[Knight]Transcended Knight Delphi / Winterlynn Leshcheva

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

(Will have a banner soonish.)

December 21, 2016

She could have done this at home, easily, but she hadn’t wanted to for whatever reason. The only reason she could think of was that maybe she had been feeling a bit shut in lately, at least since the semester ended. The cold weather had kept Winterlynn, who didn’t mind the cold but wasn’t going to willingly wander out in it for no reason, in her apartment dressed in warm sweaters and watching movie after movie.

She had, earlier in the day, gone to spend some time with her mother. It was more are these days for them to spend time, due to her grandmother often inserting herself, but her grandmother had thankfully been silent and watched a movie with the two younger members of the family. A few of the other members of her family had wandered in and out of the occupied living room and spent time watching as well, it was time well spent in Winterlynn’s opinion.

She had, after the movie and lunch, decided to drop by her apartment to grab her laptop before going to the small cafe down the block. She could have made a hot drink at home, she had everything she needed; she also could have logged onto the university's website at home and looked up her grades. But she had spent too many days shut inside her apartment so she sat down in the warm establishment, it was rather small and with warm but not bright lighting, and set to work checking her grades and e-mails from professors.

A sip from her drink here and there and checking her grades and e-mails turned into other things. Looking up movie trailers, reviews for movies she had seen...and ones she had not seen. She got lost sitting there, even splurging and ordering a second drink, it wasn’t until the heat got to her and she started feeling tired that she got up after shutting down her laptop and decided to head home. Pulling her coat on, earmuffs found their way over her ears, she wrapped her scarf about her neck and tucked it into her coat before finishing buttoning it. The last thing she did, before leaving her table, was to slip her laptop into it’s small carry case. Once she was ready to go she headed for the door, bidding the one who’d taken her order a good night, that she found a problem - a big one.

The door...it wouldn’t budge. “It won’t open.” She called out over her shoulder. She, like many people, had heard about the snow at times, and seemingly at random, sealing things shut. Was that what this was? She was sure it could be nothing else and this really wasn’t good. This winter was turning out, thus far, worse than the Halloween carnival event. That had been one event, and really just the bats, this whole winter had been one thing after another or several things all at the same time - bunnies and this snow.

Watching, from over her shoulder, as the woman’s eyes went wide as did several other patrons she wasn’t surprised when they joined her. They tried, together, to yank the door open after some deciding on who would place their hand where and much shuffling about to make room for people. The try was - futile. This was not good, this wasn’t what she wanted to deal with. “Try some hot water...maybe it can be melted.”

The suggestion seems to gain traction rather quickly and water was heated up and rushed over in minutes - it failed. They kept trying though, figuring it was just a lot to melt, though how was snow so hard to melt was beyond them all. It did, after much time and many pots of boiled water, work and the door flew open - knocking several people back.

Her a** on the ground Winterlynn stared up at the open door for a moment before bolting up onto her feet. “Oh thank you!” She was happy, so very happy, that she could get out of here and get home. The snow, still falling innocently enough, was not something she wanted to spend any more time out in today - not after this.

Ducking out, along with a few other people, she hurried herself back home while pulling out her cell phone to tell her mother about it and warn her about the snow - to remind her. She would have her mother remind the rest of the family also, she doubted it would go well if one of her grandparents was frozen inside a building especially her grandmother.

Maybe she would spend the rest of the winter shut in her apartment...and visiting her wonder. This winter seemed dangerous - suspiciously so. Something was up and she didn’t like it - it was dangerous and it was ruining winter. She really hoped New Year's and Christmas would at least skate by untouched by all this insanity.

Word count: 823

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

(Will have a banner soonish.)

March 30, 2017 (Back dating this two weeks.)

Two weeks, she had needed to wait two weeks, and it felt like forever. She had the stone she needed and she had gathered the tools. She had gotten a large heavy duty shovel, as she was going to need that today, then there was all the materials to place the cobblestones after she was done burying the previous stone under them. She even had the hammer and chisel she was going to need in order to carve into the new stone. She had it all, and it had been surprisingly easy to gather everything, after an extended trip to homedepot where she’d had to lie about what sort of project she was working on. She couldn’t exactly tell the truth or hire someone to do it for her, and not just because she couldn’t take people like that up to her wonder.

