Twenty minutes and three checks on by the attendant later, Meteora was still staring at herself in a ball gown. What had been thoughts of looking pretty good had finally just become annoying. For the life of her she could not figure out how to get ‘out’ of the dress and make the corset set appear again. Her first thought was just take the dress off, put on her normal clothes and walk on out.
Problem was then she could be accused of stealing. The gown was not the same thing she had brought in to try on. Hell, she wouldn’t have believed a woman either if they said a corset turned into a gown and shoes.
So with a huff, Meteora fished out her phone and looked for that phone number she had been waiting to see on her screen. So much for waiting for him to make the first move…
So, how do you get out of magically appearing clothing and back into what you had been wearing?
If that made him think she was crazy then better know now than later.
---
It took about four seconds for the excitement of a text from Lena to turn into a cross between confusion and nerves, because he was… probably as she was… entirely unprepared for new people in his life to undergo magical transformations.
Xanthus juggled the phone for a second, convinced for a minute that the connection between his brain and his fingers had just been scrambled because for the life of him he couldn’t seem to hit the right options on that goddamn tiny little keyboard… more frustrating because he was pretty sure that left her watching the useless little ‘Xanthus is typing’ message.
Think about going back to normal. Should revert. WHAT HAPPENED?
He almost added, and then deleted a string of exclamation points. They wouldn’t help the situation. He almost added ’stay there I’m on my way’ and then realized that equally unhelpfully, he didn’t have the slightest idea where that was. And while he could theoretically investigate every low level power signature in the city, it would be -exhausting- and if something did come after her in the meantime… entirely unhelpful, so instead he followed up with.
Where are you? I can come over.
-----
Staring down at her phone, Meteora was raising a bow at the rather short message that came through for all of that ‘Xanthus is typing’ length of time she got. As a woman as had to smirk. How many things did he type then delete then type again.
It amused her as she saw the caps as well. Well if that didn’t read as panic, nothing would.
I’ve been thinking about reverting. Even went Abracadabra...no poof. Should I add the poof?
Okay, so her thinking about reverting might have been more ordering and desire. How did this stuff work anyway? She tried it with that scarf in hand, around her neck, standing on it, shaking the glass star, away from here...hell...and he was telling her to just think about going back to normal?
Wasn’t she already normal? It was just an outfit change wasn’t it?
And then her phone dinged again and she gazed down. That made her raise a brow. Not how she had hoped to see him again but hey...she wouldn’t say no.
Dressing room at Macy’s in the mall. Women’s Lingerie section. Second floor if you didn’t know. smile
The smiley face was for her own amusement.
---
....I’ll stay powered down then. #ouo#
He wasn’t sure what else to say to that, other than trying to shove the part of his mind that was curious what she was looking at when… but that was up to her to… er… share or… not share.
He stuffed the phone in his pocket so he’d feel it ring even if he couldn’t hear it, and shrugged into his leather jacket to head over. He definitely couldn’t say he didn’t… bend… speed limits… and as soon as possible was trying not to look guilty as he picked his way through the Macy’s, sheepishly through the Lingerie section, trying to ignore the looks from other shoppers, or his own inability to sense trouble while powered down. The fact no one was screaming, panicing, or as far as he could tell, dying was probably a good sign though.
He was probably overreacting.
...He was definitely overreacting. It was Destiny City, the rate of people picking up powers for the first time was probably pretty high. He just felt like it should have somehow… been obvious. Somehow. Even though there was literally no evidence that he’d know such a thing.
“Lena?” He called, knocking on the frame of the door to the changing rooms, eyes politely averted. “....Any luck?”
-----
One of the dressing room doors clicked and swung back into the space. A bare foot stepped out followed by another then two long legs and the body attached. Lena, in nothing but the purple underwear and corset with the pendant around her neck stepped out into the middle of the hall for the dressing rooms.
“That depends on what you consider luck.” She smiled before turning and gazing into the three piece mirror at the end of the hall. “The fact you showed up now means I can just ask you to get me out of this. Something in the back clasp caught and I'm scared I'll rip it if I pull. I just got it to appear again so last thing I want is damage.”
