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 Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:48 pm
She hadn't been expecting to run into a Youma with razor-sharp claws, but then, you never expected those until they were bearing down on you. Half an hour later, monster dusted and bleeding copiously from slashes on both arms, Sailor Europa was making her way tiredly home. She didn't bother with the elevator lobby, using the last of her energy to leap to her apartment's balcony.
The senshi let herself in the sliding glass door and stepped quietly into the kitchen. It looked like a quiet night at Casa Cowden-McAdams - enough that she felt out of place in her own home, dripping blood and monster saliva as she was. She grabbed the first-aid kit off the bookshelf and hurried to the kitchen sink, ready to pour as much peroxide on her wounds as humanly possible.
She uncapped the bottle and held it poised over her arm. Europa was a superhero, but that didn't mean she didn't get apprehensive over the impending sting. "Time to bite the bullet," she breathed, tipping the bottle.
Of course, cleaning the cuts was nearly as painful as getting the cuts. Europa gritted her teeth. "******** hell," she cursed quietly, letting loose a carefully-placed epithet.
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:08 pm
Perhaps she found it harder to sleep tonight than most nights. There had been something keeping her mind awake and Kathryn groaned before rolling over onto her side for the thousandth time. It had taken a few weeks to get over the pang of homesickness that she'd suffered through. She hadn't really let Tallulah in on how she was feeling but there might have been a few moments here and there that something slipped from her facade. Now though she almost seemed at ease in her apartment. Having a roommate probably helped ease the transition and Kat couldn't imagine living by herself anymore. It was definitely a strange sensation to admit too.
Kat had just closed her eyes and was beginning to doze off when a well-spoken curse ripped through her consciousness ... jolting her out of her sleep. What the hell? Who was in her apartment? As light as she had been sleeping she would have heard Tallulah come in. The possibility of intruders in her place was far from her mind as this place was on the fifth floor which would deter most criminals but one could never be too cautious. Slipping out from under her covers Kathryn slipped on a warm housecoat over her pajamas before opening her door as quietly as possible.
The lone light came from the kitchen and Kat inched her way out from her bedroom and passed Tallulah's closed door. It puzzled her. If Tallulah was in wouldn't her door have been open? Kat continued towards the kitchen belatedly wondering if she should have grabbed something to use as a weapon. Too late for that thought. Kathryn rounded the corner and stood in disbelief at what she saw.
There was a girl standing at the kitchen sink. She was covered in bloody gashes and ... Kat rubbed her eyes. It looked as if she were pouring hydrogen peroxide over the wounds. Kathryn winced. That had to be painful. Wrapping her housecoat tightly around her middle Kathryn took a step forward and cleared her throat. Time to see what she could do to get this mysterious person out of here. "I don't know who you are but I suggest that you leave the same way you got in here."
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:36 pm
Europa stopped pouring peroxide and blinked at her roommate for a moment before it clicked that she was still transformed. She'd been a bit pre-occupied when she came in, but now that Kathryn had her in her sights and was making it clear that she had no idea who this frilly intruder was, her priorities rearranged themselves. In a flash of dark, Europa transformed back into Tallulah Cowden, gave her roommate a hapless shrug, and began to pour peroxide on her other arm.
"Sorry to alarm you," she said, gritting her teeth and inhaling sharply as the liquid hit her skin. "Tough night at my second job." She set the peroxide bottle down and wrapped her hands around the edge of the sink, waiting for it to fizz and do its work. "It's not usually this bad," she added, glancing over at Kat and trying to gauge her reaction. Was the other girl taking this well enough that Tallulah trusted her to fetch medical supplies?
"Could you reach into my kit and get me a tube of liquid-stitches?" she asked haltingly, turning on the water and beginning to rinse blood, slime, and peroxide from her arms. "This really does look a lot worse than it is," she assured Kat, reaching for a roll of paper towels. "I mean, you should see the other guy. Well, less guy and more creature. Still."
She smiled nervously at her roommate, fully aware that she'd begun to babble. "Anyways, the less that's said of it the better. Stitches?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 7:13 pm
Kathryn's eyes narrowed in suspicion at the intruder. A moment later though her gaze widened in surprise. Were her eyes playing tricks on her? Kathryn stumbled back a bit in shock before realizing that it really was Tallulah at the counter pouring cleansing liquid over her wounds. Kathryn shook herself out of her stupor and tried finding the words to question just what she was seeing.
Thinking back to when she had been a cat and Tallulah had explained a few things ... maybe this was what she had meant by senshi. Moving around in silence Kathryn automatically reached into the medical kit that Tallulah always seemed to keep on hand and rummaged around until her hand touched the requested item. She passed it over to her roommate before stepping closer to examine the other girl's wounds. Kat found her voice oddly quiet as the words came out of her mouth.
"What exactly happened to you Tallulah?"
To say that she was still a little in shock would have been an understatement. Kat wasn't used to seeing people in her life so literally beaten up. This was definitely a rude awakening.
