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 Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:45 pm
School. Library. Home. Rinse. Repeat. Sophie was moving on autopilot these days, doing her best to make up for the fact that she'd basically zombied through her classes. It was hard to get pumped when she wasn't sure what she was doing there, but the threat of failing managed to get her panicked, which had almost the same result. If she failed she would lose her financial aid, and then where would she be? Doing some other meaningless activity and still living with her mother, which was not something she wanted to do. Which meant studying until the library closed every night until finals.
After the experience with the... the whatever it was, Sophie wasn't sure she wanted to know exactly, she was on her guard. Maybe a company was doing illegal and unethical experiments. Maybe it was some sort of undiscovered creature driven into the city by deforestation. Maybe it was some weird offshoot of the gang wars in the city. Or maybe it had to do with the "nightlife" Zia mentioned. Whatever the case, finals took priority.
Except that she really, really wanted to know what was going on.
"Do your research in a couple of weeks," she told herself sternly. "Research papers now, research on shadowy organizations later." That did nothing to stop her curiosity, but it did remind her of her priorities. Which involved taking care of herself. Considering what had happened the last time she walked home, she thought that maybe a cab would be smart. Then again, the odds that she'd be attacked again were pretty slim, and she needed the physical activity to loosen up. So walking it was, but she stayed alert, constantly checking around to make sure that nothing weird was in the vicinity, all the while kind of hoping to stumble on just that.
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 6:01 pm
"LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE, DIRTY SPACE INVADER!" came a cry piercing the night air. In a flash, a senshi decked in pinks and purples went whizzing in front of the civilian from an alley nearby. Her ribbons and lace fluttered, parts her fuku torn. She turned her head and swore back at someone from over her shoulder. "What the ******** is wrong with you!? We're the good guys, you a*****e!" She stopped and skidded to a halt on pink heels and readied something sparkly in her hands - magic, no doubt. The aura around her fists almost looked like a kaleidoscope of color and she braced herself. "Go to hell!" Bazzite appeared shortly after, spotting a brown haired student and spazzed. "Hey! No no no no no, you can hurt people! Like, some more! And there's no reason to start swearing there are GOOD PEOPLE AROUND JEEZ." Pulling some shuriken from his pocket, the captain stared down the base level senshi. He outranked her which would have been enough for more people. Placing himself between the senshi and civilian, Bazzite waited. The senshi finally spat, cursing him and leaving. No lasers today. "WHEW. Jeez, filthy mouth for all that pink 'n stuff. You okay, uh... lady?" he said, turning to the no doubt terrified civilian who was unfortunate enough to witness that exchange. He extended his hand in greeting. "Didn't want anybody to be laser'd to pieces. Hope I didn't scare you! Uh... sorry about that." The boy was genuinely friendly, or at least appeared that way. He removed his hood to prove he was human, a mop of snow blue hair in a puff on his head. "I'm Bazzi! What's your name?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 9:38 pm
Sophie froze, in a way that had nothing to do with the December chill, as the scene played out in front of her. First there was a girl in what looked like a cross between a school uniform and a Halloween costume, with ribbons trailing behind her as she ran. Then there was a ninja. The sparkly schoolgirl held something sparkly in her hands, and the ninja held those ninja star things. And then it seemed to be over, just as quickly as it began. The sparkly schoolgirl ran away, and the ninja- wait, the ninja was talking to her.
That managed to snap Sophie out of her daze, though it took a moment. The whole thing had felt so much like a movie that she looked around for camera crews that might be hiding somewhere, just in case it was. Nothing. Either the camera crews were really well hidden or, just like the monster from the night before, this was all real. Ninjas were real. Laser-wielding schoolgirls were real. Not that she had seen any actual weapons, but she had the feeling that she had just seen a skirmish between two members of opposing gangs, and wasn't sure how to respond to it.
When in doubt, be friendly, she decided. The ninja certainly seemed to be. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Bazzi." Weird name, but then Sophie knew almost nothing about ninjas. She ignored his question about whether or not she'd been scared, since she wasn't sure what the answer was, and skipped to her introduction, which was much easier. "I'm Sophie. And you're... a ninja?"
