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 Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:35 pm
This was getting to be a bad habit. Irene knew better than running around after dark alone, she really did. And if anyone found out what she was doing, and told Iris, she would be hearing about it for years to come. But after what she had discovered during her last late-night walkabout, she wasn't ready to call it quits just yet. For all she knew, there might be more mischievous chibi senshi running around out there, not knowing what they were getting themselves into.
Sure enough, there was another power signature out there. But this one wasn't the calm, relaxing one of a chibi senshi. This was one that felt wrong. Irene had only sensed an aura like this once before, when she had met the corrupt senshi who was now Sailor Psyche. Irene didn't fear Psyche- though the two had their rough patches- but she had, to a degree, feared what she had been before, and she feared what this other power might be.
At the same time, she knew now that corrupt senshi didn't have to stay that way. In some way, she owed it to herself to find out who this person was and what they wanted. If there was some way to help, some way to get another innocent person out of a bad situation, then she had to do it, for everyone's sake. So Irene paused, turned back, and looked around. "If you're looking for a fight, I'm not willing to oblige you. May I speak with you instead, if you don't mind?"
If she was just feeling a youma or something, she would be really embarrassed later on, but at least then nobody would be able to testify to her silly mistake.
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Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:14 pm
Acanthite walked along the edge of a building, enjoying the new-found freedom her power provided. The view of the city was incredible from up here! And she could jump to the tops of buildings without effort, and her balance was impeccable. The girl almost wished she had skates on her tall boots, just to try some maneuvers in this form.
But then she sensed a glimmering ... something. Feeling. Like light, too bright or too sudden, in her eyes. Acanthite realized that this was what her Negaverse mentors had meant by an "aura". And that this was most definitely an enemy.
With a fluttering combination of nervousness and anticipation settling approximately into the hollow fractured spot between her breasts, she moved towards the source of the feeling.
She caught sight of a purple-haired girl, dressed in garish white, down below her, and watched her for a moment. At this distance, Acanthite realized that the girl below her held greater power than she did, and wondered if maybe confrontation was not the best idea. But, then the stranger addressed her, and, understanding that she could not hide her aura, either, hopped down to ground level to get a better look at her potential adversary.
"Not looking for a fight?" Acanthite asked, trying to keep her tone confident and appropriately skeptical. "Just a chat? Really? What about?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:04 pm
For a moment, Irene wondered if she was wrong. Or if whoever was hiding nearby was planning on ambushing her. It wouldn't be the first time someone attacked her after she specifically said she didn't want to fight. Wouldn't be the last time, either.
Then, all of a sudden, the other senshi leaped down from wherever she'd been perched, and Irene could take a good look at her. The jagged holes in her chest and head made it obvious what she was, and she shivered at the sight of them. They had freaked her out when she'd seen them the first time, in Nickeline, and they freaked her out now.
Aside from that, this girl seemed very different. She spoke fluent English, which was a relief, considering her main goal was to talk. "I would like to chat about you, really. How you got where you are, how you feel about it, things like that. Would that be alright with you?" Irene put her hand over her heart. "I promise not to raise a hand to you, provided you abstain from fighting as well."
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Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:37 pm
The other girl's broach - a dove with an olive branch - and the soft white feathers trimming her uniform earned a laugh from the corrupted senshi. Could this girl be any more stereotypically what she had been warned against? Were all of the supposedly "good" senshi so obvious?
She put one hand on her hip, and raised one eyebrow. "I was selected for this, and apparently I surprised them," Acanthite replied, gesturing with her other hand to the dark fractured spot in her chest. "I am pleased that I proved to be more than they were expecting, and I'm going to do my best to make my benefactors proud."
Her stance shifted to a more balanced one, prepared to move in case this girl was lying about her peaceful intentions. "Was that all you wanted to know?" she asked, reaching out with her mind for that feeling of restrained water. There was comfort in that power that she had on reserve, and also a bit of apprehension, since Acanthite had not yet unleashed it in battle.
She kind of wanted to test it. This senshi gave off a feeling of power above Acanthite's own, but if she could catch the purple-haired girl off guard....
Acanthite restrained herself for the moment, to see what the other girl's next move would be.