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 7:41 pm
Tallulah blotted her arms dry with a paper towel and took the tube of liquid stitches from Kathryn. Frowning with concentration, she began to carefully line her cuts and then press the sides together. Kat's question hung in the air for a moment before Tallulah dignified it with an answer, so intent was she on making at least one of her arms stop bleeding.
"I'm a superhero," she explained patiently, sighing as she pinched herself and waited for the glue to dry. Knowing her senshi healing factor, this would heal up in a day or two - but in the meantime it hurt like a b***h. "You know all that stuff I was asking you about a few months ago when you got turned into a cat?" Because that had happened and it had been weird but it certainly wasn't worth forgetting. "It was all Re: this."
"Destiny City's sort of a weirdness epicenter," she explained, starting on her other arm. "You know, coma waves and mysterious deaths and monsters in the streets?" Well, maybe not. Her introductory conversations with Kathryn seemed to have indicated that the girl had kept her head out of a lot of the more bizarre goings-on in their hometown. Tallulah didn't see it as her duty to bring her into all this if she didn't have to, so she kept her descriptions vague. The less Kathryn knew about the actual details of the conflict, the better, as far as she could discern.
After all, that much had worked with Angus.
"I belong to a group called the White Moon Court. We're sort of like the Justice League. It's our duty to try and keep the weirdness from getting too out of hand - we have to fight the monsters so they don't attack ordinary townsfolk, you follow?" She sighed and concentrated on her cuts for a moment before continuing.
"Anyways, I got attacked by a monster," she said. "Just business as usual. I'll be fine. I heal fast. Like Wolverine."
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:08 pm
Kathryn had managed to find an open space on the counter ledge and pulled herself up onto her impromptu seat. Her gaze was worried as she took in the slashes that were slowly being mended together under Tallulah's fingers and the magic of the liquid stitches. Even with her roommate's revelation when she had been a cat didn't prepare her for the reality of the situation. It was easy to imagine someone going out and fighting the evils of the world in ones mind. But as Kathryn silently watched Tallulah the realization sunk in that this was not anything like she had imagined.
Still it didn't change the fact this was her roommate. Kathryn gave her apartment a once over again before her attention returned as Tallulah began to speak. Kat followed the conversation easily. She knew that she would have questions after this but one line caught her attentions. Monsters in the streets. She still had a hard time coming to grips with the commotion that had occurred at the City Meeting and there was still that strange incident at the park.
"I remember our conversation clearly. I don't think I'd forget it anytime soon. I guess I am a little relieved that "this" has more of an explanation. I can't say I'm happy that my roommate could get torn up though. Even with a speedy recovery time ... it is still a little alarming," Kat sighed and slid off the counter. Her gaze took in the trail of blood that Tallulah had inadvertently left behind her upon her arrival. "Do you have anything that will help get the evidence off the floors Tallulah?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:22 pm
Tallulah leaned back and inspected her handiwork, satisfied that she hadn't missed a spot. She was proficient at first aid - one didn't make it two years into a war against the forces of chaos without learning how to patch yourself or your friends up after a fight. The girl tore another paper towel off the roll, wet it down with some dish soap, and began to clean out the sink.
"What?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder. It was alarming to realize what kind of bloody path she'd left on the floor - that definitely looked worse than it was. "Oh, god, I'm sorry," she blanched, running the water. "I'll go get the Swiffer in a minute." Before it congealed and made the job difficult, preferably. She finished cleaning up the sink and the counter, made a single trip to the trash can, and shruggled helplessly at Kathryn.
"I'm really sorry for waking you up," she said as she retrieved cleaning supplies. Tallulah began to scrub the floor. "I'm self-sufficient, I swear." Kat hadn't noticed her coming in late any time before now, had she? That ought to be a good case for her heroic competence!
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:13 pm
Kat wrinkled her nose at the trail of blood that Tallulah began to clean and she sighed before kneeling down beside her roomie. She grabbed a piece of paper towel and began to help clean the mess. She was awake now and had questions keeping her mind active but how to voice those questions. Peeking at Tallulah from the corner of her eyes, Kat leaned back and rested on her heels. It had been the first time since the secret was out that Kathryn had seen Tallulah as what she truly was. To think that she couldn't tell the difference between Tallulah and her alter-ego it was disturbing. It was hard to wrap her mind around the fact. Would there be times that her room mate would be too wounded to return home?
Rising to her feet Kat shuffled over to the garbage can and dumped her towel into it. "You didn't wake me up. I was finding it hard to sleep anyway."
Kat sighed before continuing, "I know you said that you do this to protect those that can't defend themselves. It's cool that you can do this. Do I have anything to worry about when you are out protecting others?"
After her ordeal as a cat Kathryn had come to sit up some nights just waiting to hear any signs of life from her room mate coming in. It was disconcerting to admit that she feared for Tallulah's safety.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:34 pm
She was grateful for the help cleaning up, even if there was no reason why Kat should have to scrub Tallulah's blood trails. "No," she said confidently, stripping the pad off the Swiffer and tossing it into the trash. "I've been at this since Junior year of high school." Not to boast or anything, it was just the truth. Tallulah was one of the most experienced senshi she knew, and you didn't make it to Eternal just cooling your heels.
