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 Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 3:04 pm
Watching from the window through his telescope was one thing, but Oberon thought this night would be the best opportunity to really see what the moon was like. And so, after convincing Paris that it was a good idea, and then waiting for Ganymede to get in contact with his knight-friend, the chibi senshi actually had the opportunity to explore the ruins they'd all been transported to a little more than a month ago.
It wasn't much of a sanctuary, or at least he couldn't imagine it as a particularly safe place (who knew how many of these buildings were structurally unstable!), he figured the vaguely settling feeling of being separated from the possible thread of Chaos was probably a good thing. Or maybe it was just something he'd deluded himself into thinking.
Maybe no place was safe. Maybe they would be stuck fighting and watching people killed for the rest of their lives.
But for now, Oberon climbed up some of the rubble outside the palace to get a better look at the surrounding area as Ganymede and the Knight guy, Valhalla, did their own thing.
He'd been tempted to go to the moon, himself... but that was just... too lonely.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:18 pm
Eternal Sailor Ganymede wasn’t as interested in this moon as he was in his own. At least on Ganymede he felt as if he had some sort of a purpose. He felt as if he belonged there, as strange and foreign as the world and its ghostly memories often seemed to him. On Ganymede, there was a reason for his coming and going—questions he wanted answers to, the sort of peace and solitude he often craved but rarely found in Destiny City, a place all his own.
But this moon, Earth’s moon, wasn’t like that.
He was a stranger here. He had no memories of it, found no answers, and felt no sense of familiarity. It was just another oddity in a life that had become anything but normal. Perhaps it was safe. Perhaps it offered a temporary reprieve from the dangers that often found them in the city, but to Ganymede it was not entirely welcoming. In many ways he resented it. He resented what it and its Queen had come to represent to their enemies, and by extension what their enemies inevitably thought of him, of all of them.
Ganymede sat with his legs thrust out, occasionally glancing up at Earth hanging in the star studded sky as he leaned over each leg in turn. He felt unsettled being here, and when he felt unsettled these days he turned to what was most familiar to him, what made him comfortable—his friends, his family, and dance.
“Didn’t you learn not to climb up onto things when we were on Ganymede?” he raised his voice to ask his Chibi friend. “Try to be careful, okay? Who knows how stable this stuff really is.”
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:17 pm
It was peaceful here...
It was always peaceful on the worlds of the past, whether it be on Jupiter or Ganymede, or even at the Surrounding. Valhalla would admite to not have the greatest sense of adventure when it came to exploring far off lands, but he also thought he did enough.
There weren't any answers he was looking for. No ghosts he sought to try and help place pieces of a puzzle together. If anything, the peacefulness was... too restless for him. As if hundreds, maybe thousands, of years of memories waited on the other side of some unbreachable... something... Too far away to reach, but not far enough to completely drown out the faint energy they gave off...
Or maybe the silence and the stillness was getting to his head and Valhalla was just imagining things, or perhaps thinking too deeply about things that really didn't matter.
All that mattered was the here and now as he glanced around the ruins, his eyes occasionally glancing over to the small Chibi, before moving back to where Ganymede sat, stretching. He knew they were there on the child's request, but he had no idea why his boyfriend decided now was a good time to stretch.
"They're granite, or marble, or something like that..." Oberon scoffed at his guardian's warning. As much as he hated having someone look after him, having Ganymede around was okay in tight situations.
The child squatted down to inspect the rubble in question, using a fingernail to scrape at it. "It's definitely not sand or limestone," he observed, before lowering himself under a column that had fallen at some point in the past thousand years.
He felt comfortable there, as if he was safe no matter what he did. Sure, he should be careful not to scrape up his knees or something dumb like that, but maybe everything else would be... okay...
"How important were these people?" he wondered, looking up at the Earth and then at the castle from the courtyard they'd found themselves in once arriving. "I mean... If Queen Serenity could teleport us all here, she must be pretty important, right? Or powerful... Or both. Hellooo!!" he then called, cupping his hands around his mouth as if that would be a better way to get the castle's occupants' attention. "Is anyone home?? Got any food?? Cookies would be nice!"
Hey, a kid could wish.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:38 pm
Any time he had that didn’t involve monsters or fighting and debating with people corrupted by the power of evil was as good a time as any to stretch as far as Ganymede was concerned. He had nothing better to do here anyway, at least nothing more than making sure Oberon didn’t get himself into too much trouble, and Ganymede could do that just as easily from his place on the ground as he could if he’d taken to hovering over the Chibi’s shoulder.
