In the center of of several benches was a round stone, or maybe cement, bowl shape and in its center was a large indent. The grate that should have been there, so people could cook food on the grate, had been yanked off by someone.
It took several minutes but Valeria had filled the deep indent with wood and with the book of matches she had brought with her. It kept her warm, really warm in fact, and since there was nothing to do tonight she had settled in and made herself comfortable for the next few hours at least. She was out here doing her duty, sort of anyway, she was already caught up on her energy quota and even a bit ahead as of yesterday. In truth there was a lot on her mind and sought the solitude this area had to offer; there were no auras around as far as she could tell, she was at least alert enough that if she felt an aura she would investigate it or at least handle it. But for now she intended to enjoy the peace and quiet.
Phedre had left the Opera shortly after the first encore. Carmen was a classic, one she had seen a few times and thus felt little need to stay until the last performer bowed to the applauding audience and the curtains finally remained closed and. Either way, it allowed her an opportunity to power up and syphon some energy from patrons as they left the theater since her uniform actually blended in quite well.
Overall it had been a fairly productive evening when it was time to finally call it a night and head home. That was until she spotted a flickering light in the park several blocks away from the top of the multi story parking lot. Transients perhaps, likely a tent city that had been erected for the night. Still she had to wonder if it was a White Moon Senshi or one of those Knights they dragged around with them having a meeting.
“I’ll take the bait” she announced though nobody was around to hear. Confident she would be praised for calling in for reinforcements to break up a order meeting Meridiana bound from the parking garage to the street level and ran in the direction she had seen the light until an aura feathered the edge of her senses. Not what she was expecting but the Senshi of the Succubus wasn’t one to be picky. “Penny for your thoughts?”
She had perked up, if only just by a bit, when she sensed the aura of another corrupted senshi nearby. She wasn’t sure whether to hope they approached her or not but she had no choice in the matter anyway. She could have run, easily, but she just...didn’t. She stayed and waited and when they arrived she lifted her head and turned pink eyes on them.
“A bit lost. It’s too cold to patrol tonight.” Snow covered the ground and with her uniform, especially the shoes, she was not suited to walk about in this weather. The fire kept her warm though and she could work from here, in some limited capacity at least. She wasn’t lost physically, just mentally, and wondered if her fellow corrupted senshi would realize how she meant the lost part. She didn’t provide the other with the meaning behind the simple three words, though perhaps it would be nice if she were to.
“Hmm?” Alphekka Meridiana stepped close and held her hands out to the flame to warm them up a bit. “So you’re using the fire as a lure then? Bringing the White Moon Senshi and their weapon wielding counterparts to you? Not a bad idea.” It worked to bring her here at least.
“But if you stay out here too long you’ll catch a cold.” The fire was nice but did little for her backside and the chill from the snow was already seeping through her boots. “If you’re insistent on staying out why don’t we find a more sheltered place to sit?” Several apartment complexes had roof gardens or under covered areas and or heat vents which were undoubtedly running since it was close to twenty degrees outside when she last checked.
“Not really but if they come than they do. This uniform is simply no good for this weather.” She could put a coat on over it but the skirt made it hard, it was a bit stiff in nature and made fitting a coat hard. While she could manage pants on under it that wasn’t the same as a coat would be, though it would help some. Skirts in winter simply did not work and never would.
Watching the other corrupted she nodded her head slowly to the others suggestion. “We can do that.” Standing slowly on black and silver heels her long hair landed gently atop the snow on the ground. Pink strands leaving little, thin, lines in the snow as the strands moved as she turned her head and moved. “You know a good place?” She asked, hoping the other had a clue on a good, warm, place to go.
“Maybe. There is a parking garage a few minutes from here; it’s unheated but at least it is dry and no snow. Another option is the laundromat roof, chances are there are a few people drying clothes still so the roof vents will be warm.” Meridiana’s gaze turned upwards as she racked her mind for other places they could go.
“Assuming you’re of legal age we can go to one of the nightclubs and I can rent us a private room.” They could always repower up once they got inside and still a bit of energy while they’re chatting. Plus the loud music would make it hard for anyone to eavesdrop on their conversations.
“Or, if you really just want something low key my car isn’t far away. We could power down and I can turn the heater on and drive around until we find some place that is open or I can take you home; whichever you’d prefer.” Any of the options allocated time to talk since it seemed like the Corrupt beside her needed a few minutes to vent whatever it is that was on her mind.
