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 Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:23 pm
It wasn't as if she didn't have people to patrol with. No, it was quite the opposite; nominally, Virgo had an entire team. However, the vast majority of them... They were slacking. Which was partially Virgo's fault, she thought. Granted, Hero hadn't been too good at corralling wandering Zodiacs either, but Virgo was the Princess's chosen successor, not born into the role like Aries had been. Surely she could do better?
For now, it seemed like she couldn't. So she patrolled alone, letting her boyfriend rest. It wasn't like she couldn't handle anything that popped up, and all. Not much could offer resistance to a Zodiac Soldier, she thought, pride suffusing her features for a moment. Well, perhaps a General or an Eternal senshi, and everyone knew she'd probably never become a princess so those ranks would be above her, too...
Which wasn't such a hardship. Being Zodiac Captain was hard enough. She didn't need to be a Princess too. The blonde hopped up over a ledge, landing carefully on an enclosed roof. On first brush, she thought the rooftop was empty; she straightened, of a mind to move on. But as she crossed the cement, she spotted... A senshi?... She backtracked, and then her olive-green eyes widened. Certainly a senshi, and a young one. Was she hurt? The way she was sitting suggested she might be.
"Are you okay," she called, crossing the rooftop at a fast clip to lay one hand on the young senshi's shoulder.
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:55 am
Sailor Leto cringed as she heard someone land on the rooftop that she was sitting upon. She was against a ledge, on the opposite side of the building from the new comer; her knees were drawn up against her chest and her eyes were clenched shut. She swallowed hard, assuming the worst- maybe a Negaverser had felt her power signature and decided to pay her a visit. Her brow furrowed for a moment, immediately sensing the other person's signature as being one of the good guys... If they could even call themselves that.
Slowly, her bloodshot eyes opened and she raised her head to meet the gaze of a kind, concerned looking Senshi. She choked back a sob and half-smiled up at the girl as she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Leto sort of snickered at the question of her well-being. "Okay...." she laughed quietly. "I guess it depends on what your definition of okay is."
Her mind was racing a mile a minute, as it seemed it always did lately. She felt like she was losing it, her grip on reality. It had been a few weeks since the Negaversers were rescued from the confines of the Blood Moon Court. A few weeks since the torture and the bloodshed and the sobs begging them to stop. And yet Sailor Leto still couldn't get it out of her head. She had an obligation to the Blood Moon Court- that's why she was here. That's why she was patrolling tonight, whether or not her state of mind was right for the job. It was quite obvious that Leto was far from being a fully functioning Senshi.
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:44 pm
The petite blonde knelt at the other senshi's side, the greaves at her knees clicking against the cement with a metallic noise. This poor senshi! Her eyes were all bloodshot and it looked like she hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks. Poor girl, poor girl--it reminded Virgo of herself, always running and never catching whatever it was she was after. She took the brunette's hand in hers. "Are you okay, physically?--Oh, don't cry! I promise I'm not going to hurt you, I'm here to help!--I'm Zodiac Captain Soldier Virgo, the guardian senshi of Innocence. I promise I can, will, help."
What was this poor dear even doing out patrolling? Whoever led her team, they must be merciless and terrible. Virgo would never force a Zodiac who looked like this out to patrol. The mere fact that she was sitting on a rooftop hiding instead of fighting youma proved she should be at home, resting! Recovering from whatever memory was riding her! Because, she thought, it was obvious that something was terribly wrong. A fury at this unknown captain suffused her, but she tried to smother it as best as she could. Being angry at the leader of this girl's team--because why would she be patrolling on her own will in this condition?--wouldn't help right now. It might help later, though...
"What happened," she asked, tone as gentle as she could make it. She squeezed the younger senshi's hand, all concerned attention.
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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:35 am
Sailor Leto nodded slowly. "I... I'm not hurt, if that's what you mean. At least physically. Well, sorta..." She smiled at the girl squeezing her hand. "I guess I mean I'm not physically hurt from something that happened tonight. I'm still recovering from a few weeks ago." She had cuts that were scabbed and scarring, and bruises that were now green and yellow rather than bright purple and blue.
