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 Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 9:49 pm
One moment they were standing on the grass on earth the next they would be standing at the entrance to the courtyard that surrounded the lighthouse Pharos.
Pharos opened her eyes and smiled at her wonder, but after a moment she looked to Nazca. "You ready," she said turning around and looking left and right trying to remember exactly which way Aquarius was. She knew she could get to it anyway she walked but heading toward Libra was one outpost shorter. "We're just about as far away on the surrounding as you can get from Aquarius' outpost. To bad Bifrost isn't here. I think she has a bridge of sorts."
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Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:13 pm
None of this was possible.
It was impossible for people to have magic. And even if others could, he couldn't. He lived in the real world, while Tara lived in a more fantastical place. That was always the way it had been. And even fantastical worlds didn't allow one to travel to space. Certainly not by saying a few words and thinking.
He'd promised Laney to keep an open mind, and he thought he'd been doing that. It wasn't until they arrived that he realized that all he'd been doing was humoring her, and himself, as some sort of misplaced attempt to make up for past mistakes. He'd never really thought any of it possible. There was still a small part of him that thought this was some sort of complex delusion. But that part was quiet, gaping at the wonder before him.
Nazca looked out, beyond the lighthouse, to the stars all around them. This was what Tara had wanted, ever since she was old enough to talk. And now, surrounded by things that couldn't be real and yet felt absolutely right, he felt like he could almost understand why.
"This is really happening," he muttered, pinching himself to banish the last dregs of disbelief. "Incredible. No wonder she's come here- it's what she's always wanted." He followed as Pharos began moving, trying to take in everything that was around him. "Do you spend most of your time here, too?" Was that another element of being a knight that had been left out of his tutorial?
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Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:24 pm
Pharos was walking and looking out to the stars of space. There wasn't a terrible need to pay much attention to where she was going. She couldn't walk off the road and she could only really go backwards or forwards. She looked to Nazca who seemed maybe a bit astonished in her opinion.
She shook her head at his question, "no. I mean being on your wonder is peaceful and has a sense of rightness, but I can't be here all the time. I have to go to school and my mom would be worried sick if I disappeared again. Also I can't come here that often. I tried once. It didnt work. That and you saw my wonder, there is much there, no place to sleep or even really eat or anything. It a lighthouse, something like a way station I think. Well that what I am told by my ancestor."
She turned around walking backwards, "it would be really nice to spend more time here. I would really love it. To talk to my ancestor more and learn more and maybe even explore with others."
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Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:34 pm
"Wonder?" Nazca repeated, confused. He often commented on Tara's sense of wonder, but Pharos was using the word in a different way, one that he was unfamiliar with. And the next thing made him stop walking abruptly and stare. "You disappeared too? Wait, is that part of this whole superhero thing? Because my family's already been through that- we're still going through that- and if I drop off the face of the earth too, I don't think my parents could handle it."
He could picture it easily, because he'd been on that side of things more than once. The desperate phone calls, and investigations that never went anywhere. Fearing the worst and refusing to believe it, but knowing that at some point, one had to consider every possibility, no matter how grim...
But the way Pharos was talking, it sounded like whatever she'd been through was temporary. That gave Nazca hope that he'd be able to bring his sister back from whatever her problem was. He started walking again, listening and nodding at things he didn't really understand, his mind still trying to wrap itself around the fact that he was in space, and (hopefully) not about to get sucked into a black hole or something equally unpleasant.
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Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:49 pm
Pharos stumbled faltering for a moment when the word wonder came out in a question manner and before she could respond he was asking about disappearing and she wasn't sure which to answer first. She paused too, when he stopped and her face was scrunched somewhere between contemplation and confusion.
"Well, yes, I do believe it was in the news. Just before HITS opened, the 52 people that just vanished. I was one of them. It was all while ago though, I vanished from my bedroom and was up here for a while. I spent my 15th birthday up here. Its hard to remember everything, but I think it had more to do with the surrounding than being a senshi or a knight. I don't think it will happen again, its been three years."
She sighed and continued walking, "as for a wonder. Its the place you are named for. I'm Pharos of Chronos. My wonder is the lighthouse Pharos on Chronos. You protect your wonder and serve the code, or protect it, not entirely sure I remember that correctly. Mostly we just need to keep the negaverse from destroying earth. Someone else might be a little bit more knowledge than me on all this. I learned a lot of Camelot and Celsus."
