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 Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 12:12 pm
Returning to Destiny City had been an emotional experience for Aurora. There were so many emotions and feelings, and so many things that triggered each of those emotions. Happiness, excitement, sadness, guilt, worry, uncertainty. Over the past couple of days she'd been lucky enough to be mostly happy, still reeling from her engagement and the new addition to her knights. But as the sun set and darkness crept over the city those feelings of guilt and worry began to creep up on Aurora again.
How much had Snowball and Niflhel kept from her about the past year? She knew both were the type that wouldn't want her to worry. But it meant she was in the dark.. woefully unequipped and ill informed.
So as Polaris left her house that evening she'd pulled out her phone, looking through the contacts thoughtfully, stopping on a familiar one finally. Europa...
It seemed like it'd been forever since she'd seen her former teammate. But Europa had always been a great ally. Smart, information oriented. With no reason to lie.
Before she could even really think about it Polaris was pushing the send button, and speaking quickly when someone picked up on the other side.
"Hey. How have you been? It seems like it's been forever since I've talked to you." She was trying not to sound desperate when she realized a little too late that she probably should have thought this plan through first. She was kind of failing though.
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 7:02 pm
Europa's phone started ringing while she was in the middle of fighting a youma, so she resolved to make this fast and finish up so that she didn't miss the call. It was so weird to be connected to people at all times again! She'd gotten used to being practically incommunicado and letting her senshi social networking be catch as catch can. But so much for that! She finished up with the youma - it was a fairly small one, anyway - dusted off her hands, and flipped her phone out of subspace. The number on her screen wasn't one she recognized, but then, she had very few numbers inputted. "Hi?" she said, putting the phone to her ear. The voice on the other hand sounded achingly familiar. She pursed her lips, trying to think. "New phone. Is this..." No. No way. Shut up, you have got to be kidding me. Never, in her wildest dreams, had Europa ever thought she would hear from the girl on the other end of the line again - but she was super excited that her wildest dreams were sorely lacking! "Polaris?" she asked, crossing the fingers on her free hand. "Oh my god. Where are you? Are you back? Sorry if I sound out of breath. Youma. I took care of it. Anyway. Can you meet up?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:08 am
When the words 'new phone' sounded Polaris cringed, immediately sorry that she hadn't gone with a bit more polite hello instead of being so presumptious. But luckily it didn't matter in the end as Europa correctly identified her, and it wouldn't be a lie to say the senshi of magnetism was grinning at the enthusiasm coming across the line.
She wasn't sure what she was expecting. Well she was. Someone to be angry at her for her absence. Someone to punish her in the same way she'd been punishing herself with guilt. But she should have known that that wasn't going to be Europa. It had been ages for them anyway.
And so instead she could look forward to a happy reunion and reminiscing, which maybe a little bit of serious stuff in there too eventually but for now just two girls. Two old teammates.
"I'm so glad you answered, I was hoping to see you! I just left the house, so tell me where you are and I'll come find you." She piped back with matched enthusiasm, her fingers playing with the pearl charm dangling from her phone.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:07 am
Europa glanced around - she was in an alley, and not even a particularly inviting alley, as far as these things went. "Uhh," she said, "Where I am isn't great." She was surrounded by pieces of rapidly-disintegrating youma and hot garbage, which was a great combination for attracting Negaversers - especially when another eternal senshi was added to the mix. Plus, it kind of stank. Europa ran rapidly through a mental list of good meeting spots that she could get to quickly. "How about.... the botanical gardens?" she asked. "Good place to sit and chat." At the very least, it would smell nicer than here. "Can't wait to see you!" She raced over to the botanical gardens as quickly as she could, filled with a kind of giddy vigor that she hadn't felt in a long, long time. Polaris was back! One of her oldest friends! While they'd fallen out of touch (Europa had a feeling that that was her own fault - but she'd been sick), she was sure there was not bad blood there. She'd never been as good a leader as she should have been, but... She took very little time to make herself comfortable in a gazebo. Polaris, she figured, would arrive shortly - and they had a lot to catch up on. It would be nice to speak to someone who had also spent so much time out of town - Europa was always scared of backlash for her long absences.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:12 pm
The botanical gardens? Polaris couldn't help but laugh a little at the suggestion. It wasn't something she would have ever thought to suggest but now that it had been suggested she couldn't think of a better place. "Oh my gosh, you don't know how nice that sounds after the ohhh.. repetitive flora of Alaska." She mused thoughtfully. Not that she didn't love Alaska.. but the lower states really did draw the long straw when it came to colors, and showy flowers, and just.. beautiful floral scents.