---
“...All in all I’d say it’s looking up.” Xanthus admitted, clearing his throat and tucking the memory of that reveal into his mind to hold onto. “That uh….” He stumbled over appropriate words and managed. “Looks… damn good.”
He eyed the clasp with a slight frown, trying to pretend he wasn’t slightly over conscious of the presence of other eyes (and kind of wishing they weren’t there… and delicately attempted to free the clasp. “...Did you have to pop your arms out of the sockets to get this on or is it less complicated than it looks?”
He’d seen the bra section. It gave him a new and deep appreciation of the relative simplicity of his own wardrobe, however much he could...appreciate it on others.
---
“You think?” Lena smiled back at him, she asked, not turning from the mirror before another look. Then she finally spun around and walked back towards him only to stop a foot or so before, spin around and shift her hair over her shoulder so he could examine her bare back shoulders and the clasp in question.
“It’s less complicated than it looks.” Lena chuckled as she just gazed forward. “But I didn’t think men cared how to put something like this on. Just how to take it off.”
She waited a moment, half watching him in the mirror across from them before she felt the clasp give. The hand that did not hold up her hair quickly went to the front of the corset to hold it against against her chest and thus preventing a full on peep show. He wasn’t getting a full view….yet. That had to be earned. What he would see now though was the tribal tattoo at the base of her back. A college time memory…
“There we go!” Lena released her hair, and stepped forward. “Now, could you do me one more favor please while you are here?” Stepping forward, she gazed back into the dressing room and the pile of clothes on the floor. On hangers, several different choices of undergarments in all colors rested. But her eyes were on a royal blue scarf and star. “Would you please remove that so I can put on normal clothes and not risk ending up in an evening gown again while I change? I still am not sure how I finally changed back.”
----
“Uh, sure. You’re going to have to get the hang of this at some point, but… yeah… this… probably isn’t the best place.” He couldn’t help glancing over the tattoo, tucking it away for memory quietly, and trying not to wonder too much about the vast array of lingerie she’d been trying on… or how she’d liked them. “So. Uh. Welcome to being a knight… well… a page… meet your weapon.” He added, quietly, reaching to pick up the scarf and star carefully. “Mine’s a weighted net… but there’s a lot of variation.”
---
Lena stood back and waited until Xanthus had collected the scarf before slipping back into the dressing room and giving him a wink. “No peeking.” Shutting the door she began to change.
“A net? So why didn’t you used that instead of the bull I have been carrying around? Unless it’s flaming as well in which case it would have been messy either way.” Sounds could be heard from inside and if one watched the bottome of the door, shadows and movement. “So what is this Knight business anyway and how much time does it require?”
It was a few moments later Lena clicked the door open again. She was still bare foot but she was holding up two items on the hangers. In her left hand was what he had just seen her in. In her right was a similar one but with cut outs on the side in lace. It was also in flaming red. “I am down to these two. Which one?”
---
“Thwapping people with a bunch of knotted rope doesn’t necessarily have the same impact as “This is my giant burning bull and I am going to run your a** over with it”, you have to admit and… while it does come with some magic… I’m a bit short on ‘how to effectively use a handheld net as a weapon’ and ‘I’m not sure if my available magic will backfire on me because it is capable of doing so.’... and um. Oh.” He looked over at her request, blinking a little owlishly at the decision. “Wow that’s one way to change the subject. Um… OK one thing at a time.”
Mostly because that lingerie’ was going to absolutely derail his brain. “That is also an -really- difficult question. I….am slightly leaning toward purple because you look -really- good in purple.” But then she’d also look really good in red. He was pretty sure it might actually be difficult to come up with a color she didn’t look good in.
“The uh, knight thing is potentially more complicated than is going to be easy to give you a run down on in an Macy’s dressing room.”
--
“Thus the reason for the topic change.” Lena commented, stepping back into the dressing room for her shoes. Again the woman wore heels but these were slightly less deadly than the last ones. Only 2 inches instead of four and in navy to match her jeans. On top, she wore an emerald green off the shoulder blouse. His necklace hung in front. “Wanted to make my purchase before
you take me out to explain all this. And since you were here, figured I would just take the guessing out of it.”
