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 Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 5:34 pm
The pink Sushi-a-Go-Go and blue Hummingbird boutique lights washed over girls stumbling over their cream and navy heels. Under the flashing neon, their eyes and dresses shimmered. Some wore the short ones in which they could never cross their legs or lift pennies from the sidewalk, and some wore the dresses their mothers fawned over because they were so. Cute. But they all laughed so loud ("TEHEHEHE"), Medea heard from the top of the bar's giant yellow clock. It shone over the sidewalks, counting down to the return of these girls to their apartments, roommates, textbooks, sinks where they would spew as they held back each other's hair. She would protect them on their journey to and from the clubs.
She would be there.
She would be ready.
She was...
THE BATMAN. Exhausted. She sat against the giant clock and shut her eyes.
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Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 2:56 pm
Sometimes it felt relieving just to wander.
Even if it hurt to walk for hours in those impractical heels, Leda still meandered through the town as if searching for something. Not fellow senshi, not Negaverse agents, not youma straying for a meal. She simply wanted to see the places she aimed to protect, and try to understand what it was that kept her powering up in the midst of this war.
She was a teenager, after all, and before senshi life hit her like a truck, her fancies lay in makeup and clothes and glossy fashion magazines. But now? She wore the dress she lusted after many an evening, the one she tried to make several times over, the one she failed and fussed over and finally failed in creating. But the cosmos offered it to her still, and she wore it in thanks. But was that all she powered up for? To wear a dress she always wanted?
And that's why she wandered until her feet hurt, until blisters the size of quarters sprang up around her ankles.
She passed a pair of giddy teenagers, whom she smiled at warmly. Though she offered a wave, they were far too engrossed in their drunken conversations about that boy from the bar and oh-my-god a term paper tomorrow to really pay her any mind.
And then she felt the quiet humming of one akin to her, a warming sensation across her skin like the sun sprawling over its dominion. She relished the feel, and thus she searched the area to locate the source of her sudden uplifting presence. Finally, with enough scanning, she spotted a vividly colored senshi leaning languidly against a giant clock. So what senshi hung around atop a bar? The place was kind of a dive.
Leda leapt into the air, crowning a neighboring building before she rushed across its precipice to leap once more,landing with a pair of dainty clacks against its surface. The girl looked tired; maybe Leda shouldn't bother her, but... "Um, hi there!" She offered an exuberant wave. "Do you mind if I sit here too? I was just passing through, and um, I was pretty surprised to find another senshi around here!" Finally she sat close to the purple-haired girl and retracted her legs beneath her billowing skirt. "Ooh, before I forget - I'm Leda, senshi of steam." She punctuated her statement with a smile warm enough to bake cookies.
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Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 8:57 pm
"HELLO." Medea's eyes flashed wide open and she gaaaaaasped as she almost fell off the roof with surprise. Clutching on the giant clock, she leaned forward over the streets. Panting with fear, she said, "It's nice to meet you...too." She slowly, slowly, slowly turned to give Leda a handshake. "Steam, huh?"
What if her steam punk outfit was a red herring that surprised her as much as her greeting? Medea narrowed her eyes.
"Steaaaam, huh?" She leaned forward staring SUPER DEEP into her eyes. "Okay, Leda, Senshi of Steam--" Her mouth upturned in a big smile. She leapt up. "I'm Medea!" Forget being tired! A senshi meant a *friend*! "Senshi of Enchantment!"
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 5:38 pm
Leda lurched forward at the soonest indication of Medea's loss of balance, and she seized the girl's shoulders in hopes of reeling her back against the clock. Despite her best efforts, the senshi managed to right herself on her own, but Leda's hands lingered on her shoulders for a few minutes as a protective measure. She desperately wanted to avoid one of her allies ending up seriously hurt just because of an introduction...
"Um, yeah... Steam," she confirmed with significant apprehension. She seemed a little suspicious of the green-eyed girl's sphere, as if it were a lie or a trap or some huge conspiracy meant to lure the girl into the Negaverse and trap her forever in some horrible corrupted life. "I um, can... Steam things. I mean..." She trailed off, eyes darting everywhere around Medea.
She desperately needed a better explanation for this strange new senshi.
