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 Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 11:22 pm
Asclepius sat on the elementary school playground swing, her skirts trailing in the mulch and her legs bent to fit in the low seat. Her phone rested in her lap, though she was mostly waiting in case she got a call; ********* had already been phoned, and was hopefully on her way.
She felt weird, having to ask for help and advice so much. Asclepius was used to being pretty self-motivated, ambitious, and in-control. Marcella had decided as a little girl to become a doctor, and she had done everything she could to move constantly towards that goal; this whole senshi thing had come suddenly, unexpectedly, and Asclepius still frequently felt lost with it all. ... Maybe more like medicine than she thought, in some regards, at least. Reading prior cases could only get one so far; practice furthered knowledge and study. But it was still possible to encounter a situation that had never been seen before. It was just that space magic and war were not things she had even started to prepare for until just recently.
But at least ********* had been willing to help every step of the way. Pride or guilt at troubling the cat seemed to be the only thing getting in the way so far, and the Senshi of Medicine knew that was all on her.
Still, though, tonight, Asclepius had something in particular on her mind, and it was a plan of her own creation. A way she hoped she might be able to finally help the senshi cause. The brown-haired girl had considered telling Chaonis first, but she wanted some information, too. Things she had thought only ********* would know.
And so she waited, seated on the swing and swaying slowly, for her guardian to join her.
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:19 am
It wasn't hard to notice when the guardian had made her way to the scene. That bell collar of hers was always an easy hint to her arrival. Along the edges of the playground, a faint but consistent jingling noise touched the air, and it only grew faintly louder as it drew closer.
It wasn't long before the sound was immediately in front of the girl, but it didn't seem to stop there. For all of a sudden, a small animal of the feline variety had jumped into her lap.
"Hello Asclepius!" she greeted politely after invading her lap so suddenly.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 1:47 pm
The sound of the bell gave Asclepius ample time to move her phone and see ********* coming, but, not owning a cat at home, it was still a bit of a surprise when the guardian hopped suddenly into her lap.
"Hello," she replied, chuckling lightly; it was still even stranger having something that could talk in her lap. But Asclepius rested one hand on the cat's back, stroking ********* pale lavender fur. "Thank you again," she added with a small sigh and a faint smile. "For talking to me last time."
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 2:25 pm
The animal leaned back into the hand petting her along the spine and let out a good sized purr in response. This was a good way to greet a guardian. If only more senshi knew that!
********* couldn't help but let out a little airy giggle at the girl's gratitude. "You don't need to thank me, silly. It's always a pleasure to talk with you." Whether the senshi realized it or not, it was technically a duty of a guardian cat. At least, it was the manx's interpretation of serving.
"So now... I am here and you are here... you wanted to speak to me, yes?" The small cat was already starting to make herself nice and cozy, making herself into a lovely little kitty loaf.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 3:56 pm
Asclepius smiled faintly and nodded; not that she did not think ********* sincere, but she doubted that she had been too much fun to talk to when she had been in her funk. Not knowing what she wanted to do, where she fit in the scheme of things... that was something that never sat well with the type-A girl.
But an idea had been forming in her mind, about something she could try to do, that, if successful, might prove to be a great help to the senshi. And would also give her a job that would, with any luck, completely avoid having to outright kill anyone. Perhaps even save the lives of some of the Negaverse.
"Yeah," she replied, trying not to squirm as her guardian made herself comfortable. "I wanted to ask first what you know about the corrupted senshi? The ones working for the Negaverse?" Asclepius had met two, herself, and had gotten a bit of information about them, but of course she was not sure they were fully reliable. Or even really knew much about themselves.
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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:18 pm
She had just managed to make herself perfectly comfortable when the question managed to hit her ears. Both triangular ears perked up notably. And unfortunately, the question was something she couldn't stay in a kitty loaf for.
She squirmed slightly before she rose her body up to merely sitting. Her eyes were upon the girl's eye, and there was a strange seriousness to the look. Something that most senshi didn't get to see from the cat.
"I will admit, I do not know much in comparison to others," she stated honestly, her tone low, despite still keeping her voice quite pleasant. "However..." There was a pause, as if the words didn't want to come out quite right. This was a guardian cat's job though, so the words eventually freed themselves from her mouth.
"...I once awakened a senshi that went by Hel. A young girl with pigtails. Senshi of Ash. She asked me many questions, and I would answer as best as I could." Something about the cat's expression seemed to grow sad as she said the next words. "My answers were never good enough for her."
Momentarily, she paused to shake away the sadness, causing her collar to jingle at her motions. "Last year, I found her again, but she was no longer herself. She had gone to the side of the Negaverse." The specifics, the feline never learned, but she suspected it had something to do with her own inadequacies as a guardian.
Her tone shortly turned to something less attached, more informational. "In the short amount of time I had to talk with her, I found out a bit. The main noteworthy observation I could offer was the fact she didn't remember me. She didn't remember the fact I had been the one to awaken her, or the fact that the cats are the ones responsible for awakening a senshi's powers. To be honest... she only figured out she knew me in the past was because I called her by the name she had been given by her parents. It would seem she does not go by such a name anymore."
