|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:57 pm
These days it wasn't often that he patrolled alone. He usually met up with someone or left his apartment with Ganymede, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in search of some kind of disturbance in the city below. He felt responsible towards the city, too tied to it and its fate to go for long without powering up (if only for a little while) and making sure there were no youma attacking innocent civilians, and no Negaverse agent in search of blood and starseeds.
He tried to forget about how it felt. How having a hand in his chest had taken the breath from him and very nearly his soul. It was stupid for him to be tied down to something that hadn't happened, and he reminded himself of his decision not to allow the past to overtake him. What was done was done and he'd survived. But that also meant he needed to make sure others wouldn't suffer the same trauma, or worse.
Tonight he started in the older parts of the city, where gingerbread still lined the arches of the roofs and porches wrapped their way around almost the entirety of the dwelling. Some were still residents, but most had been turned into small businesses, such as little antique shops or bakeries or safe houses for those in need or little "bed and breakfast"s. These were the houses that inspired him and distracted him from other things in his life. Things like school, or knowing he would probably have to give up a chance at the major leagues in order to stay in the city and protect it, or even the fact that Ganymede wasn't with him tonight. Instead, he left his boyfriend to have some time to himself in the safety of the apartment. He had a lot to think about, to prepare himself for with his father's funeral coming up.
While Valhalla wanted to stay and offer some support, sometimes he thought it might be good to let Paris have some alone time. He'd left that night with a kiss and a promise to be careful.
And he really had been careful!! Until he realized he'd been distracted by the architecture of the buildings for too long and didn't even realize the approach of a dark, stronger energy. He stood rigidly in place, glancing over his shoulder to try and catch a glimpse of who it could be. If he was lucky it was just General Wolframite or Zinkenite. They'd been friendly enough, even if he'd been scared nearly shitless.
Maybe if he pretended it wasn't there, it would go away? Regardless, it was too late to run, but he reached a hand down to slowly unhook his compass from his belt... just in case...
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:23 pm
Remarque would argue that there was an undeniable creepiness in wandering around the older parts of town at any time of day—particularly after sunset. He had made a habit of expanding the area in which he roamed late at night, vaguely aware that it was, perhaps, not the most intelligent thing to do to venture in areas where he had no history. His time in the area had been spent when the sun was up, and even then had been fleeting.
It was wanderlust, and a need for some sort of newness in his nightly energy gathering that drove Remarque to the outskirts of his usual territory. He wasn’t sure if there were senshi that patrolled here, or if there were any mirrors he could utilize if there was some sort of emergency, but those were trivial things that graced his mind for a very short period of time. He had disregarded caution and safety in favor of exploring this new area.
The entire effort had been rather lacking so far; Remarque had only seen a handful of people out at this hour and even then, none of them had been worth gathering energy from. He’d have had a far more productive evening if he’d only just stayed in his usual area—and the lack of any visible mirrors meant that he was going to have to walk back.
It would have been an entirely boring if he had not become faintly aware of an order aligned aura in the area. He’d considered just avoiding it and being on his merry way, though his feet had a very different idea, and though he had intended to head back, he found himself turning a corner—just in time to see the male in front of him reach for something.
The action in itself wasn’t suspicious, though Remarque found himself eying the object the squire had reached for with interest. “That’s a fancy little toy you’ve got there,” he noted, expressing neither hostility nor fear as he continued his walk, leisurely approach the male. “What is it?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:37 pm
Valhalla wasn't entirely sure how to react to the approaching energy. Part of him told him to get somewhere to hide, but another part was convinced that this meeting could be similar to the one he'd had with Zinkenite and Wolframite.
As long as it wasn't Painite approaching...
Instead of the three on his mind though, there seemed to be a young man approaching him. He could barely see the brightly colored fabric under the street lights, but it was the black wings that startled him the most. A senshi? With corrupt energy? He had met only one other senshi with an aura similar to this one, and while he'd gotten out of that confrontation alive, he hadn't been unscathed. No where near as bad as his run-in with Painite, but...
