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 Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 8:47 pm
He was inviting danger, he knew, sitting out on a swing in the dead of night, pushing himself back and forth, back and forth, but he sensed nothing and, for the moment, felt as safe as he could possibly feel in a city that was hardly safe at all.
Every once in a while, his boots would scrape against the dirt and woodchips at his feet, or he would push too far and the rusting joints and chains of the swing-set would screech loudly in protest. He didn’t care. He didn’t care about much of anything anymore. Caring hurt too much, and he thought he’d already been hurt enough -- by himself, by other people -- and he was tired of it. So tired…
Ganymede tilted his head back to look up at the night sky as the swing swung lazily to and fro. He ignored the moon and instead tried to pick out the little pinpricks of light that barely shone through the bright city lights that surrounded him on all sides. The park was deserted but for him, at least for now, but he knew it well as a late-night hangout of the neighborhood kids -- juvenile punks who’d resigned themselves to their lot in life on the wrong side of town, and intended to live up to the low expectations everyone else had of them. Once or twice he’d joined them for a little adolescent revelry, sneaking booze out of their parents’ houses and hiding behind the gnarled trees placed sporadically along the perimeter.
He wasn’t really interested in things like that anymore. He no longer derived any sense of excitement or adventure from it. Then again, he felt that way about a lot of things now, angry and listless as he was.
It was almost funny, he thought, how things could change so much in just a week. He almost wished a youma would turn up, if only for the distraction.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:06 pm
No youma appeared, though that did not mean there weren't monsters lurking in the dark. When she came across Ganymede sitting alone in the darkened park, Europa considered that she had a number of options available to her. She could sneak up behind him and whisper that if she was a negaverse general, he'd be dead by now. However, that was a monumentally stupid idea and she crossed it off her list right away. She could text him and tell him to check the small copse of trees, but that would just be creepy. Besides, it didn't seem to her that Ganymede was in the mood for games tonight. She'd never seen someone sit so dejectedly on a swing before.
In the end, the eternal senshi of the deep settled for plopping herself onto the swing next to him and twirling her crisp white boots in the wood chips. "Penny for your thoughts?" she asked, sounding concerned. Now that she was closer, Ganymede didn't look good at all. A recent upgrade usually did a body good... But he had a kind of dead fish look.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk," she added after a moment. "It'd be a ripoff, anyways." Pennies couldn't buy you anything these days. And five-cent packs of gum had gone the way of the dinosaurs. You needed a whole dollar to buy a can of soda; she felt old remembering a time when it had been sixty cents.
"But, I mean, really," she said, leaning in closer. He really did not look good. "Are you okay?" Eropa had already practically made up her mind. She was going to find whoever did this to Ganymede and rip them a new one! Even if they weren't offically teammates yet, she already felt protective of him like they were.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:52 pm
Ganymede wasn't startled or surprised when someone joined him on the swings, though he could honestly say he hadn't expected it to be Europa and may have looked slightly bewildered when he glanced over at her, not because he was shocked or disappointed by her arrival but because it wasn't too often that they ran into one another.
He couldn't say he disliked Europa. No, they weren't close, and he wasn't going to start opening himself up to her and sharing all the tragedies of his life, but he felt potential there, like he could one day be comfortable enough with her to let her a little further in. She was experienced and leveled headed and he could appreciate both. She was much easier to get along with than Kallichore, who he suspected might need a serious lesson in morality.
"It's nothing," he said, but he didn't smile or try to change his facial expression for the better. It wouldn't be worth it to pretend. She could already tell he was having a rough time of it. "Just a lot of things going on. Non senshi stuff. Complications and things like that."
Beyond the fact that he didn't feel comfortable sharing his civilian life with anyone, he couldn't seem to come up with a way to say "yeah, my dad's got a bum heart and liver" without making the atmosphere suddenly excruciatingly depressing.
"What are you doing on this side of town?" he couldn't help but ask. Tonight, he hadn't strayed too far from the street where his father's shabby house was located. He looked at Europa with her crisp white wings and thought she belonged in a better place.
