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 Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 11:23 pm
Getting into the school after hours was about as easy as getting out of a prison. He'd already had the troubling lone walk from the place to the school, wondering in the deepening gloom of evening and falling night whether or not the afternoon's events would be repeated. Getting through the gate had involved thankfully already provided documentation from the ER, a call to his mother, a call to the floor prefect, and a write up in a file on him that at least didn’t involve any penalty measures. It still felt awkward to be walking down the (only vaguely) familiar hall of the dorm to his room when it was well after dark, beyond lights-out, and likely about to interrupt his poor roommate’s rest.
The icepack bandaged around his chest beneath his shirt was a nice binding to reality, as was the light clicking of ibuprofen in a bottle in his messenger bag. The plastic ER bracelet, which didn’t fit and was held on by medical tape, was just ridiculous. It had all been real. Talia's texts were still on his phone. He still didn't know, after hours of nurses and then walking in thought, what to make of it all. He stood at the door motionless even as the prefect turned and went back to his own room. There were quiet sounds of breathing, stolen whispers, clothe rustling. Innocuous, normal sounds for a dorm full of youthful boys supposed to be asleep.
He didn’t knock now, but opened the door as quietly as he could, likewise guiding it slowly in place again once he’d passed through. The cold light of the security lamps and moonlight that filtered through the window’s thin drapes was enough to see by since his eyes had already adjusted to the prefect's flashlight. His bag he let down on the back of his desk chair, and followed that with a stripped off button down and tie. It felt like the white bandages glowed against the dark of the room.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:22 am
Colin's evening had been a fairly quiet one; some exercise and dance-practice after dinner, a flip-flop assisted shower run and then some time spent going between required reading and screwing around on the internet. The only thing missing was his over-sized roommate, Bjorn. Where the bigger boy happened to be was anyone's guess; Colin was pretty sure his friend would be fine and dandy, probably making another friend. He was like a puppy sometimes. A BIG puppy. That could already haul a sled full of weights through the Iditarod sled race without once being tired.
Overstatement? Yes. But still pretty apt.
By the time Bjorn made it back to the dorm, creeping into their shared room slowly, Colin was sleeping fitfully. When his roommate wasn't back by "light's out", he'd been worried. It had taken a while for him to even get to sleep, so when the door to their shared room opened and shut, when the taller blond came in with heavy feet (not that he could help that, he was just big), when the bag thumped against the chair, Colin came awake. In the moonlight, he could see Bjorn, see that there was something attached to him: white in the dark and strange - out of place.
"Bjorn?" Colin pushed himself up from his bed, rubbing one eye sleepily and frowning. "You're back late, didya' have a date or something?" The dancer's voice sounded amused and bit muzzy (muffled and fuzzy), but he was getting more awake every moment. One pale arm sought out the small lamp he kept by his bed, it was one of those horrible touch-lamp things mothers and grandmothers loved to hand out as gifts; the three settings worked great in the dorm though: bright enough to read, or low enough to just...not fall over your own feet if you were trying to meditate in semi-darkness. One tap brought the light to life; soft, amber light at the wattage of candles.
Just enough for him to realize that his friend's chest had some sort of bandages on it. "What happened?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:15 am
He turned abruptly at the sound of Colin’s voice. A flurry of gold as his braid whorled around to thock heavily against the chair back and knock the shirt to the floor. Björn left it there, abandoning it for a task of the morning.
Colin was awake? No, just waking. He hadn’t been quiet enough. Still, why be edgy in his own room? It was natural in such a school to wake if the door was opened. It wasn’t like the other boys were to be trusted on merit of it being nighttime.
“Ah, “ his low voice was hushed, toned to preserve the pensive mood of the hour. “No dates, except with the staff at the ER. There was a kind girl, Talia, ….I’ve met her before. But she drove me there, nothing else. “
The faint gold glow was so welcoming…fire in a hearth. He adored warm light, incandescent always his choice over halogens or day-glows. Colin’s hair was akimbo, and his night tank’s strap had fallen cutely off his shoulder. Even if it was a shame to have, perhaps it was worth waking him after all for just that much. Björn shifted his bandages to pull out the ice pack, mostly melted since he’d worn it all the walk home. “Just bad bruising…they said my body was in shock though. And I’ve…felt so …tired since it happened.”
It. The Valravn and the Valkyrie. Would Colin believe him if he told him? He didn’t know, but the incident felt like coals in his brain ready to wake to fire again if he slept without asking someone about it. Someone who might be able to make sense of it. His brow furrowed, but he continued with the motions of getting rid of the bandages since they’d served their purpose. Really, the pack had been on longer than the prescribed 30 minutes. He hadn’t had it in him to run back from the hospital.