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Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 11:06 pm
As soon as Pharos began to elaborate, everything clicked. Nazca knew what she was talking about, and it was not one of Tara's previous disappearances. Technically. She had stopped going to school during that time, and was never home when he woke up, but she'd always showed up for dinner, so he'd never thought that something was wrong. At least, not until the school called, lumping her in with a bunch of students who had mysteriously vanished.
Since then, he'd wondered more than once where Tara had spent her days during that time. Funnily, "in space" was never a conclusion he'd come to.
"That explains a lot," he admitted, totally missing Pharos' stumble. "So basically what you're saying is since I'm not connected to this Surrounding bit-" he gestured to the road, still amazed that it was exactly as Laney had described it- "I shouldn't have to worry about disappearing, right? That's a relief." His family had been through enough trauma already.
The name Chronos didn't mean anything to him, but her explanation triggered another question. "Am I supposed to have one of these wonder-things too?" They did sound sort of like the 'freakish sanctuaries' Noah had mentioned, but the two of them never discussed the nitty-gritty of knighthood. Something that Nazca was starting to regret, even though at the time he hadn't exactly been primed for learning.
"So wait, if you're Pharos of Chronos, and your wonder is here, mine would be- wait, Mercury? That's impossible!"
Which was, he realized belatedly, a really dumb thing to say when you were in space.
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Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 11:28 pm
"No I don't think so, its not likely, but it's a long explanation and kind of complicated. I took away from it that magic exists and what we know about space on earth is extremely limited."
Pharos smiled at Nazca when he asked if he was suppose to have a wonder as well and she nodded at him indicating that he did indeed. When he concluded his wonder would be on mercury, she looked at his uniform and was about to nod, but he said it was impossible.
"There isnt much that is truly impossible. Have you seen a nega teleport, a prince or prince glide on large feathery wings like angel, or even just anyone like up jump two storied up? You're a knight, frankly impossible shouldn't be a word that is in you vocabulary, but really it seems like if you think it can't happen, it probably can. You have to be open minded."
"I can't tell you the exact words to take you to your wonder, but I can tell you that if you are quiet and you listen they'll come to you and you can go there."
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Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 11:49 pm
"So as long as I learn that lesson, I won't have to disappear," Nazca suggested, determined to shove a logical explanation where it didn't fit. "In that case, consider my lesson learned." While he'd probably never stop doubting the things in front of him- it was one of the things that made him good at his job- he could at least stop thinking that he was mentally unbalanced every time something crazy happened.
It seemed like Pharos had seen far more craziness than he had ever imagined. Teleportation and princes and wings and jumping. He decided it would be better for his psyche not to ask for details about any of them just yet. "Some things are definitely impossible. It just seems like that category is far more exclusive than I once thought it was."
Her advice on wonders he tucked away for another time. As curious as he was about this 'freakish sanctuary' he was supposed to protect, it was not as important as what brought him out here. Wherever "here" was. He picked up the pace a little, beginning to get antsy. "I still don't really get it. How having places like this, all the way out here- wherever 'here' is- has anything to do with protecting the Earth. What's the connection?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 12:21 am
Pharos gave a little laugh, she didn't think it quite worked like that, but she didnt say anything more on the subject. Pharos thought about the point he made and nodded, she could concede to that. Maybe there were a few things in this world that were impossible.
Pharos sighed, "that's kind of a lot to explain right now. And my memory of what the code explained to the knights is a little hazy. It was a lot to process for everyone I think. The code called us to Olympus and explained a lot to us. Lots of knights were there, probably the vast majority. I've never seen that many in one place."
"The war I know started a long time ago, a very long time ago."
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 12:43 am
This was the second time that Pharos had mentioned a code of some sort. That meant it had to be important. And, going by what she said, sentient. Maybe it was the name of a person? That would make more sense than a sentient form of encryption. Sort of. Nazca wanted to ask for clarification, but if her memory wasn't clear on the subject, he knew it wouldn't get him anywhere.
So instead he put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "I'm not too keen on fighting a war without knowing all the details. I mean, I get that bad stuff is happening and we're supposed to stop it, but that's not enough. I didn't accept this role to try and fix the universe. There's something else I need to fix first. But if we're supposed to be the front lines, we deserve more than a pat on the back and a 'good luck' before we're sent out, don't you think? And more than an explanation that fries everyone's brains."
Maybe he could meet this code-person sometime. Getting the right answers was often a matter of asking the right questions.
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 12:56 am
Pharos looked at him and shook her head, "you put on the uniform, so you'll fight. I never wanted to have to admit such a thing, but if you put on the uniform you fight or you die or get corrupted and become one of them. They will try to kill you. Ive had people try to kill me for no reason at all.
