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 Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:51 pm
Okay, Zirconia was starting to like the Aquarius outpost. In fact she ended up spending more time there than she anticipated, even though so far not a single book was readable and no one seemed to have any answers.
It was frustrating because information was obviously there, just inaccessible and unreadable. With a sigh, she flopped back in a chair and sunk in, glancing around at the various activity going on in the outpost around her.
She was starting to wonder if she hsould get back to the Virgo Outpost and join back up with friends but...
One ear twitched in quiet recognition an unfamiliar senshi was nearby. Maybe it would be this mysterious Sailor Aquarius she had heard about through the grapevine, and Zirconia had built her up to be quite the competent scholar in her own mind's image.
So, as casually as she could, she started creeping around, hoping to catch a glimpse.
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 1:32 am
While the main base of operations was in the entry hall and the atrium, Aquarius was often found in the library. Going into the library was neither easy nor wise; the bookshelves were very close together, and there were so many books on the floor that it was hard to get anywhere without tripping over several. The ones on the shelves were blocked off, not that it mattered much. There was no shortage of reading material, assuming one could read the strange languages that inhabited the books. So far, Aquarius could read none of them. But that didn't mean that there wasn't a book somewhere that held a clue she would be able to understand, so she kept looking. For what, she wasn't entirely sure.
There were chairs in the room that she sometimes used, but that day found her sitting atop one of the bookshelves. It gave her a good view of the door, in case someone needed her quickly. She was in no mood to be caught off guard again. However, even with books she could not read she found herself being sucked in, comparing characters and trying to match words between books, so she didn't notice anyone entering. If she had, she might have stopped humming the main theme from Star Wars and tried to look more respectable. Then again, she might not have.
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:53 pm
Zirconia's ears swiveled at the humming theme, brow knitting at the vague familiarity of it, mostly due to her human host's memories. She realized it was probably too much to hope for Sailor Aquarius being any more informed or mature than the typical teenage senshi. Still, she figured this zodiac was worth inspecting.
"Hello," The cat finally spoke up, sitting down on a short stack of books large enough to support the weight of the larger than average feline as she looked up to the senshi on the bookshelf above her.
"Might I ask what you're doing?" She added, trying to be as polite as possible, assuming this was Sailor Aquarius and not some other unfamiliar senshi who had arrived at the outpost when she wasn't paying attention. Which was most of the time.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 11:21 pm
Aquarius didn't look up. She was close to something, she could feel it. "I'm listing characters that appear in the reference books, as well as frequently appearing words, and cross-referencing them to try and extrapolate a keyword that could unlock a language. Which is difficult when there are several different languages and who knows how many books." She made a note on the clipboard next to her, which broke her concentation enough for her to notice the rather strange energy of the person addressing her. Frowing a bit, she finally took a look at her visitor.
A cat. A cat but not a cat, therefore a senshi cat. But not a good cat, or a bad cat. More like Zue, who felt different to her than normal Mauvians, but not exactly like him either. "You're interesting," she announced, slipping the clipboard inside the book and closing the cover gently. "Who are you exactly, if you don't mind my asking? Were you looking for me, or just looking around? Can I help you find something?"
Ugh, when had she started sounding like a pushy clerk? "I mean... what did you want, again?" That was even worse. She should have kept her nose in the book where it belonged.
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 4:35 pm
Zirconia's ears lifted to a very deliberate point when the senshi told her she was interesting. She'd take that as a compliment, which, by association, meant this was obviously an intelligent senshi.
"Well, that depends," She said, padding around in a small pacing motion, like she wanted to try and jump up on the shelf Aquarius was on but just not quite yet. "I was looking for Sailor Aquarius," She let the other half of her statement hang in the air, figuring the senshi would let her know whether or not she'd located her target.
"But I was looking for her under the assumption she could read these languages," She added, figuring that was a lost cause now if this was Aquarius, at least if her explanation on what she was doing was any indication.
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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 10:13 pm
There was something oddly satisfying about being looked for. Of course, Aquarius had spent the past year in hiding, but now that she was back and working double-time to make up for her mistakes, it was nice to know she was needed. Not just any senshi, or even any Zodiac, but her in particular. It almost made the current situation pleasant, at least from time to time.
"Then look no farther." She bowed, awkwardly, as bows were not meant to be performed from sitting positions. Her excitement died quickly, however, as the cat revealed the reason for her search. "Ah. I see." Why did everyone expect her to be fluent in a language that had died a thousand years ago? It was bad enough that she probably had all the answers she wanted in front of her but couldn't understand them without everyone berating her for it.
