“Help yourself everyone. There is more where this came from. Though I may be out of snacks…” She winced, taking a seat on the couch next to where Mercy liked to camp herself. She was really wishing she had invested in more than just a single couch and armchair, or at least took one from her parent’s house. She felt bad having only her desk chair to offer up outside of squishing on the couch.
Glancing around the room, and eyeing Sita’s arms, she made sure to offer the woman more blankets before turning to gaze at Ginger. With a long sigh, she sunk back into her couch and shook her head. “So, welcome to the world of being a White Moon Senshi.” She tried to smile but could only get the corners of her lips up half way. “Long story short, we are in the middle of a war that started over a thousand years ago between Chaos and Order. And most of it started between Earth and the Moon because a prince fell in love with a princess and all hell broke loose.”
---
“It is not a cold war, either. There have been deaths on both sides, invasions attempted, and ultimately failed.” Mercy added, leaning into Delilah as the woman sat down. “Our enemy is not above atrocities or torture. If anything they seek to wipe is off the face of the planet.”
She leaned forward, making her tea as she spoke. “So it's a war of genocidal attrition. As far as I know we are greater in number, if not power, but for all that we lack unity. Those that should be leading us, the royalty, well… Some are no better than our foes and some are to invested in their own issues.”
“So suffice it to say, you’re on the strategically and tactically losing side, so congrats.” She said pulling back to let the tea steep.
“It’s not all doom and gloom, obviously. Even if we are inferior on a military front we make up for it in sheer resolve.”
---
Gingers eyes drifted more or less unconsciously toward Mercy pretty much as soon as “prince and princess” came up; and she pointed vaguely with one finger, as though to ask if this were another unicorn story, though her expression seemed to indicate she was only holding out hope, before she considered for a moment, took in a deep breath, and made an sort of chopping gesture with the sides of her hands, cutting off her chain of thought.
“Ok. Great. Still going to skin the cat. But hey; the Night Witches pulled off bigger with goddamn crop duster planes; if a bunch of barely trained Russian Ladies can do this; we’ve got no excuse right?”
They hadn't been given the resources the needed either.
“Hell; I made the goddamn bat to take on bad guys who might otherwise get away with it, like… you know… Super Van. This is bullshit but it's bullshit I can work with; but I still find the whole “search your feelings you know it to be true” s**t for my “senshi” name to be soooooo WIERD.” She added; firmly.
----
Sita had wrapped her arm when they arrived back. Her upper right arm heavily bandaged, but for the most part the bleeding had stopped.
She sat now, listening to the other, more experienced senshi, talk. She was still so new to this war, but had seen things that no normal human should.
“You cannot fault the cat. They are our guardians...they assist us where they can, and in truth, he could have saved us today.” she took in a deep breath.
“i have my own cat, but he is not that one that awakened me. They have their own agenda, yes, but they are stuck in this war just as we are.” she ran her hand over the bandage, closing her eyes.
“this war...is so foolish. Yet we fight to protect, they fight to control. The message of peace needs to be pressed into them until they understand how one sided this hatred is.”
---
When Mercy mentioned their so called ‘leaders’ having their own agendas, Delilah couldn’t help but snort. “That’s putting it mildly.” Rolling her eyes, she crossed her legs and arms. “But there is alot of things that have very little logical explanation outside of ‘just go with it’. Like how you could have walked past a guardian cat and never gave off you were a senshi until this afternoon. What signals them? Not a clue.”
“Hang around us and you’ll meet Mel at some point. Goof ball but he’s a sweety.” Delilah smiled over at Sita. Even for all his energy, the cat had some strange timing.
