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Living on borrowed time -- living past when you would have expected to die.

Eilian, being the studious intellectual she tried to be, had graduated past the word-a-day apps and now had moved on to colloquialisms and their origins. It was a very interesting sort of thing that kept her mind idly occupied as she waited for her contact to meet her. Desperately the Senshi of Echoes was trying not to be annoyed by the fact that he was late, that he apparently did not see her time and her needs as valuable as his own, and if he thought for a second she couldn't see through the obvious political ploy he was dumber than she gave him credit for.

Fingers drummed on the cover of the book she'd brought with her that evening, the latest in a series of information trades in exchange for a modicum of protection. It brought her mind back to the concept of borrowed time: was she on it? Perhaps. Certainly you didn't spend a whole lot of time talking to one of the biggest, baddest members of 'the enemy' without thinking that perhaps you were going to be killed at any time. It was a game of delicate balance where if she made herself too useful, perhaps proved herself to be too much of an asset to the General-King he might abandon his end of the deal and take her himself.

Thus the book. It was her gambit to keep the goal towards making Albali a member of Ares' Dark Mirror Court rather than a slave to the Negaverse and its officers. It was, rather, a desperate one.

Eyes brittle, smile sharp enough to cut in the mutual dislike of their somewhat-forced partnership, Albali held the book out for him to inspect. "What's the nearest commercially-adopted, pseudo-religious holiday? It's a present for that. Careful when you open it, I tucked several photographs inside that I think you will find rather interesting." The book itself was utterly unintelligible to Albali but that did not mean it might be so to Zinkenite. Certainly the pictures that the super had taken of the library on her homeworld would excite him as much as it would her, even if he couldn't fathom what the hell the script on those pages meant.

Hands casually on her hips it was clear she was feeling a little smug. "I never quite believed those talking, fuzzy monstrosities when they mentioned that it was possible to discover a way back to your origins. I tested it, scientifically." Which meant that she'd done the same thing at least twice, yielded the same result each time, and figured that it was unlikely she was in the grip of such convenient psychosis as all that. In other words, she had become more of a believer in what it is she was, what it was she could be, and had thus become more determined than ever to achieve her goal of joining Ares once more.

Watching him inspect the pictures she did have to add on to her initial statement. "As far as I can estimate, there seem to be at least ten thousand volumes of varying size. The pictures are very interesting and as you can see, there were several other museum pieces I found fascinating." Such as the immense skeleton beneath the floor of one of the library's rooms in a tank of what seemed to be water; Albali hadn't been able to break the floor to find out. "I thought it would be more interesting than what it was the senshi were whining about this week."

Renegotiate? Perhaps not so stupid. He was incredibly aware of her intelligence as well as his own, putting her every time in the role of the supplicant, reminding Sailor Albali that she needed him. It was not even remotely the other way around and she would probably do very well to keep that in mind. "Ah well, if you'll pardon me?" Without moving close enough for him to touch her, long fingers plucked one of the images out of the assortment she'd given him. Teal eyes inspected it, smiling slightly before it was turned back around, the large mirror in the main room tapped with a gloved nail.

"I will gladly be your escort...as soon as I can travel through the mirrors. I do have to be rather frank when I say that I think my time is getting short. I cannot hide my affiliations or leanings forever, to do such a thing requires a level of finesse that not even I possess." Not that she really would hide them if she could, at this point. The senshi exhausted her, disgusted her, and she wanted nothing to do with this group of blind idealists or aggressive imbeciles, depending on which group one was in at any given time. Her entire being cried out for structure, demanded she uphold her oath, and figure out what had happened to her Queen.

Hands folded primly in front of her as her mother had always taught when the senshi continued. "I know you possess the influence and power to make my request a reality. There must be some way. I will uphold the tenets of our original bargain but for this?" Her fingertips now fanned the images in front of his face once more, an enticing offer. "You know my price for this."

Surprise showed on her face, a trace moment of fear as his hand reached out towards her. Was this a trap perhaps? Albali herself could feel the pressure of the senshi approaching but...was she the only one who was a technical 'traitor'?

Apparently she was. Whoops.

"This is not ideal." It was noted rather dryly for a moment before the violet-haired young woman jumped backwards with her supernatural speed and strength, landing gracefully beside the Senshi of Blood. "MuCephei, you probably should have tried to hit me too." Holding out her own arm, a slight moue of distaste on her face at the idea of how this particular senshi's attack was cast, her look was meaningful. "Do you mind?" Her glance back towards Zinkenite was also meaningful, a sort of apology, before amusement glinted in her eyes.

