The thought of going to the moon gave her a sinking feeling, like gravity had suddenly increased and was holding her down and she was very, very afraid it would stop working. Attempts to search through Zirconia’s old memories yielded no answers as to why the concept of travel to the Moon Kingdom would have such effect. She came from a moon kingdom, after all, and she had been a tag along on several trips to wonders and homeworlds the solar system over.
She held the wireless receiver in her hands and stared at it for a long time before she took a dramatic breath and hit ‘dial’.
“Thr--... I… whatever your name is,” She murmured wondering if she was just being sort of rude for never having asked his civilian name or being monstrously rude for possibly being told and forgetting. She stumbled through the rest of the message wondering if other people would be able to hear it. If he would, or if the number had been long abandoned. She was uncertain of everything. “Sorry. I… This is Zee. The moon is full tonight. I’d really--... I mean if we could meet. I’d really like to discuss something.”
She left directions to her favorite posting in the park and hung up, releasing a long and melodramatic groan at her own lack of conviction.
She showed up early, sitting on the back of a bench with her sneakers bouncing on the seat in impatientience. She could feel fall creeping in the night air and tugged her sweater around her shoulders, just hoping he would have gotten her message.
Ivynian
He’d been helping some of the sophomore studies through the new substrate panic of two part resin casting compared to the clay or Plasticine of Freshmen 3d Design Studio. Quenton didn’t keep a landline, only his cellphone, and had startled to feel it vibrate in back pocket mid-sentence. Calls weren’t particularly more frequent now than ever before, so it was likely some sort of priority. As a TA, he had to take the minute to excuse himself to listen to the message, standing in the Prairie School hallway next to an even older, pre-remodel Arts and Crafts drinking fountain.
Zee. It’s Zirconia. What the impetus that changed from the Founding? Just a personal situation and nothing to do with the on the moon part? Or was it the potential numbers? No telling. Months pass so the mind plays at the quality of tonal subcontexts. I wonder if its going to the moon, or if she wants me to look for something there? Or ...what exactly, that the lunar orb life cycles would be the inspiration. Discussion is a lot of room for interpretation. A message is a recording, though.
It was better that she hadn’t left a message with exacts, never knowing how far the infiltration into the government infrastructure the Negaverse had managed. The answers wouldn’t come until he met her up. It didn’t take much, after an hour already, to beg off and let the poor underclassmen go back to their dorms. Another stop at his desk to grab his henshin pen, get to the roof, and finally Thraen leapt to the open air and speed granted by the gifts of his homeworld.
The net result was a little later than optimal, seven minutes shy-towards-late from the appointed time. But the shape of someone on the bench was unmistakable. Thraen slowed only once he was near enough to conversant distance that raised voices weren’t necessary. “Sorry- classes are back in session… its harder to skip as a teacher. Well met, I hope.“
He didn’t stand still just yet, pacing slowly to walk off the sprint.
Zee. It’s Zirconia. What the impetus that changed from the Founding? Just a personal situation and nothing to do with the on the moon part? Or was it the potential numbers? No telling. Months pass so the mind plays at the quality of tonal subcontexts. I wonder if its going to the moon, or if she wants me to look for something there? Or ...what exactly, that the lunar orb life cycles would be the inspiration. Discussion is a lot of room for interpretation. A message is a recording, though.
It was better that she hadn’t left a message with exacts, never knowing how far the infiltration into the government infrastructure the Negaverse had managed. The answers wouldn’t come until he met her up. It didn’t take much, after an hour already, to beg off and let the poor underclassmen go back to their dorms. Another stop at his desk to grab his henshin pen, get to the roof, and finally Thraen leapt to the open air and speed granted by the gifts of his homeworld.
The net result was a little later than optimal, seven minutes shy-towards-late from the appointed time. But the shape of someone on the bench was unmistakable. Thraen slowed only once he was near enough to conversant distance that raised voices weren’t necessary. “Sorry- classes are back in session… its harder to skip as a teacher. Well met, I hope.“
He didn’t stand still just yet, pacing slowly to walk off the sprint.
