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 Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:29 am
Backdated to June 1st.The stars sang to her, the ones above echoed by those that swirled softly in her globe. Teide felt secure in her power. She felt peaceful, blessed with cosmic grace. She had bathed in the waters of eternity and come out cleansed and new, welcomed by her sister-in-arms. Gemma hadn't died for nothing. Astrophyllite hadn't turned traitor for nothing. The night was calm around her, early summer stillness settling over earth still wet from a late-afternoon storm. Fireflies darted across the grand lawn of the park. Teide believed in magic. In spirits. In pulling back the curtain of reality and glimpsing faeries. Tonight, she could almost feel the gossamer between her fingers, ready to be tugged. But then- But then- Like a bold from the blue, darkness crackled across her mind's eye, and in it: flecks of ultramarine, sparks from an oil fire, burning smokeless through inky-dark; something cool and earthy, a great creature moving beneath the ground, horrible and huge and unknowable. A fault line ready to open up beneath her feet and drag her down into the rift. Natron, she thought, her stomach twisting uneasily. His darkness was no longer kin to hers. He was danger danger danger, all lit up in neon lights. Teide looked around, her heart pounding rabbit-quick in her ears. He was here somewhere - where?!
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 12:42 am
Natron was frustrated. Ever since coming back from the little adventure in the Appalachians, he found that he was chasing down things that should have been well in hand while he was gone.
Like the fact that one of his Captains had up and disappeared. Astrophyllite was gone, missing for a month or more, and no one seemed to know where the hell she was.
His first instinct had been Trixilite - that she'd swept in while he was out of town to scoop up her stepdaughter and carry her off to Boston. But no, the General had dismissed him - callously, which made hm more certain that he'd been right to keep Astrophyllite close at hand.
A Knight's aura brushed at Natron's senses, and the General made a tiny frustrated noise. Knights had rapidly become the bane of his (emotional) existence - seeing them made him think about being one, about gentle waves and ancient walls and soft grass and an island all his own.
But he was a General, and he had a responsibility to investigate, and he did,moving closer quickly. It wasn't as if he was unfamiliar with how to handle one - that had been the entire point of the trip into the mountains. He reached for where the aura was centered, guessed a bit, and teleported so that he ended up within eyesight of the Knight. A girl, Cosmos by her stars - and strangely familiar, but a lot of things were strangely, frustratingly familiar.
"Surrender and you won't be harmed."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 9:39 am
He appeared suddenly, Teide yelped in surprise. Teleportation - of course. She didn't have to worry about that anymore. She had better magic. Truer magic. She had her wonder and her crystal ball and her aspect of Cosmos that let her shine like a star. He was lying, she thought, heart pounding in her ears. Surrender, and she'd be dragged back to the negaverse. They'd corrupt her again, and she'd only just gotten clean. Besides - did he think she wanted to fight him? He was her general, whether or not she was still his captain. Teide had no desire to fight - only to go home. "Please don't make me go back," she said, hands tightening around her crystal ball. "Please. I can't. I won't. I won't be bad again." I'd rather die, she thought , biting down on her lower lip to stop her stream of protests. She sounded pathetic, and if Natron decided to let her go free, it likely wouldn't have anything to do with how well she did or didn't beg. If he took her, she thought speculatively, mind racing, what would she do? Clobber him with her crystal ball? Stun him with her magic? If he took her to Negaspace, there'd be no escaping. From there, her options were more limited. Dash your brains out. Jump off a cliff. Slit your wrists with a piece of crystal. And if he turned her-- Rip out your own starseed and eat it."Natron, please," she said, taking a step backwards.
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:01 pm
Oh, no.
He knew that voice. No wonder she looked so familiar, she was familiar. She was exactly the Captain he'd been searching for, remade as something else - as a Knight of Cosmos. Part of him was relieved to see her gone from Chaos, because the Negaverse was cruel and she was too gentle for it.
And, ultimately, there was no way he would even consider taking her back. His kusarigama disappeared from his hands, dismissed into subspace, because he would not fight her.
"Astrophyllite?" It came out as a question, despite how sure he was that it was her, because perhaps he was wrong - but she recognized him, and that was plenty of confirmation.
"No. I won't make you come back."Silverah SORRY THIS TOOK SO GODDAMN LONG
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 9:53 am
Teide exhaled through her teeth at his assurance, though her old name stung a bit. He'd known her as a rock, but she'd had all her impurities burned out now, carved and polished until she shone like a star in the sky. "Teide," she corrected. "My real name is Teide. It was Teide all along but Chaos could have never told me that." "Please don't call me Astrophyllite," she added. That's not me, she thought. That was never me, only I didn't know it. "That was never my name. And yours... yours isn't Natron." She took a step carefully towards him, hands tight around her crystal ball like it was a security blanket. "Metalia took our magic and she called us like we were cold and dead. But we're so much more than that. We can be so much more than that." He wasn't going to harm her, she thought, biting her lip. "I'm happy now. I - I miss you and Kerberos but - I'm happy now."
