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 Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:20 pm
The deeper into the mirrorspace that Mintaka explored, the more she felt the alliance of order slipping away. She had no friends there anymore, and at the moment, her only care was here in the dark mirrors and the negaverse that would harbor them if they were smart.
She had yet to see Chariklo or Amytis since the two had been injured at the same negaverse's hands but Mintaka was searching quietly. Wondering if one day, her walks through the reflected space would bring her to Chariklo.
And one day it did. At least she thought it did, as she exited the mirror that had opened up for her. She felt order aura almost immediately. Eternal, it felt like.
She wasn't sure if she could handle a eternal. It meant Athene or Megrez and she still hadn't explained to the latter her switch to the DMC.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 5:17 am
Adjusting to her new circumstances had not been easy. She still tried to walk through mirrors when she was in a hurry and not thinking. And every time, she was bounced off of the hard, reflective surface. Somehow, in all of her calculating, Chariklo had never realized that she's be losing her ability to mirror-walk.
It was a change that she was still getting used to.
Out of habit, she'd been making the 'rounds, refreshing her memory as to the locations of all the mirrors she'd planted throughout the city. Some she'd moved, others had been left alone.
She'd just finished moving one such mirror when a ripple of Dark Mirror aura across her skin made her tense and look around apprehensively. Of all the things she might have expected, seeing the mirror before her flare up for a heartbeat before spitting out a Dark Mirror Eternal was easily at the bottom of her list.
Even further down the list was that said Dark Mirror would remind her so strongly of Mintaka. But it couldn't be her. That would be silly. Except...
Except that Chariklo'd had a pretty good idea of the identities of the various Eternals within the Court. And this chick wasn't one of them. Which meant that... oh balls
"Princess," she muttered incredulously as realization dawned with all the force of a board to the head. "What did you do?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 6:59 pm
Mintaka didn't have to really search around for Chariklo it seemed. Because the woman donned in white looked a lot like Chari, except you know order.
And she knew it was the woman for sure when she spoke the few pet names Mintaka allowed.
She fully stepped out of the mirror now, her dark boot touching the ground. And she was livid, the minute her eyes met the others.
"You." She looked at her, "You were okay, and you couldn't bother to tell me." Mintaka tilted her head up to look at the taller senshi. "What..." It took some moments to realize again, order. It was an order aura she felt. Not Chariklo's chaotic mirror. DaisyMilk I really don't think this is gonna end well QQ
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 3:46 am
The anger in the other girl's eyes as she stepped forward took Chariklo aback. As did the assumption that Chariklo had been merrily ******** off while her friends worried. Eyes lighting up with a grim fire of her own, the tall blonde took a step forward.
"Excuse me? Being shut up in a hospital room for a good week or more while the docs made sure that my ribs weren't shattered and that the teeth that ripped my side open didn't puncture anything vital is hardly okay, princess. For that matter," she reached out to brush her fingertips along the edge of Mintaka's new outfit. "You sure as s**t never sent me any memos about this little alteration. Mighta been nice to know about sooner."
The sense of betrayal she felt at seeing one of her best friends suddenly sporting a Chaos tinged aura was plain. Though, that hurt a lot less than being accused of not letting people know she was okay. Looking away, she covered her face with both hands and wearily scrubbed at her skin, trying to figure out how the world had gone so topsy turvy. When she spoke again, her voice was muffled, almost gentle.
"Were you there? The only senshi not trying to murder me that I ever really saw Ginger, err... the egg chick and the only aura I could pinpoint was Leto. I don't even remember how I got out of that death trap. I just woke up in the hospital."
Her voice trailed off and she uncovered her face, angry tears leaking from her sunset eyes.
"Who tossed you through? Leto or Remarque? Though I guess the more important question is how willing a participant were you?"Pixie Nyxie Probably not, but Chariklo will ♥ her forever.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 6:36 pm
"I was there that night." Mintaka couldn't help the anger in her voice, the way she felt utterly betrayed. "I saw you that night, Leto was there. I was there. I managed to distract guards from swarming you." She heaved, "You were still a dark mirror. You were still okay. Then I don't hear from you for weeks, I kept searching for you in the mirrors."
How could she send memos when she had been trying for days on the compact?
"I asked. I asked Remarque to let me become part of the court...because.." She would not be affected by the tears. She wanted to close up the wall of feelings inside her. "Because you told me, if Order didn't treat me well, if they didn't accept me, you'd be here waiting."
And then she reach over, grabbing the white fuku.
"You're a hypocrite." How could she choose order, over the dark mirrors? How could she choose the cold lonely side that justified their anger by killing as much as they wanted?