“Aha, right, classes,” Zia responded with a less than convincing laugh. She had managed one semester of schooling since she had her life subsumed by Zirconia’s whims and all of the fallout from the parallel court and then the blood moon following it. She decided to follow up that success with attempting another round of classes this fall and had been completely dedicated in the last two weeks in her preparation and for exactly one day of classes before giving in to her preoccupation with, well, things like this.
“You’re a teacher?” Appearances aside, since she hadn’t aged since Nehelenia dragged her into the court, Zia would be 26 in a few months and for some reason decided to latch onto that bit of trivia to further feed her paranoia that she was too absorbed in the magical world and was flailing herself straight into obscure loserdom in her personal life.
She shook her head and sighed, “Sorry. I’m glad you made it. I was starting to worry I pulled the wrong number or something,” She said, again with the insincere laugh. Trying too hard to seem nonchalant and just being off putting instead.
“How did your meeting on the moon go? I’m sorry I couldn’t make it,” She bounced one of her feet on the bench again, “Honestly when I heard you guys could travel to the moon city I thought ‘well finally’ because it has always seemed obvious to me. Most of Zirconia’s memories are about the moon, living there, the palace, the city, the court, all that stuff. But when you said that’s where you were meeting it just. The thought of going to your moon made my blood run cold.”
She cleared her throat and had to pause to search for words to articulate the strange wave of ‘wrong’ that had come over her at the thought of it.
“Maybe it’s an old standby, from when Zirconia was corrupted. I can’t remember anything but sometimes there are feelings, yanno? Really, really nervous and creepy feelings, but also kind of excited? I think I’m afraid of it. But I don’t know why. I feel like I should know but there’s this big empty blank space in my head where it should be. I just feel like something bad is going to happen…”
She was picking at her sweater sleeves and showing blatant tics of anxiety, but she leveled a steady gaze at him and her jaw was set in what was probably the first sign of certainty she had shown all night. “So I was hoping you’d take me up there.”
Ivynian
“Teaching Assistant, but at large universities like DCU that generally means actually teaching the sectionals, studios, or labs while the professors just handle the lectures. “ His pace slowed as breathing and speech gained connectivity again without swallowing. “The meeting went more or less well. One refusal to vote, a majority for founding and all from a large turnout. So there will be a Watch to see to the succor of us all. “
He was only half interested in his own answers, however, paying far more attention to her explanations and her body language. Has she caught on to whatever it is that ails Aquarius in having attended the girl? One would swear it so to hear that laugh and the ...shiftings. A distant and early stage compared to the full out hallucinations of the Zodiac. God’s breath I hope it not so.
“Feelings and impressions can persist where memory does not. It isn't unusual, but I’m sorry you have to deal with the difficulty. “ He resting his hands on his hips and looked up at the sky. The Harvest Moon hung heavy in the blanket of purple black. “Yes. I will take you. The Primer indicates the Moon as a sanctuary from the power of chaos, though I’ve not heard how or why. I admit, I’m curious if there will be a reaction to you at all. I hope not within you. If there’s anything amiss, let me know immediately and I can bring us right back. Do you have any objects from your world imbued with magic? I could take one there as a test first, to at least make sure presence alone of your universe’s magic doesn’t have adverse reaction. Then if it doesn’t, I can come back in a breath and take you up. Doing the Ferries, if nothing else, gave a lot of practice in back and forth.
We can alleviate at least one possible source explanation for dread that way. “
Amiss like what? Burning from the inside like a vampire? She’s from another universe, not a form of undead in the sunlight. There’s not much knowing if her presence there would harm that place at all unless it is very obvious. At this point, though, extra information about it is worth the small risk. I don’t expect there will be a reaction. He looked back to her, to the fussing at her sweater and her nervous fingers. “Thank you for the explanation of why you couldn’t come. It was strange, but knowing that much makes it feel less ostracizing. “
“Did you have something you were looking to do while up there, other than just going?”
