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 Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:22 pm
It was just near sunset, the streets bathed in a warm red glow as the winter sun finished its day early and left the rest up to the moon to deal with. Purple and crimson danced through the tree leaves of the park, and a light snow was falling in different shades of red and white.
All in all, it was beautiful.
Romantic, as well. Grant hadn't planned that. Or maybe he had, but Lydia would never know. His innocence was complete, and his optimism unending. Just as hard as it was to suspect him of something devious, it seemed a stretch to think him capable of sweeping romantic gestures.
And in a way, that was an accurate assumption. But that did not mean he wasn't going to try.
He had invited Lydia to the park for a walk, something simple and nice. He had a letter in the pocket of his much too large trench coat, and he fiddled with it thoughtfully, though he did not want to hurt it. Not even wrinkle it in any way. He just had to put his thoughts down on paper, because whenever he was alone he thought them, yet when he was with her he couldn't say anything.
Tonight was going to be perfect, he hoped. No, he knew.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:23 pm
Although not an especially big fan of the cold, Lydia had eagerly accepted Grants invitation to go for an evening walk in the park. For one it was gorgeous out. Chilly yes, but the setting sun was painting the blanketed snow in reds and pinks, it looked like something out of a hallmark card. Absolutely beautiful with the gentle drifting of lazy flakes past her window.
That wasn't the main reason though, not by far. The real reason she had pulled on her long winter coat had been the chance to spend some time with her boyfriend.
It wasn't as though they didn't see each other often, they did, nearly every day what with school and dates, but Lydia couldn't help but want to spend more time with the young man. She'd never been with a guy that treated her so nicely, it was not only refreshing, it was addicting. Whenever they were apart it seemed the pale haired lass couldn't wait to see him again, it was actually a little alarming, not to mention embarrassing.
Still, that didn't keep her from pulling a knit cap on, grabbing her gloves, compact, and heshin pen, and hurrying out the door. The park was close, just down the street from her and Quinn's apartment, and she'd barely pulled the fuzzy white gloves over her fingers when the tall frame of the young man came into view near the enterance. She grinned when she saw him, chest tightening as ot always did in his presence, and of it hadn't been for the very real threat of slipping on ice and twisting an ankle, she'd have rushed forward to throw her arms around his neck.
She compromised, walking briskly, and pulled him down into a kiss by his cheeks.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:15 pm
Grant was happy with the way the setting sun had set the scene for him, as he would never have been able to do that on his own, at least. Nature had a way of doing the best work, he found, and rolling with what he was given was just part of his own nature, so to speak.
He smiled at Lydia as she arrived, and he kissed her at her guidance, though he was more than happy to lean down to catch her lips with his. He smiled dopily for a moment while she kept her palms on either side of his face, then seemed to wake up a bit from his daze.
"Hello," he said, for lack of anything better to say. There was that happening again, that thing that made him get dumb when he was around her, and all his words and thoughts just flew straight out of his head. He liked it, a lot.
He offered her his arm so they might take a stroll, though he remembered the letter he had written her and pulled it out of his pocket with his other hand.
"I wrote you this. I um... I don't really know why. I just felt like... putting my thoughts on paper! And now you can have them with you!" He laughed at himself, but he thought it was a good idea, anyway. He smiled at her and led her down a path he had never walked along in the park, enjoying the scenery, though if he were honest he wasn't really looking at it.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:29 pm
For a handful of seconds she cradled his cheeks in her palms, feeling the warmth of his face through her gloves. He was smiling down at her, offering a simple hello, and she chuckled, grinning as she gave him a gentle pat. "Hello yourself."
When he offered it she took his arm, looping hers around it, hand resting at the crook of his elbow with the other coming up to rest just below the first. "This was a nice idea," she admitted thoughtfully, glancing around the park before he mentioned having written something for her and handed her a letter. "Hmm?"
She took it, glancing down at her name scrawled across the envelope, then back up to vivid teal eyes. "You wrote it?" That was incredibly sweet of him, no had ever really taken the time to write anything for her before, not like this. Every time she was sure she'd seen the extent of his kindness he turned around and surprised her. She was beginning to love that about him. "Do you want me to read it now, or wait til later?" Admittedly she was curious, but if he preferred her wait she was happy to.
She glanced back down at it, lips pursed as she wondered curiously about what exactly he'd felt the need to put into words that he couldn't have just told her face to face. Surely nothing bad, at least she sincerely hoped not.
