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 Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:41 pm
Following Nicolae into the apartment in relative silence had given Jett a while to think about things. He had gone through a vast number of possible situations and explanations for Nicolae's claim during the walk, so when he stepped into the house he was more than ready to find out what had happened beyond 's**t went down and Aurora's hurt'.
He took direction from Nicolae—figured where the girl, Esme, should be, and had managed to convince Nicolae that he had only the best intentions in mind and that he was not going to attack or harass her. He just wanted a little privacy. If there were issues in the Dark Mirror Court, he really didn't want word of that getting around the Negaverse. Internal conflicts were meant to stay internal.
Walking into the bedroom the girl was currently seated in, however, Jett couldn't blame her. She looked fairly worse for wear, and if she was close to this guy, he was glad she at least had somewhere to go where he could look after her. A quick assessment of the room allowed him to locate a chair. He moved it near the bed and sighed as he sank into it. Making himself comfortable, he then proceeded to murmured, "Esme? Can you do me a favor and wake up?" he asked, quiet enough not to be harsh, but loud enough that it was obvious he was trying to rouse her.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:01 pm
She hadn't gotten the chance to sleep much since that incident, only allowed a few hours at a time before Nicolae woke her up to make sure she didn't fall into oblivion. Those precious few hours each time in dreamland were a hodgepodge of madness and serenity, and never ever the same dream. Yet strangely enough, she felt a little more well-rested after each one, through no explanation she could give. Perhaps it was Nicolae's care in between each nap that made it all the more worthwhile. "Esme? Can you do me a favor and wake up?"Esme murbled and stirred, roused from her slumber. Was it already time to wake up again? Mmmmuuuuuuuh. She started to open her eyes, a difficult thing to do under such heavy sleep, and turned her head to look at him. "Nico..?" Except it wasn't Nicolae. It was some guy she'd never met before. Just.. watching her sleep. Like a creepy guy. "Ahahahaha, I... think you have the wrong apartment...." was all she could think of to say.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:11 pm
"Not quite," Jett reassured simply. "I ran into Nicolae last night. He was out picking fights with Dark Mirror Senshi, trying to avenge your good name. He's left me quite a nice shiner that I'm sure my girlfriend will appreciate when I see her again. Considering it is very foolish to attack an eternal, I figured he had to have a good reason. He explained to me that it was you. So I decided to stop in and see how you were doing. Jett," he introduced, not bothering to extend his hand. He nodded his head slightly in greeting, instead. "Or, Remarque. How are you feeling?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:20 pm
Buuuuuuh. She seemed to remember suggesting to Nicolae that attacking an eternal senshi would be a very bad idea. ... didn't she? The whole past few days were really a blur.
Wait, Remarque? .... Esme blinked a heavy blink and tried to focus her eyes on him. Squinted even. Bluh. She'd have to take his word for it. And a dark mirror senshi, or their civilian counterpart, was the last thing she wanted to see.
"Hi Jett," she said, her voice uneven. "I mean, co-captain. Mustn't disrespect the higher-ups." Nope. Or else they get beaten.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:32 pm
"I don't think calling me my name is disrespectful, Esme." He remained still, interested by her tone. This was not the bubbly Aurora he had interacted with before, though he was going to blame that on the concussion. "Especially when you are in bed, in pajamas. I'm not requesting formalities, simply the truth. You know how important it is to me. Your friend out there was very concerned for you. Which, in turn, leads me to concern."
Which was still an interesting concept to Jett; things in his life were typically about him. How things affected him, how they made his life better or worse. Concern was one of those silly little emotions that did nothing but make you fret. Which simply wasn't in Jett's nature. He rationalized this as 'for the good of the Court', as, a good portion of his time was spent making sure the Court ran smoothly and that everyone was doing their fair share of the work. "He said you've got a concussion. Nasty thing, that. Who hurt you?" he asked, a bit too eager to get to the truth to continue gently leading her into it. "And why?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:44 pm
"Requiem," she answered. "Because she considers it disrespectful to defend yourself from her attacking you."
Esme really didn't want to go into it. Just thinking about it made her cross. Most of it was indeed the concussion, she knew, and it totally sucked.
"Please don't be angry with Lieutenant Mariposite," she added quickly. "He really means well. I didn't realize that he'd go .. you know... I'll take responsibility if he's in trouble."
