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 Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 2:06 pm
Ida was sore... sore and tired. Inside, though, she felt lighter of heart than she had in a long while. So far, she had found three of her 'family', helped defeat the shade queen, and come to terms with what she had been becoming because of Bischofite. With her new outlook and hope, the ache in her limbs was easy to ignore as she trudged towards home, her arms wrapped around her torso to conserve some of her inner heat.
With the weather turning colder, having bare arms was something of a nuisance... but at least she had a hood to cover her head and leggings to cover her lower half. It made these patrols at least a little bearable. Today had been something of a hunt-and-kill-youma day and Ida had rooted out a surprising number of them lurking about in the shadows of low-traffic areas. By this point, she had dusted at least five of them, but not before taking a bit of a beating herself.. it showed in her dusty fuku and the slow walk as the flower senshi headed home.
Rounding one of the dark buildings by downtown, Ida sighed as she lifted her head and eyed the bright glow of the shops down the block. It might be a good time to power down at this point, since there was going to be increasing traffic the further she went... but a teenage girl out at night without a coat was going to get her some strange looks. Boots scuffing the chilly concrete, the eternal weighed her options, straight white teeth nibbling on her lower lip. A winter breeze swept down the street between the buildings, ruffling her hood and sending old leaves skittering down the sidewalk.
As Ida opened herself to check for powered signatures, she felt someone strong nearby, though not as strong as herself. Maybe powering down was going to have to wait.
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Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 2:31 pm
The touch of an Order aligned aura stronger than herself brought Chariklo's head whipping up, as if tasting the air around her. From her perch atop one of the various buildings in town, she wondered what she should do. She'd hadn't encountered anyone stronger than her since she'd made Super rank and she was admittedly curious.
She was also very aware that she was still healing from her encounter with that blasted knight type. She was pretty damn sure that she wasn't going to be much good in a fight. But if it wasn't a knight, maybe she wouldn't have to fight. Meeting a White Moon Eternal would be interesting. And hey, maybe she could plant some seeds of doubt. That would be kind of fun.
Grinning, she hopped along the rooftops, following the aura until she could see a girl in the street. Calling out in a low, carrying voice, she decided that she wanted this conversation off of the streets.
"Are you crazy down there? Why don't you come up and get away from any prying eyes?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:21 pm
The signature go stronger and before long, a female voice was calling down to her, Ida's head snapping up as she searched the roof line. Hmm... this didn't feel quite like a Negaverser. It was a familiar feeling, but different too. DMC maybe? Tantalus had felt like that, and Remarque...
Gathering herself, the eternal senshi took a few running steps and jumped, leaping to the top of the building. She kept a decent distance from the stranger though, dropping her arms to her sides as she gave her a good look over.
Dark Mirror, for sure... Ate had had a hole in her chest, star shaped. This woman didn't have that, only a sheer cover to her fuku. She remembered that same feature from the others she had met. Her fuku, though... Ida felt her face heat at it. She would have died of embarrassment, being open from arms to hips like that... though with that woman's tattoos, she probably didn't mind all that much.
"There are prying eyes up here too, you know, and these ones tend to belong to someone with power." Ida said softly as she smoothed her skirt with her hands, wishing she didn't look as beat up as she felt. Didn't exactly put forward a very strong image...
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Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:17 am
It was only with Herculean effort that Chariklo kept from rolling her eyes at that. Semantics. What was it with the White Moon and friggin' semantics.
"Fine. Civilian eyes then. They don't tend to wander up this way much."
Even as she spoke, she was carefully studying the other girl and wincing. This was one of the very few times that she wished she was able to share the energy she took. This kid looked like she needed some.
"Sweet monkey Christ, have you been trying to fight the whole damn war by yourself? Sit down before you fall on your nose. It'd ruin my image as a total BAMF if I had to try and carry you home."
Smiling slightly and giving the other a wink, she made herself sit, stretching her long legs out in front of her. She wasn't too fight crazy tonight and curiosity about the White Moon Eternals was winning out over any desires to be hostile. At least at the moment.
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Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 10:44 am
Ida face softened a little, suspicion fading to wary curiosity. The Dark Mirror had sided with the Negaverse. This put them firmly on the other side of the invisible line between Us and Them. So why was it, every time she ran into one of them, they never acted like it? Remarque had been suave, civil, in their conversation. Tantalus had saved her and helped her fight off her shade. And now this woman... showing concern for her. It was confusing...
Keeping a reasonable distance, Ida let herself sink down onto the ledge and stretched her own legs out, her eyes on the toes of her white boots.
"There were a lot of youma out tonight... I just did what I had to do." She said softly. "I was actually on my way home when you spotted me. You wouldn't be the first person who's had to carry me before, when I got in over my head."
A bit of a sweet smile curved over her face at the memories. She said it would have ruined her image, but Ida couldn't imagine it had done anything but make Chaonis look heroic when he had carried her, bleeding, to Anella's house. That was the old knightly image, right? A guy carrying a girl in his arms? She had looked pretty horrible, of course... but he had probably looked wonderful.
