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 Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 12:21 am
She had so many questions to ask the previous Negaverse agent. The Aud--Daphne thing, and if Castor and her had been together in their past life, did that mean that being lovers in the past would carry on to their lives now, about corrupted senshi and if they could do anything at all about them. And Knights. Lina was a Knight, and so was Flora's friend, Lemuria. Therefore, she would be able to help with something that Flora had no idea about, didn't they?
Lina owed it to her to give her information, didn't she? But before that, she had to ascertain that Lina had truly turned over a new leaf. Castor was happy and well now, she knew, but there was still a feeling of doubt within her she needed to eradicate. It wouldn't be easy to forgive her, but she had to know if she could trust her. Or were they both the same thing? So many things were whirling in Flora's mind, and when she contacted the Senshi of Hail about the meeting with his wife, she requested for them to meet alone.
Sure, Flora had thought that she would need Castor to restrain them both, but she had calmed down after days of dwelling over the news. And if Lina attacked her, well... it wouldn't be good for either of them. It was logical for just the both of them to talk things out seriously, without Castor trying to cut in and possibly interject a few good words about Lina.
She knew that Castor was going to his planet with the Princess tonight, so he wouldn't be back to disturb them. For now, with her arms folded across her chest, Flora waited at the appointed place of meeting; a few streets away from Crystal Academy. Why she had chose this place, she had no idea. Probably because Lina reminded her of her earlier days as a Senshi, when she had to constantly sneak out of the school to patrol around the area. They had both changed so much since then. Flora was now a Super, and the once Linarite of the Negaverse was now a Knight.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 9:51 pm
Lina had thought long and hard about this meeting. She barely remembered Sailor Flora past a name in a fight that had turned into something very much about Sailor Pegasus. Serandite had been involved and so had Tanzanite and...Castor. She would have probably killed both Flora and Pegasus had he not intervened and preyed on the fact that Tanzanite wanted to kill him and she had been (and was) madly in love with him.
The memory that would have brought a scowl now made her smile a bit. Flora was Castor's friend and that was the whole reason the blonde standing under the awning for a popular after-school hangout for Crystal girls was giving Lina a chance. It was really a brilliant tactical choice on the super senshi's part. Castor was off-planet with her own princess and unable to save Lina if things got truly dicey, yet Flora had to know him well enough to realize Castor would not treat the abuser of his wife kindly.
Lina was actually betting pretty heavily on that, really.
Well it was now or never. Taking a deep breath she moved forward slowly. It wasn't hesitant or fearful, it was just the measured step of someone who wanted to move very purposefully so that Sailor Flora knew that Lina Knight wasn't there to attack her or perform any sort of slick move. She was coming alone, scouter deactivated in faith that the other girl wanted to make peace as much as she did.
"Thanks for meeting me, I think I'm a bit late."
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 10:23 pm
She had stiffened upon seeing the bluenette approaching in the distance, and Flora had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She wasn't the same person she had remembered, wielding no hammer in her hands, and dressed in black instead of grey. She had to shove back an urge to raise an eyebrow skeptically, but how could one trust who was once a Negaverse so easily after all? She didn't seem armed, but Lemuria hadn't exactly been armed either, so maybe it was just a Knight thing. Another deep breath as Lina stepped in closer, and she plastered a civil smile on her face. "It's alright." She told Lina. "I just got here moments ago."
"So um, I guess we should start this properly." She stuck out her gloved hand rather stiffly. After all, they were supposed to make peace and be... allies. Friends was pushing it quite a bit; even though Flora suspected that Castor would want them to eventually get along well enough, and they had already been acquainted in the past. "Super Sailor Flora, Senshi of Spring, Handmaiden to the Zodiac Princess Chronos." She introduced herself. After all, Lina probably hadn't exactly known who she was when she had attacked her on that winter day, only that she had been saved by both Pegasus and Castor.
So in a sense, this introduction was like a fresh new beginning. It was an attempt, at least, on her part.
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Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:41 am
Lina's own hand came up and grasped lightly at Flora's. As far as handshakes went it was brief and a little unsure, but far from unfriendly. It was more like meeting someone that you had known in high school and you had made their life miserable. Now they were as successful as you were, no longer wearing those weird a** clothes, and you wanted to like them. You couldn't erase the history of the past but you tried to pretend it wasn't there. Uncomfortable.
