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 Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:19 pm
His patrolling slackened greatly after his brush with the girl in the bell tower. His body yearned for rest, yet he pushed it to limit with the deep devotion he felt toward the private beliefs held so closely each night. He ached with any movement, to budge beneath the unblinking eye that shed its luminance over the land, but he pushed for completion of his quota at a steady pace. He needed no limitation from bodily harm now, and felt no warmth for the perpetual protests housed within his skin.
In the midst of February, snow coated the ground in thick sheets - nature’s chronicle of the footfalls of vibrant life across these dormant stretches. Inevitably, he joined the sprawl of activity over trodden snow with his own boot marks. Only the streets looked somewhat stamped down, with their thick trenches cut into the white skin covering the streets. He disliked it, this perversion of nature exhibited in the city - the emulated trees risen out of metal and glass, and the manipulation of nature’s weather patterns through chemical deicers. It felt disingenuine.
Sacrilegious.
Finally his legs shook as leaves in a storm beneath the endeavored onslaught through slush and snow. With each step, he measured the meager strength stores that enabled such precariously weakened limbs to endure, and realized that he must break from patrol to allow his body a measure of rest. And to his great fortune, a bus bench absent all signs of life loomed fifty yards from his location. A great arch of plasticized glass framed the bench from rain and snow, which meant he would seek comforts from the cutting wind that sheared feeling from his skin.
The trek to reach its confines felt arduous, but the surge of thoughts that besieged him buried all sense of time elapse to reach his chosen shelter. And when he sat atop the heavy wooden bench, the hunter loosed a sigh of exhaustion that whirled away as thick steam carried by the prancing winds. I cannot continue to push myself at this rate. A man absent strength is of little use to his cause. This habit must end.
Yet a familiar, though markedly weaker, intuition mixed with dread caught his attention. He remembered it in each bone bruised from his last brush with such a warning. Soon his choices narrowed to the efficacy of pushing himself further out of encounter’s way, or remaining to recuperate his destitute stores of energy. There were no guarantees that a fight would ensue if this anomaly of sensation led to an entirely different individual.
So he waited.Elsa was still getting accustomed to the whole “magical powers” thing, and he definitely wasn’t used to being able to feel powered auras or associate them with being other human beings who were going through the same wacky magical experience as him.
He could feel something - strange and unfamiliar, not like the Dark Mirrors he was used to. It was a strange, dark crackling, almost - He wasn’t sure how to describe it, but he was definitely curious. So he moved towards it, instead of away, which probably would have been the smarter thing to do. He had no idea who this was, no idea what this was about, and yet there he was willing to walk face-first into a dangerous situation.
‘Smart, Elsa, really smart,’ he thought, but he pushed forward anyway, until he spotted someone on a park bench in clothes that seemed significantly less strange than his own, but the feather adornments were eye-catching, and he seemed to be the source of whatever it was Elsa was feeling.
“Hey,” he said,as neutrally as possible. Friend or foe? The Senshi of the Wendigo truly had no idea.The sound of greeting drew milky eyes open, darting toward the man’s face for recognition. Umber looked worn, weary, yet alert. This one looks like her. Feels like her. Weaker, though, and definitely not her. He has not attacked me, which is welcome. Perhaps they are not all like her, unless she knew something of me that this one does not. For a time he only took in the man’s features - noticeably boyish, with garb black and blue, of a much simpler design to the first one of his kind that Umber encountered. He lacked a certain potency in the strange intuitions that he bestowed.
“What brings you here?” He meted out the question lacking the conversationalism implied in his choice of words. Instead, the tone felt detached yet curious. Uninviting, but not aggressive.
