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Quicksilver the Archangel
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 Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 5:32 pm
Sailor Pasiphae stood alone, breathless and panting, and the metal trashcan lid she had in her hands fell to the ground with a distinctive clanking sound. Her body was coated with sweat and thick, black dust, evidence of her recent exertions against a youma. She had been unfortunate, finding a youma that couldn't be defeated with punches and kicks alone--it was only by chance that she discovered its weakness to metal. One lucky kick had sent it flying into the trashcans, and it was the first time the creature acknowledged any pain. From there, she had taken the trashcan lid and used it half as a shield and half as a bashing weapon... it had taken time, but it had (finally) proven effective.
The Shame Senshi dabbed at a cut on her face from where the youma had scratched her, and she groaned more from annoyance than from pain. It had been hard enough to hide the now-mostly-healed gash in her side from her parents--how was she going to explain this cut on her face? She could blame Minotaur, perhaps, but that didn't seem fair... still, if she could think of nothing better, her poor pup would have to take the blame.
Pasiphae rubbed her arms against the chill of the night air, cold now that she wasn't having to exert herself in a fight and wondering for the millionth time what she was doing out here. She knew, really, but she didn't want to admit it. Snippets of a certain dream from weeks prior had flashed into her mind, fresh and vivid... and rather than risk falling asleep and reliving that nightmare again, she had chosen to henshin up and patrol. She hadn't purposefully hunted this youma, but she could not ignore her responsibility to destroy it either, once she had fond it... and now she would have to go home, even more exhausted, and the fight against sleep would be even harder.
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:12 pm
Eternal Sailor Europa was following the sounds of a struggle, but she couldn't say she was disappointed to find the battle already finished. The rookie-level senshi had done an admirable job dusting a particularly large youma - this much she could tell just from the amount of oily black soot coating the ground as she jogged up. "I'm sorry," she called to the girl. "I tried to get here to help, but it looks like you took care of it."
She circled the alley, sizing the situation up, and looked the senshi over. Her fuku was distinctly flapper-esque and Europa had to admire the fashion. "I'm Sailor Europa," she said. "And you... Are bleeding. Hold on."
She stepped toward the younger girl for a better look and tugged one of the glittering ribbons trailing from her rear bow. "I can take care of this. You don't do this for a year and a half without learning to patch yourself up."
Europa ripped a clean-looking piece of sparkly tulle off the bow, wadded it up, and held it out for the girl to take. "Apply pressure to the cut. It'll stop in a bit. Clean it when you get home with some Neosporin and put on some concealer in the morning. We heal fast."
She stopped, breathless, and waited for the girl to do as instructed. "Sorry, what's your name?"
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Quicksilver the Archangel
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 9:50 pm
A series of events happened very quickly in a very short amount of time, and the battle-weary Pasiphae just sort of felt like a wave washed over her and overwhelmed her. Her eyes ran over the other Senshi that appeared, hearing her apology but more immediately drawn to the set of wings that rested in the bow position, along with the shimmering, blue tails that trailed like the fragile tendrils of a jellyfish. The amount of detail led Pasiphae to assume that the Senshi before her was even more powerful than the ones she had met thus far. This observation set her nerves, already on edge, into being completely piqued as she scrambled to catch up in the conversation.
"I'm Sailor Pasiphae, and... and I'm sorry to be a bother," the girl blurted out, pressing the tulle to her face as she had been told. She was a little overwhelmed by Europa's mothering efforts, feeling that she did not deserve such careful attention from her fellow Senshi, especially one that was of such a high rank. If she had gotten hurt, it was because of her own faults, and she did not want her companion to feel like she was unaware of that fact. "You probably would've been able to handle this better, but I did my best... and I'll be fine, truly."
Hearing herself starting to ramble, and wanting to make a good first impression, the Shame Senshi stopped herself and gave a small smile, ending with one final sentiment, "Thank you... for your concern, though, and for being willing to help me. I appreciate it, I really do."
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 7:09 am
"No, no, it's no bother," said Europa seriously, smoothing out her ruffles. "Don't apologize. I mean it. We learn from experience." Europa was not one of those senshi who judged based on rank. Granted, she had earned her buttwings over the course of many long nights on the front lines, but the only thing she ever dared infer from someone's uniform was, perhaps, their alignment and how new to this they were. Seeing the plainer vestments of an ordinary Sailor-ranked senshi made her suspect she was dealing with a novice, but she didn't take that to mean the girl was any more or less capable.