“But Sita has a point. The Negaverse, Agents, Corrupt Senshi, and the such are just as stuck as we are. What we fought today at Panera was called a youma. It’s basically a living monster. Some of the Negaverse can control them but mostly they like to show up and roam around on their own. They are after human energy. That seems to sustain then.” Delilah added the extra long info with a shrug. “Agents are also after energy but for...what appears to be different reasons. They also want us to either die or leave Earth.” She flicked out a hand for effect. “Because believe it or not you are the reincarnated senshi of your world. And trust me, it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
Settling back down, she gazed across the way at the wall. She was chewing on her lip before turning and gazing towards Sita. “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think that hatred is as one sided as we want to believe it to be. There are far too many on our side who have taken liberties and justified their actions as being ‘in the name of peace’. To be honest…” Now she gazed towards Mercy. “After this past January, I don’t think either side is up to ‘peace’ talks. They killed countless members of the White Moon and well...we did the same to them.” She fell silent for a moment and seemed to be considering something.
“But as the Knights work for it, they say there needs to be a...balance. That Order cannot exist without Chaos and Chaos without Order. To say the least, that balance is a little one sided…”
---
“Oh talks are out of the question, the invasion was a mistake of epic proportions. Not only did we fail to cause any damage as far as I can tell from the way agents have spoken, we just kicked over an ant hill. No, talks of any kind are going to be impossible until cooler heads prevail.”
She sighed then. “There are some who view these powers as carte blanche to be vigilantes, and in a way I can’t blame them, but they feel they have the right to mete out life and death.”
Shaking her head she brought her tea to her lips for a sip. “That said, we’ve made very poor choices, granted choices that allowed us to glean some information on our enemy but nothing we didn’t already know.”
Sighing she looked down into her cup. “I don’t mean to be so gloomy, Ginger, everyone, I’m sorry. But the invasion was a farce…”
Putting her tea down she placed shaking hands into her lap. “Sorry, didn’t mean to blow up like that. We should be helping you to adjust, not throw you feet first into the pool.”
---
Ginger raised an eyebrow at the discussion, crossing her arms slowly across her chest, though her fingers were still twitching, perhaps because of her self imposed ban on talking broadly with her hands and arms involved.
“OK so… first… the cat doesn’t get to lie to me and get away with it. The other cat may be sweet but we’re not playing ‘not all cats’... and two… how are we gonna even -think- about talking peace to people who apparently want to -wipe us off the face of the earth-? That… historically… tends not to work. Especially if you’re right and they’re winning. They have legitimately no reason to WANT to change. I mean you might get one or two but as a rule, the power structure with the advantage usually needs to basically get it’s goddamn fingers broken before it will relinquish that grip. So…. that’s me tossing my mix to the cynics punch… Annnnd we’re gonna have to talk about that invasion thing at some point but right now I’m not clear here. They’re… trying to kill us or suck people’s energy… but we’re not vigilante’s so… we just… punch monsters and ask them nicely not to kill us? … Cause there’s a difference between being as bad as the bad guy and fighting as hard as you need to to stay alive and to protect your family, and sometimes it gets down to the reasons why you broke the other guys knees.”
Her expression, the slight dig of her fingers into her arms, and the way her body weight shifted suggested she didn’t entirely plan to change if they disagreed. “I mean if someone says he wants to talk peace with us fine… but I’m not going into a closed room with him without knowing that I know the exists, even if one of them turns out to be -through them-.
---
“The difference is the motive. We fight to protect. We do not instigate, we retaliate. We protect those that need protecting at the time, and reason with the ones that will listen.” she sighed and looked at the other two girls in the room. It was clear that she and Ginger would not see eye to eye on the idea of fighting.
“As they said, attempts at fighting then have failed. We do not have a strong leader to follow, and those that do try to lead...well….” she rolled her eyes, thinking of a certain prince.
“Ginger, i can understand your way of seeing things...but...without a leader...all chances of hitting hard are a loss”
---
Delilah had fallen silent as she listened to the other three. Her mind was taking in what she heard and processing items. Her arms were folded over her chest and she tapped a finger softly as if trying to put pieces together. Slowly her eyes glanced over at Mercy and she gave a knowing smile.