Still, it was rather curious how he was approached. It probably helped the other's confidence in knowing that Valhalla was clearly at a lower energy level than himself. If he wanted to kick the squire's a**, he could probably do so rather easily.
But Valhalla found himself blinking curiously at this senshi's question for a few moments, before finally glancing down at the object in his hand. It wasn't much of a weapon, but he was rather fond of it... despite its weird transformation when he'd powered up to a squire.
"Uh..." he started, knowing right away how lame he sounded. "It's... a compass." It no longer looked like a normal compass, but it still had the face with the arrow pointing north. The rings around it, while a bit cumbersome to handle, kept the face relatively parallel to the horizon.
Grasping the item in his hand, he looked up once more at the approaching senshi. He bit his lip in hesitation for only another second. "I'm Valhalla of Jupiter... who are you...?" He figured asking what his intentions were was a bit much...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 11:13 pm
Remarque stopped a very few short feet in front of Valhalla and planted his hands on his hips as he glanced down at the compass. “Remarque. Dark Mirror Senshi of Puppetry,” he introduced, seeming more interested at the strange trinket the squire carried. Whatever hostilities he might have presented towards the male were forgotten as he examined the compass from a distance.
He had learned many things from the knights before—that they were often brash and quick to attack, or sneaky and underhanded, though none of this seemed to register as important. That he was stronger than Valhalla in power, was enough to fuel his arrogance into letting down his guard. “I don’t suppose you’re carrying a compass because you can’t find your way home. What does it do?” he pried, only then looking up at the male.
The compass looked to be an elaborate piece, unlike anything he’d seen senshi or knight carry around, and yet looked as if it could be very clunky and in the way. If it wasn’t a weapon, Remarque just couldn’t see any use for carrying it around, but he reasoned that anything aligned with order was already odd to begin with.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 12:25 pm
He looked the Dark Mirror Senshi over carefully, still frozen in place as if that would help to discourage any sudden attack. Hesitating at a time like this could cause him to end up in the hospital like the time he'd been attacked by Painite.
This guy, though... didn't seem to care about attacking... for now, at least.
"Uh, it points North...?" he offered, looking down at the compass in his hand a little longer, before cautiously holding it out for Remarque to see. "Other than that... I don't know what it does..." He knew there was magic in it. He could feel the energy from it as he held it in his hand, but what it was capable of... well, he hadn't tried that out just yet.
"You can... look at it if you want...?"
It wasn't that he wasn't being careful! But if he didn't try and understand what these senshi's intentions were, they would be no closer to coming up with a compromise to stop the war from continuing. Not that he knew what Remarque was planning, but... it would be okay to let him get a better look at it, right? It was a strange little piece, after all. He'd never seen anything like it before he'd acquired it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 6:08 pm
For the time being, Remarque seemed exceptionally oblivious to the fact that if this was a trap, he had not only walked right into it, but probably even set himself up for it. Whatever rational part of his brain that might have warned him against getting too friendly with anyone aligned with order had shut down in favor of his curiosity—something had had gotten him into trouble far too many times before.
That Valhalla was holding it out for him to see was much easier—and much less awkward—than craning his neck. “It just points North?” he prompted. “If you wanted to see which way was North, couldn’t you just look to the stars or something? I mean, this thing seems a little hefty to carry around just to know what direction you’re going in. I can’t think of anyone not in boyscouts or over the age of eighty who carries a compass around. No offense,” he insisted, glancing up at Valhalla to make eye contact. It was short lived, as his eyes once again sank to the compass and he continued, not containing his intense curiosity in the slightest, “This is very nice. Very interesting.”
He reached out a hand, as if he wanted to touch it, though retracted it. Working with antiques, he understood that many people didn’t want to pass around valuable artifacts, and considering the relationship between the Dark Mirror Court and the Knights, Remarque could see how Valhalla might take the gesture the wrong way. He wanted to touch it, to hold it up to his eyes, to examine it and to feel its weight. “…It looks old,” he said, though even someone who wasn’t around antiques might have made such a claim. “—Where did you get it?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 11:14 pm
It was curious how Remarque seemed to be more interested in his compass than fighting him. He was obviously stronger and had the advantage, but his defenses appeared to be down (which Valhalla reminded himself could just be Remarque making him think his guard was down...) and he'd even reached for his 'weapon', despite knowing he was on 'the other side'.