"I'll be there as soon as I can. See you then."
Once the phone call ended and she had dismissed her phone, Polaris took a moment to try and imagine the city in her head, debating her best route. It wasn't long before she was hopping rooftop to rooftop. In her excitement she even debated powering up even further for the burst in speed, but decided in the end that the last thing she needed was to wreck their reunion by attracting a surprise attack.
When the rooftops started to thin out around the gardens she had to switch to the streets, but by then she could feel Europa, the soft comforting pulse of an eternal energy calling out to her. It was only a couple minutes after Europa had arrived that Polaris finally showed up, only just slightly out of breath.
"Hiiii." She huffed the greeting as she braced the distance between them, her arms outstretching in the obvious sign that she intended on hugging Europa, whether the other senshi was prepared or not.
"I can't believe how long it's been, how are you!?" Seriously. The idea that it'd been that long since the two had been highschoolers.. And baby senshi doing stupid stuff like video taping themselves for Youtube. Where did the time go?
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 3:13 pm
Europa definitely tried to do the hollywood thing where she slow-ran to Polaris's arms, but it looked a little silly. "Hiii yourself," she said, embracing the other senshi. Hugging Polaris was like hugging an exceptionally fluffy cloud. It was nice and familiar, even after all this time. "I'm doing pretty well." She took a step back and looked Polaris up and down. Sure, she looked older and a little more worldly, but Europa was willing to make the same appraisal of herself. Other than that, Eternal Polaris was familiar - but a far cry from how she'd looked when they first met. They'd grown up together. (The Youtube videos, for the curious, were shut down when a certain guardian cat told Europa, on no uncertain terms, to cut that s**t out.) "I missed you," she said with a laugh. "I was so worried that something awful had happened! But maybe that's just me, I assume the absolute worst has happened to everyone when they go off the radar... Which is kind of unfair of me, considering how often I disappear." Taking Polaris's hands in hers, Europa pulled her over to the gazebo. "Okay," she said. "Where have you been? Please tell me it is somewhere better than a medically induced coma, because that was where I was for like, part of 2012 and most of 2013."
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:42 am
She might not have known what Europa was doing, to fully acknowledge her silliness, but Polaris returned the hug with vigor and mirrored her appraisal with the same sort of regard that the other senshi took. There were certainly subtle differences since they last time they'd seen each other, but in the end the familiarity and simliarities greatly outweighed it. And seeing Europa again was so nostalgic it almost hurt.
As she was guided to the gazebo, she waved her hand, commiserating their similar outlooks. "Oh no, I know what you mean. Worrying about people is second nature anymore." Especially when you had knights... Other than Azzo and Snowball it was probably her knights and her old teammates that she felt the most guilt towards. She too had been a fairly bad leader, having let thing crumble and dissipate without a word. "Really I think you'd be kind of crazy or not naive to worry about people now a days. There is just so much that can happen." She finished the thought, before leaning up against the railing of the gazebo, taking in a big, deliberate breathe of the sweet floral scents.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Europa." Her face construed with concern as the other girl mentioned a COMA! Ughhh, she was a terrible friend! How could she not have known or visited her? "Are you alright now?" Polaris was looking her over again, as if she might be able to make out what exactly had happened even though she knew fully well that comas usually had more to do with internal trauma.
"It was nothing that terrible for me." Well.. it was terrible but.. not the same. Hers was merely sadness, and eventually a fact of life, not a life threatening struggle.
"Last summer my dad got really sick, so I went home to Anchorage to for a little while to try and help take care of him. Only.. he never got better. Or atleast.. he'd seem like he was getting better only to get sick again. He passed away around Christmas time."
"But even after that I ended up sticking around up until about a week ago to take care of all of the arrangements, the estate, and my brothers." Would her brothers have survived without her? Probably. Three of the five were adults and the other two were old enough teens. But having her around had certainly softened the blow of their lost patriarch and final parent and as they struggled to figure out what they were each going to do with their lives and futures. There was a sad smile on her face, her eyes gazing down at her hands as she spoke about it. But they weren't thoughts she particularly wanted to dwell on at the moment.
