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 Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2023 3:35 pm
Soleiyu had promised to meet up with her tonight to go over some fighting techniques…and some great ways for dealing with youma, for which Stirling was happy to have, even if it was strange to be getting advice from…well. A cat.
She had been good though, not powering up until she was a fair distance from her dorm, and now she waited in the park, sitting with her feet on the seat of the bench, resting on the back of it, just waiting until she either…felt the large white feline or…saw him. This whole aura sensing thing was still…odd so…
At the thought of sensing, she felt someone…someone who didn’t…feel…bad...but also didn’t feel like her friends did…so…that meant it wasn’t…another…knight?
The logic felt right but. She had never been good at logic so…
Her hairpin was summoned to her hand and she curled her fist around the thistle decoration, with the metal rod poking out.
Aim for the eyes, if it was an enemy…aim for the eyes and run like hell.
Good advice that she had come up with all by herself but…hadn’t had to use. Yet. Well, not really.
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2023 8:40 pm
Pages always made Dagon feel a special level of protectiveness. Young Senshi, of course, needed guidance too, but many of them at least had a Guardian Cat to look after them. Pages...in this messy new world, with no Academy, and no long lines of Knights guarding a Wonder, one to the next, it seemed as if they were loosed on the world with nothing but their wits.
So, when she sensed one, it was an immediate cause to divert from her patrol route and go find whoever it was attached to.
She came around the bend of the park path, and spotted the Knight in pink and purple and yellow, and froze.
So many times, over the past few months, she had been absolutely bulldozed with recognition--and here it was, once again. She had to blink twice just to be sure she was seeing what she was seeing--a too-familiar uniform, a face that felt like an echo.
".....Hello," she said, a little cautiously.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2023 2:35 pm
“You!”
Stirling paused and lowered her fist, though could have kicked herself due to the tactless reaction. She had to remember that she wasn’t Brooklyn when she was Stirling…this was an alter ego, and she had to make sure that she didn’t do anything that would cross the two lives unless it was with people that she trusted…people like Soleiyu, Atticus and Elliot…but…this lady. The blue one who had always been kind…but…
Still she was blue...it wasn’t someone that Stirling knew if she could trust or not.
“Ah, I mean! You’re blue…if you’re cold, I think maybe you should get inside, it’s not good to be outside if you’re already this cold…haha ha!”
…Smooth. Stirling was very smooth. Ish. Smooth like curdled milk.
“...Um. Anyway! Can I help you? Stirling, Page of Lysithea at your service…!” The woman didn’t like the Negaverse so perhaps…she could stand to be…friendly.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2023 4:19 pm
She was so young.
That was the first thing that struck Dagon--that this Page was barely more than a child, and it hurt her heart to think of her fighting the Negaverse, with their cruel tricks and their awful ability to rip a soul from a chest.
The secodn thing was that she was--eerily familiar, in so many ways. Like an echo of a thousand years ago, like a ghost in pretty pinks. Like a memory come alive.
She swallowed, and held up her hand to reveal the fins between her fingers.
"Ah, you must not have met any of the others like me, then. I'm not cold. I'm....what is the word you use? Ah, yes. An alien." She wiggled her fingers, and forced a polite smile onto her face. This poor girl--she wasn't responsible for who that uniform, that name, used to belong to.
And Dagon longed to voice it. Longed to ask if this girl had been to her Wodner, had seen anyone there, had any memories--but she remembered Retzian's reaction to Dagon's recognition, and she stopped herself.
"A pleasure to meet you, Stirling of Lysithea. I am Sailor Dagon, the Senshi of Dread."
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2023 4:46 pm
“Isn’t that a kind of yucky thing to be the senshi of? Not that I have much of an idea what a senshi is or does, but I know that you’re not with the Negaverse, so it should be all right to talk to you. Soleiyu mentioned that he deals with senshi more than he does knights so…”
Stirling gave a smile and tilted her head, squinting slightly at the woman, trying to take in as many details as she could. “So…why are you an alien? How did you end up here? What’s your story?”
It felt like she was free to honestly ask and understand whatever answers she would be given…after all, she was part of this magical club now too…so. She deserved to know!