Valhalla couldn't help but laugh lightly at the other young man's comment, shaking his head. "I don't ever recall being able to see the stars in the city," he said, glancing up then to inspect the sky. Sure enough, the bright lights of the nearby buildings and houses blocked out most of the light from space. Of course, there was still a dot here and there. "That's not a star," he said, sure of it. "It's Venus... Believe me. My brother went on and on about it earlier this week." He rolled his eyes at the thought of Peter wanting to become an astronaut, even when the space program didn't look like it was going to have that bright a future.
Against his better judgement and knowing he would be weaponless if he did it, Valhalla pulled his compass closer to him to be able to fiddle with the clasp holding it in place on its chain of crystals. "It used to be a crummy old compass, but it still has the designs on the edges," he explained, holding it up to look at it more closely for a moment. Once he was sure he remembered how it looked, he held it out again, and when he was sure Remarque was paying attention, he flicked his wrist to toss the orb-like object for him to catch.
"But really... all it does is point North, or at least that's all I've managed to make it do." He nodded to the senshi as if to encourage him to take a look at it, himself. Three golden, rotatable rings surrounded the compass at the center. While being handled, the rings would slide into place so as not to let the compass out of alignment with the horizon. It made the object a bit cumbersome, but Valhalla doubted it was meant to be held in hand. Most likely, it would have sat on a pedestal of some kind on a moving vessel... but what kind of vessel, he wasn't sure.
The rings had most of the designs — small and delicate swirls, it looked almost art nouveau in style, with maybe flowers etched into the metal, or some other kind of plant. The compass, covered by glass, had a needle that indeed seemed to be pointing North. The needle and arrows indicating the four cardinal directions were inlaid with some kind of shimmery stone, and the face seemed to show a starscape. Along the edge of the compass were similar designs as the rings, and if forced upside down, the signet image for Valhalla would be seen on the underside.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 8:42 pm
Remarque was absolutely not about to let such a curious trinket fall to the ground; when Valhalla tossed it in his direction, he snagged it from the air and immediately began examining the thing up close. He held it gingerly, and not at all with any malicious desire. He had the opportunity to steal this trinket—or try and smash it—but he refrained, driven out of curiosity and intrigue. He was careful in handling it, however gave it a very thorough look-over.
His conclusion, when he was finally done examining the trinket, was simply, “This is beautiful. Especially for something that ‘only manages to point North.’ I’ve never seen anything like it, at least, and I’d go so far as to say I do a little more than dabble in things of the sort.”
Perhaps it was imagination alone that made the piece seem so special—that it belonged to someone aligned with order and here he was, holding it as if it were his own. There was something nagging him, something that said this wasn’t just a compass, but who was he to argue for such? He had no idea what could make such an obscure little thing special, he just knew that it was property of Valhalla and the male had entrusted it to him to examine.
It might have been a sign of good faith, and that alone, Remarque was inclined to respect.
“If it used to be just an old compass, what changed?” he prompted, giving the item one last look over before holding it back out for Valhalla. “What made it look like this?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 9:02 am
Somewhere in the back of his head, Zia was yelling something about 'Knight-hood 101: Don't give your weapon to the enemy!' but he didn't sense any hostility coming from Remarque. It was just... curiosity, maybe? Either way, Valhalla stared at him in surprise as he looked the compass over.
His surprise eased up a bit upon hearing the senshi's question, wondering just how the compass changed, himself. "I guess it was... something of a self-promotion," he admitted with a little shrug. His stance was casual and no longer defensive. He was simply having a conversation. "Do you know anything about us...?" he wondered, asking in a way that wasn't meant to offend, but rather to try and limit repeated information. "Normal senshi need Guardian cats to awaken them... but knights awaken on their own. It's different for everyone, but once that trigger is hit, they can willingly come into their power."
With his experience as a knight, he sometimes wondered when he would reach that final level, just as Babylon and Camelot had... just as Remarque seemed to have reached within his own group. But nothing ever happened... maybe he just wasn't ready.