"My last estimate of the number of books here was around ten thousand. While a large number of the ones I've looked through appear to be in a common language, most likely ancient Aquarian or whatever they called it, I've also located evidence of at least twenty-nine other languages, as evidenced by differing symbols, sentence structure, type of paper and ink, and other factors. Logically, you would think there would be at least one book from Earth here, but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. And since I don't have fluency in thirty plus alien languages, I'm doing the best I can with what I've got."
Defensive? Perhaps. But Aquarius was sick of being treated like she was useless for not being able to do the impossible, and she needed people to know that she wasn't just twiddling her thumbs. "And you haven't told me who you are yet," she added pointedly. What did people expect her to do with incomplete information? She was a magical warrior, sure, but she wasn't psychic.
If Zirconia had been on two legs at the time she might’ve held up her hands in a defensive ‘no offense’ gesture, but she wasn’t. She was a cat, with paws, and didn’t want to make the gesture badly enough to bother with switching. Sure it was space and there wasn’t exactly a danger; She’d been running around as a humanoid for half the time she’d been up here. But there was something more comforting about being a cat. It was her own skin, all of it. “Languages from all over your galaxy?” Well that was interesting. If she had more time here this seemed like an even better place to search around than she thought. Depending on how expansive the samples were, at least. There had to be one that was familiar. Or were their universes really that different? “I’m sure you’ll remember, eventually, right? Or at least why all these books are gathered here?” There was a definite tone of unhindered hope in her voice as she became distracted by a book cover and started leafing through it with her paws. If there was a place to have major breakthroughs, this looked like the most probable place she’d seen yet.
The cat seemed determined not to spill any information about herself. That was interesting. Even more interesting was her use of the phrase ‘your galaxy.’ Since Aquarius hadn’t bought any galaxies in recent memory, someone was either a very thoughtful gift-giver, or the cat was from somewhere else entirely. That was a fascinating enough idea that she set down her book entirely and leaned farther over the edge of the bookcase she was perched on. Even though she had found out that she was an alien herself, the thought of life on distant planets was still an interest of hers. Senshi were common, if the influx of helpers was any indication. Cats were not so common, and the only ones that Aquarius had met were less than polite. Even if this one refused to divulge her identity, she still had some semblance of manners.
“If I had to guess, I’d say they came from within the area protected by the Surrounding, but that’s a pretty vast bit of space.” And she didn’t like guessing when there were other options. “Once I get a complete selection of languages, I plan on asking some of the senshi if they recognize any of them. But that’s a long shot, just going by the numbers, so I’m also doing what I can to organize the information.”
Aquarius wasn’t a linguist and wasn’t pretending to be. She was pretty much in the dark about how to decipher the massive puzzle that had been left for her, and having people demand answers wasn’t helping. Not too many had offered questions that helped, though. “Why they’re here? Do you mean why these specific books are here, or why Aquarius Outpost is knee-deep in books?” When she was awakened- or was it re-awakened?- Aquarius had gotten a fair share of memories, which she supposed were the reason why she hadn’t seen flashbacks as she’d heard others had done. Was she supposed to? On the one hand, history tended to bore her, but if it gave her a clue to help uncover some greater truths, she could deal with a little boredom.
“Well, both, I suppose,” Zirconia answered regarding the question of all the whys. “You must’ve been quite the reader in your past life,” That was meant to be a humorous jab. Or something. Zirconia wasn’t exactly oozing humor. “I was never good at languages myself. Not a good trait for a counselor I suppose, but still,” She gave an odd little shrug of her feline shoulders and finally got around to making a few lazy attempts to join Aquarius on her perch. “It’s quite a lot to organize...” She commented, craning her neck to see what the senshi was doing right this second. Maybe if she had been a bit more concerned about the swarming civilian populace she would’ve thought organizing a bunch of silly books was... well, silly. But these books had potential value to her, and civilians were too annoying to waste too much time thinking about. But now that she was sidling up to this Sailor Aquarius, it was time for proper introductions. “I am Zirconia, Guardian Cat of the Black Moon,” She said with an obvious air of importance and a bit of a chest puffing out sort of body language that made sure to display the winged red gem around her neck. She was a very important cat, you know.
