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 Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 11:25 am
Powering up wasn't totally at the top of Aventine's list of things she liked to do these days. At one point in time it had been exciting—adventurous. And then it had just been dangerous. And then she'd wanted to take a break.
It wasn't a frivolous thought, either; she'd debated with herself for a long time. On one hand, she had seen enough trouble in the past few months that she figured she could get away with a break. On the other hand, if she wasn't around to try and stop this trouble…
She wasn't really doing anyone any favors.
Though, for the first time in a week she hadn't gone home with a broken nail, so there was that to be happy about at least.
Not that she was even at home to celebrate. Instead, here she was, out…
Aventine heaved a heavy sigh and combed her fingers through her hair as she walked through the park. It was a nice night; even with the light from Destiny City she had a good view of the sky. Nights like this, she didn't mind. Nights when she wasn't fighting for her life. It was reassuring to see everything so still—to feel like maybe they were beating back the Chaos.
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Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:01 pm
There were good things and bad about this city. The bad things were everywhere, monsters, psychopathic creepers and the like. You know, even the whole growing up thing was a bad part of the city, though that was nothing that anyone had any control over. But then…the good things of the city sometimes really overshadowed the bad…for instance. Take this bit of good luck right here. There was another person with a rather strong order signature…and upon closer inspection…
Oh yeah. This was a good thing indeed. Tortali would know that pink ruffle outfit anywhere. That was Aventine, yes indeed it was. A grin spread across the green haired girl’s face and she ran over. “Hey! Hey there, Aventine! Long time no see, where have you been? What happened to our lunch dates…I feel like we’ve really fallen out of touch!”
Mm…and to be perfectly honest, that was something that she didn’t want to do with Aventine. Not one little bit. “How have you been, I suppose I should ask as well…I thought you were going to take a break from all of this powered stuff?”
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Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:28 pm
Aventine's eyes lit up when the senshi came into view. "Tortali!" she greeted, apologizing instantly, "I'm so sorry—the lunch things just kinda. Things kept coming up. Not good things, either. My schedule has been all messed up, sleeping during the day, waking up late at night. I am seriously trying to get back on track because my social life is dead. I literally need to hire someone to come up to my flat and roll me out of bed in the mornings." She laughed, though it hadn't entirely been a joke.
Her smile faded a bit, though she still seemed in a good mood with the senshi around. "I…tried to take a break from it all. But I kept feeling guilty. Something kept calling me back out, like…what if tonight's the night someone need me and I'm not there, and…"
Her voice trailed off. She sighed, and forced herself to shrug and continue speaking. "…I know I'm stronger than the average person. I know I could help them. I just…maybe the secret isn't hiding from it all, maybe it's just getting stronger? Not that…I know how to do that, or anything. I mean, besides practice fighting, which I could seriously use some more of…"
The squire shifted positions and looked back up at the senshi. "I mean—what about you, how have you been?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:40 pm
The senshi waved a hand. “It’s all good. I mean. I’m seeing you now, right? So that’s good. And…I’ve been…okay. Almost died again, but hey. I guess them’s the breaks. Just letting you know, there’s a real creep out and about, even worse than the first guy I told you about.”
She hesitated, then swallowed. “And he uh…had me smash someone’s starseed…so there’s real nightmare fuel right? The b*****d threw it and I caught it not knowing what it was and. Well. There you go. Bye-bye someone’s soul…just like that…”
Tortali sighed, shivering just slightly. “You know, sometimes I sit and ask myself just what the hell I’m doing out here…but then I realize, s**t, I could be the poor civilian who just had their soul ripped out. At least now I know what I’m up against and have at least a little way to protect myself. That’s a good thing. I think. I hope.”
She laughed, then shrugged again. “I have no idea, Aventine. But I do know that I’ve missed you a lot.”
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Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 11:37 pm
The squire's mood wavered a bit; her mood sank when she heard about what had happened to Tortali and she reached out a hand to take the girl's and give it a quick squeeze. "That sounds rough. I'm glad you're okay, though. For what it's worth…it's not your fault. So don't blame yourself. The Negaverse guys are…are nasty, tricky freaks and I'm starting to think I wouldn’t mind bashing a few of their heads in. And like, I feel bad saying it, but…"
She pulled her hand back, making great effort to fuss with her hair so she could stall for a few extra seconds. "…Seriously, they need to go. I cannot stand the s**t they pull. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, but they're monsters. And they don't care about people. And I think I'm done being nice."