He was only half interested in his own answers, however, paying far more attention to her explanations and her body language. Has she caught on to whatever it is that ails Aquarius in having attended the girl? One would swear it so to hear that laugh and the ...shiftings. A distant and early stage compared to the full out hallucinations of the Zodiac. God’s breath I hope it not so.
“Feelings and impressions can persist where memory does not. It isn't unusual, but I’m sorry you have to deal with the difficulty. “ He resting his hands on his hips and looked up at the sky. The Harvest Moon hung heavy in the blanket of purple black. “Yes. I will take you. The Primer indicates the Moon as a sanctuary from the power of chaos, though I’ve not heard how or why. I admit, I’m curious if there will be a reaction to you at all. I hope not within you. If there’s anything amiss, let me know immediately and I can bring us right back. Do you have any objects from your world imbued with magic? I could take one there as a test first, to at least make sure presence alone of your universe’s magic doesn’t have adverse reaction. Then if it doesn’t, I can come back in a breath and take you up. Doing the Ferries, if nothing else, gave a lot of practice in back and forth.
We can alleviate at least one possible source explanation for dread that way. “
Amiss like what? Burning from the inside like a vampire? She’s from another universe, not a form of undead in the sunlight. There’s not much knowing if her presence there would harm that place at all unless it is very obvious. At this point, though, extra information about it is worth the small risk. I don’t expect there will be a reaction. He looked back to her, to the fussing at her sweater and her nervous fingers. “Thank you for the explanation of why you couldn’t come. It was strange, but knowing that much makes it feel less ostracizing. “
“Did you have something you were looking to do while up there, other than just going?”
Zia’s responses were a series of bobbing nods in understanding and head shakes with every word. There was a part of her that would have loved to stall and dissect everything he had to say about each voter at the meeting instead. Who said what, who attended, etc. But she resigned herself to a wry, “I’m glad it went well. I’m a little upset with myself for not going.” Which was one hell of an understatement.
She rubbed her shoulders and looked up at that ominous white circle in the sky. Zia had spent a lifetime here in this universe and not once until now had she ever been so disturbed. Zirconia’s memories were burning brighter than her own tonight, and in Zirconia’s memories, this night sky looked wrong and alien.
“That old cat didn’t come into this universe with anything,” She chucked lowly, eyes still on the sky. “Not even her own body.”
She cleared her throat and made conversational eye contact for once, looking more certain than she had for the duration of the conversation.
“I’ve been thinking about it since we talked last, actually. It’s been a constant, nagging distraction. I would’ve’ killed to go to that meeting but I didn’t so whatever it was, it was a strong enough feeling to do something. I can’t pinpoint its origins by hiding from it, so against my instincts, I’m asking for your assist in this experiment.”
She held out her hand for the contact need to make the jump, but the gesture seemed almost like an invitation. She attempted to banish her anxieties with a smarmy half smile of bravado. “Nothing to do about it and dive in and see what all the fuss is about.”
Ivynian
’Old’? That makes it sound like the soul of Zirconia is the Baba Yaga of Mauvians. How old is old for Mauvians? Or senshi? Does the magic affect it at all, other than the usual effects of war on life expectancy? Do souls from afar take on the aspect of the host lifespan, lengthen or shorten it? There isn’t exactly a control group to compare against. And that would take waiting the years for one of them to die of natural causes instead of the war anyway. …..
And Zirconia is the only one pure of her kind she said, comparatively to the extra variable of the Mirror Court. While his brain addled on along other experimental bends, Thraen gave a nod and took her hand without hesitation.
“So it is.” He pulled out his phone, taking a few breaths to draw all his mind down to one point of focus. A gentle squeeze of her hand as warning. He pushed the button.
They vanished with a pull to the heartsong of the moon.
