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iStoleYurVamps
iStoleYurVamps
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 Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 12:35 am
It was time for greeting an old friend. More then that, it was time to go and torment the ******** out of one of his favorite people to tease the s**t out of. Europa had always been a favorite senshi of Castor, if just because she was so easy to rile, and the fact she took it in stride. She knew him well enough to expect it, and deal with it. She was classically trained in the torment that was Castor moonlit shenanigans.
Tonight, Castor planned on more of them. Just verbal, even if part of him wished they could run across another muck monster just for good old time's sake. Sitting on top of a water tower, he looked at the City Lake, wondering if the negaverse ever stuck a youma in there. If they did he was convinced it was like the hogwarts squid. It didn't a s**t, and was quite happy to be left alone. It never occurred to him that he'd called telling Europa to meet him at the building but not on the roof, much less the water tower.
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:50 am
Europa had been into this Senshi business long enough to know to check the roof when the alleys were empty. When the roof was also empty, she began to suspect she'd been stood up... but Castor was too much of a quote-unquote gentleman for that. The first thing she did was check the time on her phone - she was right on time, not late, not early. So she hit scan and saw that there was a dot practically right on top of her.
Curiouser and curiouser. The eternal senshi of the deep looked up, and for the first time noticed the man on top of the water tower. She crossed her arms over her chest and called, "I hope I didn't keep you waiting."
No way was she jumping from here onto something rickety like that. Europa circled the base of the tower, looking for handholds, and found the service ladder around the back. She climbed quickly and crawled across the top of water tower to sit beside Castor. "How goes the senshi-ing?" she asked. "And what's this about you being a prince?"
She hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to him at Polaris's meeting, but it didn't mean Europa didn't have things on her mind. Absence had certainly made the heart grow fonder, and where Castor had once infuriated her to no end, she now saw him as something of an old friend. Or, at any rate, when they'd first met she'd been sixteen and stupid and, you know, had secretly enjoyed the harassment because it meant that someone, anyone, was paying attention to the fact that she was a girl.
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iStoleYurVamps
iStoleYurVamps
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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:35 pm
He was grinning down at her, waiting for her no notice, when she did, he saluted. "Nope, just enjoying the view but, I bet if you turned around it would be better right?" He chuckled as she joined him, the clicking of the boots on the metal echoing into the distance. "But nothing like Lina's. Her a**?" A wold whistle. "Now that jelly butt, I am blessed to have. Or well-" A sigh as Castor rolled his shoulders back. "Had I guess." His voice was a touch quieter in it's sadness, the time apart wearing on him, just smothered under his mask of lighthearted joking.
"And yup. Prince. Been one for a while. Got the wings, a crystal, my tiara turned to laurels, but I lost my pants." His grin was playful if cruel in teasing. "I think you'd like to see me as prince. Nothing but a loincloth." A hand raised a motioned to her own backside. "But hey, eternal. More feather butts out and about. About time too." Leaning back, the senshi of hail was more or less just laying about on his job, not even checking his phone fore youma or anything.
"Anyway, heard the team broke up. What happened there? Polaris told me it kinda crumbled and s**t. In any case-" Blue eyes just gazed into the sky. "I need to get connected again. Senshi are cropping up all over, and I dunno, as a royal I need to lead? Do I need to rally the troops? Search harder? Kill more?" a sigh. "Do I even need to kill at all?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:08 am
"Keep dreaming," scoffed Europa. Castor without his pants? She knew with total certainty she could live without seeing that. Even if she was interested to know more about his newfound royalty, it was her job to keep the sexual innuendos in check: otherwise, who would?
"I don't really want to talk about it," she groaned. Bringing up the Basterds and her shortcomings as a leader was just bad news. Europa had been spending months trying to forget it had even happened, but as it were she seemed to be on the outs with most of her former allies. Maybe that was the problem with appointing yourself leader instead of waiting for it to happen democratically. At least with the Jovians someone seemed to be actively pushing for her to take charge - and she was still reluctant!
"I broke up with Regulus a few months ago," she confessed as dryly as she could manage. "It all kind of fell apart after that." It was all silly teenaged girl stuff, anyways. Europa was above and beyond that. Time to move on to brighter subjects, as it were.
"I'm with the Jovians now - the moons of Jupiter?" she added, forcing herself to be perkier. "I'm getting pushed to lead, but... Castor, what in the world qualifies me to tell a bunch of superheroes what to do? It's sure as hell not my high school diploma or my first aid certification, because lots of people have those." Although if she had to guess she'd say the first aid certification got her further than the diploma.
And then he had to go talk about killing. Europa sighed. "I wish the answer was no," she said after giving it some thought, "But I think some of them are just too far gone." She had no doubts that Castor would understand who they were.
