“So that’s more or less everything I can tell you about the three factions. We tend to get less magical punch than the Senshi but we make up for it on other fronts and… personally I think having an whole wonder to learn the ins and outs of is enough without worrying about an entire damn planet so… but I’m biased.”
He waved a hand vaguely at the charts that had been carefully assembled on napkins from the dispenser with a ballpoint pen. His half consumed shake at his elbow, the burger pushed further aside… or … what was left of it. Mostly a few fries and a bit of bun.
“You want a coffee or anything, since I assume you’ve got some other questions? Or should I ask you about that tattoo?” He asked, grinning at the table top.
---
That might have been the longest Lena held her tongue outside of the office in a very long time. Things had started off...simple enough she guessed. Order and chaos. That had been basic enough. Then the split to the different grounds. Senshi, knights, agents and corrupt. That was when things had started to get...interesting. And names...lord the names. How many of these people...of them...were there. Heck their waitress could have been one and they would never know it!
The napkins had helped, until Xanthus had brought up side swapping. She needed another pen color.
“Okay...well that’s a start...and a headache.” Lena sighed, leaning back. She had been picking at her fries most of the time, only able to steal bites when he ate. Xan hadn’t been kidding. This place was tasty. “But I think it’s a start. Some of this well, I guess I’ll just have to accept until I can see for myself. Such as the Code you mentioned. And The Coliseum on Mars.” Green eyes flickered to his face as she leaned back. “Good versus Evil is an age old battle. And it seems it has been for this as well.” She was biting on the tip of her pen when his questions brought her back.
“Hm? Coffee? Yes. With cream and sugar. As for the tattoo…” Lena moved the pen away from her lips and sat back up in the booth. “You have to trade for that story. My silliness for one of yours. Something to relax us both after the info dump you just gave me about a war started because of a jealous woman.” Lena smiled. There had to be more than that...worlds lost because of being left at the alter? BS…
---
“Oh that’s a tough one… I’ve got limited material to work with here you know.” Um…. Hm. Man that’s... “ He could think of a lot of cases being -angry- but not so many involving being ‘silly’.
“WEll I’ve got a silly -thought- but I hadn’t done it yet.” He offered. “I seriously considered having someone do a tattoo on the back of my leg to make it a to do list, because… I dunno. I’m stuck with it, so I might as well own it, right? Otherwise all I’ve got are kind of… second hand stories from back when my wonder was still active.”
---
Lena leaned her head to the side. “A To-do list? That is what you want as a tattoo?” Shaking her head as she accepted the cup of coffee and began to make it to her taste, three creams and two sugars, as she listened. “Come on. I know some people like something random but that might be a bit much since you can’t check it off once you finish it. Also it can only be as long as your leg.”
“As for mine, college fun time.” Lena smiled sitting back and picking up her cup. “A mix between several drinks, a dare, boyfriend dumping me claiming I was a cheating whore and my father calling in a fit I failed an English class. So...my girls and I decided we were going to go out and do something just for us. Two of them got piercings. I got this. One, who out drank us all, got her full a** tattooed with a frog. I was sober enough to make sure I didn’t get something so horrible.”
Falling back in silence, Lena watched him. “You really can’t remember since you purified? Right term?”
She asked shaking her head at the idea. It seemed like a gender change almost…
---
“Well it wouldn’t be my go to but I’m not sure what else to do with a bunch of straight lines.” He admitted. “And um, yeah… it… does a number on you. I remember… parts of things. I kind of know the details because I looked it up, but it’s a lot like it happened in a dream or in a book about someone else.” He took a sip of his own coffee, forgetting to sweeten it, and grimaced, then added sugar and cream thoughtfully. “Your ex sounds like an idiot. Can’t speak to the failing english class I… don’t… actually remember if I did that. Which… sounds terrible, doesn’t it? I mean… It’s not as bad as it sounds… Maybe a bit like a bad movie plot but you kinda deal.”
--
“Why look back when you can’t go back?” Lena asked, setting her cup down and catching his eye. “You aren’t that person anymore. I mean physically you could say you are but mentally, you are Xanthus now. So, in my eye, why live in the past and not make silly memories for this life?” With a shrug she flagged the waitress to refill her coffee.
“So you have lines on your legs. I can see why you want a todo list but why not at least come up with something with a story? Even a made up on you can change as you will.” Lena began to smile. “Besides, you just showed me one thing about you. You hate black coffee.”
