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 Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 9:02 am
They would never get a break.
It was the night after she had arrived home from camp, and she had been determined to go on patrol despite having a part of her whining for a rest. Well, she had thought camp would be a sort-of-vacation, but it turned out that the Negaverse had been there, so it didn't really count. It wasn't really fair, Flora thought with a sigh, gazing down at the streets of Destiny City from a rooftop. They could never escape what they were.
She took out her senshi cellphone and stared at it, wondering if she should make a trip to her homeworld again to have some peace. Then again, the last time she had been there, she had to deal with a rather shocking memory... and she still hadn't quite got over it yet.
There was a familiar blip on the map nearby, and the tag said Nemesis. She knew the name well; it belonged to the Senshi of Decay who was her teammate... or was it still right to call her that still? They had formed the Dream Team when they were just normal Sailor Senshi, and now with more experience and responsibilities, they had started to drift apart. The only member she saw regularly was Pegasus and that was only because they lived in the same apartment.
It was time to rectify that, then. Flora headed into the direction her phone said Nemesis was, leaping from roof to roof.
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 7:06 pm
Nemesis had not communicated with a single member of the Dream Team in a while, especially since Lyra had been taken by the Negaverse. She no longer patrolled the same routes that the Dream Team monitored - the BMC kept to their own area, which depending on Nemesis' mood, she patrolled in and out of. If the Dream Team needed her, though, she would answer their call. All they had to do was get in contact with her, and she would drop everything to be at their side. They were not only her old teammates, they were her friends. The BMC was her current team now, but she hadn't developed the same bond she felt with the Dream Team, a bond that Nemesis would never willingly cut.
Sometimes they irritated her, and it was more likely she'd butt heads with Pegasus or tease Flora than actually play nice. If she didn't like them, though, she wouldn't have kept in vague contact, she wouldn't have been a part of the team as long as she ended up being. The only thing that had pulled her away from them was the ideals of the BMC, and a leader she could respect equally to Pegasus. Even with her new estimation of this war, Nemesis felt more in tune with the BMC than any other team. The BMC could accomplish great things, if Ares kept her ISS in line.
There was still a grudge there, that Nemesis would not be allowed into the ISS because of her mixed loyalties.
Nemesis didn't have her phone on hand, she was focusing in on the power signatures she could feel nearby. It didn't seem like, however, that there were any youmas or Negaversers in this part of town. Perhaps it would have been better to patrol in the BMC's domain. Sighing softly to herself, Sailor Nemesis leaned back against a brick building. It was then that she realized that one of the power signatures was headed directly towards her. Huh. She really was too lazy to check her phone and see if she knew who it was.
They were coming her way, and eventually they would meet her. It was just a matter of time. So she stopped, and waited, and after a few minutes she noticed the outline of another senshi's shape. "...Flora?" it was a hesitant guess, but hey, that hairstyle was familiar.
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:49 am
Flora reached her target earlier than she thought, especially when the person in mention recognized her from a distance, calling out her name. A grin burst onto her face; she couldn't help it, despite the other Senshi's independent and rather rebellious attitude, she had rather missed the days of the Dream Team. When they had first assembled together... it had been just after she had gotten her cast off, hadn't it? It all seemed so long ago. "Nemesis!" She replied, eyes sparkling as she approached her fellow teammate. "You look great!" She was referring to the fact that Nemesis now had the white symbolic wings as a bow, a sign of an Eternal. Wings she had seen on both Pegasus and Castor.
"I haven't seen you in a while." The Senshi of Spring continued wistfully, holding back an urge to envelop Nemesis in a hug. Times had changed, but Flora doubted that it had made Nemesis grow to be receptive to such displays of affection. Perhaps if it had been her other teammates, she would have done so without thought. "We haven't met up for a long time! I mean, I see Pegasus every day, and I see MuCephei every now and then, but I haven't seen you much. Nor Lyra or Chloe, actually, for that matter." Flora wasn't that bothered by it, however. After all, they had other responsibilities, and it would make her feel guilty to get fussed over it especially when she had to juggle her own. Still, it never hurt to ask how the others were doing.