The smart thing to do would have been to get some distance, but curiosity was a powerful force. There was no way she could have walked away having seen a scene like that. And this Bazzi fellow seemed nice enough. Still, she knew better than to immediately accuse him of being a member of a terrorist gang, so she tried a less direct approach. "May I ask what a fine, er, ninja like yourself is doing out on a night like this?" She blinked, as if only then realizing that she was actually using a word like "ninja" in a serious conversation. This was just too weird.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:03 pm
"It's nice ta meetcha, Sophie!" The boy smiled in reply. Ah, so she noticed he was a ninja! Good, good. Bazzi was doing his part to spread the good word of the Negaverse. He puffed out his chest in pride. "Why yes! I am a ninja! And I'm gettin' better at it too by the looks of it." The boy stared off into the distance in the direction the senshi disappeared to. He scratched his head. "Anyhoo, I'm out protectin' the citizenry from the terrorists, basically." he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "She didn't hurt you, did she? You look okay but you never know! Lasers n' all that. Unpredictable." Bazzi gave a sage nod. He recalled lots of civilian reports of terrorism in the newspaper and on television so surely most, if not all, of the city was aware of senshi activities. And now came time for his questions. "Sophie, whatcha doin' out here so late at night? Terrorists n' stuff come out late at night and good people like you could get hurt you know. My friends and I, we're tryin' to stop that. But it'd be a whole lot easier if you stayed safe at home when it got dark out, you know?" Bazzi still smiled, figuring Sophie had a good reason to be out and about this late.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:20 pm
Apparently, this was a ninja in training. Which, Sophie supposed, explained why he was standing around chatting with her. She was hardly an expert on ninjas, but from what little she remembered about them from movies and comics, she thought that they usually preferred to remain unseen. It was lucky for her curiosity that this one missed that memo, but not so fortunate for her sense of safety.
Then she almost fell over when the ninja said that he was protecting the people from terrorists. "So wait, Destiny City is being safeguarded by... ninjas?" Was this real? There had to be a camera somewhere, getting her reaction to all of this. It was just too surreal.
"I'm fine. Not a scratch." The sparkly schoolgirl hadn't even gotten all that close to her, which just made everything seem even more like a movie, or some really weird bit of avant garde street performance. "Anyway, it takes more than a girl throwing glitter to hurt me." Sophie wasn't a fighter, but she had strength and stamina from years of rowing and hard work. Even if a terrorist did attack her, she felt confident in her ability to protect herself. She'd fended off the monster, and a person couldn't be worse than that. Especially a person who ran around in a torn up sailor uniform.
His suggestion that she stay home was sweet, but she shook her head. "As appealing as that sounds right now, home doesn't have the references I need for my final papers." It did, however, have her mother, which was another reason that Sophie studied at the library instead. Not that she wanted to share family issues with a stranger, and this stranger was about as strange as they got. "But back to you- you and your friends are sort of a covert security force or something? Are your friends all ninjas too?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:16 pm
"Err... well... sorta!" How was he going to explain this? If anything, Bazzite figured that letting the citizens know the Negaverse was out to help them was a step in the right direction. Heck, it might even help everybody out and drive out more of the senshi! Surely Beni would be really happy to hear about this. "See, we're like ah.. um... a coalition! Yeah, there's a whole bunch of us who're tryin' to put a stop to the terrorists so everything can be peaceful again. Like so everybody can sleep better at night and not worry about their houses blowin' up n' stuff." There had been way too many reports of houses blowing up on the news for Bazzi. It made him uncomfortable. "Well I am glad that the glitter lady didn't do anythin' to you. I'd feel real bad about that..." Bazzite frowned and scratched his head absently. "I heard some of 'em are better and some are worse than others but we do what we gotta do, you know?" Bazzi wasn't so sure Sophie thought he was any better than glitter-wielding terrorists. Or rather, she may not have thought he was anything special. Sure, he had cool clothes and she probably thought he had a weird name, but he was something special too! More special than the terrorists, definitely. "Not all of us are ninjas. Just me. Oh, me n' this one other guy, shorter than me. Everybody's got their own thing. Like my bee-eff-eff, he's dressed all like... lacey n' stuff. Long coat, like those old paintin's of George Washington an' all that. Everybody's got their own style." Eyes darted around quickly. "Do you... wanna see something super duper cool? But you gotta promise not to tell anybody, okay?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:28 pm
"A coalition of ninjas?" Sophie asked incredulously, raising her eyebrows. This just kept getting more and more fantastical. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to believe this or ignore it or run off screaming. Probably not the latter, since despite what he was saying making no sense whatsoever, the ninja was awfully nice. He had taken the time away from doing whatever ninjas did- including, apparently, protecting citizens from terrorist attacks- to explain things to her, and she was grateful for that. It was just that she'd be more grateful if she could believe what he was saying.