She let her hand drop, let it return to the cool glass of the mirror. She was hurt, betrayed. Lonely again. She wanted to the smoky mirrorspace, to crawl back to Magiore and tell him that like usual, Order took things that mattered most to her.
"How did this happen..." She nodded her head to the eternal. "Princess did this to you?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:45 am
Feeling a stab of remorse, Chariklo tried to fight down her tears. She'd never even suspected that Mintaka had been there. Certainly she hadn't seen or heard her within the mountain. And in the swirl of auras, she would have been impossible to pinpoint. No wonder she was angry.
But that didn't excuse the name calling.
"Hypocrite," The word burst from her throat in an angry roar. "Are you ******** serious, Mintaka? You have no goddamned clue right now. Maybe you don't remember that future, but I sure as s**t do. And if you think swapping sides and trying to be bestest buds with the s**t-eaters like that little ******** who tried to carve you up in the funhouse is going to change anything for the better..."
Practically vibrating with anger, Chariklo closed her eyes again and forced herself to take a half-step back. She could feel her hands clenching and unclenching and didn't want to risk giving in to the impulse to hit now and talk later. In this instance, her usual approach to conflict was not going to help anything. After a moment, she spoke in a softer voice, trying to explain.
"I have to do everything I can to prevent that future I saw from happening, princess. I have to do everything I can to make sure there are no more Biancas hurt by the Negaverse. I am not going to give them a chance to grow powerful enough to take Amytis away from me. Not again. This way I can protect the people I love without being compromised by Chaos."
This time, the look she gave Mintaka was less furious and more bewildered.
"No Princess did this. It was a cat who stopped being a cat. Zirconia. She did it for Bianca too. Bianca's starseed anyway. She never would have had a second chance at a better life otherwise. Her starseed would have stayed dead. Can you honestly tell me that I should have kept her starseed close and never done what I could to give her that chance? She was my best friend and sister, Min'. Just like Amytis."
Chariklo paused for a moment, the heartbreak in her voice and on her face plain.
"Just like you."
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:03 pm
"I am! YOU. YOU TOLD ME. You told me if I could not find a place in Order, in the white court. YOU told me you'd be there for me." She didn't mean to raise her voice, she didn't want this to be a bad thing. She didn't want to be wrong in her choice. "I came to the dark mirrors, to be with you."
Her head tilted and she shuddered.
Mention of the future, it was too much to bear. She would not believe in a foolish future. One that would have her fight to survive. One that she couldn't deny either.
"I don't know her." Mintaka shuffled through her memory then gasped, "The cat, the one who hates the dark mirrors?" She shook her head. "You joined the side that hates us." Because she was now dark mirror, "With the cat who hates us."
Mintaka shook her head. "What abut Amytis? Is she going to do this too?" She just wanted to know.
"What did the order side offer more then DMC did? What did they say to make you join them?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:03 am
Rather than getting louder, Chariklo's voice was actually becoming softer. As if she thought that raising her voice would lead her into saying something unforgiveable. Oh, this was such a ******** mess. How many offers had she extended back then, telling innocent senshi that the Dark Mirrors were a great alternative in this stupid war? This was certainly the first that she knew had been accepted and acted upon.
"I told you, Min'," Chariklo murmured wearily. "She's not a cat anymore. And maybe she did hate us at one point." For the moment, Chariklo had forgotten her new place in the order of things. "Not anymore. I think that whatever happened to change her gave her better insight about us. Zirconia doesn't hate the Dark Mirrors. The White Moon doesn't hate us."
Well, okay, not all of the White Moon. It was something she would have to work on. Then, Mintaka's next question made her physically flinch. Amytis. She still didn't know what Amytis was going to do. Chariklo had made it plain that she wouldn't push, wouldn't force. Whatever happened, it would be Amytis' choice. And Chariklo would continue to love her, no matter what.
"I don't know what she's going to do," she answered truthfully. "But whatever it is, I'll support her choice. P.S.," she added in an affronted tone, "I'm actually super ******** offended that you seem to think that the White Moon somehow bought me. They didn't offer me a damn thing. They didn't say a damn thing. This was my choice, princess. Not anyone else's. Mine."
How was she supposed to explain how much she'd been starting to despise herself for the Chaos her starseed had held? The overwhelming feeling that this way she could protect everyone she loved? That she was, for the first time in a long time, unconflicted about where her loyalty was. And even if she could explain, would Mintaka even listen or try to understand?