“Oh, ha ha,” Aquarius shot back, but she wasn’t upset. Both questions had merit, and she too had assumed that the large supply of books was because when one was stationed on the edge of the galaxy, there was ample time to read. But was there more to it than a voracious appetite for knowledge? Were the individual books selected for certain reasons, or had the library been stocked with any and every available book? There was a plethora of paper on the shelf with her, everything from chart paper to post-its, and pens and pencils and markers to write with, a small selection from the vast supply kept downstairs. Quickly, she took a sticky note, jotted the questions down, and stuck it to the cover of the book she had been reading. She would have to think more on those questions later.
In the meantime, though, the cat had finally decided to introduce herself. Aquarius nodded solemnly before offering her hand, a bit of an odd gesture to make to a cat, but she thought it appropriate. “If we’re being formal, then I am Sailor Aquarius of the Zodiac Court, Senshi of Science and...” She winced, not liking what came next. “And Eleventh of Twelve. Then I’m supposed to say a bunch about who I serve and stuff, but if you want to know about Chronos, go ask her.” Formality, clearly, was not Aquarius’ strong suit.
“So, Black Moon.” That was definitely an unfamiliar term. “As in new moon, or eclipse? Is there a planet with a moon named Black? Or am I missing something?” It wouldn’t be surprising, considering how long she had spent ignoring her destiny and running from her duties.
Zirconia listened to the introduction right up until she mentioned Chronos and she made a flippant little brush off motion with her paws. “Oh, her,” Chronos was exciting for about ten minutes before she realized she was the most useless royal she’d ever met. Granted she only knew five, ever, including her, plus a few who didn’t quite count like that pink haired skank and Ares the Usurper Queen. And most of those five were dead! But even worse, this senshi didn’t know about the Black Moon and that was just a travesty. “No, my moon is black. Your moon is white, see. You’re all... White Moon people with your blondey moon queen and your silly dead and reincarnated problem,” The cat explained, losing her footing a bit, figuratively speaking. “My universe is quite intact,” Or it was last time she saw it, anyway, “We don’t have these Earth-baby knights and the various homeworlds and planets are still thriving quite well.” These were less information and more bragging points, though. “I came here in service to Queen Nehelenia,” She said, almost fondly, in spite of the sad connotations it had for her. Her queen was the BEST queen. Much better than a tiny little butterfly princess.
It probably should have bothered Aquarius that Zirconia was so dismissive of her princess, but it didn’t. She barely knew Chronos herself, even less so now that she’d basically been hiding from her for all these months and was fearing some sort of punishment. She didn’t have the pride that she once had as a member of the Zodiac Guard, and when faced with the evident pride this cat had in her court, it hurt a bit to realize that she was lacking. Maybe once she had been proud to call herself a soldier. Now she was just tired and confused and scared.
The whole ‘dead and reincarnated problem,’ as Zirconia put it, had a lot to do with how she felt. It had a lot to do with the way she felt disconnected from her Outpost, from the other Zodiacs, from everything. All of those things had hurt her, killed her. She hadn’t just died in the past, she had died recently, painfully, and more than once. Whenever she reminded herself of that, she knew that whatever sacrifices she made in terms of freedom and fun were worth it. She was still alive, at least by some definitions.
Zirconia’s smugness and her own feelings of guilt made for a bad combo, and it took her a moment to appreciate the entirety of what the cat was saying. “Your... universe.” So not just a visitor from a distant galaxy, but from an alternate dimension entirely. This was good. This was very good. This was the sort of discovery she had craved since she was a little girl. It even helped soothe her stinging pride. “Oh, this is fantastic! I’d love to hear more about your world- your worlds! There must be thousands- how far has the Black Moon explored? Has it colonized, or is it more open, like here? Is your Queen here too? I’d love to meet her, if that’s possible.” Not that the Guardian was in any way insufficient, but the more sources she had, the better, and a real alternate universe Queen of the Moon would be the best research subject ever!
Zirconia’s ears pinned back at the sudden, gushing enthusiasm. Well, obviously that was an appropriate response and such, given the spectacular existence of the Black Moon, but it wasn’t expected, she realized. “The queen is dead,” She said after a long, awkward pause of silence. “As is our captain. The Earth princes. All are lost, thanks to your little moon princess~” She said, not caring if it made things just a tad awkward. The emphasis on that little pink haired b***h was dripping in appropriate venom. She adjusted the winged ornament around her neck with her paws daintily in an attempt to not look all sullen and bitter about the whole thing and cleared her throat.
