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 Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 7:43 am
There was something weird and nostalgic about being in a circus during an eclipse in a dusty old corner of Zirconia's seized and locked memories, but it was a particular flavor of deja vu Zia decided would be best not to dwell on.
What she was more concerned with, being as self absorbed as she was, was how ******** cold fall was. She wanted to go index hunting tonight, but after powering up to full energy leaking cat form, the strapless bodice and overlay combo nearly made her fall over at a light autumn breeze and she powered right back down. She'd been spoiled by the civilian boon of getting to wear whatever the ******** you wanted on patrol, and she far preferred her zip up hoodie to her dress.
But patrolling for trouble was hard when you didn't have an aura and couldn't sense them either. She figured a page would do to trick. Or maybe she just wanted to bother Luxor since she had higher powered relatives and family friends that were just as easy to access.
Either way she was at the carnival, pounding on his office door and wailing in what she considered comically over dramatic, "Trick or treeeeeat! Come patrol with meeee!"
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2013 8:14 pm
Chester got up from his chair, where he was doing some paper work at a messy desk, and walked to answer the door. He took his coat off the wall, though he wouldn't get to keep it when he powered up, and opened the door only to stop the pounding. He looked at her, already shrugging on his coat.
"Okay."
He rarely ever said no to her. In fact, he could not remember a time when he denied her anything at all. She had this ability to just make his walls crumble down, and he was nothing but a squishy, easily used pile of mush for her. Whatever she wanted, he inevitably gave in, even if he did sigh heavily or frown deeply while doing it.
There was something he needed to show her, anyway, since he'd patrolled a while before, without her, and something strange had happened. He closed the door to his office and locked it, putting the key in his pocket and walking a few steps away from it, assuming she would follow him.
"Where are we going?" he asked, bland and to the point as always.
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2013 9:14 pm
Zia's eyes were flicking from one object to the other in the brief half a second it took to get a reaction to her brattish demands. Which felt like forever, from her perspective, because she really didn't like waiting when she wanted something.
But when the door opened and she was rewarded for her non-patience with Chester's presence, she snapped to attention and lit up considerably with a wide, enthusiastic smile.
"I dunno, out fishing," She said, trotting after him. "Where do you usually patrol? I try to find perches people usually pass over to get from point a to b or find a nice little section of the park. But I'm just indexing, not actually trying to fight anything, so I dunno what you're gonna want to do," She babbled. His to the point lack of reaction didn't seem to faze her when she had an endless supply of meaningless stuff to vocalize.
She just made an attempt to loop her arm around his and match his pace.
"As long as you don't end up gutted by anything I'd say it's a productive night! I didn't bring the Impala so you'd better not need an emergency room tonight, buddy."
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2013 9:25 pm
"Around here," he said. He kept his grounds safe, then he wandered out in random directions to find Negas to fight. Or get beaten up by, as the case had been. But now he felt like he was better, since he'd been granted the power to be stronger. He was a Squire now, or so he had deigned from his encounters with other knights before.
He didn't ask many questions, and he learned as he went. His knowledge was sparse, but he didn't really care. Usually, Zia filled in the gaps for him just fine.
"I'll make sure you're okay," he said, nodding his head. That was the role he wanted to play for her, anyway. He watched her for a moment, then powered up to his new Squire form. It was safest to power up on the grounds, since there was no one else there at this time besides him and her, and sometimes some vagabond runaways or something, but they were generally alright.
"I won't need an emergency room tonight," he said evenly, though there was a little glimmer in his eyes as he watched her and wondered what she thought of his new outfit and strength.
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2013 9:57 pm
"Oh, well I guess it's big enough," Zia pondered, glancing around over both shoulders as they walked. The carnival grounds were definitely a decent patrol territory, but she hadn't really considered them to be teeming with activity. Probably because she thought most logical negas would want to avoid returning to the scene of a crime with so much carnage and media coverage.
Then again, she had previously gotten a captain to give up the stats on his superior officer in exchange for a little ego fluffing and a hug so she was also willing to admit the Negaverse had it's flaws in tactical thinking at times.
His statement regarding his role for the night, mostly in just making sure she didn't get her own a** killed, actually garnered a reaction that wasn't flighty and detached babble. A quick pause and even a weird tinge of red bubbled to her cheeks before she laughed it off with a "Pft, thanks."
Then he had to go and power up, which got more than a nervous blush and laugh this time. Right away she noticed her had more armoring and a much more commanding aesthetic than his mostly naked baby page form. As if she hadn't already spent enough time the last several days coping with massive, gear turning changes in her environment, she apparently still had enthusiasm left for this.
"WAAAH! Holy crap! Look at you!" She blurted with a weird jump and flail of her arms before she pulled out her phone to update his index sheet. Business first.
"When did this happen? How? Oh..." She did take note he still had no pants. And bit down hard on her lip to avoid making a relative comment.
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2013 10:20 pm
Luxor did not miss the way her cheeks turned red at him, and he imagined it was because he was still lacking in the clothes department. He chose to miss that the color had started before he powered up, or that she might have been awkward about something else, because that was convenient for him.
