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 Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 2:38 pm
She was still tugging Monty away, through the park. Her arms hurt like hell, Haumea's attack still leaving blisters against her dark skin. She had to keep her cool about her, but she was shaking.
Shaking from fear, anger, hurt. And that dark overbearing feel of the General Queen was hard and heavy on her mind.
So was Plou's scream. So was the image that she caught in the corner of her eyes. Held up like a trophy, shifted into a being no longer theres. She felt the loss of the saturn knight like she lost a limb. Though they didn't know each other, Saturn knights and the senshi around the planet felt like her own.
Once they were out of the park, she stopped, pushing Monty into a alley way.
"We have to power down, or they'll notice us." Methone shifted, down to Nadia and she fumbled around in her pockets, grabbing her phone. She didn't have to think twice about who to call.
"Colin...Colin we need you. Lorne. Lorne and Nadia..." She gushed over the phone as soon as Colin, their leader and glue. Aegir. "We need to come over, as soon as possible." Her skin hurt against the rough of the clothing touching the tender parts of her body that had been hit by Haumea's attack. Her stomach, her arms and her legs. But it was nothing to the pure blank shock on Monty.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:39 pm
He was half upside down with his legs over his head, holding onto a spinning pole when his phone started playing Shut up and Drive by Rihanna. Nadia? It was a bit late for her to be calling, but not by much. So he swung down and dove for his phone before it rang a third time. What he heard was chilling. Nadia sounded wrecked. And Lorne? Something about the tall, gentle guy being there too. Must have been an attack or something, s**t. He was reaching for the keys to his mother's car - he'd borrowed it to move and hadn't returned it, she hadn't asked either, so he considered it his for the time being - yanking pants on and shoving his feet into shoes while he spoke to his friend. "I'll come get you. Where are you?" Normally he would have assumed that powering up was needed, but she'd called his home cell. She'd also used civilian names, rather than senshi. So they were at least powered down. Good. He listened for the location and told her he'd be there ASAP in a grey Nissan Civic. "Just hang on, okay? I'm coming." What was normally a fifteen to twenty minute drive became ten, with the curly haired dancer worried and afraid for his friends. But he would be there, he would find them and he would be appalled at their states, angry enough to want to go and kick some asses...but also bright enough to realize that the thing(s) that would help the most were not couched in violence. Pixie Nyxie Leaving this kind of open if you guys want to do some OMFG stuff in the park before being packed into car and taken to safe place.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:57 pm
It wasn't that Lorne didn't care that Nadia was hurt - that would be the furthest thing from the truth. He just wasn't quite there right now. All he could do was think back to Ploutonion. What he could have done differently. What he could have done at all. It was exactly the same as the senshi in the gym; two failures, two people he hadn't done a damn thing to save.
He pressed a hand against his face, then pinched the bridge of his nose, running his fingers up and through his bangs as he tried to shake himself out of it. His hands were shaking. His breath was shallow. His chest felt tight. His thoughts felt like water slipping between his fingers.
It wasn't the same, but it felt so much like the dream of the future that wasn't - it scared him. It caged him. Why hadn't he been able to do anything? - "What was I supposed to do?" He hadn't even meant to say it out loud; it was one of those whispered, frantic questions that carried.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 4:43 pm
Nadia quickly gave the street names, popping her head out of the alley way to find the nearest intersection. She was...It was the first time her nerves were so fried. It was the first time she felt deeply shaken. What she wanted to do was crawl into her flat, curl herself in blankets. Find Castor, have him fix everything.
But there was someone she trusted more, a reasonable head that kept her together. One she knew Lorne knew.
"Ah Lorne..." She reached over, holding his face, "Don't." She quietly said. She hurt, she didn't want to move, she felt the burns stretching more and more.
"You did what you had to, but we...we aren't that strong enough to face a General Queen." She felt the shudder. As if she was just around the corner, waiting for them. Colin, please...Please come soon. She didn't think she could handle....