Walking past him, she hung up the red one back on the rack and headed for a casher. She had to admit she might have been a bit particle to the purple one. Favorite color and all.
Bag in hand, Lena rejoined him and gazed at the scarf in his hand. “Didn’t think you wanted to stay back there for this talk anyway. You didn’t look too found of being in the middle of ladies underwear without the ladies in it.”
“So, do we need to go somewhere private or public for this talk? Because I know one is coming.” She was rather...composed about it all. Maybe because she had recently seen him thrown through a window, summon a fireball and then walked on Mars. Okay, the walking on Mars had been what made Lena just throw her hands up and decide to listen. “Since now it appears I have a magic scarf that comes with a formal gown of my own. I’m rather glad I didn’t end up in bull armor...no office Spartacus.” Eyeing him, she winked. “Or, Knight Kairatos as you prefer.”
---
“Restaurant might work if you want something to eat… someplace where people are too busy talking to notice what other people are talking about…”
Hm. Formal gown… blue scarf… didn’t narrow it down much… could be… uh… Neptune maybe? He assumed not mercury because Mercury gear tended to run practical and warm… usually. ….Oh god he hoped not Castor. Not that it would make any difference personally but he didn’t see that going well.
“Well I was guessing from the blue that it wasn’t Mars. Are you going to tell me or make me guess?” He teased, raising an eyebrow for emphasis, though he half suspected she’d tease him just because she could, which was fine.
He was equally curious to know where the lingerie’ conversation was going but that was going to have to wait.
---
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Lena admitted with a shrug. “A name came to mind for a split second before I was distracted but the dress. I believe it was…” Lena stopped talking for a moment and appeared to be recalling something. “Met...Meteor...Meteroa something like that…” She said the word and waved a hand dismissing it. “That was all the magic I got outside of that appearing…” Her hand pointed at the scarf she was still refusing to take from him. “And the dress it put me into.”
“So, let me guess...the other planets have knights as well? So it could be any one of them?” Green eyes gazed at him then continued. “How did you get here anyway?”
---
“Well I’m not familiar with the wonder so you’re going to have to describe the uniform and any symbols on it a bit more before I can tell you much.” Xan admitted. “And um, yes, they do. Even Earth. The strongest knight I’m aware of is an Earth Knight, his wonder is Camelot, but I haven’t seen much of him lately. He turned up a bit ago when we grabbed some s**t from the Negaverse, but haven’t seen him since. There’s even some… not so solar system ones. Like uh, Polaris I think. Cosmos... And Castor I guess… or at least he was trailing a couple people that were wearing symbols I didn’t know. I can’t think of literally any other reason to stand within ten feet of Castor.” He noted, crinkling his nose with obvious distaste. “He’s hard to miss, huge dark wings, ice powers, handsy with ladies, thinks he’s smart and is deeply ******** unbalanced. Smile, nod and bail quickly if you see him.” He advised. So far he’d been mostly dangerous to people who were corrupt, but as little as he carried about anything but that aspect of them… and some of the threats he’d made in the past… it felt more like a ‘when’ than an ‘if’ before Castor hurt someone on their side.
“...I’d also crack a joke about having driven here but I’m guessing that’s not what you mean. All of us are being born here. None of the planets or wonders that I know of… none of them have any population left. Some have trees or plants but… otherwise they’re like Kairatos. I mean the earth wonders are probably more… lively because Earth is but they’re still magical places. No
one's wandering in and out that I’m aware of. “Besides I think my past life’s mother was from earth? It’s… fuzzy.” He waved a hand, unhelpfully. “...Obviously this time around everyone was but that’s….whatever it is. We’re human… we just… have old souls or ties to old places and bloodlines.”
----
“The strongest knight is Camelot? Seriously?” Lena gazed at him with a look of unamusement. “What is this? King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?” Her hand coming up to her head, the woman sighed. “Okay. So we have want to be King Arthur running around. Who, of course, is an Earth Knight because what else would the King who united the nations be. Do we have a love triangle going on with him as well? I don’t want to follow someone who can’t even keep his woman from sleeping with his second in command. Or who can’t get his a** out of bed to do something.” Not showing up did not sit well with Lena as she lifted her head again. Look, she didn’t care if she was more taking this at face value but when someone says ‘I haven’t seen x,y,or z and they are the ‘strongest’...she had issues.