He let her take a picture of him, frowning for it specifically, and then watched her as she looked him over. He felt a little uncomfortable, but he shrugged as nonchalantly as he could.
"I was fighting a youma and my glove powered up a bit more. I became a Squire... and I feel a lot stronger for it. I think I can do more now. To stop them." The negaverse, he meant, but he didn't like referring to them as if they were people. They were just as easily classified as monsters as the youma themselves, and he saw no real reason to draw a line between them.
He cleared his throat.
"It is a little cold out, though. Let's patrol and... fish."
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2013 10:50 pm
"Yeah that's... wow," Zia angled her head around a bit to inspect the new armor details, taking in all the little additions and small accents over his torso. Uh, for science. And junk.
"Oh, you still don't have a shirt," She commented, and pushed her fingers between his flesh and one of the belts on his chest with a concerned frown. "Does it chafe?" She'd hope whatever magical tailors decided their uniforms hat that covered, though.
"One more step and you'll be at full power," She beamed. "Are you excited?"
She didn't miss the dehumanizing phrasing of the enemy, which she was fine with. Honestly, it was one of the reasons why she was more comfortable with him. While the Negaverse was not her foe of choice, she certainly saw the benefits of an enemy that was less than human, and considered the Dark Mirror Court to be little more than youma in skin suits.
A little death and destruction in the course of stopping them wasn't that bad either.
"Oh! Right," She fumbled with her phone and glanced around, her concerned frown returning at his comment. "Are you uncomfortable? We could go out on another night."
She had been known to offer her sweater to senshi accompanying her and almost did it out of habit until she repressed the urge and internal gigglefit at the thought of her tight women's hoodie on Luxor's physique. Which just made her say the fallowing with an awkward smile, no matter how genuine the sentiment was, "You look uncomfortable, I don't want you to be..."
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Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 8:32 pm
"I don't have any pants yet, either," he said, as if he knew that was what she really wanted to comment on, though he appreciated her not really focusing on his poor skirt-like substitute for pants. He watched as she inspected the leather straps of his armor, or what passed as armor, and shook his head in response to her question. No chaffing, as far as he knew yet. He had not been powered up in this form for long, though, as he had wanted her to see it.
Maybe he was being sentimental and silly, but it was important to him.
"I'm not uncomfortable," he said after a long beat to consider the cold air, which resulted in him slowly shaking his head. "It's alright. I don't know if I'm excited about being powered up more, but I know I can use it. I want to be as strong as possible, to offer the most challenge to the Negaverse as possible. To defeat them."
He was a serious sort, as an understatement, but talking about them really did put him in a bad mood. His eyes grew darker, but it was only for a moment, and he chased the thoughts off. His frown grew slightly less severe.
"It might be good to get out for a bit." He nodded down the road, walking slowly.
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Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 10:11 pm
"Well, pants are overrated," Zia said with a light snerk and a one armed shrug. "I mean, my powered forms don't have pants either!"
Okay that was a lame joke at his expense. Zia knew she was not being comforting comparing his uniform to her dress or a fuzzy animal. It was hard to resist pointing out, though, especially since she didn't think having a fuzzy animal as your powered identity was all that fun either.
It was also probably not healthy at all that his stern and dark tone when he discussed destroying the Negaverse made her swoon out a weird sound, and she went back to being all starry eyed. Epic quests of vengeance and destruction were things she really needed to learn to stay away from and not encourage, but they also raised her adrenaline and fangirl levels to off the charts proportions.
To the point it took her a moment to realize he had started walking on again and she snapped out of it with a bit of a, "Aaah~" And picked up her pace to catch up with him and grab on his arm again. "I am so excited for you, you're going to be amazing," She gushed. "What do you think your magic does? Oh, I can energy flare if you want to use it right away," She reached over to pull his glove hand closer to her for inspection. "I'm so proud of you."
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Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 11:49 pm
"I think there are different rules for girls."
He was not going to take comfort from a girl telling him it was okay for him not to have pants because she didn't. Girls were perfectly allowed to wear pants or skirts, but the same was not generally accepted for boys. At least, in his experience so far, with how many people had teased him so far.
And her other form was a cat. Obviously pants were not required.
He noticed the way she looked at him when he let his anger get the better of him, and he was grateful that she did not seem repulsed by his need for revenge. She had been nothing but supportive of him, and he appreciated that sincerely. He also pondered her bashful looks, but tried not to notice them. It wouldn't do him any good.
He was already head over heels.
"I don't know what it does yet," he said thoughtfully, looking at his glove as she took it in his hand. "I don't want to risk hurting you, though. I'll wait to use it on something I don't like." Her words made him feel warm, though, as she praised him and told him she was proud. It meant a lot to him, and he smiled at her, despite his natural instincts against such things as smiles and showing his emotions.
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Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 12:19 am
"I knoooow," Zia said with a laugh and rolled her shoulders, deciding to brush it off and not tease him further. That, and it was probably better for both of them not to dwell on her flighty and starry eyed reaction to his anger.
