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 Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 8:36 pm
Most evenings, Remarque found himself entranced by the darker side of Destiny City. The red light district, the alleys littered with criminals and addicts. Most nights, he went out looking for a hefty portion of trouble with every serving of energy. Some nights, he just needed a break from it all.
Some nights, it was nice to just power up, take a stroll, and see what happened. Usually Remarque got bored just enjoying the scenery and wandered into the nearest shady hole to gather some energy, or caved and preyed on some drunkard who should have chosen a different life path. Either way, it was a nice change of pace every now and then.
The eternal Senshi hated the park for only one reason, and only then when he had to push through bushes or shrubbery. Being the Senshi of Puppetry had its perks, though with as much string on his person as there was, he was an easy person to snag.
He had taken, then, after several unpleasant experiences, to wandering strictly down the less wild routes; he wandered down scenic paths and sometimes even just down the sidewalk. Dark nights were the best for adventures like those, as they provided the best cover, however Remarque was a cocky son of a b***h, and long since past were his days of clinging to the shadows.
He’d been enjoying his rather bland walk as best he could until something far more interesting caught his attention when he noticed the energy signature of a Dark Mirror Senshi—and a powerful one, at that.
Anyone from the Dark Mirror Court was worth taking an extra little trip, particularly because Remarque had begun to question if most of them had left Destiny City and forgot to slip him the memo. Judging from his position in the park and where he assumed the energy source to be stemming from, he imagined it had to be somewhere near the fountain. The sidewalk took him straight there, so he expressed no shyness when he rolled his shoulders back, cracked his neck, and started walking to find out who he was sharing the park with.
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 8:43 pm
It was safe to say that Leto was just as surprised as Remarque was when she felt the power signature of what she was sure was an Eternal Senshi of her Court. She stopped dead in her tracks, balancing on the ledge of the fountain, her arms spread wide to hold herself in place. An eyebrow quirked as she felt the power get closer and closer to her.
Who the hell had gone and turned into an Eternal Senshi while she'd been away? Maybe it was Requiem- it was about damn time that girl caught up.
She stood still, balancing carefully on the small ledge, the slightest movement could quite simply have her splashing int he fountain's ice cold water. And she waited.
When the power signature was close enough, she turned on her tip toes and faced the approaching Dark Mirror Court member. Her eyes widened when she caught a glimpse of the familiar brightly-colored fuku coming her way.
Remarque.
The first of their earliest recruits to go Eternal. She couldn't help but smile with pride, even if he wasn't originally one of her's.
Requiem will be pissed to know the newbies are surpassing her.
She hopped down from the fountain's ledge and made her way towards Remarque, circling him when she approached and eyed his black buttwings.
"Very nice," was all she said.
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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 12:32 am
Remarque eyed her as she moved in a circle around them, and even though he was exceptionally proud of his status, his response was a nonchalant, “Oh, this? This is old news.”
But only by a few short months; he hadn’t really been counting. He watched Leto with the a close gaze, however it was far from unfriendly.
A part of him had been disappointed that it wasn’t another one of their ranks that had achieved the same status as him, however he could not be displeased to have happened upon Leto so soon after his meeting with Benitoite.
He was curious about the girl’s presence; it had been some time since he’d last seen her, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of her after he’d found out that he had been painfully ignorant regarding a major change to the Negaverse in which she had viewed firsthand.
For as quick as Remarque was to judge, it was not unlike him to want to want to hear each side of the story. He was not going to jump to conclusions and make an a** of himself, especially not when it regarded someone as important to the Court as Leto.
“Haven’t seen you since right after you got your own,” he noted, catching her eyes on the wings. “What have you been up to?”
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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:33 pm
Old news. Leto's smile quickly dipped into a deep-set frown. She had fallen off the face of the Earth for much longer than she had realized.
"Regardless, congratulations are in order. Buttwings are a big deal."
She had no doubt in her mind that the Court would have questions about where she had been over the last few months, and it was about damn time that she faced reality and got it over with.
Remarque would be the second to know, after she had run into Lesath earlier in her so-called patrol (read: sitting and doing nothing while powered up). She had yet to return to her apartment and see Lydia, nor had she been in contact with Veer just yet... She figured they of all people would be pretty pissed off, so they would be avoided for as long as she possibly could.
Her gaze lowered when Remarque commented on her disappearance.
How do you tell your team that you ran away from your responsibilities for almost 3 months?
