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 Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2023 7:56 pm
It was kind of amazing how much easier life was when you could see. Brooklyn was walking home from one of the odd jobs she had picked up. Cleaning out a garage wasn’t fun…or easy, but the crisp fifty dollar bill she had been given after her work was very nice. It would keep her phone running and would afford her some kind of nice little treat…she deserved it, after all.
Perhaps…she could stop on the way and grab something for dinner…that was a good treat…but food…while she loved food…it was so much easier to get now…and it didn’t last very long…so it was quickly shut down as a reward for her good work.
She wasn’t powered, but she hadn’t thought that she would have to be…this wasn’t a patrol, this was just her going back to her dorm, but when she saw the tall, blue senshi ahead of her…she almost wished that she had powered up.
But…oh! But Dagon knew her as Brooklyn too…so…
“Ah…Dagon! Hi! I…I’m sure you don’t really remember me but, I can really see you now, and you’re actually quite pretty!”
…Smooth.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2023 10:40 pm
It was a lovely evening--cold, certainly, but Dagon really had come to enjoy the temperature fluctuations that were common on Earth. Winters here were so beautiful, and she wanted to enjoy every second of them.
Besides, her magical form provided a degree of temperature resistance, and that was certainly quite helpful. It let her stay out longer, without worrying about having to wear extra layers.
She had decided to idle for a moment, enjoying the evening, when she heard someone call her name. She turned, and as soon as she saw and recognized Brooklyn, she smiled.
"Thank you," she said. "Were you not able to see before? How unfortunate. I'm glad someone was able to help you get glasses."
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2023 11:25 am
“Me too! I never really realized that everything was so blurry…I guess I just. Figured that’s how life was, you know? You spend fourteen years like it but then you get something shoved in your face and wham. Things get clear. Literally.”
Brooklyn paused and gave a sheepish grin, removing her glasses and rubbing them on the sleeve of her jacket. “Except when they’re not. I keep touching the lenses by mistake like…all the time. I still need to get used to them…say, can I ask you some things? If you have a little while? Like…what’s it like being a senshi? And…what do you know about knights and all that?”
It was so much easier talking with Dagon now that she was used to her, of course, Dagon obviously still didn’t know that she was Stirling so…That was fine. Maybe she could trust the senshi, maybe not right this moment, but at some point. Hopefully.
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2023 11:53 pm
"I guess I just. Figured that’s how life was, you know? You spend fourteen years like it but then you get something shoved in your face and wham. Things get clear. Literally."
Wasn't that just the way of things. You accepted the way thing were, until something arrived to show you something different. Be it your vision, or the certainty that you were alone in the universe, or at least alone on your world. Or perhaps the certainty that all that was left for you was revenge. And then something made you see everything clearly again.
Like a pair of glasses. Or a purple-haired girl that was so, so achingly familiar.
"Any change like that requires some adjustment. But you will learn, beykhen." She smiled, fondly. "And yes, I have time. And I know some things. My sister was a Knight, long ago."
She got very thoughtful, for a long moment.
"Being a Senshi is.....a great responsibility. Exactly what that responsibility was varied, world to world. But you were often a representative, and a guardian. And to become a Senshi is....to unlock a part of yourself that you always knew was there, but never knew entirely was missing. It is wonderful, and powerful, and it is a duty and a privilege."
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:14 pm
“It’s actually pronounced Brook-Lynn, but you got pretty close!” Brooklyn smiled brightly and looked interested…a little bit in the stuff about senshi…but the knowledge that Dagon’s sister had been a knight…now that…that was neat.
“Your sister? You had a sister? What kind of a knight was she? I have some friends who are knights, so…I think they’re really neat, obviously…but um. Tell me about her! I…the senshi thing sounds neat too, but…I’m not sure that there’s any piece of myself that needs to be unlocked, if that makes any sense?”
At least…Brooklyn didn’t think it was possible to be both a knight and a senshi but…hey, if it was, she would sign herself up for it!
