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 Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 7:46 pm
Lysithea had done her best with staying calm after her last interaction with chaos, it helped that she hadn’t run into any chaos lately but. Whatever.
There was an aura nearby and she made her way over towards it, wondering who it was and if she knew them, and as she made her way over she paused, frowning slightly as she took in the pale blonde hair.
“...Do…”
Her mouth felt rather dry, and Lysithea moved a few steps closer, brain beginning to whirl with confusion and a little anger that nobody had bothered to tell her that Ganymede had gotten free. It had been bothering her so badly…Cybele should have at least…but…
But to be fair, Cybele was in no state to really tell her anything…but.
She swallowed hard and cleared her throat. “...Do I know you?” If it was Ganymede…obviously the answer was yes but. But if it wasn’t. She looked so different not in the white dress of a princess…
“...I…I mean. I hope that I do. I don’t…don’t want to assume but…”
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2022 9:31 am
Ganymede didn’t go out often. After her ordeal in the Dark Kingdom, she took time to recover, powering up only to go to her homeworld. As the months passed, she began to venture out again. Slowly. Never far from home, just… far enough away that she wouldn’t draw attention to any particular location. If she felt a Chaos aura along the edges of her senses, she let it be.
The friendlier auras were more welcome. She didn’t feel the need to power down and leave the area when a knight or White Moon senshi approached.
Tonight, she came across a senshi.
Ganymede thought the girl looked familiar, like she should know her, but a shimmer of magic kept immediate recognition just out of reach. Still, there were clues. Dark hair. The colors of her clothing. The horn that protruded from her tiara.
“Lysithea?”
The last time she’d seen the Senshi of unicorns, Lysithea had been clothed in black.
Ganymede’s smile was one of relief.
“Valhalla told me you got out,” she said. “I’m glad you’re safe. You have been, haven’t you? I can’t imagine the Negaverse has been all that accepting of it.” To put it lightly. “Something tells me they’ll be particularly resentful for quite some time now, losing a senshi, a General, and their captive so close together.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:11 am
Oh, thank goodness. It was Ganymede. Or at least. It was a great lookalike who knew Valhalla and knew who she was. “I didn't realize you had gotten free too…I…they also lost another Super Senshi. Ilse left too. I helped her get out. I doubt that they’re very happy. At least non of those I’ve run into are very happy…”
She took a few steps towards the senshi and hesitated. “I was worried about you. I wish someone would have told me you were free it…would have been one less piece of guilt for my conscience but…do you know how Cybele’s feet are? I helped heal them after my br–ah. After Faustite decided he would be the a*****e he enjoys being. But…Again, I haven’t had any contact with her since them…but…I’ve worried. Even if we don’t like one another I still…”
Swallowing, Lysithea forced herself to stop rambling. Ganymede didn’t need to know every detail of her stupid mind. She didn’t care for one, and for another…
She just didn’t need to know. “Yeah. It’s me. I’m Lysithea. Obviously…and you’re Ganymede?”
Perhaps she should have established this before she started rambling but. Trauma made people do funny things sometimes.
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:57 am
“Yes,” Ganymede said, kind and patient. “I am.”
For a few moments, she stared at Lysithea in silence. Ganymede studied all the ways in which she’d changed, and all the ways she hadn’t. Occasionally, a memory might threaten to arise, traces of a past she was always rediscovering, but she brushed them aside for now.
Ganymede’s smile was small and sympathetic, but vaguely haunted.
“I’ve been laying low,” she said, half in explanation, half in apology. “A General helped me escape. She’s a Knight now. Nectaris. Of the Moon, of all things.”
Above them, the moon itself was dark and new.
Pleased to hear of another escape, Ganymede’s smile twitched a little wider.
“You don’t like Cybele?” she asked, not disapproving, but curious. It certainly wasn’t required for two former Corrupt Senshi to like one another, but if they could learn to coexist, Ganymede thought they might have a lot to learn from one another. “She’s… I won’t say fine. I don’t think any of us are fine. Not me, not you, not Cybele. But she’s… recovering. She has many people who care for her.
“I hope you do, too,” Ganymede added. “I hope you’ll count me among them. You did what you could to help. Even if, when they first brought me to the Dark Kingdom, you healed me under orders, I’m grateful for it. I’m glad you have your freedom now.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2022 11:10 am
“I don’t…hate her. We just…we have very different personalities and they clash pretty badly. That’s all.” Lysithea shrugged and pursed her lips. It wasn’t…bad not to like everyone, and she did try. She truly did try her very best for it but.