He may know her, or something about her. It may be in my best interests to entertain him, so long as he does not resort to the same violences. With no way to beat around the bush or dissuade the man from any potential connection between his injuries and the girl whose information he sought, Umber instead darted straight to the point. “I think I met one of your kind before. She had blonde hair, black and grey garb, stretches of cloth missing from her sides, and a fixture attached to one eye. Do you know her, or anything about her?” Alright, so this wasn’t exactly someone chatty or friendly, that was fine, Elsa could deal with that. The blue-haired Senshi rested his hands on his hips, staying far enough away that he hoped he didn’t look like a threat - because while the dark-crackle aura didn’t necessarily feel enemy it wasn’t exactly hard to tell this wasn’t going to be an interaction fostering deep mutual trust and understanding.
“Trying to figure all this,” Elsa gestured at himself, at his ridiculous (though perhaps not entirely so, if compared to say, his sister’s, or Leto’s) outfit, “magical...s**t out.” He was trying to come up with any other descriptor, but his brain failed.
Oddly, that the description the man gave was of no Dark Mirror he knew was comforting. That meant there really were more of them, that this wasn’t some weird fantasy-hallucination-thing. “Don’t know her, sorry, I’ve met like two people in my Court and one cat?” Not exactly an impressive repertoire of knowledge.He doesn’t know her. That’s a wash. But he also doesn’t know much about this life… “Maybe it doesn’t need figuring out.” He closed eyes again, trying to remember every detail about the man he just met - from the strange fire eyes to the types of boots he wore. Unfortunately, not much remained of the memory that bled away from his lids. He failed the test. Upon looking toward the man again, he studied him a measure longer, hoping to remember further details from name to description should they meet again.
Or prove to be enemies.
“You met a cat,” Umber reiterated, a brow quirking gently. “Is that supposed to be of some significance?” My enemies prove strange creatures, yes, but you are… The same? Different? I cannot make any inferences now. It is impossible to determine if he is of a different species or not. Dwelling on this to make sense of it won’t help right now. My mind and body need the rest. It will wait.
“Tell me about your court, if you will.”
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 7:59 pm
Elsa crossed his arms. "It definitely needs figuring out," he said, but for once in his life he made the decision not to push a potential argument. Sure, he didn't exactly mind getting into physical fights, but there was too much unknown here. Throwing down with someone twice his size was normally not exactly terrifying, but when he still didn't know what exactly he might be facing...playing something approaching nice was for the better.
"Well, the cat talked, so yeah, kinda," Elsa said. "Why, do you guys like...not have those?" How the hell did one become a magical warrior sans cat? He was getting a little tired of all the things he really didn't get.
"I really can't tell you much, I mean, except that we can walk through mirrors, and we have a Princess."
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 8:45 pm
"Sometimes explanation begets further confusion. Other times people look for meaning where none exists. Both of these can apply to the advent of our lives in these uniforms." To speak of it in such a manner led Umber to question if he said too much, or invited a measure of dissent among what were supposedly allies - or at least nonviolent entities. His dilemmas in this new world were twofold: he may cause his own arguments due to his ignorance toward the Negaverse or other factions, or he may further injure relations due to his differing culture between his home and Destiny City.
Talking cats... What a peculiar world this is. "I have not seen or heard of any yet." And if I tell you that I've much to learn of the Negaverse, that invites its own dangers. Finally Umber shifted to stand, though the effort came slowly with the dull aches sounding their own protests throughout his muscles. Before he banished the thought, he wondered if this was how one would feel after fighting a bear. "They may be used for different divisions - or are completely unnecessary."
Their vast difference in height lent its own measure of security in intimidation factor; Umber estimated that nearly a foot of discrepancy lay between them, and he would not complain of it. Folding his arms, Umber mulled over the information supplied. Walking through mirrors is a strange circumstance. I wonder if I am capable of it in this form as well. And the princess portion... They are part of a monarchy? It makes sense with the title of 'court'. Are they their own nation? Does one lie beyond the mirror? His answers invite so many more questions than they answer, and he confirmed that he has little more to offer than that. I would have to find someone else.
"You were given no more information than that?" That would place him worse off than I. At least they issued me a training manual for independent study. "They left you at a disadvantage, then."
Maybe it was intentional.
