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 Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:15 pm
This place felt familiar. Familiar in a bad way. Like Sailor Albali should have known exactly why she was there, yet she hadn't the faintest idea. Part of being in the Negaverse was learning the city in the dark, Zinkenite had explained to her in that perfunctory manner of his. You were supposed to learn the best ways to get in and out of a place so that if, Descartes forbid, you were caught by an Order soldier you could escape without exhausting your teleportation.
Also it apparently had to do with her abilities as well to drain energy off the populace and how it was best done in dark places, out of sight from potential bystanders or interfering naysayers. Energy was required to support their cause to keep pushing the senshi (the ones who served the Moon Queen, not the ones such as herself who had been properly enlightened) and unfortunately had to be borrowed from the citizenry.
Certainly that didn't bother Albali. She already had the prime location for her first draining marked. Mothers all across the city would be thanking her for that quiet night when she drained the children of their energies. Yet it didn't explain why she was in this place. This place that her feet had trod every other night for over two years, two years that she absolutely could not have remembered if she'd wanted to.
So standing exposed, in the center of a quiet street at 2am, Albali was frowning at the ground. Intensely.
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:11 pm
It was familiar for Leto too, except she remembered every moment of every day that she was a Blood Moon Court Senshi. There were days that she was thankful for it, and others that she felt it cursed her and she wished it would all go away. But like a bad habit, she patrolled her old route and drained - as much as she possibly could with her rogue Wraiths - along the way. As she struggled to pull her Wraith back into its shard after a civilian dropped to the ground, Leto cringed when she felt the power signature of a Negaverse agent. With the alliance being on rocky ground, she was never entirely sure if she would encounter friend or foe and that had her on edge. But as she approached and the familiar purple hair and not-so-familiar ribboned fuku came into view, the knot in her stomach turned from worry to a mixture of anger and confusion. " Albali?" Her eyes narrowed and a stream of curse words slipped from her lips as she finally reined in her Wraith and tucked her shard into it's pouch under her bracer. "What the ********?" Taking a few steps towards the other girl, head tilted to the side. Her gaze settled first on the black hole in her forehead, then the one in her chest.
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:38 pm
Turning at the sound of her name on unfamiliar lips, eyes narrowed slightly in assessment. She'd seen this senshi before, hadn't she? That inner-sense that Thyone had been helping her cultivate (or rather, renew) told the Super senshi that this was a Chaos-aligned senshi. What kind of Chaos was hard to tell from the distance between them until Leto came closer. The lack of black star-like hole in chest and forehead told her everything she needed to know.
"Are you of the Dark Mirror? I've been told we're not specifically allies any longer, yet I don't see a reason to fight." Except this Eternal looked rather ready to punch her straight in the jaw, something the built woman preferred to avoid as much as possible. It was very hard to explain bruises away when they were on your face; wearing a pile of concealer and base in the middle of summer was not a thing any wise woman did.
Nonetheless Sailor Albali, the corrupt senshi who did not know if she had a power nor how to use it, turned fully to face Leto in a stance that could take nearly any hit dished at her. It never hurt to be cautious, after all.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 1:53 pm
"Oh for ******** sake," Leto sighed and rolled her eyes when Albali slipped into a fighting stance. "What do you mean am I of the Dark Mirror? You've known me for years." Taking a few steps closer to the other girl, she peered carefully at her. She was unsure and cautious, but closed the distance between them regardless.
Leto stared at her, her eyes moving and searching- not entirely sure what for. How the hell did Albali slip out of the Dark Mirror Court's hands without them knowing?
Part of her wanted to reach out and touch her, to make sure that she was real. But with the stance that the other Senshi was in and the alliance being on shaky ground, grabbing someone who seemed confused was likely not her best idea. Then suddenly something clicked, "You lost your Senshi memory, didn't you?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 2:01 pm
Seeing exasperation and curiosity instead of true anger, the stance relaxed somewhat. Hands brushed back the ridiculous mass of hair so that the Captain of the Dark Mirrors could see the holes in chest and forehead, could see clearly that where white had dominated her fuku, now there was nothing but darkness. How had she slipped out? Well it was very hard to turn someone to your side when your queen had gone missing, had refused to turn someone who had only ever craved serving her will. In other words, it was through well-intentioned stupidity.
Some of the confusion eased a bit when Leto seemed to know her, the more she observed the other senshi the more it seemed like the cantankerous mood being projected was habitual. "So I'm told. I haven't felt any truly significant gaps in my life, though my schedule for the past few years confirms that I have been a senshi for quite some time." Latching on rather quickly to the idea that Leto had known her for years, Albali lightly waved a hand to indicate their surroundings.