And then he started dropping more names. “The North Star makes sense. The brightest star in the night sky and a guiding light for many. Castor...Alpha Geminorum...does not. Though from the sound of it…” Lena’s smile began to appear again as she listened with interest. “You do not enjoy his presence. Well, should he try to be handsy, he will find it unwelcome. I only enjoy the touch of good company. Not someone who assumes he is smart, as you say. But what was the last? Cosmos? That isn’t even a star or space body. So that one throws the idea that everything is related to objects in space out the window. The Cosmos is the system as a whole...I must rethink this…”
And so she thought as he spoke only to way a hand. “Honestly I did mean how did you get to the mall so fast. There was no way you made it here in that speed driving the speed limit. However, that is some interesting information as well. Reincarnation. One hell of a debate with zero science to prove one way or another. But when we were up there...you had...memories? How?”
---
“Cosmos is… less like one of us and more… insane cosmic power kind of person. She’s literally in charge of… well… I usually hear it called the Cauldron, but it’s where… souls and such come from… or… stay between reincarnations. Like that guy pulled out of the coffee shop barista. That was her starseed her… her soul. ...Nooooot… going to discuss how fast I did or did not drive past ‘I may in fact know what I’m doing… I have driven much faster things than street bikes.”
He cleared his throat and tried to look innocent. “I’ve met a couple of her knights, they tend to wear a lot of white or soft pastels, though I’ve seen some purple trim… I used to kind of hang out with Hvergelmer… she’s a cosmos knight, usually hangs out in the park but… I think we’re reaching a point where… we just don’t agree. I… liked her. I mean… kind of liked liked for a while but... “
But New Years. But torture. But The goddamn moon... and he was not arrogant…... was he?
“She’s sworn an oath not to fight the negaverse except to save her own life. Not even other people I think. She thinks it’s what it takes to bring peace. I… disagree.”
He shrugged, sticking his hands in his pockets, not sure where else to go with that line of conversation, so he ditched to add. “Camelot isn’t a king, the title is Royal Knight, but that seems to be a misnomer because even if we had seen a Senshi of Earth we don’t serve them directly. We’re supposed to be the guys making sure that between Order… like the senshi… and Chaos… like that a** in the coffee shop or the monsters you hear about… neither has their thumb on the scale weighing down one side. But The bad guys basically have ******** -sat- on the scale at this point so… Neutral doesn’t mean quite what it used to.”
“TinMa… I mean Camelot… he’s got this off and on thing where between him and Babylon they like to each think they’re going to find some interstellar sword in the stone and rule as a whole but to be entirely honest… Camelot’s barely around… he was supposed to be there when I purified and never showed… didn’t see him for ages and I don’t know if he even knows if I survived my first year out or cares… and Babylon… Babylon will never get my vote. He got people ******** killed because he decided he knew best and lied to the group. And he wouldn’t listen last time I tried to tell them something… because I mean hey I was only corrupt for a good three years what would I possibly know about the rhetoric they use?” He growled, sarcastically. “There’s no round table. If there was… It’s kindling by now and I don’t see it getting put together even with magic any time soon.”
----
“Okay. Backup Xanthus. Too much too fast.” Lena threw out trying to take everything in and well...failing. How many names were there in all this? She needed to sit down and make a fringing flow chat. But first thing is first. “So you are seeing this Hvergelmer woman?” She was getting this out of the way before she tried and screwed up. “If you are, hey, it’s cool. I still need to figure all this out and you are the best brain to pick. Not to mention I want my second trip to Mars. But…” Well she left it at that and shrugged.
A moment paused as they came to the parking lot. “Let me throw this into my car. I’m riding with you speed demon.” Lena stated more than asked as she headed towards her silver corolla. Doable with her budget. And she thought it was comfortable. Throwing the garments into the truck she returned to him with a nod. “Alright. A restaurant would be nice. With drinks and napkins I can write on. Because we are going to need to start all over.”
