|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:04 pm
He wasn't, fortunately or not, a stranger to falling behind on the goings on from time spent recovering from his nocturnal adventures, which Meteora, in all fairness, referred to with far less charity, with far more colorful terms.
She hadn't stayed away, exactly, but there was a lot to do at work, taking up time and energy on the job she was passionate about, and he'd found ways to keep himself busy until wounds from spear and claws and his own force versus the limits of his own body had healed or at least closed and faded, and, just as importantly, he'd talked to Met, and made sure she knew where he was going to be, and that she was alright with it.
He wasn't sure he'd quit even for her, but he'd rather not find out. She was a damn good person, and he had no plans of going behind her back.
What he hadn't expected was the obelisk, looming in the dusk when he'd powered up, as though he'd somehow just missed it in the mundanity of working on bikes, and cooking dinner for the woman he was still looking forward to marrying.
He wasn't even sure Met had noticed it, but he'd have to ask. He didn't remember reading anything, but then the news, tended to be biased and annoying and he didn't listen to it if he wasn't at the mood to yell at people who weren't in the room and startle the cats. Especially local news.
He also didn't remember seeing her around before, the towering woman with wild black hair and red and gold armor, both like and very unlike his own.
He thought he knew her though. The way you knew a place you hadn't been in so long you'd almost forgotten it exists. He tried to tell himself maybe he just -wanted- to know her because in that other-reality her armor had been different, but then he'd also worn a helmet and had a chain net and more magic, and he wouldn't trade a damn bit of it for what he thought he was seeing. Especially since last time he'd seen her.... assuming he was even right. He might not be right. It might be wishful thinking, she might be someone else and he might just be wanting things to be true and just different enough to promise a different future.
Last time he thought he'd seen the woman he wanted this to be she'd been wearing red scales instead and, well.... there hadn't been a lot of conversation. or not nice conversation.
He knew she probably felt his presence, but her attention seemed to be for the obelisk, and he couldn't blame her. Weird damned thing. The tower wasn't going anywhere anyway.
"Hey!" He called out, trying not to get ahead of himself. If he was right, she still might not know him, if he was wrong, he had even more reason to doubt she did. "This a solitary watch, or what?"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 10:29 pm
She'd been staring at the damn thing for an hour or more, and it had failed to do anything. Not that she logically expected a tower of rock to do anything, but considering it didn't exist when she powered down, this wasn't just any rock tower. That appeared out of no where. With no warning. And drove anything living around it away.
She'd noticed the lack of traffic in this area. It wasn't like this was one of the more run down areas people avoided... or it hadn't been, as far as she could tell. Tanais had a general working knowledge of the city by now, but there was only so much you could pick up in a few months of nightly patrols. Everyone else had a head start on that, but she was determined to catch up as quickly as possible. She had to get up to speed as fast as she could, because things like this kept happening, in some form or another, and the mars knight didn't like not being ready for it.
No one she'd asked about it had seemed to know what the stone spire was about. Anyone who had approached it reported weird happenings, but nothing that wasn't prompted by the person's own actions. Knights told her of an electric feeling to the air, but she hadn't risked getting that close yet. She was still trying to decide if tonight was the night she went in for a closer look, staring at it a few blocks away with her thick arms crossed and a frown on her face, feet spaced wide. She might have gone on glaring at it, if she hadn't felt someone approaching.
At first, she'd thought it was Gehenna... the aura had that same note of spice to the taste of it, or what her mind likened it to, but the view she got when she turned to the call was not dark dreads and a familiar face, but a blonde man with the head of a bull on his shoulder. He was not as broad as the other knight, or as tall that she could tell, but there was a symbol blazed into his chest she recognized, because she wore it too.
"Not by choice!" Tanais called back as a wide smile split her face, clearing away the thoughtful frown. She half turned so he wasn't staring at her back and dropped her crossed arms, offering up a sweeping hand in a gesture of welcome. "And its not really a watch, so much as a 'trying to decide what to do about it'. But I'd welcome the company of another Mars Knight any time."
"Its nice to see another one, actually." She continued, bracing her hands on her hips as she looked him over rather boldly. "I was starting to wonder if it was just me and Gehenna. I don't suppose you know what's up with the spire over there?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2018 8:01 am
"I think I saw him once. Maybe." He'd lost track of some of the knights he encountered with less frequency, and was always surprised that there were fewer in the Red than some of the other factions. The way she simply referred to him as 'another one' told him she didn't recognize him anyway. It fueled doubts... but damnit the red eyes... well hell. He supposed those weren't unique either. "I have no idea what to tell you about that thing." He admitted. "I've been having some uh... enforced downtime. " he cleared his throat and decided to change the subject. "So I guess I missed some s**t because I had not heard so much as a whisper about that thing." He added, coming closer and shaking his head at the strange obelisk. "I've been out powered down and I'd have never known it was there.... that's..." he waved a hand in an sweeping gesture to encompass his confusion, the strange surreal qualities that it could somehow be there and not there, or... whatever it was. "You think it's glamoured?" He asked, offering up his best theory on such little information. "Oh and I'm Kairatos, by the way." He offered, extending a hand. "You look..." He was either right or wrong. He had to know. It was going to drive him crazy. ".... You look crazy familiar but it's a ... long... weird a** story, like a lot of s**t around here. You are?" Please be Tanais. PLEASE be Tanais. Let her have gotten out, if there was -any- justice in the world -let her have gotten out-
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:01 pm
"Glamour is as good an answer as any." She said with a shrug, rolling thick shoulders under pads of fur. She didn't know much about glamour or how it worked, beyond that it kept people from knowing her as Aris when Tanais had nothing to hide her face or mask her voice. What exactly the magic did, she had no idea. Ghen told her it kept her from being recognized by people who had known her before, too, keeping Aris safe from Ariel's life.
