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 Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 6:57 pm
The last time he had seen Remarque had been in the form of a future that didn't really exist, except in dreams and distorted thoughts. It was like trying to recall a memory that was fuzzy and unclear, blurred around the edges, bits and pieces of it more clear than the others. But when he did idly contemplate the future he'd seen, Celsus distinctly remembered that he'd been allies of a sense with Remarque.
Except he was not contemplating that now. In fact, the Dark Mirror senshi was far from his mind, and Celsus sat on the roof top of an office building, one leg over the side, the other drawn up, foot propped, arm draped loosely over his knee. He wasn't so much as surveying (as he should have been), so much as he was actually lost in thought, chin propped in the palm of a gloved hand.
There were no power signatures around, at least none that Celsus could sense off of the bat. He let out a breath in a slow ease, the chill night air fluttering the cape on his shoulders and causing it to blow sideways, hair ruffled.
After a few moments, an aura ebbed through the air, faintly familiar, but he didn't get up, Celsus remaining perfectly in place, waiting and watching.kyuseisha no hikari THIS IS A LAME START BUT W/E
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Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2015 12:31 am
Remarque was content with half of his life. At home, he had a good job, a woman he loved, a house he was happy to live in, and a family on the way. He had a good life. And he wanted to do everything he could to make sure it stayed good.
Which meant that he spent a few good hours a week thinking about the future he'd seen, planning every path he could think of to try and thwart that future's coming. So far, there had been no dramatic changes, and though he had his goal in mind, the complacency of his civilian life was ebbing away his concern.
Except when he had nightmares, if even they could be called that.
He didn't wake up afraid or screaming, but roused slowly with a sense of dread and a need to do something.
So, he powered up, and took his late night stroll.
He was more aware of the energy signatures around him; he was looking for people. Rooftops seemed to be popular places, but he had always preferred the ground.
He might have stayed there if someone's energy signature didn't catch his attention.
Carting mirrors to rooftops was not one of Remarque's favorite activities, so he did the next best thing; he took his time to make his way to the building and scaled it. Even moving with the lethargy he operated with, he was off the ground and on the roof in under a minute, brushing himself off.
That hair color alone was an unmistakable identifier.
"Well, aren't you a pretty sight," he said, smug little grin settling on his face. "And here I thought you'd moved back to Britain or something. What are you doing, stargazing?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 8:17 pm
Eventually the power signature drew stronger, and then stronger still, although the bearer of it took quite a bit of time getting to him. Celsus found it rather curious, because whoever it was was either slow and steady, or just disinterested in him as a whole.
It became clear, somewhat later, just which one of those was the truth.
He hadn't turned around, even with the sound of someone ascending the rooftop and then landing with a soft thump on the ground, footsteps drawing nearer. It was the voice that got to him, smug and slow and as familiar as ever, and Celsus felt a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Awww, so nice of you to call me pretty," he drawled, Celsus flipping his hair out of his face dramatically as he finally twisted around to see Remarque, looking as cocky as ever, striding towards him. He blew the other man a kiss, grinning obnoxiously.
"Glad to see that you're still as charming as ever. How have you been lately? Gotten even sassier now, I see."
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 6:29 pm
Remarque's nose wrinkled at the kiss and he was half tempted to push Celsus from atop the roof. He resisted, if only because of all the reasons he could think he might like to have tossed the Knight off a roof for, a kiss was hardly the worst transgression.
"Oh," he shrugged. "No sassier than usual. I've been fine, though. You know, if you keep blowing kisses, someone's going to start some rumors about us, and I'd rather not have to explain that to my girl back home. She'd be livid if she heard I was fooling around with some foreigner who disappears for months and then just shows up out of the blue. "
Remarque didn't have much of a reason to fear Celsus; it wasn't that the Knight hadn't proven he was proficient enough in battle, but he didn't seem like he was jumping at the opportunity for confrontation. Remarque didn't have the drive for that tonight, either, so he meandered across the room and flopped down next to the male. "It's been so long, I almost thought something'd happened to you. You've been staying out of trouble?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:32 pm
Celsus wasn't thinking of throwing Remarque off of a roof, mostly because one of his favored past times was needling said senshi, and it was more or less something that brought him great joy. So throwing him off the roof, while probably an enjoyable experience in and of itself, was less enjoyable when it meant that he would no longer have someone to tease.