"How did you come to be in this form?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 3:16 pm
Elsa looked fully prepared to argue - to get into a full-on debate about how there was plenty of point to asking for explanations, thank you very much, particularly when you had a lot of new magical abilities and no idea how to use them, but maybe for Umber those were true - or maybe whoever he served (since it obviously wasn't Leto) discouraged asking questions.
Maybe.
Besides, he wasn't exactly prepared for a debate when he had almost no information. Arguing without evidence was just a lot of pointless shouting. And he was reminded, moreso, of how unwise picking a verbal fight that could become physical was - Levi was not exactly tall, and the man he was facing definitely was. But it was interesting to know that apparently the cats didn't name everyone, that there were types of magical awakening that didn't require a tiny fuzzy animal and a mysterious pen and, he supposed, a Princess and her great black mirror.
"I know that I have magic, and how to use it." Sort of. He was pretty sure the finer details would come to him if he needed it. "I know some stuff about my Court, but not much that I'd share, and I know that a hell of a lot of people want us dead." It balked him to lie, even by omission, but at least he was honest in that he knew more than he was telling.
"My sister told me she wanted me to meet someone. Turns out it was two someones, one of them was a cat, and the other was a Princess. The cat gave me this," he called his henshin pen out of subspace, with its strange snowflake insignia, in ice blue and silver and black, and twirled it between his bare fingers, "and told me that I was Sailor Elsa, Senshi of the Wendigo. Princess Leto called up a black mirror and threw me through it, and I was like this." Hedging, perhaps, but still the truth. "What about you? No cat to tell you your name?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:22 pm
Right, you're one of the creatures that can cast what humankind could not. But at least he has loyalties to his own kind, if he is so unwilling to share with those who aren't quite allies anymore. At least we are not yet enemies.
"I can't say I've heard the same, but I have not met many people either." Though there is one of your kind willing to betray the rest. I suppose you will come into that knowledge in time - if ever. She may find it better to keep quiet, or you may find yourself dead before you know her. Any number of things could happen between then and now. "I don't know much of the Dark Mirror Court, so I do not have an opinion of it. All I know of your kind is the potential to walk through mirrors and the nuance that your souls - starseeds? - are coated in a substance resembling a mirror. One of your kind showed me once." I wonder if you were taught as much with your Court secrets.
His back ached with prolonged standing; his body urged him to move to dissipate its pain, but the conversation at hand rooted him given the unspoken tension between the two. To back down from an animal indicated cowardice - he could only guess the same for these creatures. "You have yet to make an enemy of me, at least." Though I wonder how long it would take until our paths cross when searching for the same resources. What happens then, and who will make a sacrifice to maintain unsteady truces? "I doubt, however, that I am the worst of your potential opposition."
His story sounded impossibly fairytale, given what he knew of such things. It differed distinctly from what stories he knew at bedtime, but matched up well enough from what he learned of traditional fairytales. Princesses and felines, and newly discovered identities that spoke of some means to change the world, or themselves. Umber never understood the appeal.
"That... Sounds very different from what I went through," he admitted readily. "And certainly more a feverish dream than something you would assume as reality. There are some parallels, but mostly there aren't." He paused to offer a glance toward the opposite end of the street, where a passerby lingered in his peripherals, yet nothing stood but a motionless street lamp. He sighed quietly, lips slightly parted and tongue pinched between teeth while he considered his words. Once ready, he glanced back to his audience.
"I was corrupted elsewhere, after my brother and I were split up. A youma pursued him, and something else pursued me - a general of the Negaverse. She stopped me, and offered the choice to possess impossible power. I accepted. She thrust her hand through my chest and loosed a hurt so deep and ubiquitous I thought I might die. Then I was this, and she named me Umber." He parted arms to gesture. "No cats. No princesses. No mirrors. And no..." He fished for words before finally giving up. "What is that?" He asked as he pointed at Elsa's henshin pen.
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Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 5:24 pm
Elsa shrugged. "I don't plan to make enemies of anyone unless they make an enemy of me," he said. He hoped it came out something approaching confident, because he certainly wasn't going to look dangerous for physical stature.
