A week had already come and gone since she received the distressed call from Jasper asking to pick him up after an unfortunate run in with a white moon t**t. To say he had been left worse for wear would have been a vast understatement when she finally found him. He had been badly beaten and left lying broken in both mind and body the grass. There was no getting around the fact that it was partly his fault things had got as bad as they did. But that didn’t negate the involvement of the senshi that had confronted him that day.
While she looked as if she were dressed for a party and was simply waiting for her date to show up, it didn’t stop a few interested individuals from approaching. The sultry way they walked towards her suggested they had a different party in mind and while Meri would have loved to entertain their fantasies up to a certain point before syphoning their energy and leaving them passed out on the ground; today such plans were not in the cards.
No, her hope was that this was a regular haunt for the purple priestess looking girl. A place she held close perhaps and didn’t want to see defiled by Corrupts such as herself. Either way, the senshi of the succubus was here for one simple reason. Retribution for her comrade and to make certain something like before doesn’t happen again.
~~~
It wasn’t a regular haunt for her, she knew better, but that didn’t mean she didn’t come here once in a while. It was against her better judgement, as well as the opinion of her family members, as the park was not a safe place. She was even Athene would have issues with her coming here on her own, and she understood it. It was all well founded, as far as she was concerned. That didn’t meant she wasn’t going to come to the park though, whilst powered up, it just meant she tried to be cautious.
Caution meant that when she felt just one or two auras, both feeling of chaos, she figured she was safe since they were her level. If she needed she could always call for help, she hoped she didn’t need to, but they felt like they were in opposite directions also...or different distances from her anyway.
Figuring it was safe she headed towards the group of maple trees she knew should be turning color. It seemed fall was hitting, rather quickly, and tree leaves were turning and falling to the ground all around now. It was something she wanted to see. Hamal also wanted to enjoy a nice walk, bundled up in a nice coat to keep warm. She was not expecting to be getting closer to one of the auras...she just hoped they wouldn’t start something with her….she really did.
~~~
Meridiana seemed to perk up somewhat when she felt the aura of a white moon senshi feather the edge of her senses. No doubt, whomever it was could tell she was near but at least they weren’t running away.
Yet…
With a coy smile Meridiana got up from from the bench and began casually walking towards the Senshi’s signature. At least they were of the same level that she was, made things a bit more even if things turned south. Not that she was too worried; worse case scenario she she use her ability to make a get away.
When she got close enough for a casual conversation without having to yell, the Senshi of the Succubus crossed her arms over her chest and canted her head to the side curiously. “Hello there.” She all but purred.
~~~
Not what she was hoping for, she was hoping that they could somehow avoid each other and just cross auras. When was it ever so simple though. From her own experiences plus the stories she knew it wasn’t a thing, and never would be, but she’d hoped. There were always exceptions to things - right? It didn’t seem like it here though.
“Hello…” She was on edge, and with good reason to be. She doubted they were looking to make friends with her...just like that other negaverse agent who had seemed nice - they weren’t. She had wondered in the past, and would in the future no doubt, if they were all like this when civilian as well...and how they managed to make it like that if they were. How to make friends and hold a job and such. It seemed like it would be a difficult thing.
“Can I help you?”
~~~
“Oh, I certainly hope so.” The Senshi of the Succubus dared to take a few steps closer to the younger Senshi only to walk a full circle around her appraisingly. A brief glance down confirmed that her fuku at least resembles the description Jasper had given her. purple priestess looking
“You see, I’m kind of looking for someone. Problem is.” Meridiana paused a moment to look into eyes the color of dark chocolate. “I’ve never met the person, or in this case Senshi, before.” With an elegant shrug she then turned around as if to walk away, to put a little bit of distance between them, if only to put the girl at ease. A false sense of security perhaps because Meridiana was fairly certain that this girl was the one she had been waiting for.
“However, one of my friends has. And I just… I don’t know, want to chat with them for a little bit.” Among other things for sure but by the end of the day, even if this white moon brat was not the one she had been waiting for, her point would be made.
~~~
This other senshi, this one who felt so different from Athene and those like herself, was starting to really make her uncomfortable. They were looking for someone, something they didn’t know, and with the long haired senshi circling her she had followed...making a circle herself. “O-oh. I don’t think I can help much. I don’t know any other senshi. I don't get out much.” A bit of a lie but also the truth. She didn’t get out a lot but she did know at least one other senshi. She knew more knights though, a lot more.
“I’m sorry I can’t help. If you’re looking for people with connections I’m not the one to look at.” Even if she knew every senshi in the city she wouldn’t help, she’d play like she knew no one, she wasn’t going to offer anyone up to this senshi who served chaos. There was a lot wrong with the feel of this whole thing; she was sure they wanted more than to talk.