Sad.
The grin on Celsus' face widened, just a little. "Who says there aren't already rumors?" he said airily, waving a hand, and the golden coins in his uniform clinked merrily with every gesture as he stepped towards the other. He adopted a low, dramatic tone. "That sultry night in Destiny City, alone together on an abandoned rooftop...it had been so long that Remarque could hardly bear the solitude, and even though he was a little s**t sometimes, he was still yearning for that one reminder that he was still alive - and lo and behold it appeared, and he saw his long lost lover. Once again, the flames of passion were renewed, in spite of the fact that his lost lover was clearly better looking and better everything than he was."
Celsus finished with a flourish and an overly extravagant bow, dipping lower before straightening, eyes alight with mischief.
"It is nice to hear that you have yourself a girl, though," he said, voice back to his normal one, winking at Remarque. "I don't have one myself, alas, but it's always lovely to hear that there is true romance in the world. How long have you been together now?"
He thought he dimly recalled knowing this fact about his friend...enemy...whatever Remarque was at this point. Celsus' boots clicked on the pavement of the rooftop as he walked a slow circle around the other. "And sorry to disappoint you, but I am indeed alive and kicking - quite literally sometimes. Trouble, well..."
He thought for a moment.
"Depends on what you mean by trouble, I suppose." His green eyes flickered to Remarque again.
"What about yourself? Keeping your head up?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 6:14 am
Remarque's lips pursed and his brows knit and he stared at Celsus like he was ******** crazy. (Because, at this point, he was quiet certain he wasn't all there after that story.)
"…No wonder you don't have a girl," he muttered, shaking his head. "We've been good for a while. I think things started back during that whole Surrounding thing. Lot of stress that comes with having this job and a girl on the side, so enjoy running solo while you can. Unless she's like you and likes the 'Night Life' around this town. But," he shrugged and relaxed a bit.
"I guess I've been staying out of trouble. Do I really look like the type of guy to keep his head down, though? Things have been, I don't know. Fairly slow. No one's been picking big fights. On one hand, I like it. I've got enough going on that a little reprieve is nice, but on the other hand, it feels like something's festering. Just waiting to be stirred. And then, you know how it goes. s**t hits the fan and it's your either running into the fray or out of the way."kuropeco I AM SO SORRY IT TAKES ME SO LONG /sob
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:57 am
Remarque would receive a cheeky grin in response, because Celsus was nothing if not cheeky - and he especially had a love for riling up Remarque, seeing as how they'd been through a great deal together by now. It had been years since they'd first met, and the initial animosity seemed to have faded into something a lot simpler and quieter and less...punchy.
That, and Celsus just had a mischievous, puckish streak a mile wide.
"I beg your pardon," he said indignantly. "I'll have you know, that side of me is definitely what gets me all the ladies, I just have so many that I can't choose from, because at heart, I am, alas, a veritable lone wolf, who can't just stay with one lady."
He'd put a hand over his heart, his tone obnoxiously melodramatic. But Celsus lowered it after a moment, his expression shifting to one that held more seriousness to it than the playful, teasing one he'd had only seconds before. He slowed his pacing, folding arms over his chest, and came to a rest in front of Remarque, a sigh easing out of him.
"The calm before the storm, right?" he asked, glancing out over the darkened rooftops of the buildings around them. "It feels too much like there's something waiting just around the corner, except I can't see it or know what it is."
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 1:06 am
Remarque snorted at Mr. Lone Wolf; he'd have guessed the guy was more like a desperate puppy when it came to love. Chasing after one girl, fawning over her and dedicating all his time and effort to winning her favor. The thought was almost amusing, but he didn't voice it. His smile faded to something thinner, but fractured as it was, it remained on his face all the same.