But sayin his soul was covered in some kind of mirror made the blue-haired man's eyebrows knit together. "My what is what?" Yeah, no, that had definitely not been covered in "DMC 101," or whatever. Not that it mattered because it seemed so ridiculous, and like, maybe it was just that one, maybe they all weren't? He had certainly never looked at his own soul, and he hoped he never got to because that sounded sort of grim.
All of this was so patently bizarre that sharing a name with the main character of a Disney Princess movie seemed perfectly normal.
Especially the way Umber described his corruption. Elsa winced and automatically brought a hand up to his chest. Mirror corruption had been painful, but that sounded awful. (Had the woman he mentioned handled his...starsseed...thing? So many questions, so few answers.)
"s**t, that sounds like it sucked," he said. He'd been distracted enough by Umber's story to forget he was still holding his henshin pen, and so he actually had to glance down at it to remind himself.
"Oh, uh, it's a pen. I have to use it to transform - the whole thing's kinda ridiculously flashy." For a moment he considered powering down to show Umber how it worked, but having someone else witness him going through a magical sparkly transformation was a little too much to stomach. "I have to hold it, say 'Elsa power, make up!' and then magic...s**t...happens."
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Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:16 am
Apparently reconciliation isn't part of your repertoire of skills. Unfortunate, and dangerous. His teeth clenched hard enough to enunciate his sternocleidomastoid, but he offered no other indication of his irritation.
Umber offered a shrug. His gaze left the Mirror child to wander their surroundings again, though he discovered nothing and no one of great import. The streets remained barren, which set him on edge. "It is what I was told by your own kind. She explained that your starseeds are mirror-coated. I don't know how or why that is, but she implied that it is prevalent. I don't know how it is applied, either - whether by first walking through the mirrors you use, or when thrown through as your princess did, or some other way. Maybe you should ask your princess of it." Finally his gaze returned to the boy to enunciate his last statement.
Umber gave a nod to Elsa's comment about corruption as a hand sought his aching hip. "It isn't something I want to revisit. Remember that pain generally denotes something unhealthy for the body. Getting hurt, failing organs, too much of a substance in the blood. Following that logic, becoming part of the Negaverse either crippled or killed a part of me." And everyone else in it. So what was damaged then? Our starseeds? Sanity? Bones and organs? A superior should be aware of it. Or Xenotime. I should ask if I can find her.
But Elsa's dissertation on the transformation process marked a sudden shift in his thought process - to the downright preposterous method of acquiring his current form. "You... what?" The lieutenant blinked a moment, then furrowed his brow. "You can't be serious." This has to be a joke. Transformation for us is so simple - how could the others be subjected to that. He was already wary of giving away court secrets. Is this an intended diversion from the real process, then? Likely - I can't imagine any practicality in that, and if these creatures have existed for some time, then evolution should've taken care of that obvious lapse. "We just blink into existence as officers - without use of pen or special phrases. Are you having me on?" A scrutinizing glance was again cast toward the boy.
It never ceases getting stranger. I have believed in the preternatural, but what he just explained demands nothing but scrutiny. I wonder if I am still of sound mind.
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Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 1:27 am
Elsa wrinkled his nose. Perhaps he should ask Leto - if anyone would know, surely it would be her. She was a Princess, after all, one of the Court's leaders. She had to know what becoming a Dark Mirror did to you, right?
And never mind that he was right about pain. Elsa was familiar enough with it from fighting - you didn't keep throwing punches if it hurt your arm to do it, because you were gonna wreck something. And being thrown through that mirror had felt like being sliced open, with no visual injury. He'd sort of chalked it up to magic, but maybe there was more to it. More to all of this.
"I wonder if it hurts for Order, too?" He mused. Not that he had met anyone on that side, but he knew they existed, in theory.