"My name is Sailor Leto, Senshi of Camoflage..." her voice trailed off, "cadet of the Blood Moon Court." She let out a heavy sigh and met Virgo's eyes, as her own welled with tears. "Do you... Do you know what we did? Do other Senshi know?"
She had never met this other girl in her entire life, and yet she felt like she could spill everything to her. She looked kind and comforting and, well, innocent. She said she was a Zodiac Captain- and Leto figured that meant that she lead a team of her own. And a Soldier, at that! She needed to know. She desperately needed to know if what they had done throughout those weeks was okay. She needed to know that other Senshi are out there mercilessly killing members of the Negaverse- stooping down to their level. She needed to be reassured that she didn't do something terribly wrong and that she was a good person.
A few tears rolled down her cheeks as the thoughts of ending those poor peoples' lives flashed through her head. It wasn't the Negaverse she was upset about- it was the fact that once they did, they became civilians again. They were normal people and the BMC ended their lives and that ate away at Leto every single day.
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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:14 am
Virgo cast a look over Leto, cataloguing the faded bruises and scabbed-over cuts. She frowned at that, and chafed the less experienced senshi's hands between her own. Of course a Zodiac could sustain injuries like that... but they were stronger. Made of the same stuff, but tempered in a different fire. "Well, they don't look so bad now," she said, nodding to herself. Recovering well, this little White Moon senshi was, and Virgo found herself very glad for that.
"It's good to meet you, Sailor Leto, cadet of the Blood Moon Court." She bowed her head a little bit, enough to indicate her respect for the other senshi. Anyone with wounds like that was a good fighter--or else she'd be at the bottom of a six-foot hole. The morbid thought chased the little reassuring smile off her face, and instead she reached over to swipe a thumb under Leto's eye. "No," she said, "I've been away... I heard something about a battle with the Blood Moon and a Great Youma. What happened?"
Visions of horrors she'd seen in the aftermath of Chaos battles sprung into her head. The destruction in the deserted part of Destiny City, she hadn't yet been to see... "What did you do," she asked, pulling her veil free of her circlet. She offered the pearlescent fabric to Leto to wipe the tears away.
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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:59 am
Leto sniffled and gratefully accepted the beautiful veil to wipe her tears. She swallowed hard, wondering where exactly to start this story. She hadn't had to talk about it yet. She hasn't had to tell people of the awful things she and her team had done. She genuinely wasn't sure if she would be able to get those words out. She stared at the girl for a few what seemed like very long seconds, and then her gaze lowered to the ground.
"Oh..." Her voice was low and monotone as she spoke to the complete stranger. "Well, good to know that word hasn't gotten out."
"We... We did a lot of things that I'm not proud of. Things that I never thought I would do." Her eyes shot up to meet Virgo's again, tears welling up for a second time. Her brow furrowed as she thought about it.
Leto closed her eyes and lowered her head, drawing her knees tightly to her chest as she said those words. We killed them. Never in her entire life would Kathryn Callaghan ever have thought she would say those words to anyone. She was a bit of a jerk sometimes, but never ever would she think she would grow to be a 17 year old murderer. Her body was trembling now and there were knots in her stomach beginning to make her nauseous. What would her parents think if they saw their baby girl now? Killing and torturing people... And for what?
"Is that normal?" she was mumbling into her knees now. "Is this what Senshi do? Is this what I'm destined for? Doing things that I'm ashamed of and feel guilty for doing?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:52 pm
For a long moment, Virgo couldn't think of a thing to say. Tricking the Negaverse, okay, that... was more than she had ever been able to accomplish. Hell, the Negaverse had killed her once and then almost killed her again, she couldn't be said to be an expert at fighting this form of Chaos. But she knew battle scars, and she knew what to do with them. All that time guarding Huben's back millennia ago... It would not go to waste.
