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 Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 2:11 pm
The Page of Earth was pensive, to say the least.
He tried not to have a 'usual haunt', a place where he could usually be found, be it defending or simply inhabiting. Or, for the moment, using as a peaceful escape. He certainly tried to keep himself away from his home and from his place of work, so he didn't accidentally give himself away. A librarian who had a thing for Camelot, and suddenly a knight named Camelot protecting the library?
Hmm. He wondered if even magic would keep him safe for long. But then, he had never figured anyone out without being told directly or having them give him hints personally. He wasn't really worried about that.
Regardless of reason, he was there at the library, in his usual thinking spot. Atop the roof. At least now he didn't have to worry about locking himself out, as he often did when he came up to take a break from work. Now he could just hop over the side of the rail, or something equally as dangerous. Or take the fire escape. More likely.
He was leaning on the rail that surrounded the perimeter of the roof, a bracing to keep people from falling off. He was staring out over the sleeping city, a soft wind moving his hair and rustling his clothes. He was still recovering from his fight with Zircon, his arm broken and his ribs cracked. But it was more the war of words that troubled him this evening.
From the beginning he had known that his duty would be to protect, to serve the senshi and repay the favors they had given him by saving his life so many times. The more he learned, though, the more he saw that they were fighting a war no one could truly win, and they, mostly kids dragged in by powers beyond their reckoning or control, were dying because of it. Killing each other.
There had to be a better answer. He had told Zircon as much. Shown her, by protecting her when they fell down the stairs. She told him she owed him, but it wouldn't keep her from killing him. He simply could not understand why it had to be that way.
He was completely lost in his thoughts, sighing as the wind picked up slightly.
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Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 12:33 pm
Curiouser and curiouser. Lina was in the process of learning exactly how to muddle out power signatures, seeing as how somewhere the knowledge of who was what had gone quite the way of the dinosaurs and her Negaverse powers. Meeting Babylon had put a third power chip on the board in the form of Pages. They were, she was assuming, the weakest of her new kind. She was a knight and they were all Knights with a capital K but...wow that was confusing.
A power signature very similar to cutie Babylon's had shown up on her scouter not five minutes before, and it was drawing the bluenette towards the library. What she saw there, on the roof, was somewhat surprising.
"You're a knight?!" Her voice, unguarded with surprise, was full of shock. The man sitting on the roof in what was obvious knight attire couldn't have been within ten years of her own age. More like fifteen if any! Was his hair graying?
What was a girl supposed to do about that?
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Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 12:55 pm
Camelot felt the power signature approaching him and wondered. It felt like his, a Knight, but stronger. He had never met anyone like him that wasn't... exactly like him. As in, no one stronger in rank than he was now, all Pages.
He turned to regard her in wonder, trying not to look surprised. Of course, he was met with someone doing just the opposite, fully letting him know her surprise at his appearance.
It almost made him pout.
"Of course I'm a Knight!" He replied, indicating his outfit. "Why else would I be wearing this? You are too, I can tell, but... you uh. Feel different. I mean. You know, your aura."
Taking a breath, he offered her a smile. He reminded himself that it was always better to be polite, even if he was feeling defensive. He didn't know what she meant, or why she was surprised that he might be a knight. Did he look too goofy?
"My name is Camelot. Page of Earth."
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:32 pm
Lina grinned and shrugged a bit. "Hey, you could just be some vigilante Batman-type nutter sitting on top of the DC library hoping to swoop down on some pretty terrorist girls in their short skirts! I assume nothing. Except this," she tapped her scouter "tells me otherwise. I just ah...well you see..." Lips pressed together as she wrestled for a moment before rolling eyes at herself and blurting straight out. "I'm used to seeing them so very much younger!"
Hands spread helplessly in a sort of apology. "Sorry, but all the fully-grown adults I've known were...really powerful and a little scary. You're not that powerful and don't seem too scary." To be fair, Charonite was the only true adult she'd known in this business. Even Nealite was barely older than her by less than a decade and while Obsidian was scary he did have his moments of almost boyish charm. At least she thought so.
"I'm Lina Knight of Mercury. Pleased to meetcha."
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 6:35 pm
Camelot starred at her blankly for a very long moment.