"Would you know anything about this area? It feels...familiar. You feel familiar but not as much." A frown. "I dislike this feeling."
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 2:16 pm
A hand moved, reaching for the gaping hole in Albali's chest. Her fingertips brushed the area if the Senshi of Echoes would let them. Leto's expression quickly changed when she asked her about the area they were in, her body tightening in a very visable cringe. That she didn't remember her, the Blood Moon Court, or Ares as far as she could tell, broke her heart.
Bottom lip slipping between her teeth so she could chew on it and stew over her question, Leto fell into silence. With a heavy breath, she finally pulled her hand back and offered Albali a smile.
"I'm sorry you don't remember. We used to be on a team together, as White Moon Senshi. This was your patrol route. You were..." She stopped, then her voice lowered, "You were supposed to be one of us, not a Negaverse Agent." She said the last two words as if they disgusted her.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 2:34 pm
Allowing someone to touch her was bad enough, but the light bit of pain that shot through Albali when fingertips touched against the edge of the ragged hole made it that much worse. A hiss of breath, fingers clenching at her side, body turned away so that it couldn't happen again. "Son of a b***h that hurts. They really out to give out a damn guide of what you should and shouldn't do." Cupping her hand over it unconsciously, Albali couldn't help but give a humorless smile at the other woman's disgust. "So I've been told. I was apparently intercepted by a selfish man who thought me worth stealing."
Hesitating she considered something that was, for Albali, a scandalous admission. She didn't even know this woman. Powers of deduction told her that this was probably the Sailor Leto that Zinkenite had spoken of to her; he'd mentioned she was one of the Mirror Queen's captains. They'd known each other. And yet she couldn't regret losing her time as a senshi. Instead the violet-haired woman kept silent about it. "Why wasn't I one of you? Zinkenite could not, or perhaps would not, answer that for me."
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 2:46 pm
It didn't even occur to Leto to introduce herself.
"Zinkenite?" Leto's arms crossed over her chest and her lips pursed. "Is he the one that did this? God damnit Zink." She groaned and rubbed at her face in an act of frustration. "He must have known that you were supposed to be a Dark Mirror Senshi. He had to have known. That sly ********."
She didn't mean it in a cruel way in the least bit; in fact Zinkenite was one of the few Negaverse Agents that Leto still trusted. But between the alliance shifting and the fact that he went and corrupted one of their biggest prospects... She was annoyed, to say the least.
"Ares is gonna be so pissed," she mumbled into her hands before they dropped to her sides. "I don't know. We were working on it! Ares has just been gone so we were waiting, I needed to talk to her and get the ball rolling and ******** now it's too late. I would have made sure it happened. And now..." She waved a hand at Albali's fuku.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 3:26 pm
Moving over to a nearby bench, sitting there with her legs primly crossed the way her mother had taught her, Albali nodded in affirmation of the Eternal's suspicions. "From the story he tells me, part of my grand plan towards gaining your Queen's attention was to gain his favor. He was, it seems, inspired by my dedication and the detailed information I provided him." What was horrible about what the Senshi of Echoes had just said were two simple words: your Queen. Not our Queen. Not even my Queen. Yours.
Ares was officially something that belonged entirely to the Dark Mirror Court, to a faction of Chaos that was not her own, the blind obsession gone forever. For Albali herself she'd felt like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders, a weight she attributed to being free of the obligations of Order. She wouldn't know, unless someone enlightened her, why she felt so very light. Nor could they explain why that same lightness made her ache in her chest at times.
Like now.
"I'd apologize for your disappointment but from everything I've heard it seems as if this was totally out of my hands. Something I am very unhappy about." Pausing, she shook her head. "Is there any reason I couldn't work with you if my old loyalties ever reasserted themselves?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 6:29 pm
Leto winced at her words, as if she was just slapped in the face. "She was your Queen once too, you know. Well, I guess you don't know. But she was, and when she comes back..." Her voice trailed off, and Leto shrugged her shoulders with a huff. "Whatever."
Apparently Leto was a little bit butthurt.
Her eyebrows raised at her mention of being unhappy. "At least you're playing for the right team now. Sort of." Moving over to the bench that Albali was sitting on, she plopped down next to her awkwardly shoving her buttwings out of the way. She slouched and leaned her head back so that she could stare up at the sky as she pondered her question. "I suppose we could work together if you wanted to. Or if you ever remembered. The alliance may be on different terms now but I can't imagine it being an issue," she glanced sideways at her. "Ares may not approve when she comes back though," she added with a smile and a quiet laugh.