But the cosmos had one more unfairness to deliver. "You don't...bullshit." He said. Never mind that his transformation looked ridiculous, with the snow and the posing and all of it, there were people who didn't have to do that? "I want a ******** cosmic refund, what do you mean you don't have to do the stupid magic sparkle song and dance."Strickenized LOOK I GOT YOUR NAME RIGHT
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Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 8:42 am
"I don't know," he responded simply. "But our speculation is just conjecture." He knew not whether that comment was addressed to himself or if Elsa only chose to speak his thoughts aloud.
His incredulous retort brought a curl to one corner of Umber's mouth.The forthright display of his frustrations offered considerable amusement, which was a much needed connection after dealing with the blonde Mirror. Idly he wondered if it was the newness of his condition as a senshi - if discovering new powers and abilities perpetuated wonderment. The other one seemed stagnant - no, disillusioned with her court's cause. But by comparison... He reminds me of my brother.
Idly he wondered over the safety behind showing off transformation mechanisms. It revealed identity by default, and the stance of the Negaverse on the Dark Mirror exhibited no signs of official camaraderie. But on a more personal level, a certain familiarity was felt around the fiery individual. And what were the chances that they would ever meet again, or that the boy would remember what he looked like? Or even do anything with that knowledge? Umber spent so much time treading carefully that he nearly forgot what to take risks, as his brother always goaded him to do.
A quick glance around confirmed no interested parties. "If you don't believe me, then see for yourself." Nodding his head toward the alley nearest them, Umber started toward its darker and more private confines. What he intended was a quick demonstration - power down to indicate he was indeed a civilian, and then power up without the pomp and circumstance that Elsa so lamented. While he did not intend to solicit the man's demonstration of this 'magical sparkle song and dance' there was the culturally implied return of information by showing Elsa his own transformation first.
Once there, Umber hesitated next to a dumpster and shed the Negaverse image, revealing a tattooed young man in tattered jeans and a sleeveless hoodie. Moments later, the same Negaverse agent that Elsa met before simply phased into being. "No songs, no dances, no sparkles."
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Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 8:35 pm
Elsa exhaled. Speculation, definitely, and no one on the Order side was likely to answer any of their questions. Not that he would have much trouble asking, but prying answers from someone who he was pretty sure wanted him dead was not going to be easy. Oh well, maybe he'd corner one someday and get answers that way.
Not that it mattered right then, because he had a specific answer dumped right in his lap. So he slipped into the alley after Umber. "Cannot believe this," he grumbled to himself, because it had to be true if Umber was so willing to prove it.
And...yep, there it was. One minute agent, the next normal person, and then poof, back to officer, no ridiculousness involved. Elsa let out a huff that fell fully into the area of "deeply, personally offended," like the cosmos was out to get him specifically with this disparity in transformation techniques.
"Yeah, that's definitely not fair. Just, completely and wholly - here, lemme show you what happens with us." Even powering down came with a burst of blue ribbons, leaving a young man in (most of) a Hillworth uniform - he'd ditched the sweater at some point. "Please don't laugh," he said, and then he called on his henshin pen again, held it up, and declared "Elsa power, make up!"
It was a whirl of lights and snowflakes, and even the air around him seemed to adopt a strange chill (and perhaps, just visible in the light show, was a strange creature shaped vaguely like a very, very emaciated person,but it was only visible for a moment) and he was left posing rather over-dramatically when it was over. As soon as he could, he dropped the pose, spread his arms wide, and shrugged.
"See what I mean? Ridiculous."
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 8:23 am
The sudden ribbon explosion from Elsa shedding his powered form left Umber quirking his brow. It's like he explodes out of his own uniform. What point is there in having all this pomp? It grabs attention where none is wanted at these times.
As Umber looked on, the absolute madness that was senshi transformation descended into hilarity. The snow motif made itself evident with flurries, and a spectral light show occurred with grandiose twirls and whirls of the man within while each portion of the uniform assembled on his person. And once the bizarre transformation concluded, the boy trapped in its whims posed in an obtuse manner before dropping his arms altogether. Umber could not blame him - senshi life apparently demanded asinine amounts of time and flair in order to assemble properly. And if he were being honest with himself, Umber wasn't sure what he just saw.
