|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 9:33 am
Well, it'd have to do.
Leaning over, the blonde girl slowly fed the bonfire some bits of kindle, ensuring the flames remained healthy and full. Having a bonfire at night wouldn't be such a strange thing, if Margaret Butler hadn't decided to host this bonfire in the center of one of Destiny City's beautiful parks.
She'd tried usin' one of those trash can barrel things for a fire, but she hated the fact she kept havin' to stand up to enjoy watching it, plus it just kind of lost it's prettiness, comin' out of a garbage can and whatnot.
With as dark and as late as it was, Mags figured she had a good hour, hour 'n a half or so before somebody got nosy and called the cops on her (again). She was deep enough in the park to keep to herself for a while and that suited her just fine.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 3:04 am
For once, Ieni wasn't out patrolling. Tonight, she just wanted to wander and think. And thanks to her experiences as Namaka, she knew that the park was one of the best places to do just that without having to worry about being bothered. And so she walked along, trying to figure out how she felt about her double life and wishing that things weren't so complicated.
She would have kept walking on, lost in thought had it not been for the smoke smell. The smell itself wasn't so alarming. Ieni actually like how a clean fire smelled. It was more the fact that the smell was coming from somewhere close by in the park, where she knew that fires weren't allowed. Thinking quickly, she stripped off her jacket. If the fire wasn't too big, she could smother it. As deep as she was into the park, she knew it would more time to run out and find someone to tell than to just take care of it herself.
Of all the nights for her phone battery to be dead. And she was not powering up and using her compact just so the Court could play amateur fire fighter.
As she followed the scent, she wondered what had happened. Probably just some idiot who'd tossed their cigarette without thinking. She was so prepared for this explanation that when she burst into the small clearing and saw a girl calmly feeding a bonfire. Blinking owlishly, she was silent for a moment as the scene lodged itself into her brain. Then, speech and movement returned and she knew her thin jacket wasn't going to be much good at putting out this fire.
"Are you lolo?" she asked incredulously as she tries to figure out some way of dousing the fire. "Are you trying to re-create the forest fire scene in Bambi, lady?"
For a moment, she was sorely tempted to power up and drain this idiot for putting the park at risk.
"What were you thinking?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 10:34 am
"Am Ah a whositswhatsits?"
She'd been startled by the stranger's presence, initially, the sound of her footsteps masked by both the softness of the grass and the crackle of the fire in front of her. But the startled feeling soon turned into curiosity (and maybe a brief bit of relief, knowing it wasn't the police here to shoo her away again) and she stared at the other girl, who looked more than a little peeved at her. What was she thinking?
"Why, Ah was thinkin' about a lot of things. A campfire is nice for thinkin' and storytellin' and..." Maybe this next part would cheer her up. Mags reached over into the satchel she'd brought and pulled out a bag of marshmallows, chocolates and graham crackers, "...eatin', of course."
She dangled the food in front of her, as if presenting a peace offering (or at least a please reconsider and not go to the police to rat me out bribery).
"Ya like to eat, dont'cha? With a night like tonight, Ah bet we could get in a few good stories while we make some s'mores."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:53 pm
"Lolo. Means crazy where I come from. And maybe you hadn't noticed, but this is a park. Not a campground. No fires allowed. D'you even have a way prepared to douse this thing if a wind picks up or sparks hit the leaves and catch?"
Doing her best to ignore the way her stomach suddenly and loudly made it's presence known as the s'mores ingredients were brought out, Ieni sighed. Okay, so this wasn't some crazy pyro at least. Hopefully. Still.
"Look, it's not safe to just start random fires where they don't belong," she said, slowly pacing around the fire and it's creator. "'Specially in the summer when it's so hot. You don't wanna be the lady who ruined everything forever, right?"
A sudden awareness that she was lecturing someone who was at least her age if not older made Ieni visibly flinch, already preparing for the blows she was sure would fall any minute now. Though at the mentions of stories, she had to bark out a tiny, bitter laugh.
"Lady, most of my stories are the by-products of a ******** up childhood an' would probably give you nightmares for a month."
And those were just the stories about her mom. Tell this ditzy chick about some of the things she'd seen as a senshi and that blonde hair would go stark white.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 3:32 pm
Margaret Butler had spent twenty-years being chided by one person or another. She'd developed a keen trick to dealing with people who chided her: she ignore them. It wasn't the most cleverest of tricks, but it kept Mags from wanting to pull every bloomin' curl out of her head when it came to Mags, do this or Mags, you shouldn't do this or Mags, you'll set fire to the city if you're not careful. People didn't seem to care for this trick, but Mags didn't seem to care to be chided.