“I’m of age….” She answered trailing off. She had never been to a club, it had never been her sort of thing. She was, as some would call it, a ‘good girl’. She was too busy at home, not to mention she did not care for her father and brothers every finding her doing something they didn’t approve of...that would not go well.
B-but she could do that here...right? No one knew her in this city so word wouldn’t get back to her family. “Home wouldn’t work...not if you want to do anything more than drop me off. I have a large family - someone is always home.” She had what most would call a massive family, and she knew it. It was something she avoided when people talked about their family and how many siblings they had. She didn’t want to deal with all the looks and such, she wasn’t sure which was worse: the looks or the questions.
“Do you know a club…? I’ve never been to one..” She whispered, slightly embarrassed though she really shouldn’t be. She had no reason to be and yet she was but she was also hoping to be accepted by the other and was afraid she might not be now.
“Truth be told I’ve never been to one either” She admitted “but there’s one I’ve heard about that is on 7th and James. I don’t recall the name of it but I’m sure if we head in that direction we’ll be able to figure it out.”
“What do you say?” She asked while noting the nervous antics of the other corrupt.
Nodding her head she stood slowly. The little bits of thin metal which hung from the edge of her skirt jingled, as they all seemed to bounce against each other when she stood. “Yes, we should go then. I am sure we can find the place, clubs normally have music and lights and people outside.” So it would be easy to find, provided there weren’t a load of clubs on the same street anyway, and she really hoped there weren’t. She didn’t want this to become a hard thing really.
“I didn’t get your name earlier. I’m Valeria…”
“Alphekka Meridiana, you can call me Meridiana for short.” Despite the goosebumps that rose on her bare arms, the Corrupt with rose red colored hair reached her hand out in a more formal greeting. “I am the Senshi of the Succubus and you?”
That was, she decided, a rather long name. The shortened version was much better, easier, though it was still a bit long. Taking the offered hand she smiled at the rose haired corrupt, for once feeling comfortable. “Brains.”
It wasn’t her first time meeting another corrupt but those meetings in the past had been short, fleeting, and no connection had been made. She had hoped but nothing...not that she had tried her hardest but it was hard, not knowing what to talk about. She had no idea how to approach them as one time was in the middle of a mission and another was a big group meeting. Neither seemed the place and there was no hint, or idea, of what to even start a conversation about.
Some other people had seemed acquainted though, to already be friends, and she had felt a bit left out. Maybe she wouldn’t be anymore?
“Brains?” She quirked a brow at Valeria. “Do I want to know?” Meridiana asked with a bit of a laugh in her voice while motioning with her head that the pink haired corrupt was to follow as they spoke.
“Not likely. So far all I do is confuse people..or sort of stun them. They don’t move and seem lost - that’s all I know.” She answered with a shrug of her shoulders. She had no idea what she’d do as she gained power - if she ever gained power. She knew she wanted to but could she? She doubted it right now, had as of recently. She had thought gaining power would be helpful but maybe she was wrong, maybe she was all wrong.
“What can your magic do?”
“It’s kind of hard to explain without showing you. But from what I can tell it puts my target in a bit of a stupor.” She shrugged then held her hand out in front of her to summon the handle of the whip.
“Sounds a little like my own magic.” Though surely there were differences, it did sound similar. The idea of finding another corrupt and one with similar magic was nice.
Meridiana grabbed ahold of the handle then swung the weapon around above her in a demonstration of the opening mechanics, the tail of which passed through her companion, and snapped it beside her. “Definitely showy” she commented before releasing the handle and allowing the magic to dissipate.
Watching the other summon a whip she stared, wide eyed, having not expected that. As it passed through her own body she glanced back to the other corrupted.
“Don’t worry,” The Senshi of the Succubus smirked at the look Valeria gave her. “I won’t use it on you.”
“I’m glad. I don’t want to feel that sort of magic.” She didn’t care for the idea of being so vulnerable, not one bit.
“Anywho, if you wouldn’t mind powering down I can drive us over there.” The need to be discreet was a necessity. Parading around with a beacon like signature in a car that can be traced to her civilian side was the quickest way of getting caught; though she could always claim the thing had been stolen.
Meridiana chose to be the first one to take her own advice and in place of the semi-revealing dress there was a different dress, but at least she now wore a coat, gloves and scarf with it. “Not much better, just came from an opera showing.” Again she shrugged nonchalantly while hugging her coat closer to her body for warmth.