"That... Why?" Umber stammered out, unable to figure how to properly phrase the question. Too many portions of the transformation begged question, and he could not ferret out one over the other to ask first. Instead the agent was left perplexed, brows knitted and countenance betraying very mind disgust. "It's so... Frivolous. And pointless." And I wonder if the senshi of the Negaverse are condemned to it too. Now I see why he wanted to know about the White Moon.
Umber covered his face to clear his throat and obscure the smile that threatened to take. Elsa asked that he not laugh so he would try to suppress what he could of mirth. Unfortunately, witnessing the transformation begged for laughter.
At least I know to be thankful for what the Negaverse spared me.
"Maybe it has to do with the ability to use magic..." It was all he could rationalize of the mess. Hands slid into back pockets as Umber shifted into a more at-ease position that left him leaning back slightly while looking Elsa over. "That's a terrible fate to have." The barest hints of a smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. Or sheer bad luck, Senshi.
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 1:13 pm
Elsa cringed a little. There was no denying that it was hilarious to an outside observer (if he had to watch himself do Magicla Sparkle Ballet, he'd probably be laughing too), but that didn't make it easier to eat having someone on the edge of descending into laughter right in front of him.
"If I knew why, I'd be trying to figure out how to make it not happen," he said. "It's a waste of time and energy, it's hard to accomplish with any subtlety, and it doesn't even make sense." He couldn't figure out any reason for the pomp and circumstance, unless perhaps it had been meant, once, as a purposeful public display of power. That seemed as likely as anything - doing that with the intention of drawing attention might be useful.
"I know it depends on what our magic is. Like, I'm Senshi of the Wendigo, right? Which, if you are as unfamiliar with those as I was, the short version is that they're Algonquian cannibal snow monsters." Which was another tick in the column of "being a Senshi kind of sucks," really. "And my transformation is all blues and ice and, you know, ******** snowflakes." He waved a hand in frustration. "But my sister's girlfriend, she's the Inferno - and I saw hers once. It was all fire and demon summoning sigils and actually pretty cool." At least comparatively. "So the magic's got something to do with it, but I still don't get why the sparkle boogie is necessary."
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Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 8:37 am
"I suppose you could stay powered up. If you never relinquish the uniform, there's no need to endure the transformation." That, too, sported a few drawbacks - it eliminated any 'extracurricular' activities that this boy participated in, jeopardized him during needful moments of sleep, and strained interpersonal relations. But how far would he want to go to be rid of the obnoxious song and dance? Umber wagered that the impetus to remove it was ingrained deeply. "It certainly does not intimidate."
As Elsa launched into explanation of what he knew, Umber hooked one thumb in a back pocket while he leveraged his free arm against a brick wall. The heel of his hand came to rest against his temple while he leaned lightly against this new crutch. Inwardly he marveled at the ease brought on by encountering a total stranger that shared some strong mannerisms with someone he knew thoroughly. Sharing any information with him could pose a danger, and naturally there was the chance that Elsa could use that easiness to his advantage. Many times before had he heard the stories of wild animals finally biting the hand that feeds.
Elsa's mention of 'Algonquin cannibal snow monsters' raised a brow for Umber, who had never conceived of such creations. He wondered, then, if their legitimization through magic meant that they truly existed. "They definitely sound related. But if the... ambience is based on your power, then what if the 'sparkle boogie' is a behavior endemic to your species? If that is so, then all senshi of your kind would do it. And if that estimation can be taken further, then we could assume that senshi, beyond rank or affiliation, are a genus.That would be a characteristic of your kind." Which, you can then compare to a vestigial... Behavior, maybe. Another few thousand years of evolution and the song and dance you so hate may be dropped. But you can't exactly wait that long, Elsa.
"Anthropological perspectives are not very familiar to me, but you can look into that facet, too - if there were any social or political reasons for your kind to adopt this sort of... display. Assuming there is any community behind the Dark Mirror, the White Moon, or Negaverse senshi."