Finally she could go up to her wonder though! She could start what she had begun, with Sutai’s help. She didn’t think she’d finish it this trip, not at all, but she could start the hardest part and make a dent in it.

Standing in the small living room of her apartment the dark haired female looked over the gathered materials. All of it in a large storage tupperware, she seemed to own a lot of them now...though all but this one were up at her wonder. Shaking her head, as for a moment she wondered how many more she’d wind up purchasing this year, she rather focused on powering up. She didn’t like powering up at home, or anywhere near her apartment, but she had no choice at the moment.

There was no way for her to drag this tupperware down the street to someplace safe, not without gaining a lot of unwanted attention. All the attention she would gain would not be worth the ability to power up, and teleport, away from her home. She just needed to make this fast - very fast.

A gloved hand reached out and grasped at the edge of the container before her other hand took hold as well. Focusing on where she wanted to go, on her wonder and the pull towards it, she let herself go. She was ready for the cold that hit her in the face and reddened her cheeks, the wind was not unfamiliar to her, she was back up on Polaris and back at her own wonder. She had aimed to land where she needed to be, so she didn’t have to drag everything with her, and she hadn’t been disappointed.

Arriving where the previous stone still sat and the new one waited for her she went to work. She wouldn’t be up here long, or at least not as long as she wished she could be, she had a lot to do and really wanted to just lose herself in the task ahead of herself.

Setting to work on removing the cobblestones, after shoving the old stone out of the way (which took a good amount of effort), the squire started to dig into the dirty beneath the stones once they were removed and set aside neatly in the same pattern they’d been in before she’d loosened them up and removed them. This might not seem like a lot to do, and really it didn’t, but it took alot of time and left the squire sweating in her uniform. Knowing she didn’t want to face the harsh cold of Polaris after working up a sweat, as she had, she kept the uniform on and condemned herself to sweating further. Seating herself on the warm cobblestones she set to work with a notebook and pen sketching out the writing on the old stone. It was hard to read, in places things were just not there...flat smooth stone surface but she knew writing had been there.

Where things weren’t, or faded off into nothing, she filled them in. She didn’t know how but she knew what was missing and what needed to be there. It was instinct, it was the best way of putting it, but she filled the page with what she would have to chisel into the new stone. This part, sketching out the writing that needed to be chiseled into the new stone, was the quickest part of today's tasks. The symbols, words or letters, had just come to her and were quickly written down in the notebook she had with her. It didn’t surprise her that this was the easiest, and quickest, part as she figured it would be. After all digging and removing cobble stones and pushing large stones about were not easy tasks nor were any of them quick to accomplish tasks either.

The last thing she did...before calling it a day was digging. She stood up, notebook going into the tupperware for safe keeping, so she could pull the shovel from the container and set to work on digging the hole she needed to. She didn’t know how far she dug into the ground but she continued to dig till she finally just...stopped. Panting, sweating profusely, and feeling light headed the squire had stopped. This was it - this was good.

The old stone was slowly shoved into the hole. She had her back pressed to it and her heels dug into the ground for purchase as she used them to push her against the stone as it moved across the cobblestones and into the hole - into it’s resting place. Suddenly feeling the presence behind her back gone, to be pushing against nothing, she let herself fall back with a heavy exhale of air. “Finally.” The words passed her lips as a smile drew itself across her features.

With everything she did she got closer to accomplishing her task...accomplishing what so many others before herself had done. Slowly she turned around on the ground, so she lay on her belly, and pushed herself to her feet again so she could bury the stone. It was work - a lot of it...she was a wreck.

It was why she went home after this...leaving the removed cobblestones to be put back, and grout laid, next time. She couldn’t do it now, her energy was all used up. When she got home, having teleported right into her apartment, she powered down and crashed right on her couch. No bath, no shower, no bed...just sleep - blissful, heavenly...sleep.

Word count: 1,072

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

(Will have a banner soonish.)