That was the word.
"Lina Knight of Mercury." Her lips twitched into a smile, genuine if somewhat lovingly exasperated. "Castor would have had me tack on a bunch to that, all of it having to do with him. Don't let him fool you though, I'm only 'his knight' in that we're...well. Together. I serve myself." Princess Mercury was a scant memory to her. She had been dead for over a thousand years; there was no tangible royalty like for Flora. Realizing a bit that she was blathering, she foraged on.
"That's why I'm here, really. I want to...I guess apologize. I'm not sure an apology can really cover everything that happened or will happen or any of it. I just can say I was wrong and I'm very sorry." That was a good start wasn't it? There was a TV show about karma and doing the right thing. Lina felt that it wasn't a bad thing to do really. She was wrong for trying to kill them. She might as well admit it.
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:56 am
She could imagine, of course. Lina Knight of Mercury, Castor's lover, Castor's wife, Castor's one true love, Castor's soulmate... the Prince of Hail would indeed go on and on with that lovesick glow on his face. Again, another good reason why Castor shouldn't have tagged along; Flora did not know if she would have any qualms about kicking him in exasperation upon hearing all that lovey-dovey talk. Being happy for him was one thing. Feeling like a third wheel was another.
"I don't think I can forgive you so easily." Flora confessed, looking down to the ground as she scuffled her feet. "But," She continued, and looked up to meet Lina's gaze, "I promised Castor I would try. I hope you understand. I mean, at the very least, I am glad to hear that you're not helping the Negaverse kill any innocents anymore." Forgiveness is a step closer to redemption, Chronos had advised her, after she had finished ranting about the Castor and Lina issue. She was not going to be a b***h and push Lina back into the dark side. That wouldn't be fair.
"I'm just, a bit paranoid. I mean, I was constantly worrying about Castor when he told me he was in love with someone from the Negaverse; he could have almost died, and I guess you could have too. He kept whining to me about his love problems with you, with Aud--Daphne, so I am kind of relieved he doesn't have to do that anymore." Saying Daphne's name always came out like that, strangely enough, and Flora chastised herself for doing so. "You do know, right? He did try to date this girl to get over you, and I thought it kind of worked, for a while." After all, Eve had been a rather enthusiastic matchmaker, hoping that a solid relationship with someone normal would help him.
...If only she knew that normal girl and the Knight standing in front of her were one and the same.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 3:33 am
Flora was about to find out all of that. Normally Daphne would have been a good deal more opaque about her civilian life; your identity was your most carefully guarded secret. If the Negaverse found her then they would find Elzo aka Negaverse Enemy Number One. At least as far as she was concerned he was that way. There were probably one or two others. Sailor Ares for sure but Castor had had the balls to reach in and take one of their own. Zinkenite had made it very clear that he saw no one as a greater threat than Castor. Tanz would never admit that. Or talk to her.
The fact that Flora hadn't simply forgiven her with a blank slate made things easier and harder at the same time. Lina hadn't been expecting outright acceptance so to not receive it kept things on the footing she'd prepared for. It also meant more uphill work in getting the senshi to trust her but Flora was key. Not only was she supposedly tied to Princess Chronos, according to Castor she was one of the older senshi, with an extensive network. Getting Flora to accept her would be a step on the path to redemption and acceptance. It was worth transparency.
"That's me you know. The girl he tried to get over me with." She really did try to suppress the stupid grin on her face but it was really impossible. The situation was so hilarious in retrospect that it couldn't be helped. "I was agonizing over Castor too and trying to do something to get away from the situation. I had that b***h of a queen breathing down my neck, telling me it was his life or my life, and then this totally awesome guy walks in on my life. I really liked him, we went for it, and then I was torn between loving two guys." Sorry Flora. She apparently wasn't going to escape all lovey-dovey stupid talk. "Then when I give up on life and everything in it, we find out that the whole time we'd been together anyway. Sneaking out at night while living together to live separate lives without noticing. How self-centered do you think we felt when that was all done?"
