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 Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 4:26 pm
The hum and babble of voices in the shopping square below her was a comfortable noise she drank in with pleasure, watching people come and go about their business. Holiday lights made the whole place bright and sparkling, while old, familiar music played.
Last year, she had missed the holidays. She'd missed most of the year, really, but this was one of the parts she had missed the most. Seeing friends and family, the festive atmosphere... Ida was so happy to be back she could almost cry.
Perched on top of the book store across from the mall, she rested from her patrol with her knees pulled up and her arms across them, ignoring the slight chill she felt to enjoy her people watching. Tomorrow would be some of her own shopping, before helping her Da make up the house for the approaching holiday. Her family was terribly excited to have her back for Christmas, and after everything she'd been through, all the attention was almost overwhelming.
Patrolling like this was nice, for a bit of a break from it. She got to be alone without being alone... she could hear life going on below her and all around, and on her inner radar, she could feel the bright points of Order signatures off in the distance.
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 8:10 pm
Anakeion, as much as she might have denied it at any given moment, liked her uniform -- if it could be called that -- although she did dearly wish with all her heart that, if she became more powerful, she'd get an actual shirt instead of something she had to purposefully throw a cardigan on every time. She had needs, and those needs involved her stomach staying warm and not freezing or chafing against metal, thank you very much - they were just needs that the Immortal Space Laws had not seem fit to grant her. Or something. Eh. What had she been thinking about again? It had been another damn tangent, hadn't it. She had a lot of those. The point was, there was a pretty girl glowing like a faint filter hanging out on the bookshop, and it took her a few more attempts than she might have liked to get up there but when she did she huffed and fell into a deep, half-sarcastic bow, aimed at Ida. "What's a pretty lady doing all by herself on a night like this?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2016 9:14 am
It took a moment to realize one of the bright lights was moving closer, but when it got within what she knew was visual range and kept coming, it became clear it was headed for her. Curiosity peaked as she dropped her knees and rose to her feet, slender hands brushing the rooftop dirt from her skirts.
It was a page level signature and she struggled to remember if she knew anyone still a page who might come looking for her. No names occurred right off, but that didn't completely negate that possibility. It was more likely to be someone she didn't know and that brought her thoughts to what drew them to her... were they hurt? In trouble? Just curious? There was no way of telling and no longer to think about it because a young woman was mounting the roof.
Purple hair... dressed Greek style, but... she had never seen those colors before and that was not the symbol of Mars. Confusion made Ida frown as she studied the stranger, but the girl was not waiting for an introduction.
"Oh!" Ida pulled her thoughts back and a smile blossomed as she pushed away the questions. This was a page, her order aura clear as day. What did it matter she didn't recognize her planet? "Hello!"
Pretty lady? Ida colored at the comment and waved a hand at the view she had been enjoying.
"I'm just taking a small break from patrolling to watch the lights. I wanted some time away from my team, so tonight's patrol is alone... I could ask the same about you, you know." She gave the words a friendly tone as she smiled and approached, holding out a hand in greeting. "I'm Ida. I hope you're being careful out here alone. There are a lot of things that can be hard for a page to handle without backup."
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 1:46 pm
"Anakeion Page of Castor," and the woman herself gave a sweeping, dramatic bow, "atcha service, Ida. And I know about backup -" she shrugged, pulling at the satchel she kept to her side - "my weapon's a shitty plastic toy, so I've started carrying around pepper spray? That way, if people know I'm a Knight or if think I'm a niche Grecian sex worker, I can ward them off if they start gettin' grabby." She stretched, long and hard, letting out a satisfied noise as her shoulders popped. Anakeion took Ida's hand then, with a firm grip and a smile like she'd realized something humorous but didn't feel like now was the right time to say it, and shook it nice and solid - she was stronger than she looked, although there was the hint of tone to her arms, suggesting some sort of physicality in her civilian life. "Don't worry about me - if I sense trouble, I skedaddle."
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 1:32 pm
Assertions that she was being careful, and taking the opportunity to run if needed, brought an easeing to Ida, even if she hadn't been particularly worried. It was good to when someone was being careful. It was all too easy to get over confident and then run into something you couldn't handle. It wasn't pretty.
She smiled as she watched the other stretch, amused by how she described her possible appearance to civilians. Her own grip was light, warm but gentle. She let Anakeion do the gripping, enjoying the brusqueness of her demeanor.
"I'm glad you're careful. There are too many who aren't, no matter how often I push people to partner up. I've seen some bad things happen to people working alone, so I always worry just a little bit." She said. Her hands linked in front of her as she stood quietly, her attention on the page. "Do you usually patrol around here? I tend to stick to the same places a lot, but it's been a while since I've been able to get out."