Ask around though, someone will have the story for you. You could also try to ask the code I guess, but Im not really sure how that works. Otherwise I will think on it for a while and try to get my thoughts in order."
She sighed rubbing her arms as if cold, although the walkway on the surrounding couldnt really be described as having a real climate and Pharos was wearing quite a bit of fabric. She just didn't like the reality that people probably weren't going to stop trying to kills her. She walked a little faster looking out to the stars and wanting to go back to her wonder, but pushing forward. Everything would be okay.
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 1:06 am
"I didn't say I wouldn't fight," Nazca clarified. "Just that I wasn't thrilled about doing it without knowing why, beyond some vague idea of it being bad if I don't. I don't like getting into scuffles with random teenagers just because I know they're doing something wrong, but I have no idea what or how to fix it beyond fisticuffs." He was also terrible at holding his own against them, a fact he chose to keep to himself. "But just because I don't like it, and it's not my first priority, doesn't mean I won't do it, or that I don't take it seriously."
Though until seeing space for himself, there was always a small part of him that thought it was some sort of practical joke. So perhaps he hadn't been taking it as seriously as all that.
Once he noticed her rubbing her arms, he took off his jacket and held it out to her, lengthening his stride to keep up with her faster pace. "You can use this if you're cold. I don't know who provides our clothes for this, but clearly they've never heard of all-weather gear."
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 8:28 pm
Pharos nodded, "okay yeah. Sorry about that. But, does it really matter? Even if you know the whole story, don't people find their own reason to fight, for why they do this, for why they fight?" She gave him a curious glance before he was handing her his jacket and telling her she could use it if she was cold.
She looked slightly confused and just gave a small giggle, "I'm not cold. Its not particularly cold here, not at the moment anyway, but thanks." He matched her strides so she didn't slow down or really fully realize that she sped up.
"I don't think the clothes are really made for all weather. It's never been anything but mild at me wonder and when I was here during that time when I disappeared, I dont remember it getting cold. I think they are made or were created for wherever your wonder is. Which unfortunately means some outfits are very appropriate for earth's winters and summers. This outfit was not made for summer, and neither was yours."
She looked around briefly to try to figure out where they were not that she always recognized the outpost. She looked to Nazca again for a moment before asking, "how'd you become a knight huh?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:26 pm
Even though what Pharos was saying made a certain amount of sense, it made Nazca uncomfortable. "Sure, people need to fight for whatever's important to them." That was what he was doing, and if anyone tried to get in his way, he'd go through them if he had to. "But that doesn't mean we don't need to know the facts. I mean, think about it: if we're ignoring history and doing our own thing, what's to say the other side isn't doing that too? And then we're stuck in a war that could have been avoided with a little bit of research."
Or maybe it was too late, since the more he learned, the more he thought the situation was exactly that.
When she didn't take the jacket, he decided to tie it around his waist rather than put the hot thing back on, still listening intently as he moved. She spoke of "wonders" so easily, as if she had always known of their existence. Nazca had to wonder how he'd missed hearing about them, and what that might mean. To say nothing of what was awaiting him at his, if she was to be believed.
"Hmmmm... huh? How?" How'd he become a knight? Shouldn't she know that? "It was the book, I think. It appeared out of nowhere, and this guy I was with wouldn't let me touch it until he explained what it was. Though I'm getting the impression that he skipped over a few crucial details." He shrugged. "Was it different for you? I mean, I figure not everybody gets a briefing before they dive into this thing, but otherwise it's probably the same, right?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:20 pm
Pharos thought on his words and nodded, "yes that's a good point. I guess I never thought to much about it because of how I came into this war. I can certainly try to find out more about it. Talking to other and exploring more and maybe even asking my ancestor. The way I can into all this sort of pushed all that to the wayside, not to mention, I have magic and it exists. It a very exciting and wonderful thing to take in, well whenever someone is not trying to stab you and all that."
Pharos grinned, but her grin turned to confusion when she told her about his awakening, and further turn to sort of briefly panicked look graced her face and she didnt know what to say. She did, however think it wasn't a good idea to tell him she died. "Hmmmm," she softly, "it happened so quickly, they was a big battle and well I got a pink cloth flower."
It was the truth without the dying part or they fact that the flower and the being a page part was rather simultaneous. The only other awakening she had seen was Celsus' and his had quite a bit of light. "I don't have the pink flower anymore though, I have a staff now, it has a fan at the top. It changed when I became a squire. My outfit changed too."
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