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 Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:09 pm
When Tara had first disappeared, spring had been starting to give way to summer. They had been making plans for what to do over their vacation. Or rather, Kent had been making plans, and Tara had been nodding to humor him. There had been so many signs that was something wrong! If he had continued to ignore them, that would have been almost forgivable. Instead, he pushed too hard, and wound up pushing her away when she needed him the most.
So he searched. Every night he could manage it, he went out and looked every place he could think of. He talked to people and tried to make connections. But it wasn't until the middle of the summer that he finally found a hint he could use. A clue in a place he'd already stopped looking.
Not that he'd ever written Laney off as a dead end. She was Tara's best friend, and the person she'd be most likely to contact. It was Laney who had given him the advice he continued to use in his hunt, about who to talk to and what to look for. He texted her occasionally, to see if she learned anything new. It was easier for both of them than her having to tell him that there was still nothing. Beyond that, he didn't think about her too much. She had done her part by telling him what she knew, and it was up to him to do the rest.
All of that changed when he realized that Laney might be more than Tara's confidante. If she shared the same secret, then there was more to the story, and Kent needed to hear it. Considering his own recent revelations, he felt that he had a right to hear the whole truth. With Tara gone, there was only one person who could tell him what he wanted to know.
The lock on the door to the apartment had been repaired, and the mess cleaned up. The police had long since packed up their gear, moving their focus to other cases. Destiny City had no shortage of missing persons. Now, Kent had a better appreciation for what that meant, as well as an idea of why that was the case. It was knowledge he would have been just as happy without, but if knowing would somehow bring Tara home, it was a small price to pay.
He sat on the couch, in front of the TV that was showing him an infomercial for a blender. Not that he was watching. His mind was on figuring out how to explain his situation, all the while listening for the doorbell. When it finally rang, he practically jumped off the couch. It was now or never. If he messed this up, made the same mistakes again, then he'd have no leads left. And then there was the damage he might do to her by carelessly pressing her for information. In a worst case scenario, she might even do the same thing Tara had.
Thinking about that wouldn't help, though. All he could do was pay attention, try to make sure he didn't make things worse, and proceed accordingly. He checked through the peephole, just in case, then unlocked and opened the door. "I'm glad you could come, Laney. Please, come in, make yourself comfortable. I think it's past time we had a talk about everything, so we can see the whole picture."
Shazari Let me know if anything needs changing! <3
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Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:43 pm
- Why, Mary, I'd nearly forgotten you in all this.
- It's hard to remember everybody, sir.
- No, it isn't. Three isn't very many people at all. I should be able to remember three people quite easily.She was thinking of The Secret Garden when she walked up to Tara's apartment. No -- not Tara's apartment, just now. Kent's apartment. But it will be Tara's apartment again, Laney told herself. It will be someday again.What Laney was thinking was that after she'd found Tara over a week ago, she hadn't remembered to mention it to Kent at all. She'd forgotten him. She'd been so busy, and so upset, and so cruel, and so self-involved, she hadn't even considered telling Tara's own brother, who was running himself ragged searching for her, that Tara was alive and safe. ( If not well, her thoughts went on.) For all his pain, he'd been nothing to her. She'd wronged him. It was Kent that had gotten in touch with her. Kent whose summons she'd answered, wondering what he meant, what more he now wanted to talk about that he hadn't wanted before. Wondering if he knew that she'd found something, and hadn't told. Guilt chased her steps, settling in the backs of her Keds to rub against her heels and give her well-deserved blisters. - And the master hears the whispers on the stairways dark and still, and the spirits speak of secrets in the house upon the hill.He met her at the door -- looking tired, like she'd never doubted he would -- and led her in. It felt traitorous to cross the threshold without Tara there. It felt almost like moving on. No, not that. Ever. Not for Tara.She picked at the sleeves of her worn oatmeal hoodie with the lace appliqués on it. "Hi, Kent," she said nervously. "I'm glad you called. Um, what can I help you with?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:49 pm
That wasn't quite the reaction Kent expected. Not that he had any clue what to expect. Ever since Tara had left, his whole life had become an education on how little he knew about anything. Of course this was no different. That was the whole reason he had asked Laney to come.