It was a useful bit of whatever it was, though some control on it would have been better... like whatever kept that giant spire hidden from normal people. A powerful tool... that no one truly understood.
The dark haired woman turned as he introduced himself, reflexively reaching for his wrist as he offered it... and then hesitating, as that damn familiarity that plagued her snuck up once again. A line formed between her brows, but she pushed down the sudden surge of distrust. He was still here, still offering his hand... whatever he thought he remembered, it wasn't enough to turn him off.
"I get that a lot, lately." She said as she squared herself, pushing her shoulders back with pride. Whatever his reaction, she would deal with it. She didn't need anyone on her side who'd look at what she'd been born from, and judge her for it. "Tanais, Knight of Mars. I used to be a Negaverse officer, before they purified me. Not that I remember any of it, so if you're looking for someone you knew, I can promise you're not going to find her here. I'm a new person. A Knight."
There was a strong emphasis on the last part, her grip tight around his hand.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 2:49 pm
"I KNEW IT!" Kairatos shouted, immediately floundering into a (slightly) less loud continuation. "I mean I didn't know it but I thought it might be. HELL YES. HELL EFFING YES! AWESOME!!" He almost bounced on his heels with enthusiasm as he continued, clapping his other hand over the one she still had on his wrist to give it a more vigorous, congratulatory shake, his grin almost incandescent. "I mean s**t we fought a few times before but..." he dropped the free hand to wave that part of their adventures off dismissively. "I mean hell with that, forget that. I spent some time as an agent too, I get it, picking up after purifying is a ... it sucks. But holy s**t it really is you! I am so damn glad you got out! I thought... never mind what I thought. Congratulations! How are you settling?" He had so many questions but not all of them could be answered, and if she didn't remember her time as an agent he doubted she remembered that... legitimately nightmarish reality where they'd fought as knights together. Just as well. More than just as well. She could get the summary, skip the horror, if she wanted it. "Sorry, that... this has to sound weird even compared to I mean..." He waved at the tower, still gesturing with broad enthusiastic sweeps, trying to keep from breaking back into that glowing grin again. "I mean I knew your knight name too and that's... a while damn magical pile of weird s**t but DAMN, I am glad for you. I was Realgar... I mean that probably means s**t but... I mean so you know." It wasn't much of a secret, but he thought it might help if he confirmed that they'd come from the same place. It sounded like she'd possibly gotten hell for it already, which he wished was a surprise, but he knew how it went.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 11, 2018 10:13 am
Whatever she had been expecting, it had not been this. Tanais stared, wide-eyed and lips parted, as the knight beside her seemed to burst into celebration. Loudly. And with enthusiasm.
Literally dumbstruck, she could only watch as he bounced around, shaking her hand like he'd just won the lottery and babbling at her. It took a bit for the gears to start turning again and she blinked before she gave herself a mental shake, falling back into her equilibrium.
"Ah, yeah... There was a cosmos knight who said the same actually, Hvergelmir. She wasn't as... bubbly about it as you were though." Tanais said as her crooked grin appeared. Realgar. He'd had the same experience, or almost, but it sounded a lot like he remembered more of his old self than she did. But he'd been across the gap. Started over and had to learn his new place. It was comforting, knowing she wasn't alone in it, that they had something in common. Ghen couldn't claim that, and sometimes it was difficult dealing with something he couldn't relate to.
"I'm glad you're excited about it. I wish I felt like I had earned your enthusiasm, but I mean... it was more like I popped into existence and not like I really earned any of it, you know? Kinda like being congratulated on your mother giving birth to you." She laughed at the mental picture, feeling tension bleeding out with the sound. She was herself. She owed no one anything. And it was nice, to be around someone who maybe understood a little of what she'd gone through.