Her little kitty nose sniffed delicately as she summed up her observation "...the price of going to the Negaverse as a Senshi is to lose everything you knew in your life before..."
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:31 am
Asclepius' expression turned to one of sad concern as the cat related her story; she had not realized that her question might hit so close to home for *********. Though that was mostly because she was not sure at all how the senshi ended up on the side of the Negaverse. She was still unsure now, but it was deeply unsettling nonetheless to know that anyone awakened by ********* could be turned against the little lavender-furred cat and all her allies.
The thought of forgetting everything was terrible, though. If nothing else, Asclepius had several thousand dollars of medical education that would be a waste to lose, but also a blow to the senshi. Removing all of the information held in a single person like that, it was, in a way, almost worse than killing them. What had Hel known and contributed before she was ... "recruited" as Alunite had put it.
But something else the corrupted senshi with the long purple hair had said still nagged at her mind, and it seemed appropriate to bring it up to ********* now. "I have met two of the corrupted senshi, though I don't think either of them was Hel," she said. "They both went by names that sounded like minerals, just like the Negaverse agents. And one of them told me in the same breath that he didn't have a star, and that he didn't want to know anything about it."
She waited a moment, to see if ********* might notice the discrepancy, before she went on, "If he didn't have one, why would he also have to deny interest in it?"
The Senshi of Medicine extended a finger to rub along the manx's jawline, realizing that the idea she was about to bring up was personal to her guardian as well. "If they still have stars, do you think that means there might still be some way to bring those senshi back to us? To cure whatever that darkness is that's left holes in their chests? If we showed them their stars somehow, do you think they might come back?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:30 pm
Though ********* had grown quieter as her mood seemed to dip down lower than she usually allowed, she still had her eyes upon Asclepius' and her ears perked up to listen attentively. This was a conversation, which meant active listening was a good skill to practice.
Though ********* was not extremely knowledgeable about how the corrupt senshi worked as a whole, she did know how senshi in general worked. So the mention of a senshi who went by a mineral's name that knew not of the stars did not seem to cause ********* to react in a surprised manner. She listened until Asclepius had finished speaking, then closed her eyes and nodded her head one time slowly. With her eyes closed, she asked a question.
"Asclepius... what do you imagine would have happened if I had not awakened you and the Negaverse got to you first?" ********* could have continued, but for now, she'd wait to see what answer she'd get. She opened her eyes and once more looked to the senshi.
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 12:14 pm
Marcella was not at all sure how to feel about ********* question. It would be bad, wouldn't it? Fighting against the Senshi, fighting to harm the plain humans of Earth in the name of protecting it. She would be out with some silly object, like a lawn gnome or a roll of string, compelled by the darkness of the Negaverse to collect the energy they needed from the innocent.
But the part of the girl that was Asclepius knew exactly how it felt at the thought - nausea welled up in the pit of her stomach. The thought of the darkness she had felt from Vivianite, from Alunite, coming from her? One hand went to the center of her chest, an unconscious motion, while she curled her other arm a little closer around ********* in response to the uncomfortable feeling.
"Didn't you say last time that I've always been Sailor Asclepius inside?" the Senshi of Medicine replied when the roiling inside her had settled enough that she could be sure her dinner was staying down. "So .. would the Negaverse have turned me into one of them?"
Her brows drew together as she steeled herself and did try to imagine. "Carrying the name of a stone of the earth instead of a stone- my stone in space?" A part of Asclepius suddenly ached for the cool metallic braziers of the central hall; the sound of the air circulation systems for the tunnels throughout the asteroid, still running of their own accord for centuries; the faint glow of the mushrooms she had not yet investigated; even the rows of the dead - at least she was able to care and feel guilt for them!
"Hel at least knew she had a Hel for her out among the stars, didn't she?" What could possibly make a Senshi give that up!? "But if they had gotten to me first, I might not even know that Asclepius was out there for me...." The brown-haired girl lowered her gaze from the sky with some reluctance to peer down at her cat. "Would I?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:57 pm
********* rubbed up a cheek against the Senshi of Medicine as the senshi seemed to curl about the feline's small body. "Yes, you always have been and always will be Sailor Asclepius. However, if no cat came to you, do you think you would have known your name from a past you did not remember?" The answer to this question went unspoken.
"Those senshi that carry the names of stones never found out who they really were. They do not know their star, their moon, their asteroid, their comet, their home world. However, they know they have one. Sometimes... isn't it easier to just extinguish the part of you that might be curious, might be yearning to find the answer to the difficult questions?" The manx sighed. "It is just a coping mechanism if you ask me."