Or, at least, she wanted to be. "…I just don't know that I'm strong enough for that, yet. I feel like I can handle people weaker than me, but the captains, the generals? I don't stand a chance and I don't know what to do. It's killing me, it feels like no matter how much good I do, it's not enough. I'm just really disappointed in myself. I want to be better. I just."
She sighed again. "…I'm afraid to fight them, but I need the practice. And not just for myself—for the other knights, the senshi—the civilians, who can't protect themselves. I'm just so afraid of messing up."
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Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:22 pm
Tortali couldn’t help but grin a little as Aventine went on. Damn she was cute when she got angry. And…Well…”Why don’t you and I go at it? Right here and now. I could use some practice…and I don’t know. You can see just how tough I can be. And I promise, I’ll make you feel real bitter about life. I think. Grudges can be heavy things, don’t you know.”
She stuck out her tongue then gave a playful shove against Aventine. “What do you say? Spar with me…then we can go somewhere and get dinner. Just the two of us. And maybe you could even come over and we could stay up and watch movies all night. A real girl’s night.” Her grin was wider. “I would love that. I really would.”
She needed a girls night. Needed a night to just be with a friend and get her mind off of everything and anything. Maybe even drink a little bit. Yeah. All of this senshi stuff was driving her to drink. Or at least to want to drink. What a terrible thing it was indeed.
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Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:32 pm
Aventine thought for a moment, and then sprouted a grin to match Tortali's. "Okay, deal. Except, you should come over to my place so you can meet my dog. He'll be just heartbroken if I leave him home alone. You'll love him!"
She paused, and gave Tortali a look. "…Or, at least, you better."
Her mock intimidation faded rapidly and she backed up a few steps, taking on a defensive fighting stance. "I'm ready when you are, come at me!"
Admittedly, the Squire wasn't sure what to expect from the senshi; she hadn't found many white moon senshi who wanted to fight, and her only experience with bad senshi had been more fists than magic. Her blood was already pumping from the anticipation, but the grin never left her face.
…Even if she was seriously afraid to lose to Tortali. She wanted to show off, but she didn't want to hurt the girl…
Especially not when she had suggested such a nice evening for them after all of this…
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:44 am
“Your place, my place. Wherever I don’t even care so long as I can hang out with you.” She laughed, then stretched for a moment, glad that Aventine looked so ready to get this sparring underway. It was a lot easier to think about sparring with her than it was with Kallichore. That girl was just…really strong and even though she knew that it would all be okay, it still was…it felt dumb to just come at her like she was told to.
Aventine…that really was a different story. She knew that Aventine wouldn’t hurt her. And she knew that she wouldn’t hurt Aventine. And…then she knew that tonight they would pet Anella’s dog and have a good time…so it was very easy to run up at the girl, fists raised.
When she reached the squire, she pointed her finger. “Tortali Simple Grudge!” Sure it was a bit of a cop out, but the Squire had to deal with magical enemies at least sometimes…right?
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:38 am
“What!" The squire blurted, surprised when the magic hit her. She had been surprised that the girl Tortali was jumping right into using her attacks. Power to her, of course—senshi had magic. They should be able to use it.
Of course, it wasn't fair.
She had started from scratch, wit nothing but that dinky little perfume bottle—and what did she have to show for it? Nothing but a bruised ego and a few mental scars. She would have loved to have some magic—where was her magic all those times the Negas and Dark Mirror Senshi? It didn't even make sense that they could be allies when the Senshi were so obviously favored. It wasn't fair—why didn't the pages have anything to defend themselves with?
Magic. What a joke.
The squire's face was twisted into an unhappy scowl and she firmly planted her hands on her hips. Her mind was running in circles on itself and it was almost painful. She felt betrayed but some great cosmic entity—that she could be so abandoned while fortune favored on others. Wasn't she trying hard enough? Wasn't she risking enough already?
Anger and resentment coiled in her stomach and she didn't have anyone to lash out on. Except for Tortali over there.
"You senshi have it so easy, you know. Your magic. You know, I didn't get mine until I was a squire, and even then it's not as neat as that. I have to be right up in their face. Which is really unfortunate if they have a weapon or something." Her voice was a bit callous, though she seemed almost distracted.
Producing her perfume bottle, she looked at it—and then at the senshi. "Want to see?"
She didn't really wait for a response before she crossed the distance between them and spritzed the perfume. The area immediately smelled of a strange, floral aroma. Pleasant—and intoxicating.