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2023 5:09 pm
Dagon nodded, thoughtfully. "It is true. Many Senshi are Senshi of things that are not pleasant. Not all of us are like your Princess."
She ought to look for Lysithea, she realized. Perhaps the Senshi wouldn't remember her, but if her Knights were emerging, she must have re-awakened. It would do well to at least say hello to the Princess whose planet her sister had once served.
"My story is....not a pleasant one." Dagon sighed. "A thousand years ago, invaders came to my world. They were empowered by Chaos--not the same Chaos that powers your Negaverse, but something similar. Equally dangerous, certainly. That Chaos infected my world, and so even once we rose up and destroyed the invaders....the land itself was poisoned. My people died. My world died."
Her gaze moved, to stare into the distance at nothing in particular.
At memories of death. and ruin, and waits so long that even bones became dust.
"......I survived. I endured. For a thousand years. Until....I sensed a light, and it called me to your Earth."
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2023 5:18 pm
Stirling watched the senshi, her brows furrowing and finally she let out a long breath and shook her head. “******** s**t. That’s insane! How are you still sane? Like, I thought I had problems, but my life seems like a picnic compared to that! Are you okay?”
For a moment she itched to hug the strange, blue senshi. The alien who had suffered so much but.
“...Do you need a hug? I mean, I can’t do anything about your planet, but. I can give a good hug if you promise that it’s not a trap or anything. I don’t think it is because you…”
She trailed off, biting her tongue lest she say too much and then shrugged, hopping off of the bench and opening her arms, the hairpin vanishing from wherever it came from. “You’re not bad.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2023 5:40 pm
Dagon blinked, drawn back from memory by that almost-familiar voice, to the girl in front of her who still felt...in many ways, like yet another echo of her past.
"It has been. Difficult. I won't pretend otherwise," Dagon confessed,and she exhaled. "But I endure. There is no other option, really." A very, very tired smile made its way across her face. "...I would not mind a hug, though."
It was easier, now, to admit that she found comfort in other people. And to accept it when it was offered. Centuries of loneliness had, it seemed, made her a bit touch-starved, and not even nearly a year on Earth had quite fully cured it.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2023 5:45 pm
Stirling moved forward, hugging Dagon tightly for a long moment. “I’m glad that you’re here. That you survived. I’m a survivor and a fighter too, you know. Nothing as dramatic as your story of course but. I’ve been alone since I was born…whoever gave birth to me didn’t want me so just left me in a park but. Apart from that. I’ve managed. You have to manage. When you’re dealt a shitty hand you have to fight and to be strong about it…and I am strong. I’ve made sure of it.”
There was something wonderful about the hug, it felt nice…it felt like everything she could have wanted and more rolled into one compact burrito.
“But. I’ve been learning that it’s okay to accept help when it’s given by someone that you trust. And I’m learning that not everything has to come with strings…and I think that’s been really hard to learn but…I’m not hating it too badly so far.”
Squeezing Dagon tightly once again, Stirling sighed and then moved to pull away. “I hope that you can help your world, and if I can do anything to help you…just um. Let me know, okay?”
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2023 7:39 pm
The hug was welcomed, and Dagon wrapped her arms around Stirling in return, squeezing gently.
(For a brief, intense moment, it reminded her of hugging Aralinn--they were right about the same size, in comparison to her, and right about the same age, too.)
"I am sorry that you've had to learn such harsh truths, so young--but it is true that there are people who will help you simply because they wish to, without other motives. One simply must be cautious, but not so wary one never lets one's walls down."
She smiled, though, and nodded, when they stepped apart. While she didn't per se intend to call on a child for help, she certainly wouldn't dismiss Stirling's offer out of hand. She was, after all, still a Knight, even if she was so young it made Dagon's chest hurt. These were not the mostly peaceful days oft he past, though; Chaos was far too powerful now.
"I will let you know. I expect I will not be able to save my world alone. It is a task too big for a single set of hands, but I have been lucky to find many allies on this world. Now including you, Stirling of Lysithea."
There was a warm fondness in her voice. Earth had been kind to her--and she knew that she was quite lucky for it.
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