Did she say she was a page of Castor? How strange, that I've never met one before. Castor was a prince though, so it couldn't be too surprising he had knights. It was a neat bit of information to add that she'd never had before.
I wonder what her magic will be like. More ice?
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 2:24 pm
"I usually don't patrol at all, I just treat this like really hardcore cosplay exercise?" Anakeion shrugged, with a solid handshake. "Up until a month or so ago, I basically ignored the fact I could power up at all, and then I figured '******** it let's be a magical girl' was a solid New Years resolution." "I'll partner up eventually, when I find someone I know in civvies and we have some sort of embarassing identity reveal? But until then, I try real hard to stay out of trouble -- never power up in the same place too many times in a week, don't do it in the day when people are out and about, keep pepper spray on me at all times...never take a stranger's advice...never let a friend fool you twice." She'd devolved into singing at the end there, distracted from her own statement by the possibility of music.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:40 pm
The more Anakeion spoke, the wider Ida's eyes got, and the more concern filled them. Despite knowing what it was like to be new, even then, she hadn't ever treated being a senshi as anything but a serious matter. She had enjoyed parts of it, sure, but after reading the primer, and then fighting youma, she just wasn't able to treat it lightly. It was hard to reconcile 'cosplay exercise' with how careful she claimed she was... and all in all it just gave Ida a terrible feeling.
"How much... do you know about the Negaverse?" She said haltingly, trying to suppress the feelings of danger and unease. It had been such a long time since she'd had an opportunity to help mentor a new Order member, it felt rusty... but she refused to let it go.
She wouldn't be able to live with herself if lack of information got this young woman killed, even as careful as she was.
"And embarrassing identity reveals aren't as fun as they seem on TV... More.. terrifying, really."
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 11:06 am
Anakeion sighed. Ran a hand through her hair. Took a deep breath and recentered herself, and then she began to speak again. "I know it sounds like I treat it like a game, right? And sometimes I kinda do -- but I promise you," and her eyes were serious now, "I play it safe, and 'cause my weapon isn't much of anything, I carry around pepper spray if it ever gets bad. I don't head out too late at night, n' I don't hang around empty areas. I know enough about the Negaverse to know they're bad ********' news - mostly what Castor's told me, but I've picked up a bit from my own encounters n' being genre-savvy." A shrug. "The only people who know my identity are Castor, the Squire who was with him when I awakened, and this one chibi who I didn't want to let run off of her own. Cute kid."
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 2:32 pm
Ida nodded slowly, but it didn’t completely fade the concern from her eyes. Castor... at least she had the Prince. She had to hope he had done everything he could to prepare one of his Knights for the war they were all hip deep in. She’d have to just trust that, maybe… because her worry seemed to make the page uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry.” She said as she pushed it down, smoothing over it with a more relaxed face. “I didn’t mean to get all intense there. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to help out new knights and senshi, so you can imagine I’ve seen all kinds of attitudes towards what’s going on. Sometimes people are serious, sometimes they’re not, sometimes they don’t even believe what’s going on, or maybe worse, think they’re invincible super heros. Castor is a good guy to have on your side… he helped me out with a youma once, it was nice to get to meet him.”
“I’ve seen some… terrible things that the Negaverse has done, or that they caused by what they’ve done, and it makes me more concerned than others, maybe. They have fearsome abilities in their upper ranks, with their terrible weapons and ability to teleport and call youma. And being able to pull starseeds at any rank is dangerous in itself. But there are good parts to all this too, which I’m sure you’ve noticed.” She eased back on her heels, swinging her arms behind herself to curl her chill fingers together. “Have you gotten to visit your Wonder? What’s it like? I admit, I’ve met other knights before, but this is the first time I’ve met one from Castor. I don’t even know what his planet is like, actually, and I’ve only actually seen Pluto, at Shangri-la.”
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 9:01 am
"I know I'm not invincible," Anakeion smiled wryly, "don't worry. Sorry if I made you get scared for me, though -- I know I can be a little over the top, yeah? It's just that a lot of this life works basically according to the rules of all the stories I've ever read about magical girls and inherited fate - so I tend to apply those rules to this, too." When it came to her wonder, Anakeion's face lit up. "Yeah, I've been there, it's incredible - I'd take you, but, uh." She slid her eyes off to the side. "I went last week, and it's real cold, so. Even if I could go right now, I'd need to prepare so I don't freeze to death. This outfit? Not real great about the whole 'insulation' thing -" she poked her breastplate - "but it's, uh, basically a sort of temple slash dojo, as far as I can tell. Castor itself is really incredible....it's all tundra, really, ice and snow and forests here and there -- I think it must've been real military, once, before everyone died."