While she waited for an answer she toyed with the sealed flap of the envelope, prying it up by millimeters.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 3:02 pm
"You could read it now, or later, if you wanted," he answered with his usual unhelpful, but perky and generous, ease. He smiled brightly, "which ever you'd like best!"
He glanced around, taking stock of the level of light around them. Fairly dim, he noted with a mental nod.
"It is a little dark out, you might not be able to see very well. I wouldn't want you to strain your eyes," a simple concern from a simple man, but he was certainly not going to stop her if she felt her eyes would make it out of the ordeal intact. They were both young, after all, and neither wore glasses. And it wasn't like it was pitch dark.
He was considering things with a bit too much detail.
Behind them, something stirred in the bushes, but it was moving silently and it grew still when it felt it was giving itself away. Nothing but a breeze through the dark trees and hand planted, manicured bushes of one of the many public city parks.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 6:45 pm
There was a very a gentle eye roll that followed his answer, but she leaned a little more into his side, head bumping against his shoulder before settling their. "If we're going by what I want, then I think I'll take a peek now." She'd tipped her head back to watch him as she spoke, and if it seemed to make him uncomfortable at all she'd tuck the letter away in her pocket to read later.
When she saw nothing but that optimistic eager ess she slide her glove covered finger along the seal to tear it open, smile twisting into something eager and just a little amused. "So what prompted this little token of affection?"
After unfolding the letter she managed to get through the first handful of words before a bright flush spread in a wash along her cheeks. "Oh." It was a completely inadequate reaction, but she did her best to make up for it with the kiss she offered up to him, a gentle nibble along his lower lips before claiming his mouth for a lingering kiss. Taking her time to enjoy the every heart hammering second.
Of course even distracted as she was young man she was currently trying to eat from the mouth down, she was still alert to what as going on around them. It had taken a little while to develop the sort of hyper alertness that would keep you alive in a magical war, but once they kicked in it was almost impossible to turn them off, or tune them out completely.
She frowned with her lips still happily occupied, drawing back an inch or two as she strained her hearing for the sound she had heard mere seconds before. A rustling, soft, but definitely not the wind. She cursed her civilian cover in that moment, feeling blind with out the ability to sense what might be out there. It was silent now, but it was an uneasy stillness, and Lydia sank back to her heels as she turned to search over her shoulder.
She didn't see anything, but her instincts were telling her something was out there.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 7:20 pm
Grant kissed her and smiled against her lips, glad she seemed so happy by the letter. He had worked rather hard on those few sentences, after all. He was happy that she was happy, that had been the goal, after all.
He opened his eyes, feeling her tense. He was confused, wondering if he had done something wrong. She had frowned, he felt it, and as she pulled back he could see it, which made him pout a little. He wasn't sure how to frown, it often seemed. Even his pouts had a vague smile to them.
"What's the matter, Lydia?" He asked, looking around because he saw her looking. He didn't know what they were trying to see, though. "Did you see some..."
His eyes widened and his voice trailed off as a youma appeared from the bushes. It was a long monster, walking at the moment on four legs, but it had thick limps and could easily rise to two. It watched them with the face of a lizard, but the muzzle was long and it lacked any scales, looking more furred than anything.
Grant put his arms around Lydia, holding her to him protectively.
"Don't worry, Lydia, it might leave us alone!"
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:27 pm
The hand on Grant's arm tightened when he asked her what was wrong, cautioning him silently, or perhaps even hinting he should stop talking. She wasn't entirely sure, she still didn't know what had caught her attention, but there was a lingering sense of wrongness. It was making the girl very uneasy as she stood with her boyfriend.
As the youma emerged Lydia cursed soundly under breath, more angry then afraid, instinctively her hand reached for the henshin pen she'd tucked into her pocket. Her fingers closed around it, but the sudden press of Grant's arms around her made her pause. s**t! She couldn't just henshin up right in front of him, that put the both of them in danger.
Nevermind the fact they were already in danger.
Lydia stiffened in Grant's arms, fingers curling within the sleeve of his coat as he tried to reassure her. "No it won't." She was staring at the youma as pushed at Grant to get him moving, and if he didn't run on his own she'd take the lead and drag him along. "Come on, Run!"
Youma weren't supposed to attack DMC, but with her powered down, and Grant nothing more then a mild mannered human, clearly there had been some confusion. ********! She needed to turn into Sailor Navi, they were. Itching more then walking batteries to the youma otherwise.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:18 am
The youma was very single minded, and seeing some tasty snacks, whatever they might be, was more than incentive enough. It snarled and began to charge, running with a loping, not quite graceful grace that was as unique as it was strange. Its whole body seem in on the act, slinking and expanding like worm despite the fact that it had very strong looking legs to work with.