He didn’t have much of an interest in exploring, not like he did on Ganymede where everything was his—or as much his as anything could be, considering no one else was there to claim it. On this moon he was definitely little more than a visitor, using it for a time but unable to truly connect with it. Perhaps it meant something to someone else.
It meant very little to him.
Leaning forward in another stretch, Ganymede snorted at Oberon’s attempt at getting the attention of a specter none of them could say for certain was really there. Somehow he doubted it, and he rather liked it that way.
“Nice try,” he said anyway, slowly climbing to his feet once he was done. “Maybe she was important before,” he allowed. “I don’t really know. I’ve only ever heard of her from Negaverse officers and other senshi, and I’ve only ever seen her that once, when we were brought here. I figure she’s no more important now than any of the rest of us. We’re the ones doing all the fighting. What’s she done except bring us here?”
Ganymede paused to look around for anything that might be suitable to use as a barre but didn’t immediately see anything that met his specifications.
“Didn’t she say there was a ballroom somewhere in this place?” he wondered.
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 4:17 am
Valhalla watched the older senshi warily as he got up and proceded to look for a place to dance, apparently. "Ganymede," he started, not really knowing how he wanted to finish voicing his concern. He wasn't entirely sure that exploring past the courtyard would be a good idea. It made him anxious, almost.
But before he could say anything else, the little senshi jumped down from the broken columns to be able to lead the way towards the castle.
"Be careful," he requested, moving to walk beside Ganymede and gave him anther wary look. "Who knows what'll be around here... or if we run into anyone else." After all, if they had access to the moon on full moons, then why wouldn't any other senshi show up.
Oberon rolled his eyes. "I am being careful," he grumbled, hopping up the steps to the doors and struggling a bit to pull one open. "You don't expect us to hang around out here all day, do you?" That wouldn't be fun at all!
He was all for exploring more of this place, and if Ganymede wanted a ballroom then they would find a ballroom.
"And stop grabbing his butt, he's got a boyfriend!" he added over his shoulder as Valhalla appeared to either fuss over Ganymede's train, or just grab at his butt.
How inappropriate. Especially in front of a child. He was barely in middle school!!
Valhalla sputtered and flushed, staring at the child, but he didn't dare say that Ganymede was his boyfriend, because it was kind of embarrassing to be called out by a little kid. "I was making sure he's not going to trip," he lamely claimed, having indeed been fussing and, uh, teasing at the same time.
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 1:48 pm
Ganymede rolled his eyes at his companions’ antics. Neither of the two knew who the other was and still they bickered like brothers. For a while there he’d wondered if they’d actually get along like this—Oberon had acted more defensive against Sessrumnir before instead of Valhalla—but he supposed the grabby hands weren’t appreciated. That was understandable, Ganymede supposed, though it was rather amusing to hear Peter unintentionally defending Chris’s place as his boyfriend without any idea that Chris and Valhalla were one in the same.
Forcing back a smile, Ganymede considered just telling them the truth and getting it over with, but there wasn’t any fun in that, was there?
Besides, Chris would probably get pissy with him for not telling him sooner—and here he thought he’d been doing well when it came to not keeping secrets—and Peter would likely lose some of the faith he’d placed in him, which wasn’t a thought Ganymede particularly enjoyed. He wanted Oberon to heed his advice, and to make sure that happened he first needed his trust more than anything else.
“Alright, children, settle down,” he joked instead, pausing just long enough to let Valhalla hook his train up—or whatever else he felt the need to do—before falling into motion again and catching up with Oberon to begin leading the way through the castle.
The ballroom wasn’t too difficult to find. Ganymede crossed in with Oberon and Valhalla in toe and immediately began to look around. There wasn’t much of interest—no ballet barre, obviously—but at least in here he’d have more room to do as he wished.
“It’d be nice if we knew what we were supposed to do with all this, or if we’re supposed to do anything at all,” Ganymede observed. Upon walking some distance into the room, he gracefully bent forward at his middle, his arms moving fluidly, before his body slid up into an arabesque. “I mean, it’s nice to get away for a while, but if we’re going to hide out here I sort of wish there was more waiting for us.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 7:57 pm
Hey! As long as the Knight wasn't bothering Ganymede, then Oberon was fine. But the second Ganymede seemed to have a problem with him, then knight or not, he'd have Oberon to deal with. Not very threatening, no... but he could at least try and get what he wanted from the situation.
"I'm not a child!" Oberon let out a disgruntled chirp as he followed behind the senshi on the search for the ballroom. He was almost twelve! He was totally old enough to take care of himself!