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:53 pm
"Teide," he accepted her correction, because well - he was familiar with the feeling, with how the name Natron had made his skin crawl after he purified. How he had never wanted to hear that name again.
He grit his teeth at the rest - because every single word of it was rank treason, but he could feel the weight of his staff, sometimes, or of his cloak, or see the endless green of his island. He could feel magic in his veins, instead of Chaos - and it was all in his head, and he could never have it again, because he had traded far too much for freedom.
"It's Lyonesse," he said, "my...Knight name. Wonder." Why the hell was he telling her?
Because she was still his Captain, in some ways - and because he still cared about her. Because she might have learned it from someone else, anyway.
"I was worried about you," he said. "I thought your stepmother had come in while I was in West Virginia, dragged you off to Boston."
But at least she was happy. She had never really been happy when she'd been in his care.
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 9:54 pm
Teide pushed her crystal ball down, vanishing it. She took a step forward, reaching a hand out, seeing if he would let her touch his face. "Lyonesse," she repeated after him. "That's beautiful." She considered his aura, cool and loamy, and wondered what kind of knight he would have been. Natron fit him, but Lyonesse, she thought, fit him better. She frowned. "My stepmother? You mean Trixilite...? I lost my civilian memories, so I wasn't sure. That makes sense, though." Shaking her head, she took a step back. "No, she didn't come for me... but she might be looking for me now." Clasping her hands together, Teide asked, "I know this is asking a lot from you - but could you put her off my scent? Even if it means telling people I'm dead or something? I - I know you don't owe me anything, that I don't have any grounds for asking, but - could you? Please?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 5:46 pm
Natron flinched, at first, when she touched his face, but he relaxed, a little. "Of Earth. I would be Lyonesse of Earth, if I left the Negaverse." He wondered if the affiliation would surprise her. When he thought about it, it didn't surprise him. Of course he was a Knight of Earth - that was always what he had fought for. He wasn't sure he was fighting for the right people, but leaving wasn't an option open to him.
"Trixilite, yes," he said. "I - sorry, I guess I should have known, since you remember me." And he was starting to get uncomfortably familiar with what sideswaps did to your memory.
Her request made him narrow his eyes, briefly. If it was discovered that he had lied to cover for her - but he didn't have to lie, did he? Just tell Trixilite that her stepdaughter was far out of her reach. Which was well and true. He ran a hand through his hair, briefly, sending strands into his face. "I can do that, yeah. I can't believe I'm covering for a Knight, but I can do that."
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 6:37 pm
Teide nodded. "Of Earth. Like Avalon," she replied. It was a secret that Avalon was still alive, she thought, biting her cheek. Natron cared about her, but he wasn't a friend. He wasn't someone she could trust with these kinds of secrets. She'd left that life behind and there was no way she was ever, ever going back to it. "It's okay," she said quickly. Maybe it was her imagination, but he seemed upset over what had happened to her memories. "It's okay that I forgot being Gemma." Had he known she was Gemma? He had to have. And it didn't matter if she gave up her identity now because Gemma was dead. Her missing posters were fading in the summer sun and soon no one would remember she'd ever existed. A nothing girl. A girl who'd never been anything at all. "Gemma had a bad life," she assured him. "I'm better on the other side." At his assurance, she smiled with all of her too-big teeth. "Thank you," she said. "Be careful if Trixilite comes calling. She's dangerous."
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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2015 1:26 am
Natron exhaled. "Yeah. Like Avalon." In a lot of ways, actually. Lyonesse was even from the same set of stories.
Part of him wanted to hug her, to treat her like the subordinate he had cared about, but that wasn't her anymore. She had made her choices, and she probably wouldn't appreciate it, anyway.
"It's hard to forget, whatever you forget." He spoke like he knew. He did know. Having Gabriel scooped up and only Natron left behind had been horrible. Seeing Cait replaced by Clarisse and now by Cassandra...it was disturbing. "But...I'm glad you're happier now." That whatever life she had put back together was better than what she had before.
He managed a smile, back, not quite as wide, and reached out to rest a hand, briefly, on her shoulder. "She may be dangerous. I didn't make it two years in the Negaverse without being a little dangerous myself. I'll be fine - worry about yourself."
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Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2015 7:08 am
Teide frowned, bit her tongue, wanted to say, no, you don't understand. Boston was different. The officers in Boston were different. If Natron were a Boston officer, they wouldn't be having this conversation - he would have killed her on sight, no hesitation. He wouldn't have even waited long enough to realize she was Astrophyllite - and if he'd figured it out, he'd still have killed her. For desertion. Instead, she leaned her cheek against Natron's hand. "I will," she said. Teide was quick. Teide knew Trixilite on sight. Teide could run and hide before she or any of her underlings could pounce. "Be careful," she repeated - it couldn't be said enough.
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 3:03 pm
Natron let out a breath, and then took a step back, letting go of her shoulder. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope we don't run into each other again." He said, but he said it gently enough that he hoped his intended meaning came across. "I don't think we'd have another chance to just talk."
He gave her a brief smile, and then he vanished.
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