It was fast.
"Oh, I think you're right," Grant admitted, as it began to run. He nodded his head and listened to her with wholehearted enthusiasm as she told them to run. Running was good. He took off with her, not aiming to overtake her, running with her rather than for his own safety. To his surprise, he found he to be very fast anyway, so he had to struggle to keep up.
The youma liked it when they ran. Getting worked up before a meal always made it taste that much sweeter.
It caught up to them easily enough, without either of them having the boost that being powered might grant them. Of course, if she had been able to power up their problem would have been solved fairly easily. Instead, they had a youma tackling them both, slamming between them to knock them off balance, then wrenching its body in two different directions to send them both flying away from each other.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:53 am
Lydia didn't bother to look back, she could hear the lumbering beast charging after them, and despite it's bulky appearance it seemed to be catching up. Once again she hissed a curse as she sprinted down the snow covered path, fingers curled tightly in Grant's sleeve to make sure he stayed with her and they didn't get separated. That would have been really bad.
Apparently the youma had a similar idea, because that was the first thing it did after catching them. The air rushed from the girl's lungs as the thing hit them from behind, stumbling forward before something hard slammed into her side and sit her flying. She screamed, yelping as she collided with the trunk of a tree, and let herself slide down until she was curled on her side in the snow. God Damn, that hurt a lot more when she wasn't powered up. ******** was whimpering as she got back to her feet, but her attention went automatically into finding Grant. He wasn't at the youma's feet, so he must have been knocked away as well. She refused to believe in any alternative. She'd lost him once, she was sure as hell not going to lose him again.
Caution crumbling in the face of danger and lose, the girl reached into her pocket and wrapped her hand around her henshin pen. She was pulling it free as she ran back towards the monster, holding it up as she called out her name and summoned the dark ribbons and glitter that'd make her more then just an ordinary girl. It was a terrible idea powering up in front of Grant, but she was terrified of what might happen if she didn't.
"Grant!" She couldn't see him, and her chest constricted painfully.
Now that she Navi and the aura of chaos surrounded her the youma didn't seem quite so interested in her. That wouldn't stop her from attacking it, not when it was still so keenly interested in eating her boyfriend. She didn't stop running until she'd reached it's side, and she used the continuing momentum to slam her fist into the side of the beast's head. "He's mine, leave him alone!"
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:28 pm
Grant was sent sprawling the other way, crashing into a tree on the opposite side. He felt very dazed for a long moment, on his hands and knees in the snow. Warm blood was running down his face, and he realized he must have struck his head on something. it explained why everything seemed to slow down.
Looking up, he saw Lydia not too far from him. Except something strange happened. Color and movement, and he stared at her as she became something else. One of the people from the Surrounding, though that thought was distant and hard to grab on to at the moment.
Everything got very confusing, and Grant was not great with anything more complicated than 'simple'. Not because he was stupid, but rather his ability to suspend his disbelief extended only as far as his ability to rationalize.
"Ly... Lydia?" He got to his feet, seeing her fighting the youma, which was more interested in him. It turned on her, though, lashing out to get her away. They were very close. "No!" Grant yelped, and he ran. He did the only thing he could think to do, slamming shoulder first into the youma in an effort to get it away from his girlfriend. She was still his girlfriend, wasn't she?
He'd have to process what he had seen later. He crashed into the youma but it easily threw him from it, and he went crashing to the floor in a heap as it turned back to Navi.
Grant could do nothing to help her.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 2:10 pm
It was always satisfying when she connected with the thing she was attacking. Sure it hurt a little, but that was part of what made it so amazing. If her hand ached a little after a good punch, imagine how the other person's jaw felt? Generally that was the sort of thing that rain through Lydia's mind during a battle, but no such happy thoughts presented themselves this time.
She'd never had to fight to protect another person before. Hell, even when she was fighting for herself she'd never had any life or death moments spring up. Injuries happened, frequently, but death? Not so much. She'd been a Dark Mirror Senshi for a while now, and not once in that time had she ever felt this level of fear, not since before Ares had awakened her up in the surrounding.
She heard Grant yelling for her, snapped her head up to spot him running towards, then went flying again when the youma smashed a leg into her.
At least this time she didn't go far, and as she hit the snow she pushed herself back to her feet in time to see her boyfriend slamming his shoulder into the lizard like beast. What was he doing!? Was he crazy? "Grant, no!" Why wasn't he running? Hadn't she told him to run away? "Get away from it!"