But all of his complaints were silenced as they entered the large room. His eyes widened, suddenly feeling very small in comparison. He figured he should feel small when compared to the universe around him... and he did! But being inside a castle like this... it was a little overwhelming.
Valhalla's eyes also widened, looking up at the ceiling and the windows around the room. "Wow, look at the arches... Can you imagine the masonry work that went into this? The castle at Ganymede is a bit more detailed in some aspects, but I can't tell what kind of stone this is," he rambled, clearly more interested in the architecture of the place than the fact that they were in a ballroom... or that he was being scolded by a child.
"Me too," he agreed once he finished gawking. "We still don't know what the purpose of this place is... I mean, yeah... I'm guessing it's that Serenity woman's castle, but... Why does she get to come and go as she pleases, leaving the rest of us still confused after... how many years...? At least three... maybe more..." he sighed, recalling what Maia had tried to explain to him about when she'd first awakened.
But those thoughts were cut off as Ganymede showed off how flexible he was... Show off...
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:18 pm
“Who says she comes and goes?” Ganymede gently challenged, falling out of his arabesque to continue dancing across the floor.
His boots weren’t exactly the best shoes for the job, but he could manage for now.
“I don’t know about you, but she seemed pretty dead to me,” he pointed out, thinking back to the evening of the ambush and calling to mind images of the illusive Queen. “I figure there’s not much a dead Queen can do. Sure, she brought us here, but has she done anything else? Will she ever? She’s probably not the most reliable ally.”
Pausing for a moment, Ganymede cautiously looked around the ballroom again. Surprisingly, he felt a bit guilty for talking about the Moon Queen in her own place when she wasn’t there to defend herself, but that was mostly because he didn’t like the thought of anyone talking bad about him when he wasn’t there to fight back. Everyone deserved the opportunity to explain themselves, to face the accusations and accept or deny them in turn.
She had brought them there in the middle of a terrible situation. She’d pulled them out of danger and almost certain capture—or worse, death—and given them a place to come to. It was less than Ganymede wanted but more than they’d had before, and for that he could be at least slightly thankful.
“Whatever,” he decided, shaking his uncertainty off and slipping into motion again. “I think it’s obvious we should be relying more on each other than on her. Maybe she helped when we needed it, but we can’t expect that all the time. We shouldn’t need to. We should be able to stand on our own.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:35 pm
Valhalla sputtered lightly, opening his mouth but was unable to think of anything to say, so he closed it. Yeah, okay... so maybe she doesn't just... come and go... but it sure seemed like a convenient appearance...
Or maybe they really needed her at that moment...?
The Knight shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, before finally lifting his hands to remove the helmet from his head, shaking out his hair and reaching up with his free hand to try and pat it back into place.
"Of course we can't expect it all the time," he agreed, watching as Ganymede did his motions. Practicing...? "We've done okay for ourselves so far," he pointed out, although there were times in which he wished everyone would get along a bit better.
"Everyone is so willing to jump to conclusions about others' opinions and positions on this war... But we're all in it together... and... I'm glad Queen Serenity wasn't picking and choosing when she took us all here..."
The older kids could talk, but he wanted to run around and take advantage of how big the room was. He spread out his arms as he raced close to the walls, pausing only for a few moments to peer out the windows before zooming around once more, making appropriate noises in the process. After all, he was a kid and needed to run off his energy! Or something.
"She could have at least left us food here!" he shouted over at Ganymede and Valhalla, only hearing bits of their conversation.
He had nightmares of what had happened just a month ago. Sure, his wounds had healed and the bruising had faded (much faster than he'd expected it would, but that was thanks to being a senshi, apparently), but that didn't mean he didn't wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare of the Negaverse and that crazy Ares lady breaking into his house and going after his parents and brothers and Paris...
But now that Paris had moved out... Oberon couldn't protect him if it actually happened...
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:58 pm
As touching as it was that Oberon wanted to protect him, there probably wasn’t much a Chibi would be able to do against someone like Ares.
After a few more steps, jumps, and turns, Ganymede came to a stop again, raising his brow at Valhalla’s observations.
“You wouldn’t be talking about little ol’ me, would you?” he teased.
He knew he had a bad habit of jumping to conclusions. He judged people much more harshly in the senshi side of his life than he did in the civilian side of it, and he wasn’t yet sure why that was, whether it was the defensiveness that stemmed from having been previously judged himself—and quite unfairly, in his opinion—or whether it was simply because tensions were always so high when they were gathered together. He didn’t enjoy feeling as if what he had to say mattered less than the thoughts someone else might choose to voice. He didn’t like it when people were too willing to listen and accept things at face value rather than examining it, questioning it, and coming to a decision on their own.