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:37 pm
"You will not," Remarque said sternly. "If I have issue with Mariposite I will take it up with him. He is a grown man, capable of making his own decisions. You cannot handle yourself, I would not expect you to handle another."
Still, the idea of Requiem attacking anyone was a bit odd to Remarque; she had been there to guide and lead him after he'd first become a senshi, and while he remembered she could be a bit abrasive, he had not assumed her to be that abrasive.
"I do not, however, currently have an issue with Mariposite. I am grateful that he has been looking after you, and what trouble he gave me, I returned. I will have to heavily advise that while you are in his presence you convince him not to attack Requiem. I doubt she'll have such mercy with him. Now."
He leaned back in his chair and took more a reserved posture; he crossed his legs and released a slow sigh. "I understand this might be difficult for you to speak of, particularly given the recent nature of this incident, though you'll forgive me if I want what information you have. If there is an issue within the court, I wish to address it before the problem grows. Though that will wait, for at least a short time, this evening. Most important to me in this moment is you. How are you doing?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:48 pm
Esme scowled. "I know that he's a grown man who can make his own decisions." Did Jett think that she was stupid? HMPH. Aghaghagh her head hurt. She just wanted to go back to sleep now. Stupid itchy Jett Remarque. Why did he have to come here? "I'll make sure he stays away from Requiem though."
... wait, did he say that he gave Maripo some trouble? Oh no he did NOT.
Uuuugh. She shook her head to try to rid herself of the bad feelings rising up from within her.
"My head hurts. I can only sleep for a few hours at a time. My Dark Mirror sisters betrayed me. How do you think I'm feeling, Jett?"
GODAMMIT. Her jaw dropped a bit and she shook her head some more.
"Sorry, I mean... well... that's what I mean.. but I don't mean.. to be so mean about it... unnngh." She shifted her body so she could just stuff her face in her pillow.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:12 pm
"Relax," Jett requested, voice vaguely stern. "I don't want you hurting yourself anymore." She already had brain damage, what was he going to do—be mad? He had no idea how much control she had over what she said in this state. No idea how bad the concussion was. One word, in particularly, had caught his attention. "Which sisters are you talking about? I thought it was just Requiem that was giving you trouble."
Girls. Girls just had to go and be so complicated. The Dark Mirror Senshi needed more boys—Virtus never gave him…
Yes, yes he did. But Virtus gave him a different sort of trouble. Certainly never any betrayal from him, though.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:32 pm
Esme puckered her lips and sighed. "The captain. Leto." Her voice was muffled by the pillow, but the name came out loud and clear. Leto, the girl she thought was her big sister. Leto, the one who saved them from death yet still blamed them. Leto Leto Leto stupid Leto.
She turned her head a bit so she could speak. "She wouldn't even listen to Toutatis' story of what happened. Requiem was all OH I'M SO INNOCENT LA LA THESE GIRLS ATTACKED ME LA LA but -- wait," Esme stopped, shook her head again. "But she did send me some flowers yesterday to apologize about my mom." Esme scowled again. "Which, by the way, it all happened on my mom's grave which makes me extra mad. If Leto listened to us instead of auto-assuming that we were attacking our superiors then I wouldn't be so...."
It hadn't occurred to her until now that she should probably tell the story. The whole story. Just to get it out.
"Okay, so.. Requiem had called Touta and me - that's Toutatis - to the cemetary, but we didn't know her and didn't know that she wanted to test us. I was showing Touta my mom's grave when Requiem came up from the grave next to us, acting like a zombie and grabbing my ankle. I screeched and Touta kicked her wrist. Then Requiem backhanded me for screaming because I failed her test... and then..."
"Kick her if you need to. See if she defends herself."
And then I saw blood. Why don't you tell him you saw blood? Tell him you snapped when you saw your blood on mother's grave.
Esme's voice took on a bland tone. "She was going to kick me. So I defended myself. Touta stopped me but our lives were forfeit at that point. Requiem put me in a coffin and Touta retaliated. I called Leto inside when I was still conscious. I guess it worked and stopped Requiem from killing us, at least."
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:02 pm
Jett listened in silence, and somewhere along the line he'd forgotten to breath. The result was, by the end of her story, he was in dire need of a breath. Thankfully, in taking his time to refill his lungs, he had a few extra second to process all of it.
It was a training accident. A training accident gone very, very wrong.