"Have you seen them around though?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 2:52 pm
Nemesis likely wouldn't have been gravely upset by a hug, though she wouldn't hesitate to show her irritation over that sort of display of affection. She had never quite been the touchy-feely type. "Thanks," she replied quickly. Compliments were just one of those things she never quite knew how to respond to when they were genuine. That was, in essence, what Flora represented to Nemesis - a true genuine person. Before she would have reckoned they didn't exist, but Flora was proving her wrong each time she saw the super senshi.
"I've been busy," was her only explanation. Nemesis wasn't inclined to share with Flora or any other member of the Dream Team her involvement with the Blood Moon Court. Lyra had known, but Nemesis no longer considered Lyra a member of the Dream Team. She had given that up the moment she walked off with the Negaverse. Nemesis did not want to talk about Lyra, she did not want to think of her. Lyra had turned away from hope and from goodness. "Lyra's with the Negaverse, willingly. I am not going to talk about Lyra."
That was it. Flora wasn't going to get any other truth pried from Nemesis' lips. "Don't bother about Lyra anymore, okay? Ex-nay on the Lyra-say."
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 11:31 pm
Busy. Flora didn't pry further; she herself had been busy as well. Being a Handmaiden to her Princess, worrying about how the other Seasons were doing, wondering when they would find Carpo... sometimes she felt awfully guilty that the Dream Team seemed to have been pushed to the corner in light of her true responsibilities. Still, she hadn't left, which meant something, right? There was no way she could abandon the bond the team had forged before she was discovered to be one of Chronos'.
What Nemesis said next was a shock, and she could only stare at her in disbelief. Flora didn't think that Nemesis would joke about this sort of thing, but Lyra? That Lyra, Senshi of Nebulas, who had lost her mother, who had broken down once she realized she had killed someone, whom Flora had comforted? It was difficult to wrap her mind around that concept. "Willingly?" She echoed brokenly. "She would never!"
It was hard to accept the fact that Lyra was corrupted, but Flora attempted to dull that pain with her determination that Lyra would not have gone over willingly. She refused to believe that Lyra, her teammate, someone she trusted, would have said yes to the Negaverse and left what they had been fighting for for another cause.
Then a thought hit her. "Does... Chloe know?" Chloe had been Lyra's guardian cat after all. What if she had followed her? Even if she didn't, it had to be hard for the Siamese, and Flora had an urge to seek her out.
But... how? Why did the Negaverse have to keep plucking comrades from their side? And what if she met Lyra again one day? She had been furious at Alkaid for beating up Euterpe, but if Lyra had done something like that, would she have had the courage to fight someone who was once her friend?
Heh. Once. Was she already not considering Lyra her friend in the light of this news? Flora's head hurt and she pressed her lips together, frowning.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 7:12 am
Nemesis had thought she had expressed just how unwilling she was to talk about Lyra, and as Flora insisted that Lyra would never willingly switch sides she let out an irritated sigh. "Well, she ******** did." Nemesis had time to get over the news, Flora however, did not. It was perhaps wrong of her to expect Flora to just accept the information and move on with her life. "Get over Lyra, because whether she's dead or corrupted, she's only going to hurt you either way if you cling to that memory. She's gone. Deal with it. Move on. Or it will drag you down."
Nemesis had moved on. Whatever fond memories she possessed of Lyra had been pushed to the farthest corner of her mind. She hadn't considered herself as close to Lyra as some of the other Dream Team members, even though Lyra had switched to the BMC with her. She had felt a better connection to Pegasus. But, that didn't mean she hadn't considered Lyra a good friend, because she had. Now, Lyra was an enemy, and Nemesis would do anything within her power to stop Lyra from harming anyone. Could she kill her? Maybe, maybe not. If she didn't, she could very well make Lyra wish she was dead.
"I don't know, I haven't seen Chloe in a while. Chloe probably knows, or at least assumes something has happened to Lyra. Anyways, I really am done talking about her." Her eyes narrowed and her teeth ground together in irritation. "I hate her, I am done talking about her." Maybe that would be enough to get Flora to stop inquiring about Lyra.
"How have you been? What have you been up to, playing around with uh... whomever they are?" It was definitely time for a subject change.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:56 am
It didn't seem fair to just forget Lyra just like this, despite what Nemesis said. Perhaps she had just assumed wrong, because this was Lyra they were talking about; the girl who had cried brokenly and shook in her arms when she realized that the blood of the Negaverse was on her hands. Why then, would she want to join the band of killers willingly if she did not approve of murder? A cold thought struck her then. Was she doing this because she felt that she owed them for taking a life from their side?
