Orion, no waves of emotions hitting him now.

Running his fingers through his hair he messed it up a bit and then left the bathroom. Walking out into the living room he looked around spotting his roommate still asleep on the couch. He had been doing a lot of that lately, but Damian didn’t blame him. The guy had gotten stabbed in the leg and nearly bled out in Damian’s jeep. He’d be sleeping a lot too if it had happened to him.

Thinking about Carter bleeding on his seats reminded him of that horrible night and he shook his head trying to forget. It wasn’t something he wanted to think about at all. He was doing his best to block it out of his memory, and just focus on the fact that Carter was alive and well now.

Moving past his best friend he went to the fridge, pulling out a new beer. Using the magnet bottle opener he popped the bottle top off the beer and threw it in the trash. The magnet was replaced and he took a long swig of the drink while he stared into the open fridge. After a long moment he let the door swing shut, taking nothing but the beer that was already in his hand.

Looking back at his roommate he had to pause, looking at him closer. Blue hair, olive skin. Could he be? No, no way. Damian began to laugh, there was no way his roommate and best friend could be the girl from his visions. He was laughing so hard he woke Carter up, the bluenette looking at him confused. ”What’s so funny, man?” The redhead just shook his head, waving dismissively. ”Nothing, nothing at all. Just go back to sleep, Carter, sorry I woke you up.” He watched as Carter took his advice then took another long drink of beer. Carter being Alorie? The thought had him shaking his head again, that would be one ridiculous joke.