And Zirconia is the only one pure of her kind she said, comparatively to the extra variable of the Mirror Court. While his brain addled on along other experimental bends, Thraen gave a nod and took her hand without hesitation.
“So it is.” He pulled out his phone, taking a few breaths to draw all his mind down to one point of focus. A gentle squeeze of her hand as warning. He pushed the button.
They vanished with a pull to the heartsong of the moon.
The lilac haired girl kept her eyes shut tightly even after she felt the cool surface of the moon under her feet. It was a moment of hesitation before she opened them, just in time to see the overlay of her dress flutter to the ground after a very prompt power up to cat-girl.
She looked around with a small sound of awe escaping her lips. It was a morbid sense of wonder, seeing a palace on the moon fallen to ruin and abandoned. This was not the elegant epicenter of solar system politics bustling with courtesans and citizens that she remembered a proper moon city being.
But seeing it this way ignited feelings of strange excitement she thought must be felt by scientists and scholars as they uncovered theories of far off doomsdays combined with the reveling in discovery of someone analyzing the remains of civilizations past all at once. This was the end, maybe it was meant to be the Black Moon’s end on the other side of the barrier between universes, but its totality was strangely thrilling. Even more promising, her anxieties had quelled, and she wondered if she had worked herself up over nothing. Maybe residing guilt from Zirconia’s past when she and Nehelenia had brought darkness on White Earth in previous lives?
“Well… nothing terrible seems to be-- Ah! Oh god!” One had grabbed the other as her fingers sprawled to a tense claw and she emitted an anguished, if not over dramatic wail as she fell to her knees, and then to the side. She gave it a moment before springing back up to her feet, laughing out a ‘just kidding’.
Laughter that stuck around in her voice as she continued, “Well nothing terrible seems to be happening, do you have your meetings in here?” She marched forward to a large corridor at the front of the palace, angling her head at every detail. In this instance she seemed to be flat out gawking rather than intelligently analyzing anything.
Ivynian
He had not been many times, but the ruin of the Moon was starting to become familiar. A few days of the month for a few months in succession had the effect of gentled, but deeper awe. The whole blurred less into a haze of majesty and details finally started to pick themselves out to his mind at glances of architecture and decoration. But there was less time for that immediately- his attention was drawn back to Zirconia. She had transformed, but was it intentional? The other Mauvians had not spontaneously become human-fied. She seemed alright at first, taking in the imagery and still airs as one did on first contemplation.
At her cry his eyes went wide, and a scramble to drop to grab her side and teleport them immediately away ensued- only...then she was standing again. The laughter met with an expression as stony as the pave they stood on as he straightened and took an evening breath. He put the senshi phone away. Poor taste when threat could be real. Plainly I take this whole ordeal too seriously. Unusual though, not that I could really ‘know’ much of her in- what, two meetings? Three with the white phoenix. It has always been business. I thought, erroneously, too much of this ? Pranks I would have thought more from Horatio. I don’t know her well either. Fair enough.
It was not the first time in his life his staid demeanor had been butt of levity, and it wasn’t likely to be the last. He followed wordless at first, trying to add the palace front in further lines to what little he had of a mental map of the place. Finally he offered, “No. There’s a cloister off the side that doesn’t seem of any specific historic significance with little furnishing or structure remaining other than the columns and walk. Some ivy. It seemed less of a risk to archeological efforts to house any large groups there. Many senshi are young, and don’t know dig-etiquette or procedure to not contaminate findings. Even I don’t really, being no more than an amateur interest at best and a complete beginner with some hours research at more realistic estimation. “
She hadn’t answered any specifics to his earlier questions Earthside if there was a reason to her wanting to come to the moon aside to see if it could be done. Asking a second time insulted both their intellect, so he held his peace on the topic. “When I visited with Athene we came in this way, and followed some halls randomly just searching about. Some areas are better preserved than others- I haven’t gotten the impression there is any weather to work on further wear beyond general physics and the ivy. Let alone whatever effects magic may have on preservation. “
At her cry his eyes went wide, and a scramble to drop to grab her side and teleport them immediately away ensued- only...then she was standing again. The laughter met with an expression as stony as the pave they stood on as he straightened and took an evening breath. He put the senshi phone away. Poor taste when threat could be real. Plainly I take this whole ordeal too seriously. Unusual though, not that I could really ‘know’ much of her in- what, two meetings? Three with the white phoenix. It has always been business. I thought, erroneously, too much of this ? Pranks I would have thought more from Horatio. I don’t know her well either. Fair enough.
