[R] Want You Back For Good (Birhan & Albali)

[kalindara]

Twilight in Destiny City, and newly-Super Senshi Birhan was on the prowl for a former (and hopefully still curent) ally. Her encounter with Ares had shaken Birhan out of her apathy, turning thoughts of hiding into plans of fighting back. It was like slipping into a pair of old clothes, comfortable and reassuring. And Ares only had herself to blame - she'd trained Birhan to do this, after all. She'd trained them all, but loyalty fell by the wayside when corruption was involved.

For most of them, anyway. Birhan was searching across rooftops and down alleyways for the most loyal of them all, the girl who hadn't turned away from a corrupt Princess Ares but had instead been turned away herself. And that was a good enough indication for Birhan that Albali should still be on their side.

Unfortunately, Albali had made no effort to get in contact with the solo remnants of the Blood Moon Court - not that many had, and not that Birhan could blame them. They were leaderless and on the run - but not for long, if Birhan had her way.

Their habits had changed after Ares' revelation. The senshi Birhan had spoken to had made new patrols, avoided old meeting sites and check-in points. Communication through the phones was using a new code, the one Gunn had jotted down before leaving for her home comet. So it was understandable that Birhan wasn't feeling all that lucky about her chances at locating Albali.

Birhan wasn't sure what made her even consider Albali's old patrol route. Maybe it just sounded like a good starting point, somewhere to branch a search out from. She certainly wasn't expecting to find Albali, running her patrol as usual.

... Well, Albali was a creature of habit. A girl of research and notes and taking minutes in meetings and following orders. Of course she was still carrying out the last orders that Ares gave. Birhan wasn't sure why she was so surprised.

This made Birhan's task easier. Approaching Albali, she raised a hand in greeting. Hopefully this meeting would be missing the violence of their last get-together.  

[nessy]

Yes there had been many changes to routine and regulation in the interim period while the terrified members, and former members her meticulous mind corrected, scrambled away from the calculated violence with which Princess Ares had bestowed as a parting gift. For the Senshi of Echoes her loyalty ran as deep as her resentment these days but nothing had changed. She had been assigned to patrol this part of the city. Why anything should change about where she was most effective as a senshi because Fallon had abandoned her to the civil strife of the White Moon she couldn't say.

Seeing Birhan she couldn't help but smile lopsidedly. "About time." A jerk of her chin indicated the change in fuku and power signature, though she desperately longed to say something about the discrepancies in their uniforms. Where she was covered in ribbons, bedecked in all their useless ********, Birhan wore barely anything. Not that Albali wanted to stride around in a glorified swimsuit, oh no. But couldn't there be a little...less? Ever?

"Did you decide to adopt this as part of your patrol as well? I admit I've been remiss in partnered patrol but there don't seem to be many that will come out with me these days..." Her voice trailed off a bit, an elegant shrug adjoining the lack of words. What was there to say? They were all in shambles and everyone knew it.  

[kalindara]

It was definitely a relief when Albali paused and waited for Birhan to approach. The half-smile brought an answering one to Birhan's face; Albali's opening comment, an outright laugh. She had to agree - there had been mentions previously in the BMC about Birhan still being base level, and Nemesis had outright accused her of slacking off to not have leveled up yet. It really was a relief to know she wasn't a defective senshi.

... All it took was fighting a corrupt Princess Ares.

"Yeah, I know, right?" she managed to grin past the memory of that encounter. Probably best not to open with that explanation around Fallon's ex. "Still, better late than never."

Amusement faded at the mention of patrols and 'these days'. Birhan knew all about how bad things were these days. But she was aiming to fix that.

"I think we've all had that problem," she said. "After we scattered, it seemed safest to stay hiding in our corners, being alone meant less chance of drawing the wrong kind of attention... or so we thought."

It hadn't quite worked that way. Being ambushed by Ares on a solo patrol was not something Birhan wanted to experience again. It wasn't something she wanted anyone else to face, either. Especially not Albali, who Ares would know exactly how to best hurt (since corruption didn't seem to be on the table for Albali).

Giving herself a shake, Birhan decided to just play it straight with Albali. "We're reforming the Court. We're stronger together, and the reasons why we first formed haven't changed." The Negaverse was still out there. The majority of the un-corrupted senshi were still too weak-hearted to do what was necessary. Destiny City needed the Blood Moon Court. And the BMC needed Albali.

Staring Albali in the eye, Birhan said, "I was hoping you'd still be with us."  

[nessy]

Contemplating this statement, which was really not a surprise at all but quite the welcome one, Albali crossed her arms to flatten the ribboned bow across her chest. Fingers tapped rhythmically on her arms as the girl considered several things, the first of all being that she could do a very great good or a very great harm to the organization decimated by Princess Ares. What was the better thing to do? Be disloyal to the Princess that had abandoned her or be loyal to the senshi who wasn't anywhere near as capable, but more accepting of her than Ares now was?

"There are going to have to be some changes if you hope to bring everyone back." A hand moved down to tap against her hip where they were all aware the brand had been burnt into Albali's skin. "I don't suggest we change this though, there are going to be Dark Mirror senshi showing up with our mark on them and we need to be aware of that when it happens. Do you plan to keep things democratic amongst the top tier?" Lips pressed together as, for once in a very long time, the senshi considered whether or not to voice her opinion. As always her opinion won out because if she was dishonest or kept back any of her thoughts she would be doing them all a disservice.