"Anyway... It was actually sort of nice to be back home again, it'd been quite awhile since I'd seen everyone. And it was neat taking Niflhel around sight-seeing when he came up to pick me up."
"But I'm so glad to be back here." She laughed a little, brushing a few strands of hair back from her eyes. "Our lovely 'quirky' city."
"But I feel like I've missed so much. I don't even know how to catch up. The world keeps moving even when we get off for awhile." She shrugged.
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 9:26 am
Well, compared to that, thought Europa, a coma seemed almost quaint. "I'm so sorry," she said, her tone suddenly subdued. She'd been caught up in the war for so long that it was a harsh reminder that people still died from natural causes. She couldn't imagine what she would do if something like that happened to one of her own parents - but she'd been lucky so far in that regard. "I was doing all this experimentation on my moon," she said, looking down at her feet. "Trying to grow plants and make it liveable. I was going about it all wrong. I was in over my head. The plants were poison - I caught something, something microbial. I was wasting away for - for months. No one knew what it was or how to stop it..." Which all sounded terribly melodramatic. Europa bit her lip, sighed, and glanced at Polaris. "Eventually, the doctors got it under control. I'm still not totally clear on the details - I was under. But I got better. A little bit at a time. I was weak when I came back to Destiny City. I still have days when I'm just... exhausted, but I'm mostly okay and trying to catch up on life." Still, she thought, it was depressing. She at least had some good news to go with the bad. "On a happier note," Europa added, forcing herself to smile, "I met a really great guy right when I got back into town, and we got married last year, so that's fun and not depressing! He's a senshi. Oenone. And as far as I'm aware, not anyone I knew in my past life - but it's not like I've been back to my moon since I got sick."
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 11:50 am
It was hard to say she was accustomed to losing a parent... But after losing her mother at age 7, and her grandparents in her early teens, it.. seemed inevitable that her father's time would eventually come. And while her heart would ache forever in some ways, she had always been such a daddy's girl, it was also one of those things that you just needed to pick yourself up from. And besides.. she'd had months of being sad. Literal months of just sitting around doing housework, feeding her brothers, filling out paperwork, and crying or otherwise mourning him.
She just wanted to be happy now. And so far things were looking up pretty well.
"Thank you." She said softly, but she didn't really want to dwell in the somber for very long. "I'm going to miss him, but I have all of my brothers. Azzo and his grandmother. My guardian Snowball. And my knights..." Slowly but surely as she listed all the people her smile seemed to inch a little more upward. She had so many people to be thankful for, and people to hold her up. It was alright.
When Europa had first mentioned experimentation on her moon, the senshi's interest had perked. She'd even been about to spout out how cool it was that Europa was doing it. But thankfully it hadn't slipped before Europa continued on.
The idea that a homeworld could hurt someone... why hadn't she ever thought of that? Well other then the occasional gripe that she was going to freeze to death on Polaris. It was scary.. and thought provoking. But then, that had always been one of Europa's strengths in her opinion. Provoking thoughts.
Her gloved hands both clasped around one of Europa's, a look of soft concern that slowly shifted to awe. "How very scary! I'm so glad they were able to figure it out though. And that you're feeling better."
"Even though it didn't turn out well in the end.. I can't believe you thought of trying to do that on your moon! I never ever thought of trying to do anything at Polaris other than you know.. try and find some clues about the past or take a look around. Who knows the kind of things we can figure out and can do out there in space. What might be helpful.... You were always so smart and inquisitive!" At the last statement her hands squeezed a little, before releasing the other girl's hands.
"Congratulations!!" She was nearly squealing at the good news. It was almost like they really were just highschool friends. Not warriors fighting in a life or death battle against monsters (both literally and figuratively). "That's so wonderful! What is he like? Tell me all about him!"