“Also, to answer your question about symbols, there were none on me. I know my planet symbols and did not see one of those. What you see…” Again Lena motioned towards the scarf and the glass star hanging on it. “Is what I saw. On me...my chest, my dress, and my forehead. After we eat, I’ll show you somewhere that my attire won’t matter.”
---
“We had exactly one date… and it ended up in both of us being imprisoned and tortured for a week.” Xan muttered, firmly examining the pavement as he shared this. “You’ve seen most of my scars. They nailed her feet to the floor. Literally… nailed her feet to the floor. Haven’t… spoken so much since. I’d be surprised if she didn’t blame me a little.”
There was a -lot- of guilt there, and the grip of it was almost visible to the naked eye, and he almost took a second to process what else she’d said. Stars. Stars and more stars. “...I’m….going to bet you might also be a Cosmos knight. And you don’t get top speed because I don’t have a second helmet with me, and you’re going to need one if you plan to ride with me more than this.” He added firmly. “And riding gear. It’s… not as um…” He cleared his throat again. “....attttractive as the… other stuff… but it might come in Purple.”
----
“I’m guess they have never heard of the Geneva Convention’s law on how to treat Prisoners of war?” It was a bad time to make a joke but Lena was also trying to weigh the options here. Hot guy who was willing to take her riding and help her out in this mess. Had baggage. And front the sound of it...ALOT of baggage.
“Well then we will have to take care of that problem.” Lena smiled, pulling her hair back and up into a ponytail from the band that had been hiding around her wrist. “And don’t worry. Just because you dictate I have to wear riding gear if I want joy ride doesn’t mean I can’t have a say in what goes under it.” She winked at him.
“Sounds like you need to let lose anyway, Xanthus. I think I’m just what the doctor ordered.” As her hand came down, she made sure to smack him in the butt. Oh hello toned behind. “Because I’m not shrink but I know some great ways to distract your mind when it needs to be. And if you want advice to get this woman back, ask. I don’t mind playing wing lady.”
“Just not second string.” She eyed him with a warning before smiling again. “Anyway, enough depressing talk. I don’t want you driving depressed when I am lacking in proper head gear. So, Just picture me in that purple attire and all will be fine.” This time she slipped a hand to the side and pinched his hip.
---
Well the slap on the butt, if not the pinch on the hip as wall, definitely came unexpectedly, and at least for the moment, seemed to have done an excellent job derailing the guilt train that was trying to pick up speed.
“Lady anyone who mistakes you for second string deserves whatever happens to them as a result.” He shook his head, eyebrows raised sharply. “No… I mean… I get the feeling it was a nice fantasy, but I think there’s just… too many different opinions, New Years aside.”
He kind of wanted to know what she would have thought about the argument, but then again, he knew any version of it he could share was biased.
“I’ll try and hold off picturing you in that little number until we’re not driving anymore though.” He laughed. “I’d like to get us there in one piece. Where did you have in mind? …With fair warning this is on a machine shop paycheck, but I’m not set up to make a good dinner at my place either so…”
---
That made Lena smile with a light chuckle. “Look, you have already told me Camelot isn't as reliable as pictured, Castor is an a** and Babylon has more lip than hanging gardens. I think the tone for today is breaking fantasies my dear Spartacus. “
“And honestly, I don't care. I may work for NASA and dress killer but as long as the food is good, I am not picky where it came from. So why not be easy. Burger and fries? No drive through.” She did add with a girl. Hey, she wasn't THAT cheap of a date.
---
“There’s a… hm. There’s a diner a few streets over that makes pretty damn good ones and some kick a** shakes. I mean it’s kinda quaint and nice if you like retro but they do good food. If you swing through in the morning their bacon is -amazing-. Hell, it’s still amazing on the burgers.” He suggested. How does that hit you? They’ve got booths and pretty good pie too if they don’t fill you up with everything else. Well… to be fair it’s better pie than I can do.”
---
There went a smile to a laugh as she let him lead on to his bike and give her permission to mount. Hey, she was forward, not rude.
“Sounds perfect. And just the right place for you to fill me in on what sounds like a lifetime of info. But we should start with the basics like...who is the Negaverse and what the hell are senshi?”
Leaning closer to him, she whispered “And how you are going to pay me back for being why my insurance is so high, pyro man.”
---
Ryuthulhu