She was chuckling as she sipped her own. “And your grimace is amusing. A moment of ‘why did I do that?’.”
Falling into silence, she gazed down at her napkin flowcharts and sighed. “I do have one rather serious question for you though.” Catching his eye, she held it there for a long moment. “Which side of me is the real me? Lena or this Meteora person? You said we are old souls...reborn...well, some of us. Say I am. Does this mean she will try to claim my body and mind?”
---
“Well… I had someone suggest a mural like the ones at my wonder but I wasn’t sure I could sit that long...and it’s above my design skills.” He admitted, flashing a smile at the comment about coffee. “Apparently not enough to notice I didn’t put the damn sugar in first.” He added, sheepishly. “And … That’s... “ He bit his lip and sucked in a thoughtful breath. “You’re you. But you’re also Meteora, you’re either her reincarnation, in which case… you’re still you… or you’re of the bloodline of the past Meteora… in which case her… ghost will try and guide you, but can’t possess you that I’ve ever heard. I’ve been… cautious of my memories at my wonder not because I’m afraid that some… past version of me will take over but because I feel like it’s a risk for it to become more… real to me than what’s happening now… and that’s only because I’ve lost so many other memories. The only person I’ve seen really… change… I think was Iris, the Senshi of Rainbows. She’s a Royal, but she’s the only one and I’m not really sure what’s going on there. Camelot stayed Camelot… as far as I know Castor’s always been Castor… the problems he has have nothing to do with his powers. It’s more like… I think… finding out you had old notes and diaries you forgot about. They might be able to help inform your decisions now, but they don’t undo the person you became in the meantime, or they shouldn’t. I’d… think there was a pretty big problem if someone with all their memories could be totally overwritten by memories that are mostly relevant to an age we lost a thousand years ago… more or less. I mean it definitely doesn’t come with the skills… while I could possibly do it powered there’s no way I’d be able to do bull jumping now regardless of how well I did or didn’t do then. Although apparently people still do that. I… won’t spectate on their sanity.”
----
“I would pay big money to see you jump a bull that was on fire.” Lena smirked. She was leaning forward again, elbows on the table and her chin propped up on folded hands. Listening. This was alot to take in at one time. “So until I figure out if I am a reincarnation or a descendant, I really don’t have much to worry about in the regards of getting another voice in my head. Having a second pair of thoughts would not have gone well when I was reviewing codes.” Lena smiled, eyes shifting from the coffee cups back to Xanthus’ face.
“So you are reincarnated. I’m not 100% I believe this but I’m going with it okay. So there was a man with abilities some time ago that either didn’t have generations that followed him or was to stubborn to pass on the title to anyone else. And thus you are here now to fulfill the duty of Kairatos of Mars in a war between good and evil. This is of course after you spent some time on the dark side where they clearly have horrible cookies. So, since this war started give or take a thousand years ago and from what I’m gathering, these ‘wonders’ are older, logic says that Kairatos itself must have been older. This leads me in a roundabout way to this question: you said Knights are here to protect balance. Chaos cannot exist without Order no vise versa. I agree with that. Utopia and Dystopia are ideals...not reality. So what are we really supposed to do? Walk around in strange costumes beating each other up and throwing each other through windows to get a date? I mean is there no some reason we have all been ‘awakening’ as you say, besides just ‘protect the balance? That seems like a pretty fluid idea to me…”
---
“Unfortunately there’s not really a clear cut answer to that… except that Chaos and order are… WILDLY out of balance. Normally we’d be there I guess to keep one side or another from putting their thumb on the scales, so to speak, but Chaos is so out of balance they pretty much sat on the scale. All those wonders, all those worlds that used to be there… it’s because of Chaos, one way or another, that no one’s home. Doesn’t matter if you blame Beryl or Metalia or… who knows… we’re too far past that to do anything about it. You can choose to fight, you can try and convince people to change sides…. Anything you think that might help restore the balance, and most importantly, keep Earth alive. We’re the -last- place left and I think that’s why everyone’s waking up here. I mean, probably if magic wanted to it could find SOME way to have put us at wonders or planets but… that wouldn’t help this place would it? I mean it’s a shitty answer but it’s what we’ve got.”
---
The expression on Lena’s was was...priceless. If she could have made her mouth and eyes any more narrow she would have. And then her forehead hit the table. Once, twice, three times...before flipping her hair back and picking her head up again.
