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 Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 9:10 pm
Eden gave a bit of a sigh and stretched. She had been doing homework all day, a loooong day of homework, caught in the final race of her final year of college.... But she had managed to drag herself away from it long enough to go on patrol. She could admit to herself, even if it wasn't out loud, that she had been avoiding patrolling. Oh sure there were her meet ups with Glitnir, and the group of cosmos girls that were quickly becoming closer to her than her small social group from school / for obvious reasons... I mean you couldn't literally be defending the world with a group of people and not become close... right? /
But patrolling on her own? Oh no, she had been avoiding that like the plague. And she knew why. Caledonia, that's why. Or... she guessed more accurately Caledonite. It was still an open wound for her. The tall green haired knight whom she had gotten rather attached to, had been filled with chaos and was now an agent of the negaverse. He hadn't even seemed to remember her at all, which was another slap. She had felt like a complete and utter failure. Oh sure he was a giant physically imposing man, and like a billion feet taller than her, but he had been another page like herself. They were supposed to have each others back, and she hadn't been able to help him when she needed it.
And to put salt on the wound, the times that they had run into each other he had sassed and teased her like they were strangers flirting in class. It was infuriating and heart-breaking all at the same time. And he just seemed content to be an agent of evil. Which just showed that whatever it was that they did when corruption happens was very thorough... So Eden had made a resolution to do her best to figure out how to get him back to the side of good. If he could be corrupted, surely he could be redeemed and come back... right?
That had been enough of a kick in the butt to get her back out patrolling. So she had gathered up her courage.... and nothing had happened. All night. It was now the wee hours of the morning, and she had been patrolling sense before dusk. And nothing. Not a blip of a power signature. No calls of distress. Not even a cat stuck in a flipping tree for her to help out. It was both reassuring that things were maybe getting better in destiny city, but also just drove home her feeling of uselessness.
And then suddenly she felt it. A Little blip of a power signature a ways off from her, distant enough that she almost missed it. tightening her hand on her lantern, and fighting back the general nerves of RUN AWAY that always hit her, she took off towards it. It was distinctly chaos... but at least it didn't feel to much stronger than her?
As the ground wooshed underneath her heels and she got closer, she started to hear voices, and her heart skipped a beat, one very male rumble striking a chord of familiarity as she came around a corner.
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Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 9:32 pm
Carmine had been on his way home from work. On nights like tonight, with reasonably good weather, he liked to walk, because he got so little time outside once the weather dipped colder and he had to worry about getting sick. Tonight a leather jacket and a soft scarf were enough to keep him warm, and he was getting close to home.
But it was late, and this was Destiny City, and he was unlucky. He'd been stopped by an (admittedly, handsome) man, with long green hair and sharp red-and-pink eyes. He'd tried politely dodging conversation - he really ought to get home, and so on - but that hadn't worked.
At all.
He'd tried to walk past, but a hand around his arm and a sudden wave of tiredness had stopped him, and then there was hot breath on his neck and panic in his chest.
"Let me go!" Carmine demanded, firmly. He could hear someone else approaching - "help!" Was the first thing out of his mouth, and then he saw her.
All in pastels and rainbows - it felt familiar, like it called to something within him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shimmering reed, and he wrapped his fingers around it, and there was a rush through him.
"Let me go!" he repeated, and he shoved, hard, with the strength of a newly-minted Page of Cosmos.
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Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 10:03 pm
Well this had certainly not been how he expected his night to go... Though, he had to admit, he wasn't at all disappointed in it, so far. "Hey, hey... Calm down. I'm not doing anything, see?" Cale said softly, but that didn't wipe the grin off his face. "You're looking a little dizzy there. I was just trying to help is all."
Then there was a flash, and Caledonite found him staring at an all to familiar sight. "Oh... So you're one of those are you?" He said, releasing the page only to circle around him. "You know, I use to be one of them. One of you I suppose. My name was Caledonia... Now it's Caledonite." Almost the same, but oh so different. "What's your name sweet-thing, hmm? Do you know who you are." Do you know who you could be.