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 5:08 pm
He parked right off the intersection, getting out of the car with his keys stuffed into his pants pocket. The urge to call for his friends was strong, but he scanned the area first, heading towards what he judged to be a likely alley before calling out in low tones to get their attention. "Nadia? Lorne?" Lucky guess. He heard the sounds of discomfort and strained breathing from the alley. Nadia and Lorne were in bad shape, clearly it had been a battle. "Jesus Christ, what happened to you guys?" Colin knelt next to his friends, reaching gently to touch Nadia's face and giving Lorne a worried look. "Nevermind, you can tell me later." In the darkness he couldn't tell how badly either was hurt - or if there were even physical hurts present - but it seemed that at a glance Nadia was the worse off of the pair. Colin murmured gentle encouragement and apologies as he got her into his arms bridal style and straightened. "Lorne. C'mon. We're going home." And if the tall and clearly emotionally compromised page couldn't walk on his own, Colin would drag him to the car once he'd gotten Nadia settled. He was just hoping that wouldn't be necessary.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 11:46 pm
When Nadia reached out to take his face into her hands, it was like he was seeing her for the first time - he'd known she was there, but finally, he actually looked at her. "You did get hurt, " he breathed out, his jaw tightening as his shoulders tensed. "Nadia, I - "
Not strong enough to face a General-Queen. Lorne knew what she meant when she said it, but - he wasn't strong enough to stop his starseed from getting plucked. He wasn't strong enough to help one of the only knights he'd had any kind of meaningful contact with. He hadn't been strong enough to kill and stay sane.
Lorne barely even glanced at Colin; he just slipped into the car quietly, staring vacantly down at his knees and looking every bit as defeated as he felt. "I'm so sorry, Nadia."
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 12:09 am
Nadia had never been more relieved to see Colin then she was in just that moment.
"Colin." She wanted to get up and move, gesture him out, but her hands still held Lornes. "Corruption, we don't have time." She whispered, "We need to get out of here before they start sending out reinforcements or something." She was trying to be calm, but there was a wild terrified look in her eyes.
His touch was returned with her own, though it caused her to wince. She actually made a sound as he effortlessly lifted her in his arms, her hand clinging to his chest. Soon enough, both she and Lorne were tucked away in the car. Driving far away from the park.
She started to shake half way, in the way her hands gripped at her leggings. Her outfit burned. Itched. She wanted to remove it and look at the petal marks she knew Haumea had left.
She was thus silent the rest of the ride though, and she followed Colin to whatever safety he would lead them too. She would not cry.
She was a strong woman and she would not cry because some little punk corrupt got her. She was a strong woman, and she would not be in pain.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 1:04 am
The urgency of the situation was not lost on him. Corruption. No wonder Lorne's doing the thousand yard stare and she's hurt. Colin could still remember very well the last time he and Monty had tried to keep someone from being corrupted, the overwhelming force of a General King arriving on the scene. The gut-wrenching knowledge that you were unable to do anything, you were there but you might as well have been flying a kite. He got them out of there and to his apartment as soon as physics would allow. Nadia looked not only emotionally crushed but physically uncomfortable - they'd need to get her fixed up once they were safe and in his ground floor apartment. Florence Court was a large Victorian style building that had been sectioned into apartments, his was adequate and offered them solace. Colin carried Nadia inside, asking Lorne to unlock the doors using his keys, and then lock them behind. He didn't need to remind either that this was a safe place, no one powered up there but it was protected - so no negaverse bastards would be coming. "Okay, Nadia. You're hurt, let's get you taken care of." She had been set gently onto his couch, where he started the process by gently removing her shoes and socks. "Lorne, can you grab the first aid kit? It's on top of the fridge." Giving the dark-haired youth something to do would help, probably. Colin wanted to do something for him too, to ease the hurt he knew was there...but triage. Nadia first.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 10:10 pm
Lorne debated a lot of things he could have done during that car ride: things to say, gestures to offer, but - again, all he could do was stare down at his legs, everything that had led up to this night looping endlessly in his head.