“This is such s**t.” She finally forced out rolling those green eyes. “There is no two ways around it Xanthus and I’m sorry if I offend you. But lord...Restore Balance? Keep the scales even? No life on other planets but there once was...Please consider this from my point of view as well. I’m as much a scientist as I want to be with an obsession for the stars. Everything you are telling me throws a good chunk of what I believe out the window if I accept it. Hell, next you are going to tell me gravity isn’t real…”
Groaning, she looked away from him. “Are there any perks to this besides the potential of getting a beating, breaking things and not having to pay for them, or trying to make peace talks that won’t work...human natural and all that….”
Lena felt her shoulders relax a bit after she finished speaking that last part. The smile creeping onto her face. “Besides getting to slap your a** I mean.”
---
“Well you seem to like the ‘visiting Mars’ bit…” He offered, chuckling because… well… it was kind of frustrating but also kind of funny. “...You’ve… got your own Wonder. Somewhere. No idea what it looks like but I can give you a rough on how to find out. But no… it can… be rather thankless. And any large gatherings are like sticking a bunch of opinionated cats in a bag, shaking it and throwing it in a bathtub… But there’s no like… powered police that’s going to come by and give you a shake down if you decide not to power up again. That being said… there’s also nothing saying you can’t take what you know and use it to learn more about… well… all of it. What we’re fighting for, what the chances are that any of our worlds or wonders could support life again… hell, who knows. You’re smart, I know you’re not the only one… you might find the answers to questions we didn’t know to even ask.”
---
“So it's a board meeting full of people who know nothing for 100% all assuming they know what is best for the bigger picture. Great!” Lena threw her hands up and sighed. “No dress, no matter how amazing my body looks in it is worth this cluster ******** silent for a moment, Lena finally sighed and gazed over at the male who was quickly becoming a lifeline in a way.
“So would I still get to see you at all if I chose not to...what did you say...power up? Or do dates come at an all for one deal?” winking at him, she leaned forward. “Not that I am saying I won't. I think it is worth a shot at least once. But enough depressing and disheartening talk. Tell me more about yourself Xanthus. Besides being in lingerie sections and driving very fast, what do you like to do in your non powered time?”
---
“Well… nothing quite as interesting as you do… I work at a repair shop, I’m pretty good with that… I read a bit, I go for runs, been working on cooking and I have an -extraordinarily- overambitious plan to restore a food truck because it is a -b*****d- to try and get a job after side swapping and I thought maybe I could put together something like that so that other people like me had someplace to, you know, find their feet. ANd I figured learning to think and act under pressure -without- the ability to punch the person who’s bugging you in the face wouldn’t hurt either… but that’s a ways off. It’s expensive as hell and then even if I get the thing up and running there’s… tons to do. I mean… I don’t know. It keeps my hands busy and it’s something to work toward right? “ He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, then poked at the straw to his milkshake.
“And no I’m not a one shot deal. I mean, that would be ridiculous. It already feels like we lose track of who we’re fighting for… And Cosmos knights kinda get the shaft as far as combat as far as I’ve seen. I mean, all pages are pretty up the creek but it gets better… I mean… at this point I’m assuming you’re one of Cosmos’ set, but damn I think the universe blew it’s chance to -really- arm you and set you up with Mars.” He half grinned at that and shrugged. “Even if you do, reportedly, look amazing in that dress. I mean is it actually possible for you -not- to look amazing? Inquiring minds want to know.”
---
“Wake up next to me one morning and you will find out.” Lena shot back with another wink before turning her attention to her bag. Pulling out her phone, she gazed into the screen as she appeared to be looking for something. Then she turned it around.
There was a picture of a woman, her build, in a black witch costume, face painted green with her hair either in a solid black wig or before she added the ombre gazing back. Long nose and wort to go along. A traditional witch until you realized she was soaking wet and the makeup was running.
“Improv show last halloween. They set off the fire alarm...we kept going.” Lena smirked, laying the phone down so he could see the image better and waited for a response. She enjoyed his flirting. Ever since they had come back from Mars, he had been showing her he was a bit more articulate than he let on. Even playful.
Leaning back, arms crossing in front of her chest, she watched him to see if he flipped through her images. Most were pictures of her Singapora at home. “So, a food truck hm? What would you like to make? Tacos? I could see you now...the Gladiator Taco!” With a display of her hands,
she pretended it was in lights in front of them. “Eat if you dare! Be warned! It will kick your butt later!”