Well she hadn't felt very self-centered. But he might have! She just had felt stupid, more than a little incredulous, and then irritated for about five minutes. "That's why he's so happy. Everything just...sorta came together for us." Eyes looked up at Flora then up to the sky, searching the stars for something. She couldn't say what. "That's one reason I'm here. I have to make it worthwhile. I have to apologize, make amends, try to help. All of that."
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 8:14 am
"Wait, you're..." Sailor Flora stared at the ex-Negaverse General before her in disbelief. It was an expression she had worn many a time ever since hearing the shocking news, and now, there was more. Oh for Chronos' sake, she hadn't exactly expected this. "Aud... Daphne? You, how, I..." I set up you both! I tried to get him to be with you! I talked with you about him! I liked you! You seemed like a perfectly nice, normal girl... She put a gloved hand over her mouth, restraining all that information, because Flora wasn't sure if she should reveal to Lina who she was. Did Castor tell her? He probably didn't, or at least she hoped that he probably figured out it was better if she got to trust Lina herself and tell her she was Eve Summers. "Oh god, oh god... you mean, it was kind of cheating, but not really cheating... fate's really insane..."
It was stupid for her to, in the midst of all this, suddenly think of her and Zephyr, and Flora bit her lip hard, to try and get herself to focus. Lina couldn't be lying to her. It did make sense. The blue hair, the connection the two of them made, and Elzo's wife now, of all things... It swirled around in her head, like a strong and bitter medicine difficult to swallow down.
"Well, I need to know something." It took all her restraint not to plead with Lina and stand her ground, not to show herself as the weaker one. Lina talked about making amends, right? Well, Flora needed information and hopefully, she could give her that. "I hear there's a Senshi, named Lyra, who... got corrupted." The Senshi of Nebulas, her friend, her teammate. "Do you happen to know anything about her? Can we even... help them?" If Lina could be rescued from the Negaverse, was there any hope that those that were once on their side could be as well?
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 10:15 am
It would probably be a very, very bad thing to laugh at Flora's indignation. Curious was the fact that somehow the Senshi of Spring had known her as a civilian, liked her, then tried to encourage Elzo to leave that b***h Linarite behind and go for this nice, normal girl. While she continued on her tirade the bluenette searched her own mind for anyone that she might have remembered talking to about her relationship woes. Fortunately for Flora and unfortunately for Lina, there was nothing but a blank, empty space that had existed. It was, apparently, sensitive information.
Dammit.
"Fate's a b***h. That's something that I honestly want to put on stickers and slap all over town. Fate is an evil, nasty b***h who I swear to God works for Chaos because of how totally mean she is to people like me and Castor." That was a subject that was obviously just a little touchy for the knight, the fact that fate had thrown them at each other so hard she'd been ready to die for her mistakes. Fate stepped in to save her but only at the last minute. It was absolutely unfair.
"Lyra? The name isn't familiar to me. But then so many things I knew were lost...wait. She was the girl that they took during the fight with the Black Phoenix? When the Blood Moon was exposed for the disgusting cadre of torturers it was?" Her mouth went into a hard line, the irony of it probably not lost on Sailor Flora. "I'd think you can help them if they want to be helped. Cosmos purified me and I didn't have the benefit of being born a bastion of pure light magic like you senshi. I'm just a poor human caught in the balance." The bitterness was evident, the meeting between the two of them rapidly devolving into something she didn't want it to become.
Putting fingers to her temples Lina Knight shook her head to clear it. "I apologize. I have just a bit of black baggage and sometimes I lose control of it. It's humiliating when I realize it."
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:04 am
"It is, isn't it?" Flora gave her a small, tentative smile. "As if what they slapped on us in our past life wasn't enough." It was her firm belief that past lives pretty much sucked. After all, they fought monsters and died in line of duty, causing their homeworlds to be wrecked. Sometimes she wondered if it was a good thing that she could never recall much about the past at all.
"Blood Moon? What?" Her brow wrinkled in confusion. While she had once met Ares, she had not been told about the community the Senshi of Smoke led and was ignorant to what they had done. But back to the subject of the matter, Lyra. Lina said that she had been taken and Flora's shoulders slumped slightly. So Nemesis was right? In a way? "I was told that she went willingly to the Negaverse. I just... can't believe she would have done such a thing. After all, she was my teammate." Was. Oh, for the love of Chronos, now she was referring to Lyra in the past tense, accepting that her friend had crossed over to the other side. But Flora still couldn't fully grasp the reality of it, not when she had not seen it for herself.