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Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 6:56 am
Ugh, youma. Chariklo's nose wrinkled in distaste at the very thought of them. She knew full well that everyone assumed she was one of the bad guys, but at least she'd never been responsible for changing and twisting people into mindless monsters.
Or summoning monsters from wherever the Dark Kingdom got the rest from.
Shuddering slightly, she forced a light tone as she wrenched her mind from the topic of youma.
"Well, if you were out dusting youma, I might carry you home regardless of my rep. I hate those creepy ********. So," she continued after giving the other girl a long once over. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that you've got some type of flower power going on. And it must be working for you if you've survived long enough to get the butt wings."
Not that she was fishing for information that she could use against the kid. Far from it. She just couldn't imagine Flower Power being incredibly effective in a fight.
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Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 1:31 pm
Ida stiffened at the thought of being carried home at this point. She was certainly not that far gone yet... the stiffness faded slowly and the senshi sighed, letting go of the tension. It wasn't going to happen, there was no sense worrying about it right now. Trust would only come slowly, if ever.
The look over made Ida shift in a little bit of embarrassment, wondering what this stranger saw when she looked at her. She was rather proud of having made it so far as a senshi, but credit had to go mostly to those who had helped her thus far.
"Orchids. Not exactly an intimidating sphere, but I think perhaps I lucked out with my magic. Its a ranged one, which works well with my team." She eyed the stranger with a bit of an impish look, tucking her feet up under her and rocking up onto them again. "I could show you, if you wanted." The senshi said as she brushed off her skirt.
This was going to very tiring, but... part of her felt that she had to justify herself to this person from the other side. They were both senshi, but... different too. She wasn't a prideful person, but if she ever had any, this would be where it would come from. Ida had worked hard to get where she was, to be able to do what she did... her attack was just a show of that.
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 6:11 am
"Depends on whether or not showing me is a polite way of telling me you're about to knock me off the roof," Chariklo countered with half a smile. She wasn't crazy for a fight tonight and well... fighting with someone so clearly exhausted just seemed mean.
Though a demonstration might be interesting. Certainly useful to know about so she could tell Leto in case her friend ever came up against this girl. Rolling up onto her own feet, she stretched out casually. If she was going to be attacked, better she be on her feet and ready.
"Well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be to see this."
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Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 11:15 am
Ida blinked and looked a little apologetic.
"Uh... Right. If your going to take it, you should move to the middle of the roof, or I really will knock you off of it." The orchid senshi said sheepishly, grinding the heel of her boot into the roof. "I'll make it easy to catch, just brace yourself well so you don't get knocked over."
Despite herself, Ida was warming up to this, to this woman... Even if she didn't know her name yet. It made her wonder why they had to be opposite factions... Why did they have to fight? They were both senshi, both had spheres, and she assumed both had past lives on another world. It was... Kind of sad, really.
"Here it comes, brace yourself!" She shouted as she swept a hand up in front of her. "Heavenly Orchid Arrows!"
Glowing petals trailed after the sweep of her hand, hovering in the air before she reached for them and they solidified into a bow. Reaching for an invisible string, the senshi settled herself as she pulled it back and a glowing arrow appeared in her hands. There was a pause for the other to set herself and then Ida released it. It roared across the short space between them, and when it hit the arrow exploded with concussive force, pushing the dark mirror senshi with the force of it. How far would depend on how strong she was, how ready for it...
As soon as the arrow left the bow, Ida staggered as her already flagging energy drained and she stumbled back to sit down hard on the ledge again. Man, that took it out of her. It was a good thing she was done for the night. Still, a smile curved across her face and she was satisfied with her performance. With a name like Orchids, not many expected an attack like that.
"My name is Ida, by the way." She said as she stretched out her legs.
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:25 am
Obediently moving closer to the center of the roof, Chariklo took a moment to brace herself, curiosity stamped across her features. And it took every ounce of control she possesed to not call up her own magic in return.
But she managed and was about to compliment the Orchid senshi of such pretty magic when the arrow came at it and knocked her head over tits. Clearly she'd been braced but not nearly enough to keep her feet. From where she lay a few feet from where she'd been standing, she shook her head, cursing the ringing in her ears.
"Nice to meet you, Ida. That's a hell of an attack and my name is Chariklo. I think. I'll let you know for sure when the tweety birds stop orbiting my skull," Chariklo replied, a dazed tone to her voice.
She lay prone another moment before shakily sitting up and holding her pounding head. Note to self, if this was concussive force side effects, she hoped she never got hit with it again. Ever.
Still, when she glanced up to where Ida sat, there was certainly a great deal of wary respect in her gaze.
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Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 5:36 pm
When Ida looked up and realized the other woman was on her back, she felt a flood of concern and remorse. She had known the attack was strong, but she hadn't expected to knock her down. As the now-named Charliko struggled up to sit, Ida pushed herself to her feet and stumbled over, landing on her knees by her side.
"Oh, geez, I'm so sorry... Are you ok? I didn't think it would hit you so hard." Her concern was obvious and genuine as she laid a hand on the other senshi's shoulder. "Can you stand up...?"
So, that could have maybe gone better. Hopefully she wouldn't hold it against her.