“Just the ice pack and some ibuprofen to take care of the muscles, and rest for tomorrow. Boring, yes? You don’t have to wake up. ”
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:35 am
While Bjorn talked softly, Colin nodded and listened; he was still trying to pull the cotton batting out of his brain. Date with the ER people. Talia. Some girl that he'd met. Wait wait wait...had Bjorn said E.R. staff? As in...Emergency Room staff. Hospitals and being hurt.
And just like that, his brain connected everything that Bjorn had been saying: He'd been with some Talia girl, who had taken him for a 'date' with the ER staff here in Destiny city. Colin's mouth dropped a bit, green eyes going wide even as his brows drew together in a worried expression.
"You were hurt? How did you get hurt? Was it with Talia? Did she have something to do with it?" He threw back his covers and swung his legs out of the bed, standing up as though to inspect his friend for any missing pieces that the doctors or nurses might have missed (yeah right). As he eyed the bandage wrapped around Bjorn's chest, he had one thought repeating in the back of his brain: what Negaverse had something to do with his friend being hurt? How could he find out? God but he hoped it wasn't that. "Too late, I'm already up. Want to tell me what happened?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:55 am
“You….” Colin was already near him, as he got the second loop of the figure-8 chest wrapping off. “Can….help if you want to get a better look? I can pass it to you where it goes to my back. “
He stepped away from his desk towards the center aisle between their sleep spaces to give Colin room and passed the growing ball of bandage under an arm to the dancer. “It is hard to think on all of it. It is clear….very clear. But what happened was so odd. I’d gotten lost trying to come back, Talia messaged me, I was telling her how I was lost. I walked into her at a coffee shop, spilled her coffee on her and we talked over a new one and an apology. "
“That is where the normal ends. I do not know if you would believe the rest….but I would like your thoughts on it. It makes so little sense, just because…I hadn’t thought it could be true. I mean…maybe I have things wrong. Probably do.”
“There was…a Valravn. I don’t know if you know them. I think it was one, anyway. They are…Danish. Ravens grown in power, vile and evil from eating the dead on a battlefield. They live long, can speak as men and cast magic. This one didn’t speak…couldn’t change. They hunt hearts to gain more power, and then can change into a black knight or a wolf creature. But what battlefields have there been for such things? Or what use a form of a knight? And why so far from it’s homeland? I don’t know. And I am no child, to seek my heart. See?”
The bandaging was fully off now, showing off the amorphous dark burst over his chest of bruise black stark on white skin in the weak light of the lamp. “But my heart is not there. Nor did it break skin. Some other spell maybe…”
“And then SHE came. A Valkyrie. She was dressed….so ….not at all like paintings. No armor. No tunic or boots. No shield or spear. She was wearing fashion shoes with those heels and …..a very short skirt. Why would anyone wear that to battle? But she came, just the same, and stood between me and the foul bird. She breathed out fire like a great wurm. “
“And just as fast…she ran away. I think to go save Talia, because Talia came shortly after…wounded too, and…she seemed shaken. “
"The rest I already mentioned. Talia has a car, and drove to the ER. They just kept me until I was stable, looked over the bruise. I was more tired then, I may have been slurring, or speaking badly. They let me go a few hours ago with some good directions, and I walked back."
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:21 am
He helped with the bandages, marvelling a little at the sheer amount that had been required to reach around Bjorn's torso. The bruising revealed was absolutely incredible, it spread across his chest, massive - and with it? Deep claw marks from...something. Something Bjorn was going to tell him about, was talking about.
But that shape...that location...it wasn't quite...there was something about it that just didn't set well with him.
"That's when normal ends? I'm sorry, go on." Then the blond shut his mouth and just listened because the words coming out of the taller blond's mouth were incredible...plus, the damage to Bjorn was there, winding it all together. These things he was hearing didn't sound precisely like what he knew about the Negaversers and how they worked, but the 'seeking his heart' thing and the 'girl in stylish shoes and a short skirt using fire magic to repel the, uh Valravn monster just fit too well into the puzzle.
Bjorn had been attacked by a youma that was after his starseed. Some senshi that looked like a Valkerie had saved him and then run off (to hide her civilian form? Or just because she had more work to be done? Colin had some ideas about that, but wasn't going to speak of them to his roommate, that wasn't for him to do. If he acted like Bjorn was crazy and discounted what he had been told as crazy-talk, that would hurt his friend...but if he accepted it and responded in a knowledgeable way, that would implicate him as part of it - Derp had told him to hide his civilian identity from everyone, but Bjorn wasn't everyone, was he?