---
He laughed, rocking back in his seat and grinned. “OK you’re right that’s… not your best look… but I wish I’d seen the show. And I was kind of thinking of doing something slow cooked, someone gave me the kind of hilarious idea to try seeing if I could find any recipes from mars but I imagine that would kinda require some… tweaking. I mean… with something you can’t prep right up front it might not even work at all but I make a… pretty decent barbecued chicken if I do say so. That is a pretty damn cat though. I’ve only got a couple former strays. Well… one’s a persian but she got kicked out for not conforming to standards. Now she just sheds on everything and looks deeply unimpressed.”
She and Mac were… getting up there too. That was a little depressing but… it was what it was. Thingie was still there, if not quite as unhinged and energetic as he had been a couple years ago… for which he could safely so his toes were thankful. Pointy little s**t.
--
“How do you keep anything clean with a Persian or keep any chicken on the plate?” Lena leaned forward to reclaim her phone, smiling. “Voyager tries to eat me out of house and home and you see how small he is. The other night, he was trying to climb into my cereal bowl while I was sitting on the couch. Then last night he climbed in from behind and tried to slip down my shoulder to get my eggs. And I’m realizing I do alot of breakfast for dinner things living alone right now…”
Lena looked concerned but shrugged it off. “So you like to work with your hands. That’s a good thing. Too many men nowadays rather let a lady do the dirty work.”
---
“Well… I’ve… had her at this point literally longer than I can remember so my best guess is a lot of cat training. Shedding is still a problem but not as bad if she’s groomed pretty regularly. “And hey, breakfast for dinner sounds a bit more relaxing than making dinner for housemates who decide not to show up.That was a lot of goddamn leftovers.” He added, though, not without blushing at the insinuations of her other comment. Apparently that was still a thing, even if he flirted back. “But you know, they’re cats. Wouldn’t be the same if they acted like dogs, right?”
--
“I had that once. A cat you would have believed was dog.” Lena added, notin the blush. That one she had to admit she didn't know the cause of. “Played fetch. Met me at the door. Heck, he even walked in a leash!”
“But Voyager is a softy. A feline with a Mary Poppins bag for a stomach. But roommates? Others in this stupid thing or innocents that accepted you and your leftovers as one of their own? Frankly if i were you, let them fend for themselves. Worked for me in college. Especially when we got ants. Oh they were not happy when I woke them up at 3am to deal with it…”
--’
“It was supposed to be a kind of… sit down to talk about some stuff I had theories about. Magic stuff but just… didn’t really happen in the end. So I’ve kinda backburnered the idea for now. It probably has a hundred reasons not to work but, then again, so does all of this so… I mean hell I can’t think of a logical reason for you to go out for coffee with a guy who -flew through the coffee shop window- so I guess we can blame all of this on some kind of magic.” He joked.
She liked cats, she was smart, just being able to sit down and actually -talk- to her without feeling like an idiot felt like too much to ask.
---
“Must be Spartacus.” Lena smiled. “You know they haven't reopened yet hm?” Lena felt her arms cross under her chest as a brow rose. “Not to mention the cops did find me and asked about you. So their insurance is having a field day because I continue to claim I still don't know who you are. That I woke up in an alley after going off with you and had a dream of going to Mars. They claimed I was overworked to dream that.” she was teasing slightly. “They fixed the window but the damage to the seating area and water damage will have them out for a bit.”
“Not that they could find you with your glamour handsome. “
“But if you want to talk theory, I'd love to listen...but you do have to explain alot since I have been here and on Mars. I have seen one battle in person and not to mention, I do have a full time job that I can't mention a word about what I know to unless I want to be put under evaluation.” She was leaning forward now, knowing he got a cleavage shot. “Voyager is very particular about his space so I don't think sharing with so many humans will suit him”
---
“It… probably does require some explaining.” He noted, almost guiltily, perhaps because he was less than certain of how it would work. Those who he’d mentioned it to seemed to think it was impossible, or ridiculous, outside of being Transcended. “It’s about how we use energy, like, our personal energy. I mean… people who are using powers from Chaos… they can just… take it.” He pantomimed a snatching gesture. “Sort of like how they can take a starseed but, it just makes you tired. You sleep it off, you think you passed out after one too many or what have you, you go on with your life. And that used to be the only way we knew that worked. Then on Order side we started having people with glowing markings pop up through… well… I’m not clear on all the ways but one of them involved figuring out, because apparently nothing popped up common sense wise, that -maybe- you don’t stick a spare starseed in with your own. But one way or another, and apparently not all of them -completely- lack this kind of basic ‘don’t ******** around with your literal soul’ sense… they’re around… and some of them can do things like… heal… or give you a boost so you can use your powers more than you usually would be able to. But they’re … unusual. They’re rare so far.”