"I know what I'm doing," she assured Kat, turning to rummage through the cabinets. She let the assurance hang there as she poured herself a glass of water from the tap. Meanwhile, another interpretation of her roommate's question crossed Tallulah's mind.
"You mean," she said, frowning, "Does my being a senshi pose any danger to you?" It was true, she'd long worried over the safety of her parents, but thus far no horrible fate had befallen Angus or Nellie Cowden. It seemed safe to say that so long as no one allied with Chaos pieced together that Tallulah Cowden and Sailor Europa were one and the same, or else connected any civilians as being important to Europa regardless of her own identity, then there was no reason for them to be in any more danger than any other ordinary citizen of Destiny City. Tallulah swallowed and shook her head.
"I promise you," she assured Kat, "I do my best not to bring my work home with me." She was careful. She'd always been careful, always checked her senshi sense for if anyone else was in the area before heading home. "Living with me doesn't put you in any more danger than just living in this city does. If anything, it might make you safer."
She swirled the water in her glass and asked, "Does that answer your question?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:31 pm
When Tallulah told her that she didn't need to worry about her Kathryn still wasn't sure. She gave her room mate a searching look as she got herself a glass of water. Why did she feel that she needed to ask these questions of Tallulah? Giving herself a mental shake Kat leaned against the kitchen entrance where she'd first surprised Tallulah earlier. A frown began to appear on her face as Tallulah spun off her own reasoning. She hadn't been wanting to imply that she was in danger. Her own neutral expression began to falter.
"I didn't mean to imply anything like that Tallulah. I know that there is a risk of danger. I don't want you thinking that I'm nervous to be around you."
Kathryn gave a long sigh. It was hard to imagine that danger might follow Tallulah home one day but Kathryn wanted to banish all thoughts of negativity out of her head. To think negative things happening ... sometimes it allowed the exact thing to occur that you didn't want to happen. Kathryn slowly appraised Tallulah's form. The outfit change that she'd had earlier was interesting to say the least. She had not been able to identify her room mate at all in her alter state. "I didn't quite notice earlier with everything - but what was with the outfit?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:46 pm
"The outfit?" asked Tallulah, pausing for a moment. That was another element that she supposed she was used to but was probably utterly alien to anyone not familiar with the world and lingo of senshi. "It's my superhero uniform," she explained. Every superhero had to have a good costume - right? Maybe Kat would just intuit that just because she had buttwings and jellyfish ribbons instead of a cape didn't make her any less of an awesome superhero.
"You know how all Clark Kent has to do is take off his glasses and paint an S on his chest and suddenly no one knows he's Superman?" she explained, refilling her glass. Patrol had left her thirsty, and after losing so much blood rehydrating seemed keen. Hopefully Kat had enough pop culture exposure to get the reference, even if she'd never picked up a comic book in her life.
"So, there's an enchantment on my uniform, so that when I put it on no one can tell that it's me wearing it, even if you know me." she explained, in the vaguest of terms. The verb henshin had gotten her into trouble in the past, and she didn't feel like explaining that her magical uniform came out of a pen. "It's kind of stupid, really, like if I'm the only girl you know with teal hair and a stupid star clip and I put on a tiara and suddenly you have no idea who I am? It makes no sense, but it works."
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:22 pm
Kathryn relaxed her posture against the wall that she leaned against as she took in Tallulah's explanation. She totally understood the reference with the explanation given. She raised her hand to her face to wipe a little of the sleep that had tried gathering at the corners of her eyes. There was an element of disbelief that wanted to impose its will on Kat's mind but she refused to let it in. What Tallulah told her seemed to make sense. She'd seen the enchantment at work herself. Kat supposed that having something at work like that was more than useful.
"I think I understand. I'm still wrapping my mind about how this works. I think it is the whole 'how you became a superhero' in the first place that is now confusing me. But I don't feel that we need to talk about it right now. I am beginning to feel that this excitement tonight is wearing me out."
Kathryn covered a yawn as to prove a point. "Are you going to be alright? Those wounds looked rather nasty."
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 10:06 pm
For a moment, Tallulah was tempted to deadpan something about magical cats, but instead she shook her head wearily. "That's a conversation for another night," she sighed. Given the late hour, Kathryn probably wouldn't have believed her even if she'd told the truth. She finished her glass of water, rinsed it quickly, and stuck it on the drying rack.
"Yep, all patched up," she assured her roommate. "I just need to sleep it off and I'll be fine. Like I said, I heal fast." Wounds like these she expected to heal in a few days. Being a superhero did have its perks. Tallulah stifled a yawn.
"We both better get to bed, yeah?" she suggested as she put away her first aid kit. "It's late. If you still want to know in the morning you can ask me then." Tallulah, for one, could hear her pillow calling her name - and who was she to deny its siren song? "Good night, Kathryn," she said sleepily before slipping away into her bedroom.
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