"It wasn't after your heart, Bjorn." He worried his lower lip and reached out to touch the bruised area very lightly, "It was a monster, that's for sure...but it wanted something more precious and you were very, very lucky the "Valkyrie" appeared. That creature could have killed you..." He was already saying too much, but his friend deserved to know at least that much - he hadn't even given away that she was a senshi or that there even were such people.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:54 am
He wasn't just crazy then. He'd been pretty certain of that much,but hearing it from a known source, a trusted source like Colin...was a balm to ache of gnawing concern. "The people at the hospital couldn't say much about it when I tried to describe it. But they didn't seem very surprised, either. "
Since they were both up anyway, and he didn't feel like sitting on the mattress on the floor yet, he grabbed his desk chair and pulled it over. He sat down, now chest level to his roommate. Colin's last words weren't really a surprise, but that wasn't the point of this was it? "The thought was that I might when I had it's beak in hand."
His grammar was slipping odd; he was distracted at the memory of it. He sighed, and rubbed his hand up from jaw to temple and into his own bangs with a groan. "What of the Valkyrie, though? Is that what she is? I mean...not everyone can believe in the æsir. I didn't think I did. It has been fine stories to me, not like some in my family. "
"Is this common? This .....bird thing....this sort of attacking people? Are people dying out there, and no one says anything? Or Valkyries just coming from the sky dressed like girls from TVs?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:03 am
Colin hugged himself with one hand, the other going up to push through his unruly, sleep-mussed hair. He was distracted too, waffling over what - and how much - he could say...should say about the senshi. "It's becoming more and more common, I'm afraid."
As Bjorn's words became odder, grammatically speaking, the blond found himself smiling just a little. That was a cute thing to him, something the big ol' tank did very rarely.
"She's not a valkyrie, she's called a sailor senshi. A protector and guardian of Earth and beyond...her kind fight those shadowy creatures whenever they appear, saving humans as often as possible." But sometimes it just didn't work and people died. Senshi had lost their starseeds, been corrupted and turned into monsters...humans had lost theirs and died. Bjorn could have been one of them, he'd have to remember to thank her - if he ever met her, that is.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:55 am
Sailor Senshi? What was a senshi? He knew what a sailor was well enough, and that made the name the more confusing.
“But sailors don’t wear skirts, Colin. At least not on duty. What they do off duty is their own business, I think.” He looked up from his chair, completely honest in the comment.
Guardian of the earth? Saving people? “It doesn’t sound possible, except I’ve…seen it. It sounds like a comic book. I mean…if I’m willig to try to believe in Valkyrie, I guess calling it something else and changing what she can do a bit….why not believe it. What is ‘senshi’? “
“I wish that I heard of this before we moved here. What an odd sort of …crime to have becoming common. Murder by evil beast things. The cops do nothing? Do weapons harm these things? “
It only struck then that maybe these answers weren’t known. He’d said himself the ER nurses hadn’t really said much about the ordeal. Maybe no one but these sailors and beasts knew their business, and everyone else was sitting in the dark. Sitting like he was. “It is a lot of questions. ….Maybe there isn’t answer. You don’t have to have all answers. I am being unfair. ”
“Has it happened to you? “ Colin’s stance was worrisome, one that was internal. It reminded him of Talia’s keeping away from the subject at all. Maybe it was taboo to talk about. Maybe part of the magic about them involved talking about them…could it bring the black things on you? Or hurt the sailors to do so? “Just …one question then...is it too dangerous to speak of any of it?”
“I worried walking home. I cannot breathe fire like a wurm. I have only my hands. They look like big, strong hands. “ He wasn’t afraid of dying, and fear didn’t colour the words. Just concern, confusion, and most of all care. This was a threat he’d never conceived, and being without guidance at all in the encounter made it harrowing.
“Others have less than that.” Miriam, Colin’s sister he mentioned at dinner the night they’d met had less. His own mother Anna had less. Talia, energetic little Johnny, even Colin…standing next to him vital and alive in the dim light.