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:26 am
"Oh," said Europa, gesturing vaguely in the direction of DCU. "I live over... Yonder." In truth she didn't live anywhere near here and didn't make a habit of coming out into the neighborhood, but tonight she was looking for Ganymede specifically. It meant that she was a pretty senshi rather far from her home turf, but so far no one had hassled her.
All she hoped was that she hadn't picked a bad night. Proposing a team could be tricky under the best circumstances, and if Ganymede was already redisposed to say no then all bets were off. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said delicately. It was hardly her place to ask him for more details, and she didn't want to pry. Curious as she was, Europa was determined to treat this situation as delicately as possible. If she messed it up, she'd never get the same chance again.
She tapped her toes in the sawdust and sighed. There was no delicate way to broach to topic of the Jovian court in a situation like this, and if the conversation blew up in her face then she'd have to give the whole recruiting process a second thought. "I think we both know I don't live anywhere near here," she admitted, studying his reaction.
"I hiked out here looking for you specifically," Europa continued. "I'm sort of... Well, I guess not I specifically, because I'm all in favor of democracy-" in truth, she just wasn't sure yet she wanted to lead, because it was the leader who took the blame whenever things all went to hell. "There's been sort of this general theme of the Jovian moons forming a team," she finally said.
"I guess you could say I'm here to recruit you."
That had sounded so much more amazing in her head, thought Europa and blanched.
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:33 am
The swing slowed as Ganymede stopped encouraging it backward and forward, though he didn't drag his feet along the mulch beneath him to force himself to a stop sooner, and let the pause in his swinging come more naturally instead. He didn't take his eyes away from Europa, nor did he say anything more regarding his civilian circumstances, and focused instead on what she'd come for.
"Recruit me...?" he repeated. He thought about what she'd said and couldn't help but remember his last conversation with Kallichore. "If you had a group, what would you do, Ganymede?" she'd asked him.
He couldn't deny that he'd given it some thought, not necessarily forming some sort of group or team, but at least interacting with people more, certain people specifically. He'd partnered up on patrols with Valhalla, he liked Europa and didn't mind fighting alongside her, he could grudgingly get along with Kallichore if he had to, and Callisto... well, she was young and new at this. She shouldn't be doing it alone, not like he did.
"It seems like the natural thing to do, doesn't it?" he wondered, glancing off as he continued to think about it, digging the toe of one of his boots into the dirt. "We're all from the some area, and you said at least you and I knew one another in the past. We'd probably be better off helping each other anyway. Strength in numbers, or something like that."
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 2:39 pm
"I think we'd all stand a better chance against the Negaverse if we were more organized," nodded Europa. That was always the logic of building a team - however, having some kind of other unifying factor would also probably help. It wasn't enough to hate the same people: look how that had turned out for the Basterds. No, the more she thought about it, a team had to have some common positive ground before it had any shot at success.
"We were the moons of Jupiter," she agreed. Although the politics still remained shrouded in the mist of history, Europa and Kallichore agreed that this at least counted for something. As shared interests went, it might not have been the best, but it was certainly one thing they all shared. "And it isn't just strength. It's safety and support."
There were certain senshi that Europa was beginning to look at almost as her second family. Kallichore had most certainly started to worm her way to a sort of younger sister role, although she wasn't presently sure if she would let that continue.
"A team doesn't just have to be for fighting," said Europa with a smile, as she twisted back and forth on her swing. "A team should be your friends. Your family, even."
Maybe that was where she'd gone wrong before.
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:19 pm
Ganymede dug his toe further into the mulch and then started kicking some of the wood chips off in random directions. "I haven't really had the best lick with family," he muttered, more to himself than to her, before realizing his was being a little Debbie Downer and allowing the problems in his civilian life to start bleeding into his senshi one. That wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to keep them separate. It was easier that way, and meant he could escape from one to the other if he had to.
"The organized bit I can agree with," he said. He stopped mutilating the patch of dirt beneath his feet and began to swing slowly back and forth again. He didn't go very high; his feet never left the ground. "Kallichore and I have talked about that a little. It's probably one of the few things she and I see eye-to-eye about."