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Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 11:27 pm
The corrupted senshi's choice of words was interesting to say the least. "You were selected? How? And by whom? What were they expecting, that you surprised them?" Irene wished she could ask who, exactly, the benefactors were, but knew better than to ask something obvious like that. She was already pushing her luck, asking as many questions as she had.
But she wanted to know. This senshi was very different than Nickeline had been. Instead of being lost and confused and whisked away to another country without her consent, she seemed happy and confident and totally willing, which just baffled Irene. How could somebody want to do that to themselves? The sight of the hole in the corrupted senshi's chest- and the way she referred to it with pride of all things- made her uneasy.
"If you're not too busy, I would like to keep talking for a bit yet." Irene made sure to keep her hands in front of her, palms out, to look as non-threatening as she could. "I'm... pleased to hear that you are happy." And also totally disturbed by that. "I take it, then, that you have support from those that fight with you? That you are not left to fend for yourself?"
Irene had always assumed that the bad guys didn't care about each other, because bad guys were bad. But what if they weren't, really? Nickeline hadn't been bad, in the end, and this girl didn't seem bad either. Could people who did bad things be nice when they weren't doing them?
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:42 am
Acanthite considered her words for a long moment, turning them over in her mind. It dawned on her that perhaps this feathery-white, glaringly-"pure" girl could be recruited. Perhaps that was why she was asking these questions - she herself had had such questions, as well.
"Of course they support me," she replied. "I was willing to help and so they brought me into the fold." With the memory of the night came memories of the pain her awakening had caused, as well, but Acanthite dealt with such recollections by envisioning herself as metal tempered in fire. No pain, no gain, so to speak.
"I fight to defend this planet, so I have all of the other defenders behind me, and I'm behind them." Yet untested in her practical experience, but Acanthite felt no reason to doubt it. She could feel the other nearby agents of the Negaverse as comforting spots in her mind, not like the glaring brightness of the girl before her.
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Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 10:41 pm
The other senshi had skipped a few of the questions, but Irene didn't dare go back to them. Now they were getting somewhere. She was starting to get a picture of the Negaverse, quite different from the one she had constructed for herself based on hearsay. The question was, which one was real? Or did either of them fully and accurately portray the group? She was starting to doubt it.
"May I ask from what you, and those who work with you, defend the planet? It is certainly a noble goal." It was, in fact, more or less the same goal she had. Irene was more focused on individual people than on the planet as a whole, but she had made the conscious choice to protect rather than fight blindly. Maybe they were the same in that way.
Maybe they were the same in other ways too. When she'd thought that of Nickeline, it had scared her. Now that Nickeline was Psyche, Irene wasn't scared. She wanted to know as much as she could, to help other people who were in bad situations. Though this situation really didn't sound bad at all to her, just slightly different.
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Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:56 pm
The corrupted senshi inclined her chin slightly, eyeing the purple-haired girl. Was her praise of the Negaverse's goal sincere? Acanthite licked her lips, taking a deep breath and wondering if she could bring this girl over to her side by picking her words carefully.
"When I look at you," she began. "I see- I feel light, too bright to look at for too long. It's glaring and wrong and uncomfortable, like someone shining a floodlight into my room while I'm trying to sleep." The senshi of the cataract started to pace. "All of you senshi in white are like that. You stand out and feel alien. We want to get rid of all of that blazing obnoxious light you all cast here. You don't belong."DivineSaturn (( omg I'm so sorry I'm terrible orz It's been a busy few months e____e ))
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Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 2:54 pm
"You're trying to protect the Earth from... me?" That was not really what Irene had expected, and she found the implication that she was harmful rather disconcerting. "Have I done anything to hurt you? Or anyone else? You say that I make you uncomfortable, but how? If my questions are causing you grief, I apologize. All I'm trying to do is to find out what the situation is. And you have been very helpful with that."
That didn't address the real issue, but Irene wasn't sure how to touch on that. Apparently, her feeling of unease at the twisted and dark energy that a corrupted senshi gave off was reflected and reciprocated. It did feel weird, but that alone was no reason to fight.
"It's true that we're different, you and I" she finally admitted. "But is that enough of a reason to want me gone?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 1:40 pm
Acanthite had no real answers for those questions. She tried her best.