"It's good to meet you, Sailor Pasiphae," she nodded, eying the girl. In her mind, she was already trying to place her - had she heard the name somewhere in conversation? It sounded familiar, but playing back conversations with other senshi didn't bring anything up. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" she added, mother henlike. "Or is it just your face?"
Getting just one cut was a good night out, even if it was somewhere visible. Europa remembered her early days as a senshi with no particular fondness - especially when she'd been called in for questioning because someone thought she was being abused.
Pasiphae, she thought stubbornly. Where had she heard that named before?
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Quicksilver the Archangel
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 2:39 pm
Sailor Pasiphae colored under the attention of the other Senshi, but she did not apologize again. She still didn't think she was worthy of such fuss, but what she was quickly learning when she met other Senshi was that they should help one another--and not just against youma. She nodded to show that she was listening to Europa, and she answered clearly whenever she inquired about her injuries, "No... not seriously. I'll have some brusies, but my shield protected me from most of his larger attacks. The scratch to the face being an exception, of course."
At least now she had an idea of how to hide said cut--she often borrowed her mother's concealer when she was having a bad break out, so it wouldn't raise any suspicions if it "disappeared" for a while. As her mind wandered, she thought more about the name of Europa, which for some reason seemed familiar to her. Where had she heard it before? From talking to someone else--yes, that was it! Europa had been mentioned by another Senshi that Pasiphae had met not too long ago, sailor Kallichore. Could this be the same Europa that the Senshi of Madness had mentioned meeting? She cleared her throat, endeavouring to be polite as she asked, "Excuse me, Europa, but... you wouldn't happen to know another Senshi named Kallichore?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 3:56 pm
Europa dropped the ribbon she was messing with and clapped her hands together. She beamed fondly at Pasiphae - the mention of Kallichore had set off a lightbulb on her head, and she knew why the name was familiar now. "Yes! How could I not know Kallichore - you've met her?"
The elder scout circled the younger, her grin spreading as she paced. "Pasiphae's a moon of Jupiter, isn't it?" she asked gleefully. "I knew I recognized the name! I looked them all up a few weeks ago." It was summer. She had to give herself some kind of research project, didn't she? Actually, she'd done more than look them up... she'd made flashcards and they were currently divided into "Active Senshi" and "Who Knows." So, yeah, a bit more than look them up.
"I'm glad I found you, then," she said with a smile. "I've been looking to see how many Jovian senshi there are in Destiny City - did you know that Jupiter has sixty-four moons?"
Later she'd send Kallichore and Ganymede texts and try to meet up with them both. It was on her to-do list, for sure.
"So," said Europa, stepping away, her investigation concluded (she really liked the beaded fringe). "Just to get introductions out of the way - I'm the Eternal Senshi of the Deep. And yourself?"
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Quicksilver the Archangel
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:42 pm
Pasiphae could only smile in return at the other Senshi's enthusiasm, nodding as she confirmed, "I met Kallichore not too long ago; she also mentioned something about the moons of Jupiter. She seemed to think that it was important... that our meeting was significant. I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm always glad to meet another Senshi."
She straightened, her tone becoming more professional once again as the conversation turned towards spheres. The Deep? That was not as straightforward as her own, or even Kallichore's madness, but she did not press the issue and instead answered Europa's question, "I am the Senshi of Shame. I... am not exactly sure what that means, but my power means that I can create an energy shield around myself, for a little while."
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:48 am
"Yes," nodded Europa, feeling a surge of pride for Kallichore's sense of initiative. While she had only met her once, she was fond of the other senshi - she'd shown her the ropes, and that almost made her her student. It was good to know that someone else was trying to figure things out. "I think that it has to do with past lives. Have you been back to your moon yet?"
It was a loaded sentence, and Europa was partially watching Pasiphae to see how she reacted. If you'd told her a year and a half ago that she was a reborn warrior from a moon of Jupiter, she'd probably have called bullshit. But a healthy sense of suspended disbelief would serve you well in this business. and she wanted to know what she was dealing with here. Also, whether or not Pasiphae had been back to her moon yet gave her a tremendous heads up on what the other scout ought to do next. Some people might have disagreed with her, but Europa felt it was important to visit the home planets relatively early in the game.