“Of course.” And when she did power down her hair was much shorter, still the same lovely color and silken texture. It was nice having shorter hair, though she did like the look of her longer hair...it was not smart to have even as a civilian. A nice long coat replaced her uniform, nice comfortable clothing under it.
“Opera? I’ve never been to one before.” Under her own coat she too wore a dress but something very different in style. A dark plum color that looked good against her skintone and with her hair and eye color. The dress, lovely as it was, wasn’t visible due to the coat and scarf she wore in order to keep warm. “Lead the way.”
It would have taken far less time had they powered down when they got to the parking garage but it would be safer for the both of them if they expended the few extra minutes it took to walk instead of risk of being spotted by one of the order twits. Last thing either of them needed was to be intercepted and dragged into a battle neither of them were in the mood to partake in.
When they got to the second floor Phedre pulled her keys out of her pocket and hit the unlock button causing the tail lights of a red prius at the end of the isle to blink. Once inside she leaned over the center armrest to point at a button on the other side of it “If you push that up it will turn the heated seats on.”
Being nice and warm, thanks to her winter clothing, the pink haired female didn’t mind the slightly longer walk to the others car. That was something she would love - a car. She knew though that her family couldn’t afford that, plus they didn’t need more vehicles in their driveway and on the street in front of their home. She couldn’t help admire the others car, slightly jealous even.
Once seated inside the car she nodded as the other pointed out the seat warmer to her. Pressing the button she settled back in her seat. “Thank you. I have not spent more than a few moments with another corrupted.”
“Oh?” Phedre quirked a brow in mild surprise as she pushed the start button and the car soundlessly came alive. She switched it into reverse causing the screen to shift to rear view mode and it to start beeping when she backed up. “That’s one more than I have.” She commented.
“In truth I couldn’t even tell you who it is who awoke me. This nameless cat told me how and what I should do and that whoever it was that shoved their hand in my chest would be in touch.” Something that had yet to happen yet so she wasn’t worried. “I guess you can say I’m relatively new to this gig.”
“I know what a White Moon Senshi is, how to drain energy, how to summon my attacks and a base knowledge of our ‘groups’ backstory. Everything else is just whatever.” She had listened over the crystal communicator a few times for broadcasts and caught a few names here and there but nothing entirely significant since the new Sovereigns came to Destiny City after the Negaverse had been attacked from within; an event she had missed due to… reasons.
“You haven’t met any others?” She questioned, surprised. Though should she be, really? It seemed they were small in numbers and aside from the one meeting she knew of it seemed they weren’t social...was anyone though? It seemed gatherings were only for work and training and no one seemed to socialize then. There had been the one, though barely attended, gathering around Halloween but it seemed so few had turned up - so sad.
“I don’t know who brought me in either and even if I knew I can’t contact them. I was brought in shortly before moving here.” And she had been told the basics, by a cat as well, and then nothing else. She had moved here and the rest was..well history sort to speak.
“That’s the same with myself. I also know that some officers don’t like corrupted senshi and youma will attack us. Actually it feels a bit lonely being as we are...there don’t seem to be a lot of us and with some officers ranging from disliking us to outright hating us…” She trailed off, no need to finish that sentence. It was easy to guess what she would have said, it really was easy to see how it could be lonely.
“I know what you mean. It kind of feels like we’re wandering aimlessly until someone tells us what to do; like we’re tools to be used and nothing more.” In truth Phedre didn’t mind since they weren’t exactly all that specific as to where the energy came from it gave her a little bit of freedom of where her targets came from; even if they were supposed allies. It made the animosity or disdain directed towards her significantly easier to deal with.
“Yes, though even then some don’t want to deal with us. I’ve heard of some officers who don’t even want to work with us.” Just because they wore a senshi uniform, even if they served the same power. It was depressing really, why was it that they were so disliked? They were on the right side, at least in this context. They served the same power so why did their uniform matter? They had magic and it was useful and could be put to good use...why couldn’t they also be friends? Why didn’t everyone at least want to work wit them, if not be on friendly terms with them?
She understood all people were different but to not work with someone who could help due a uniform...that was a problem. To not like someone due to that, if that was really the only issue, was unfair. She hadn’t chosen to be a corrupted senshi, she hadn’t even chosen to be corrupted.