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 3:56 pm
Dagon laughed. "I know how to say your name, Brooklyn. Beykhen is a a word from my planet. An endearment for a child you are fond of, be they your own or someone else's."
It felt good, to speak her own tongue. She had missed her language, her voice. No one else spoke it, so perhaps it was her responsibility to pass on a few words here or there, to make sure someone did.
"But yes, I had a sister. A wife and child, as well." Her expression darkened, briefly, a shadow of grief that was centuries old and practically engraved into her bones passing over her face. "She was a Knight of Lysithea. A beautiful world, one I would like to see again. Protected by the Senshi of Unicorns. She loved her Wonder, and loved that world as much as she loved our home. Worked hard to protect and serve the people there."
A wry smile crossed her face. "You will be one or the other, though. One cannot have both a Senshi soul and a Knight's soul."
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 4:11 pm
Oh. Oh wow yeah. That did make sense, and Brooklyn felt her cheeks heating up in mild embarrassment. “...I did kind of think it was strange that you had suddenly forgotten my name, I mean you have said it before…but um.”
She paused and looked suddenly excited. Dagon’s sister had been a Knight of Lysithea? Seriously?
“What was her name? I mean…I…Unicorns? That’s pretty cool…what…what was her Wonder’s name? What was she like? Or…I mean, what were they all like? Your family? I bet you miss them a lot, don’t you?”
Of course she did. They were all dead. God that was a stupid question, and Brooklyn felt her cheeks start to grow warm again, this time in shame. “I mean…at least you have your memories of all of them…I hope that…I hope that those memories are enough to get you through each day…Memories are important…”
She had no memories of any family, and…that was okay. She was okay without memories. She had new memories of her friends…and that was starting to be enough.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 5:26 pm
Dagon shook her head. It was very cute, this girl who was so eager to find the magic in their world. Really,t he more time she spent around her, the more she was reminded of Aralinn, in ways that made her chest hurt, but also in ways that made her feel warm.
Like she got to have a life again.
"My sister was Knight Stirling, a millennia ago." She laughed, softly. "Ah, funnily enough, I met the current Stirling Page, not too long ago. A girl about your age. I knew it would have to happen sometime, I suppose, but it's a little strange, to know someone else is protecting my sister's Wonder."
But such was the way of things. The universe paused for no one.
"I do miss them. All the time. But I have begun to believe that I might find them again, if in a new form. After all, souls return to the Cauldron, and are reborn. So I hope I might get the chance to know them again." She paused. "You remind me very much of my daughter, you know. She was like you. Clever, and eager to learn, and kind."
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 6:08 pm
Brooklyn drew in a quick, sharp breath as though she had been wounded, and for a moment she simply stared at Dagon, almost uncomprehending. “Wait…wait…your…your sister was Stirling? Like…Stirling Page of Lysithea? Like…Like…?”
Maybe this wasn't the best of ideas but…Dagon had no way to know that she was Stirling so…
So Brooklyn closed her eyes for a moment and powered up into Stirling. “So like…does that make me your sister or something? How am I the same thing that she was?” Her eyes were wide and she stood there, looking confused, but a little eager. “...I remind you of your daughter too? That…that’s a lot of things, Dagon. You’re saying a lot of things!”
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 7:10 pm
"Oh," Dagon said, softly.
Perhaps this explained the echo of memory that Brooklyn seemed to create. At the very least, if she was Stirling--and she was, Dagon could see it with her own eyes--she was somehow connected to Dagon's lost family.
The thought hurt, and healed, all at once.
She reached out, to rest a hand on Stirling's cheek.
"It means," she said, "that you may share my sister's soul, or that you may be descended from one of her children." Dagon laughed, quietly. "She had several--settled down long before I ever thought to. And it means that in some way or another, we are family, I think."