“But you need all sides of it to make things work.” Delilah finally spoke up, she was still eyeing Mercy as if hoping the girl would pick up on where she was going with this. “You can’t face an enemy guns blazing and head on…” Now her eyes shifted to gaze a Ginger before slowly looking towards Sita “..without being willing to protect the innocent caught in the middle. Just as you can’t stand there and protect everyone without knowing that your hands may get bloody to do so. You need both sides to be successful.”
Rising now back to her feet, Delilah moved around the coffee table and stood in front of the empty place her TV had been. She still hadn’t replaced it since the break in. Not a priority when one had Netflix on the computer.
“I’ve been a senshi a long time. I have seen people come and go. I have seen sides change and battles fought. But I can tell you one thing I have seen time and time again…” She gazed at Mercy to meet her eyes. “Is the failure that comes when people refuse to see things as anything more than Black and White. Nearly every senshi and knight I know wants peace. Even agents of the Negaverse have said it. Though many of them consider peace a very different idea.” She added the last part and waved her hand as if dismissing it for now. “However all of them believe in it only happening if you pick one side…” She motioned towards Ginger. “Or the other.” And then towards Sita. “Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the great leaders in history, the ones who saw change happen, the people who could walk the line between both? To be tough when they needed to be or soft when that touch is required.”
“No one has to 100% agree. I think if we tried to get to that point, we would be on our fifth or sixth reincarnation if we are lucky. There will always be extremist on both sides that fight any sort of change. But I think one true sign of change...a good change...is the ability to work together.” Her hands folded in and she looked down at them. “All mindsets, coming to the table to hear each other out. THEN moving forward. Blindly following gets us nowhere. We…” She gazed at Mercy than Sita. “Have seen that now. We have also seen what happens when someone tries to act as a lone wolf and save the day. Where the Negaverse has forced orders, we lack instructions…” She bit her lip. “Or the respect to take instructions well from anyone else. Prince Castor has upset far too many. Princess Ganymede is far too worried about her own life. The others have disappeared and stopped contacting anyone. Even the Royal Knight has proven…” With a wave of her hand she allowed them to fill in the blank.
“Which leaves me wondering if what Sailor Cosmos said may be the answer.” Turning towards Ginger, she threw in ‘Cosmic power who protects the StarSeed Cauldron. Considered one of the most powerful out there but has other duties so Earth isn’t her area. You will meet her one day I’m sure.”
“Anyway, last time we did see her, she presented us with what she said could be an answer to help...balance things.” Now she looked at Mercy again. “Courts. A group of senshi who come together. I have been pondering the idea of it but so many out there are set in their ‘rouge’ ways that it’s been hard to find people willing to even trust each other. But I have to believe that a group, organized and willing to listen to each other, may do more good than all of us running around lost and confused…”
---
Mercy had grown quiet, a dangerous sign, usually highlighting an intense inward glance and rough introspection. Her gaze did meet Delilah’s as the older woman began to speak. Mercy’s eyes sparked then with the recognition of what Delilah was talking about.
“The only way to win that way would be to just throw overwhelming numbers but that doesn’t help when the enemy can convert us to their side. No, you are right, this is a situation of grey nebulosity.” Mercy did not stand but she watched Delilah with excited eyes.
“Sometimes we do bad things to do good, that's just human nature, but in our case, we can’t just play hero and run around ununited.” She said looking to Sita and Ginger. “I’m not saying that we’re bad because we are senshi mind, just that we operate outside normal law.”
She waved a hand, shelving that thought for now. “I think what Delilah is trying to say is that we need to form a court and provide a guiding hand if we can.” She finally rose to her feet then, one hand motioning to Delilah.
“Personally I’m all for it, but we need a strong, knowledgeable leader to guide us. To that end, I nominate Delilah.” She said, looking to each girl in turn. “What do you think?”