...He refrained from the opinion that some of them, as a result, had gotten kind of an -attitude- he’d like to smack off them, but this seemed irrelevant to the conversation. It was opinion, it had nothing to do with the ability.
“Then along comes this…-entirely new-... person… who is I guess a little like the knights in that he doesn’t seem to actually play directly to one side or another. He was actually able to use these… these crystals… to -voluntarily- draw straight up energy from people and use it for other things than like, the one shot heals or power boosts. He -opened a portal- into the freaking -stronghold of the negaverse-. It was… um.” He propped his chin on his hand and grimaced. “...It was literally a terrible idea and the only reason we’re alive is Cosmos pulled our a** out of the fire when we got discovered, but we did get what we were after. That’s another story though.”
And besides, talking about fishing shards of scale out of his skin for -ever- wasn’t good conversation for over food.
“So I just… Normally we haven’t been able to voluntarily move energy around like that, and I just… I wanted to find out if there was a way and maybe we forgot becuase so much of what Chaos does is this… twisted reverse on what Order does. One builds, one breaks, one takes, one gives… so… I just don’t see why it would be exclusively the domain of a bunch of people who apparently -do not stop glowing-.”
----
Reaching her hand out, she placed it on the side of his arm closed to her. “Sounds like you all had one heck of a party without me.” Lena tried to give him a smile as her hand slid up his arm before pulling back. “But I must ask...who is Cosmos again?” The woman spoke, looking innocent but completely confused once more as she gazed back at the napkin charts. A finger ran over them all before she found the name and put two and two together. Ish...
With a light smile, Lena changed gears in the topic. “So, people show up one day glowing? As anyone considered doing a Geiger test on them before they start sharing energy as you say they do? Frankly if they seem to have this unlimited supply then I’d be more terrified that I would end up with some blood disease from radiation than recover from being tired. After all, a cup of coffee can do the same thing. Or a nice vacation.”
Smiling at him, Lena waited to see if anything is his appearance changed before speaking. “You don’t glow though so I guess that’s a good thing. I don’t need to start running tests on myself or drag you in to do the same. Don’t need to be growing a third boob or an extra leg anytime soon.”
“As to the idea of collecting energy, allow me to ask the elephant in the room question: Why? What would be helped if we had the ability to collect energy like they do? I understand why they go after the seeds but the energy in the first place? What good does it do? More, how could it help us in the long run outside of proving you were right handsome?”
---
“Well, the royals for one… they’re the only ones who can actually ‘purify’ someone out of Chaos if they want to be, and it’s -super- taxing. Like ‘down for a good week’ taxing. And since there’s so damn few of them, it puts a damn big bottleneck on anyone who’s looking to come over, and that’s -dangerous- for them. If we could take some of the strain off them, it keeps our most powerful magic users standing longer, and maybe makes the wait list a bit shorter. I mean it’s short enough… I wouldn’t send my worst ene… ok I take that back I can think of at least one Agent I might send that way but not many… to Castor. Not just because he’s a sleaze, he’s… He’s not safe to be around I think.
---
That made Lena grin. “You really don’t like the guy do you? I take it he wasn’t the one who changed your life then? Sounds like like the guy you want to blame the entire reason chaos is on this planet. “ She was amused as she grabbed the check that had appeared. “You are also way too angry for your own good Xanthus. It isn’t healthy.” She gazed over the numbers before a piece of green plastic magically appeared and she flopped the two things back down for the waitress. “I am starting to wonder if this entire thing is good for your overall health.”
Gazing back at him, she gave a rather alluring smile. “You need to live more. Outside of this world of magic and death. It’s all depressing after awhile. Not to mention I don’t know how much more my head is going to soak in today. So, instead, why don’t we do one of two things. Either find some place in the middle of nowhere and teach me how to shift forms so if this happens in the middle of an office meeting and I go back or, find some place in the middle of nowhere and pretend to be teenagers.”
She left the choice to him with a wink.
---
Ryuthulhu