"The spheres can be... kind of oblique," she sighed, wiggling a hand. "Mine's the bottom of the ocean, though. I've figured out that much - I make things stop moving, I make it dark, I'm not totally sure what my Eternal attack does but it's variations on a theme."
She was really determined to figure out the eternal attack, but unfortunately didn't have any Negaversers to test it on.
"Shame, madness, lust... a lot of the Jovian scouts seem to be emotions, don't they?" she asked. "Oh! Have you met Ganymede yet? He's hard to miss."
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Quicksilver the Archangel
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 6:56 pm
Pasiphae listened to Europa's description of her sphere with fascination. The bottom of the ocean, the ability to stop movement... it seemed much more offensive than her own. She shook her head at the question about Ganymede, explaining, "Kallichore and you are the only Jupiter Senshi that I've met... I'd certainly LIKE to meet Ganymede, though."
She hesitated momentarily, knowing that she had circumvented Europa's question about space travel long enough that it would appear suspicious. She took a deep breath and pressed forward. She had told Kallichore about her nightmare without giving her much more detail; Europa, however, might be in a position to make more sense of it. "I have never traveled there, although Kallichore told me that it was physically possible. But I had a nightmare... where I was standing in a place, near Jupiter. It had a pinkish soil and craters, and I could see all the stars and Jupiter near by. I think... that might have been Pasiphae, but I don't know for sure."
The teenager stopped there, not sure how much more to tell. Would Europa even care? Were the details of her nightmare significant? She wasn't sure... but if two other Senshi felt that their coming together was important, than maybe this would be as well. She continued in a quieter voice, "In the nightmare, I henshined up, but it was all wrong. I was pinned, hurt--a wound that I had at the time was attack by these... black, dusty fingers. It hurt so much... and then, I felt like... like I had failed, somehow. Like I deserved to be hurt... and then I woke up."
Pasiphae stopped, not trusting herself to say anymore. She bit her lip nervously and looked towards Europa, hoping that it would make more sense to her. "Do you know... if that means anything?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:56 pm
Europa frowned. The details of Pasiphae's dream were disturbing, to say the least - and not only because of the specifics. She had never heard of senshi having dreams of their past lives while still on earth, and even when she'd seen visions of her past self on Europa, she'd always been an observer - there was still a clear difference between herself and the girl she was watching. She supposed some people might experience it differently, but this was still far outside her realm of experience.
Still, she might as well put on a brave face for the other girl and pretend she knew what the ******** she was doing. "I think it's probably just a dream," she said resolutely, and reasoned with herself that it wasn't a lie. Dreams were just dreams (except for when they weren't. Which was often in Destiny City.)
"That said," sighed Europa, "You might have been dreaming of Pasiphae. I never dreamed of Europa until I went there the first time, but the description of the stars and Jupiter sounds right for one of the moons."
She hopped up onto a stack of packing flats and motioned for the younger scout to join her. "You shouldn't be in any danger from going there," she explained, managing to smile. "The moons are... well, the number I've always heard is no one's lived there in a thousand years. I've had little flashes of memory on mine - I think it only works when you're on your moon, though."
She considered this for a moment, then brightened considerably. "So, hey, if you go to Pasiphae, maybe you'll confirm that the dream was just a dream?" she suggested.
(Or, suggested the bitter little voice at the back of her head, you might confirm that the dream was a real memory.) (Europa told the voice to shove it.)
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Quicksilver the Archangel
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:34 pm
The teenager nodded, releasing a held breath after Europa delivered her opinion. Pasiphae was, in her heart, greatly relieved to know that this nightmare was just that--a nightmare, something drawn from her subconcious. Perhaps it was somehow colored by memories from her moon... but at least it wasn't real. That alone made it easier to accept.
She paused a moment before admitting to Europa, "I... I don't think I'm ready to go, not just yet, but I will soon... just so I can put this to rest. I'm sorry to ask and spend so much time talking about it, but I just... wasn't sure what it meant or if it was important. Kallichore didn't seem to have a good experience, when she went to her own moon for the first time... or at least, she gave me that impression."