“If I could help I would.” Another lie but spoken so softly, so honestly, she hoped it would be accepted as the truth that it wasn’t. She was hoping to get away from here, she wasn’t liking this at all. “I only met the one cat who gave me my pen and that was a long time ago….”
~~~
“Hmm.. Pity.” The Senshi of the Succubus stuck out her lower lip in a mock pout as if she was somehow disappointed by the girls answer. “Sounds rather boring if you ask me.”
“Then again that’s how Order works right? Little kitties running around all willy-nilly awakening every poor soul they come across only to abandon them a few hours if not days later?” Case and point, where was the little fur nugget now?
“Out of curiosity, before I take off, I was wondering. Would you mind showing me your magic? I’m supremely curious what you can do as I, for one, am quite useless in a fight when compared to those agents with pointy sticks.” Oh what Meridiana do for an actual weapon so she wouldn’t be completely defenseless once her magic ran out. The agents, like knights, were lucky in that regard. Some things just weren’t fair.
~~~
“Y-you want me to use my magic?” It wasn't that she couldn’t use her magic or that she was afraid of it, she knew what it did and it was certainly helpful. Right now though, when she was being asked to use it, it sounded so much like a trap. “I don’t want to use it...I mean it is a bit painful.” She had to stall, had to come up with an excuse.
If she used her magic than it could cause issues, somehow, she wasn’t sure just how but she didn’t like how this other senshi was behaving. “I can tell you what it does - if that helps. I just would rather not use it on someone.”
~~~
“You’re welcome to tell me but I’d really like to see it,” if only to be sure that her description matched the actual action. “Though not on me of course.” Meridiana quickly added. If there was one thing she definitely wasn’t it was a masochist. Pain, be it emotionally or physically, just wasn’t something she sought out.
“If you require a target perhaps we can find one of those mindless feral youma to use as a test dummy.” Stupid things had the audacity to growl at her and even swipe at time to time. “Not like they can tattle on me for taking you to one.” Absolutely no respect for her simply because she was a corrupt and not an official agent who got to tame the creatures and keep them as pets. Maybe one day she too would bond with one… not likely but it sure wouldn’t stop her from trying.
~~~
“A youma….no-no thank you. I can describe it. I don’t think I can just use it on thin air...and even then all you’d see is what it looks like - not what it does. I don’t even know what it does. I just now it seems to have something to do with sparks of light that forms from a talismen my magic creates.” It wasn’t like she pulled one from her golden rope belt, she’d eventually run out that way. Plus people could rip them off and stop her from using them, right? It was a good thing that wasn’t how she used her magic.
A youma, as she figured it, was just a mindless beast that couldn’t be trusted. If she attacked it, as some way to show off her magic, than it could just attack her without the other being able to stop it. What made the other think she could control a youma, or at least sound like she thought she could? Not that the corrupted said she could...but to tell her she could attack it made it sound like she thought she could, since she didn’t mention that it wouldn’t fight back...which meant it likely could.
~~~
“A spark hmm?” Meridiana’s eyes were alight with intrigue as the White Moon senshi effectively removed all doubt that she was, in fact, the one she’d had been waiting for.
“How about this…” She took a step closer. In her hand an ethereal whip appeared. It’s full length cascaded downward to coil about her feet. “I’ll go first then.” The smile on her face was something to behold. So unlike the seductive grin she gave many before secretly syphoning energy from them, this expression seemed almost… predatory.
“Look at me…” The command was softly spoken as the whip she held was swung over her head and cracked beside her with a loud snap.
~~~
This didn’t look good...it didn’t feel good to her, the whole shift was there. If before she didn’t feel good about this, confident about it, she certainly didn’t now. But now was too late as she didn’t get to say anything, or do anything, before the corrupted was using her magic. The whip cracking had her turning her dark eyes onto the other senshi.
She wanted to speak, for a moment she did anyway, but things sort of slipped away from her as she stood there just staring in a rather blank manner at the other senshi. The moment the other senshi blew a kiss towards her the idea of attacking, if it had begun to form in her mind, vanished.
~~~
“You see,” Meridiana stepped forward, gradually closing the distance between them in an almost seductive if not dangerously forboden fashion.
“Perhaps it is merely a coincidence, but…” She paused. With one hand she reached up to toy with one of the senshi’s braids. “It just so happens that you actually fit my friends description to a ‘T’”
“Let me jog your memory a bit. About a week ago, in this very garden, you attacked a corrupt; much like me. He was about yay tall,” Meri lifted her free hand about six inches above her head to give a rough idea as to how tall Arabia was. “Long lavender hair… I don’t suppose that rings a bell hmm?”