"I am not going to swoop on..." he wasn't sure why he was trying to defend himself. He knew she could sense what he was, and he imagined she would know better than to think he was some pervert, using his powers for something like that! Right? He certainly hoped he didn't look like someone who would do something like that.
When she indicated her scouter he looked surprised. She could use that to learn about others? That was fascinating. He'd've asked her about it right away, except he was cut off once again by her saying something else bluntly and taking his composure away from him.
He tried not to look hurt, laughing and nodding his head.
"I'm neither of those things, to be honest. But I'm working on the strong part, at least. Scary... is not really necessary, I hope." He smiled, and gave her a little bow of his head. "It's nice to meet you, Lina. So, I get the feeling, just by your aura, you're much... ah. More powerful than I am. I've never met another knight that felt different, in that sense. We're all pretty much even, except for you..." there was a question in there, somewhere.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 2:25 pm
A cryptic look passed across her face at Camelot's curious glance before she grinned disarmingly. Or at least what she hoped was disarming and totally innocent. Because she was absolutely innocent....on the day she was born perhaps. Mischief would never quite wipe itself from her face and all its youthful glow, because Lina was nothing if not mischievous. "I guess that makes me the old one then, huh? I've been at this for about two years, give or take. I was two month shy of seventeen then and I'm half a year from nineteen now."
Fingers pressed against the device that covered her ear had the screen shimmering before retracting back into wherever it was it went when it was dormant. "You'll get strong but I don't really suggest the scary. You end up giving a lot of yourself away in order to force yourself to be scary and nobody really likes scary people." Walking to the edge of the roof she swept out the duster that covered most of her frame and all but flopped done onto the stone ledge.
"As far as I can tell I'm perhaps twice as strong as you are. So from what I gather, there's something in-between what you are and what I am, though I haven't met someone like that yet." But the Negaverse had three ranks and telling from her time in the war the Senshi did as well. Reason held that their sainted order would as well.
"Does that sound about right to you?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 10:59 am
"Two years already? And only nineteen. That's... incredible." He meant it. He had a lot of respect and awe for the young fighters of the war. Even on either side, as well as his own. It was a strange idea, kids being tossed into the war like this, most against their will as far as they knew.
Of course, it only drove his own age and status as new home. Even more than normal, anyway. He watched her, wondering how he had managed to get dragged into this now, so late.
It was like he was the kid who had been held back a few years. Many, many years, in fact. But at least now he was finally getting it.
He nodded his head.
"That seems about right," he said thoughtfully. He had met different 'level' Negaverse and Senshi. When he thought hard about it, there were at least three different kinds each. And many others, like the Corrupted Senshi he had run into, and whatever that monster with the woman's face had been. Incredibly powerful, but beyond any of the other Negaverse he had met.
"You should be careful," he said thoughtfully, on instinct. He saw her sitting on the edge of the roof, and certainly didn't want her to fall off. "And what did you mean, ah. Giving a lot of yourself away? You sound like you've some experience there."
He didn't find her scary. Intimidating, but that was a different thing entirely. And mostly his fault.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:37 pm
"It's kinda sad though, at the same time. Incredibly sad maybe? Sometimes I wish I'd remained ignorant of all of this. I mean, knowing what we know? You look out there," her hand indicated the city around them, all the sleeping homes and businesses. "They all know that something is happening here in Destiny City but it's chalked up to rowdy young criminals. I've watched people die. Good people who wanted nothing else but to make sense out of all of this." Damn Lina, you're pretty heavy tonight aren't you? Her head shook and the smile came back up.
"Sorry. You'd be right about losing parts of yourself. I used to try to be what I wasn't and just walked in some dark places. I'm better now though." Fingers stretched towards the sky and smiled. "And don't worry. I could fall off this roof and be okay as long as I didn't land on my head. Have you tried to jump yet?" The smile widened into a grin.
"It's the best benefit."
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:11 pm
Camelot nodded his head.
"It is sad, I agree. Even before... this happened to me, I hated seeing senshi, even negaverse solders, fighting against one another. Getting hurt. Wasting or even losing their young lives, the most important years of their life, to something like... this."
He could imagine how terrible it was, seeing someone die in combat. Someone that they cared about, a friend or even a family member. He watched the city thoughtfully.
When she asked him about jumping from the roof he laughed.
