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 Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 12:56 pm
Where had Bo Hanley, Super Senshi of Summer, Zodiac Handmaiden, and Eternal Unrequited Love Follower of Princess Chronos been?
It was an interesting question. Lot of places, really. Some he remembered, a lot he didn't. In true Bo fashion, he met some dudes at a bar who were going to California to travel the coast surfing, living out of a van, idly following some indie band he'd never heard of. It all sounded SO FUN. And since Bo had accidentally forgotten to have enough money to pay for his classes, he was sort of, kind of on a hiatus from college. Totally temporary. Definitely.
So off he went, that very night, leaving a note on his door that said something eloquent like: Chasing the sunrise for awhile! Be back!
There was no soon because soon was relative. Bo was a person who showed up for a party two days after it had happened, but could still get you to do a keg stand at 10AM and reinvite everyone over for a spontaneous round two.
The hulkingly tall giant of a man -- well, giant in height, otherwise he had sort of a muscly swimmer's build, but he wasn't popping seams on his shirts and still retained a neck -- had been drifting in the ether for a couple years. Was it three? Time was relative, always had been.
His phone had been destroyed the first day, a victim to a particularly killer wave he rolled through and then spilled off of near La Joalla. He hardly noticed. His phones were, after all, in a particular state of lost or dead, and he didn't have a computer, wasn't on social media. Bo was as much of a ghost as you could be in the modern world.
His only regret was nights when he would lay on his back, gazing up at the stars, and wondering if Chronos or Virgo, and especially especially Chronos, might be looking up at the same ones together. When you had spent centuries together, what was the loss of a few years?
And sure, there was all that business, complete misunderstanding, in the Mexican jail, but hey, he was out now! All water under the bridge.
Having no money made a return to DC a bit more complicated, but complications were just another opportunity for adventure, for finding new friends. So he did, working with campesinos, until he end up working a little too late a little too frequently with one of their daughters -- and then he was off again! Skipping like a merry purveyor of sunlight and optimism across the border with a wonderful group of new friends. They didn't even freak out when he dipped behind a cactus and emerged as Sailor Neso to help them safely cross into Texas. Borders? Nature doesn't have borders!
Many surfed couches, hitch-hiked rides (who does that in the modern age?), and a few wrong buses in the opposite direction -- and BAM! Bo was back! DC, my love -- but where was Chronos?
Bo did what any logical person did upon unceremoniously returning to his city, years later. Try to see if his roommates were in their old apartment? Of course not! Attempt to purchase a new phone? If the universe willed him to run into his friends, he would! Figure out a job? His job was living!
And so, it happened, that at around 8PM, the sun just beginning to set, Bo had convinced a lovely woman in an old beach shack to lend him the badly battered longboard strewn beside her garbage -- This is not garbage! So what if a few chunks were missing! -- and paddle out into the late sea, sharks be damned.
He had done a few runs as Bo, but let's be real, why not be his true self and use his powers for good? Diving deep, he reemerged as Super Sailor Neso of Summer, tiny shirts, bangly jewelry, bare chest and all and proceeded to simply sail across the waves, catching the kind of air that he dreamed about.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:18 am
Sometimes Celsus wondered what his life would have been like if he could have seen the lady Chronos every week the way he had used to.
It had been several years. A part of his heart, the part steeply and staunchly loyal to his Knight self, to the part that he could not and would not push away and what made him who he was - yearned quietly and privately for things that he could not have. His continued unwavering loyalty to an absent princess had seemed silly and almost pathetic at first; but Celsus had long since grown used to it. He had sworn an oath to protect and serve Princess Chronos and her court and the knights that surrounded them, and that was not a thing that he took lightly or for granted. It did not matter, in the long run, whether the Princess was visible or not; she had given him a purpose in his life and he was going to spend the rest of it keeping his promise to protect the Surrounding and all of its inhabitants.
He was, however, a little less familiar with the court of the princess than he would have been otherwise. Celsus had met many of the Zodiac before; had served under and beside Virgo for many years before she had left, and he had pledged himself to the Knights of Chronos a long time ago, which meant that he had pledged himself to the Zodiac senshi and the Seasons as well. The only one he had met in person was Flora, but he had seen the others - however briefly it had been.