~~~
She wasn’t sure what to think but the words, and the underlying accusation, was not it and it wasn’t a good thing. It was obvious this female and the one she had been attacked by, and defended herself against, were friends. This wasn't going to go good for her.
Unaware that she was under any sort of magic, and wasn’t capable of actually verbalizing an answer the other would hear, she wanted to speak up. He attacked me first. You wouldn’t let someone just attack you - right? Hoping to appeal to the corrupts common sense, to a sense of self preservation. Anyone would fight to protect themself, right? The corrupt in front of her was no different surely.
~~~
Recognizing the panicked look in the senshi’s eyes and the struggle she must be feeling in wanting to get away, Meridiana smiled. “You do remember him,” she hummed thoughtfully.
In the dim light it seemed as if her eyes had darkened considerably as she leaned in dangerously close. “You should have just run away.” the suggestion was spoken upon a whisper, her warm breath brushing against Hamal’s ear.
Until now, Meridiana had never actually thought to attack someone who was trapped under her spell. Usually she only used it as a means to escape or to allow her to get near enough to steal a kiss; a course of action that had actually backfired on one occasion. This time, however, she had no intention of playing nice.
After relinquishing her hold of the long braid, the Senshi of the Succubus’ hand traveled across the enemies shoulder to the dip of her collarbone before trailing downward to where she knew the Senshi’s starseed to be. For a moment she hesitated, almost as if she were second guessing her course of action, but remembering the state she had found Jasper in was enough to strengthen her resolve. And so, without pause, her fingertips disappeared into Hamal’s chest.
~~~
Unable to move, and unable to speak, the senshi of talismans was to an outsider simply standing there. She was however trying to speak - desperately trying. Nothing worked however, no sound passed her lips. She could feel the fingers brush down her chest and pause and fear gripped her. She knew enough to be sure she knew what was going to come next.
Knowing and actually facing something were two different things however, as most would agree to, so when the hand passed her chest the scream that passed her lips was understandable. So was her hand raising and coming to grip the others wrist, to try and stop the other from taking her starseed and ending her life. She didn’t want to die...who did?
~~~
Meridiana, on her part, was not to be deterred.
As much as Hamal struggled, the two of them were evenly matched in both size and strength. And so, the Senshi of the Succubus took advantage of the situation; while her opponent fruitlessly struggled to back away she, in a sense guided Hamal backwards until her heel caught on the stone curb and the two went tumbling on the ground with Meridiana on top.
Now that she had the upper hand, she used what strength she possessed to reach in further and grab the White Moon Senshi’s starseed. The pained expression coupled with the scream the action elicited from the purple clad senshi struck a familiar chord within her which made her pause before finally withdrawing her hand.
A soft purple light filtered between her fingers. Curiously she peeked inside to marvel at the unique color and found herself drawn to the tiny object, like a moth to a flame.
She felt pain - lots of pain. It was hard to keep conscious, she could see her vision darkening around the edges, as she fought to not pass out. She didn’t need the risk of powering down in front of the other sensi...not that it would matter if she was dead, now would it? Though they could find her family then - right? She needed to not let them know who she was - to keep them safe. But the pain was so consuming and then there was the cold as a scream, one she didn’t hear or know she let out, passed her lips as her starseed was removed.
All this because she had defended herself...her life for trying to save it once.,..so what was the point? She was going to die anyway - wasn’t she?
“Pl-please…” The words were a whisper, she wasn’t even sure they had passed her lips, but they had made it out in a plea to live. She had family to return to. How would her cousin and her family explain to the twins if she died. She had things to live for - a lot of things. But this was hopeless - so hopeless.
~~~
It was that single quiet word that had snapped meridiana’s attention back to the girl beneath her. An unreadable expression passed over her features but quickly disappeared as she leaned forward. “If you ever go near him again.” The Senshi of the Succubus whispered in to Hamal’s ear.
“I will kill you…”
Meridiana let those last four words linger for a moment to let the reality of her promise sink in. An almost predatory smile tugged the corners of her red painted lips as she slowly replaced the starseed in the Senshi’s chest to further emphasize her point.
The corrupt turned her head to place a kiss on Hamal’s cheek before rising to her feet. “I suggest you start praying we never meet again.” Meridiana turned around and started to walk away, not bothering to stick around to hear the other Senshi’s reply. Only once she could no longer sense the girls aura did she finally power down so she could head home.
Sleet Tempest Snape