A small smile of pity tugged on the corner of her lips. It was true, in a sense. Negaverse agents were just humans who could very well have stayed normal. On the other hand, Senshi were born as Senshi. There was nothing they could do about it. "Either way, being recruited in this war isn't very easy. I wouldn't wish this fate on anyone. Sometimes I feel resentful every time I find out that one of my friends is actually a Senshi, or even a Knight." Recently, there had been Lemuria, and also Pollux. "Like, why can't they just stay ignorant to all we have been exposed to? Life's so much easier that way."
Flora took a deep breath. "I am glad you're not with the Negaverse now though. Not only for Castor, but it just makes the situation seem more... hopeful." It was an example that they didn't need to kill. She could never forget Ares tricking her into talking that lieutenant into trusting them, giving him her word that they would not kill him... and Ares had ended him after getting the information anyway.
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Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 7:41 am
"It does, doesn't it? I certainly am trying to cling to the hope that if nothing else, we can knock the lot of 'em unconscious and drag them to Cosmos to be purified. Or whomever else can do it though I'm not sure if anyone can. Has your princess ever tried?" It was an interesting question, one that she had considered putting to her royal husband more than once. Things were, however, slightly touchy between them on the topic of the Negaverse and her residual feelings for those therein.
"Blood Moon Court. All I know is the name, some of the members, and that Smoke senshi Ares is the one that started it. Captured one of my very closest friends, tortured her within an inch of her life, and she became what you know as Tanzanite as a result." Guilt coursed through Lina Knight at her own culpability in what had happened to the Youma Queen; it was a feeling that would plague her until the day she died or at least found some way to atone for the fact that her own ignorance and blind stupidity had destroyed the soul of the only one who had truly understood her.
"I don't think anyone would go willingly. They must have had something to blackmail her with. This side...the light..." Lina shook her head. "You've killed officers, you know what it feels like to kill, and I hope you don't think it's a good feeling. When you're one of them? It does. God help all of us but it always felt so good to kill, to devour their energy, and that's what makes them so dangerous." Even now her own fists closed against the thought of the burning power cupped between her hands, bones aching for just one more taste. "It's an addiction all-consuming that you never escape and they make it so natural." Her head shook.
"That's why we need to keep hope up. I think somehwere, your friend Lyra is wishing that someone would save her. You shouldn't give up on her, okay? That's the worst you can do." Even killing someone was better than letting them know you'd given up on them. Lina would know!
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:38 am
"Once, I think." Flora said, recalling what she had been told about a certain incident. "In a place she called Barren Pines? I'm not sure if that counts." After all, there had been many strange circumstances then; like that they were supposed to be dead, and there being zombies. It was rather confusing, even when she had seen strange things in her time as a Senshi.
"That sounds... horrible." She murmured, the corners of her lips turned down. "I met Ares once. Her methods were rather... callous." It was hard to describe it; the knots of emotion that arose within her upon her encounter with Ares. One could say that she was effective, but in an intimidating and cruel way. And yet, to inflict that sort of pain without any form of guilt...
You've killed officers. Technically, Flora had contributed to the death of a lieutenant, which had been in her fight alongside Ares. She could say Ares struck the killing blow, but she felt responsible and it was a guilt she would always carry. And to hear that they relished the kill? It sounded horrible and she couldn't ever imagine that feeling. It sounded too appalling, too... abnormal. Chaos had twisted innocents into doing unspeakable things in it's name. The blonde bit her lip as Lina's words slowly sank in.
"I won't give up on her." She said. She owed it to Lyra to have hope in the girl who had first pledged together to form the Dream Team along with the others. One day, they would save Lyra, and the Dream Team would be complete again.
She heaved a sigh and then clapped a hand on Lina's shoulder. "You know what? We should probably get some coffee." With that, Flora decided to throw away the little remnants of her grudge with Linarite and dehenshined.
Trust was a two-way street.
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