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 Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 8:52 pm
He was getting back into the swing of things, weirdly enough, but maybe Finn had Kaatje to thank for that. It was hard to sulk when you were responsible for recaulking every bathtub and sink in the building (and there were a lot of bathtubs, and twice as many sinks when you counted the kitchens). Graduation was over with, and that meant Finn didn't have to dread his father's absence so keenly. Zia'd gotten in touch, which Finn was grateful for. He'd been meaning to get in touch - he had a gift for her - but hadn't known where to begin. Pick up the phone, all Hi, my father's dead, how are you? She suggested coffee, which sounded great. Anything resembling acting like a real person again sounded great.
Finn slipped into a corner table at Apollo's, his hands cupped around a large ice coffee. He watched the door, feeling anxious and exposed, like everyone in the shop could sense that he was damaged goods. The sooner Zia arrived, the sooner he wouldn't have to be alone with his thoughts anymore.
He pulled the little glowing sphere out of his pocket and twisted it between his fingers. He'd meant to give one to Zia weeks ago, but things with Oenone had gotten out of hand, and - Nick had seemed like he needed it more, right at the moment, and Finn couldn't exactly take a gift back once he'd given it.
So, back to waiting for Zia.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 6:22 pm
Zia didn't make a quiet entrance. Professor Derouen's obituary stood out like a sore thumb and brought back jarring memories of SHP. Her life before Zirconia was always fractured and foggy but something that recent sparked a reaction.
She had him for class. She remembered him.
But most importantly was that last name, and the name of his surviving son, and old connections reformed in her head. Forgotten, background connections she was ashamed she didn't make before.
What followed was frantically trying to get in touch with Finn again and when she finally got a coffee date with him and she rain in and grabbed him in the most awkward chair rooted running start hug ever.
"Are you okay?!" She wailed, not even registering she was making a scene.
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 1:39 am
Was he okay? Well, Finn was surviving, which was the most he thought anyone could ask of him, given the circumstances. He patted Zia on the back, and, worried that everyone in the shop was now staring at them, said, "Yes, I'm okay." He'd had a few nightmares. He was very sad. But he did not need everyone and their grandmother knowing that he was a poor, traumatized baby. Once he'd managed to get Zia into a seat, he rolled the glowing marble towards her. "Before I forget, this is for you," he said. "From Babylon." He'd made the light for her before his father's murder, and had brought it along today as as much of a distraction as it was a gift he'd planned to give her anyway. "It's all been kind of really weird," he said, after a moment. "You know?" Well, maybe she didn't. "Sometimes I get so caught up in other things that I can forget about it for a moment or two and then it hits me like a ton of bricks and it's awful. Gut-wrenching. I never really knew what that expression meant until this last week." It had been more than a week now, which was odd to think about. In a few more days, it would be two weeks, and then three, and then on it went, a whole lifetime without his father- "I'm getting by," he said, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Thanks for calling me."
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 7:29 pm
A deep parental or familial loss was not really something Zia had oodles of experience in. Trying to imagine her own father in the same situation didn't seem to evoke the same feelings and the closest thing she could try to muster were Zirconia's memories of losing people. Older people or caretakers.
It was unsettling to be in a position twice removed from his own feelings and suddenly feeling self conscious if she was empathizing properly so she just sat in the chair she had been directed to, fiddling with her fingers in front of her chest while her mouth twisted nervously in a variety of expressions while she tried to figure out what to do, what was appropriate, and mostly just feeling incredibly awful on his behalf like a confused child and nodded obediently as he spoke.
She picked up the marble, but hardly looked at it. It just became subjected to the fiddling.
By the time he said he was getting by she looked ready for another outburst on the verge of tears. "Oh, Finn," She said in an awkward tone that sounded like an exclamation suddenly forced to tone down in mid-syllable and she tried very, very, very hard not to jump across the table and capture him in another hug.
"He was a really good teacher. I had him one year," She mumbled and then finally looked down at the marble and seemed to stop in her tracks, brow raised. "Oh. Hey... this is cool. Where'd it come from?"
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Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 12:44 pm
"I'm, uh," said Finn awkwardly, watching the marble roll beneath her fingers. He flattened his hands out against the table self-consciously, aware of his desire to fidget. A lot of people had been telling him similar things about his father lately, and he was never sure how to reply. "I'm glad you remember him like that," he said. "He'd be glad to be remembered that way." At least he'd brought something to talk about, now that she'd noticed it. "I made it," he said. "On Mercury." He'd never quite figured out what the old tradition was with giving them away - just that Virgo had been given one as a going-away present. There'd been enough little glass spheres in the cabinet that he could only assume they were something that his ancestor made, if not frequently, often enough to keep the materials on hand. "It's a bit of the light from my lantern," he explained. "I guess it was some kind of old custom to give them away. I've been making them lately, as practice, and you're my friend, and you're into studying the mysteries of the universe, so I figured you'd be interested in it. They don't go out, as far as I can tell. Sailor Virgo's got one that was still working from the Silver Millennium."