He locked he door behind her, moving by rote, and sat on the arm of the couch. He'd been rehearsing his opening statement of sorts for the past half hour, waiting for her to arrive, but now that it was time to say something, he couldn't remember any of his carefully prepared arguments.
So far, he wasn't off to the best of starts.
"Uh." Kent panicked, running his hands through his hair as he tried to remember something, anything. "Well, I wanted to start by thanking you. The information you gave me before was really helpful. invaluable, really. Not that I've run into a whole lot of those characters you were telling me about, but I've been more careful than I might've been otherwise, and that's because of you. So thanks."
When in doubt, be polite. And the act of speaking guded him towards some of the thoughts he'd lost beforemaking him feel a little more comfortable, more able to go on. "It was really silly of me not to say so earlier, but I was frantic. Panicked. You can probably relate." Was she out at night too? Chasing down any clues she could dig up, letting the rest of her life suffer? Was it more than just a friend's disappearance to her?
No, he was getting ahead of himself. First things first: he had to establish the basics. "I didn't wonder how you knew those things back then. At first, I didn't think it mattered. Then, when I realized that everything matters, I just assumed Tara told you." And that had hurt, at first- the knowledge that she hadn't been able to confide in him, tempered only by the fact that at least she had someone she could talk to. "But some things have happened since, and it got me thinking." Wasn't that the understatement of the century? "And this is what I've got so far."
He held up one finger. "First of all, Tara was terrified about the possibility of my finding out what her deal was. Said it was dangerous. She told Yvette- that's another friend of hers- much the same thing. Since I can't imagine her being fine with endangering you, there must be something else going on." He extended another finger. "And second, I talked to one of them. A senshi. And while she couldn't help me," except to save him from an a**-kicning, "she did say that she didn't tell anyone." Which led to his third, unsaid point: if he'd been the one to find out all of this first, there was no way he'd share it with Tara either.
"So the only conclusion I can draw is that you know more than you're letting on. Not that I think you're hiding her or anything, but I just... I need to know. Whatever else you're willing to tell me, I need to know." There was more to the argument, but he left off there, waiting to see if he'd said enough. If his suspicions were incorrect, then revealing too much at once would only hurt both of them.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 4:07 am
Laney felt her stomach give a lurch. She was pretty sure she knew what Kent was asking -- and she felt hesitant to give him an answer. While most people seemed to subscribe to the notion that no one should tell anyone anything about their secret identities, ever, Laney privately disagreed. She hadn't told her parents because they'd have had her committed, even if she'd transformed right in front of them -- and she hadn't told Carmine or Susan, because they were just a therapist and a personal trainer, not her close confidants -- but if Tara hadn't awoken first, hadn't already been a sailor senshi and been there when Hvergelmir had come into her own powers, Laney would've told her. She would've known she could. But Kent wasn't her best friend, and he wasn't her brother. Trust was just a little bit harder. It was on the tip of her tongue to sidetrack him, and it occured to Laney that it might even be easy to do. 'Are you asking if I'm dating your sister?' she could say with a vapid expression on her face. She could let him assume that was the only natural conclusion she'd come to, and then watch as his face changed and he let his suspicions go. But you don't want to open that can of worms, either, she reminded herself. And she thought of everything she knew, where Tara was and what she hadn't told Kent, and she bit her tongue. How dare you even consider it, Laney."Are you asking if I'm involved?" she asked instead, twisting her signet ring around her finger.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 2:30 pm
"I already know you're involved," Kent replied calmly. "If only because of your relationship with Tara, and it's become pretty clear that she's involved." In what, he still wasn't sure. The idea of a magical alien war was one he was still having a hard time wrapping his head around. Nobody he'd met had been able to clear things up for him. Though he suspected that had something to do with the type of people it had been his misfortune to meet.
At least not all of them were bad. Aludra had been sweet, even though the idea of someone as young as her being tasked with fighting was still nauseating. If Laney was what he thought she was, then she wouldn't be the sort of person to attack him for asking questions. Probably. He still planned on taking things slowly, though, just in case.
He could see her playing with her ring- a nervous habit, maybe- and tried to put the brakes on even more, to reassure her if he could. "I'd suspected she was involved in something for a while, you know. Even before you filled in some of the gaps. I'm not dense enough to miss all of the clues. I even thought it might be related to the terrorism activity in the city. Granted, I never really thought that magic was part of this. Who would?" Tara would, maybe. That had always been her gift, her willingness to see things that other people wanted to cover up.