She was running again, slipping a little on the snow in her haste to get between the youma and Grant. Her foot swung up when she was close enough, the top of it connecting solidly with the parting jaws as it lumbered closer. Turning on her heel, she upper cut the thing in the chin while it's head whipped back from the first impact. Firmly placing herself between the youma and it's target again. "You are not eating my boyfriend," she hissed at it, pushing against Grant's chest with her left hand as she backed up herself.
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:49 am
Grant heard her telling him 'no' and he almost stopped. He was lucky he had missed her order to run: he might of done so. Luckily, he didn't have to try and figure it out, as his daze from hitting his head had stopped him from comprehending much of anything for a long moment.
He had been thrown again by the youma, and had a tough time getting to his feet. He just felt he had to. That in mind, he tried to run back to help again. Even if he hadn't been that helpful the first time, he'd try again. He'd try anything. Now he skidded to a stop as she moved between them, staring at her in wonder.
She really was just like those people in the Surrounding.
"I'm sorry, I was trying to help!" He yelped when she told him off, though he saw her kick it and it was very clear that she was far more capable of helping the both of them than he was. How had she hit it so hard? When he tackled it, it felt like he was running into a brick wall. He did not fully understand what had made those senshi and knights in the Surrounding so different, or where their magic had come from.
He stumbled as they backed up, wincing and breathing heavily. He was tired and the youma seemed more angry than anything now, though it was obviously reeling from Navi's hard kick and punch. It no longer wanted to ignore Navi, focusing on her as it reared back and then lunged forward, its body moving like the head of a snake, lashing out with its clawed hands.
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:09 pm
Navi winced at the sound of Grant's voice, instantly regretting having yelled at him. This wasn't his fault, he didn't know what was going on, it wasn't fair for her to be snapping at him. "I know," she offered a little frantically, pushing at him again. "I know you are, but that thing is going to kill you." Maybe if she expressed upon him the severity of the situation they'd been thrown into? Would that dampen the chivalrous nature of his and inspire him to run to safety?
Probably not. It just wasn't in his nature to save himself when someone else was in danger, specifically not her.
She felt him stumble and it made her turn, dropping so she could grab his arm and haul him back to his feet so she could get him moving again. She had to get him out of there, somewhere safe, and if he wouldn't leave without her then she'd just have to figure out a way for them to get away together.
The wash of crimson against Grant's brow caught Navi's attention, distracted her as she lifted a hand to try to wipe away the blood, and that was all it took for the youma to catch her off guard. The sear of the claws was like nothing she'd ever felt before as they sank into her side, and her eyes widened in shock in pain, a high pitched gasp rushing past parting lips. The slice of the claws hurt, but the impact of the beast's hand when it struck her stole the air from her lungs and sent her tumbling across the snow like a rag doll. Spots of red, bright against the white, decorated the snow in her wake.
For a second or two all she could do was lay there, hunched over with her hands cradling her side, hissing in pain, but she was all that stood between Grant and that damn beast's jaws, and she was not going to lose him again, she refused.
Ginger curls whipped around her face as she staggered to her feet, the wind picking up around them, and Navi embraced the icy kiss as it rose goosebumps along her exposed skin. Palms facing the youma, she gathered that wind to her hands, condensed it, sharped it, then called out her attack. "Whiplash Blast!" The spinning ball surged forward, directed right at the youma's snake like face.
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Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 9:20 pm
Grant looked at her helplessly. The last time something had attacked them... he had died. Trying to protect her. He didn't know that, of course, as he thought she was Lydia, someone he had not met in space but here on Earth, in his classes.
And now she also happened to be a senshi.
But memories of space still didn't filter back to him. He was not, actually, all that good at learning his lesson. Especially when it came to doing good and helping others. The detriment to himself never occurred to him, and in the end it slipped from his mind as unimportant. He only focused on the other person, and what they wanted or needed of him.
At the moment, she seemed to need him to let her fight alone.
His stumble and her urge to clean the blood of his face has hurt them both. The youma viciously attacked Navi and Grant yelled in surprise. He saw her hit the snow and everything seemed to stop, as if the world around him had melted away and left him suspended, staring at the blood. Stark against the white of the floor, though he could not call it snow.
He froze. He could do absolutely nothing but stand there, even as she attacked the youma and it recoiled. He wasn't seeing anything, wasn't aware of anything, not at the moment. He snapped out of it after a short time, the youma hitting the ground as he ran over to navi.
"You're hurt! You're hurt, let me help you!" he yelped, pulling his coat off and pressing it to her side.
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