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 9:58 am
Zia kept her eyes downcast on the little light. Talking about Finn's father was awkward and hard and thinking about it made her edge on tears again so she was happy to keep her focus on the light if that's where he led her attention.
"It doesn't... w-wait, how is that possible?" She asked, rotating her head around the marble and batting it between her hands on the table. Apparently her antics when she was bouncing around in powered form did not have an off switch as a regular civilian, which was one of the reasons she had withdrawn from most of her civilian obligations in the first place. "What's even powering it that lasts that long?"
Magic was the obvious answer but even magic had rules and laws and limitations. The mystery was just what variables were allowing this thing to perpetually glow.
Eventually, the puzzle and the fact she had this new trinket in her possession-- because Zia loved new things to cherish and keep and collect so very much-- got a delayed and overly childish gasp of delight as she fiddled with it in her fingers.
"I love it! Did your ancestor teach you? Do you talk to him a lot?"
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 6:33 pm
"It's powered by the light of Babylon," Finn explained. which he realized did not really explain things. "Um, there's this big power reservoir beneath my city?" he said uncertainly. "So my lantern and the lamps and these little things all draw their power from it." Which didn't explain why the lamps went out - maybe because they were feeding the barrier? The specifics of the magic were far beyond him. Maybe it was somewhere in the thousands of incomprehensible documents in his ancestor's study. "I kind of figured it out on my own," he admitted, feeling a surge of pride. That was a cool thing he'd discovered! "I knew he'd been able to do it, and I'd learned how to pull energy off the lantern when I lit all the lamps, so when I found his supplies for making them, I figured there was no harm in trying." He didn't really know what he'd do once the supplies ran out. Fall apart, probably. "He talks to me enough," he shrugged. "He didn't like me much at first. Now he likes me a bit better." It still wasn't - it wasn't affection. He didn't know anyone whose ancestors were nice. Avalon's had even- Had even- He drummed his hands on the side of his coffee cup. "So how's the- the everything you do?" he asked.
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 1:32 pm
“Are you telling me,” Zia said with dramatic pause, looking up at Finn with an open mouth grin before she continued, “You gave me my own little piece of Babylon light?”
She positively gushed like this was a grand and coveted thing, because it kind of was! It was special and it made her feel special he would give her one. And considering Zirconia’s affinity for magic over technology, Finn learning a magical process on his own was both something she could relate to and something she found very impressive.
“It’s okay, Alfheim’s ancestor is a total racist b***h,” She said with a shrug. “Or so I hear. I can’t see her, or talk to her. Even though I think she’s technically my ancestor too.” Although considering they were direct siblings who shared that bloodline in total there was no technically about it, Zia would always be sore about the fact she didn’t get to be Alatriel’s protoge when she wanted it so badly, and Alfheim wa off being reluctant knight boy.
“Being dead probably makes them cranky.”
The question of how she was doing got a shrug. “Okay I guess! I’m kind of recovering from when all of yous guys,” She reached one hand across the table to make a waving gesture to ‘all’ of Finn, “Vanished off into the Twilight Zone to talk to a creepy sheet of paper. Touched base with my brother and my roommate, got a dinner date tomorrow to grab Luxor and see what his version of events was since no one invited me or anything.”
She was such a wannabe it was painful.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 12:02 am
"I am telling you," said Finn, pleased by her dramatic pause, "that I gave you your own little piece of Babylon light." Maybe, he thought, one of these days he'd take her back to Babylon and show her how the whole process worked, and how he lit the lamps. Last time he'd taken her, he remembered clearly, had been before he'd restored the barrier. "Huh," he said briefly, confused by the idea of an ancestor who couldn't be seen by everyone. As far as he knew, Menachem had only ever tried to appear to Mistral and Virgo, who'd been able to see and converse with him - but then, they both had strong past ties to him, so who knew? He couldn't recall whether Kurma had or hadn't been able to see his ancestor. Anyway, it didn't seem worth remarking on. Not if it would only raise questions he couldn't even begin to think of answers to. "Probably true," he said, lacing his fingers together. "They're bound to their wonders, you know? That's what my ancestor says, anyway. They can't reincarnate. They're just stuck. For thousands of years. Maybe for all eternity. That'd make anyone cranky." The whole encounter with the code had been so underwhelming that Finn really didn't see why she was so miffed to have missed it. "It really - it was kind of dumb. We didn't get any fancy new powers or anything like that. The only thing we learned is that the rift used to be, like, Hogwarts for knights and then Beryl ******** that up for us." Also, pretty much the entire universe besides Destiny City was consumed with Chaos, but that was depressing. Eyebrows rising faintly, he asked, "Emphasis on dinner, or emphasis on date?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:22 am
Zia just nodded with an awkward amount of force at his confused 'huh'. Her in ability to see or connect with Alatriel could've had a ton of explanations, even though she was technically her ancestor too. She wasn't a knight, so there were probably other reasons that totally didn't involve her soul being a half merged abomination that her own family's magical heritage didn't recognize.