"I think we can take him." An Eternal and a Super versus an established General-King? Perhaps had it not been for the fact that she was grossly underestimating Zinkenite's strength. It didn't matter that he was an inch shorter than her, perhaps twenty pounds lighter, because the power which he was imbued with made up for that tenfold. He was strong enough, at least, to blot out the fact that there was another dark signature nearby watching with interest. And popcorn.

Was she hearing someone cheering, or was that just the sound of humiliation her brain was inventing on the spot? Was there a way to get out of this gracefully, without betraying her current goals and affiliations? Probably not without at least trying to fight the Big Bad Zinkenite which was in and of itself annoying. At least it seemed like the Eternal Senshi of Blood had grown some spine since the last time they'd tried to recruit her. Then again hadn't she been spending time with the cotton candy Serenity Remnant?

That'd harden you right up. She was annoyingly smug enough to create aggressive behavior in anyone.

"Please, I'd rather you keep your hands out of my chest and to yourself. But wasn't that what we were discussing when my friend here showed up?" Friend. Very loose term. Friend as in 'Gee buddy, why don't we just get the hell out of here' sort of way. Friend as in 'Boy I wish you hadn't shown up buddy'. Albali hated snags in plans almost as much as she hated people who couldn't be punctual. If he'd been on time....well. None of this might have happened.

Pulling herself to her feet the Senshi of Echoes held out her arm again. "Come on Mucephei!"

Really her swearing was inventive for all that it wasn't in English. It burned like hell when the whip hit yet it was nothing to the fire it left in its wake, shredding the fabric of her gloves with little trouble. It did, however, give Albali something more to work with rather than trying to get a hit on someone who could teleport seemingly at will, as often as he wanted. "This would have been easier with three. You shoulda used your phone-a-friend." The dark-haired senshi herself could have called one but they were either out of town or currently a Dark Mirror soldier; not exactly the kind of person to call.

"Well. It's worth a try anyway." Mimicking MuCephei's motions as she'd cast out the first of the two attacks, her words were different. "Albali Total Recall!" There were fewer ribbons of blood that shot out from her arm to wrap around the leg of Zinkenite, a sharp tug causing her to hiss in pain as she tried to pull his legs out from under him. She had the height, she had the weight. "Get his other one!" And she had the ability to give orders in a snap.

Why didn't Ares want her?

Unnoticed, a dark figure dropped down from atop a building into the shadows, watching with interest and debating whether or not to get involved.

"Oh wow you are so in trouble now." There was a fourth voice in all of that hullabaloo, amused and not at all malicious as Linarite came walking on through the smoke as if it were nothing to her. Of course it might have had something to do with the way she was swinging her six foot long polearm, back and forth as if it were a broom, clearing the air while Albali and MuCephei sputtered helplessly. Standing in front of Zinkenite, still rather snarly and seated on the ground, she leaned insolently on the thing with a smile.

"Run along now kiddies. You might think you're a match for him but I guarantee you're a thousand years too early to take me on." That was Lina for you: utterly insane and operating on nothing but sheer bravado more than ninety percent of the time. It did, however, give Albali the out she was looking for. Snagging the other senshi by the arm she jerked her head, wrapping fingers around her arm to stem the bleeding as she started to run steadily away from the scene of the crime, as it were. There was quite a bit of worry as she looked back towards Zinkenite, an apology written clearly on her face for a moment before she turned away to vanish into the night.

Lina, grinning at their retreating backs, spun on her heel to turn that wide mirth down at the sprawled General-King. "I saved you. You're welcome."

Well that was stupid. Of course Lina immediately snatched the book out of his hands, opening it up and turning it at angles like she was a three year old trying to learn for the first time. "Zink, I hate to break it to you, but I think you got gypped. It's not written in pictures or words, it's written in bullshit." He immediately grabbed it back from her as if it were something precious, a puzzle to be figured out, and actually brought a more genuine smile to her face. Certainly it was far less manic then before she'd been faced with something that triggered an old memory.

Taking the arm he'd offered her by linking her own through it she raised an eyebrow. "Your turn to buy though. Don't think I forgot. I came all the way out here just for that; saving you was a side benefit."