"So we've established that Tara's a part of this, whatever this is. And because of that, we're both involved. I just don't know how involved she is, or you are." He took a deep breath. "I didn't even know how involved I was, until recently. I still don't think I see the whole picture. And I could use some help with that." There it was, the most indirect hint he could think of. At this rate, they'd be vollleying back and forth all night, and nobody would learn anything.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 3:42 pm
I didn't even know how involved I was, until recently.It could mean a lot of things. It could mean anything. Or it could mean what it sounded like it meant. Well, if Laney was going to tell Kent about herself, the best way -- the most useful way -- was by showing. "Okay, um, let me ask you something. Did you ever see a young girl in a starry cloak, with a hood, like the night sky? Dark hair with a braid? White and teal outfit with gold trim? Someone named Sailor Aquarius? Did she look like Tara? Or she didn't, and you didn't recognize her?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 9:25 pm
There was a moment of silence as Kent processed the question. He thought back to his first meeting with the girl Laney was talking about, several months before. And then again, the day that Tara had vanished in the apartment. He'd had his suspicions even then, based on the things the girl said, the way she acted. But it was impossible. And even after Noah had showed him that it was indeed possible, without proof, he was still inclined to think it was some sort of weird coincidence. He'd only arrived at that conclusion because he was desperate, not because it had any real merit. Or so he thought.
It could still be a weird coincidence that Laney was bringing her up. But considering the way she asked, that seemed rather less likely than the impossible.
"Oh my god, that was her." He smacked the center of his forehead with the heel of his hand, then ran his fingers through his hair. "I didn't really think- I mean, how does that even- but it was her all along. If I'd figured it out in October, could I have stopped her?" There was no way that Laney could know the answer to that, but since she had more information than he did, he found himself looking to her for- what? Confirmation? Absolution? Censure?
His shoulders slumped as he found himself rehashing their past interactions in his head. There was so much he should have done differently. None of that would help him now, but he couldn't wrench himself out of the replay loop.
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 3:37 am
Laney gave him a sympathetic smile, meant to reassure someone she worried was beyong reassurances. Hindsight was, as they said, 20/20 -- but some things ought to be considered uncorrectable even then. "There's no figuring it out. It's not possible. Here, um, I want you to do something for me. I'm going to sit here, counting to twenty, and I want you to get up and go away to some other room. When you hear me get to ten, you can turn around and come back. Then try as hard as you can -- I mean as hard as you possibly can -- to tell that it's me. See if your mind will let you see it. Okay?" On his agreement, she'd begin her count. By ten, it would be Hvergelmir Squire sitting on his couch, idly spinning thread and counting out numbers to herself.
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 11:54 am
That managed to get Kent's attention, and he looked up, his mind clearing a little bit. Surely she was just trying to make him feel better. Because he had figured it out, or nearly so. It was just easier to think that he was grasping at straws, to turn away from what now seemed like the obvious conclusion.
"I'm starting to think that nothing is truly impossible after all." That was what Tara had been trying to tell him for years. How ironic, that it took her disappearance to make him realize it.
He wanted to tell Laney that her idea, while sweet, wasn't necessary. He'd already seen the effects of the magic disguise up close, when Noah had changed in front of him. That didn't make it any easier to understand. But if that meant that she was going to show him what was really going on, then he was willing to go along with her. Even if it made him feel like a con man, taking advantage of her kindness like that.
One, two, three...
The kitchen was too close to the living room, and open, so that wouldn't work. Tara's room was definitely out. Kent had only been in there a couple of times since she'd vanished in front of him (that really was her, oh my god) and even then, it was only when he'd had to. To let the police investigate, or to show his parents. More painful memories. So he went to his room, counting in his head.
Six, seven, eight...
Usually, he kept his room fairly neat. It was a mess now, a perfect match for him. T-shirts strewn about, old newspapers everywhere, takeout containers piled higher than the small garbage can allowed and falling over the sides. All of his "spare time" was invested in more important matters now. If he had time to clean, he had time to search.
Ten, eleven, twelve...