"Oh..." She fiddled with her light and looked down at it. She had always known they were bound, somehow, but for some reason she liked the idea better when she assumed they were just pulled to service when their protege awakened and hadn't considered them legitimately being locked out of reincarnation. Alatriel was struck in her state with no hope of rebirth, and even though Zia was the same, she still couldn't help but recognize a pang of sadness at the realization she had been forcefully ignoring. At least Zia wasn't bound to haunt any one particular spot.
"Hogwarts for knights, huh?" She was glad to have a new topic to jump to and pondered on what Benitoite had told her about the Rift. "There's a glass wall down there, containing youmafied lost souls. I was picturing something more like the river Styx." She let her hands lightly drop to the table in a show of sudden frustration. "I wish we could go down there and see it," She said with a huff.
She was starting, in the most petty of ways, to just feel like she was locked out of everyone's club.
And she was making a frustrated and petulant little frown at the table in regards to that when Finn asked his final question and she suddenly jumped and stammered. "Well, no. I mean. Like, like emphasis on getting his version of the code," She babbled quickly as embarrassment crept in. She sunk into her shoulders and fiddled and fidgeted again. "But I mean... I did kiss him. Once. No twice, because the first time was not very good and I hit my face on his head... armor..."
She trailed off into a whisper as she realized what she was saying, wishing for some sort of filter for her stupid mouth and sank further into her chair, wondering if she could casually go far enough to hide her face under the table.
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 6:54 pm
"A negaverser could probably take you," said Finn thoughtfully. "If you asked nicely. Getting back, on the other hand..." That would not be so easy. He was pretty sure Avalon would happily give him a one-way trip to the Rift, but he'd have to pay for it with all the kindness in his soul. So: definitely not going there. Although the glass wall full of lost souls was kind of interesting in an intensely grotesque way. Anyway, he was far happier to talk about Zia's apparent budding romance than about anything else. " Get it," said Finn, with a genuine grin. Not that he could really recall with any specifics who Luxor was - had be been one of the men hanging out with Megiddo on Mars? He thought so. Maybe. Maybe the shirtless one? In which case he approved. "So," he said. "That sounds like fun."
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:20 pm
"Maybe if they wanted me dead. I've heard some... I've heard some stories, man," Zia said, bringing to mind Bischofite's youma who was capable of carrying on a conversation, of deception, and Benitoite's stories about how more live down there and offer gifts and drinks. Possibly poisoned drinks. The Rift seemed to be the hive of everything dark and deadly and she wasn't sure very many non-Chaos officers ever visited and if they did, they certainly didn't come out alive.
She stayed sunken to the point of ridiculousness, rolling the marble between her two index fingers back and forth in front of her nose. "Get what?" She mumbled, practically ruby red now. "All we've done is hold hands so far. On patrol. And stuff."
Back and forth, back and forth.
"He looks mean sometimes but he's very nice in private."
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 10:09 pm
"Yeah," said Finn, laughing nervously. "Not exactly the kind of place you'd want to go on vacation." The more he heard about the place, the more it sounded like a special kind of nightmare hell and just reinforced everything he'd ever thought about how ******** up Chaos was. Though he had to admit it was interesting that Order magic was so much more subtle, while Chaos magic was just obviously magical. Thoughts for another day. Something to bring up next time he got drunk and needed things to text to Zia. "So get hand holding," said Finn, giving her posture an odd look. "Get kisses. And eventually get sexy times if that's your groove." He was under the very strong impression that that was her groove. About how she was sitting, he said, finally, "That has got to be hurting your back, literally half-cat or not."
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 7:13 pm
"Yeah, but it'd still be nice to see just once..."
Zia was never happy. She didn't want to see it ever one minute and the next she wanted to go, and then back to never again. Eternally contrary and always doomed to never get her way.
In all honesty she just wanted reality to bend so she could observe the place without dying but she wasn't consciously aware of her grandiose wants to phrase it that way.
And it was much easier to think about as Finn talked, especially when she looked like she was going to finish the move to fall off her chair when he said sexy times. But the near fall at least prompted her to sit upright. "Oooooh god, is it that obvious?" She complained as she clung to her light and rested her head on the table. And then snapped it back up. "No, I mean, not obvious because that wasn't my goal but oh god what if he thinks I'm trying to pull something? I should've phrased asking him out different. Or maybe not? Or maybe he's expecting something," Her eyes darted around the table like she was going to find answers there but ended up just randomly exclaiming out an, "Ah! What did I do?!"
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 9:42 pm
Finn gave Zia an odd look, not exactly sure how one went from freely talking about finding a boy to hook up with on one's birthday to blushing and flailing about a crush. Maybe that just meant she was serious about this Luxor guy - in which case, he wished her all the happiness in the world. "I don't know," he said, "But I doubt you've done anything wrong." Maybe, he thought, that required some justification. "I mean," said Finn, "I am not a guy who generally deals with girls and the complexities of dating girls and et cetera, but if he has kissed you and still wants to see you again, I think you are probably in okay shape?" Like, really, that just went for anyone you kissed, regardless of gender - if they didn't get really ridiculously cagey after the tonsil hockey was played, you were good to go. "Anyway, good luck with that," he added cheerfully.
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