"Does everyone feel that way, then? I feel like I haven't seen much of my Court. I'm seeing different Senshi, different Knights. Some of the old ones are missing and I don't think they've died, but I don't know where they've gone off to. Even the Negaverse seems scarcer than usual."
He was too arrogant to think anyone he knew or cared about could have died without his knowing, but while he found the absence of Knights and Senshi odd and unsettling, he felt the same for the Negaverse—only, he suspected only the Negaverse of scheming something awful behind the scenes. He wasn't put at ease when they were gone; instead he became more suspicious. Better to see an evil, know an evil, then let it lurk and grow and strike from the shadows.
"What's everyone even up to these days?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 8:15 am
Sadly, Remarque thinking that Celsus was more like a desperate puppy was more accurate than Celsus pretending he was a lone wolf. Except he often did not attempt to show that side of himself, instead going the complete opposite direction. Remarque, alas, knew him too well and too long, which meant that he could hardly avoid being accurately analyzed by the man, even if it was just inside of his head.
Celsus' fingers smoothed idly over the sleeve of his uniform. "I haven't seen much of my court, either," he said, with a voice that held a great deal of sadness to it, as well as some restraint to hold that bitterness at bay. "They seem to have all just...gone off on their own way, and I'm not quite sure why that is."
He hated the possibility of them being gone for good, or of them being - horrifyingly - dead. Celsus disliked the tension he could feel in the air, thick and cloying, as though the storm lurked just around the corner, waiting for them to relax before it swept in and took ahold of them.
"No idea," said Celsus truthfully. "I've just been trying to gather together as much as I can, though it isn't much. It's rather...frustrating to not know what's going on, where everyone else went."
He lifted a hand, running fingers through his hair.
"What has become of us, Remarque?" Celsus asked, with a slightly helpless laugh that held no humor to it.
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 10:03 am
Remarque offered an equally mirthless smile, though it fell quickly and he sighed. "Maybe we're too old for this. I see these new kids coming in. Half of them don't make a damn bit of sense, and you try to talk to them and they don't want to hear it. New blood is fine and all, but they're going to get themselves killed."
Not by him, probably.
But for the reckless senshi that came into this thinking they could take on the world? For the ones who hadn't been around to see what the Negaverse was—and could be? They were living on borrowed time. "Sorry about your Court," he mused, though didn't touch on the dilapidated nature of the Dark Mirror. It wasn't that they weren't trying—some of them were, desperately.
But then they had started defecting. Some of the just disappeared. Remarque had no idea what had become of some of them. He didn't know if it was better that way, or if he really cared to know if they were dead—or purified.
The thought made his blood cold, and he hated the idea that they had worked so hard and were still falling apart. He didn't know what more could be done, but giving up wasn't in his nature.
He'd find something.
"I can see your wrinkles. Better hope you've got a girl with bad eyes. —Is that a grey hair?" he asked, unable to let the mood get too dark.
There were plenty of late nights to lose himself to those thoughts; he didn't need to do it now.
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 12:06 am
He tugged idly at a gold coin on his uniform and said, "There are quite a lot of children, it seems, that have been recruited to the war. And as you said, hardly any of them even seem willing to fight at all, or they simply don't know how to. Teenagers and elementary school kids..."
Celsus trailed off, shaking his head. Remarque's apologies for his failed, disbanded court made him smile slightly, because the old Remarque probably would never have even considered such a thing and most likely would have made some disparaging, snide comment. It was just another testament of how far they'd come in their lives.
At least with each other. Celsus did not feel that he had gotten farther in any other respect at all, the feelings of inadequacy rising until it was thick in his throat, until he felt as though he was going to choke on the very taste of it on his tongue.
He forced those thoughts away, offered Remarque a slightly withering look and a raised eyebrow.
"I'm sure my hair is perfectly fine, thank you very much," Celsus said, with a wave of his hand so that the coins jingled and jangled merrily. "Don't be jealous simply because I'm better looking than you are, Remmy darling, it's unbecoming."