A bit late, he realized it was time to head back in. Not that he had far to go. It was a small apartment, in a building that mainly housed college kids and young couples. Even then, he was only able to afford the rent because of the money his parents sent him for Tara's necessities. The money that they continued to send him even though she wasn't there, so that she would have a place to come back to. Everyone was doing their part. Except for him.
Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen...
Now he was a bit early, but he barely even noticed. He was too busy staring at the girl on the couch. At Laney, he told himself, though that was really hard for him to believe. Wasn't it more likely that she'd called up someone else to take her spot, to try and prove some kind of point? Not that he had any idea how she'd manage that sort of thing, but he'd seen Tara (if that really was her, could he believe that?) disappear in front of his eyes, so this had to be possible too.
Whoever she was, she was wearing an incredibly long, sparkly gown and gold bracelets that clinked a little as she moved her hands. She was working with a... well, he wasn't quite sure what it was, actually. Some sort of spinning apparatus. Which was a weird thing to have brought with her, but maybe it came with the getup- "Ah!"
He'd thought that if Laney was a part of the equation, she'd be a senshi, like Tara seemed to be. Now it appeared that part of his hypothesis was incorrect. If this was, in fact, Laney. She certainly wanted him to believe it was. At this point, he didn't know what to think. The lack of a sailor outfit and the presence of a weapon, if it could be called that, made him wonder if they had more in common than he'd initially guessed.
At the count of twenty, Nazca Page of Mercury stumbled backwards, stunned by his realization, and leaned against the television for support. It was only after he steadied himself that he caught a glimpse of his sleeve- not the navy blue of the blazer he'd been wearing, but the white of a much warmer jacket- that he realized what he'd done.
"Oh, hell." It wasn't that he was so afraid of Laney finding out, but he still had no proof that this was Laney. And the timing was really awkward. And he had no idea what to say. All of his careful planning was out the window, and he was stuck gaping at the girl on his couch, with no idea of how to proceed.
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 9:59 pm
Hvergelmir looked up in time to see Kent reenter the room, seeing her -- to see the surprise on his face, the lack of recognition despite what he'd just been told to expect to happen -- and then to see him stumble backward, snapping unconsciously into the uniform of a page of Mercury. She'd seen it happen, so unlike Kent, she had no difficulty combining the two people in her head, or seeing Kent when she looked at the Mercury knight before her. He'd been out of the room when she changed, not looking. That was how the glamour worked. The fact that he'd dropped into uniform like that was alarming, though. Since it was such an unsafe thing to do, people didn't generally snap into their uniforms without conscious effort to do so. Hvergelmir wondered what kind of stress it took for that to have become such a snap reaction: Tara was one thing -- the biggest thing -- but if he'd just discovered himself as a knight, too, what else was on his plate? Youma attacks? Negaversers? How little sleep was he running on? Was there anyone showing him the ropes of knighthood? For that, she didn't really think she was the best teacher, honestly -- but she could try, or she could put him in touch with some of the knights she knew. At the moment, though, it was important to get the demonstration overwith and the both of them powered down sooner than later. Hvergelmir pushed her distaff and spindle back into her subspace pocket. "So, am I Laney Sutton?" She took in the details of his uniform, filing them away in her memory in case she ever needed to give his powered description to anyone. ( In case anything happens to him, too.) "Or can't I possibly be?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 11:08 pm
This was bad. So many kinds of bad. His sister was missing, her best friend was either a terrorist or had inexplicably summoned one to the apartment, and he'd just outed himself as one of them to... whoever this was. Probably Laney. Unless she wasn't. Either way, the situation was really, really bad.
It wasn't until she asked her question that Nazca remembered the ostensible purpose of this demonstration. Muting the chatter in his mind was even more impossible than this whole scenario. The best he could do was tune it out, the same way he tuned out the infomercial that still played in the background, extoling the virtues of the Mixerator 3000.
Once he could think about something other than how bad everything was, he looked at the girl again. There was nothing about her that he recognized. It had been easier with Tara and the star-cloaked girl. They had some of the same mannerisms, gave him the same warnings. Noticing a connection was easy; believing it was hard. He didn't know enough about Laney to make those kinds of observations, so he was stuck looking at the obvious. Her hair was the same color as this girl's. They were probably about the same height. And that was it for the similarities he could detect.