A noise behind them caused Caledonite to shift his attention from the all to good looking page, to one of equal beauty and grace. "Hello Eden..." He said smoothly. "Are you chasing me around the city? Have you tried to come sweet talk me back again?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 10:37 pm
Yes... that deep masculine rumble... that was definitely her wayward cosmos page. As she turned the corner. She heard someone gasp out help and she sped up for a moment before skidding to a hault, hands white knuckled along the handle of her lantern.
It was Cale, and he was..... oh my. He was necking a lovely man whom didn't seem to be enjoying the attention. He man looked at her, she looked at him.
And before she could get any words out, suddenly POOF. There was another cosmos page in front of her. Oh...! oh my, oh my!! Caledonite looked her way, and eden gulped. Eden crept forward as Cale circled around him like a jungle tiger eyeballing a lean sleek deer... She wanted to say that he would never hurt her. If you had asked her when he was a page, she would have bet her life on it. And even know with all his flirty charm... Mental images of Natron made it so she just couldn't trust him completely.
She not so subtly shifted her eyes to the new baby page, and planted herself between Cale and the tall blue haired man who had pushed him away, now holding what appeared to be a reed in one hand...
She flicked green eyes back to cale " I-I... I don't... well... Would it work if I had, Caledonia? " She couldn't help a tiny flutter of hope. It would just be so much easier if he WANTED to be saved... She held onto that little flutter of hope, cradled it in her hands like a butterfly. She kind of took a step backwards, almost literally stepping on the newbies toes, taking one hand off of her lantern and placing putting it behind her to touch his torso, god she hoped that was his torso, why was everyone so damn tall, and give a subtle push back.[Mistress Morbid] Eden: 
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Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 10:50 pm
The newly-minted Page was all too glad for this stranger's aggressive intervention - by forcefully wedging herself between him and this Caledonite (Caledonia, Caledonia felt like it should be his name!) she gave him a chance to twist away and take a few steps back.
He was breathing hard, and a little shaky on his feet, but he brandished his little sprig of rushes like it was a truly dangerous weapon. "I am Rannoch of Cosmos," he said, and it came out with a surprising level of conviction. "And you are hurting people. I'm not going to let you hurt people."
Carmine Marsten had always been absurdly brave, ill health aside. Here, in front of what he knew instinctively was a dangerous enemy - he was sure his fatigue was directly from this man's touches - he was still going to stand his ground.
"Who are you?" He asked the woman. "And what the hell is going on here?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 11:03 pm
"Did it work the last time you tried Eden?" Cale muttered, rolling is eyes at the tiny page. However, the male spoke up again and Cale's eyes narrowed. Rannoch... Why did this name sound so familiar? Why did it feel so familiar. A pain blossomed somewhere in his mind as Cale struggled to recall the memory. Whoever this person was... Caledonite needed him. Badly.
"Ra.... Rannoch huh?" He hissed, trying to ignore the headache. "I wasn't hurting anyone Ranny... It's you two who are throwing the attacks around. Honestly, I thought you had more class than that Eden..."
However he hissed again when Eden wormed her way in between them. "Don't touch him." He snapped at Eden. "He's mine. So get the ******** away from him Princess." The large man scowled, taking a step towards them.Noir Songbird Cale's apparently bad at fighting. Parue He sure is possessive though.
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Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 11:57 pm
" No... but that doesn't mean I have to give up " She gave him her best serious face. Which probably gave the impression of a small kitten trying to figure out how to pounce on a large bug. Serious business, with him being the business.
Rannoch opened his mouth and spouted out a challenge, and Eden felt a moment of panic. She had said almost the exact same thing to Leto when she had first awoken... and had gotten a young girl killed, and almost herself, as a result.
But the name caused an unusual tingle flicker up her spine, and she felt a surge of dejavu... not quite a memory, but just a feeling that she had done this before, at a different time and place. But still.... even if they were all the same rank, Cale was a big physically intimidating guy, so she basically gave him a look that said sunshine, stahp.
" I am Eden... of Cosmos " She added in.
She turned back and narrowed her eyes at Cale, and sputtered a little bit. How rude.