April 1, 2017

Two weeks - two whole weeks. Winterlynn had been waiting to get back to her wonder - to get back to work. She really needed to get back up to her wonder and so when she felt she could get back she had done so. She had gone out to patrol but that need to go up to her wonder, the call, was there and so she had reacted and now the cold of Polaris replaced the cool of spring of Destiny City.

Her arrival landed her right at the fountain and that was where she grabbed what she needed. The tupperware was still there, as there was nothing else on Polaris which could move or take it, and from ti’s depths she took the tools out which she would need before seating herself on the heated cobblestones and set to work.

First was drawing out the words, which she did in chalk, working off of what she had written in the notebook which she had also taken from the tupperware. From there she did pull on a face mask, to keep any dust from getting up her nose or into her mouth, and gloves were pulled on as well. She was going for safety here, she didn’t care to injure herself while trying to carve into a large stone and have to explain it away to her family or others if she slipped.

Going for the chisel and the hammer it took her a minuet before figuring which hand would hold what, chisel in the left hand and the hammer in her dominant right hand. That done she started in on working to get the words inscribed into the stone. Delphi figured this would be easy, how hard could such a simple task be? Cavemen had done this...or at least very ancient people!

She hadn’t looked into every little thing she should have, having no idea such a thing could be complicated, but she was lucky as she at least got the words chiseled in...though it wasn’t deep. With no idea how long it had taken, and knowing she would need to work to get the words deeply carved into the rock she continued as she made a second and then a third pass over the words. She needed the inscription to last a long time...till the next Delphi. The last one she suspected had only survived due to the weather here plus magic, she didn’t know if her stone would be so lucky...or when the next Delphi would come.

Keeping that in mind she worked for hours, stopping to drink and eat, as she worked on her stone. She needed it to last as long as possible.

It was only when the need for a bathroom became too great for her that she went to deal with those needs. Only two bathrooms were known to Delphi, one for males and one for females, and it was to the ladies room which she went to relieve herself and clean up. She was, once more, glad for the running water of her wonder so she could properly go to the bathroom and wash her hands, even taking time to splash some warm water onto her chilled face. She needed to find a full bathroom soon, that was still a big want of hers, as well as a bedroom and living quarters.

She had, on more than one occasion, taken the time to try and locate these things but she had thus far come away empty handed in regard to them. Perhaps she just wasn’t looking hard enough or thinking...maybe there was something she was missing? From what she could assume the previous Delphi’s, all of them, had lived here...so they had to sleep somewhere and she doubted a library or a court room were the place for that. So where…?

That was on her mind as she returned to her stone. Settling back onto the ground she took up the task once more. This would take time, she knew that, so she had cleared her day of anything which might call her back home too soon. She wanted to get this done, or at least close to done, today. She understood some things were a labor of love and took time and she didn’t want to rush this, it was important, but she was excited to see if anything would happen when it was done. There had to be a reason it was important, some reason she had the need to do this...a reason for the memory. She was sure of this.

As she sat and toiled away the hours she watched as the sky darkened and night came upon the great star of Polaris. Moving about, not wanting to leave her task yet, the squire stood slowly. Groaning as she did so, long legs stiff from her lack of movement, she stretched and worked out the stiffness from her legs slowly. Once feeling up to walking she made her way across the open plaza and to one of the two libraries, the one to the left, and pushing the doors open she stepped inside the darkened room. Slowly, careful to not trip over anything, Delphi made her way to where she had a collection of devices which would provide light and took two of the small battery operated lanterns she had. She found they worked best when exploring her wonders courtrooms and such.

Leaving the warm building she traveled back outside and again took her place by the rock. The lanterns were both turned on so she could see what she was working on as she continued to chisel away. Her fingers every so often needing a break, as they kept cramping up, it was during the latest pass of chisel and hammer that she was whispering to herself without notice.

Words passed her chilled lips, words of dedication and loyalty. A promise to do her best and uphold the honor of her wonder and of Polaris. To protect her wonder at all cost and to keep it pure. She was Delphi and this was her wonder, her piece of Polaris and to it she would always be it’s knight - one of a long history of knights as she would not be the last. She would rebuild and maintain this wonder.