What she did manage to filter through, aside from learnin' lolo was another way to call someone loco, was nightmares.
"Y'know some good ghost stories, then? Bet Ah could keep yew up for days with some of my tales. Let's trade!"
She patted the grass beside her, tossing the ingredients the girl's way as she began to stab her own set of deliciousness onto the end of a stick she'd found while wandering in search of the best fire spot. She'd brought an extra as a spare - lucky stranger! - as Mags had no problem sharing the toasty fire and treats that came with it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 4:07 pm
Gaping in shock as the girl, lady, whatever so blithely ignored everything she'd said or asked about Ieni wasn't entirely sure what to do. Then, the realization that all this.. this crazyass white girl had picked up was that somehow Ieni's childhood equated to ghost stories.
And in that moment, something inside snapped. Not quite to the degree that lolo lady would end up needing stitches, but she was sure as s**t going to be the target for a verbal whiplash.
"Oh sure. Let's ignore that you're playing pyro in favor of trading stories! Gee, let me think, what can I tell you? How about I share the time I mom locked me in the cellar overnight for supposedly embarrassing her? Or the time she told little ol' 6 year old me that she should have drowned me like a kitten because I was useless and she hated being a mother! Oh boy! What fun!"
The fact that she was able to keep her voice level was amazing. In fact, the only sign of her agitation were the tears that had started seeping down her face. She only like old stories. Myths and legends. Things nicely relegated to the past and treated as simple metaphors. The idea of sitting down and swapping stories with some girl she didn't know, who seemed to ignore the simplest safety and tune out the world just felt alien to her. Still feeling slightly dazed and definitely emotional, Ieni threw her hands in the air in despair and literally sank to the ground. She'd hopped aboard this crazy train by trying to be a good citizen. Might as well stick, if only for plausible deniability. Reaching out blindly, she grabbed a marshmallow and nibbled at it while she hid her face behind her drawn up knees.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 6:50 am
Holy mother of....
All Mags could do was stare, slack-jawed, as the girl broke down into tears while telling both the blonde off and about some tragic soundin' things that she could only assume were stories from her childhood. She watched as the girl slumped down and eventually began nibbling on a marshmallow, growing quiet.
Now, Margaret Butler was not a heartless person. At the same time, however, she had grown up in a family of men who had no reason to teach the young girl how to deal with tears, with feelings or 'em complicated emotion things. She was taught to be tough, not soft. Not that soft was bad or nothin', just wasn't what she was used to, s'all.
"Hey..." Struggling for words, one hand reached out to awkwardly pat the other girl's shoulder, "Ah didn't mean any harm. This ain't my first rodeo, Ah've got the fire under control."
Shifting her bag, she exposed the bucket and bottles of water she had carried with her. "Ah just miss nights out in the field - just bringin' some home a little closer, s'all."
Her free hand slid the chocolate closer to the girl, as well as the stick. She risked a smile. "The marshmallows ain't gonna be nearly as good as a real s'more, y'know."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 7:13 am
Flinching a tiny bit as her should was patted, Ieni nevertheless managed to relax minutely. The bucket and water bottles helped. The fact that this chick kept her comforting to words and the awkward shoulder pats also helped. And after a moment, she lifted her face from her knees and scrubbed roughly as her eyes with her jacket.
Accepting the stick and chocolate, she speared the nibbled marshmallow and held it out over the fire. As she watched it brown and bubble, she stayed quiet, forcing herself to grow calmer. And once the marshmallow was properly burnt, she took it from the fire and set it between the graham cracker and chocolate piece And only after she'd taken a bite and hissed as hot, molten marshmallow hit her tongue did she speak.
"You're right. It does take much better this way. Thank you."
She waited a moment for the rest of the s'more to cool, then crammed what was left into her mouth hungrily and began to reach for more marshmallows to roast.
"Umm," she began in a softer voice, "I'm Ieni. I'm sorry I snapped."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2015 9:14 pm
The tense look of worry and confusion quickly faded, soon replaced with a wide grin as the blonde mimicked her new companion by starting her own treat."A'tta girl, no worries. Ah'm Mags, by the by."