It was not the first time in his life his staid demeanor had been butt of levity, and it wasn’t likely to be the last. He followed wordless at first, trying to add the palace front in further lines to what little he had of a mental map of the place. Finally he offered, “No. There’s a cloister off the side that doesn’t seem of any specific historic significance with little furnishing or structure remaining other than the columns and walk. Some ivy. It seemed less of a risk to archeological efforts to house any large groups there. Many senshi are young, and don’t know dig-etiquette or procedure to not contaminate findings. Even I don’t really, being no more than an amateur interest at best and a complete beginner with some hours research at more realistic estimation. “
She hadn’t answered any specifics to his earlier questions Earthside if there was a reason to her wanting to come to the moon aside to see if it could be done. Asking a second time insulted both their intellect, so he held his peace on the topic. “When I visited with Athene we came in this way, and followed some halls randomly just searching about. Some areas are better preserved than others- I haven’t gotten the impression there is any weather to work on further wear beyond general physics and the ivy. Let alone whatever effects magic may have on preservation. “
Thraen's stoney expression didn't seem to dampen the mirth Zia found in her own tastelessness. Unfortunately they had interacted enough the act that was pretending to be Zirconia was fading and without pretending to be mature and formal Zia was just... not.
She nodded, listening to every word as she kept exploring. She passed on the path to the throne room and its silver light blocking the way and didn't question it or gawk. She was eager to see what she could, drawing up mental comparisons of home in her head.
Home.
There was a point where her gait stopped, and her expression faded. Lilac ears at the top of her head became pointed and alert and something quickened her pulse. She felt something tug at her, pulling at her heart with an urgency that seemed dangerous and strange enough to make the color drain from her face. At first she stared off at some undetermined point in the space in front of her, looking blank, save for a tinge of worry and fear.
And then she started moving.
Down the hall, which was without a barrier. Something that had been protected back here was suddenly without protection, or whatever magic had been shielding it had been put to rest for her as she followed where she was being pulled. No one was supposed to be back here, yet here they were.
There was a new energy back here. Not quite an aura, but an electrical new sense of pressure in their atmosphere as the Mauvian tore through the ruin like she knew where she was going.
Her artifact waited under a curtain in a small room all to itself, and without pause or consideration, she grabbed it and pulled it down, and just stood staring up with wide eyes and mouth agape. She was breathless with excitement and just a touch of fear at the sensation of the dormant power laying here, contained in the large and ornate mirror in front of her. The original mirror.
Not the copy of the Black Mirror residing in the mirrorspace throne room, but the original path through which the Dead Moon Circus came to the White Moon's universe before. There was a small crack at the top, but when Zee's trembling hand slowly reached out to touch it there was a visible spark, a pulse of magic as it reacted to her and she pulled away.
"It's here and... it's not dead yet..." Was all she could murmur in her daze.
Ivynian
It was difficult to offer much help or perspective beyond quote-book platitudes when she still offered nothing but murmurs to herself. That there was something going on more than a ferry ride went without saying as he pursued her side, keeping pace with long shanks and stone-heavy steps. I am a witness at least. A packhorse more realistically. Well, what else is new for any senshi not specifically claimed by any mauvian. If you aren’t theirs, you’re baggage. Catlike enough.