Like Albali, Leto crossed her legs as well, except her's were outstretched in front of her and very much not-lady-like-at-all.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 6:47 pm
Seeing the emotion that was a mixture of sadness, frustration, and anger (aka butthurt) that was riding Leto, she wanted to feel something. Something more than curiosity about the life she'd lived and why it was considered so very bad that Albali did not claim fealty to the Dark Mirror Queen. A lot of questions to ask, a lot of information to process, but what had been was gone. You could only look forward, rarely behind you.
All the Senshi of Echoes had to offer as an olive branch, though it really wasn't her place to be apologetic, was a single piece of information. Casually she raised an eyebrow, smile slowly passing across her features. "Ah well you know, I have some information that might be of great interest to you. Apparently I knew enough about how you Dark Mirrors travel from place to place through the glass. Enough that I had the foresight to place a very large mirror smack in the center of my ah...planet?" Shaking her head somewhat disgustedly, she sighed. "In outer space, it seems. I don't know how well to believe that but I thought it was worth mentioning." The smile turned sharper, into a grin.
"I may have stolen Zinkenite's thunder. Ah well."
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:14 pm
"I'm sorry, what?" Albali most definitely had Leto's full attention now. She turned so she was sideways on the bench, her right leg tucked up under her. "Did you just tell me that we have a way to get into ******** space?"
Leto was in complete and utter awe, her eyes wide and if at all possible, sparkling.
"Is there a way for us to get there? Does Zink know how?" If she couldn't get to her own planet anymore, the ability to go to someone else's- hell, anywhere in space- was as good as it was going to get for the Dark Mirror Senshi and that brought on an excitement that she hadn't felt in a very very long time. "I could kiss you right now, Albali!"
Suddenly any feelings of anger, sadness or resentment towards the Negaverse (and maybe a little bit towards Zinkenite) disappeared, and Leto was left grinning like a mad-woman.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:25 pm
The sudden, rather overwhelming wave of chaotic energy that washed over the vicinity came as Leto opened her mouth to speak was due to the arrival of General King Howlite... Plus one.
"I wouldn't, if I were you. You don't know where she's been." The blonde monster's dimpled grin flashed briefly - an automatic reaction to the sight of a smile on Leto's face, before disappearing at the memory of their changed circumstances.
"Leto," the nod of acknowledgement was respectful, if reserved for two who were usually all on friendly terms. She didn't address Albali, not yet. Zinkenite, the shady fellow, was always playing one game or another, and while she wasn't displeased to have someone like Albali in their ranks, she knew it had to be... A power play. "Forgive me for interrupting, but we like to keep an eye on the newly recruited."
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:34 pm
Albali was a little shocked at how suddenly exuberant, how utterly excited, and affectionately grateful Leto had become. Enough to have her sitting back and away from the Senshi of Camouflage, should the other woman try to grab her for the smacking kiss. Teal eyes were a little wide, and a little wild, as she opened her mouth to explain. Unfortunately for Leto, her night was going to take a turn once more as Howlite appeared with her dear, darling, annoying plus one to interrupt the newest senshi recruit.
Prepared to be grateful, there was no end to the horror as a bouncy, blue-haired captain stuck her head out from behind the lanky blonde. "Albali! There you are, naughty thing!" Closing the distance between them quickly, one of Lina's hands snagged the senshi's, tugging on her to no avail. "Thyone told us we have to come bring you home because you've been a bad girl and need to be punished. Not her words, but I'm not gonna say what she said." An exaggerated wink, then the bluenette leaned down to smack a kiss against Leto's cheek.
It was utterly impossible for Lena to be professional around friends. Especially when that maniacal glint of mischief was in her eyes; Howlite was the only one that could wrangle her in these moods. Silently spluttering, overwhelmed, Albali finally got to her feet. "Ah yes well I was trying to answer a question. Leto was kind enough to fill in a few blanks for me." Thyone? Punishment?
Bloody hell.
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:53 pm
Leto practically jumped out of her seat when she felt the energy of a General King, half-expecting it to be Zinkenite to give her the perfect opportunity to punch him yet again. With the first word to come out of her mouth however, Leto knew exactly who was gracing her with their presence. She had to force the pained expression off of her face when she shifted in her seat to greet Howlite.
She returned the nod, a half-hearted laugh escaping. "No problem, interupt all you like." Not that Leto's permission made any difference what-so-ever.
"Just reintroducing myself to an old teammate," she added, feeling the need to defend herself. Following suit after Albali, Leto pushed herself up to her feet and returned Lena'a kiss on the cheek. Because ******** if she was going to let this alliance bullshit bring her down.
... Even if she was a little bit overwhelmed with all of the Negaverse presence surrounding her in that particular moment.
She took a step back away from the group and offered Albali a smile, "I hope I haven't caused you too much trouble with your superiors, darlin'. I'm sure these fine ladies will take good care of you, though."
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