No. She was being stupid. Lyra could not have, Lyra would never... why was she too, making assumptions about what had transpired to make Lyra what she was right now? Flora still couldn't believe it. Perhaps it would take seeing it with her very own eyes to drive that harsh fact into reality in her mind. Could she even take seeing Lyra on the side of the Negaverse though? Her fists slowly clenched at her sides; she couldn't help but wonder who they would take next. The images of Senshi she knew appeared in her mind; Pegasus, Euterpe, MuCephei, Neso, Boreas, even Nemesis, who was standing before her, Zephyr, no matter how much she wanted to avoid him... The Princess then popped up in her mind and Flora shook her head, not wanting to think about it.
"The Zodiacs." She said dimly, trying to focus on the question Nemesis posed, because imagining every senshi she knew fall to corruption was not an image she wanted to linger. "I'm Princess Chronos' Handmaiden, one of the Seasons. We've been doing pretty well, I suppose. The Princess has been training with Castor... oh, did you know that he's a Prince now?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 5:29 pm
"I know he is," she drawled in a way that made her seem very unamused over this new development. "Heard he's engaged too, and probably still whoring himself out." Okay, so she did not have that much faith in Castor being a Prince. Sure, they needed more strength on their side, but did it really have to be him? Nemesis would value even the lowest senshi higher than Castor, but he had never made a good impression on her. He just wasn't as capable as someone else, say Pegasus or herself. Even Ares, though Nemesis had no idea what was going through the BMC Leader's mind when she decided to let Birhan run the next mission, would be a better Princess than ******** Castor.
Ugh.
She would say that she didn't want to talk about Castor either, but Flora would just assume she was in a grumpy mood, and she did want to press upon her friend the severity of Lyra's betrayal. Nemesis was warning Flora, because she didn't want Flora walking up to Lyra thinking everything was fine and dandy only to have her starseed ripped clean out of her chest. Nemesis had to condition Flora to hate Lyra, because it was the only way to protect her. Flora had to give up on all the ties she had to the senshi of nebulas.
"I've heard a little about them, probably from you, actually. I imagine that Princess Chronos is far more useful than Prince... Castor." She was going to have to stop calling Castor by his title, it made her cringe every time she spoke it. "I'm glad you're keeping busy, sticking in this war. Lesser senshi would have backed out by now." Was that... a compliment? It may have very well just been one!
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:42 pm
Engaged to someone who murdered, no less. She bit back those words, if only for the sake of Castor. Besides, he had promised her that she wouldn't have to be burdened with telling the others about Lina. It was his jurisdiction, and he would have to deal with the consequences himself. Flora wasn't sure if he was being unfaithful to Lina however; she didn't even exactly know if she should be amused at the image of Lina smacking him upon finding out his trysts with other women. But he had done so much for her, and so Flora just let them be. Besides, she didn't really have to worry about Lina killing him anymore...
A sudden thought struck her. Would Lina know about the story behind corrupted senshi? Would she know if there was a way... to bring them back? The news of Lyra's corruption was still fresh and lingering in her mind and she filed that away mentally in 'Questions to Ask Lina When They Met'.
"Well, he is new at this." Flora said cautiously. "Princess Chronos is teaching him the proper etiquette of being royal, although I think Castor will always remain Castor." It would be strange if he started acting all gentlemanly and proper... and that was already a hard thing to envision.
Nemesis had changed. Flora decided, the surprise on her face slowly melting into a smile at the compliment. "Thank you." She told her, a gloved hand resting on the other's shoulder lightly for a moment. "But it's our duty, after all. We can't very well abandon this responsibility when there are innocents out there being killed by the Negaverse."
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Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:53 am
"How unfortunate for us..." She sighed a sigh that was perhaps a little too loud and a little too dramatic to be entirely believable. Her dislike of Castor, however, was completely believable. If he had managed to pull off a more decent first encounter with her, perhaps things would be different... perhaps not. Nemesis found Castor's newbie brother to be better company than the Prince Senshi himself. At least Pollux wasn't a raging dickhead and a whore. It reminded her that she needed to call Pollux - he had promised to help her troll his brother, and she was damned well in the mood to do just that. She needed something to distract her from all the stupid s**t that had been going on in her life.