“What if another came? For any of us…“ The words were pensive and quiet. It wasn’t so much a question as rhetorical statement. Björn turned and caught his braid, unfastening the bottom to let the plaits fall out. Did the police care, or know? They must have found bodies. People who hadn’t gotten away. Poor …sailor…’senshi’ who maybe didn’t win. It must not be very different to them, then, compared with any other murders on the street. Investigate for answers…and move along.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:56 pm
"Not that kind of sailor...actually, I don't know why they're called that, or why they wear skirts or dress like they do. I just know that they're here in Destiny City and they try their best to keep us safe from those...things." Kind of difficult, talking about what was basically himself, but in outsider terms. Thankfully he hadn't been settled into the 'senshi life' for too long; he was still able to talk about it pretty objectively. Not that it was easy to explain what he was, especially not in simpler terms.
"The police try, but they don't fare well against those monsters. Usually they end up hurt badly...or dead." In truth, they usually had their star seeds ripped from their chests unless a senshi got in the way and managed to save them; the local law enforecment was an unsuited to dealing with the Negaverse as any civilian. Without magic, they stood next to no chance.
The smaller blond reached out to touch one of the massive arms resting on the back of the chair, just a little touch to reassure himself that it wasn't a dream, that Bjorn had encountered a youma and lived to tell the tale thanks to a female senshi. "Yes." Yes, it had happened - he had transformed and whomped it's a** into dust. Colin figured he should say at least part of the truth, it would be that much easier and also explain just how he knew the things he knew. "One of the senshi happened to be there and destroyed it before much damage could be done." He'd gotten some bruises and cuts, but since he was a dancer...he could mostly brush things like that off as accidents in training. (The old 'fell into a door' defense, used and perfected by battered wives everywhere!)
"Bjorn, you shouldn't...you can't worry too much, there are many senshi and they seem to take turns and stand guard. I'm sure the girl that saved you was patrolling that area. At the very least, senshi seem to protect the rest of us." He shrugged a little big, wishing that this hadn't happened - how the heck could he lie to Bjorn? Colin was a terrible liar! "Besides, what happened to you is actually really rare..." Inwardly, he winced at his lie - the attacks got deadlier, if not more frequent, as time went on. It was likely that they were going to end up losing a great many of the citizens of Destiny City before the Negaverse was wiped out completely.
Watching his friend unplaiting his hair was slightly distracting; it was so long! And on such a big guy! "I don't think we'll have that problem here. The senshi I know of patrols this area pretty frequently." As serious as their conversation ahd been, as upsetting as it was to see Bjorn's chest like that...Colin couldn't help but smile a little. Sailor Aegir patrolled the area, so did others...and he wasn't going to let his friend get hurt, not on his watch!
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 4:19 pm
All was to say 'don't worry, it is the duty of others', then. He was trying to be a living tribute to human ability and strength, and he was supposed to rely entirely on the work of others to keep him safe from some vile race spawned from the depths of the abyss.
Counting on the cops to protect and serve was one thing...you still had to do your own part. Just not worrying about having to feel that awful empty fatigue growing inside, though? He wasn't entirely convinced of it. He trusted Colin, but that sounded like the talk of a peasant with no choices and no weapons for their whole life.
Not a warhorse bred for purpose, just missing knight and liege, lance and armor. But what was he supposed to do, then, minus all those nuisances? It came back to nothing. Sit on his thumbs and pretend nothing had happened. Try to live life like he'd been hours before ...in ignorance. This was impotence. And he didn't know to react to that. He didn't want to accept it any more than he'd wanted to accept being a fat, lazy kid when he was in elementary school.
"I am unused to doing nothing, when I owe both thanks and wergild. Policemen at least are given thanks, paid a salary....What do these girls get?" It was a statement of fact, more than a question. He had a very strong suspicion that these girls weren't paid anything for their efforts. Especially since no one spoke about it. Since she had just run off. "I doubt I could offer much to heroes anyway."
He heaved a sigh and removed shoes, socks, then finally stood to change slacks for pajama pants. He couldn't really entertain thoughts of going out looking for more of those birds. What would be the point, except to get himself killed? "I'll try to follow your advice. Getting into danger on purpose only buys a grave. "
"Colin, " He looked at the other boy while putting the chair back at his desk, "Thanks for listening. For answering. It sounds like it isn't something people talk about. It is a kind gift."
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 5:27 pm
Unfortunately, yes. That was pretty much all he could tell Bjorn to do - he didn't want to have the future strongman get badly hurt. It didn't matter that the blond's hands were large and very strong...Colin did not want to lose his friend. Not to anyone, but especially not to them.
"I know it sucks. I hate being powerless to do more too." Even as a senshi, he wasn't able to do as much against the negaverse as he wanted to do. His powers were more along the lines of assistance...or defense. Whatever.