Requiem, given her status and rank would have been the first person he'd have listened to for an account of the story, though he couldn't imagine discrediting anything Toutais or Aurora said. They were new blood, but they weren't fools. Common sense was not to attack your superiors, and even if there were two of them, neither Aurora nor Toutatis seemed stupid enough to think they could take on an eternal senshi.
Requiem might have been a bit too enthusiastic with new recruits—and he really didn't want to know why she was hiding in a grave. Senshi of burial or not, that was ******** weird, and he might have attacked her just for the hell of it if she decided she wanted to play zombies in the middle of the night. With the weird s**t that happened in Destiny City on a daily basis? Best not to take chances.
The flowers were a nice touch, and he offered a brief, "I'm sorry to hear about your mother," before he decided to address the issue.
"Requiem," he said, and spoke slowly, as though he were seriously considering the words coming out of his mouth, "Was the one who gave me my training. When I was still just getting started. Her methods are…unorthodox, however she only had the best intentions. I won't claim to know what was going on in her head, but I doubt she went out that night planning on killing some of our newest recruits. With your story, rest assured that I feel you have done nothing wrong. I'll research the subject more, perhaps speak with Leto or Requiem in a bit. They will push you," he promised her, "To get stronger, to be your best. But you should not be pushed so hard that you are scared. Not of them, not of us. Earlier, Mariposite told me that you were too scared to go home. So I wanted to ask—what are you so afraid of? Are you afraid of punishment? That Requiem will attack you again? Or that the Court doesn't have your back? …Or are you afraid to be hurt—to die?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:09 pm
She sat up so that she could look straight into his eyes. So she could show him just how serious she was. "All of the above."
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:42 pm
Well. That was a little more serious than he'd thought. "Understandable. Don't sit up so fast, though. I don't want all the blood rushing to your head." He tapped his temple, "It's not worth the headache that comes after it, all right? Take it easy. You're safe here. If your little buddy was willing to pick a fight with me, I figure he'll make sure nobody gets in here to hurt you."
Fear was not something Jett was used to—not in these days. "Fear," he said, "Is unbecoming. Fear makes you weak. It makes you act irrational, clouds your judgment. It is something you will learn to control or learn to live with. I won't lie to you—this war is dangerous. You will probably be hurt again. But you won't ever die. I won't let you. Your Court, despite what recent incidents might lead you to believe, is always going to be behind you. We are a team, and we function as one. Requiem, I'm sure, had the best intention. It's her practice that went astray. I'll suggest a safe word for her to give her partners the next time she goes out to spar. In the future, however, know that you are not obligated to train with her. If her methods are too extreme, and I would argue that your story presents them as such, just pass on the offer. I won't punish you for whatever happened on the cemetery. If there was a lesson to be learned there, it can be learned elsewhere. How is Toutatis, is she doing all right?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:52 pm
Safe word... Pffft.
Esme fell backwards, back onto the pillow. Jett was right. Her head hurt even more now. When would this stop?
"I dunno. What day is it? It happened on.. the night before Thanksgiving. I haven't talked to anyone until you came along." She turned her head away so that she wouldn't have to look at him. It seemed so much like he was reprimanding her too. Leto and now him. Why didn't they understand that Requiem was going to kill them both? Kill, as in end, as in no more. End of existence. "She's hurt but I'm pretty sure Natron is taking good care of her, just like Maripo's taking good care of me. I think she's more mad than anything."
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 6:11 pm
"The twenty third, Friday," he replied, watching her still. He'd always considered himself fairly decent and reading people, and judging for her response, she wanted to be left alone—or, at least, didn't want to deal with him.
Which he could understand, though had no intention of leaving. Not yet, at least. "You two are lucky to have such concerned friends." Though, he wondered how useful Natron might be in taking care of Toutatis. He hadn't had a bad brush in with the Negaverser, though he would have so much preferred that the Court be looking after its own than the Negaverse. "For what it's worth, I am sorry." Not the grief-stricken, 'my heart bleeds for you' sorry, but the 'this certainly complicates things' sorry. Not that he felt the need to clarify. "You are a valuable asset to this group, you and Toutatis both. You should not have been manhandled nor made to believe you were in such danger and I will do everything in my power to make sure you are never in that situation again. I'll speak with Toutatis, or you can pass along the message. I will do what I can to correct this situation and make sure it never happens again—to you or anyone. All right?"
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