"My attack, I can summon steam and um... Scald people." It sounded appalling and horrific and all kinds of painful, which was why Leda blanched slightly when she finished her statement. It was never her aim to cause harm, but could she avoid it? "What does your magic do, Medea? Ooh, can you like... Enchant my shoes? Maybe the gears would spin!" Suddenly she delighted herself with the notion that her outfit might come alive under the purple-haired senshi's magics. Eagerly she awaited a response, and shifted more fully to face her new friend.
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Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2013 10:06 am
"HURM~" Too sweet. Devious. Suspicious. But she would play along...for now. Don't think she didn't know your schemes, Leda. Medea knew. KNEW. You were bad. Evil. Terrible. That smile...That smile would destroy her. Leda...Leda was the EVILLEST IRON EVER. SHE WOULD STEAM THE WORLD INTO A STEAMY MUSH. "I. Don't. Trust. You." Medea squinted. "But. I. Like. You. Even though you're too...nice."
She relaxed against the clock.
"Alluring Enchantment..." She sighed. Her hands glowed pink. "Give me your shoes." She would give them that pink shine for a few seconds, then give them back. No harm done. Just parlor tricks.
"I wouldn't hurt you, I promise. It's harmless, really."
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 11:24 am
Leda shrank further into the folds of her outfit at the girl's declaration that she didn't trust the senshi of steam. She cringed, bit her lip, but it did nothing more than accentuate the sudden warp of her countenance. She quaked a little, muttered a meek "Ooh," to signify her discomfort. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to um... Be untrustworthy."
It sounded so forced. She didn't think she successfully conveyed her sincerity. No wonder the girl didn't trust her.
"My shoes?" She found it difficult to trust Medea after her claim that she didn't trust Leda, but she hesitantly shirked her shoes regardless. It required stripping off her socks as well, which she laid gently against the inward rim of the clock, before she handed the pair over to the senshi sitting across from her.
Leda liked the glow in her hands, though she didn't know what it meant. Was it some kind of horrible death ray? Would she go blind for staring at it? Would her shoes suddenly burst into flames when she put them back on? Maybe Medea would simply immolate her shoes and she'd have to go barefoot as a senshi forever.
And then she remembered the outfit regenerated itself after she powered down. It was a minor relief, but relief nonetheless. She sighed.
"I'm sorry if I did anything to make you distrust me... I just didn't want you to fall off the clock." She sighed once more, this time in dismay. When did she become such a terrible senshi? The better question was, when did she think of herself as a good senshi? "Can we maybe start over?" She desperately wanted to avoid the prospect of distrust within the White Moon ranks. They already suffered from a lack of organization, didn't they? As Ida mentioned before, starting out as a senshi was probably the hardest thing she'd ever done. With no direction, how did they expect these senshi to succeed?
And for the time being, Medea was a reflection of that sentiment. Without knowing who to trust, how was she supposed to survive in this war?
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Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 7:01 am
Medea frowned.
"Your apologies make it worse." She took Leda's shoes and they glowed. She handed them back She didn't point, so the Senshi could glance wherever she pleased. "If you've done nothing wrong, then why apologize?"
Below, a couple laughed.
"We won't start over." She shrugged. "I told you I liked you. That's enough." She leaned in. "I know the feigned innocence, the sorry act, I've done it, my dear." A man puked on the street corner. "You can't fool me--not like that, at least."
Dogs howled at the moon. Coins slid into vending machines. Leda couldn't be trusted.
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Posted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 7:23 am
"I'm s-" Leda paused, cringed, leaned away. It was difficult to accomplish, but the Steam Senshi suppressed another apology. "Um, I don't know, I guess I just... got used to it since I'm kinda... clumsy in real life. Not like, bump into things clumsy, but I say the wrong things sometimes." Which was true - often times she stuck her foot in her mouth when it came to interacting with her peers, and she learned to try to compensate for that by expressing her guilt toward her social ineptitude. Did it work? Maybe. Would it stop her from trying? No.
"Why are you like this?" What did Leda do to deserve this? All she did was join the senshi on the roof, in an attempt to get to know one of the new girls who joined them. She didn't expect identities or names, she didn't request any proof of loyalty, she didn't demand that Medea listen to her. Sure, she didn't want the purple-haired senshi to hate her, but she wasn't trying to manipulate her in the process. She was just being nice, right?
Or was she somehow being not-nice by being nice? Did she manipulate by accident?