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 12:49 am
Elsa would not, if ever asked, be proud to admit how hard he considered Umber’s point. The Lieutenant was right – if he really wanted to avoid the song and dance, he could just stay powered forever. Or stay Levi forever, but neither sounds appealing. “I dunno – it’s not a bad gig except for the sparkles, but I wouldn’t want to give up being me for it.” Levi Burningham still had a life relatively worth living. “I can just, you know, hope no one ever sees me do that. Ever.” Maybe once he could access Mirrorspace with some reliability, he could henshin in there? Wait, no, he had to be henshined to getinto Mirrorspace, that wouldn’t work. New plan necessary.
Mostly, though, he was just glad that he had found someone who seemed, at least at first glance, to be approachable and friendly. Who didn’t want him dead on sight, which was what he had been sort of afraid of, which was irrational, but he had no idea what to expect because he had been warned that he would need to watch his back. That no one who wasn’t Dark Mirror could be trusted. And maybe that was still true, but maybe some of the threads of an alliance he’d only heard of still existed. Not that Elsa was the one to salvage them – he was loud and angry and ultimately generally more ready to be disappointed than to be pleased. But he could do a little bit, and if showing off his stupid-a** beribboned transformation sequence helped, then he would do it on top of the tallest tower in DC.
He wrinkled his nose a little. “You make it sound like we’re not human – which. I mean, I guess we can’t be, in a way, humans – normal humans – can’t leap tall buildings or run as fast as we can or…or cast magic.” Not that he had tried. He had a bad, sick feeling about what magic he might have, just from what little research he’d done on his sphere. “But I mean, I think we all come from the same place, in a way? All Senshi, at least.” They all, as far as he knew, with what little he knew, had things in common. “You’d have to talk to your Senshi – I think you guys have ‘em? About what goes on with them. Hell, uh, any of them would probably know better than me.” He looked a little embarrassed to admit that. There was so much he didn’t know, and so much he should know.
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 10:19 am
"I suppose that's true." Elsa's civilian half ran a high likelihood of living here longer than Shale had - and by extension, laid down more roots. Would Shale have given up the life he led, if he knew this was the end result? Would he abandon family, friends and a lifelong vocation to trek into a city that he knew nothing about, and enter a war that only stumped him further? Inwardly he knew he would turn it down, even if the curiosity badgered him forever - and the same may apply to Elsa. If offered the choice between this life and his own, why would he consider this one?
"From what I've been told, senshi of any kind come from other planets. And considering that humans haven't branched out from this world in current times, I don't think senshi are a related species. I don't know if you were born on this earth or the next. I can't even begin to imagine if whatever process was used to awaken you simply stole your life away, or if your kind is born on earth regardless of the parent species, or any explanations that I cannot even dream of. But I have encountered the belief that you are, indeed, an invading force." Take that as you will. The entire explanation reminded him strongly of the monarch and the viceroy, each nearly impeccably alike the other, yet entirely different. But who, then, was the viceroy, the copy, and who stood the monarch? What if men were the facsimile of senshi?
The talk of Negaverse senshi - a type of senshi that he knew existed, but had not met - provided a well-received distraction point. "I would ask them, but I haven't seen any yet. Maybe they're all part of a different division in the Negaverse." He wondered if they led the same lives as any officer, or if their standing as magic-wielding agents precluded them from normal rank integration.
Finally Umber offered his own deviation from their focal point. "We should keep in touch. If I find one of our Negaverse senshi and get an answer out of them, I will let you know. We can also keep each other updated on the White Moon and their counterparts. There's no reason we should sequester ourselves because of a dissolved alliance." And interfacing with Elsa provided its own benefits - information on the Dark Mirror and their secretive lives, if enough trust was established. He knew not what would come of the venture, but since Elsa fostered no hostile intentions toward him and they would likely never compete for the same resources, he had no reasons to avoid the attempt.
"We've already shared civilian appearances. Is there a way to contact you out of uniform?"
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