“A little bit of disagreement here and there is healthy, isn’t it?” Ganymede wondered. “It’s not like we’re attacking each other. At least as far as I know. We can disagree and still work together. I mean, look at me and Kallichore.”
That was a perfect example if there ever was one. He’d argued with Kallichore more than he’d argued with any other senshi, and yet they stood by one another when it counted. He’d saved her in the midst of the ambush, and he trusted her to do the very same if the tables were ever turned on him.
Satisfied with his level of activity for the moment, Ganymede approached the newly made knight to take his helmet from him and set it aside. Then he grabbed Valhalla’s hands and encouraged his arms into the proper positions to dance together.
“I think food might be asking for a bit much,” he called to Oberon. “I wouldn’t trust any food a ghost gave me anyway. How’s she supposed to know if it’ll taste good?”
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:14 pm
And once again, Valhalla found himself sputtering, not having meant to insult his boyfriend or anything like that. "You know what I meant," he grumbled, glancing away from the senshi, looking at the structure of the walls and the hinges of the doors.
"There's a difference between you disagreeing and others covering their ears and yelling whatever they want without listening to a single word," he exaggerated. It hadn't been that bad, but there certainly seemed to be a lot of "la la la not listening" going on at senshi meetings. No, he hadn't paid attention to the whole thing, but he did what he could.
"It's different to try and understand each other than not listening entirely..." From the reaction of others, he was certain there were those who couldn't give a rat's a** as to what the opinion of others were...
Valhalla did his best to try and understand where others were coming from... it was why he hadn't lost all faith in the DMC or the Negaverse... There were still those who believed in a way to end the war without violence.
He stared at Ganymede when his helmet was taken, and then again when his hands were taken to dance. Hesitating only for a few moments, Valhalla lifted his hand to the senshi's waist, and grasped his other hand more firmly. "We should do this more often... and not just like this, I mean..." he said, indicating to their powered states. If Ganymede wanted to dance, he was happy to oblige. He only knew basic dances like the waltz, but as long as he wasn't made fun of too much, he didn't mind, and he easily fell into the simple one, two, three, one, two, three steps.
Oberon wrinkled his nose as he glanced over to the two and their dancing. His mother was starting him in his cotillion classes in about a month, and he couldn't say he was looking forward to them all that much. Ballroom dancing seemed so outdated...
"Well, yeah... but if she took requests... She could just zap food from the cookie isle at a store or something. I mean, if she could bring people here, why not food?" he asked, his stomach grumbling at the thought. Ugh, great.
He narrowed his eyes on Valhalla, making sure there wasn't any funny business going on. Not that he cared about Chris and his feelings, but Ganymede was kinda his mentor... or something... Not just any old babysitter, anyway...
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:46 pm
“More than likely, they're all just a bit too set in their ways,” Ganymede replied.
He wasn’t trying to defend anyone. He couldn’t think of anyone in particular that he wanted to defend, considering his closest allies and Jovian companions hadn’t done much to cause unrest as far as he was concerned. Then again, he also didn’t think it was the responsibility of any one person. It had been a concerted effort, with disagreements coming from all sides—some had simply been a little more heated than others—some of which had been resolved then and there, and others of which had not.
The important thing to Ganymede was not that they all agreed, but that when the meeting was over and the battle raged on they all worked together, put their arguments behind them, did their best, and looked out for one another in the midst of so much fear and pain and death.
But that battle was over, he reminded himself, forcing the memories back where they belonged before he could be overcome by them. Ganymede focused instead on the present, smiling in response to Val’s comment about their dancing, moving across the floor with Valhalla and resisting the urge to just sidle close, touch and kiss and hold one another, while listening to Oberon chatter away.
“It’s probably a bit more complicated than that,” he told the Chibi senshi.
He couldn’t be certain. There were very few things he could be truly certain of on this side of his life, which was probably one of the reasons he ended up hating it so much. There were few answers and even less control. But if there was one thing he’d learned in nearly two years, it was that everything was always more complicated than it seemed. None of it was easy—not for anyone.