The mention of Hel once more brought a small pause to the conversation as ********* seemed to react quietly to that pang of sadness in her chest. It was brief, but the feline's usually pleasant expression seemed to almost twitch into something sadder, but ********* made sure to rectify it before speaking again. "Not all senshi on the Negaverse side are necessarily brought to that side willingly. I do not know the circumstances to every corrupted senshi... but I do not believe every senshi willingly gave up their past and homeworld."
Finally, ********* addressed a question from before ********* had offered her own question as food for thought. "I do not know if bringing those senshi back to their home world would fix anything or not. It is the starseeds that have been distorted from their true forms. I do not know all of the answers, but I do not imagine bringing any corrupt senshi to their home world would fix anything."
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:37 pm
Asclepius nodded soberly, stomach turning at the thought of being unwillingly corrupted. But if killing the curiosity and suppressing the knowledge was how the Negaverse brought willing senshi to their corruption, then the easiest solution should be to make them ask and question.
But, as ********* went on, the Senshi of Medicine realized it would be more complicated than that. Questioning corrupted senshi might sooner be killed than turned back to good. And as the cat said, there was the problem of their starseeds, as well. Something had to heal that infection of darkness that left their hearts hollow.
Asclepius had been mulling over the problem in her mind for a while, now, though, and so far, nothing ********* had told her had seemed to indicate that it was impossible to do. To turn one of the corrupted senshi back to the proper side. Her guardian cat's additional information had actually served to steel her resolve; ********* sadness had not gone unnoticed, and Asclepius felt it gave her all the more reason to try. And so the brown-haired senshi took a deep breath and made her proposal:
"*********, I want to try to make something, some sort of medicine, to try to cure the corruption in the senshi the Negaverse have turned."
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:22 pm
********* perked her head up, ears standing as tall as they possibly could.
Did she just hear Asclepius right?
"...to cure corruption?" she repeated in a seemingly stunned tone. The manx didn't even know if it was possible or not. She could only offer observations, not facts. And as far as she knew, nobody had attempted this before.
"...that... is a very admirable goal, Asclepius. It will take a lot of work, a lot of patience, and optimism. You will need to be at the top of your game most likely..." With a hint of a smile, a small paw found its way onto the senshi's chest, just above her heart. As she closed her eyes, she offered a cryptic message for the senshi.
"I will do what I can to help you..." After that, her eyes were closed, and her mind was concentrating upon Asclepius' starseed which was hiding in this senshi's body. It took all but a moment for a warm glow to surround the guardian's paw. The warmth itself only seemed to spread, almost like a strangely pleasant disease, reaching from Asclepius' heart all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. The glow beneath the cat's paw only continued to get brighter as she sat there.
With her eyes still shut, ********* gave this young lady directions in a calm tone. "Say 'Asclepius Asteroid Power, Make-Up.'"
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 1:58 pm
Asclepius felt a small swell of pride at her guardian's praise, but did her best to avoid letting it show on her face. She had done nothing yet, only come up with the plan. She nodded as she took in ********* advice; the hard work and patience, Asclepius had already considered, but the optimism was a new idea. In some ways, it instilled in her a fear of failure, as optimism would not be necessary if sailing was smooth, but hearing it from ********* was a reassurance.
But what her guardian said next surprised her. As did the touch to her chest, and subsequent warmth. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, and she nodded.
"Asclepius Asteroid Power, Make-Up!" the Senshi of Medicine repeated. She was not fully sure what would happen, speaking those words when she was already powered up, but a few moments' time, as the warmth spread through her and ribbons twined around her wrists, had an answer for her:
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 1:23 pm
Despite the fact the girl's fuku changed and formed anew upon her body, the cat remained in place, seemingly undisturbed in the slightest. Certainly, it had been fancy, but it wasn't the same as transforming from civilian to senshi. Not nearly as much movement.
Without shifting from her place, she lowered her paw so she could resume sitting as normal. Her eyes were upon the girl's. "Alas... this is all I can do for now... but I hope it truly helps you, Asclepius."
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 2:41 pm
Asclepius held ********* closer when her transformation had completed, then lifted the cat up carefully in her arms before setting her down gently on the mulch. Holding her hands out, she studied the changes to her seifuku.
The belt felt sturdier, and her hands felt less naked with ribbons and the serpent bracelet twined around them. Her shoulders, on the other hand, felt more naked, the collar having disappeared. The Senshi of Medicine blushed faintly, putting one hand to her chest, as she double-checked to be sure her skirts had not decided to shrink, too.
There was something indescribably different inside, too, though. Asclepius felt somehow ... brighter. Stronger. She bounced lightly on her toes, then wiggled them into the new sandals on her feet. She was Super Sailor Asclepius, now.
"It's quite a bit," she replied. "Are you sure I'm ready? I mean...." The girl trailed off, frowning a little. Who could really be the judge of whether she had 'enough' experience, or 'enough' fights under her belt? Asclepius reminded herself that she could trust *********; her guardian knew her well, that she was not a warrior on the front line, but had her own important role to play for the Senshi's battle against the Negaverse.
And so she finally settled on, "Thank you."
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