Even if she didn't believe, it felt wrong to accuse him of lying when he had so much enthusiasm, so Sophie decided to humor him. "So it's like a neighborhood watch, sort of? I can get behind that. It's always good to organize people- a group can accomplish great things that a sole person can't."
The subject of the terrorists themselves was one that Sophie couldn't really comment on much, since she had never met a terrorist in person. At least, not that she could think of. "I can't claim to know much about the situation, but I guess as a group terrorists are like everyone else. Some of them are nice, despite what they do, and some of them..." She shrugged, not really wanting to go into it.
The whole 'humoring him' thing went pretty well up until he started talking about his comrades. It would have made a warped sort of sense if they were all ninjas, but not only were they different, but one was like George Washington? "Come on, tell me the truth," she insisted, a bit insulted that he was telling her such outrageous lies. "I can't do anything to help if I don't know what's going on." And the more she heard, the more she wanted to help, even she didn't believe most of it.
"Super duper cool?" That sounded promising. Maybe she was being let in on the truth at last. Sophie put one hand over her heart. "I promise not to tell, cross my heart." The 'hope to die' part was left out, feeling a bit too morbid for a discussion about terrorism.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 5:41 pm
Sophie was getting it! Despite Bazzi's terrible explanations. He chuckled happily. "Yeah it's kinda like a neighborhood watch. We each have our own lil' sections of the city n' we try to keep the peace n' all that. Fight off the terrorists, that sorta thing." But he wasn't lying! Bazzi shook his head when prompted to tell the truth. "But I am tellin' the truth!" he insisted, a pleading look in his eyes. "Look, I'm not known for my smarts n' all that but I'm not a liar. I just... well I dunno what else to call Beni's outfit... it's a nice coat and it's got lace n' stuff on it but I dunno much about fashion. Beni dresses real nice though! He's a real nice guy, helped me out when I was down. S'why he's my best friend!" But despite all that, Sophie seemed unconvinced. She would definitely help the Negaverse by telling people about how terrible the terrorists are and spread some good words about the Negaverse. But he had to convince her that this stuff was real! How could he do that? Bazzite had a plan. "Okay, keep an eye on me, alright?" While the captain had never done it before, Benitoite had told him a little bit about how to teleport. One had to envision the place, concentrate and poof! That didn't seem too hard. His General did say to be cautious as teleporting cost quite a bit of energy. Good thing Bazzi had plenty to spare! Crossing his fingers, he pictured the rooftop he had just come from. That would be a surprise, wouldn't it? "Alright... here we go..." and Bazzite concentrated. All of a sudden, the world shifted and he found himself on the roof above, panting. "WHEW. Hey... hey Sophie! Up here!"
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:25 pm
The whole thing didn't sound like the most cohesive group of people. Sophie shook her head; if she was involved, she would make sure that communication and teamwork were emphasized even more. What was the point of a coalition if they all went off to do their own thing? That sort of attitude never worked for long, at least in her experience.