Then, the Shame Senshi realized something else in common between this tale and the one she had heard from Kallichore. A dead world, a thousand years of time... what connection, then did she have to the place? She tried to be tactful, but her curiousity was piqued as she asked, "Has your experiences with Europa... been bad? And... why are we connected to them? Is it just because we pull on their power?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 8:15 am
"...She didn't?" asked Europa. She'd been unaware of any trauma surrounding home moon exploration, and decided to add that story to the list of things she asked Kallichore about next time she saw her. "I mean, okay, I guess everyone is going to have a different experience, just based on what they find or what their past life was like."
"I've had mostly good experiences when I go back," she continued, although she had the momentary thought that it was just because she hadn't bothered to look for bad experiences. It was another thing to try, as reluctant as she was to besmirch her feelings about her homeworld.
Europa remembered that first wild night in space, both the excitement and the disbelief as everything slowly clicked into place as Kurma prodded their thoughts in the direction he wanted them to go. "We're old souls, you know," she said, watching Pasiphae's face. Was she putting it together, the way they'd put it together with Kurma? "It's not just that you draw power from Pasiphae. We're old souls."
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Quicksilver the Archangel
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 4:12 pm
All of the color drained from Sailor Pasiphae's face. Kallichore hadn't told Europa?! She had been unaware that it was a secret; the other Senshi had been so open with her, so straightforward... oh no! Normally the girl was very discrete; she simply hadn't known that the information shared with her was a secret!, The girl felt awful as she blurted out, "I'm sorry! I didn't... I thought, surely, that Kallichore would have told you. I didn't know it was a secret or I would never... oh, next time I see her I owe her a tremendous apology! Please, Europa, if you see her before me... if you must ask her about it, please let her know how sorry I am."
Had any color been left to leave her face, it surely would have left at Europa's next words. Old souls? What did she... was she... she took a deep breath to collect her thoughts and put them as best she could into words, "Do you mean... that we were there? A thousand years ago?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 8:16 pm
"Well," said Europa awkwardly, trying to distill the rising horror she could see on Pasiphae's face. She waved her hands frantically, trying to get the other girl to calm down. All this was doing was flustering her. "I mean- Don't worry about it, I'm sure she was going to tell me! It's just, last time I saw Kallichore, she hadn't been to her moon yet!" Wait, no, how long ago had that been? Europa cringed. Now it sounded like she barely knew Kallichore. Which may have been true, but it was hardly the truth she wanted to portray.
"Yeah," she nodded. "A thousand years ago, all of the senshi were living on their home worlds. I guess it was kind of a golden age? What we see on our moons, it's just leftovers. Echoes."
Europa hated admitting that she knew less than she presumed to, but she got to her feet and shrugged. "I'm not clear on how it ended. There's no sign of a struggle on Europa. I would guess the Negaverse is involved, but that's just a guess."
"And I don't know what's waiting for you on Pasiphae," she finished, biting her lip. "That's something you have to find out on your own. When you're ready."
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Quicksilver the Archangel
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 11:20 pm
Pasiphae started to calm under Europa's explanation. Yes, that made sense - if Kallichore and Europa hadn't seen each othe in a while, then Europa wouldn't know. It didn't make it a secret; she hadn't betrayed Kallichore's trust. With more attention, now, she listened to what Europa had to say. A thousand years ago... echoes. And then something had happened... that wiped them out. Bad enough to find out that she, apparently, was the reincarnation of a thousand year old soul... but Pasiphae, the moon, was dead.
She had been pretty accepting of everything she had encountered thus far. She had listened to a talking cat. She had raised a pen in the air and transformed, more than once, and used magic. She had believed that she and the other moons of Jupiter were coming together for some distinct purpose... but her faith was beginning to be stretched. She was no one that special. She was Penelope Seneca, a 16 year old student who wanted to start a debate team. How had she become... this? How had her life become so... complicated? She knew that she was helping others, that she had no real choice but to help them, but somehow... that did not seem as comforting today as it usually did.
Sailor Pasiphae continued to press the borrowed ribbon to her cheek, and she whispered, half to herself, repeating what she had said earlier, "I... I am not ready to go... not yet. I can't..."
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