She puffed up a little bit, and dramatically pointed a finger at him. " EXCUSE YOU. He just said he was COSMOS okay. Which I think that means hes technically mine. SO BACK OFF... YOU... YOU...SPINACH HEAD " She scrunched her face up at him and gave a dramatic nod of her head, not realizing she was literally poking a bear. Noir Songbird AND ON THIS DAY THE WORLD LEARNED [Mistress Morbid] EDEN CANNOT INSULT ANYONE.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 12:06 am
Eden of Cosmos. Whatever else she was, they were obviously connected - he could recognize an allegiance when he heard one, and they shared theirs. He took in Caledonite's outfit for a moment, and then his own, and then Eden's - and he wondered if maybe Caledonia had been one of them, too.
Were they in service to a liege lord? He had only the vaguest of guesses and hopes to go on, but this felt like a medieval fantasy.
This also felt a bit like a tug-of-war, with him as the rope. Whatever was between Eden and Caledonia/Caledonite, he was in the middle of it.
"Ahem." He coughed. "Not to step on anyone's posturing, but if I belong to anyone, it's my wife. Who I would very much like to go home to. So why don't we all just back apart, and go out seperate ways?"[Mistress Morbid] /drops mention of the waifu Parue THIS IS SUCH A HILARIOUS MESS
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 12:20 am
"I was Cosmos too." He snapped at the small girl. "Or did you forget that Eden? You've seen what I looked like. Back when my outfit mirrored your white and golds instead of it's current black and silvers. Does that make me yours too Eden?" Caledonite glared at the girl. "If that's the case then where the <********> were you when I was in trouble huh? You and this all powerful Cosmos we belong to?" The Lieutenant threw his arms up in the air. "In case you didn't notice, she didn't give two ******** that I was corrupted. You're the only one Eden, and you weren't even there to stop it from happening. You both left me for dead! So don't you dare tell me what is mine and what isn't."
Cale was pulled from his verbal assault on Eden when Rannoch spoke again, and the words felt like a punch to the guy. "No." He wheezed, as if the winded had been knocked out of him. "You can't... You can't go."
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 12:45 am
Eden startled as if he had slapped her. " I didn't forget Cale... you did. " She said quietly, as if suddenly all of her anger had drained out of her. It was still such an open wound, he remembered Eden, the knight, but not Evalia, the girl.
But he poked at her, at the sore spot that was her failure to keep him safe" And you were mine you big idiot... you were just taken away, and you cant remember... I NEVER left you for dead. One day you just didn't come back, and I couldn't find you! " her hands gripped the handle of her lantern so hard that she cold feel the joints of her knuckles strain in protest. She had only known him for a brief period of time, but she remembered Luka, she remembered the frantic days of not being able to get a hold of him, not being able to find him, no one knowing where he went... until finally she had seen Caledonite.. and he hadn't recognized her, Eva, the girl. She had been just another stranger.
She sighed... he was hurting, and there was nothing she could do. It was like watching a wolf with its leg caught in a trap. You wanted to go to it, to help it, to free it and help it put itself back together, but the moment you got close, it was going to bite you.
" I would have kept you safe if I could have... " She sounded so defeated in that moment, like she could just gone to the corner and died. Because she had wondered the same thing herself. Why hadn't Cosmos come to help him? Didn't they put their lives on the line to keep people safe... Eden had been a knight of cosmos literally for years, and she had never once met their princess....
And suddenly, Rannoch spoke, and Eden turned her head to look at him, blinking owlish eyes at him, momentarily forgetting that she was filled with self loathing and sorrow to simply try and comprehend what he was saying.
" O-oh.... congratulations...? " she said, almost a whisper.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 12:58 am
Rannoch's heart was pounding in his chest. It almost ached, to see the two of them like this - because he wanted to help, to come out the hero in all of this, to be noble and brave. But there didn't seem to be a noble end to this. Caledonite was one of them, it seemed, stolen too soon - against his will, perhaps, by being...corrupted.
Whatever that meant.
It was slowly starting to click for Rannoch that there was some serious magic going on here. If the fancy new outfit hadn't made that obvious enough.
But this still felt like a dangerous situation, and so he carefully made his way over to Eden, and then wrapped his hands around her arms, carefully starting to pull her away.