Outright calling someone a liar was a slip of protocol, and Sophie was embarrassed by it. It was true that she suspected most people of lying to her, but that didn't meant that she told them that. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to challenge your integrity." Not to his face, anyway. "I'm glad you have someone you can rely on in your organization. Benny, was it?" She filed away the information, which would be useful if she wanted to look deeper into this neighborhood watch of sorts.
And then she watched. And watched. It took her a couple of minutes after Bazzite vanished to realize that he was gone. Dazedly she stepped forward and ran her hand through the spot where he had been, where it met nothing but air. He was really gone. Sort of. She could still hear him, and finally looked up to see a shadowy figure on the roof.
There were possibilities. Maybe his appearance at ground level had been some sort of projection in the first place. Except she was sure she had felt his presence there, felt the air move as he bounced around. Maybe this was some ninja trick. But those usually needed smokescreens or misdirection to work. Sophie had been watching him closely, and she knew that there hadn't been anything like that.
Polite interest gave way to fierce curiosity, and she cupped her hands around her mouth. "I want to know everything!" she shouted, feeling almost lightheaded by the number of unbelievable things she was starting to take seriously.
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 7:13 pm
Bazzite flopped over the side of the building like a dead fish, limp with exhaustion. He didn't realize it was that tiring to perform a teleport but at least he'd know for the future? And Sophie seemed quite impressed - that made him smile quite a bit despite being tired. The captain flashed her a victory sign. "It's called... teleportin'!" But he couldn't say too much. Not only did he not know everything, he didn't want to give away too many of the Negaverse's secrets. Beni probably wouldn't like that very much. In any case, if Sophie could help them out, that'd be awesome! "It's how we... whew... it's how we help stop the terrorists! Get in front of 'em an' all that, you know?" Bazzite oozed off the building and landed less gracefully than he'd planned. He shook the dirt from his head. "We're called the Negaverse. We're helpin' to keep the planet safe n' all that. 'n we could use help from citizens 'n all that I bet, yep." The captain smiled and stretched. "But like... just know that the terrorists are doin' bad things. They wanna use their magic to enslave everybody so don't trust 'em, okay? I dunno all the details but it's real bad. Real bad."
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 9:49 pm
"Hang on a sec." If the ninja was going to be divulging important information, Sophie didn't want to miss any of it. She slid her backpack off and reached into it, pulling out the notebook and pen she had used while studying. Turning to a clean page opposite a few math problems she'd worked out, she uncapped her pen with her teeth and jammed the cap on the back end. "Okay, now I'm ready."
As the ninja spoke, she tried to copy down the essential words and phases, no matter how ridiculous they sounded. Teleportation. Stopping the terrorists. The Negaverse- wasn't that one of the terms that Zia had mentioned? Yeah, it definitely was. Pausing in her notetaking, she looked up. "Is Zia one of you? The, um, Negaverse?" Was that the reason she had been so on edge during their meeting?
"If you need help, why not expand your network? I don't understand why you work in the shadows. Everyone in this city is affected by the terrorists; why not give people the knowledge they need to protect themselves?" Even when she didn't know the whole situation, Sophie always had a suggestion on how to make improvements. She added notes about the terrorists using magic to enslave everybody, reminding herself of her promise not to dismiss any of this yet, and frowned. "You don't know all the details? Why not? Shouldn't you be as informed as possible about the threat that you're trying to counteract?" Did anybody in this organization have experience with actually organizing, or was it just her?
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 6:37 pm
Oh boy, Sophie was asking the wrong guy the wrong questions. Bazzi tilted his head in his usual good-natured way to indicate he had no clue what the answers to her questions were. But he was a nice guy so he tried his best! "Zia? Uhh..." He wracked his brain. Zia? Zialite? Was there someone named Zionium or something in the ranks? "I dunno who Zia is. But if they're a friend a' yours then they gotta be nice, right?" Now he had a mission to go and find who this Zia person was. If he or she was talking to civilians about the Negaverse then maybe she was a corrupted senshi! Or better yet, an officer! Oh that would be so super cool!Sophie's next barrage of questions threw Bazzite for a loop. He sputtered, trying to formulate something that made some passing resemblance to an answer but nothing came out. Finally, he gave up and frowned, scratching head. "Well uh Sophie... it's like this." The boy almost looked ashamed to be admitting this but he kept going anyway. "I'm not known for my brains. I just follow the leaders n' all that, you know? They're the ones who know all those answers... Sorry Sophie." Bazzite looked just like a dog who had disappointed his master.
