Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was not a pleasant summer night. It was one of those humid nights after the rain came where the humidity all but shimmered in the lamplight and the head clung low to the ground, turning Destiny City into something akin to a swamp. Lina, however, could not escape it. She could have perhaps gone to Helen's and begged entry, perhaps even looked up Zac and begged a favor to maybe even sleep on just his couch. Anything to get out of the humidity and away from her husband.

Things hadn't been going so well. It wasn't really that she didn't love him, that wasn't the issue. The issue was that Prince Castor adamantly refused to admit that any other Negaverse officer, besides herself, could be saved with purification. They had argued time and time again over it until, unable to stay without screaming in his face, the bluenette had simply transformed and hopped out of the window.

Now she was slogging through the soup and had discarded her jacket hours before, shoulders bare to the night. Her voice was even sulky, whimpering through the words as she whined. "Why me? Why did I have to be from the planet of covering every inch of skin in the summertime?" She was sulking so hard, she didn't even notice she wasn't alone.

Well, at least it wasn't ******** Tanzanite. Though maybe Lina would've begged her for that killing the violet-haired woman so badly craved to give her, just to be rid of the damn heat. Hands lifted her masses of blue hair, piling it on top of her head in vain to lessen the heat against her back. Throwing a look back over her shoulder, Lina shrugged.

"Not to mention the shiny stockings. I can survive in Antarctica no problem but this soup? Good to see you again Zink." Clearly dangling from her wrist, even in this thin light, was the key she had stolen from him. Silver links wrapped around her wrist three times beneath the glowing bangle, key hanging over the back of her hand.

Even her ears had changed. One daisy earring still remained while the other was with Taranis, behind them were delicately drooping feathers that were a familiar etched purple. Zinkenite and Tanzanite, both evident on their former comrade. Remembrances? Or perhaps just her flaunting that she meant something. Once.

"What brings you out on this miserable ******** of a night? Can't stay away? Tempted perhaps?" It was wrong to take her anger out on him but when there was no other target...well. Someone had to suffer.

Eyes rolled. Over and over he sang the same tune. "You sound like a jealous boyfriend Zink, you should really get over it. Last time I checked I wasn't even your type anyway. Don't you go for...I don't know. More Castor than myself?" There was a pause and a snorting laugh. "Though now that I think about it, you talk about him more than me. Is that your problem Zink? Had a crush on him and just jealous that I got there first or something?" Lina knew it was off-base, totally uncalled for, and rude.

She didn't really care.

"I thought my situation where I didn't have to worry about killing random people to get by would be the tempt. Out from under the thumb of that b***h Beryl. Free to do nothing if you want. I would probably do it all over again given the choice." The masochistic comment was ignored entirely. It was a part of herself that the girl had never thought to explore but it was almost devastatingly accurate.

Lina, more than anything, wanted painful love. Love to die for, to kill for, to fight for. Was that why she was locked out of paradise with Castor? Nothing left to fight for?

How unpleasant.

Hands slapped on her hips. "Lord of the Flies? What is that even? You know I don't read, don't like to read, and will never read. Or at least I thought you knew me well enough for that, Number One. Maybe I should demote you a few numbers. How'd you like to be Number Three?" She sneered at him as he mentioned shaking some sense into her, hair tossed back with pride and all the commanding glory that Zinkenite had once admired her for.

"Zink, I'd be shocked if you could even rattle my teeth in my head, let alone shake some sense into me. You don't have it in you to hurt anyone and that's why I thought you'd see sense and come with me. But if you want to remain blind and ignorant you go right ahead and do that." Stepping forward, her finger jabbed into his shoulder rudely.

"I am done. I fight for you guys, say that you're not all bad, there's something worth saving. Well I'm starting to think you're not worth it."

Blue eyes shone with cold fury. Lina had stormed away from him, and in his anger he'd seethed alone in the dark, frustrated and hurt. After a while his brooding turned to anger. Both at her, and at himself. They shouldn't have fought, they shouldn't have argued. They can fought for this hadn't they? To be together? Now they were ready to tear each other apart. A seed of doubt planted in his head. That it wasn't destiny, that he really was unable to be committed, to be better then he'd simply always been. He ignored it. Lina was his love, past and present. This was just a phase, a small bump in the road.

Right?

Even as He tried to sooth over his own hurts, the frustration at their dispute couldn't be erased. They were on two sides of the field. Stalking out he'd gone looking for her, to bring her home to talk, maybe figure something, anything out. But what he found? Zink, hands on Lina, preaching to her...and insulting him.
"Let go of my wife you little piece of s**t." Anger he'd bottled away was uncorked, and it was all directed at the general. "Let go and crawl back into the damn pits of Chaos where you belong."

"RIGHT... because it's all OUR fault...maybe it they went back to their PLANETS!!" he paused blinking... "Wife...." He said with poison in his words and released her arm like she was, in herself, venomous.

"I can see that's working out SO well for you... Fly HOME castor... maybe if you treat her a little better she'll go with you... after all, she came from the same 'Pit of Chaos' that -I- did."

At a calmer time he might have swallowed his pride and vanished, but that CASTOR had wooed her, stolen her and then MARRIED her... unthinkable. Revolting...

He spread his hands almost mocking as though to say 'there...see? I let your precious stolen goods go.' but there was no mirth in the mocking.

"<********> you. ******** both of you." Eyes flicked from the prince, to the general, and then back again. There were no words inside of her other than those expletives as the bluenette paced back and forth. She wanted to hit something. Someone. Both of them really. Zink was standing apart from Castor and she was pacing back and forth between them.

Where had everything gone wrong again? Hadn't she meant to start over and make everything good again? Why had everything gone wrong? Was it just her? Was she doomed to be a failure in everything she did? She couldn't save Tanz. She couldn't save Zink. Castor wouldn't even believe in her convictions and share her path.

If he hadn't been so in love with her would he have killed her? Would Zink kill her if she persisted on the path she was on?

"I'm going home. You can go to Hell. Again, both of you."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. He'd been insulted enough, he was angry enough and he was far to blind in his thinking to even consider just what he was doing. "Shut UP!"

Castor punched Zink, not giving a damn to the consequences.