"Uh..." he started again, realizing he'd segued into another topic entirely. "It... changed when I did. It's supposed to be a weapon... and I think it has magic... but I've never tried using it for that."
That wasn't entirely true. The weapon didn't have magic. He thought it did, because he could feel his own energy being drawn to it, but once it left his side, the energy was still inside himself. Maybe he should try to experiment with it at some point. But not now. He didn't want to start a fight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 11:14 am
Finding himself rather glad that Valhalla had just started explaining instead of waiting for an answer, Remarque nodded. There were many things in this world he didn’t know, however there were books and the internet to learn more. He didn’t like asking for help or admitting that he didn’t know something—especially to someone that, realistically, he shouldn’t even be talking to in the first place.
“That’s interesting,” he said, considering the item. He had known guardian cats were special if only because in the times he’d seen them, they always seemed to be doing something impressive. He’d met three different ones to get where he was today, and once he recalled the cat that had helped Lenka reach another level of power. But knights were autonomous?
He found himself a bit envious. The only thing his promotions came with were colors and strings, and while he’d gotten over feeling tacky in this get-up, he certainly didn’t have any cool trinkets to play with. Sure, he had a dinky little wooden cross control strung up around his waist, but he’d never found a use for it other than as some accessory.
And it certainly wasn’t as impressive as Valhalla’s compass. “I confess, I didn’t know that about knights. Of the handful I’ve bumped heads with, most of them were only interested in bumping heads.” But Valhalla had a weapon and hadn’t ever even utilized him? He must be a rarity among the knights considering how belligerent the rest of them seemed to be. “Do you just not like fighting or were you concerned with damaging it?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 11:23 pm
Valhalla made an awkward sounding laugh as his forced grin turned out to look more like a grimace at the mention of other knights only being interested in fighting. "I'm... sorry about that," he apologized, hoping it wasn't too late for reconciliation with this senshi.
"Oh, you can damage it if you want," he said with a shrug, not really caring if Remarque decided to try and smash it or break it. The fact that he wasn't trying to attack him now was... quite a relief. And while Valhalla doubted he'd be able to take on an Eternal effectively, he hoped that he could maybe escape if need be. "It repairs itself... Magic, I guess... Doesn't your, uh... clothes do that too? Tears get magically fixed?" he wondered, feeling as if he sounded dumber and dumber with each word out of his mouth.
"I... don't like fighting," he said to jump topics. "I don't find any pleasure in it. It's pointless and only leads to more destruction." Yes, he knew that in a war, not fighting was rather idealistic, but he was willing to fight for that by not fighting. He wasn't going to just stand and get beaten up of course. He would defend himself or others if he had to, but he didn't take it lightly.
"We're not all like that... knights and senshi, I mean," he tried to explain, hoping that maybe he could convince this guy to give them a chance... and maybe they'd be able to work out some kind of truce... "There are many like me who only do this to protect the innocent... Fighting... isn't our thing."
Hopefully that wasn't an invitation for Remarque to kick his a**...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 11:43 pm
Valhalla had said many things that interested Remarque, and while he refrained from interjecting, he kept his questions at hand. He couldn’t imagine trying to damage the compass; working in an antique store left him treating even the near-worthless pieces delicately. Magic or not, Remarque just didn’t have it in him to put any effort into harming it.
He supposed he’d gotten lucky when he realized he could not properly answer Valhalla’s first question; he tried to reflect on a time that his clothes had received some sort of damage, though no particular incident came to mind. Which was remarkable in itself given that he’d been in some tough scrapes; whatever he was wearing must have been durable. There had to be some magic involved though—he’d never had to worry about cleaning his outfit and yet every time he powered up it still felt as though the clothes were fresh and clean.
Remarque might have gathered that Valhalla wasn’t intent on fighting, unless this was still all some trick—which would have both impressed and disappointed Remarque. It wasn’t often that someone would have been able to fool him so effortlessly, though given that Valhalla seemed to be the first truly nonviolent knight—sans Camelot—it would have been quite a let down.