Zia often tried to play down, ignore, or blatantly pretend she didn't frequently think about certain things, and her inability to do them. She was a supporting role, both in magic ability and personality, and so all she could do was cheerlead and live vicariously through more capable people.
And she had never been more clear than when she drank herself into a stupor and had to hang on Realgar: I just want them to suffer.
Justice and penance were in short supply. There were too many bad guys on the gameboard who had not properly suffered yet. Luxor's anger was probably the most honest outlet she had. Whether or not her investment in that anger was a healthy thing for either of them was a different story.
"Aw, you like me?" She teased childishly and made a face, a combination of goofy smile and biting her tongue. It was a conscious effort to distract herself from the objectively awful things going on behind the scenes in her head. Especially when she started pondering magic, his magic, and wondering if his new strength would allow him to actually take lives.
She did catch his smile and managed to tone her expression down to something more genuinely happy, though, rather than the fake act she pulled out of nowhere when she was hiding something.
"Well, I am pretty loud on the auric field. I am sure a youma nearby would think I'm delicious," She quipped, but shrugged it off easily. "Or we could just keep walking around, nothing wrong with this." Walking was nice.
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Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:35 pm
Luxor tried not to let his face betray him, and show how embarrassed he was to have said that he liked her out loud. He was sure her teasing was just in jest, but he felt very awkward because of it. Not that it showed on his face, and he had nothing to worry about in that regard. Emotions were safely tucked away behind his mask of blandness.
"I'm not sure I like using you as bait," he said, with one of his patented disapproving frowns. Different to his regular, listless frowns or his happy frowns. This one was actually meant to convey distaste, and he even wrinkled his nose at the thought of a youma wanting to eat her.
Even if it had no chance in hell of getting near her, he still didn't like the idea of it.
"We'll walk and find something the old fashioned way. If we don't, that's alright. I can use my magic any time." He wasn't really sure how to use it, anyway. He didn't want to hurt her by it doing something crazy. Maybe he was being too protective, but he was squishy on the inside, despite his hard exterior. He was sure they would run into a youma sooner rather than later, anyway.
"How are you doing?" It was a general question, and she could answer it however she liked, but after walking in silence for a little bit he felt it prudent to ask something.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:42 am
"I--... R-really?" Zia was caught off guard by the disapproval. Her usefulness as bait or a back up youma blaster or an aura dampener were common reasons she was invited out on patrols at all, so she hadn't thought too much of her suggestion.
"Oh. Okay," She said with her own measure of blandness. She didn't mean it out of any disappointment, but because she was unsure of how to respond. And after that shock, realized that as angry as she got when she perceived the way allies treated her was because they thought of her as a tool or a pet, she was not quite sure how to handle the opposite case.
"Oh! I'm doing... Uh. Okay, I guess. You should come see my apartment. Or-... Well I guess it's not really mine, I think my mom is trying to patch things up with me, but either way. You've been pretty awesome while I get back on my feet..." She said, trailing off while she inspected his upgraded glove. "You're a pretty awesome dude in general!"
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Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:32 am
Luxor was not sure about her reaction, since it seemed natural to him to not use his friends as bait. Especially the friends he had such strong feelings for, and would hate to be responsible for injuring. As if he had friends he wouldn't mind seeing injured, but that was besides the point in his brain and he was not splitting hairs so finely.
All he knew was he did not want Zia hurt.
"I would like to see your place," he said with a quiet nod, though he had stocked his own place with food just in case she wanted to keep coming back and hanging out. She had a free pass to do as she pleased around the carnival grounds, and his office. He did actually have a real home, but he never stayed there.
Most of the time he didn't even think about it.
"I am not that awesome, but I appreciate that you think so..." he said with a slight red color to his face. He let her examine his glove, not sure what it did and not in a hurry to find out. It allowed him to confuse his opponent for a moment, which was one of those move types in games that, if he played, he would probably not bother with since he'd be the smash and run type.
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Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 7:55 pm
"Yes! We can get take out and have dinner and everything!" Finally, she would succeed in feeding him, which was the highest class of socially appropriate, family rated Zia-affection in existence.
"I mean I like the circus too. I don't know why. It's like deja vu or something," But deja vu she didn't think was worth exploring considering what a headache old and locked memories gave her when she tried digging in.
"Pft, are you kidding?" She commented as she turned his gloved hand around and moved it up and down for examination. "I think you have amazing potential. Ys said you're a grump with a stick up your butt, but I think you have more passion than you let on and you have the ability to go really far," Sadly for both of them, she purely meant in the war against Chaos. Zia was enthusiastic when it came to players in the game that had the potential to shake things up for either side and she liked Luxor's anger more than she should've.
"And speaking of your butt, I know you don't like it much, but you're probably one of the few people around here with the body to pull off that uniform so you shouldn't grouse too hard! Especially now that you have a little more protection. And besides, you're nice to me. So yeah, I think you're a pretty capable guy and you should not think otherwise."
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