He did worry that in forming an exclusive team of Jupiter's moons, they might inadvertently cut themselves off from others -- not that he knew very many of the others, but he didn't think isolation was a good idea. That certainly wouldn't help the organizational problem. They would have to make sure to keep themselves open to working with others if circumstances required them to do so.
Of course, he realized that would probably be more of a challenge for him than it would be for Kallichore and Europa, who both seemed as if they already had a decent network among the senshi. He cut himself off, they didn't.
"I think I could give it a shot, but I think if we're going to do it, we should set up some sort of code for ourselves, outline goals and things like that. What we stand for..." He leaned far back in the swing so that he was staring up at the sky and his hair was hanging toward the ground. "I'm not going to kill people, or hurt anyone if I don't have to. I'll get rid of youma and protect civilians, but I'm not going to do any of the messy stuff. Kallichore might not care about getting blood on her hands, but I do."
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:11 pm
"I agree completely," agreed Europa with a gentle smile. She knew bits and pieces of Kallichore's history - not enough to really call herself knowledgeable, but she knew some from the senshi of madness herself and some from Sailor Leto - and she didn't agree with many of the things the other scout had done while in the thrall of the Blood Moon Court. It would be unfair to begrudge her a history of violence, though; even if it did extend into the present.
"Ganymede, I've never killed anyone," she said earnestly. "And I'm not planning to start. But the Negaverse... some of them are too far gone to save." She thought bitterly of Tanzanite, and of Lyra's fall from grace. It was enough to set her teeth on edge. Still, if Europa encountered them in battle, she would not strike to kill. Perhaps when this was over, they would put the whole Negaverse on trial like Nazi war criminals.
"Kallichore is Kallichore," she emphasized. "And You are Ganymede and I'm Europa. We make our own destinies."
She'd been struggling to move into this mindset lately. As much as she longed to learn more about Signy, Europa was trying her hardest to take Magellan's words to heart. It didn't matter what you'd done in your past life, who you'd loved or fought or been.
"I mean, I stand by thinking that it's important we learn about who we used to be," she backtracked. "And respect who we used to be - but it doesn't mean we're not the same people we were before we found out about the ghosts on the moons."
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 8:55 pm
He was somewhat relieved as Europa revealed her murder record of zero. He hadn't been making any assumptions about such things regarding her before -- though she'd never given any sort of vibes that might make him suspect her to agree with the violence and killing -- but hearing her say it out loud was very reassuring. If she could be part of this for so long and get so far without having to kill, then he didn't see why he shouldn't be able to do the same thing, and keep his morals and sense of justice in tact while attempting to do good.
The Negaverse... he was unsure about. He knew there were some that talking and compromise wouldn't work with, but he liked to think that there were others who could be guided onto a better, less hateful path.
"I said something similar to Valhalla," he said when the topic shifted to the past. "That I was born here, that I grew up here, on Earth. I might have lived somewhere else in the past, and I do feel a connection to that place and I like it and I want to see more, but... this is my home now, and I want to protect it. I have a life here. Maybe not a great one, but it's still mine and I've grown to accept it. Focusing too much on the past... it's just... it makes it difficult to look forward."
It was a lesson he was trying his best to take to heart -- look ahead, not behind -- on both sides of his life. Live in the present, hope for the future, use the past as guidance, but don't become lost to it.
"So if we do this team," he began, hoisting himself back upright in the swing, "who's it going to be? Just you, me, Kallichore, Callisto and whoever else comes along? I haven't met any of the others if there are some. Except Val," he amended, and smiled slightly as he thought of him. "He might like the idea. He and I have already been doing a bit of patrolling together."
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:56 pm
Europa was heartened that Ganymede had at least given some thought to how he felt about his past life. So many senshi seemed to avoid the topic altogether or approach it with too much angst (as she had, but she was getting over it). Despite the ridiculously pretty face, the senshi of lust had a good head on his shoulders and she respected that immensely.