He didn’t know them, though, only of them. Far off glimpses, snatches of faces and colors and uniforms. Celsus visited the Surrounding as often as he could, but he did not interfere with any of the outposts, and he did not trespass in places he had not been invited, because that was simply good manners, and rudeness had never been a factor in his life.
It was why, as he wandered along the edges of a secluded sandy beach, he thought he recognized the man on the board out at sea.
It took him a few seconds to understand what he was feeling; a power signature had fizzled into existence within the few moments after Celsus had arrived, but it came from his left, which was nothing but dark, salty water - and it had not been there before. He had been walking around absently, wondering if there were any youma lurking about, and then something bright and glorious had burst across his senses. It was an Order signature, no doubt; clear and open and crystal clear, but slightly less powerful than his own, a Super, perhaps, or a Squire.
There was a strangeness to the aura that Celsus could not quite grasp. He slowed his steps, squinting through the dark behind his glasses and saw a bright figure out on the waves, arms outstretched as he crested the top of a large thrill of water that crashed over the inky black sea. Blond hair and a gold uniform - of what little Celsus could see of it.
Something about him was familiar. Celsus felt his heart skip beat and didn’t know why.
He turned, padding towards the edge of the beach without entering the water, and simply waited, his pulse quickening.
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 6:43 pm
Neso was pulling some sick rips -- or, well, he was doing at least as much as he could on the middling swells. Truth be told, the Senshi of Summer was more of a surfing enthusiast than a skilled surfer, but being in his powered form gave him a considerably unfair advantage. It was the vagabond, unwashed, tanned and drunk lifestyle that truly fit him like a glove. You would think that eons and centuries and epochs of existence would have made Neso skilled, his senses finely tuned like a chef's knife, but without his Princess in the vicinity to protect, there was little to be worried about -- and even if she was... well, he was a Handmaiden. He was mostly useful as a body shield standing in front of Chronos. Fighting had never been his thing -- and hey, wasn't that what the soldiers were for? Another curl of wave began to crest, this one the largest so far, and Neso gave a whoop as he paddled forwarded to beat it. He planted his feet beneath him and took the shark-chomped board for the best ride he had had in awhile. At least until it made contact with the sand, sending the Senshi of Summer sprawling ungracefully face-first into the sand, his limbs akimbo, only skidding to a stop when he hit the toe of the knight's shoe. Glancing up, Neso spit a piece of kelp out of his mouth and said, "Oh, hello!" flashing his most sparkly sparkle smile.
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2018 8:06 pm
It took a bit of time for the man on the surfboard to come cruising back to the sandy beach upon which Celsus stood waiting, his heart peculiarly in his throat. He could hear distant whooping and shouting, then the crash of the waves slapping against the water, and then, finally, a shuffling, crunching sort of noise as the bottom of the surfboard came careening into the sand, the man not far behind. He came tumbling off abruptly, rolling in the wet sand, and Celsus took a hasty, startled step back, eyes widening, though not fast enough to avoid the man's head bumping into his foot.
Up close, he was a tall, lanky thing, muscular and tan. His blond hair was wavy and wet against his cheeks, and the grin he made as he stared up at him was something bright and cheerful and entirely unconcerned. There was a strand of seaweed caught across one of his arms.
But there was also a power signature.
It pulsed through Celsus, oddly familiar, oddly bittersweet and nostalgic. He felt something deep inside of his chest stirring, and the frown on his face deepened as he stared down at the man, trying to figure out why it was that he couldn't quite seem to place him.
"You..." he said slowly, in a cultured, highly polished upper class London accent. "What are you? Are you a senshi?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 9:32 pm
Neso's grin didn't dim, and he didn't make any moves to stand up or remove the seaweed from his body. "Cool accent," he said instead. "I surfed with a British dude. Great dude. Do you know Chad...?" He had meant to say a last name, but didn't remember it. Apparently Neso thought all of England was as big as a neighborhood street. For the second question, he just nodded and added, "Yep, Neso of Summer!" The senshi did something like jazz hands and crossed his legs comfortably. He still was not moving to a more normal position. Apparently this was how he liked to have conversations?
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:55 pm
He was still frowning, though part of that was now because he wasn't entirely sure why this man was still lying in the sand like he had just been washed ashore like a beached whale. Seaweed was coiled lazily off of his limbs, looking like oddly shaped hair, and he seemed oddly content to simply...stay put.