No, she had to have faith in herself here. If she wanted to manipulate Medea, she'd have been consciously aware of it. This wasn't the time to falter, not in the face of a wayward senshi. "I don't know you very well, but I know myself." She drew a breath. She had to be strong for this. "I'm not trying to be mean to you, or manipulate you, Medea. It's just..." How could she explain a genuine friendliness? An interest in others? A love for the girls who suffered the same strife and circumstance as she did? "I know you're new, because I can feel it. You're a fresh face. And this is a hard place to be." She brushed a hand atop the girl's, and entwined it within her own.
How could she explain the nature of water? The intrinsic warmth in steam? Its intrinsic ties to life?
"I don't want you to feel lost like I did. That's all."elza magica leeeeedaaaaa you are making it worseeeeeee
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Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 9:15 pm
"I'm not--" handtouchhandtouchhandtouch "--lost." She furrowed her brow. Concentrate. If she could concentrate, then the physical contact would mean nothing. Leda didn't have this power over her! Medea was the enchantress here: She controlled the situation, right? "I think?" She frowned. This vulnerability upon physical contact...Leda why did you do this were you trying to kill her? Huffing and reddening, Medea shooed Leda's hands away. "You're distracting me with your hands!" She quickly stood and faced the street.
"Why are you even--?" She clutched her forehead. Maybe a hole would open. Then she could join Natron and Buddy and the others. "Don't you feel bad?" Then, faced Leda quite desperately. "Don't you feel bad hurting people, Leda?"
She slumped.
Leda...Leda seemed like one of the girls who always turned in homework on time and dotted her i's with little hearts, and maybe they could have been friends before this war, but now it tired Medea and made her sleepy and weak and she really wanted Leda to just hug her and tell her that they could get along with the Dark Mirror and Negaverse but she knew Leda would never do that because it betrayed her sugary, glistening purity, and well, maybe Leda would reach to those poor souls from her steamy, steam punk roost, but would she ever understand them? Would she ever understand her?
Medea doubted it.
"I mean, that's what we do. We hurt Agents and Dark Mirror Senshi--sometimes, when they don't even attack us. How can we reconcile that?" Preliminary strike? Protecting the masses? Was that enough? "I don't know if I'm fresh anymore."
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Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:47 am
"Ooh, sorry, I didn't mean to say you were lost. Just... a ton of new senshi are out there, you know? And I mean, has anyone been teaching them? I know when I started, I couldn't really figure anything out, so it would've been nice to have someone teach me..." She sighed, and pulled her hands from Medea's. It was obvious that the girl detested every inch of her, so she retreated, but only enough to break contact.
Leda cringed and recoiled moderately when Medea turned on her again, but managed to maintain the composure that she would've lost only months earlier. "Um, I don't try to hurt people. I mean, agents will attack me but I don't really attack them... Just youma, and youma try to hurt everyone, so I guess that's enough for me?" It felt strange and stilted to explain her rationale. Maybe it was simply so embedded into her that she never thought much about it. Monster attacked innocent bystanders, so monster had to go. Everyone would go home a little safer.
But agents were trickier - though they harmed others, she hardly ever caught them in the act. On top of it, they had human identities just like her, and they could possibly be her classmates or friends or even her own mother. She couldn't bring herself to attack one readily - only dissuade them from their vengeance through the use of her magic.
Negaverse agents and Dark Mirror senshi had homes, lives, small pets to cherish, friends and boyfriends and girlfriends... They were no different than her, only by powered identity alone did they retain any defining qualities. Maybe there wasn't any difference from a normal war, where both sides held strong beliefs, but both sides retained humanity and normalcy and all the things she treasured in her typical life. Negaverse agents can like bouquets of flowers, and Dark Mirror senshi can enjoy walks just after a fresh rain. Maybe she and two of their factions had enjoyed coffee during study hours before.
Why would she want to attack them?
"But we don't have to hurt them, Medea. I mean, I don't even like hurting them for energy draining. Everyone gets more energy, right? But... People deserve to be left alone, you know? They already have a ton to deal with. Why do we need to add to that?" She huffed, and drew her legs to her chest before laying them across the ground once more. She folded her hands into the ruffles of her dress and smoothed them to no avail. "It'd be nice if everyone just powered down and forgot about the whole thing, but I guess at worst if we make it a stalemate... Maybe they'd just give up."
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