“I’ve tried to be optimistic, really,” Remarque said, supplying a slightly overdramatic sigh. “Though it would seem your ranks are so poorly misinformed that it’s hard to get a word in amongst your kind. I’d be interested to hear what it is they’ve said of the Dark Mirror Court that leads everyone to assume we are so inherently bad. I don’t know that I’d fight half as often as I did if people would just leave me alone and mind their own business.”
He shrugged. “I mean. I do gather energy, I won’t deny that. Though with the reception I’m often given from your kind, you’d think I was sneaking into children’s bedrooms at night just to suck out their souls.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:17 am
"I think there's a lot of miscommunication on both sides," he offered, hoping it would be enough to keep peace between them, at least for this meeting. "I don't think either side is absolutely right or wrong..." But then again, he was a believer of grey areas of... everything, pretty much. Except baseball. That was usually pretty straight forward.
A hand subconsciously lifted to his chest at the mention of souls being sucked out, not entirely comfortable with the subject matter as he'd almost lost his soul at the hands of a Negaverse officer. "I don't think that's the case at all," he said in an attempt to reassure Remarque that he was willing to work with him. "But... why do you gather energy...? Can't you just use your own, or does it have to be others...?"
It definitely wasn't a very pleasant feeling... having one's energy sucked out and left defenseless. It had happened to him once before, and he wasn't all that eager to have it happen again.
"And... I also don't think you are inherently bad... I think chaos at its core is the problem. Why are you fighting for something like that...? What is the purpose?" he couldn't help but ask. Even though he'd conversed with a general and... maybe something more... he still didn't understand why they fought for something that felt as though it could freeze his very soul, just by being around someone with a chaotic aura. Being in Remarque's presence was enough to leave him shivering.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:14 pm
Remarque raised a brow at Valhalla, not particularly because he couldn’t understand what he was saying, but because he offered an interesting question. He’d been gathering energy for months—at a relatively frequent basis, several times a week, and yet nothing had come of it. It wasn’t like Ares had listed a quota that each Dark Mirror Senshi needed to reach, nor had she mentioned exactly where all this energy was going to.
He crossed his arms over his chest, wondering if it was the best idea to share what he did know with someone he was supposed to be enemies with, however playing this out in his head, Remarque really couldn’t see an issue coming out of this.
“Think about gathering energy in the way that you would donate blood. Your body only has so much blood it can give before you die from it. I would give what energy I could, but my body would need time to replenish.” Never mind that he wasn’t even sure if he could donate his own energy—not that he really wanted to, either. And why should he have to? There were far too many people in Destiny City for him to collect energy from for him to even begin considering offering his own.
“So we take others. Never enough to get to that stage—to killing someone. Sometimes not even enough to make them tired. A little at a time, anything helps. Ares just wants to fix the wrongs the White Moon has put into place. Wants to build a better world for everyone. I don’t really see how that’s bad at all. The White Moon just paint us out to be monsters because they’re too afraid of change. Too afraid of losing power.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:07 am
"But," he cautiously ventured, eyeing the compass still in Remarque's possession. Surely he'd be able to summon it back to himself, but that wasn't the point. He was still facing someone he barely knew, whose rank and power was higher than his own, and one who was talking about taking energy from random people.
"The difference between... donating blood, and collecting energy... is that blood donation is entirely self voluntary. That's my problem with this whole energy thing..." he said, staying back from the senshi in case he caused any kind of offensive reaction. He hoped not, because... it was the truth. Maybe if he understood their cause, why they were doing it... if they had to otherwise they'd be killed... then maybe he would volunteer himself. After all, he'd had his energy drained before... it wasn't an absolutely horrible experience, just... it made him exhausted, clearly.
"Please... forgive me if this offends you... I'm really just curious," he started warily, shifting from one foot to the other as he watched curiously. "What wrongs have the White Moon done...? I only want to know because I want to help fix it... Many of us do. We just want an end to this war..."
Maybe that was too much to ask. This guy was obviously just following orders of some kind. He'd heard things about Ares and her rule over both the Blood Moon Court and then the Dark Mirror Court. He couldn't say that he would be particularly fond of the idea of meeting her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