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2023 6:47 pm
Stirling drew in a sharp breath and her eyes flickered over Dagon’s face. She was looking for some tell that this was a joke. A cruel, horrible joke that the senshi was playing on her…and that this word. This word that Brooklyn…that Stirling yearned for with every fiber of her being was going to just be snatched away with a sneer and a well placed shove.
“...Are…you just ******** with me?”
The hand on her cheek felt so warm…so wonderful. She wanted nothing more than to just close her eyes and lean into it, to allow this family to be real. To allow herself to feel…to entertain the idea that it might actually be true…but.
Instead, Stirling drew away with some effort, shaking her head. “...Because I told you I’ve never had family. Never had anyone. Never will have anyone. I’m too old for anyone to want or adopt me. I thought maybe my friend’s dads might but…literally every time I brought it up they always ignored me which. You know, fair. But. No.”
The Page took a step backwards, shaking her head. “...We’re not family. I don’t get a family. People like me don’t ever get a family. I’m just some unwanted kid who’s lost in the foster system, and that’s all I’ll ever be.”
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2023 6:28 pm
Dagon frowned, and shook her head. "Absolutely not. I would never jest about something so serious."
Dagon was beginning to think that every glimmer of hope she found, every suggestion that she might be able to find her family again, would be unceremoniously snatched away. Retzian had rejected her. Now, Brooklyn seemed to anticipate rejection and pushed her away in advance.
Shelet her hand drop when Stirling stepped away but did not withdraw. It was like dealing with a frightened animal, wasn't it? Comforting someone who had spent so long thinking that she had to be alone that even the chance of that not being true was rejected instantly.
"Brooklyn. Stirling. I am not lying to you, or trying to trick you. I would like to be family to you, if you will have me. I--" Dagon stopped. Her vision, she realized, was strangely blurred, and she reached up to wipe at her eyes, and found them wet.
Ah. Well. That made sense.
"I have spent a thousand years thinking that everyone I loved was lost to me. You have no family. Neither do I. Why should we not find it in each other?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 2:11 pm
Brooklyn swallowed hard. Then did it again, trying to force back the lump in her throat, the burning in her eyes…she wasn’t going to cry. Wasn’t going to just bawl like a baby. She wasn’t a baby. This. Might be real…but if it was…she wasn’t going to lose it by bawling and making a scene. “I think…if you. I mean.”
She drew in another breath, starting to lose the battle with her eyes as tears began to leak out almost sluggishly. She rubbed them away quickly, pleased by her large sleeves.
“...I want to…to talk to my friends about it first…and you…I mean…Do you…have a not blue mode?” Was that rude? It…was practical…she was trying to stay in practical…the last thing that had been too good to be true had been. She would have been recruited to the Negaverse and…
“I have to talk to them…they’re…they’re everything to me in this world…and…I just. I’ll think about it?”
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 3:47 pm
Dagon nodded. "Talk to your friends," she agreed, and then she let out a breath, and let go of her transformation, calling on the glamour Viatrix had created for her.
"I do, in fact, have a....not-blue mode." She smiled, wryly. "Hello, Brooklyn. My name is Ophelia."
Perhaps this really was it. Perhaps she was, in fact, going to get something she had wanted very desperately. Perhaps....perhaps things could be good for her, again. Not the same as they were, no. But new.
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 4:02 pm
Brooklyn blew out a breath and nodded slowly, letting her own power fade and leaving herself behind. “...Okay…Ophelia…do you um. Have a phone number? We could text or something and…when…if you change your mind you can just tell me, okay?”
Opening her contacts, she held the phone out to the woman and fidgeted just a little. “Just…put your number in and I don’t know, send yourself a text or something…and…I’ll let you know when I’ve talked to them…I…”
She blinked rapidly and rubbed her eyes again, missing her flowing sleeves from her Page outfit. “It is okay if you change your mind so don’t…feel obligated or anything.” There was no way she’d be able to land an actual family so…it was just better to prepare for heartbreak now while it didn’t hurt as badly.
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