Her gaze stared down at the hand on her shoulder, much like it was a giant insect she had just discovered that had probably been sitting there for ten minutes. After a few seconds of resolute discontent over the small display of affection, she gave in to the gesture with a small sigh. "I think a lot of senshi are lost. They think it is just a responsibility, they go out to fight because they are told to and don't even ******** bother to find their own reasons for risking their necks. It's ******** frustrating to see newbies fighting because a Guardian Cat told them that Oh hey, they should do this." It was their responsibility, but Nemesis firmly believed that they shouldn't be doing something unless it was not only their responsibility, but everything they desired to do.
Senshi who didn't have the conviction to fight would get picked off. Perhaps that was Lyra's problem, but Nemesis doubted it... Lyra had plenty of actual reason to fight. She had chosen the BMC for a reason, hadn't she? ********, she didn't want to think about Lyra. "It sounds preachy, to a degree, but ********>
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 7:39 am
Flora smiled at Nemesis, but she didn't speak up for Castor. Most girls did seem to get turned off by Castor's attitude, and she didn't exactly blame them. He was pretty flirty and brazen at times but she also knew that he was a good person, deep down inside. Besides, he had often come to her for relationship advice, so they were ultimately friends. Castor was, honestly, not as bad as he seemed. At least he behaved himself around Chronos and Virgo, which was all she could ask for.
"Yes but," Flora countered gently, removing her hand from Nemesis' shoulder and clasping it in her other one. She understood what Nemesis meant, of course. Fighting without a purpose was hollow and it wouldn't keep them on going. If she hadn't found hers, she didn't know if she could have even made it to being a Super. "What I mean is that we have a responsibility because we have these powers. We can't very well abandon or forget our duty. It is cliche, I know, but that is what it is."
"Besides, when I first started out, I didn't know what I was fighting for, either. All I knew was that a talking cat had came out and told me that I was a terrorist and the next thing I knew, I had powers to vanquish a monster. It takes time and experience for them to learn, to understand." It was after her first brush with death that she had sobered up and seen what evils the Negaverse would stoop to. And it was silly to say it, but it was, perhaps, her sense of justice that kept her going? That and meeting her Princess, which had brought her light. It was hard to imagine the White Moon Senshi, not having that sense of attachment, lost without a Princess, even though she once thought that she had been one of them. "I mean, Guardian Cats aren't exactly very helpful." At least Astraea hadn't had been.
"The newbies need those with more experience to help them. I mean, I was lucky that I had Pegasus and the Dream Team, when I was still starting out, and that really helped." The Senshi of Spring regarded Nemesis with a wistful smile.
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:05 am
"We don't, Flora. We never have to accept the responsibility that comes with these powers. Any senshi could turn away from the battlefield, and I bet you they could do it without guild burdening them for the rest of their lives. This is not a responsibility unless we make it so. There is no duty to the universe, to this world, unless we make it so. I could have very well decided to just frolic through Destiny City as a regular senshi forever, glorifying in the fact that I am a little stronger and I can do this cool magic trick that freaks people the ******** out. This was no one's war until we made the decision to make it, and to fight in it." She sounded agitated, but Nemesis was practically incapable of having a non-heated argument. It wasn't really an argument, just a differing of opinions, but even Nemesis had trouble keeping it to just that. She had fought with her friends before, and she would fight them again. Right now, she was trying her hardest not to sound too pissed that Flora thought everyone had to feel this responsibility and accept it.
"We all found our ways, eventually. I didn't know what the ******** I was doing at first, and I had no one to help me until we all got together and the Dream Team was made. I always hated that we called it Dream Team. Should have been Decay Team, Nemesis' Team, something like that." She waved her hand flippantly, trying in vain to insert some light humor into the conversation. As a senshi, she was far more serious than her human side had ever been. She had reasons to be very serious. "Guardian Cats aren't worth much more than waking newbies up and trying to keep them alive long enough for them to learn how to keep themselves alive."
Nemesis scoffed at the idea. Even in the BMC Nemesis lamented having to mentor somebody. She had no mentor and had been able to manage just fine. It made her stronger. Newbies had to struggle through what she struggled to be of any worth and power. "Bullshit. They need to figure s**t out on their own. Point them in the right direction and let them decide for themselves what their future is. It'll make them stronger, hardened for the war ahead. Because, this really is a ******** war." If they didn't make it... well, Nemesis assumed that Flora would not want to think about that.