Two fluffy marshmallows were stabbed mercilessly on the stick, then popped into the fire. Flames flickered, burning twigs crackled as the make-shift campfire offered its warmth to the two hovered beside it. The two girls sat in silence for a few minutes, marshmallows blazing and chocolate melting, squished between crisp cinnamon graham crackers.
It was after finding satisfaction in her second, extra gooey s'more that the park pyro spoke again. "So. Did yew wanna tell a more spooky, less 'bout your childhood scary story or d'ya wanna hear one?"
Sucking a bit of excess marshmallow goop from her thumb, she glanced at the young woman before turning back to feed the fire.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 4:58 am
Already making inroads on a third s'more, Ieni looked up a little guiltily when Mags asked about storytime. Hurriedly swallowing and licking melted marshmallow and chocolate from her fingers, she sighed a little and cupped her chin in her hands.
"To be honest, I don't really know a lot of spooky stories. Most of the stories I do know are like... old myths and legends and such. And I can't manage to recall a single scary one in out of the stuff I know."
She went silent for a moment as she loaded another marshmallow onto the stick, clearly thinking.
"I know a sort of creepy legend, but it's creepy more because it is also really gross. Don't know if that counts or not," she murmured. "Ever hear of the Minotaur? Like, not the Hero Kills the Bad Monster part, but how it came into being?"
Ieni wasn't at all sure that this was the type of story Mags wanted. But it was the bad she could do at the moment.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 5:13 am
She was enthralled already.
Scooting closer, she popped another marshmallow into her mouth and chewed on it loudly, not considering how impolite it would be to smack on goop in front of another person. "The Minotaur? Yew said it's a monster thing?"
She wasn't into all the horror flicks that they showed in the cinemas these days but she would never pass up the chance to hear a good story, 'specially when it came from someone who sounded more than fairly intelligent. Mags wasn't very knowledgeable when it came to mythology or old tales - just the ones that got passed around the campfire and whispered to one another in the middle of the night. Old wives tales and spooky stories, mostly.
"Ah'm okay with gross 'n creepy." She assured her, leaning in closer, eager as ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 5:50 am
Okay. Ieni couldn't help smiling a little at Mags' eagerness. And now that her stomach was being filled with sugary, gooey goodness, she was a little calmer. Might as well tell the story.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," she cautioned before closing her eyes to get her thoughts together. "The Minotaur was indeed a monster and one that was eventually defeated by one of Greece's many heroes. But that's not important right now."
She took a deep breath and launched into her story.
"Long ago, on the Island of Crete there lived a King named Minos, who was a mortal son of Zeus. His Queen, Pasiphae was a daughter of the old Sun Titan, Helios. It was a loveless marriage, but friendly enough, I suppose since they weren't going around trying to kill each other or their many children. So, for the ancient Greeks, probably one of the examples of a good, stable family.
Now, Minos had been adopted by Crete's old King and when the old King died, Minos took the throne. However, the people of Crete saw him as an unworthy interloper, despite his godly parentage. In an effort to make himself seem more legitimate and not like he was trying to play favorites with his dad, Minos prayed to his uncle, the Sea God, Poseidon, to send a sign that he was truly the rightful King, and that in return, he would immiedately make a sacrifice to the God in thanks. Poseidon answered. From the waves surrounding Crete, a humongous, pure white bull came to land and made for Minos. The people of Crete saw this and knew that Minos being their King was indeed the Gods' will.
Now, Pasipahe knew of Minos' promise to Poseidon and told him to keep his promise and that the best sacrifice would be the wonderful white bull. Minos, on the other hand, was so taken by how perfect the animal was that he ignored his wife's good advice and instead sacrificed an older, scrawny bull to the Sea God. Poseidon was not happy."
Ieni took a breath and began to relax, enjoying herself.
"While Minos and Pasiphae were arguing, Poseidon took himself to visit Aphrodite to enlist her help in punishing Minos for his lack of respect. Between the two, they decided that it would be completely awesome to shame Minos entirely. And their tool would be his own wife. Why they decided it would be a good idea to punish a lady who was innocent of disrespect I'll never know. But Aphrodite sent her son, Eros to earth with the orders to force Pasiphae to fall in love with the white bull. Poseidon went back to the Sea, content that he would have revenge on Minos.