"You personally haven't tried to hurt me, which is why I'm not beating up on you right now," she replied, stopping and facing Irene again, and crossing her arms. "But how much trouble has there been in this city since you all started showing up? Something is wrong, and out of balance, and it started when you all appeared." Still mostly words given to her from her scant experience thus far in the Negaverse, and what she had heard on the news. But she believed what she said.
"If you truly think that we shouldn't be fighting, though, if you want to do your part to start to set things right, I can speak to my superiors about getting you changed."
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Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:50 am
Irene raised her eyebrows. She was in no mood to start a fight, especially with someone that she wanted to consider an ally. But she also hated the thought of anyone thinking that she was easy pickings. Even during what was thus far a peaceful discussion, she wanted to be taken seriously.
"I'm not 'beating up on you' either," she finally said, folding her arms. "Or on anyone who isn't hurting me or my friends." Unless they called her weak, but that was another story. "However, I will defend myself. I had to, when youma attacked me. Before that, I knew nothing about senshi, or the Negaverse. If I hadn't been awakened then, I could have died. So then, how is it my fault that the balance is upset? Are you saying I should have stayed out of things, even if it led to my death?"
The proposition was chilling, for all that it was probably heartfelt. Irene had no desire to become the sort of senshi that Psyche had once been. It would be silly to say that outright, though. "I appreciate the offer. I hope you understand that I would like to do more research before taking such a drastic move. If it appears that such a choice would be in my best interest, I know who to come to."
Pigs would fly first, she thought, but it never hurt to have options. Even evil options.
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Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 11:24 am
The other senshi's response came as an altogether pleasant surprise to Acanthite, and she grinned genuinely. She doubted all of her encounters would go this favorably, but that this one had was still reassuring.
"The youma...." The Senshi of the Cataract had really not dealt with them, herself, and so did not have extensive experience with how they worked. "They're much harder to reason with. The feeling of upset balance from you, it unnerves all of us. So I think the sooner you decide, and approach us to change, the sooner the youma will leave you alone."
She took a few steps backwards, away from the other girl, in preparation to leave. "I think any of my allies would be able to help you when you make up your mind. If you find one of the other agents, just tell them you want to see Acanthite again." Best to leave out how much the process hurt - though it also occurred to her that it might be different for a senshi awakened first on the wrong side. But the pain was transient anyway; Acanthite was discovering more and more about her new abilities that made the few moments of agony more than worth it.DivineSaturn (( I think we can probably wrap this up soon? ))
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Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2013 9:04 pm
For a moment, that argument sounded so convincing, so simple, that Irene was stunned into silence. Was that all there was to it? Would this whole problem be solved if there were no senshi? Or at least, no senshi with light in their hearts?
No, that couldn't be true. That rang loudly through her mind, followed by the reason why. "Senshi are not the only ones who are attacked by youma. I would not feel comfortable running to safety, if it meant abandoning those who cannot protect themselves. There must be a better solution; a way for everyone to get what they want, without anyone having to get hurt."
Not that Irene had the slightest clue what that solution was. She just had the feeling that it was out there, somewhere.
"Still, you have provided very valuable information, for which you have my gratitude. If there is anything I can do to assist you in the future- within reason- please let me know." The other senshi was leaving, and Irene also felt that this interview was just about up. There wasn't a way for her to continue things without sinking to violence, which would defeat the whole purpose of their talk. "My name is Irene. I hope to see you again, Acanthite."
With a small curtsy, Irene too began to walk away. This needed serious consideration, the sooner, the better.
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Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 5:12 pm
"We're a small force compared to the whole human population," Acanthite replied, putting on a slight pout. "My superiors can only change people so quickly, otherwise I'm sure we would bring more citizens into the fold faster so the youma would leave them alone." She tilted her head and shrugged ever so slightly. "Like I said, we're all more reasonable than the youma, at least."
Irene. It sounded so ... mundane. The dark senshi almost thought the other girl was lying about her name. But then on the other hand, the rest of their conversation had gone reasonably well, she thought. And Acanthite would remember her by appearance, even if the name was false.
Pleased with how she had handled herself, she paused to bow to the other girl slightly. "Lovely to meet you! I'm so glad we could chat." Then Acanthite turned away and retreated in the opposite direction. The other girl did seem nice, at least. She hoped that they could be on the same side someday.DivineSaturn (( And I think that's a wrap. Thxu for RP! heart ))
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