"In all honesty? Nothing. I went back to England for a while and spent a lot of my time in MirrorSpace. Meetings with Ares, a few with the Negaverse... But for the most part, I was non-existent."
She swallowed hard after she said it, realizing how completely shitty she must sound as a leader right now.
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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 10:46 pm
Remarque’s eyes lingered on her for only a short moment before he shrugged. It wasn’t like he was forgiving her or anything, or like he hadn’t been judging her for her absence, but at the very least she was here. And Remarque was sure she’d had a good reason.
As much as he’d love to return to the conversation and boast about his new rank, he was far more interested to hear about Leto’s absence.
“England, that’s pretty far away. What drove you to Mirrorspace for so long?” he prompted, slightly curious towards her motives and yet more interested to know that he still had a leader he could trust. Leto had never given him any reason to doubt her; she might not have been the Senshi he had been closest to, though already she had proven that she cared for him as much as her own group. He had not forgotten the meeting she’d called with Howlite to discuss the Negaverse agent that had attacked him, and though he had run into the male only once after that meeting, it had been a much more bearable encounter.
A normal person might have gradually lead into conversation to politely implore as to the circumstances, however Remarque felt, given certain circumstances, he was entitled to answers now. That, and sometimes he was just downright impatient. The little bits of information he could gather later; the most important thing to him was to know that she hadn’t flaked on the Court for some superficial reason—a breakup, lost her job, broke her favorite pair of heels.
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 3:24 pm
She chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment as she stared at Remarque, her eyes incredibly absent and almost dull-looking. She may as well just get it out there- soon enough the Court would know as word got out that she was back in town.
"I killed a Page." She shrugged slightly after she finally managed to get the words out. "I killed her in cold blood for no reason other than that I wanted to. And then I freaked out."
Was that a good reason to disappear? She really didn't know anymore. Besides the Blood Moon Court members, she didn't know many Senshi that had killed anyone, and as far as she knew, no one in the Dark Mirror Court had done such a thing yet. Did any of her teammates have it in them to do it? Maybe not. But that very well may be a good thing.
"I'm sorry. I have responsibilities in this Court and I let panic get the best of me and that's not a very good quality for someone in charge." She was beginning to babble rather quickly- when she was nervous the speed of her speaking increased dramatically, her accent seemingly heavier.
"I'm going to make it up to the Court, somehow. We may be due for a meeting."
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:07 pm
Her response was not entirely the one Remarque had been expecting. Certainly he had spent long evenings thinking about the probability of death. He had Kallichore to thank for that. He had prepared for loss—not guilt, however. He had prepared to lose a life—not take one.
Not that Remarque had ever thought himself incapable of doing such a thing—he was the sort of person who wasn’t going to let anyone get in his way—though, murder? Not even self defense. Not even justified?
Well, it just wasn’t becoming of the Leto he thought he knew. Not that he had known her particularly well, though his impression of the girl had not been one of a cold blooded murderer.
He scoffed—not at her crime, but at her suggestion. “Due for a meeting?” he prompted, though seemed almost amused at the concept. “That’s cute. Call a meeting, now? That probably should have happened al long time ago. You know—for a while there, I thought the rest of the court had been wiped out or something. I haven’t seen much of anyone else in months,” he mused. Sure, he probably could have gotten into contact with them if he’d liked, though for the most part, he actually knew very few members of the Court. He had expected he’d be running into them all the time, however most of them seemed to be relatively elusive. “But by all means, go ahead and try. I’m sure you, Miss Panic, would probably have more luck reaching the others than I would."
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:41 pm
Leto's eyes narrowed when Remarque spoke back to her. If there was one thing besides the existence of Knights that Leto had zero tolerance for, it was being talked back and spoken down to.
"Watch your ******** mouth, Remqarue. I may have been gone, but I'm still the Vice Captain of this faction," she spat at him through clenched teeth.
She tried to be nice. She tried to apologize... And now? Well, now she was just mad.
"You're a big boy, you have your pretty little mirrored compact. I don't recall ever once being called. Nor have I heard from anyone else. So clearly you all seemed to think you were doing just fine on your own. If you had been as concerned as you're making it out to be that the Court was wiped out, Ares is in Mirrorspace. I don't recall her coming to me and letting me know that you were butthurt of the disappearance of myself and apparently the others."
The Miss Panic part is what struck her the most. She stopped speaking all-together, balled her fists at her side and took a deep breath. Angry at him or not, she would not take it out on him. She'll go on patrol and find a Knight to beat on after this little altercation.