"Well, I ah. I clambered down the side of it a few times, and sort of hopped down the front... but jump straight from here down to the floor? I imagine I'd hurt myself. I am old, after all."
But not bitter about it.
"I do like all this added strength and speed, though. It does make me want to act like a reckless teenager and do stupid, dangerous things. As if fighting youma isn't dangerous enough." Of course, he did his best to control those urges, but he had never been very good at it. Sometimes he still went off to steal a car or break into a store, just to remember his youth and see if he still could.
Having what amounted to super powers didn't help.
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 12:35 pm
Lina grinned like lightning in the darkness, brief and glowing. "It's fun to run isn't it? I spend a lot of time just hopping the roofs, it's how I was trained. Someone would throw a ball as far as they could and I'd have to catch it and bring it back, beating my time." So many fond memories, even if she couldn't truly remember who it was throwing the ball or why it was such a happy memory. "But I bet you could do it. I've jumped and fallen from higher and barely even impacted my knees and you're not that old." High praise? Not especially but it was a start.
Leaning so that her eyes calculated the distance, his height, and weight. "Besides, if they didn't think you could handle little jumps like this, they wouldn't have let you be a Knight." Whoever 'they' was would be a mystery to both of them, but there had to be a cosmic power out there somewhere right? Maybe not Cosmos and Lina doubted that the Mythical Princess Serenity was anything more than a story told to keep the senshi in line and Beryl crazy.
Power didn't just come from thin air. It had to be coming from a place somewhere in the universe and in that place was the answer to what they were, who they were, and what this was all about. Or at least, that's what she told herself. It was a great way to avoid taking responsibility for your life.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 12:02 pm
Camelot smiled at the thought, though he couldn't help but imagine Dogby trying to play an epic game of fetch like that. Something told him her little feet were not going to do the job of leaping over roof tops and alleyways.
He stared at her for a moment. That old? Maybe not. He smiled though, shaking his head. If he got hung up on everyone taking note of his age, constant and intentional or otherwise, he would never get anything done. And he would be even more self conscious than he could already get.
And that was not good for a knight, was it?
As he knew them, knights were strong and courteous, courageous and determined. Proud, but loyal and noble. It was what they did, not who they were or how they looked, that made the difference. He was going to make a difference. That old or not.
He smiled and nodded.
"Perhaps you're right. There's more to me that... whatever granted me this shield managed to see. All of us, you as well," he was running on the assumption that all knights were granted their item when they were ready, and were awakened from civilians. He had no indication that things could be more complicated than even that.
"But why risk leaping from a building when there is no one down there that needs my help? If I hurt myself being silly and giving into impulses, what happens to the people I could have gotten myself hurt defending?" He shook his head, laughing. Always on the fence, wanting to have fun but wanting to be responsible. He was supposed to be the adult, wasn't he?
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:53 pm
Well okay, that was something she'd never really thought about. It was so hard to think about people you were supposed to be helping when Lina Knight didn't much think at all about civilians. It was a by-product of her natural inclination to think everyone was a moron until proven otherwise and the Negaverse conviction that you had to use the civilians like fodder. They were a necessary evil to achieve your goals.
The thought had her hesitating and shaking her head. "Can't say I've ever thought of it like that. It's always been doing stuff to see if I could so when I was in a pinch I knew to take the jump because I'd be able to make it. No hesitation or doubt because you already knew it was possible. Guess that makes me self-centered." Which really was something that Lina had been aware of for quite some time.
Re-educating herself, changing her conditioning so that something other than those in her inner circle of caring were worth paying attention to, was going to be a bear of an effort. "I guess I always saw it as one saved was two lost so you had to fight the people hurting rather than simply trying to save people when you saw the opportunity. Taking the offensive."
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:07 pm
Camelot listened and arched his eyebrow as she explained her thought process. It was not a wholly surprising attitude, considering the lives they lived. And he had no idea about her story. Still, they were powered up, they had strength and energy they could do almost anything with. They lived in danger.
Still, that didn't mean that risk had to be unavoidable.
"That makes sense as well," he offered, nodding his head with his concession of her point, but his expression said he wasn't done there. "But," there it was, "there's a difference between practicing and being reckless, don't you think? If you leap before you think about it, just to see if you can, what happens when you don't make it? In a pinch or not, it's still dangerous and there are so many important things for us to do, and so many people that need our help, I think we have some responsibility to at least keep ourselves in one piece if we can help it."