"Look, don't take this too wrong. You're a pretty capable leader but you're not Ares. You don't have the drive, the force that pushed her and recruited us all. You'll need the agreement and support of everyone around you or the Blood Moon Court will end up as fractious and divided as it was when Ares burst in and took some of our best members. A lot of them have moved on to other things now, terrified that if they come back they'll just be corrupted against their will. I can help you with that but I guess I need some faith on your part. I will respect you and follow you but I will demand some equality." Strength. Albali was demanding strength and power but she felt, truly felt, that there could be some good done through her.

"I will gladly take up my old duties if you agree. Even a little bit. As it is, I'm already keeping most of my habits the same." A hand swept to indicate the street, her old patrol, assigned so very long ago. "I've never really left you know. She wouldn't take me so why go anywhere else."  

[kalindara]

"I agree," Birhan said readily. She was equally surprised and grateful at Albali's openess to the idea. She'd expected Ares' former girlfriend to be more opposed to the idea of someone taking over, but then again, Ares had been the one who left. Maybe Albali was just practical, or resigned to their loss. "The last thing I want is for the same things to happen all over again. I'd really value your input on this."

It was ironic - it was only now that Ares was gone that Birhan could see why Albali was a valuable contribution to the Inner Sanctum. Before, she'd wondered if Ares was just padding out her 'advisors' with people who would support her no matter what. Now that Ares was no longer there for Albali to blindly follow, Birhan could see and appreciate the other girl's abilities for what they were.

Equality was something Birhan agreed on - to a point. Without a clearly defined leader, it would be chaotic (even more so than their meetings usually were). But Birhan, more than anyone, was afraid of the possibility of another leader overruling the concerns of the ISS and charging ahead with their own plans.

"I was thinking maybe I should be able to be outvoted by the new ISS?" she suggested. Albali would know if that was a stupid idea or not. "More of a democracy, yes, if not an absolute one. I don't..."

Birhan sighed and ran a hand through her bangs. "I don't want to mess this up. I don't want to repeat any of our past mistakes." She definitely didn't want to be a second Ares. Even lacking Ares' strong points, Birhan would accept that as long as it meant not having her weaknesses and mistakes (Birhan had enough of her own). Experience would come with time. And a solid ISS would remove most chances of Birhan making the big ********. Or that was the plan, at least.

"I was going to ask Nemesis to be part of the new Inner Sanctum," she added. "If I can find her. And assuming she doesn't decay me on sight. I mean, if anyone's gonna tell me the moment I'm doing something wrong, it's her, right?" The twist of a smile on Birhan's lips was self-mocking. At least she recognised she had faults and was trying to plan around them.  

[nessy]

Well there Birhan had a point. Nemesis had been more than vocal about her opposition to the Senshi of Rebirth's leadership and the epic ******** that had been that episode with Zinkenite and the 'hostage trade'. Albali wasn't still entirely sure the hostages exchanged were truly worth anything; hadn't one of them been taken by Ares? That was something that bore cross-checking in her meticulous notes as soon as possible as well as finding out everyone that had remained.

"Well you should be plenty quick on your feet but if you start screaming at her that you want to give her power beyond her wildest dreams she might stop shooting the woo-woo powers at you long enough to listen. A minute, tops." Fingers stabbed out mimicking a Dark Lord shooting Force Lightning from his fingertips towards Birhan, complete with rolling eyes to show exactly what Echoes thought of their state as senshi.

"Checks and balances, almost downright American of you Birhan. You'll have to be ruthlessly selective about whom you let into the ISS if they have the power to veto your incentives but a degree of ruthlessness must come with every leader. I'm sure you'll pick that one up." Or fail horribly, something that Albali kept to herself for the time being. Sink or swim she had her plans in place; helping the BMC get its feet back under it was merely a way to bide her time or perhaps in case things really did not work out.

However that sort of thinking was self-defeating. She was not that kind of girl. "But have no fear, O Leader. I shall valiantly strive to pick out your every flaw and present it to you in the most uncomplimentary of languages. I know quite a few furious invectives that should put your hair on end." There was a flourish accompanying this and a wide smile; not everything was humorless these days at least.  

[kalindara]

Birhan's lips twitched as Albali talked, making jokes the whole way through. To think she'd thought Albali humourless and a bit of a stick-in-the-mud - it turned out Albali's cutting tongue wasn't above mocking in a way that others could appreciate.

"Thank you," she said, sincerely. For all of Albali's levity in her final offer, Birhan knew the other senshi would do exactly as she oh-so-jokingly offered. For all that there was a warning hidden behind the joke - that Albali was going to nitpick and annoy and flay Birhan alive if Birhan did the wrong thing - Birhn knew that was what she, and the BMC, were going to need. They couldn't afford any more ********, not with their miniescule numbers and not with the bad rap they already had among the other senshi. Birhan could take whatever Albali gave her, as long as it was for the good of the Court.

"I'll be sending meeting details through once I've spoken to a few more people. An alteration of one of our older codes, it shouldn't be too difficult for any of us to crack." Though that did mean any former members should also be able to decode the message without too much trouble. Still, Albali was known for being careful. Birhan didn't think she needed to be much more overt than that. "Pass it along... if you're sure of the other person's loyalties."