"I would hope that I have every bit of luck in the world in contacting the members of this Faction. Besides my disappearance, we need to discuss some things in regards to the Negaverse once I found out what the final details are. If I felt it was important or a life-or-death situation for me to be here, I would have been. Remember that next time, will you? I would never have let anything happen to any of you."
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 5:30 pm
Remarque raised a brow at the girl, though there wasn’t a trace of intimidation on his face. She might have been vice-captain—and he could have respected that—but it didn’t change the fact that she was still a hot-headed, tiny girl. Perhaps if he had been of lower ranking than her, he might have held his tongue—but what was the harm? He was an eternal, the same as she, and if you stripped away the wings, he was still half a foot taller and sported an intimidating figure.
He couldn’t think of a single threat she could make and follow through on that was worth keeping his mouth shut.
“Liar,” Remarque shot back when she finished speaking, though his voice only a bit clipped. He had chosen to give her ample time to speak instead of interrupting her; he might have been angry, but there was no denying that he still cared for what she had to say. “Did you hear about Virtus? Saw him a while back. Ate beat the s**t out of him. Wanted to kill him. Said she’d wished she had the chance to. You might want to keep your eyes on him, I tried teaching him some moves, but I’ve got no guarantee he’ll do any damage. But hey.” He gave Leto a cold look; it did not portray hate, only agitation.
Remarque, for all the respect he might have had for his leaders, was not one to be spoken down to, himself. Nor was he the perfect little soldier, intent to bow down and kiss Leto’s boots for returning.
He was not a weak willed individual enough that he felt obligated to bow his head and apologize. “Now that you’re back, you can look after him. Benitoite and I thought it would be a good idea to schedule a little time to give lessons to a few of the less battle-savvy friends of ours. After he told me what was going on in the Negaverse.”
There was bitterness there; Remarque trusted his leaders to keep him informed, not send him into a war where he hadn’t the faintest idea what their supposed allies were up to. “A little jingle on the compact would have been nice for that. But it’s okay. I’ve been doing just fine on my own. But what about you, Vice Captain?”
He gave her a serious look, and though he still seemed composed and consumed by a strange calm, his tone remained clipped. “Did you think you could disappear for so long and still receive a warm welcome? Did you think I’d be inclined to brush this under the rug? You made a decision. And a poor one, at that. Let’s just off and kill someone—and then freak out about it afterwards? You shouldn’t have gotten yourself into something you couldn’t handle.”
He scoffed, and shook his head. “Vice Captain,” he repeated, seeming more thoughtful and less bitter. “What have you done with that title, Leto? No matter what Ares saw in you,” for, he had no doubt that she had seen something in Leto, “I am not obligated to respect you until you prove your worth to me. I refuse to follow a flawed leader. I’ll answer to Ares if she has an issue with my mouth, but don’t expect me to throw you a pity party because you did something you regretted and let it catch up to you. You made a bad decision and ran from it. I’m entitled to look down on you for that, Leto. Vice Captain or not.”
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:53 pm
Leto rolled her eyes, being as over-dramatic as she possibly could have. "Ate is of no concern to me. Howlite and I have nearly killed her in the past; she's a whole lot of talk. Virtus needs to be patrolling with other teammates until he actually knows how to fight, and I've felt that way from the very beginning. As far as I knew, he was usually with Navi."
She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, a look of irritation clearly settling upon her face.
"I'm not a babysitter. This is war and there's only so much I can do. You all need to learn to use your brains as much as you try to use your fists."
She took a deep breath to calm herself, her temper boiling to the surface.
"What information Benitoite chose to disclose to you is his choice and his business. But as far as my discussions have gone with the higher-ups in the Negaverse are concerned, their changes are yet to be completely organized and set in stone. As far as I'm concerned, it's a non-issue until they get their s**t together. It's a non-issue until it affects us, and right now, it doesn't. And that, Remarque, is why I didn't tell you."
When Remarque began running his mouth about what she had done and gone through over the last few months, she had hit her breaking point. She took a step towards him, staring up at him intently.
"Look. We're not friends. I don't particularly give a s**t what you think of me on any level what-so-ever. This is war, so yeah, I killed someone. Because if you haven't been made aware yet, Order is our enemy, and I'm tired of p***y-footing around, draining energy and running from my enemies. God forbid a 19 year old girl doesn't handle killing someone for the first time very well. At the end of the day, we're just a bunch of clueless teenagers thrown into this bullshit and I have every right to deal with it as I please. I didn't hurt anyone by being gone, I still did my job. And for the record, I don't regret a damn thing."