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2017 11:45 am
"I think you're doing pretty well then. You're not wrong, after all." She said, part of her relaxing. "A lot of this IS like the stories."
It was nice to see some animation come into the page when her wonder was brought up and it called up an answering smile on Ida's face. She loved homeworlds so much, finding someone who cared too was always a deep joy.
"I would love to go sometime! Honestly. You can contact me any time, and I'd jump at the chance to see it. I don't mind the cold so much, but I'll take your word for it and bundle up. Have you don't much exploring of your temple? Did you find anything left over from the people that used to be there?"
Artifacts were fascinating things. Evidence of people who had lived lives just like she was, but separated by a thousand years. It was amazing, to touch the things they touched, and know she walked in their steps.
"Ida is a temperate place, and small for an asteroid, even though its got a tiny little moon. There are a lot of plants there, and a garden I like to tend. I think the plants in it are from all over the galaxy, because I can't find them anywhere but in that garden. I'm honestly surprised they survived on their own for so long, but our worlds seem to be pretty resilient... or there is something else that's bringing them back to life now. I know mine has revived a lot just in the time I've been visiting, maybe even because of it. I like to bring people there, just in case its having people on it that's helping it recover. It doesn't seem like it would, but at the same time, I can't help feeling that it's responding to us."
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:25 pm
"Look," Anakeion snorted, and she flexed her fingers a bit -- they had gone spontaneously numb - "do you know if cameras work up there? Like, if they do -- I could just take my phone and take photos, keep them on an SD card so nobody sees 'em by mistake, but it'd be a safer way to let everyone into space tourism beta as opposed to." Shrug shrug shrug. "Like, once a month, and I have to wear thirty layers and bring snowshoes." (She didn't even own snowshoes.) "There's some doors that won't open to me, but I figure they either need Castor there or I gotta rank up a couple of times before they'll recognize me. They've got the same design on my ring. I know a kid who'd probably love to visit your planet, though, do you take requests?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 3:03 pm
The question drew a considering look to Ida’s face and she shrugged after a moment.
“I don’t see why a camera wouldn’t work there. Unless there is something about your wonder that prevents it, but I’ve never heard anyone say anything about a problem like that. Your best bet would be to try it and just see if it works.” She said. “I’ve taken photos of the plants and neat things on Ida with my senshi phone, but not a mundane camera.”
It wasn’t like anyone had set out any rules they were to follow here, so most of what she knew was just… common sense. At least in her opinion. Don’t take plants off the planet; introducing new species to Earth’s ecosystem could be a bad, bad idea. Don’t drink the water on her planet, only the stuff she brought bottled.
“I don’t think it would matter if anyone saw the photos. Even if your wonder has some really bizarre formations on it, I don’t know how anyone could claim they were alien in nature. I mean, artists can photoshop a lot, and you see special effect scenery in movies and stuff all the time, so I think you’d be pretty safe there.” Ida nodded and then she relaxed into a smile, delight curling the corners of her mouth. “I do take requests! The invitation is open to you or anyone you want to share it with. I’m happy to take anyone who wants to go and do a little shameless showing off. Which, sort of tangential, but traveling reminded me… I should probably get back to patrolling, unless you’ve got any more questions for me? You could come along if you wanted to talk some more and have at least one night of back up.”
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Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2017 9:32 am
"I am a pioneer in the important field of photographing space with shitty disposable cameras," Anakeion grinned, a little smug. "Nah, I was gonna head home anyways -- I have to take my little sister to piano lessons tomorrow morning, and the later I'm out the more likely it is I disappoint her." She grimaced, childish, the face of someone who was going to pretend-barf. "Nothing quite like it, making your lil' sis sad. So you get goin' -- I'll head back to my place." She stretched, letting all the joints in her arms click, and turning on her heel. "Have a nice night, yeah?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:43 pm
Ida smiled and covered her mouth with her fingers to hide it, watching the face the Castor page made about her familial duties. She knew something of what that was like, having a younger brother herself. But you did it, because it was family and you loved them.
“Okay, Anakeion. It was very nice meeting you.” She said when she dropped her hand from her mouth. She lifted it to wave, watching as the page turned away. “I hope the rest of the night goes well for you.”
The senshi herself decided perhaps she’d stay out a bit longer before heading home. It wasn’t bad out tonight and she liked watching the evening people come and go.
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