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 Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:50 pm
With the location of Fritz, at least, established, and a time and date planned for them to go to the Surrounding and make sure it hadn’t completely shattered in two years, she felt more at ease with the idea of contacting non-Zodiac senshi and knights. So she scrolled through her phone and picked a few people with whom she thought she’d had a fairly decent rapport. A lot of the numbers came back unrecognized--which was disheartening--but some of them--well, some of them didn’t.
Please tell me you’re also still a person that exists, she texted Finn Derouen. It was getting more than a little depressing, to be IMing so many people and getting no response. Elke dearly hoped she’d get an answer this time.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:50 pm
Finn received Elke’s text just as he was sitting down to work on a paper about predator-prey management. For a moment, the text seemed odd - why wouldn’t he exist? but then he considered the context in which he and Elke had met and still, technically, lived. (Even if he had absented himself from the war as much as possible.) Yes, I still exist. What’s up? he texted back, and then clicked back to an article he was considering using for his paper. It had been a sort of weird week - first Chris had accidentally called him, then he’d gone back to Babylon on a whim, and now Soldier Virgo was blowing up his phone.
Which reminded him!
Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you some questions about Babylon when you have time, he texted back before she could respond. History stuff. Artifact stuff. Maybe you can help me.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:51 pm
I’d love to! was the immediate response. I just got back to DC (long story) but I can meet up whenever you’ve got time. I don’t start school until the spring. Questions about Babylon? Well, Elke doubted she knew more about the city than Menachem did. Had something happened to Babylon’s ancestor-ghost? She couldn’t deny she’d really like to see… maybe even speak to… her old friend. He’d been such a comfort whenever her duties had brought her home.
Maybe she ought to reclaim her bit of Babylon’s light from her outpost. Now that she didn’t have to worry about, you know… people catching on that she was a superhero-by-night. Elke spun in her hotel room chair. Have you asked Menachem?
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:51 pm
Finn cringed as he read the next string of texts. I’m actually in Alaska right now, he tapped back. I’ve been here for over a year… kind of dereliction of duty, I know. He was sure that Virgo would be disappointed in him - he was certainly starting to be disappointed in himself. There was no point hiding from her that Menachem had seemingly abandoned him. I actually went to Babylon last night, he added. Menachem wasn’t there. I think he’s ignoring me. He’s always saying I need to figure things out for myself.
Not that he had a concrete idea about what Menachem could possibly be testing him on this time, but he had a few ideas. I’m Babylon Knight now, instead of just Squire. But I think I’ve got to light all the lamps before he will recognize me. Which is easier said than done - he never taught me how to light them. Maybe Virgo’s response would have some kind of a hint in it… he could only hope.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:51 pm
For a moment, Elke was stymied. If he was in Alaska, how were they to meet up? Her parents’ largesse only went so far!
Then the obvious response popped into her head. She laughed and flipped her phone in the air with a self-satisfied grin. Didn’t I give you a Surrounding passport, dummy? Unless you lost it. She paused for a long moment, dreading the response. He… couldn’t have lost it… could he? Congratulations on the rank! I don’t know how to light them, either, but maybe Menachem will come out if I’m there?... I miss him a lot. sad
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:52 pm
Finn did, in fact, have a surrounding passport - he wore it on the same chain around his neck as his signet ring. Of course I didn’t lose it, he wrote back, smiling bemusedly. Finn took better care of gifts than that! Should I meet you at Virgo Outpost? It would probably take all night to go there and talk with Elke - he glanced at the paper which he hadn’t even started. He’d meant to try and hammer out half of it tonight and half of it tomorrow, but supposed it could wait. I can’t return to Babylon for a week from yesterday, he added. It’s very tiring. I know I promised to take you and I still want to but it will have to wait. sad
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:52 pm
You can’t get in to my Outpost without me, Elke texted back, and it was just darn good that he couldn’t sense her relief through texts because she wanted to seem confident in him! She had always thought that Babylon maybe lacked a little self-confidence. But, well, either way… It’s okay. I can wait. That sort of thing probably has to happen from Earth, anyway. Still… she missed her friend. It’d been thousands of years, but Elke could remember Menachem like it was yesterday. It was a gift, maybe.
I don’t remember a lot about lighting the lanterns specifically, she sent. But I can try to help.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:53 pm
Finn had never used his surrounding passport in all the time that he’d had it, so there were certain fine tuning issues he was ignorant of. Could I go and stand on the path outside your outpost and wait for you? he asked. He hadn’t been there since the hostage crisis at the surrounding. He bet it would be a nice place to visit when not in the middle of a war!
Any insight you have would be really, really appreciated, he added, giving his barely-begun paper a final look and shutting his laptop. You knew the city in its prime, and that’s more than I’ve got to go by. Sometimes he thought it would be easier to be a reincarnated knight, like what he grasped Valhalla to be. Then you’d have no one to sneer at you, just your own memories for counsel.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:53 pm
Well, that seemed obvious now. “Duh,” she said to herself, and then she texted, Probably! Be careful, though, we don’t know what’s up there. I’ve been sort of heavily observed, so I haven’t gotten to check…
She gave it some consideration, and then she texted, Do you have time to meet me now?
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:54 pm
YES. replied Finn, who already had his coat on and was wrapping a scarf around his neck as he typed. He pulled on the rest of his winter clothes quickly, thrilled at the prospect of seeing Virgo. I can be there in twenty minutes.
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