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 3:21 pm
Europa nodded. It was good to know that Polaris wasn't alone, even after what had happened - people were most vulnerable when they were alone. Bad things happened when people felt like they were alone. (Maybe, if she'd only paid a little more attention to Kat--) "Azzo is.... your boyfriend?" She asked. Snowball, she could only assume was a cat, although not one she'd ever met - and while she couldn't say she'd ever run into a Polaris knight, it made sense to her that they existed. Maybe that was her real talent - finding powerful people and making friends with them before they were strong enough to level half the city. She sighed and tucked her hair behind her ears. "I keep thinking that if I go back, I'll find out what I did wrong, maybe even find a way to keep it from happening again... but I'm scared. I've been neglecting it for so long - maybe something bad happened while I was away, something I could have prevented." There was no point in worrying about it now, with her feet firmly planted on Earth and no plans to go anywhere else in the immediate future. She was going to be happy and talk about her totally cute husband and maybe wish that she'd invited Polaris to meet her somewhere that they could have this conversation over, like, a really decent seven-dollar bottle of chardonnay. "Well," she laughed, "I know it's cliche, but he's tall, dark, and handsome. He's a doctor - med student when we met. He helped me study. It was my first semester back from being sick and I was struggling to keep up. He's really sweet." She was just going to leave out that part about him having been a corrupt senshi at the time. After all, it was ancient history.
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 8:36 pm
Europa's concerns certainly weren't unfounded, and Polaris couldn't blame her for worrying or being tentative about returning. She too had been neglecting her homeworld, and for far less valid reasons.
"You should definitely take someone with you when you go back for the first time.. just in case. I once met a senshi of medicine.. she was actually trying to scientifically study youma dust. But I haven't seen her in ages.. she probably would have been a good person to help in a situation like this..."
"But you know..." She paused thoughtfully. "It's weird to think of them like this.. but sometimes it feels like our homeworlds have a mind and body of their own. And I feel like.. we might be harder on ourselves then they are on us. We all make mistakes. I'm sure your moon will understand." She was trying to comfort her friend of course, but it wasn't simply that, there was sincerity in her tone as well. As she talked about a hunk of rock as if it were alive.... Well.. no point in overthinking it.
"Ohhh you never met Azzo?" She had known Azzo for so long it was hard to believe she'd never introduced him to Europa. But then.. the two senshi had spent more of their time together powered up. They'd gone to different schools after all and hung out with different friends other than the Bastards.
"You've probably met him, or at least seen him, as Niflhel though. He's a Saturn knight with a chain. Also on the tall and dark and handsome side."
"And I guess he's actually my fiance now." Her hand lifted as if to show Europa the ring, only to realize when she looked down that the ring wasn't there while she was powered up. "For like.. less than a week. It's going to be weird trying to remember to call him that instead of just my boyfriend." She laughed sheepishly.
"But you'll totally have to come to the wedding if you can once we figure out some dates! We're thinking both a powered one and one for our families. You and your husband would be free to come to whichever one you preferred."
Listening to Europa talk about her husband Polaris simply grinned. She was such a sap and fan of romance. The senshi of magnetism was pretty much gushing as she spoke. "He sounds amazing and so sweet! And a doctor too! I'm so happy for you."
"Are you still in school then? I've still got a little to go to finish my teaching degree thanks to taking a year off."
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 11:26 pm
Europa clapped her hands together in front of her. "Congratulations!" she exclaimed. That was just - that was so great! Polaris's description still wasn't ringing any bells, but that didn't mean their paths had never crossed - just that Europa had never particularly noticed him. She was certain that she'd similarly forgotten a lot of people. "You should have your powered ceremony on the moon," she suggested, followed by, "Seriously," in case it hadn't been clear that she was definitely not joking about this. "You'd just have to make sure that everyone had pearls and you had the dates right - but it's the best way to keep Chaos from crashing the party." Laughing, she added, "But I'm not really good for advice, like, there was a lot of pressure on Nick and I to have a big wedding but in the end we drove to Norfolk and had a county clerk do it, and then we bought like three bottles of cheap champagne and checked into a hotel. So I am a complete wash-out at planning a wedding. But being married is a really sweet deal." She trailed off there, letting Polaris fill in the blank if she so desired, and turned her attention to the question she'd been asked. "I got sick halfway through spring semester, sophomore year," sighed Europa, "So that was a wash. Didn't start back until January last year. But I'm on track to finish in December if I pass all my classes. Hopefully, I'll start vet school in the fall, and then I'll be back on track." She paused, biting her lip. "Sort of," she said. "I think that the me I was before I was Europa would probably throw a fit if she saw my life... so it's a good thing she can't. What do you want to teach? Grade, subject, I mean."