"Valhalla is welcome to join!" she asserted quickly, recalling the friendly Jupiter Page. She didn't see why he couldn't - he had every right to be a member of the Jovian court as she or Ganymede did! "And there are a few others. Pasiphae has already agreed, and Kallichore is going to speak with Cyllene. I have to speak with Callisto next."
Europa didn't want it to sound as though she was Kallichore's errand girl, except that she sort of was. It didn't sting her pride as much if she told herself she'd be doing this herself anyways, Kallichore's suggestion or not. Really she wanted someone to reassure her she'd be a good leader - but Ganymede wasn't the right person to ask. She needed to assure him of her leadership abilities, not request that he question them!
"We'll pick up other Jovian senshi and knights as they appear," said Europa with forced authority. "There's sixty-four moons, but I doubt there's actually that many Jovian senshi in Destiny City." At least she hoped not for their sake - even with the current low numbers, Europa was daunted by how many senshi she was going to potentially wind up in charge of.
What she had to say next was going to hurt, but she needed to seal the deal. Being truthful was going to get her further than empty promises. This wasn't the campaign trail and it wasn't time to be kissing babies and promising people free cars.
"The most I can offer you with certainty," she declared, forcing her swing into stillness, "Is that if you join this team you'll always have an ally if you need one. You'll have someone to turn to and we'll support each other. I can't promise that we're going to win. I can't promise that we'll get answers and I can't promise that we'll all survive. But whatever happens, we'll be doing it together."
Europa stared into his eyes and tried to hide her own uncertainty. Hopefully that hadn't sounded nearly as bad to him as it had to her.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:37 pm
Ganymede dragged his feet along the ground to force his swing to still seconds after hers, turning to stare at her, a serious expression on his face. He didn't distrust her, despite how distrustful he could often be. Months ago, maybe he would have second guessed involving himself with other people, but he'd been the one to point out how disorganized the senshi were to Kallichore, and if he didn't agree to this now he felt he'd be allowing that to continue.
Besides, what did he really have to lose?
"I'm assuming you're going to be in charge then," he said, eyeing her wings, "seeing as you're the most powerful and you've probably got more experience than the rest of us combined."
He had no idea when any of the others had popped up. He hadn't met Kallichore until well in the month of May, and he'd awaken in February. The first time he'd ever met Europa, she'd seemed surprised -- but delighted -- to see him, and so he had always assumed he had been the first Jovian she'd met, perhaps because he'd been the first to awaken after her, or perhaps not. He could only guess.
"But you're going to have to work on this authority thing," he said with a bit of a smile, not sure why he was so amused by it. He didn't know how much of it was forced, but he could tell she wasn't completely comfortable with it, at least not yet. "Though, if you ever need someone to be forceful with the others, I can do that easy. I don't mind if people think I'm a b***h."
He may still be worried about how things would progress from here, but he was heartened by her reassurances all the same. He could live with that, he thought. The rest of it, they could figure out together.
"I'll tell Valhalla," he decided, launching himself into motion again. "Are we all gonna get together and meet or something?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:52 pm
That much was true: Europa did have at least a year's experience on any of the other Jovians, and a pair of frilly buttwings to back up the claim. Her first instinct was to pass leadership off on Kallichore, but the senshi of Madness seemed intent on foisting the job on her. Besides, she knew herself too well. Present insecurities aside, Europa would never be happy in the long run unless she was the one giving orders.
"For the present, yes," agreed Europa, twisting on her swing. She wasn't certain what might happen as the team expanded - which it was sure to. Perhaps she'd make Ganymede and Kallichore her deputies. There were enough rookies in their thrall that she'd be perfectly justified in instituting some kind of structure, but there was still the matter of how to reorganize once those rookies were a bit more experienced.
She'd cross that bridge when she came to it, she decided. Ganymede's fearlessness of being a b***h was encouraging, at least. Perhaps she wasn't so misguided in thinking about making him a second-in-command.
Europa's stomach did a somersault, thought, at the mention of a meeting. Oh. She hadn't thought about that.