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 1:59 am
"Abandoning our duties will only bring guilt." Flora said firmly. She had heard about how the Zodiacs had died; Chronos had said they hadn't tried hard enough. It had brought heaps of regret, and seeing her past self dismiss her responsibilities had made her more determined to do her best. "I've died once before because I didn't try hard enough. I don't remember a lot of it, to be honest... but the Zodiacs have died twice. I'm just saying that I don't want any one to die because they abandoned their duty entirely. I don't think it's fair to leave them be, because I don't want them to ever feel that way. What if they do just turn away from the battlefield and get caught up in it anyway and get killed because they were ignorant? What if they got pulled over to the Negaverse and be fed lies?" Was she feeling differently from Nemesis just because she had a Princess to serve, to protect? No, Flora thought. Not only that. She had friends she had known for a long time, and just discovered that they had been given this duty. Pollux, Lemuria, and she could not leave them be. Was she going to let Lemuria just dwell in his books and ignore all this? He could fight, and every ally was an asset.
He would not die if he could fight.
"Well, the name has stuck." She pointed out softly, a small smile dancing in and out of sight on her lips. She didn't even know what to say about the thing about Guardian Cats, because it was true; Astraea had barely offered any help, she hadn't seen Chloe in ages, and Zue was mostly missing.
"It is a war." She agreed. "But it's a war we need to fight together. United we stand, divided we fall, after all. They've always seemed much more organized than we have." They being the Negaverse. It was a realization they had all came to after fighting for so long.
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Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:32 pm
"Unless you never felt like they were your duties to begin with. It isn't a universal truth, Flora. Sure, you and I would feel like total s**t if we walked away now. But, I've seen senshi who could do just that without pause." The senshi were hardly united, and Nemesis doubted they would ever truly unite. The only way to guarantee victory was to become as strong as possible, and fight your way through blood and gore towards the light at the end of the tunnel. Even now there were so many teams, different courts even, and there was nothing to unite them all together. They acted as independent but cohesive units. So far, it was working, but there was no guarantee that it would hold up. Nemesis doubted there was any force that could bring them all together now. Maybe, in the beginning, when their numbers were small and more controlled they could have come together. It was too late now. Their chance had passed.
"We're never going to all be united, so don't delude yourself into thinking that it is possible. It isn't. Do you see anyone stepping up, trying to bring all of us together? No. Even if they did, not every senshi holds the same ideals. Not every senshi would want to conform to the standards set by one or a small group. We're never going to unite, so you might as well make yourself as strong as ******** possible." It was the only advice that she could offer Flora. "If you ever do find yourself in the bind, you know to call me. I'll always be there in a second to help you." That was as close to showing she cared that Nemesis ever really got. Flora knew that she could call on her, and no matter what, Nemesis would answer that call.
Some called it divided loyalty, but Nemesis quite frankly didn't give a ********. She would consider herself one of the lowest people on Earth if she did not value friendship and loyalty, and did not hold herself to those two things. While she was hardly active with the members of the Dream Team, she would never abandon them. They were some of the few friends that she had.
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:06 am
Flora hadn't seen senshi who would walk away just like that, and it was difficult for her to imagine it. After all, Elzo had seemed like a slacker and a prankster, when in truth, she had seen Castor take up his role of a senshi well enough to save her, to become a Prince. Even Neso, who didn't seem to care much about fighting, would do so for the Princess. But if Chronos wasn't here, hadn't been revived, would he do so without her goading? Flora didn't know, but she had to carry that optimism, that sense of hope, when there were some like Nemesis who didn't.
...Or was Nemesis talking about the corrupted senshi like Lyra? Walking away from what was right, into the shadows of the Negaverse? Flora bit her lip and said nothing. She didn't exactly want to argue with Nemesis anymore, and besides, there was some truth in her words. Her Princess had always said that she could not bring the White Moon Senshi together, because they did not owe their allegiance to her, and she would not force that.
"I will." She said with a nod and a small smile. Despite how divided they had seemed to become, it was gratifying to know that the Dream Team still had a bond together. After all, MuCephei had called her for accompaniment to her planet, and Flora had willingly gone, without any hesitation. "And if you ever need me, I'll be there." It wasn't much, seeing how powerful Eternal Sailor Nemesis was, but if there was anything she could do, even be a messenger to the Zodiacs, she would do everything she could.
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