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:01 pm
The lack of recognition that Zia's name inspired threw Sophie for a loop. She had been so sure that this was the cause of all the cryptic questions and hysterics. Was she wrong? "Yes, Zia's very nice," she said, wondering what else the explanation could possibly be. Though if this group was as disorganized as it sounded, then she could be involved without Bazzite knowing. There was no way to know, so she scribbled another note in her book, circling it and putting three question marks around it.
Bazzite's admission made Sophie frown, but not for the reason he might suspect. "Don't say that sort of thing about yourself, Bazzite. Even if you're not a genius, you still have a brain, and you make good use of it. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise." Really, who were these leaders that he was talking about? She didn't approve of their tactics at all, and would say so to their faces if she was ever given the opportunity. This sort of leadership was inexcusable.
"Just because you may not be able to contribute in the way that others expect you to doesn't mean that you should blindly follow their orders. Everyone should know exactly what it is that they're doing, and why. To operate without that information is dangerous, to yourself and to others- even the people that you want to protect. Is that what you want?" Sophie's tone was firm, but not accusatory or mocking. She genuinely believed that he wanted to help, and hoped that she could guide him along a better path to doing just that.
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:49 pm
Bazzite sniffed and nodded at Sophie like she was an older isster admonishing him for admonishing himself. He smiled afterword. "...thanks Sophie. You're a real nice gal. Not everybody's real nice to me. I mean, I know why! I know some of 'em are real serious about their duty and kinda grumpy so I'm not mad at 'em or anything. We all gotta job to do. But Beni? Beni takes real good care of me and he explains everything so that's why he's my best bud in the Negaverse. I'd follow him anywhere. He's real smart so that's why I listen to him the most." A sheepish smile followed. "He tells me all the details n' everything so I trust him. Most definitely." He nodded a few more times and shifted his weight. That teleporting made him more tired that he'd expected. Bazzite yawned and stretched. "Well, that's all the info I got, Sophie. I just hope you n' yours are a little bit safer knowin' we're out here tryin' to stop the terrorists. But man... that's the first time I've teleported an'... I'm beat." Another yawn was covered by his sleeve. "Do you want me to escort you home?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:20 pm
While Sophie couldn't be convinced that Bazzite was taking her seriously, he seemed to be listening to her, which was a good start. He was a sweet guy, and it pained her to hear that he was having trouble in his organization, especially since he was so enthusiastic about the whole thing. As an avid volunteer herself, she couldn't ignore problems like these when they were brought to his attention, and even when he brushed off her concerns, she had to persist in making them known. It was just the way she operated.
"Do you mean to say that you're not serious about your duty? You seemed quite serious when you drove that girl away. And your manner seems quite earnest. You can be serious without being grumpy, especially when you're doing something that you believe in strongly and are working with people you get along with- like that Benny guy, for example." Even if the organization itself was flawed, at least Bazzite had one person to rely on. "But being serious does not give anyone an excuse to be unkind. Please don't let people make you feel like you're less, just because they behave differently. Because I can tell you that you're a fine, uh, ninja."
Nope, that still felt totally weird to say, but Sophie was trying to go with it.
She made a couple more notes before closing her book and shoving it back into her backpack. "Thank you very much for explaining things to me, Bazzite. This was quite informative." Even if it did leave her with more questions than answers. "I promise I'll be careful, but you don't need to worry about me. I'm pretty good at taking care of myself. Right now it seems like you need to do the same. Don't overdo it, okay?" She winked and slung her bag over her shoulder again. "If I see you again and you're all exhausted like this, I'll know you haven't been resting enough, got it?"
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