She turned her back to him, hopped off of the the ledge of the fountain, and took a few steps away. She turned on her heel to look at him, her red eyes seemingly much darker than usual.
"Just remember that when you came crying to me when some big bad Nega meanie was picking on you, I'm the one that picked up the pieces and settled it. I'm the one that meets with the Negaverse and Ares on a daily basis to make sure we're on the right path. I'm the one that gets new recruits started. I'm the one that makes sure each and every one of you live to see another day when Ares can't be around to do it. I'm the one that promised a teammate that I would end each and every Knight out there for her and have started to follow through with it. I may be flawed, but ******** you if you think you have any right to look down on me at all. I'm good at what I do. What exactly have you done in the time that you've been in the Dark Mirror Court, Remarque?"
She smiled at him, turned her back to him once again, and flicked a quick wave with her right hand.
"Have a good night."
With that, she moved towards her good ol' reliable bush with her mirror in it and slipped through it into MirrorSpace, where she would remain for the rest of the night.
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:51 pm
Remarque watched as Leto moved—and listened. He waited, perhaps for a chance to speak or to hear all that she had to say, though when Leto made her abrupt exit, he found himself a little disappointed. He had a counter for everything she said.
Ate was of no concern to her? Well she should have been. She ******** Virtus up. She clearly wasn’t a ‘whole lot of talk’ if she massacred one of their newest members.
If this was war and there was only so much she could do, she should have done something. She and Howlite should have taken down Ate before she brutalized Virtus. Leto had clearly been misinformed if she was still under the impression that Virtus was patrolling for energy with Navi; all the times he’d ever seen the male, it was without his girlfriend.
And of the Negaverse? Sure, it wasn’t an issue, but it sure as hell would have been nice to know. Still—not that he would admit it—he could agree with her logic on that one. If things weren’t set in stone, no use getting everyone riled up over it.
He remembered the incident with Magnetite and Howlite much differently, it seemed. He couldn’t recall crying to her about anything. His mind had the scene set as a casual conversation in which he just so happened to mention a Negaverse Agent had been a little less than civil. But he didn’t think it necessary to create such a terrible stink about that one as she had immediately set about seeing what she could do to remedy the situation.
He didn’t care so much that she had killed someone as she had the delusion that no one had been hurt while she was gone. One could argue that if she had been around, maybe Virtus would have got the training he needed. Maybe the Court would have had a little more direction. She might have had her meetings with Ares and the Negaverse, but he hadn’t seen anything of her. Mimistrobell hadn’t seen anything of her, and so far as he knew, she was a new recruit that could have used a little extra guidance. He hadn’t minded stepping in for that.
Remarque had watched Leto as she moved, quiet. It wasn’t that he didn’t have anything to say—he had plenty. He might not have respected Leto as a leader, but he would hear what she had to say, regardless.
He found himself particularly unimpressed with her final words—to present him with a question that he would have loved to address above all else and then leave? Well, that was just cruel.
What had he done for the Court in these past months?
He didn’t know where to start. Should he have started with back on the Surrounding, where he could be the eyes and ears of Ares where they would have been out of place? –Or, perhaps he should focus on what he had done once they had gotten back to Destiny City? Where he had consistently dedicated the vast majority of his evenings to gather energy? Sure, he’d taken breaks, but who could go every night?
What about all the Senshi he’d spoken to? All the Senshi he’d sweet talked into trusting him, into changing their opinions of the Dark Mirror Court? No one had converted, but he’d sewn the seeds of doubt in his fair share of Senshi. What of Albireo, who seemed so vulnerable to the temptations of Chaos? Or Ate, who—for as much as he hated her for what she had done for Virtus—had even run off claiming he’d sparked a revelation within her. She hadn’t seem keen to join the Dark Mirror Court, but she had rejected the White Moon, and that was almost good enough for him.
What about the battles he’d engaged in? Did that count for nothing? There was not a week Remarque went without taking a blow for the Court—hardly a week he did not bleed for the Court.
And what about Dark Mirror Senshi he’d volunteered his time to help? What about Lesath, who he had taught combat? Or Virtus, and Mimistrobell, whom he had done the same? Who he had also taught to gather energy, and answer their questions? Of Thule, who he had taught to drain energy and Mirrorwalk.
What had he done for this Court?
Oh. Nothing much.
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