It didn’t grate as much as it would have months ago. It brought enough interest and other questions to mind to prove its own source of interest as the fly on the wall down the hall and to the strange Mirror that seemed to have some sort of significance to her. More so to be claimed alive. It reacted to her like the mirror starseed- maybe not exactly like, but similar enough to imply it had some relation to her native universe. Rather than entertain sardonic passive aggression, Thraen waited patiently the while before even intoning, “What is it? You didn’t come here just to see if you could; you’ve made that plain. You navigate knowingly the halls as direct as a denizen. I can’t offer you help if you talk only to yourself.“
Much like Aquarius.
It didn’t grate as much as it would have months ago. It brought enough interest and other questions to mind to prove its own source of interest as the fly on the wall down the hall and to the strange Mirror that seemed to have some sort of significance to her. More so to be claimed alive. It reacted to her like the mirror starseed- maybe not exactly like, but similar enough to imply it had some relation to her native universe. Rather than entertain sardonic passive aggression, Thraen waited patiently the while before even intoning, “What is it? You didn’t come here just to see if you could; you’ve made that plain. You navigate knowingly the halls as direct as a denizen. I can’t offer you help if you talk only to yourself.“
Much like Aquarius.
She suddenly looked nervous, looking back and remembering she had a companion. “I-... I um…”
She worried at her lower lip and looked back up to the mirror. Her ears flattened against her hair as she found its internal calling to her hadn’t ceased, it had only gotten louder with proximity and the noise in her skull made it hard to think. “I don’t actually know. I’ve never been here before, it’s um. It’s weird. It’s like the Moon Palace Zirconia lived in but it’s not. And this is… I…” She swallowed.
“I’m sorry, I’m not playing a game anymore,” She said with wide yellow eyes looking over her shoulder at him. It was a weird phrasing for the context, but Zia was well aware of the dissociated way she played with people in the war. Acting like Zirconia proper for some people, encouraging self destructive paths of action she thought would be beneficial for her own goals, pranks, jokes, manipulations, and machinations.
It suddenly all felt very regrettable as she faced a deep fear of the unknown and had no idea how to honestly articulate it.
“I can’t think, I’m sorry,” She half whined, looking back up at the mirror.
“I think it’s… um… the original. The mirror that Nehelenia used to send us over the first time. The pathway. A Dark Mirror senshi told me it was in the throne room, that it was how they were awakening new mirror souls without Ares and I figured, since she claimed she was the new court sovereign of course she would have located it, but she couldn’t have because it’s here/ It’s here and it’s screaming and I don’t know... how…”
As she trailed off, she slowly reached out to touch it again and a vibration shockwaved out through the air, like a noise just beyond one’s hearing. She retracted her hand again and cried out a quick, “I’m sorry!” to it.
“It know I’m not a royal, I think. Only Helen could use it before, because it’s… the door,” She looked down and held her wrist again and wiggled her tingling her fingers. “It’s the door to the other side. It’s not for me, though, it’s not letting me use it. Not my place.”
Ivynian
Games, indeed. Thraen approached the thing without touching, looking and feeling out as much as he was able along the auric paths, and ‘listening’ through the room as though it would help him any the way the teleportation to Moon or Homeworld required listening. Trying to find the differences to have more data to work with.