She hadn’t noticed it at first but the small scepter she normally carried as a weapon had made an appearance but she did notice it as she finished speaking, as the chisel and hammer finished it’s passover the stone. The small scepter was changing...was growing and altering its shape. But it was more than that -so much more. Her clothing...she felt the coat fit more closely to her...and her pants thinned in material while her head became covered in something - a hat.

Something had changed - something major and she knew what it was as she looked down at herself and caught sight of the back of her hands and the uniform. She had just...a knight..she was a knight and the markings. They weren't’ the same as others- they were her own...but they were there. They were subtle but she saw them there against her fair skin. Like swirls of winter frost.

Sitting there, on the warm cobblestones, of her wonder she had powered up...and her wonder had just blessed her further...it would protect her and keep her safe from the Negaverse and the touch of chaos. They wouldn’t be able to force her away from her wonder and her duty. She would die before leaving her wonder and that, while the idea of death was scary, was comforting to her. She would rather die than be tainted by chaos. It was chaos after all which had ruined everything in the first place, was it not? That had left her wonder as she had first found it, that had taken all human life from Polaris and taken away whatever knowledge all the books here held.

Leaning forward she let herself drap over the stone she had spent hours, she hadn’t a clue how many, working on and let the tears which threatened to fall do so. Warm and salty they hit the stone, discoloring the parts they hit. It wasn’t for some minutes before she moved and shifted again and sat up as she moved to finish this. The task wasn’t done - not just yet.

The grout she had brought with her was already set up and easy to apply so she set about arranging and fixing the cobblestones and secured them in place with the grout. Filling in the spaces between each stone before moving to push her dedication stone into place. Pushing it was no easy task, it was quite heavy, but it needed to be there - right over the previous stone. It wasn’t just the one previous stone though...but a collection of them from every other knight before her. She didn’t have a memory to tell her this but it was a feeling..a knowing just like so many other things were.

What she was not expecting, she’d already had a huge excitement take place, happened as the stone was moved into it’s resting place at the foot of the fountain. Sitting back to look it over, smile in place, the new knight of Delphi was hit with a memory so hard it sent her body backward onto the ground as the air was pushed from her lungs.

A rounded room, it was large, filled with books piled high on either end of a desk. Between the piles of books sat pen, ink, and paper - lots of paper and all blank save the top sheet which was half written on. Fingers traced over it before the gaze swept about the room as the figure moved towards a small, narrow but tall, window and looked out.

Out and down...down to the courtyard where people walked, and hurried, about. Some were stopped and talking. Some wore clothing that didn’t look like it was from Polaris as the colors and styles were vastly different. She could see reds and pinks...green and heavy gold accessories on some figures.

Turning away from the window the gaze moved about the room, past the bed and the wardrobe and moved back to the desk where the figure moved and took a seat in the high backed chair. Tucking the chair in the pen was picked up, inked, and moved back to the sheet of paper.

As the memory ended Delphi was left there on the ground staring wide eyed at the ground. Living quarters...she had seen them...they were here. Sitting up, a bit too quickly, she shook away the vertigo and slowly stood. Moving her own lavender eyes around as she looked for where that view could have come from...where those windows were.

It was when her eyes landed on the central court building that she was hit with it - the sudden realization that it was there. The domed ceiling...it was up inside that dome! To look out over it all...to preside of the laws of Polaris and the law in general. It made sense when she thought of it that way. Why had she not thought of that!? It seemed a bit obvious and perhaps that was why. But for now everything was left where it was as tired legs were forced to move with great speed and haste as she made for the court building and inside she burst. Making her way for a set of stairs inside of judges private chambers - her chambers her mind supplied as she passed threw them with purpose.

Up the stairs, all of them, she went in a semi circle and up through a trap door to the last Delphi’s chambers...to her chambers. Panting for breath but eyes full of wonder she ignored all the dust, the stale air, as she moved to open a few windows and then moved towards the old bed and let herself just collapse. She was tired - exhausted...and she couldn’t leave,...not tonight. Tonight her wonder wanted her here - to cradle her within its welcoming embrace. And who was she to deny it? This...this was what she had been searching for and wanting.

She would clean up her tools tomorrow...now she would sleep and rest.

Word count: 2,070

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

(Will have a banner soonish.)