"As far as how things are going... Gehenna has shown me a lot of the basics, and Hver has told me a bit about the political side of things. I've been out working my way through it, best I can. The civilian side of things has been harder, really. Its just weird... needing to pay rent and hold down a job when we're all fighting a secret war. I've always felt more comfortable as Tanais... it feels more like Aris is the alter ego I change into."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 6:51 am
"Yeah well...." Hvergelmer. He couldn't imagine why she wasn't brimming over with excitement as well, but he'd discovered he understood her far less than he had once thought. "The politics are bullshit but I mean, I think that's more or less the nature of politics." Not that he was immune to them, he was starting to suspect no one really was, even if they were stupid, and wondered if she'd brought HIM up in that discussion. "Civ stuff is hard." He admitted, latching onto a topic he did at least feel comfortable talking about. "I have... or... had? I mean kind of it's still there but it's getting better... the same problem. It's weird powering down and pretending nothing's going on when you know what you can do powered up and what you're there to do, and you've gotta pretend you don't and be like... oh yeah I... probably definitely went to college. Which one did I put in my fake ID again? That kind of s**t. It's... it's exhausting. At least powered up no one's likely to be asking if you had any relatives or what the name of your first dog was or whatever. Suddenly you're just kinda faking it really hard and trying to remember why bothering with the faking bit is important. It gets... easier." He paused, rubbing the back of his neck and then gave her a sidelong, amused look. "Ok I gotta ask. Aris as in... kind of like Eris? Like apple of discord, Eris? Because if it is that's kind of badass. Better than mine."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 10:08 pm
Tanais absorbed what he said with a thoughtful nod, turning over the feelings of disconnect she had had like smooth river stones in her fingers. She felt most like herself as she was now. The most confident and at ease, even when she had no idea what she was doing. Her fists were brass, would more could she need?
It was when the armor was gone that it was hard, when she felt the most vulnerable. Tanais had a purpose, a legacy, a calling. Aris had... nothing. No direction, no past. Not a stitch to her name. It felt annoyingly pointless, but maybe some day she'd figure it out.
The knight wrinkled her nose and shrugged off his amusement, though a curl tugged at her lips. Eris. Yeah, sure. She vaguely knew of the name as the goddess he mentioned, but it didn't... resonate with her, even if some might think it should.
"Aris, with an A. But I guess its pretty similar. I wasn't really thinking about the greek thing, you know." Tanais waved a hand. "We just... needed a name and I wasn't particular. Ghen suggested it, because it was similar to Ariel, my old name. He likes to call me 'Ari'."
Ari, in a husky, deep voice when they were so close she felt the heat of his skin, foreheads touching. Ari, when he was smiling at her and laughing, his teeth flashing while.
"Ari!" He called, his voiced strained and his face tight. Desperation and love and loss and hope so painful it might have been desperation again. The echo of it inside of her chest as the light swallowed everything and the threads she gripped so tightly unraveled in her hands, burned away by that light.
Tanais frowned as the memory flickered up and away again. Which was dumb, because she didn't remember anything before her purification, so it couldn't have been a real memory. She shrugged it off, pushing it out of her mind. She had enough to deal with in the here and now, after all.
"So..." She hummed, shifting her in her sandals. "I was thinking of going down there and throwing rocks at that thing to see if it explodes." Her dark head nodded at the obelisk standing tall and pearly a few blocks away, strange and blank and unknowable. A threat, in a city where so much that was hidden was threatening.
"Come with me. Two knights are better than one right?"
And she wasn't ready to part ways with him yet. He was a Mars knight, a brother, in a sense. A connection that wasn't just Ghen, and more than the others who ran about the city, hailing from other, stranger planets. And more than Ghen, who didn't know what it was like to come through the fire and struggle to build something with the ashes, even with help.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:32 am
"I mean probably not the dumbest thing I've ever done." Kairatos eyed the strange tower, and gave his throwing arm a small shake out. He could throw a few rocks, and probably safer than throwing punches. "Aris." He confirmed, thoughtfully, nodding as he committed it to memory. "...Sailor Iris picked mine." He noted, with a look that suggested that had some baggage attached. "....Whiiiiich I did not realize, at the time, basically came out to be "Golden Gold man." He let that hang for a moment before adding, as if he'd forgotten she didn't know. "It's Xanthus. Which means Gold. Apparently. I mean..." He waved a vague hand at the night. "It works, and most people just assume I had some kind of weird hippie parents. You know the kind that name their kids "Moonglow" and stuff. Good on Ghen. I mean... definitely could be worse. You don't come out to be a crayola joke." He added, with a flash of smile and a wink to show he was joking, and didn't take his unusual name -too- badly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:59 pm
Laughter burst from Tanais, bright and unrestrained. The corners of her eyes crinkled, the skin unused to the expression even if her enjoyment was genuine. Leaning over, she cuffed him in the shoulder and then bounced into motion, all restrained energy and mirth.
“Come on, Goldy.” She teased as she whooped and broke into a run. Her body sang with the feel of it, power and life and strength surging through fit limbs. No need for restraint and the knight charged the obelisk, jumping without hesitation as the edge of the building swept out from under her.
“Last one there buys the beers!”“Ryuthulhu” oof sorry, I didn’t get the quote. ;w; fin? I’m always up for more
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