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iStoleYurVamps
iStoleYurVamps
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:21 pm
He shrugged as he watched her mood dampen as she told him of how thing fell apart. Polaris had been right, they had just..melted away. Like ice under the water, it just happened so slowly you didn't realize it until it was gone. "That-" he shrugged, not feeling very attached as he really had been the first to 'leave', "kind of sucks. I kind of hoped at the least you guys would have stuck it out but hey." Rolling a shoulder the senshi of hail was trying to find the bright side of things, "time changes people. Certainly did a number on me. If anything, you tried, which is more than what many senshi manage to do." He gave her an honest smile before it widened.
"Oh? Broke up with Lion boy? Does that mean you're free game? I can call up some of my single menshi bros and tell them to be on the look out for some sweet jelly buns?" It was meant to be joking even if she seemed to not want to discuss it. "And Jovian makes me think you're full of joy or something. Not moons. The city has a s**t ******** ton of moons. Hell, you're a moon, chibimoon is a smaller moon, I moon everybody when a gust of wind passes by in prince form-" Castor was trying to make Europa smile, to keep it light. "Anyway, what qualifies you to ******** if I know. Just...let people make their choices? If I tried I could probably pull a quote out of my a** but I'm too lazy to think of one."
Grim talk was masked. Castor had to face it but his personal conflicts were at war within himself. "I...Well I pretty much agree on the whole killing bit." That was the truth, yet the words of his soulmate burned in his mind. "But...just- Augh. It's frustrating. I'm supposed to be able to help, but I feel like I can't. Like I shouldn't waste it. I shouldn't bother to try. It's a ******** mess purification. Balance, chaos, ******** s**t hitting fans."
He could never remain eloquent.
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:53 pm
Europa hugged her knees to her chest and gave him a sidelong glace. Romance had been the furthest thing on her mind lately. She'd tried asking someone out and made a complete and utter mess of that, and lately she'd been to busy to even think about wooing or being wooed. "If they're anything like you?" she asked, quirking a small smile. She felt down on herself but had a certain reluctance to let Castor know that. If she let Castor know she was in a bad mood, chances were he'd take it upon himself to 'fix' it.
"I mean, you can try," she snorted. "But I'm not sure how well it will work. And Earth's moon is bigger than Europa by about ten percent." It wasn't that she'd missed the joke - just that she couldn't resist. Her days as head of an intel squad had left her with a brain full of useless astronomical trivia. "I think they're betting on seniority, but you know, I don't feel very senior."
"I mean-" Laughing, she reached back and gave her wings a tug. "I look ridiculous." But she'd looked ridiculous from the start; this was nothing new.
Europa raised an eyebrow as he made his last statement. "Elaborate on that, please." This had better not be something that was going to pop up in four months and bring about armageddon. "What kind of s**t?"
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iStoleYurVamps
iStoleYurVamps
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 8:47 pm
he gave he a nudge with his foot halfheartedly. "Hey, I waited 2000 mother ******** years and risked death for the girl I love. Love is powerful enough to change the tides of war Europa. The war on Earth started because a milk maid loved a prince who loved a lunarian. I loved a Knight trapped in the dark and was ready to die because I didn't want to live in a world without her. Love is love Jelly buns, let it happen, fight for it, and hold on when you have it." Castor, sometimes able to express himself on a semi-thoughtful level? Perish such thinking because if that came from Castor, so could-
"I can still hook you up with some old Hillworth grads. Not sure if they're your type or not." And mood killed.
"As for seniority...Wellllll...." He shrugged. "Think of it like this. Technically, I'm the eldest male senshi, so by default, does that mean all of the male senshi should follow me, even if they hate me or we have different views? Even I can call bull on that one. Taranis plans better then me, Hell, my brother is more organized and thinks more strategically then me. If I lead I want to lead because they believe in the same thing I do, and they have faith in me to point them in the right direction. But like...I need faith in own abilities? To be able to know just as they can look to me, I can look to them? Oh s**t I think I just answered my own ******** question." He sat next to her. "Goddamn you Europa, you make me think too hard. But hey, if they trust you, believe in you, you've got to trust em back. Yeah-" He crossed his arms. "That sounds pretty sane."
His head jerked and blue eyes closed, calling back that night. Calling back to the cryptic warning. "You know how we fight for the white moon, some of us for Serenity, other simply for the sake of good? Well the negas..they fight for Chaos. It's..it's like the big man. Light and shadow. s**t like that I figure. When Lina purified, Cosmos said the balance had shifted. I had taken something from the darkness, I had become a prince, a force of good, of light. If you think about like scales...I tipped it in our favor or something? It didn't last long. You know that great youma right? Tanz-" His gaze hardened as he looked out into the distance.