"I have no idea what happened between you two - or what happened to you, Caledonite - but I think it would be best if we leave. For the moment, at least." Because if Caledonite really ha been a hero once, a Page (the word was in his head and he wasn't sure it meant what he thought it did, but oh, he hoped) then he needed to be saved. But tonight Rannoch wasn't saving anyone. His adrenaline was wearing off, and he was definitely starting to show signs of exhaustion.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 1:13 am
"I didn't chose to forget!" He yelled. "Someone made that decision for me. Someone I thought I could trust Eden!" Did they think he had wanted this? "You weren't there." He repeated. "Caledonia is as good as dead." He knew that he could never go back to that life. Even if he did purify. Things wouldn't be the same. He didn't want to go through that again. "There was nothing you could have done. There is nothing you can do now..."
Cale watched as Rannoch moved, and a choked noised escaped him when he realized the pair were trying to leave. "I said no damn it!" They couldn't leave... He couldn't leave. None of this makes sense. Why did this one page cause his head to hurt so much. He didn't understand what was going on.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 1:41 am
" I know you didnt... but...I couldnt be everywhere at once. I tried, and I failed but... " She listened to his sorrow and it crushed something inside her like fragile glass " Just... know that just because you don't remember, doesn't mean it didn't happen. I still remember. And I'm not giving up. "
Nothing she could do now
" I don't believe that, not even for a moment. " She felt strong hands wrap around her arms, and a little flutter of dejavu went through her again, and she turned her head to look over her shoulder at tall tall man standing behind her. She saw the faint tremble in his jaw, saw the signs that he was tired. She might not be able to read social situations the best, but she could tell when someone was physically at their limit and probably needed a nap and some hot soup.
She signed, her shoulders slumping.
She patted Rannoch's hands with her own,then oh so carefully stepped forward, letting her soft bit twig thin arms slide out of his hands, stepping up to Cale. " You are probably right, Rannoch " His name came from her mouth as smoothly as if if she had been saying it all her life. She looked up at the green haired man before her,
" I don't believe, not even for a moment, that Caledonia is gone... that my Cale is dead. Hes right here... He just needs to remember who he is. " She said, teaching up with tiny hands to cup his face. He was so much taller than her that he if he really wanted to, all he would have to do is stand straight and tall and she would be left dangling there on her tippy toes like an idiot.
Stretching her tiny 5'foot tall body up - suddenly very aware that she was practically leaning on him to do so - and gave him the lightest of kisses on the cheek, a mere brush of pale pink lips on skin. Her hand still rested on his other cheek as she went back to standing flat foot on the ground. " Go home for now Cale, everything will be Okay. I promise. "
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 2:05 am
"I don't know what you expect me to believe otherwise." Caledonite muttered. There was nothing left for him in order, they both knew that.
He snorted lightly when she protested that his old self was still alive. Stubborn little brat. But Cale's eyes slipped shut all the same as she reached up to cup his face. His arms circled her waist, hugging her close as he buried his face into the side of her neck. His grip only tightening when she spoke again, the words ringing clearly in his head, but it was only for a second.
"...I need him Eden... I don't know why. I can't explain it. But I need him. Just... please.." Please don't do this to me.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 3:15 pm
Rannoch wrung his new, shiny "weapon" between his hands. There was a part of him that ached for Caledonite, but he still knew this wasn't safe. And that he couldn't stay and mediate whatever was going on here.
"Caledonite," he said, and his voice was gentle, as he took a few steps forward, "I'm sorry. I can't be whatever it is you think I am." He bit the inside of his cheek. "I don't even really...I never...this is the first time I've..." He waved his sprig of whatever-it-was in the air.
"I've only been Rannoch for about three minutes, I don't know what any of this is, but - you need help. Let us help you." His voice was gentle, the way he might talk to one of his students who was hurting or upset or hadn't done well.
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![[Mistress Morbid]'s avatar](https://a1cdn.gaiaonline.com/dress-up/avatar/ava/3e/dd/5052589139dd3e_flip.png?t=1545372613_6.00_11)