October 19, 2017

She’s gotten mail for a neighbor before, someone who lived down the hall from her, but that had been addressed for them so she knew it wasn’t for her. This time the box was addressed for her. The problem was she hadn’t ordered anything and there was no return address, so it wasn’t from anyone she knew. If it were from family they’d just come over and give her whatever they had for her, or give it to her when she came over for dinner. She didn’t have friends who would mail her things, at least she didn’t think the few friends she had would mail her things. Even if they were the sort they would have a return address, of that she was sure.

So when she had gotten told that there was a package for her, her landlord had it waiting for her, she was surprised and rather puzzled. Running through a list of possibilities, on her walk down to her landlords apartment on the first floor, Winterlynn was left utterly clueless on what she could have been sent and from whom it could have been sent from. He had told her, over the phone, that there was no return address on the box - he had found it worrying. The man was old enough to be her father, he had three children himself, and so being a father he had taken to being protective over her when he could be - like now.

It wasn’t something the woman much minded either, she understood it. He was a father, of children around her age and younger, and she was a female living on her own. He wanted to make sure she was safe and worried for her when something strange happened. He had, when she’d first moved in, told her that if anyone ever was bothering her to let him know. He would make sure no such people would be allowed into the building much less up to her floor and he would notify her of any such people trying to get in to bother her.

He had certainly treated her like one of his own daughters, and she really did understand it, she had been a touch offended at first despite understanding it. Over the years though she had come to appreciate it and didn’t mind it at all. It was sort of….touching in a sense. She’d never had a problem though, which was good as she didn’t want him to have to protect or defend her, for which she was glad. This however...this might be the start of something? She really wasn’t sure.

When she arrived at his door Winterlynn raised her hand to knock and stood to wait. Perhaps he was waiting right by the door, or he was just that fast, but she had only seconds to wait before the door was being opened just as she heard the sound of the chain lock being undone.

Ushered inside she was offered a seat, which she took, and watched as the older man sat across from her and motioned to the innocent looking box sitting on the coffee table between them. “I can’t think of anyone who would send me anything - like I said on the phone.” She had also told him she would think on it on the way down to his apartment, but she knew the people around her well and couldn’t think of anyone. She wasn’t surprised to note that her answer seemed to trouble him, it bothered her as well.

“We can carefully open it here...or perhaps outside.” Incase of something being in the box which may hurt his family, she really hadn’t a clue what could be in there and didn’t think either of them should take chances - she wasn’t a risk taker.

As the elder man waved off the idea of opening the box outside she moved to do so, carefully, accepting the box cutter from him she went about slicing the tape open and slowly the box was opened. She kept herself as far back from it whilst doing so. However, it was an unneeded action as nothing happened and when she looked inside it was just..a doll. The doll was nice, a porcelain doll with a well painted face and lovely clothing, very period looking, but from where it had come, who would send her such a thing, she still didn’t know.

Reaching in, slowly, Winterlynn drew the doll out and took the time to inspect it. It really was well made...and she didn’t like that. Well made meant expensive and well maintained and cared for meant it cost money as well, at least she figured as much, and not knowing who would give her such a thing...it didn’t sit well with her. But, for now, she would accept it and once that was established with her landlord she headed back up to her room - with the box and the doll.

Not trusting the doll she found a place to set it, high up and where it couldn’t see anything - incase a camera was inside of it. The box was left on her kitchen counter top, she really wished she could figure this out - she didn’t like how it all felt. Already there were giant spider webs, but no spiders, covering various parts of the city as well as an issue in one of the city's many parks. Halloween was worse than last years and now this...it was just added to the other issues going on this Halloween.

Going for a shower, in order to relax and just...get her thoughts in order, the dark haired woman set about filling her tub with hot water and a bath bomb - she had splurged a bit. With some scented candles lit and the bathwater ready she set to enjoying herself and letting her thoughts gather as she addressed whatever had been floating about her mind.

It wasn’t until she got out of the bathroom, a towel about her waist, that she felt...wrong? It felt like she was being watched, which was honestly ridiculous, but it was a sort of creepy feeling...like what you got at a haunted house...which was because you were being watched. Turning her pale lavender eyes onto the doll, as she figured that to be the reason she felt so uneasy, she shook her head once as it telling herself she was being ridiculous - which she was. Moving on to continue what she was doing, which was setting a movie to play while going to finish drying off and get dressed in something nice and warm.