"I think she was my balance. While I gained the light, she gained the dark? It's just really hard to explain. I- I feel it in a way? Part of being prince is that I send out massive amounts of energy, but I can also use energy senshi can't normally fathom. You think an attack is devastating? Europa-" That gaze turned to her and there was something sad in his eyes. "I know what my crystal can do if I mastered it. I could level this city in minutes if I wanted too. That is how much power I have. Imagine that kind of power in the darkness. For two years now, She's grown in power just like me." A heavy sigh. It was these thought that tormented him the most. "I guess in the end it was only fitting when I gained my power...so did she."
"Purification comes a price. Lina gave up her human life, her family, the negaverse views her as a traitor. All those who knew her past just..got muddled. who was ceased to exist. Only the woman I loved remained. purification isn't easy. Ascension isn't easy. There is a price we have to pay for it all, how we pay it just...varies."
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:47 pm
He'd had her going, at least for a while, with all his talk about the power of love. When it was over, though, Europa couldnt help herself but snicker involuntarily. "And give my dad an aneurism?" she asked. "No, no, I think I'm over the whole 'bad boy' thing." Although, when your idea of a 'bad boy' was Jaimie Leontyne, you weren't really trying to rebel. "Anything worse than a posh blonde shoplifter and my dad really will ground me until I'm thirty."
She fell silent again, listening raptly to his story. Castor had changed since he'd parted with the Basterds - that much was for certain. Beneath his familiar, sarcastic exterior, Europa sensed a certain maturity that only life and experience could teach. He had good advice, at the very least, about team dynamics - trusting her team was something Europa had always found herself reluctant to do. It went along with having a personal philosophy of doing things yourself if you wanted them done right, but perhaps he'd just identified the fatal flaw in the structure of the Basterds.
She'd never trusted anyone to get the job done without her constantly looking over their shoulders. She'd been treating her teammates, some of them older than her, like children. Senshi deserved autonomy and trust, whereas Europa had only ever managed to be a patronizing leader at best.
"It doesn't really seem like a fair trade," she said, after he'd concluded his story.to be sure, her mind was stewing, full of new information and troubled thoughts. "I mean, I don't think it's balanced. It's never been balanced, because they have weapons and armor and they can ******** teleport, and we've got miniskirts and magic and none of it's particularly lethal. I mean, if a negaverser wants to kill you, they've got a plethora of methods and they're all sort of...cheap and easy. And what am I going to do? Glow at somebody until they pass out?"
It was pretty clear that senshi weren't designed for killing. Europa just wasn't clear on what kinds of advantages they had that the negaverse could keep pulling sucker-punches in the name of "balance."
She placed a tentative hand on Castor's shoulder. Although Europa had never considered them to be friends, she did hold a certain grudging measure of fondness for Castor. He was one of the only comrades she had who'd known her from the very beginning of her fight, and if nothing else then that had to count for something. "But you don't want to level all of Destiny City, do you?" she asked.
Of course not, she took for granted. "You've been given a gift, Castor," Europa continued. "You should learn how to use it properly. I mean, look at Tanzanite. She's terrifying. You don't have to be terrifying, but-"
She licked her lips thoughtfully. "I'd love to see the negaverse running scared," she sighed. Just once, it would be nice to force the darkness into retreat instead of fleeing as it closed in.
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iStoleYurVamps
iStoleYurVamps
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:22 pm
"Well, I did know a guy who was at Hillworth for nothing more then what I assume was being a wimp. Folks probably sent him there to whip him into shape. Sadly, last I heard from him, he's taken. Tough luck there Europa." Tapping his chin, Castor figured he really out to call back on said friend. It had been far too long. Plus he kind of wanted to see Atlas with a** wings. It would be a grand day for the menshi when he went eternal, (Castor had full faith he would).
"And fair is subjective. Life isn't fair, if being a senshi should teach us anything it should be that. Life sucks dicks, and what we've got to do is just figure out how to swallow. Terrible mental images Castor, terrible. A cold look was given to Europa as she mentioned killing and with a flat voice Castor gave her his best answer. "You get creative Europa. That is how we level the playing field." Her hand on him and Castor's breath slowed. "If it were only so simple. But then, when is life ever simple? You call it a gift Europa, but all gifts come with a price. My price is being paid by someone who didn't deserve it, but I much accept it, and face it." His price had been Tanzanite. Who knew the others.
"One small blessing is that I am more in tune to my world then most senshi, I'm not limited to how often I can move from my home here to there. As such, I've been able to work on my control. With time, you'll see the negaverse pissing it's pants at the sight of me and what I can do." A grin, dark and somewhat out of place on the usual jovial senshi's face. "What a true senshi prince is capable of."