---
Ginger raised an eyebrow again, lips thinning a little as it felt as though she were being compared to that… highly judged bastion of violence that had been mentioned earlier.
“I’m not going to go around breaking knees for shits and giggles you know…” She added, more pointedly than she intended. “But I think you know that.” She added, though it had a certain note of reminder to it.
“...I am probably a bit shaky on this whole court concept too but, hey ******** yeah, Shiny, let’s be bad guys, or a court, or the goddamn round table. Except cooler because seriously those guys were kind of idiots. But if you’re saying what I think you’re saying? Yeah if we’ve got an organization problem we need to be strike squads, not the JLA. We’re not gonna -get- organization from above by the sound of it. And who knows, if we can pull this together maybe we’ll get some others to do the same.”
She shrugged, uncrossing her arms and punching a fist into her hands. “...But seriously is a court what it sounds like?”
---
“a fancy name for a group of senshi that come together for a cause. If it is how Delilah wants it to be, however, it sounds more like a jury of peers. Perhaps a meeting of the minds, as it were.”
She glance at Ginger, boy certain if she had offended her friend or not with her words. Sita was a kind woman, but passionate when it came to this war and her views on it. “i hope i didn't offend you, Ginger. It was not my goal.”
She reached out a hand of truce to the newest in their group. Her smile lighting up the room. “forgive me, and be my comrade in this court?”
Red eyes shifted to Delilah and then Mercy. She giving a nod before winking. “Sailor Kastra concurs with the motion at forth by Sailor Sabine.”
---
Delilah had to wince at the face Ginger made. She hadn’t meant it that harshly but she could see how the woman could take it. She had only meant differencing of views and Ginger was the strongest form of action first she had in the room. “Sorry Ginger. Just making a point…” Delilah winced again in apology before Mercy’s words caught her ears.
Turning, she looked at the woman in surprise before casting her eyes on Sita. Honestly, she had been pitching the idea of working together. Playing leader? The last time someone had tried that with her well…
Delilah pushed that thought aside. That was a year ago and she had learned a lot from it starting with keeping only those she could trust at her side. With each passing glance at the three women there, Delilah knew she had made the right choice.
“I think we are all shaky on the idea.” Delilah offered, squeezing the two hands in hers. “All we know is what Cosmos has told us. That this is a power of old that units senshi. Knights share a similar one but…” She left it at that. “That a court has special powers and we have access to a room specially for us on the moon. Other than that...we are going to have to figure it out and kick some butt while doing it….”
Delilah was smiling, matching Sita’s. It was hard not to feel at peace around the woman. “So outside of all agreeing to it, well…” that was when she gave a meek shrug. “I don’t know if we are suddenly going to be struck by lightening or…”
She looked at Mercy. “...just end up agreeing to work together. I think that is going to be how we find out how most of this works. Trial and error?”
Looking at the other two and finally at the hands holding each other, Delilah grinned. “Buckle up ladies, it's’ going to be a bumpy ride!”
---
“Trial and error probably, I mean if we wanted to go crazy we could set up rules and bylaws, but I don’t know how much of a clerical bureaucracy we want to make this thing,” Mercy added with a small sigh as she ran a hand through her hair as she thought. “I mean, at the end of the day, you’ve been a Senshi the longest, Delilah, you more than probably the three of us combined, and I’m not going to speak for the others but I respect and adore you, so I’m going to just say that I’m going to follow you by default.”
She turned and gave Ginger a small smile. “I think we’re all going to have to learn that we each have our own way of seeing things, but I think that’s what’s going to be good about this. Each of us is willing to bring our own thoughts and experiences to the table, and provide Delilah with what counsel we can to assist her in making a decision for the group.”
Mercy sat there for a long moment, fidgeting her fingers in her lap before she gave everyone a small smile. “I mean if you think about it, we’re forming a team of like minds, or a council even. Something that we can use to leverage our strengths and shore up our weaknesses. The four of us can do more together than we could do apart - think of it as a force multiplier. We can work smarter, not harder.”