"You can't possibly be," Nazca finally answered. "But nothing about this is possible. So I'm going to say you're Laney anyway. And not just because I'm probably screwed six ways past Sunday if you aren't."
This was probably the time to get ready to run, in case he was dead wrong, but his brain hadn't quite gotten there yet.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 7:50 pm
Nodding, Laney transformed back down to her plain clothes again, till she was left sitting in her crappy old oatmeal hoodie still holding the distaff in her hands. A second later, she dismissed that to subspace too, and looked up. This time she hadn't bothered asking him to leave the room. She wanted him to be able to see the difference. "Now you'll be able to tell," she said. "The glamour messes with the inference, not the direct connection. I just -- didn't want you to think it was your fault you couldn't tell. The magic that protects our identity's the strongest kind we have, and the hardest to break. That's what protects Tara. And it's what protects you." Laney picked a few cotton pills off the oft-washed fabric of her sleeve. The glimmer of her signet ring caught her eye -- and an idea came to her. "Tara's not dead," she said quietly, looking back up. "There's a way to prove that much."
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 10:37 pm
It was like an optical illusion. One moment, Nazca had been looking at a knight of some sort. The next, he was seeing Laney again, in the same clothes she had come through the door with. Something flipped in his brain, and he could see that the two pictures were in fact the same, when before he could only see them as separate images. "Holy s**t," he murmured, leaning a little harder on the television. It shifted under him, making him leap away and fall, only half on purpose, into an overstuffed chair. It was a gift from his mother, an ancient and uncomfortable piece of furniture that got little use except for when she visited.
It wasn't his fault. No, that wasn't strictly true. He should have figured out the extent of Tara's anxiety earlier, and handled it better. It was still his fault that she'd run off the way she had. But at least he wasn't to blame for this one small thing.
There was so much he needed to ask, now that he knew. Nazca focused for a moment, thinking hard about returning to normal until his own glamour melted away, and Kent was left splayed in the armchair. He needed to get the timeline straightened out, to know what happened when. And then-
"Wait a sec. How do you know? How can you prove it?" Relief flooded through him even as he doubted what Laney was telling him. "Have you seen her? You're not really hiding her, are you?" She looked genuinely worried, but really, what other conclusion was he supposed to draw?
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 1:30 pm
Confronted with the direct question, Laney found she couldn't actually lie. Instead, she just looked away, staring blankly at the black TV screen. It wasn't on. "No -- she's hiding herself. I found her about a week ago -- she's alive and safe. I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Knowing he'd have more questions, she didn't bother supplying any other information. He'd ask for whatever he wanted to know -- or rage at her and ask her to leave. "Can you get me two pieces of paper and a pen?" Laney inquired, twisting her signet ring around her finger once more. "I promised I could show you proof."
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 2:37 pm
It was hard for Kent to sit still and wait for an answer. The longer Laney was silent, the more he began to wonder if what he'd thrown out there as a random guess might actually have some truth to it. He followed her gaze to the television, which had stopped trying to sell him an overpriced blender, or anything else for that matter. The plug had probably come loose when he'd leaned on it. Sort of a shame, since he could've used a distraction.
Then the answer came, and Kent was too relieved to be angry. He let himself relax into the chair, at ease for the first time since Laney had come. The first time in weeks, even. 'She's alive. She's safe. Oh, thank god.' Knowing that didn't solve everything. Really, it didn't solve anything. But just knowing that Tara was okay, and he could still bring her home, made him finally feel that there was a chance to set things right.
The next obvious question was 'why is she hiding?' Kent thought about asking Laney, but decided against it. He had a pretty good idea of why she was hiding, but the only person who would know for sure was Tara herself. Instead, he went into the kitchen, returning a few moments later with the magnetic pad and pen they kept on the fridge to write shopping lists on. The top sheet was old- Tara had scribbled 'frosting' and 'breakfast sausage' below the usual things Kent wrote down like milk and eggs. Instead of tearing it off, he carefully folded it to the back and offered the whole thing to Laney, wondering how this was supposed to prove anything, but too scared of this being some sort of terrible joke to ask.
Shazari Sorry for any goofs. Phone tags are hard.
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