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 2:08 pm
It was worse then yelling, in Mintaka's opinion. Chari's anger was something she could take. She was, and always would be, the barbarian woman. It was something she liked and admired about Chari.
But a soft voice, made it seem like she was being chided. That she had done something wrong. That she was wrong? Was she wrong? Had she jumped into the mirror too soon? Should she have asked Aurostibite to purify for her?
She didn't think she could. "It doesn't matter. The kind of hate she had? It doesn't just disappear because she wants too." She shook her head, "She's using this, using you. If she can do this, how many more will she take and hand over to the white moon? The same white moon hurt your friends? The same white moon YOU hated for so long." That sort of hate never left.
Her hands shook as she brought them together, shifting from anger to scared. She didn't want to go back now. She hated order. Stuffy, with their mindless killing. For a side that was meant to be of peace, to help innocents, they ended up hurting more of them.
"My choice was to join you." She scrambled, "My choice was because I knew you'd be there for me. And you aren't. You aren't here for me. You lied to me. I was waiting for you, I waited after we rescued you and Amytis..." She made a distressed sound, "I can only assume...that someone in order offered you the same thing. Whoever it is on that side, more important then here."
"I don't want to talk to you." She whispered, "I don't want to see you anymore." Mintaka clutched tighter. "I am making my future different too. I will not choose your side. I will not be hunted again." She hissed, "The white moon will always hate chaos. You can't change that. You just became part of it." She was reaching back again for the mirror, prepared to dive in. It was calling to her, like a mother would to its child. She wondered if it sensed her distraught.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 2:40 pm
For the first time in their association, Chariklo felt a nearly overwhelming urge to reach out and give Mintaka the sort of 'love tap' that would result in bruises and cracked bone. Teeth grinding audibly, her fist was halfway raised before she realized it and with a shudder, took a careful step backwards, flexing her hand to try and fight the urge to wipe the floor with her friend.
"Maybe the kind of hate you seem prone to can't ever change," she replied in an icy voice. "Me? I prefer to believe that people can learn and change and grow. And unlike corruption," she practically spat the word out, her disdain obvious. "Purification requires a willing participant. So unless there are other Dark Mirrors like me who're unhappy and sick at heart, I really doubt you'll be seeing much in the way of any being taken and handed over to anyone."
The Origami senshi's words hurt, oh, they hurt. But now, Chariklo's anger was rising up and providing a bit of a buffer. How.. how dare this little brat accuse her of being for sale! Of being a gullible patsy! And then to be accused of lying. Now, Chariklo was past the realm of hurt feelings and deeply into the land of Oh No, You Did Not Just.
"Oh really," she replied with a venomous hiss, though her voice remained level. "Funny. I seem to remember being there for you regardless of sides when your new playmates decided that you'd make a better carving board than a person. Guess your definition of friendship means that no one can ever think for themselves and inconvenience you in any way. Get this through that pretty little head of your, royal brat. No one bought me. No one offered me a <********> thing."
She was too close to reacting with physcial rather than verbal blows. Taking another step back, she drew herself up to her full height and stared down at the other girl. So, Mintaka wanted to toss away a friendship just like that? Well, fine then.
"Well," she drawled coldly. "That suits me just fine. Enjoy your new life. Personally, I can't see any reason to try to stay friends with a damned little fool. I don't even know why I wasted my time trying to help you and look after you. All you give a s**t about is your own precious little self!"
Before the tears could start and give any proof of weakness, Chariklo turned smartly on her heel and stalked off. Without another glance, she raised one hand and flashed Mintaka the ol' F U.
As she walked, she let the tears come and did her best to muffle the soft sobs that she couldn't control.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 3:22 pm
"I don't hate." She flinched, "I did everything for order and chaos. In the past, in the future and now. And I was hunted for it. And you are upset with me because when I took your offer, when I came to you, you weren't there."
She shook her head.
"Everyone can be bought with something. Whether it be money, power or connections. I had you and Amy, Tant and Damo, Remarque. I came to be with you on this side because of it. And I have Aurostibite. Who loves me, but faced more danger being with me then without."
She was fully touching the mirror now. "You're friendship is no better! Order hurt Amy once upon a time, you told me this. I guess you are just as bad as I am then!" She flinched.
Ultimatiums were made. There was no going back now.
Chari and Mintaka were back to how they first met. Enemies.
Enemies on two different sides.
Enemies.
She didn't see the finger, didn't hear the sobs. She was through the mirror into the embrace of mirrorspace. It dropped her into a soft smokey pool of pillows and cushions.
And she buried herself in them, crying until she couldn't cry anymore.
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