“Of course, that means we should probably all start patrolling together once we get a few ideas of what to call ourselves if anyone asks. Maybe setup some simple ground rules, craft a mission statement….” She said with a small nod of her head. “You know… The basics.”
---
“I’m fine as long as no one’s mistaking me for a bad hollywood kneebreaker.” Ginger noted, eyebrow still slightly raised. “I’m down with taking the peaceful route if I think it’ll stick, otherwise I’m equally down with being the one to pound in the nail to make it stick. I was doing that already, just not to…” She waved a hand expressively. “Magical supervillains. Also, no one’s asking you to be perfect Del, honey. But you seem to know what you’re doing and hell you’re as smart as any of us, and like Mercy said, you’ve got seniority going for you. I’ve been doing this for like… a day? You know we’ve got your back. Besides we’re asking you to do what you already do basically.” She added, pointing a finger and grinning. “Step and take your crown.”
She still needed to see more where this was going, and she had no idea what they should call themselves… everything that immediately jumped to mind she was pretty sure was knock offs of comic books and movies. Calling themselves the Justice League would be hilarious though… thought that sounded like it would fit better with a group with way more members than it could keep count of.
“The Flock?” She added after a moment of thought, and then wrinkled her nose. “...Never mind, that sounds like we should be wearing powder blue suits and rolexes on an off channel while asking for donations. Brrr. Ask me to design a group tattoo or something. That I can do.” She added, with a wicked grin.
--
As Sita continued to listen to the others, she found herself drifting more and more from the conversation as their words began to many this deal seem more like a legal venture than a meeting of minds.
“i do not think that we need to make ourselves sound like the beginning and the end to all. We are hardly judge, jury, and executioner. To do so would be to play god, and i do not think i can handle the karma that would come with that.” she ran a hang over her bandaged arm.
“i think it enough to be those that would net in the middle, deal with each case, and help those that would seek to leave the Negaverse and bring them back to the light before it is too late.”
---
Delilah stopped, holding up a hand and shaking her head with a gentle smile. “Mercy, I think you are getting a bit ahead of yourself with the setting up of rules and mission statement. I think we need to start with even more basic than that!” Delilah took a second to look around the room and finally, her eyes rested on Ginger.
“As basic as discovering what our new senshi friend’s powers are and teaching her the ropes. Rules, guidelines...that will come in time. If we sit down and try to hash out everything now without understanding the pieces, we are going to go around in circles and end up getting no where.”
She glanced at Sita and nodded. “Bingo though. The idea of a middle ground would be a good start. I don’t think any one of us wants to run out and start killing people…” She looked away. “Even if we must all be prepared to do so should the world put us on that path.” Her eyes came up again and she looked around. “We are not murderers and I for one would like to continue to be able to sleep at night. Nor am I rushing out to get a Judge robe and gavel.”
“What I am more considering is a group focused on communication and logic driven actions. We…” She eyed Mercy and Sita. “Have seen what happens when people do not take two seconds to step back and use their heads. Even to this day we see it. People who try to speak for everyone without first listening to them….” She hissed thinking about Castor. “And people who lump all of chaos into one giant bag of evil.” That list was too long to consider. “But we aren’t angels ourselves.” Sighing, she finally shrugged.
“Take it I watched too much Star Wars but I have always wondered if it would be possible to act as a Council. And no, I’m not a Sith Lord.” She eyed everyone waiting for that response. “What I mean is a place for open minded discussion. With us…” She glanced around the room. “At the heart. But what it gives is something the White Moon lacks….One Voice and a Consensus. Not everyone will agree on everything. No one does in an organization. But at least that way, people aren’t out there fighting the one man show…”
Finally she chuckled. “It’s a silly idea….and we don’t need to worry about it. What we do need to though is you Missy.” Delilah finally turned her eyes on Ginger and put her hands on her hips. “We have a baby senshi on our hands and we need to show her the ropes. You just met your first youma today and did VERY well. Much better than I ever did up against a mouse when I awoke. But...you must have questions. We have just been chatting away as if you knew everything and here an entire new world just opened up to you. One where Magic is real and isn’t called The Force.”