Oops. Aquarius opened her mouth to apologize for the thoughtlessness of her question, but the cat went on, venom in her words, and whatever apology she might have made was quickly forgotten. “Moon princess?” There was a moon prin- oh. Aquarius was rather behind the times, having been absent from the senshi scene for a quite a while. She did, however, remember a woman she had met, or dreamed she had met, during the coma epidemic. A pink-haired woman who called herself Princess Serenity and had been accused by a man with a sword stealing the Opal Crystal- a crime to which she all but admitted. What had happened to that woman since, Aquarius didn’t know, but her current impression of the Moon Princess was anything but favorable.
“Oh, her. She’s no friend of mine, and I don’t serve the Moon.” Admitting that she served anyone was a sore spot, but Chronos was at least nice. And present. And Eon had saved all of their lives, so she owed him quite a debt as well. That thought brought her back to the matter at hand, and reminded her of what she’d been about to do. “I’m very sorry for your loss. I know firsthand how... dying can be... so painful...” The images were back in her head, of the fire, the Science Club meeting gone horribly wrong, wandering around as a zombie, wanting to sink her teeth into human flesh-
She blinked several times, trying to dislodge the visions. “Um, sorry about that. What were we talking about again?”
Zirconia watched the Zodiac senshi’s face carefully as her words started to be interspaced with pauses and her tail flicked as a minor physical tell of deep thought. When she came out of it and asked what they were talking about, she thought it might be an excellent time to change the subject. Sort of. “Have you seen anything on mirrors?” She asked with a hopeful head tilt. “I’m sure out of all these books there must be at least one on the subject.”
Aquarius had the sneaking suspicion that they hadn’t really been talking about mirrors, but she too welcomed the change in subject. “I may have seen something on mirrors. Then again, I may not have. It’s rather difficult to tell when I can’t read any of the languages.” What was she supposed to be, psychic? Wasn’t being an alien superhero in space enough? She sighed again. No, of course that wasn’t enough. It never was enough for anyone, herself included.
“I am working on it, though,” she reminded Zirconia, just to make it known that she wasn’t slacking in her duties. At least, not anymore. “I don’t think I’ve seen any books with pictures of mirrors yet, but I’ve only made it through a fractions of the ones I can reach here, which in turn is only part of the whole. If I find any, though, I can set them aside for you. As for the language thing... well, you’re welcome to check on my progress. As long as this situation exists, I’ll be here, looking for some sort of solution.” It was a rather depressing prospect, all told. When Aquarius had dreamed about going to space, it wasn’t to be trapped in a building full of unreadable books.
“Why did you want information about mirrors, anyway?” Did it have something to do with the Black Moon, or was this cat just that fond of her own reflection?
“Oh I’m sure... It’s just there’s pictures... and... okay,” Zirconia sighed. Disappointing, but par for the course at this point. “Mirrors and associated magic are our peoples’ specialty,” She explained. “Since our queen died we’ve been stuck here. I haven’t seen my home in two years now.” Ugh, home. To be back in her quarters with her pillows that were just right and just... well, home. Of course it wouldn’t be the same empty.
Her ears swiveled and she vaguely remembered that she was supposed to be making sure her chibi charge was not dead. “I should get back to work. But it was lovely making your acquaintance, Sailor Aquarius,” She said with a small bow and bounded off.
Well, that was even more interesting. “Mirrors, huh? I’ll keep that in mind.” Though thinking back, hadn’t she heard something about a group of mirrorpeople somewhere? Aquarius wracked her brain, but nothing was coming to her. She’d been out of the loop for far too long, and now she was paying for it in spades. By trying to quit, all she had done was make her job harder. If she had known that she would end up in this situation, would she still have tried to run away?
… yeah, she probably would have.
“I’ll keep my eye out for any information that may be useful to you, then.” Aquarius was going stir-crazy being away from home for a few weeks, and she got to go home for dinner every night. Being unable to go home for two years would be unbearable, and she admired Zirconia for being able to deal with it on top of the loss of her Court. The Guard had suffered losses as well, though none quite that devastating, and it seemed that post of the Zodiacs had been able to move on from them. It was only Aquarius who still had trouble dealing with all of the death that had plagued them.
She returned Zirconia’s bow, a bit amused at the image of a cat bowing. But then, this was a particularly prim and proper cat. “The pleasure was all mine, Guardian Zirconia. I’ll let you know if I find anything promising.” With that, she resumed her perch at the top of the bookcase, opened her book again, and read. Or tried to, anyway.
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