The admissions she gave were a start as much as they were barbs. Useless to be angry since that was its own distraction. Thraen pushed the emotion away in his mind as it tried to rise again. “Someone gave you information- That mirror was the reason you wanted to come here. I could make a 50% assumption that ‘Helen’ must be Nehelenia? And as the implied ‘old court sovereign’ was the ruler you served of the Court from the regular Mirror Universe. All as opposed to the Dark Mirror. For future reference, divulging that wouldn’t have impacted my willingness to bring you here, and withholding served no other purpose than a game. ”
“Especially since I’m not being distracted by the thing and can still think, “ and most of my personal conditioning the last year has been geared towards preserving my ability to think or act under pain or distraction anyway. What else am I good for, when the chips are down anyway. “ Facts and postulates. Its ‘screaming’- why? Its here in this universe still and in the very Moon Castle- why and how? I postulate that if it is here, with all other data I do have, it isn’t a gate of Chaos energy itself. Chaos isn’t supposed to be able to come here. You say it reacts to the use of a sovereign royal, citing ‘Helen’ from your universe. Since it is still here, it has some connection and footing here informally that may be made use of. How about seeing what you and a royal could make of it? A royal of this universe must be able to manage something. “
The admissions she gave were a start as much as they were barbs. Useless to be angry since that was its own distraction. Thraen pushed the emotion away in his mind as it tried to rise again. “Someone gave you information- That mirror was the reason you wanted to come here. I could make a 50% assumption that ‘Helen’ must be Nehelenia? And as the implied ‘old court sovereign’ was the ruler you served of the Court from the regular Mirror Universe. All as opposed to the Dark Mirror. For future reference, divulging that wouldn’t have impacted my willingness to bring you here, and withholding served no other purpose than a game. ”
“Especially since I’m not being distracted by the thing and can still think, “ and most of my personal conditioning the last year has been geared towards preserving my ability to think or act under pain or distraction anyway. What else am I good for, when the chips are down anyway. “ Facts and postulates. Its ‘screaming’- why? Its here in this universe still and in the very Moon Castle- why and how? I postulate that if it is here, with all other data I do have, it isn’t a gate of Chaos energy itself. Chaos isn’t supposed to be able to come here. You say it reacts to the use of a sovereign royal, citing ‘Helen’ from your universe. Since it is still here, it has some connection and footing here informally that may be made use of. How about seeing what you and a royal could make of it? A royal of this universe must be able to manage something. “
”I didn’t know it was here,” She said after some time to think at the floor with her brow knotted as if she wasn’t entirely certain of that fact or not. “I don’t think I did. It was here before, but I don’t think I know that. Or knew that. I don’t know,” She ended up gripping the side of her head and crouching down a little.
“I’m not really Zirconia, I’m just pretending, sometimes her memories are just.. .fractured. I think. U-um…” She glanced back up to the mirror, trying to solve the riddle of its placement, It was always here, but it couldn’t have been. “It wasn’t always protected from Chaos I think. Because we came through this before. I don’t remember a lot, because of the timeline shift, but we were corrupted then and purified here. As opposed to now when we came over purified and corrupted here. I think that’s the way it went. And then it’s… yes, Helen is Nehelenia, it’s just her…”
She tried to shake away babble.
“It’s old magic. And it’s still here, but without Helen, it’s not going to let-- Oh!”
Her speech became a little less strained, but she flapped her arms in a weird burst of excitement. “Maybe! That might work! Because--... We have to go back!” She reached out her hand, vibrating with overeager energy. It was a combination of the weight of the discovery sinking in and being more than ready to distance herself from the hum in her head. “I know just where to find one!
Ivynian
‘Not really Zirconia’ the way everyone else of the dark mirror is not really who they should be here? That would be a technical truth only in that the fusion of two separates creates a new hybrid that is neither. You have her soul in you as much as you have Zia. Wouldn’t that make you pretending to be either of them? It begs whether or not you are admitting to yourself that you aren’t Zia either. Maybe. It doesn’t affect much for now. Something to consider later and watch for more signs of the internal politics of alien catwomen.
“Like on the shelf at a grocer? I didn’t know they were that easy to find, “ It was his turn at a weak joke. But he pulled out his phone again. “Who did you have in mind? I’ve heard of less than a handful, and only ever seen one. They mostly seem missing in action. “ At least in hopeful speech. Maybe missing, maybe don’t care, maybe dead or mad.
Thraen held out his hand to her.
“Like on the shelf at a grocer? I didn’t know they were that easy to find, “ It was his turn at a weak joke. But he pulled out his phone again. “Who did you have in mind? I’ve heard of less than a handful, and only ever seen one. They mostly seem missing in action. “ At least in hopeful speech. Maybe missing, maybe don’t care, maybe dead or mad.
Thraen held out his hand to her.