After a few more steps he began humming to himself, mumbling a few words here and there as he moved along with his boyfriend. “… Attendre ici la fin… Flotter dans l’air trop lourd… du presque rien~… A qui tendre la main…”
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Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:47 pm
He didn't understand a word Ganymede was saying, despite his French class in the previous semester. He could pick up a few words here and there, sure... but he had no idea what it all meant. Regardless of whether or not he understood, the sound of his boyfriend's voice was enough to keep himself from interrupting.
Bad times had passed them, or so he'd hoped. There had been a time not very long ago that he'd felt the need to memorize Ganymede's smile each time he showed a glimmer of happiness, because he didn't know when the next time would be. Part of that had been his own fault. He'd pushed him away when in the end they'd come together again.
Valhalla soaked up the image of Ganymede's smile either way, not because he was afraid he wouldn't see it again soon, but because he really, truly loved seeing him happy. It had him smiling in return as they danced to the pace of the song he was softly singing.
Uhhhhhhhhhh...
Well, all that was great? But it was starting to make Oberon feel sick.
"HEY!" he shouted in an attempt to interrupt them, his voice echoing off the walls and high ceiling of the ballroom. "Knock it off!" Yeah, they were just dancing, but couldn't Ganymede restrain himself enough to just, like... dance with his boyfriend or something?? Not that he thought friends couldn't dance or hang out together.....
Actually, no. He didn't think of stuff like that. He was only almost twelve and that was just. No. Absolutely not.
"Don't just dance like that! You're supposed to entertain me!" he pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.
Valhalla drew their dancing to a pause, although he still swayed lightly, not wanting to give up the moment just yet as he laughed lightly at the young boy.
"You're not jealous, are you?" he teased, chuckling lightly. It was kind of cute that Ganymede had a chibi following him around like a shadow. A little annoying at times, but he was glad someone responsible was watching after the kid...
"Relax... It's a ballroom. It's meant for dancing."
Oberon let out a small noise of disapproval, although it sounded more like a whine than anything intimidating. "I'm not jealous. I just can't dance."
So... being in a ballroom kinda sucked... All he could do was run around like an idiot.
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Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 6:26 pm
Ganymede stopped alternating between humming and mumbling a few lines of his current song in order to turn his head toward Oberon in response to the Chibi’s outburst.
“Don’t tease him,” he cautioned Valhalla, though he might have shared an amused look with him in the process.
Somewhat regretfully, he extricated himself from Valhalla’s arms and made his way over to his younger companion. He felt a little bad for… not ignoring him, because he hadn’t been doing that, but perhaps not spending as much time with him as he should have been considering he and Chris were living together in a new place, leaving Peter alone with his mother again. While Ganymede had no siblings himself—at least not yet—being an only child of a broken family had left him with a keen understanding of the sort of loneliness often felt by kids who had little more than themselves for company and entertainment.
He recognized something similar in Peter, who at least knew what it was like to have older brothers, but who was forced to miss their presence by virtue of the fact that they were both much older and no longer living at home.
“You know, there wouldn’t be a problem if you’d just let me teach you,” Ganymede pointed it, propping his hands onto his hips in a mockery of a lecturing pose.
He’d encouraged the kid to let him a few times, though he’d mostly been met with a whining resistance he suspected might stem from a bit of embarrassment.
“What do you want to do instead?” he asked.
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Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 8:49 pm
The chibi senshi made a face that was half way between a grimace and a sneer at the thought of being taught how to dance. Of course he hadn't agreed before! It was usually in front of other people whom he was sure would either tease or gush over him. And it was difficult with him being so short.
He glanced warily over at the Knight, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. There was the possibility that this guy would just make fun of him, laugh at a kid trying to dance. It wasn't that he'd minded Valhalla on other occasions, but he didn't know him. He also didn't like how close of friends he and Ganymede apparently were. It made him feel like he was missing something.
"Teach me, then," he said quickly, shifting almost uncomfortably on his feet but restraining himself from showing his anxiety. It wasn't like they hadn't just been dancing, so... why not?
Valhalla nearly sputtered when Ganymede pulled himself away, and he lifted a hand to rest at his hip as he stood and watched Ganymede and Oberon's exchange. It was Oberon's idea to go to the moon, and Ganymede's idea to call Valhalla for company... so he could understand why the kid might not want his presence... but it was a lot safer in groups, especially these days.
The Earth looked huge from where it hung in the sky above the castle. It was almost ironic how the castle would always overlook the Earth, as the moon's face never changed, rotating perfectly with its orbit around its planet. Maybe it was just a coincidence... or maybe it had been planned that way, where the castle was built and such.
He wished there was some other noise there... it was all too quiet. Maybe next time he'd bring his guitar or ukelele, just for background noise.
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