“I’m very glad that it’s you. I…would like to count you as one of the people who care for me, if you’ll allow me to be one of those who care for you. Healing you…I wish I could have done more for you. I wish I had been smart enough to take you out of there too but…I was too much of a coward and too focused on myself. I’m glad that the Knight had more courage than I did…I hope that I can meet her someday too. I feel like…it would be good to meet as many of those who chaos stole as I can…if only to try and…I don’t know. Better myself and work so it doesn’t happen to me again.”
Not that she was sure it made sense but.
“Could you and I be friends, Ganymede?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 8:24 am
“Of course we can be friends,” she said.
Regardless of opinions, or potentially clashing personalities, Ganymede couldn’t imagine turning a fellow Jovian away. The Court was… not fractured, but distant, scattered, many of them absent. Tired, maybe, after fighting for so long. Ganymede chose to hope that they would all come together again one day, that the rest were safe, simply biding their time.
In this life, it wasn’t her place to revive the Court, but she felt a kinship toward Lysithea all the same. Protectiveness. Gratitude. They could be friends and allies with or without a cosmic connection. Once, Ganymede had so few of those. She cherished each and every one she had now.
“You were lost and afraid,” Ganymede consoled her. “I don’t blame you for leaving when you had the chance. I never would have asked you to risk yourself for me. When Nectaris took me out of there, I didn’t even have the strength to purify her after. She could’ve been summoned back at any moment. More than likely, she would’ve been killed, if the Code and Cosmos hadn’t intervened.”
Ganymede took a step closer. She didn’t reach out to touch, wary of displaying any sort of physical affection unless she knew for certain it would be appreciated, but she hoped the closer proximity made her comments seem more genuine.
“You did what you had to,” Ganymede said. “We all do what we have to.”
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 8:37 am
“Everyone else seemed to blame me for leaving you.” She let out a long breath and forced a smile, though hesitated and shrugged. It obviously didn’t matter any longer. Ganymede was here. She was…well, for what Lysithea could tell, she was whole. That was all that mattered, really.
“I’m very glad that she wasn’t killed. I…suppose…and this is going to sound terrible but. I suppose it would have been easier to just grab you and go if I hadn’t had people who were worried about me…not that I know that for sure of this Nectaris, but I doubt we were in the same situation, and really, the only thing that matters is that you both got out. You’re both safe and…”
Again, Lysithea was rambling. But, for once it felt as though it was healing something raw inside of her and as she drew in a long breath, her smile was a bit more genuine. “...I’m glad. Glad we can be friends. We should hang out sometime. I can…do you like cheese? One of my roommates has the best food truck ever and I swear the food is just…fantastic.”
If they were going to be friends. She wanted it in the truest way possible. And in her mind…food was the easiest way to forge bonds.
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 11:36 am
Ganymede would reassure Lysithea as much as she needed. They all did the best they could in whatever situation they found themselves in. Sometimes that was imperfect, but they were all alive now. Ganymede. Lysithea. Nectaris. There wasn’t anyone to blame for their individual hardships, except the Negaverse.
They’d all escaped, in their own ways.
They were all still fighting, in their own ways.
With her mood so subdued in the aftermath of her escape, Ganymede was surprised by her own lighthearted laughter.
“I do like cheese,” she said. Her smile grew — a helpless reaction, almost, to Lysithea’s rambling. “I’m not very cultured, though. Maybe I should be, considering who I married, but I couldn’t name a lot of cheeses if you asked. Cheddar. Brie. Feta. Gouda. Blue. Not really a fan of that last one, but I’d definitely try anything at least once.”
With a quick flourish, Ganymede pulled her phone from her subspace pocket. “Do you mind if I scan you? You can do me, too, so you can contact me whenever you want. I haven’t been going out a lot, considering… well…” She grimaced, not wanting to bring the mood back down with further talk of her captivity. “Anyway, a food truck sounds amazing. It’s been a long time since I just… went out and did things that were just… for me, you know? Instead of for the war. So much has happened…”
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2022 11:58 am
‘Scan me all you want! I’m glad that you like cheese, the truck is called Snack and Cheese so…obviously…it’s great. Oh, I think I could live off of Brie honestly…and we don’t give a cheese quiz but…now I kind of want to just to be a brat.”