"I could have fired at something else, I guess. I'm sorry about that." The orchid senshi settled back on her knees as she watched carefully to make sure the woman was recovering.
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Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 8:03 am
Shaking her head gingerly, Chariklo found herself surprised to see Ida suddenly beside her and offering assistance. Grinning a little, she patted the hand on her shoulder reassuringly.
"Hey, I asked and it's probably my own fault for not really taking you seriously when you told me to brace myself. I'll live, y'know?"
Laughing very softly at herself, Chariklo closed her eyes for a moment and managed to push herself to her feet. Though she wobbled slightly, it wasn't anything that would keep her from walking away.
She'd just have a killer headache for a while.
Opening her eyes, she gave Ida a thumbs up and a small grin.
"Yeah, I'll live. Seriously though, that is one hell of an attack. Think you'd ever consider coming to bat for my team? You'd be welcome and super useful."
Oh yeah. That was a smooth recruitment pitch. Chariklo sighed mentally and once again reminded herself why no one ever asked her to try recruiting. She simply wasn't that smooth. Still, this was one case where she felt she should at least try.
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Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:46 am
Ida watched as Chariklo got to her feet, feeling better knowing she hadn't been hurt too badly. It fit better with her personality than the way she seemed to always be distrustful lately. She missed being a simple teenage girl sometimes... missed being able to trust people because there was no reason not to trust them. This life, where she was constantly wondering if someone was part of the other side, if they were out to kill her or the people she care about, was so very tiring... As much as she might wish she could just give it up, as long as there were people out there like Bischofite, or Painite, or even Titan, she knew she would never be able to stop powering up to come out and fight them.
She smiled back at the thumbs up, her dark eyes warm, but the expression faded at question about switching sides. That was... honestly something she had never thought about. Join the Dark Mirror? Something inside of her jumped up with a flat No at the thought, but it did raise questions. Ida had wondered how the DMC gained members... apparently they had a way to convert regular senshi to their side the way the Negaverse did.
Feeling sad, Ida shook her head slowly, carefully watching this strange woman in case her answer provoked something negative from her. She wasn't exactly in the best position for another fight right now.
"I don't think I could ever do that." She said softly. "I power up to protect the people of this city. I fight for them so they don't get drained of their energy, or worse." The brunette bit her lip as she dropped her eyes.
"Your wraiths are as bad as youma, and I know you too drain people for energy. From what I've seen, you're not as blood thirsty as the Negaverse, but... you sided with them. I don't know what your personal experiences are like, but I have seen... horrible things that they've done. I can't... I can't be a part of something that is okay with that. You've been decent to me, all of the Dark Mirror that I've met have, but my conscience says it is wrong to stand by someone who is doing something wrong."
Ida felt small suddenly, and so very tired. This whole night was just one big drain on her resources. All she wanted was to go home and crawl into bed where she could hide from everything, at least for a little while.
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Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 3:41 pm
Nodding more in acknowledgement of Ida's words than in agreement with them, Chariklo gave a little shrug. "Well, it was a thought," the taller girl murmured agreeably. Really, she hadn't expected anything else when she'd asked. Still. "Keep it in mind if you ever change your mind, hrmm? And remember every story has two sides and that history is usually only ever written from the viewpoint of the winners at the time." It was a clumsy speech, but a sincere one. Hopefully that would count for something. Then, noticing the exhaustion that seemed to radiate from Ida, Chariklo smiled apologetically and reached out a hand and rested it lightly on the other's arm. "Listen to me preachin' when you're about to fall on your nose. You need about a week's worth of sleep, girl. You sure you don't want a hand?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 9:46 pm
It was nice for once to meet someone who didn't try to convince her that she was wrong. She was maybe a little stubborn in clinging to her view of the war, but she honestly didn't know how else to think of it.
She offered a small smile up as Chariklo touched her arm, hoping to reassure her. "Its not that bad, I'm okay. I just needed to rest for a moment. Using up all of my attacks is really draining, I usually hold at least one in reserve, just in case." Okay so, maybe that wasn't the best idea, telling her how her attacks worked... but whatever.
"All I can really do is view people according to what they do, you know? People who try to rip out my starseed are bad. People who help me fight off a shade faerie are... well, not as bad." It was something of a double edged sword, that. A DMC had helped her, but a Nega had too. The same Nega who she had stopped from dragging a knight into the rift. It was too confusing to sort out right now. Pushing herself to her feet even though her body protested, Ida offered a brighter smile and a touch of her hand to the other woman's arm.
"Thanks for hanging around to talk to me. I really should get home. Maybe I'll see you around again some time, and hopefully it'll be even more pleasant than this one. Hopefully I won't knock you on your backside then." She laughed as she said it, waving one slender hand. "Be safe on your way home."
The Eternal turned to walk to the edge of the roof and jumped down, landing a little heavily on her booted feet. Now she just needed to find a secluded spot to power down in so she could make the trek home. Hopefully, the senshi she had met would never come up against her in a situation where they had to fight... she had been nice and it wouldn't be pleasant to have to hurt her. If things had been different, Ida would have liked to call her a friend, but circumstances were not in their favor.
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