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:45 am
Europa noticed the change in Castor's demeanor, but that didn't mean she was going to try and talk him back from taking responsibility for his newfound powers. "I'm looking forward to that day," she admitted, trying to keep any trace of dark humor out of the smile she flashed back at him.
"Okay," she admitted, after giving it some consideration. Shifting her legs carefully, Europa continued, "I'm jealous that you get to go spacewalking whenever you like." Hadn't she and Perseus just had this conversation? They so totally had. "It would be... useful."
And now it was time to pitch her plan and hope he didn't think it was totally stupid. "I'm going to tell you about something I'm working on," she prefaced. "And you can tell me if it's a dumb idea or whatever but you're not allowed to laugh." Laughing was definitely out - though, knowing Castor, she bet he would anyways. Europa licked her lips before explaining.
"I'm working on revitalizing my homeworld." She watched Castor's face carefully, curiously- "I got the idea from an old greenhouse I found in the palace there - they were growing plants with aeroponics a thousand years ago on Europa." Those words might not mean anything to the prince, but when Europa had pieced together how the greenhouse worked she'd been seriously impressed.
"I've just got a little DIY rig up there right now, but I want to fix the old plumbing if I can find someone who could figure out how it works-" She'd given it a cursory examination on her own and even without any kind of experience beyond knowing how to plunge a toilet had realized it wasn't a terribly complex system. "But being able to go more than once a week would be really useful. So far everything is growing okay, but if my rig fouls up one week and nothing gets watered then I won't be able to catch it until the weekend and then I'll lose all my progress!"
Her jealousy was showing. A little bit. Even if she didn't like all this talk of prices being paid. "Anyways." Her attention drifted back towards her feet. "Just tell me if you think I'm wasting my time growing lima beans on a foreign planet."
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iStoleYurVamps
iStoleYurVamps
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:24 pm
Castor's grin was never going fade, not even when hell broke loose. "One day it'll be better. Heck could be tomorrow!" He gave her a slap on the back. Bro-force style. "And space is fun but...it's got a lot of memories. Not all are good. But its just the past, we can't change it. So when I'm back there and I see the past...I look at the future too. So, your plan? I don't think it's stupid, rather I think it a good idea. I think some senshi have similar plans to rebuild. Heck, I'm getting my old villa rebuild along with the outer wall. If you want help, I'm sure some senshi or knight would know how to get it fully operational. "
It was just a bit of a hunch. He figured most senshi would want to at least recover part of what was lost. He certainly did. "You aren't wasting your time. Our homes worlds are just that, or homes. Broken or not, a home is a home. But for now-" Stretching his arms he sighed. "My home now is Destiny City. That's why I'm going to focus on it." A nod. "Can I count on you to back me up if I need it? Prince or not I'm not all powerful."
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 8:09 am
"Do you think you could ask around for me?" asked Europa, who apparently wouldn't take matchmaking from Castor but would take using him to find a plumber. "Help find someone who knows a thing or two about fixing pipes?" She didn't think it was too much to ask - senshi came from all walks of life. Who was to say there wasn't a plumber apprentice in that bunch somewhere.
"I'm not saying Destiny City isn't important," she assured him. Quite contrary, Europa would never truly leave Destiny City as long as her family was there. She had people here who she loved and wanted to protect - Destiny City was her most immediate reason for fighting back. "Of course you can count on me," she assured him in the same breath.
Sailor Europa was nothing if not trustworthy. It was a fact she prided herself in. "You have my bow," she joked, tugging on one of her trailing tentacle-ribbons.
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iStoleYurVamps
iStoleYurVamps
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:48 am
Castor shrugged. He could do a lot of things. Find Europa a plumber? Maybe. Or he could get her a copy of 'Plumbing for dummies' if the technical skills guy couldn't be found. Close enough right? "It's okay, I'm just saying there is nothing wrong with wanting to restore. It kind of.. funny in a way. I was married in the past and planning to live my life like that, but then it was gone. Now? Same thing, just that this time, i don't plan on dying."
"And you can bet I'm going to hold you to that Europa." Backing up, he figured they could meet up another time. Too long in one place was bound to attract..disreputable types. "I'll see what I can do about a plumber, but if I get you one, you gotta send me one of the things you grow okay?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 10:47 am
"Bean sprouts and pumpkins," saluted Europa. "I'll find you the biggest one. You'll have to carry it around all night." It seemed like a good gift to her, although knowing Castor the pumpkin would probably wind up smashed all over some unsuspecting negaverser's head. (Not necessarily a bad thing.)
"Keep in touch, Castor," she smiled to him. "I mean it." He was one of her oldest allies. Why couldn't she admit that she no longer felt any annoyance at his antics? It wouldn't even be inappropriate. "You're a good friend. Thanks for talking through all this with me. And for the info."
She gave a slight wave and slipped gracefully down from the water tower. Mission accomplished.
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