Lysithea gave a small smile as Ganymede took her picture and then did the same with her own phone.
“Then we’ll just hang out as us. Whoever you are under there. We’ll just be us and forget the war for a little while. Obviously…”
Drawing in a breath, Lysithea took a moment to glance around, reaching out with her senses as best she could before letting her power fade and standing there as Talia. “We can be real life friends and just. Forget the war for a little while. I’m Talia.”
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2022 11:45 am
After a quick scan with her phone, Ganymede had already sent it back to subspace.
She hesitated for a moment when Talia powered down. Ganymede didn’t necessarily have a strict policy on who she powered down in front of, but it occurred to her that it’d been a while since she’d revealed herself to anyone. The thought of doing so now was somehow a much bigger deal than she remembered it being the last time, likely due to the events earlier in the year.
It seemed impossible to forget the war, even as a civilian. It was all around them, whether they noticed the effects or not. It would always find them, no matter where they went, no matter what they did, no matter who they were with. The war was unavoidable and never ending.
Ganymede’s smile twitched again, acquiring an edge of sadness. Even so, she let her transformation fall away, and she stood before Talia as Paris.
“I’m Paris,” she introduced herself, dressed in the shorts and airy blouse she’d worn for most of the day. Without the frilly attire and vivid make up of Ganymede, Paris looked decidedly less bold — almost normal, even if she didn’t feel it. “I’m sorry, I don’t really know how to forget the war anymore, but… I can try.”
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2022 4:13 pm
“Sometimes trying is all that anyone can really do in all of this insanity.” Talia shrugged and looked a little pleased that they really seemed to be on the path to becoming friends. It…was a nice thought. “I don’t think I know how to forget it either but. Every little bit helps. And now…you have a new friend that you can hang out with as Ganymede or as Paris so…I don’t know. I like to think that’s a little bit.”
She shrugged again and gave a little, hesitant smile. “That’s how I prefer to think about things at least. All I remember is the war now. Waking up in Chaos. My memories of my first time here are all gone. My civilian memories when I was with the Negaverse are gone…it’s hard to separate ourselves from the war…and I think that’s what…really makes it important to do so.”
It was stupid to say, and all of the authority came from her own experiences but. It felt right. “We’ll…get cheese. And we’ll be friends and when we need to fight. We’ll fight. I won’t always be so useless. I’m still broken right now, but I’ll heal. And then I’ll be better suited for things again.”
Talia rocked back on her heels and glanced at Pairs for a moment. “...Want to just say ******** it right now and go find some ice cream? My treat.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2022 9:36 am
“I have the opposite problem. Too many memories. Past, present, a few from a future that inevitably didn’t happen…”
They weren’t so easy to ignore, even when she faced the world as herself. Seeing and knowing could be a benefit, but it could be a bit of a curse, too. Paris couldn’t remember the last time she felt like herself, and not some combination of civilian, Senshi, and past life prince. Even the memories that weren’t actually hers often felt too real to completely ignore.
Paris swapped hesitant smile for hesitant smile. She and Talia each had their own troubles, but they were also resilient, in their own ways. They were still standing. They still had the chance to one day live in a world in which the war no longer consumed everything.
“You aren’t broken,” Paris assured her, patient and kind. “You’ll recover. I’ve seen it happen. You just need time.”
Hopefully, now, she would have that — with the right support.
“But… ice cream sounds good, actually. It’s been a while since I’ve had any because I want some and not because one of my kids is begging for it.”
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2022 2:07 pm
Talia laughed softly and nodded, managing a smile that felt really real. “Well, Thank you, Paris. I…I feel like I will. Or, I’m getting to the point where I’m feeling like I will.”
Meeting people like this was helping a lot. Meeting people and forging new friendships…it was nice. Grounding and calming.
“You’re not broken either, that’s pretty obvious, if it was something you were worried about. You…are quite amazing, Paris. I’m glad that you’re still here. I’m glad that you survived…and I’m glad that you want to go get ice cream. I hope you’ll tell me about your kids too, I didn’t know that you had children!”
That…
That was an interesting thought. Having a family while being involved in the war…it…seemed rather irresponsible but…life had to go on, didn’t it? And it would go on. And things like this, friendships like this would help it go on.
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