The least he could do was whatever Colin asked of him, even if he never met his friend's gaze. He didn't want Colin to look at him. He wanted the dancer's attention on Nadia and nowhere else but. She was the one that was hurting in a way someone could help.
- he sure hadn't. She'd had those injuries this whole time and he'd still let her drag him along from the park like a useless, simpering -
"Y-yeah, " Lorne answered quickly, and even though his steps were swift, he felt as slow as stone while he moved. Even so, he got the kit back to Colin, gingerly handing it to him. At least there was one thing he could do. He leaned down to gently, very, very gently stroke Nadia's hair in what he hoped was a soothing gesture - not another mistake.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 10:29 pm
Nadia didn't sit for long. Her large sweater was thrown over her head, and the legging were stripped.
She looked at the petals, the burn marks from Haumea's attack and the blisters that formed.
"Corrupt senshi, Haumea. I don't know what his sphere was, but there was this scent, he led me away from the battle. Then he let loose some petal s**t on me." She winced and looked at the wounds. Mostly small burns, they'd probably fade overnight if she was lucky.
Her hand went up to Lorne's. "It was a corruption. A s**t ton of people were there." She hissed, looking warily at the kit. She didn't seem all that worried she was in her underwear only.
"We failed."
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 11:03 pm
Colin leaned back when Nadia started stripping, expression concerned but only because he could see the burn marks and blisters as she disrobed. His eyes narrowed and jaw grit with each new injury revealed; someone had hurt his friend, his comrade. It was utterly unacceptable and this...Corrupt Haumea? He was going to pay. "So..." He glanced over at Lorne with the first aid kit open in his lap, hands rummaging for the burn ointment. "Like with that red and blue senshi." Colin pursed his lips and blew out a short breath. "No wonder you guys are ********." Ever the pragmatic one when there was a crisis, he got up to sit next to Nadia with gauze, an alcohol pad (for his fingers, not her skin) and the ointment. "Good, you keep distracting her. Sorry Nadia, this isn't gonna be pleasant." Once his fingers were cleaned he put the burn gel directly onto them and gently worked it over her scorched skin - trying to be mindful of the blisters and really raw spots but unwilling to miss any part, lest it be worse in the morning. "Don't want this getting infected. Burn gel's awesome. Antimicrobial and all that jazz." It would also soothe her skin, hydrate it, and help with the pain. Once more he turned to Lorne, "Can you get the Asprin from the kit? My hands are kind of..." Colin wiggled his goop-coated fingers at the dark-haired man; it wasn't really funny, but it was an attempt to drag Lorne out of his dark place. Snap out of it, Lorne...that space isn't where you need to be. It's not helpful and you couldn't have done anything you didn't try. The blond figured if Lorne continued looking so shell shocked, he would kiss him again. Maybe.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 11:35 pm
Lorne, a gentleman at heart, kept his eyes to himself as much as was feasibly possible, although it ached. It pained him to see her injured like this, even more when he reflected back on how long it had even taken him to notice. - he was angry too, a brief, rare, fleeting emotion in the page, but more at himself than any corrupt senshi. He felt like crying for the first time that night, but just as well, his throat felt choked and his eyes were wet.
Distract her? He looked vaguely panicked for a minute before leaning down to plant a chaste, but warm, little kiss on her cheek as he took her hand and coaxed her, "Squeeze as hard as you have to, " and wanted to smile at her, but couldn't. He just couldn't muster more than a feeble turn of his lips. But distraction, yes - that he still tried. "S'il vous plaît être bien. Je ne te mérite pas. Nadia, vous êtes tellement incroyable." Thank god she wouldn't know what he said; it was less the words and more how he said them, right?
Even Colin's goopy fingers didn't do much for him, no matter how much he wanted to pretend they they did. "I... " He looked for more words to say. But instead he just swallowed hard, reaching for the aspirin that the dancer had mentioned.
Pixie Nyxie Pardon my google translate French :'D
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 11:59 pm
Nadia gritted her teeth. "I don't know about the blue and red senshi." Her teal eyes flew up to Lorne. "It wasn't your first one." She closed her eyes, "s**t."