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:51 am
Oh she seemed mad! This attack was quite fun to use, and seeing everyone’s reactions was always a fun thing as well. “You have magic as well, Aventine? Do tell.”
Tortali seemed a bit wary, though threw out her leg, trying to trip Aventine up while she was monologueing…though then a wonderful smell reached her nostrils and she paused, looking up at Aventine, her expression going blank just slightly. Damn. Was this her magic? But…but how could this be magic…? She was the thing that was Magic. Aventine was the most magical thing here and…
And she was just so pretty. So pretty. Tortali felt her face burning as she looked at the Squire, and finally she moved closer, doing what she had been wanting to for quite a while, though just never having the nerve to, and this magic. This…whatever…
She had the nerve now.
The senshi grabbed Aventine’s shoulders and kissed her full on the lips.
Take that magic.
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 10:30 am
Aventine remained frozen for a long moment; she obviously hadn't been anticipating that. Either the kiss was distracting or Tortali's magic had faded, all she knew was that she wasn't angry anymore.
All she could focus on was Tortali's lips (wow, they were seriously soft; she was going to need some tips). Her heart was racing and it took a few seconds of confused complacency before she forced herself to back up. "Oh," she flushed, rushing to fan herself. Her face was red and blank, though as she looked at the girl she couldn’t help but smile.
"Oh, I don't—sorry," she laughed, "I don't…know what came over me. That—your attack, that was…that was really something. Are you okay? I…"
That hadn't been the type of sparring she'd been thinking of. What was next, tongue wrestling?
Oh. Oh, there was her face heating up again; she tried to hide it by smiling wider, though she was pretty sure she was just looking pretty damned embarrassing.
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 10:45 am
Tortali gave a little laugh when Aventine started stammering all of the nonsense that was coming out of her mough. She was just too cute. And she wasn’t freaking out too much. And she had kissed back. Or at least she thought she had kissed back. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but oh well. It was close enough to her kissing back.
“Yeah…my attack’s pretty cool and all…and yours. That was uh. Some powerful emotions that came over me just now. Sorry about that.”
She paused. “Yeah, no I’m not sorry. I think I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while now…so uh. Yeah. I did it and it was great and I’ll do it again if you’d ever let me. Because. Well. You’re really attractive.”
Tortali gave a slight cough now, face bright red. This hadn’t been the point of the sparring, not by a long shot…but hey. “You know if you use that on some of those chaos freaks, you’ll make out nicely. It would be hard to attack someone as beautiful as you anyway, and throw that into the mix and phew. They have no chance.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 11:20 am
Aventine seemed a bit confused by Tortali's words, though the smile remained on her face. Her ears were burning and she was a bit uncomfortable—though it wasn't anything unbearable. She was still learning exactly what her magic did, though she wasn't sure if Tortali was still under the effects of her perfume or not…
She didn't have the energy to channel it anymore, so all she could do was keep that smile planted on her face.
She was good with flirting. Or at least, hooking them in. It was keeping them that she typically had a problem with.
"I want kids," she blurted. "Lots of kids. So don't kiss me again unless you're comfortable with like eight kids running around our house together, ten years from now."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 11:44 am
Tortali raised an eyebrow, then laughed. Was this a challenge? Was Aventine really going there? Or was it an invitation to kiss her again provided she didn’t mind kids?
Well. She wasn’t going to disappoint such a pretty lady…
The senshi moved forward, grabbing Aventine and kissing her again, just a peck this time. “I don’t know, Ave. Ten kids in eight years is quite a lot…” She paused. Oh god, her mind was all fuzzy. “I mean…eight kids in ten years. Oh, you know what I meant…but yeah. I wouldn’t mind kids too. Not at all. I like them. Smelly beasts.”
Her heart was hammering in her chest and she let out a rather nervous giggle. “So uh…what do you say we go to your place and pet your dog and eat ice cream now, hm? That sounds like a good plan to me.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:09 pm
"Only takes nine months to grow a baby! And if there's two of us, that's twice as many kids!" Aventine laughed; it was half forced and half nervous, but she wasn't the sort to shyly back down.
Though, she was rather hasty to change the subject. "So uh—yeah, ice cream, is that—that's what you said? Sounds great to me! You want to drop by your place and get an overnight bag packed up, then we can go pig out on ice cream?"
She was talking too quickly and she knew it; she didn't even think the darkness could hide her red face, and holy hell, wow she would be impressed if she didn't have a heart attack on the way there. She'd be lucky if she didn't just keep making a fool of herself...especially now since she felt strangely eager to impress Tortali.
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