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:46 am
So far the planning had been pretty minimal. Just as their entire relationship had been in no rush to go anywhere. What had it been now.. over 4 years of their awkward and prudish relationship? Besides, there had also been so many other things to talk about a deal with in the few days since his proposal. But there would most definintely be a big wedding, some hell or high water, because Aurora was the one who wanted it.
"The plan was actually to have the powered ceremony on Polaris." She stated matter of factly, one of the few details the two had discussed. And the ceremony presided over by Snowball. "The moon though isn't a bad idea at all...." Laughing a little she mused. "Far less snow and cold then Polaris. And depending on how large the guest list is, not spending my wedding day shuttling people back and forth would be nice." On the other hand.. she wasn't sure how she felt about taking over the moon, a place that didn't belong to her. Oh well, there was plenty of time to think and plan.
Polaris smiled, her eyes looking upwards as she pictured Europa's story in her head. While the wedding itself was important to her personally, at the end of the day Europa had hit the nail on the head. It was the actual marriage that mattered the most. And she was so happy that her friend had found that joy. Seeing the other senshi happy about it, in fact, only made Polaris more excited about the day she too would finally be a wife.
"I'm not so fussed on an exact grade really. But definitely something in the elementary age group. Kindergarten through fourth or fifth grade probably. I'm thinking I'll probably start out with substituting first and work my way from there."
"It'll give me a little time to decide if I do actually have a preference, but also..." Her voice lowered a little. "It'll be a little easier to work into the schedule.." She assumed she didn't need to explain any further than that, the other senshi most certainly knew how time consuming and social life killing the life of a magical girl was.
When Europa commented on how her life had changed, her mind went back to a comment her eldest brother had made about a week before. I'd always assumed you'd be married the day you turned 18. Maybe even begged Dad to sign the papers before you were 18. Be up to about 3 kids by now. And it was probably true.. Life changed in unexpected ways. Had she not come to Destiny City.. had she never powered up.. Aurora Namid would very likely be at home right now. A happy wife with the beginnings of an absolute litter of children. As a girl all she ever wanted to be was a wife and mother. And this world had robbed her of that dream.
But that didn't mean that she couldn't have new dreams.
"Everything changes. I imagine we all would have been so much different if this whole thing had never happened." There was slight sadness in her voice, even despite the hint of a smile that rested on her lips. "We just have to roll with the punches thrown at us and make the best out of what we're given."
"That's what makes us survivors."
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:13 pm
Europa laughed once. "Yeah, that was my thinking - it limits your days, but it might just be more convenient. You shouldn't have to work too hard on your wedding day - and who's going to tell you that you can't use the moon?" Personally, she thought Queen Serenity would be perfectly chuffed if a senshi wed a knight in her gardens, one thousand years after the empire fell. "Anyway," said Europa, reaching out and placing a hand over Polaris's. "Congratulations. I'm really happy for you and that everything's coming together." Survivors, though... that just made her feel sort of odd and wistful. It was true, though - they'd dug in and stuck it out, even with the breaks in the middle, they were still here. "Yeah," said Europa. "That is... Here's to us, I guess."
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Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:27 am
Polaris laughed as Europa made her point, nodding in amusement. She certainly did have a point. As long as she wasn't crashing some preplanned event by another group. Could you make reservations? A sign up list? The thought brought another wide smirk to her face.
"There is no big rush, but it's good to think about all the options and gets things figured out."
The return to more serious conversation reminded Polaris of part of the reason she'd called Europa and for a long moment she wondered if she wanted to potentially wreck what had been such a nice visit so far. Biting her bottom lip, she was silent for another long moment debating before finally just going for it.
"So... I had wanted to ask you something, but if you don't want to talk about it that's alright too."
"Snowball and Niflhel kind of kept me in the dark while I was gone. And I understand they were doing it for my own good but.. Now that I'm back I feel like I'm so lost. Niflhel is having all these crazy nightmares.. and apparently has had them for awhile. And I hear things like 'nightmare shards' and stuff."
"Do you..."
"I mean... have you seen or heard about any of the crazy stuff that's been going on lately?"
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