She wanted to relax, for Lorne, for Colin. She was the at ease. But she was hurt, frayed and exhausted. The adrenaline crash was happening hard, and she felt the tightness of her muscles fade.
Only to bunch up again as he applied the goop to her blisters.
"Святой мать дерьмо , я буду ..." She muttered, matching Lorne's french with her russian and then for the first night, smiled. "Colin, he said something super sexy in french to me, cause you're applying goop and I am half naked."
She closed her eyes again.
"It was Plou." She whispered to Colin. "I know you've met him. Saturn knight. Long hair, glasses."
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 12:13 am
Colin responded to her soft s**t in the affirmative, "No. We lost then too." He continued to work, worriedly looking from one to the other. "A captain called Umber yanked his star seed that night." So it was doubly bad for the poor page, a second failure so similar to the first? But as much as he too felt the guilt and shame at having been unable to save one of their own...Colin knew they had done all they could. As unprepared and untrained as they were. Lorne's French made him pause a moment, the sharp line of his lips curving into bit of a smile that only spread when Nadia made a crack about it. "Of course he did, I would too." Perhaps he could work some good out of this injurious night, salvage something...at least help his friends to forget some? These were the things he contemplated until he heard Nadia's whisper of the victim: Plou. Ploutonion. Rhys. Deft and slightly less goopy-than-before hands stilled and then curled into the dancer's body; a short, harsh sound coming from his throat. " No. Jesus, no--" So they hadn't been in contact in a while, that didn't matter. Ploutonion was one of the Saturn!bros - he was a friend powered up and even more than that, he was someone Colin had cared for as a person. "Rhys. His name," he swallowed thickly and tried again, "was Rhys Banner." How? Why wasn't I there this time? I let him down, I let...I should have been there. For Rhys. For Nadia and Lorne. Maybe I could have been the difference.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:08 am
Lorne thought maybe if he just didn't acknowledge it, they would've have to talk about the blue and red senshi and what had happened that night. His gaze darkened when Colin relayed the story to Nadia, and subconsciously, his hand traveled to rest on his chest when he reflected on the memory. He opened his mouth for a moment - 'please, let's talk about something else, ' he longed to say - but didn't he deserve a little of this? He'd left a child with a captain tonight to chase Methone, afraid for her. He'd run right past Ploutonion without even realizing. He'd been so close. - never mind everything he'd done to wrong the senshi in red and blue. Lorne closed his mouth tight and let the conversation slip by. It was their right to talk.
Even if it was short lived, a flash of surprise etched across Lorne's features when he heard the string of Russian, and then, her comments earned something of a smile from him. Much closer to himself than he had been since the corruption. "Quelque part, je pense que vous serez d'accord, " he added, brushing her hair softly out of her face.
Then, it happened - she dropped the name, and Colin's reaction sent a fresh dagger into his chest. Ploutonion. Rhys. His chest felt tight again, and all he could say was, "I'm sorry - I'm so sorry, Colin - I - " He reached out to try and put a hand on his friend's arm, but hesitated. Would he even want something like that? The silence dragged on for what felt like an eternity to the page as he began to let his hand drop again, useless at his side.
"I'll be right back, " was all he could say in a cracking voice, abruptly getting up to go walk off into the bathroom that was not his own. He shut the door behind him (louder than he expected), locked it, and slid down onto the floor with his knees tucked against his chest. He wanted to just take a minute, but a minute for what?
He slid his hand into his pocket, fishing out the pen that had become a staple of his life, the thing that had drawn him to people like Colin and Nadia in the first place. People that could be taken away in a heartbeat, just like Rhys. One more mistake, like the ones he'd made before --
He flung the pen hard away from himself with a grunt of frustration before he curled into himself, face buried in his arms against his knees. This was pathetic. This was selfish. - this was the kind of page he was though, wasn't it? This was the kind that spent years alone in a cell not much bigger than this damn bathroom.
Why had he even been called back if this was how things were going to turn out?!
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