"Yes," she snapped quickly, trying to cover her unpreparedness with hasty stock excuses. "We need to work it out with everyone's schedules and find a location, though."
Meeting in large groups had a tendency to attract trouble, and she didn't want to force anyone into revealing their civilian identities. Some people were touchy about that, after all. "Assuming that there are probably members who want to remain anonymous," she said, speaking from what was mostly just presumption, "I think we're going to need a cat to avoid becoming a homing beacon."
And Europa, despite her tremendous wealth of experience, was sorely lacking in cats.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 7:58 am
"Well, I'm free after..." He paused to consult his new mental schedule, not wanting to promise a time he couldn't really commit to. "... after eight at night. And my weekends are usually open."
He supposed there had to be at least one night a week when they could all meet if it was necessary to do so on a weekly basis, but he thought just getting the initial meeting out of the way to set things up and get everyone on the same page was a good place to start. He hadn't met very many of the others. This would give him a good chance to do so without having to resort to Kallichore's tactics of stalking them.
"And Callisto knows a cat, doesn't she?" he asked hesitantly, not wanting to volunteer someone who might not want the job, but he, like, Europa had no access to a cat. "She seemed pretty attached to the one that was around by the pool. The one who..." He slowed his swing and made a vague motion with one of his hands that was clearly supposed to indicate his new outfit. "I mean, I don't really like the idea of involving someone so young, but if Callisto wants to... and if the cat doesn't mind... It'd probably be worth a shot to ask."
Otherwise, they'd have to figure something else out. Ganymede wasn't all that thrilled about the idea of revealing his civilian identity, especially not with the Chris/Valhalla situation, but if it came down to it...
"I don't want to reveal who I am if I can help it. I like keeping these two sides of my life separate, and I'd like to do that for as long as I can, and the truth is I don't trust a lot of people," he admitted, giving her a bit of an apologetic look, as if to say, 'sorry, it's not you, it's me.' "And I don't know very many places for us to meet. I kinda just hang around this area, and wander over to Val's side of town. I don't know if a secluded area in a park would do it."
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:14 am
"Well, I'd prefer somewhere more easily defensible," replied Europa. Private residencies in Civilian form were best, but barring that... she didn't like the park, it didn't give them many resources and she'd been attacked there too many times in the past. A bunch of senshi sitting on playground equipment was too easy a target. "Maybe a roof?"
Roofs were good. You almost never got attack on roofs and you were shielded from random passers-by. Toss in a cat and you'd might as well have a fortress. And if Callisto had a cat... Europa's expression brightened considerably. "I'm talking to Callisto next," she said.
"And... I understand about wanting to keep it separate," she nodded. Personally she like to know how to get people if she needed them, but there were some cases in which she wished she'd kept her mouth shut. Think how her relationship with Libra had changed once they'd known each other's civilian identities.
"I don't want to put anyone in a situation they're uncomfortable with," she said firmly. "But... you're in?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:40 am
Ganymede thought about it for a few moments longer, continuing to swing back and forth, but he couldn't think of any reasons not to agree. He couldn't find very many negative aspects of teaming up, aside from the fact that he'd have to work with Kallichore, who he didn't always get along with, but he was a big boy. He could suck it up. Life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, that much was obvious.
"Yeah, I'm in," he decided. What did he have to lose?
"I can't promise that I'll always be agreeable, though, or that I won't try to boss people around or yell at them for being stupid," he added, thinking of a few of his past interactions. He'd always been pretty argumentative. "I honestly don't have very much to offer, and I've never been very good at following someone else's lead. I like to control things a lot, so working with people hasn't ever really been my strong suit, but I'm willing to give it a shot."
He didn't know how long it would last. He didn't even know if this idea would succeed, but it was worth the attempt. If it didn't work out, then it didn't work out. At least they could say they tried. At least he so say he hadn't always gone it alone.
"I'll let you know if I find anywhere. A roof might be feasible."
Of course, he'd have to see what Val thought of the idea first, but somehow he didn't think the answer would be 'no.'
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