Turning right at the light on 7th gave sight to something rather discouraging. Empty streets, save for a few people shuffling through the slush on their way home. “Huh.” She rolled down the drivers window despite the chill to see if she could hear any music. “I guess they must be closed.” A shame since she was looking forward to knocking out half a dozen birds with one stone. “Well, it’s up to you. I can take you home if you’d like or if you’d prefer we find someplace else to go we can drive around until we see something that’s still open.” With no cars behind them she pulled over to the side of the street and waited for her fellow corrupt to decide which she’d like to do.
“I could go home and we could try to meet up another night..” She said slowly, as if thinking about what she was saying as she spoke. Really she was just looking out along the empty street. Well, the place was most certainly closed.
“Sure thing. Why don’t you go ahead and hand me your phone. I’ll put my contact information in it while you put your address in the GPS.” Tapping the right side of the touch screen she opened up the Navigation and hit the directions button for her. “My actual name is Phedre by the way. Just in case you’re wonder who I am in your contacts list.” Definitely wasn’t going to put her senshi name, for safety reasons of course.
Pulling her phone out from one of the pockets of her coat she offered it to the other. “I’m Mahari.” So the other would know who she was making friends with - would know what to call her.
Leaning forward toward the navigation system she typed in her address. For a moment, as she tapped the button for it to map their route, she wondered what the other would think seeing the big van in the driveway and several cars in front of the large home. She knew that at this hour everyone was likely to be home which meant the van...and then six other cars...two in the driveway and the others in front of the house in a tight little line. If they had more property, and a larger drive way, she knew there would be more cars owned by her family members, they could use them really. Her elder siblings, and their spouses, had bought their own cars. Seeing as she had no job, and there were so many younger siblings to care for, her parents hadn’t the money for a car for her.
Once she got a job...then she would get something to drive for herself.
“Well Mahari, due to weather it looks like it’ll take about fifteen… twenty minutes to get to your house from here.” she commented after handing her passenger back her phone.
In 500 feet take a left the car began giving directions once she pulled back into the lane.
The rest of the drive was spent in idle chit chat, musings about things that had happened earlier that week with little talk about the on goings in the Negaverse, rather focusing on family, school and the occasional comment about a cute guy. It was nice, to make a connection with someone who Phedre felt she could trust and possible vent to about frustrations regarding her other life, but only time would tell if Mahari would be the one as she seemed to avoid the topic a bit when the poked at it gently a few times.
”That’s fine. This weather never makes travel easy. I like it though...the snow.” She said clarifying what she meant. It wasn’t that bad. Pocketing her phone she settled back for the drive, hoping it would be nice and conversational.
She had gotten lucky, or so it seemed, it was nice to talk to the other about simple normal things. She still didn’t mention her large family but she mentioned having siblings, and nieces and nephews. It was easy to talk to the other and forget that she should be more cautious in what she said, something her father often reminded her about.
Talking about guys was...different. It wasn’t something she did a lot with her siblings, as they were prone to teasing her, but here it was nice and no teasing really was involved. She did avoid the Negaverse, for the most part, but it wasn’t something she actively did as the conversation seemed to stray far from that topic. The few times it was hinted toward she did avoid it, as smoothly as she could, and redirected to other things. “I don’t think you’ll be able to pull up to the curb when we get to my home...everyone should be home.” Which meant the whole space would be lined with cars owned by family members.
With more snow due she doubted anyone would be out and about the city tonight, in fact she figured windshield wipers would be up and shovels would be found near the front door in preparation for the snow they’d shovel in the morning, or afternoon.
“No problem, I’ll let you out here then.” Phedre pulled the car over to the side a few houses down the street behind a minivan. “Give me a call some time, even if you just want to chat or cause some trouble.” She teasingly winked at Mahari.
”That sounds good. I’ll call soon.” She would, she liked the idea of knowing someone finally. Someone who was like her...someone who understood and she could talk to. She just...not in a car. Someplace calmer, where they could properly sit and talk.
“M-maybe next time we can go out for food - my treat.” She offered. It would be a nice chance to talk, if they could get a secluded room as well, then they could talk and they could both vent about whatever they wanted. She had a friend, or so it seemed, and she liked the idea.
Opening the door she stepped out of the car and made the short walk to her own home. House keys pulled from a pocket, not the same one her phone was in, and let herself into the warmly lit home. Calling out to let people know she was home before locking the door behind herself.
Sleet Tempest Snape