Celsus frowned. "I don't know a Chad - " he started to say, then realized just how absurd the question was, and stopped. The nostalgic feeling was still pulsing in his chest; a strange and uncertain feeling that tugged at his heartstrings.
It was vaguely uncomfortable. Celsus's brow furrowed all the more.
"Neso," he repeated. "Of...summer."
It rang a bell. It should not have, but it did. Celsus's eyes shot open.
"You're - " His breath caught, stuck in his throat.
" - one of the Zodiac Court."
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 9:18 pm
"Oh yeah, Chad's great," Neso drawled, oblivious and mostly to himself. When was the last time he saw Chad anyway? Time had never been Neso's friend, and though he spent a valiant 1.5 seconds trying to remember, he quickly let the effort ebb away so that he could focus on his favorite thing: the present. Well, the past was awesome too. In the past, they were all together. He always had his Chronos then. In this new world? Well, Chronos had dreams, and Neso loved that she was chasing them, even if her trails led away from him. It didn't matter. Neso knew it his heart that whether a day or ten years passed, he'd always find his way back to her. In the meantime, the Senshi of Summer was happy to give the newcomer an enthusiastic thumbs up. "Ah yeah, definitely. Handmaiden for Princess Chronos, at your service, etc, etc." Bright blue eyes squinted against the darkness up at the strange face. Neso rolled over to his front side and pushed up on his arms, ultimately settling cross-legged with the waves slapping up against him every so often. The outfit, the colors -- it smacked of Chronos, had a good vibe to it. "My memory's not so great, but you seem familiar!" Neso said this kind of line to most people he met, assuming everyone was his friend, but this time he actually kind of meant it. Did he know this dude? Was this... Chad? Wait, no.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 4:27 pm
Celsus still did not understand who Chad was and did not care to. He was more concerned with the growing realization that the strange nostalgia and the uncertain but persistent feeling nagging in his chest was something he did not want to consider too carefully because to think about it was to remember, and to remember was painful.
His mouth opened and then shut again. Neso of Summer. A Handmaiden - so to speak - of the Princess Chronos. Of Celsus's guiding light, the place where his loyalties had lain ever since he was first awakened all those years ago. It seemed like entire lifetimes had passed since then.
It was taking him a moment to process things. Celsus was still standing, staring at Neso, trying in vain to not let the memories and the bittersweet sense of longing get too badly to him, but they were clawing up his throat, and he swallowed them back as hard as he could.
"My name is Celsus," he said, after a moment. Arms at his side, and in spite of Neso's position on the ground, he bent in a small bow, because that was what he had done to the others, and that was what he would continue to do even years later.
"Celsus, Knight of Chronos, of the Zodiac Court."
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 1:05 pm
When Celsus bowed, Neso cracked a wide grin. "I'm used to people bowing for the Princess, not for me," he said with a laugh. His hand wetly slapped the sand beside him. "Have a seat! Let's relax!" And then, in nearly the same breath: "So have you seen Chronos lately?" She was never far from Neso's thoughts, and it had been a painfully long time since he had gotten to lay eyes on the most beautiful woman in the world.
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 6:41 pm
Celsus straightened, lips twitching slightly in what was almost a smile, though he couldn't help but still feel a little overwhelmed. He wanted to ask about the princess; wanted to know if she was still there, if she was still around, if she was still -
No, he couldn't. He glanced down at Neso, hesitated only a moment, then folded himself onto the ground beside the senshi, blinking over at him in surprise.
"What? I - oh," said Celsus, then grimaced, because apparently they were of the same mind here. "No, I'm...I'm afraid not. I haven't seen her in quite a few years, and it's...well, needless to say, I'm still quite loyal to her. She's my princess, after all," he said, smiling over at Neso.
"What about you?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:38 pm
"Amen, brother," Neso said happily, clapping a hand around the other Zodiac's calf with a wet slap. "We did the Skype thing awhile ago. She's so smart, studying to get smarter." The Senshi of Summer's smile didn't dim. Thinking of Chronos, no matter how much time had passed, always had that effect on him. "Time is relative, you know. We always find each other. It just takes time." The warmth that spread across his face was exquisite. "So, Knight Celsus, how has DC been? I haven't seen her in awhile either. What's good around town?" It was unclear if he was asking about senshi business or cool parties. Maybe it was both. Neso grabbed a piece of seaweed and began idly slapping it against his exposed thigh.
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