"Oh, no, Leto," she said, her tone that of a mother explaining to her daughter a misconception. The blonde senshi scooted forward until they were shoulder-to-shoulder, freed one hand to rest it on the side of Leto's head so she could gently pat the brunette head. "No, that's not how it should be at all." She could emphasize, to a degree. She knew what it was to have hatred for the Negaverse burning through your veins like the most potent drug ever created, like fire. It could overwhelm you so easily... and that seemed to be what had happened to the Blood Moon Court.
How could she explain it? She had never had to explain this before--the Zodiacs had always known. It felt like it was part of the Zodiac DNA, at times, to understand that.
The Blood Moon could not be compared to the Zodiac, she thought.
"No, Leto," she repeated. "Senshi are beacons of light... the stars, come down to Earth. We are put here to defeat darkness, not become part of it." Her pace was steady as she ran her fingertips over Leto's hair, the motion intended to do nothing more than comfort. "We kill because they do. We are not murderers--we're avenging and protecting those who can't help themselves. But we don't torture people. We don't hurt just to hurt."
She tipped Leto's face up then, gave the brunette a searching look. "You feel guilty for what you did," she said after a moment. "That's good. When you stop caring, that is when you will have problems. Leto... did you enjoy hurting those people?"
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 5:04 pm
Leto sighed and closed her eyes, relishing in the comfort of the other girl's soft touch. She had no idea who this girl was or why she cared so much, but she appreciated it more than Virgo could possibly know. She felt guilty, she really genuinely did- but she felt as if there was hate and a need to destroy those people running through her. It was as if she lived and breathed to rid the Earth of these people and that feeling made her more uncomfortable than anything else ever has.
A beacon of light. The words repeated themselves in her head over and over again. "I sure as hell don't feel like a beacon of light." She sniffled and shook her head at Virgo's question. "No, I wouldn't say I enjoyed it. I can't say it didn't feel good sometimes. Not all of them- don't get me wrong. I didn't even know most of them. But Tanzanite... She tortured a Blood Moon Court's family, she kicked my a** and left me for dead in a shop downtown. I enjoyed hurting her. I relished in it." Her eye met Virgo's, now.
"Tanzanite is an awful person and I don't believe for a minute that she has any of her human side left in her. Not at all. After what she did to the Blood Moon Court, she deserved every second of pain we or anyone else may have inflicted on her." Leto frowned at her own words- they made her sick to her stomach, realizing the person she had become.
"But not the rest of them... No, I didn't enjoy that."
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:36 pm
Virgo nodded, and after a moment and giving the senshi another squeeze, she rose. It unnerved her that only when speaking of torment she inflicted would the less experienced senshi meet her eyes. No, more than unnerved her: It scared her, and that was something that she had never thought she would associate with a White Moon senshi. Of course she would have enjoyed beating Charonite to death. She would have relished it. But such thoughts would have made her immediately, physically sick as well--and once it was done, she was sure she'd never henshin up again unless it was to protect the Princess.
"I agree with you, Leto, in that enemies like Tanzanite are not to be given any quarter. But the moment you sink to her level is the moment you are no longer any better than her. The line separating 'senshi' from 'monster' is thin, but unforgiving. There is a difference between 'no quarter' and pain for the sake of pain."
Perhaps she was no so interested in speaking to this Blood Moon Queen after all.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:29 pm
Leto's eyes followed as Virgo rose to her feet in front of her. Clearly she had plenty to think about over the next little while- both in regards to being a Senshi in generally, and being a part of the Blood Moon Court. Was the BMC what she wanted to stand for in this fight against evil? Were they sinking to the level of the Negaverse? Did she even care if they were, anyway? Sometimes you need to fight fire with fire, she thought as she sighed quietly and pushed herself up to her feet.
She smiled softly at the other Senshi. "Thank you, Virgo. I... I really needed this talk. I don't interact with many outside of my team, and with all of us dealing with so much right now, it's nice to see a friendly face every once in a while. Especially one willing to talk to and hug a complete stranger."
She brushed off her fuku and gazed out over the city that sprawled beneath them. "I have a lot to think about, that's for damn sure. I appreciate the insight and words of wisdom from someone with more experience in this whole thing..."
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