---
“...First but… ok I vote we totally call it the force and you would make a bitchin’ sith lord. Or maybe a force witch. But that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish. And second I’m putting aside my protestations about being a baby anything to go hold up wait the bad guys can side swap? That’s a thing? I mean yay but how does that work? And does it work on like the monster things? Do they turn into the cats or something?”
She wouldn’t be surprised, the way the other girls had responded to the little beast that had showed up with her pen, and the way he’d been cagy as hell about giving all the information.
She thought there was a story behind that look at Mercy and Sita too, but she wasn’t sure if it was because she’d charged the monster without powering up… or knowing she -could-... or if it was something older between them. She’d find out eventually maybe but right now her head was all but swimming, and most of what she’d gotten out of it was basically ‘super hero team’ and ‘redemption arcs’.
---
Mercy could feel her cheeks puffing up when Delilah spoke, she didn’t think she was getting that far ahead of what they needed to be focusing on! But then again, Delilah had a point - Ginger knew next to nothing about what they were doing or what they were up against, and her and Delilah likening the magic they wielded to the Force caused her to cringe a bit internally (even if Delilah corrected herself), not that she’d vocalize any of these issues, instead pushing them aside as they’d not assist in the current circumstance and she needed to set aside something as petty as BEING RIGHT.
Taking a deep breath and pushing her hands against the puffing of her cheeks, she let out a long sigh before nodding her head slowly. “No, the Monsters can’t be… changed.” He said softly, looking to Ginger, feeling the sadness wash over her for having to impart some of the horrors that Ginger was going to need to know about.
“Most of them are mindless - feral even - and follow the orders of the Agents that seem to be able to direct them. I’m not sure how.” She said softly, nodding her head again as if that was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
“Just as much as the agents of the Negaverse can decide that enough is enough and come to our side, the true is in reverse - only we don’t… have to be willing to be dragged onto the bad guy’s side. If you ever get caught by the Negaverse you’d better hope that they kill you because the alternative is far, far worse. They will drag you into the darkness kicking and screaming, by your hair or by your feet, they won’t care.” She said, feeling the anger rising in her chest to supersede the sadness.
“But… That’s not the worst part. There are…” She felt the bile rise in her throat, and she had to take a moment, hand over her mouth as the anger, disgust, horror, and fear all threatened to explode in a violent rolling of her stomach. “There are… There are agents who are… ALSO… youma, or partly. I don’t know if any of them chose that path willingly but I’m sure some did.” She said, body shaking in rage.
“I’ve fought them, and they’re monsters, pure and simple. But, that is the enemy you now have to face… The kind of evil they are willing to commit against human beings - turning them into ACTUAL monsters…” She said, before clapping her hands together and giving Ginger a sarcastic, faux smile. “Welcome to the War!”
---
Ginger's mouth tightened for a moment in thought, studying Mercy as though she'd caught sight of some quality in her she was trying to memorize, and did not plan to forget, then nodded seriously.
“I'm in; and I'm not planning to run. I made the bat to fight monsters. I just built it figuring I'd have to look harder to find them, but if they're going to put their real faces on where I can see them… girls I am not going to argue if they que me up a t-ball instead of a fast ball.”
Her thin; humorless smile indicated she hadn't forgotten the claws that had cut into Sita, but she was determined.
People didn't need powers to be twisted; to destroy lives for their own gratification; but she didn't doubt that those same types would open their arms to anything that made them feel stronger and -better-.
“You’re stuck with me.”
----
Torvil
serpentsong
Ryuthulhu