Meanwhile, poor Pasiphae was walking past the pen where the bull was being kept and Eros struck her with one of his arrows at that point. She immediately fell in love with the beast, but knowing that such a thing was beyond gross and wrong, she did her best to ignore it. But, such was the power of Eros' arrow that eventually, she went to the King's artificer, Daedalus and begged for his help. Under protest, because, damn lady, he built a hollowed out, fake cow for Pasiphae to hide in and umm... well? I'm gonna hope you can guess what happened next.
Well, Pasiphae became pregnant. Minos was thrilled thinking that here was another cute little kid to add to his family. They'd name the child Asterion after his adopted dad and it'd be awesome. And then the baby was born and Minos' world came crashing down. Instead of a normal, healthy, beautiful baby, Pasiphae had given him a child with the head and neck of a bull and the body of a normal child. The moment poor little Asterion popped out, the spell on her was broken and she became disgusted with herself and her monstrous child. Confessing to the King, she admitted to umm... extramarital hanky panky with his prized bull and did her best to distance herself from the horror she'd birthed.
Now, Minos being kind of crazy and a whole lot angry at this point would have happily murdered the child. But, he knew that the Gods tend to react badly to anyone who murders family. And he didn't want to be further cursed. So he went to Daedalus for advice since the artificer was smart and wanted to try and atone for his part in the Pasiphae's disgrace. On Daedalus' advice, Minos took Asterion from his mother and locked him in the dungeons. He was beaten and tormented and fed only blood and meat. He became known of the Minotaur and almost from birth he was trained to become a vicious, endlessly hungry killer. Years passed without Asterion ever seeing the light or being given any kindness. And at this point, he was as wild and brutal as Minos could wish. The Minotaur was placed within the center of a great Labyrinth that Daedalus built and prisoners would be sent in to amuse the wicked King. The Minotaur always hunted them out and brutally killed them and feasted on their bodies. At least, until the day a young hero named Theseus entered the labyrinth. But that's an entirely different tale."
Upon reflection, Ieni was sure that she could have made it spookier. But really, she felt sorry for little Asterion and while his genesis was gross and hella creepy, the poor little monster hadn't deserved the fate he got.However,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 7:16 am
While the other girl told her story, Mags sat, wide-eyed and enraptured with the story she wove in front of her. All the names sounded old 'n funny (Mags half-wondered how it seemed so easy for her to remember all of 'em), but the story itself was interesting enough.
As she got 'round to the mating part, the blonde crinkled her nose, vividly showing her disapproval. She wasn't kiddin' when she said it was gross! But that little tidbit didn't last for very long, Ieni soon moving on to tell the tale of what became of the little bull-boy.
"So he got punished because his Mom was gross?"
She knew biology didn't really work the way it did in the story, but some of those old legends sounded cooler when things got stretched a little bit. She didn't mind none. "That's horseshit. Or bullshit, I guess."
Chuckling at her own terrible pun, she popped a marshmallow and chomped down. The bag was nearly half empty by now, thanks to her casual munching. Which was fine, really. What were they anyhow, air 'n sugar?
Not much for being a lady, she continued to talk while she smacked, "Bet it was purdy terrifyin', being thrown in the lab thing with a giant bull-guy."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:24 am
"That's one way to look at it, I suppose. But Pasiphae was about as innocent as her son in this whole mess. It's impossible for a mortal to fight against one of Eros' arrows, but she did try. Nah, I think in this case, all the blame rests on Minos for being, well... a promise breaking d**k. And crazy. Whole lotta lolo."
Ieni smiled slightly as Mags' terrible pun and stared at the fire for a few moments. With a small sigh, she stretched and then shrugged.
"It probably was but the prisoners and for Asterion. At least at first for Asterion. Truth, I feel sorry for him. He never asked to be a cursed child. I guess the lesson is don't piss off the gods because they will ******** up your s**t and your childrens' s**t for life."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 10:42 pm
"Yew ain't kidding, that's a whole lotta lolo."
She grinned, reiterating her new friend's word, liking the amusing way it sounded as it rolled off of her tongue. "Ah'll be sure to keep myself off their bad list, that's some crazy kind of mess if yew ask me."
Nobody did ask her, but she felt like giving her two cents, regardless.
Leaning back, she kicked her feet forward, stretching her legs as well. Leaning backwards, her arms rose to the back of her head as she sat there, looking thoughtful.
"Ah don't know any old stories like that - mostly ghost stuff, old legends and whatnot from other campfires. Y'know, how adults and older kids like to be scarin' the younger ones and all. Don't know if that's a stretch from what you're used to readin' and likin' or whatnot."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