He was watching thoughtfully as Bjorn dressed for bed; the bigger boy wasn't sulking, but he wasn't happy - that was apparent. But he was also correct in thinking people didn't talk about the senshi, the negaverse and the youma...and who would really believe them if they tried? Monsters made of shadows, attacking and trying to remove their 'hearts'?
Impulsively the blond got all up into Bjorn's personal space bubble to give him a hug that he probably didn't need. "Senshi don't get anything for putting their lives on the line. It's just something that has to be done...so we do it. That's all there is to it, really." Talking quickly and so closely to his friend meant he wasn't thinking as much as he should before speaking.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:46 pm
He hadn’t been expecting a hug on straightening from pulling up his pajamas, and he froze awkwardly while Colin spoke quickly against his upper stomach and chest. At first he just flatted his palm to Colin’s back. It was nice to have him close. Harsh lessons in the answers and harsher reality closed in as teeth on the bars of surrounding this new life as much as the old military black steel of the dorm windows. Simple, close gestures, the heart beat and breath of a friend, was something that could keep will bolstered. And he needed that. The closer the start of school came, the less of his initial optimism remained.
But something stuck in the silent moments in his ear, making him grimace at the dim light, like it was a reflection of his own brain. Grammar was close to the fore of his consciousness at the moment, since he’d been correcting himself about it not so many sentences ago. Colin’s pronouns made no sense: ‘their lives’ was exclusionary, but ‘we do it’ was inclusionary.
“Colin…….” He looked down at his roommate, stepping once back to make a conversation space again. Not far enough to indicate a rift, though, and his hand he left for the time at the dancer’s back if it was allowed. Though Colin could pull away if it was too odd or unwanted. “Why did you use ‘we’? You are not a sailor sushi girl in a booty skirt?”
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:16 pm
Poor Swede, Destiny City wasn't being kind to him at all. In fact, one of the few breaks that Mr. Tank Tankingson had gotten was rooming with Colin in the dorm. At least he'd gotten a good friend out of the deal? No? Well, it would probably seem better in the morning; a good night's sleep did wonders for one's outlook in life.
Still close, but no longer able to hear Bjorn's heartbeat or feel how warm his friend was, save through the hand that remained at his back. Colin looked up, face pale and eyes luminous in the soft light. He was playing everything he'd said over in his head and there...there it was. He'd flubbed it. Crap. Quickly he considered his options; did he reveal the truth and give his friend a potential 'weapon' should he ever be drawn into the Negaverse? Did he lie about it and just say he was tired and had flubbed, what was he talking about?
"Well," The dancer let out a long breath; he'd made his decision. Bjorn was trustworthy - there was just no way he could ever invision this person hurting him. "I'm definitely not a girl dressed in a booty skirt, but I am a senshi. I fight monsters like the one that did this," Colin gently rested one hand over the bruised area on Bjorn's chest, "so that civilians aren't hurt like you were." There, he'd dropped that part onto the Swede...how was he going to react?
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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:43 am
He wasn’t certain, as words came out of Colin again in answer, if he hadn’t just passed out on the walk home and was dreaming all of this in a ditch along the way from the ER. The world was getting weird again. He had been wanting to hear an uneasy laugh, Colin saying it was late and he was too tired to be talking about all this nonsense, and they would both go happily to bed.
If wants and dreams were currency, all money would be meaningless.
“You are being serious. “ It was toned as if it was a question, a plea for certainty in the ever widening gulf of the day’s uncertainty, which had just opened maw his last bastion. His ‘home’.
“You don’t look like einherjar or valkyrja. Or a sailor. “ The words were flat, tone other than the meaning of them. Acceptance already there, and protest little more than a token. Colin had had answers, and there were other ways to get them, surely….but why lie about something like that? Colin was his comrade, his roommate, and friend. It was still a lot, even just taking everything at face value because you were too stupid to come up with some better excuse or justification.
He knelt down on both knees deliberately, a draft horse tired and giving up at the hill, cart hitch or no. It was that or fall down on his a**, or teeter unsteadily for that chair back. He’d rather have some dignity left, even if it was just to be Boxer from Animal Farm, than be fainting away like a flower of a princess in some stupid picture book. It meant his hand slide from Colin’s back to rest flat on his own wide thighs. He looked up at Colin from this new vantage. There should be questions shouldn’t there? Like ‘do you breathe fire’ or ‘how many people have you saved’, or ‘how does it work’, but he didn’t really want any more weirdness just yet.
There was only really one question that was pressing, looking up with eyes that expected worse to come. He felt old. “Can we still be friends?”
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