She was going to forget about that doll and any odd feelings. She was safe - this was her home.

Word count: 1,127

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

(Will have a banner soonish.)

April 21, 2024

Delphi knew where the code piece was on her wonder and when she arrived it was with a sense of urgency and purpose. She had a code piece to reach and set right, though she was certain it would take time, such things never came quick and easy and she accepted that. It seemed true that those things which were most valued took time to achieve while that which came quick was cheap.

The hells of her boots clicked against the cobbled flagstones that covered the outdoors space where once many gathered and spoke of law, and politics, this place had once served as a place where justice was dealt to those who needed to be brought before its feet and made to pay whatever price was fit. Others had justice given to them, as victims of crimes, they saw justice achieved for them and the balance of things restored. This place had also served to train and educate others in law, in seeking justice, in space as the cosmos was wide and reaching with the laws differing from planet to planet. But they taught as much of it as they could.

That was all ignored, for now, by the knight as she headed down into the bowels of one of the many metal buildings. Down into the holding cells where she knew her piece of the code hide inside a cell that opened just enough to let her through. She was swift in getting there, getting right the point of things, she had work to finish back home and while she did love her wonder she also needed money - to get paid. She had bills like every other human and until she could safely live here she needed to continue to earn money and support her life on Earth.

Even if she could live here it wasn’t a wise idea, not when there was fighting still on Earth to be done, as much as she disliked people she wouldn't leave other knights and senshi to handle it all without her there to assist. It simply wasn’t how things should be done.

Shaking her head as he feet pounded against the stone floor of the holding chambers the knight hurried her way to the cell all the way in the back and slipping inside and eyeing the code piece. “I can hear your call and went to the summons on the moon. Something attacked and caused a problem…I’m here to fix that.” Because simply giving energy to the code up on the moon was not enough, nor would it do anything here.

“Let me fix you and perhaps you’ll bless my wonder with life finally.” Others had life growing on their wonders, animals and insects, she had heard of this and yet nothing yet. Perhaps there was a reason for this? She could not fathom a guess, considering how often she was here, she did not skip unless she was away in another country for work. She knew her wonder needed her and she needed it, as she was a transcended knight, her bond to her wonder pulled her here often - like now.

Seating herself on the floor, glad for the warm clothing she wore, Delphi settled herself in to meditate on this problem and perhaps connect in some other manner with her wonder. She had not been blessed with some things which others had, and that was ok, her wonder had still protected her with the markings that shimmered and glowed on her skin.

The memories which came, after some time, were warm enough to have her shivering from the warmth the her of the past had felt. So a rebirth…that’s what she was - reborn. Walking the library isles seeking out books and bringing them to a table where she and other scholars sat talking and reaching. They were studying the laws of another planet, one far from where they were on Polaris, but the planet's laws were ones they should know just as they should study the laws of every planet possible.

She could hear her own voice, see her own hands, moving as she passed out books and opened her own. Pages moved, rustled, as they took to reading and on occasion spoke up about something they were reading, others chiming in here and there. It was a study group if you wished to call it something. The warmth of the room saw her coat removed as she continued reading, the chair next to her moving closer as a male caught her attention and whispered something to her. She didn’t hear those words, they were muted and garbled, but it seemed the words stirred something in her and gained a favorable response of some sort. The group around them laughing and staring at her and the one next to her.

It was to the sound of laughter, and merriment, that Delphi was pulled from the memorShe had only been blessed twice before with memories one which led to the water flowing and heat returning to her wonder, since then she remembered nothing of the last. The second had led to finding the bed chambers which she used when she stayed overnight on her wonder.

Touching the code as she stood and made to leave, perhaps she would find life outside when she stepped out into the cold of Polaris.

Alas - no life. No animals or insects greeted her. At least she had another memory…it was something.

She would get her work done now, she needed to pay her bills, and then she would return again and perhaps spend an evening here in space. It was silent and desolate…cold and somehow comforting for her.

Word count: 946