He looked very thoughtful about his words, knowing that impulse was often stronger than that. And that was the rub, where the balance had to be found. Trusting ones instincts could save their life or get them much farther than they had known how, but at the same time it was very easy to go too far and give oneself over entirely to recklessness. Camelot didn't like the idea that she might put herself in worse trouble because she didn't take a moment to think things through.
He immediately felt the need to worry about her, as it didn't sound like she was doing enough of that for herself.
"I don't see it that way. People... are people. We all live on this earth, regardless of what planet we represent, or if there's chaos inside us. I think... there's hope in everyone, in some small way, to end things without having to kill each other, or leave this planet, or whatever goal a soldier carries with them into a fight. I can't look at someone, a Negaverse agent or a Senshi, and not think about who they might be as a civilian. I think about them, and about the life they could be living without all this. That's why saving every civilian I can is important to me, and why my enemy is the war itself. I just... can't leave people to a fate they can't defend against, when I have the power to help them, if that makes sense. But you're right, there will always be a need for fighters, I just..."
He was babbling now, and he frowned apologetically.
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:47 pm
Balance. Boy was that the issue with everything in her life. There had never been a need or a want to balance any aspect of life in the past. Her parents had indulged Audrey. Her requests had never been outside of their means to procure and being that her social life up until seventeen years of age had been nonexistent, they'd been overjoyed to allow her to go out and do almost anything she pleased.
At that point they couldn't have really kept her in anyway. Climbing the tree in her yard and teleportation were two of the alternatives to walking out of the front door. There'd never been a reason to check her impulses or think about someone other than herself for no one had ever asked it of her. So when the time came that the thoughts needed to be there, Lina had no idea how to access or even formulate what was required. Now she had to and it seemed like this older man had that all figured out.
His stance on the war, this cursed situation they all found themselves in, brought a buoyant light to her face, removing all cautious guards and confusion that had existed there. Lina Knight looked terribly happy, terribly eager, terribly....young. Painfully so even. "You agree! I knew I could find someone to agree that they're not...they're people. Every Negaverser I've ever known was someone who just wanted to do something bigger and better in life and they were just...led astray." That was a good way to explain her situation in a hundred words or less.
"They're people. Everyone wants to live their lives without having to face the idea that tonight they might not come home. Someone might miss them. My parents...they miss me a lot. I left home so they wouldn't have to realize what I was up to and I barely see them now." And will probably never hug them again. The idea of that filled her eyes before it was pushed away. "But you seem to get it. Like all the way down to the ground get it." Camelot was her new best friend.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:12 am
Camelot watched her, and felt suddenly very guilty. Like somehow he had done something wrong, awakening to his powers so much later in his life than these kids he was blessed and horrified to work with all at once. They were strong and capable, and he knew from experience that many of them hardly acted their ages because they simply couldn't, but they were still so young. He had lived at least twice, often more, than what they had.
It hardly seemed fair.
Seeing her smile just made him notice it more, coupled with the conversation. They deserved to be happy, all of them. Living the lives they had started with, the ones he was sure most of them clung to. Treasured or protected, as he did. But they were in this war now, most much longer than he had been in it, and he found his connections to his fellow knights and the senshi far stronger than he could have anticipated.
They were all fighting for the same thing, in a simple sense. Each other.
"I'm sorry," he said, his expression stung. She didn't see her parents? He didn't see his, either, but that was because they had died a while back. Of 'normal' causes: no terrorists, no revenge plots, no youma, none of that stuff that he was sure plagued everyone elses thoughts. He worried for his son, but it was hard to match that feeling to the situation at hand.
"I get it," he said, nodding his head slowly. "And I'm going to continue fighting for a way to end this war, without having to end the lives of those fighting it. I'd do better, if you helped me." He looked at her hopefully, but there was something else behind his asking her to join him. He wanted to take care of her, because from what he could see, she was trying too hard to take care of herself. And he couldn't help himself: she was young and no matter how capable she was, she still needed someone keeping an eye out for her.
She was still a kid. Regardless of how fast she had to grow up.
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