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 11:46 am
Remarque scoffed and pulled back, as amused as he was defensive. "Oh, please. I landed a girl that wanted to stay with me, where are you? I used to be quite popular before I settled down." He paused, seemed thoughtful, and shrugged. "Still am. But don't worry. I'm sure there's at least someone out there who can handle all those freckles. Chin up."
He winked, for good measure. "Though, speaking of her, she gets finnicky when I'm out for too long. Ah, the pains of long term relationships. But she makes it worth it. I do hope," he shifted positions, "That you find something to bring you solace in these darker times. It helps. To have someone to share your burden."
Remarque shrugged again. "Of course, if need some help lifting some of those burdens, you could invite me to your Wonder and we'll have a tea party and bullshit until we work something out. But I mean, your call."
He didn't know what the wonders of Chronos Knights were like; he'd never been. Well. Not since he'd actually been on the Surrounding. But that was a time that felt so long ago. He remembered it clearly. And if he was honest with himself, he missed it.
And maybe it was easier to talk to Celsus these days because he reminded him of it.
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2015 7:17 pm
He was not about to comment on the fact that, even after all this time, he was still alone, in every sense of the word. But that was about the last fact that Celsus was going to bring to light, especially in present company, seeing as how his relationship with Remarque was...unusual already.
"Is she blind?" Celsus asked brightly, and then stared at the other, as though not quite able to comprehend the second part of what Remarque had said. For a moment, he seemed quite at a loss for words, Celsus' mouth opening and then shutting again, as though he couldn't quite understand what was being said to him.
"I...thank you. Erm. Yes. Thank you."
For the first time in a long time, the faintest tinge of red touched his cheeks, just slightly, hardly even visible in the dark. It was gone as quickly as it had come, however, and then Celsus grinned, wide and bright; a slow, steady, cheeky smirk that indicated a sincere sense of mischief.
"If you wanted to spend more time with me, Remmy, all you had to do was ask."
And then, before the other could answer, he said in a more serious tone, his expression softening, "You are welcome to my Wonder anytime, for the record. I wouldn't mind showing it to you. You and I have seen and been through much together, after all."
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 4:02 pm
Remarque snorted but seemed amused, and a smile tugged its way onto his face. He shook his head, still amused by Celsus. "Then I'll take you up on that sometime. Not tonight though, I can only stand too much of you at once. You're insufferable," he said, as good natured as possible.
He didn't want Celsus getting to think he'd gotten too soft after all. "But later. We’ll have to make a habit of running into each other more often. Otherwise I'll have to start worrying that some Negaverse grunt got you. Let's make a plan. I'll bring dinner," he said winking for good measure.
…Which was meant to be more of a friendly gesture than anything else. Remarque just really liked fast food and would gladly swap a bag of fries and a burger for a trip back to the Surrounding. In fact, a part of him wanted to go now, but his arrogance wouldn't allow him to seem so desperate. He couldn't risk making a fool of himself if Celsus was joking, after all.
He was too prideful for that, and too mistrusting of the world around him to believe an offer that sounded too good to be true.
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:31 pm
His grin widened as Celsus waved a dismissive hand.
"I think you mean I'm delightful," he said grandly. "And that you, are, in fact, the insufferable one. It has been many years, Remarque darling, I'd've thought you'd learned this simple fact by now. You must get it into your head at some point."
He did like the idea of introducing Remarque to his Wonder; that hadn't been a baseless invitation, after all, and neither had Celsus' belief that they had both earned each other's - well, maybe not respect, exactly, but at least understanding. They were not exactly on opposite sides, but not exactly on the same side either, and Celsus had long since grown used to dealing with Remarque - and many of the Dark Mirrors, as a matter of fact. There was a soft spot for them unexpectedly in his heart.
"I was quite serious, just for the record," said Celsus, as he shifted his feet, the multitude of coins on his uniform jangling merrily (stealth was clearly not in the cards for Celsus). "The next time we run into each other, I will show you my Wonder - or we could set up a time. It would be - "
Celsus could not help himself.
"Wonderful to introduce you to it."
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