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 Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2023 12:34 pm
Wezen did not know where she was.
This was not an uncommon situation for her, relatively new to the planet and slowly memorizing the city the further she explored it, but this was a new kind of lost. She was struggling just to distinguish the shapes of the buildings around her, let alone what their signs said or what the markers on the street corners told her of her location. She felt like she had been walking for days, the exhaustion tugging at every single one of her muscles as if gravity itself was choosing to make her its personal enemy.
She had experienced a 'hot' day before, where the yellow sun outside bore down harder on them than most humans seemed to like, and according to Sinistra's complaining it was meant to be something unpleasant. Wezen herself had not been bothered by it, but she did take note of the way the heat felt on her skin. While that had been a new experience, she had never imagined she would feel such a thing inside her skin, under it, and burning all the way through her with such an intensity that it made her own body feel foreign. Out of her control.
She stumbled, not noticing the way the pavement gave way to grass. She was in an empty lot, overrun and filled with clumps of weeds and discarded trash. Not that she focused on any of those dully colored blurs as she passed them.
A black wall appeared in front of her and she came to a stop. She leaned on it, the side of one of the buildings forming one corner of the large lot, and took a moment to breathe. It was a struggle, her body feeling so strange, and her mind unable to really put definitions or explanations to any of it. It created another new sensation, on top of everything else, that she hated more than all the rest combined. This one she knew, from Sinistra's descriptions of it. Her warnings.
This was fear. Feeling this way was also making her afraid.
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Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2023 2:47 pm
"Excuse me," said Daphne, immediately going for diplomacy, because what she was looking for was allies to train with her, and if she was lucky, to help her with her planet. Only, everything about that approach vanished as she got close to the senshi who she had found. She wasn't simply leaning over. She was half-collapsed against the wall. Her skin looked off-color and her eyes were glazed. There were beads of sweat on her forehead. Her world had a hot climate. Heat exhaustion was common, and everyone was taught the warning signs of heat stroke from a young age. One of Daphne's mothers had gone through a close call with it, once. The look in this woman's eyes not reminded her of her mother's face back then. She didn't think that it was actually heatstroke, since it was a fall evening. It was chilly enough that Daphne did not like it. There was clearly something serious going on, though, and so Daphne also leaned against the wall, so that she could be a close to face to face as she could be with the taller woman. She pulled a bottle of water out of her subspace. "Are you okay?" she asked.
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Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2023 7:19 pm
Wezen looked startled, somehow not seeing the senshi that had gotten so close to her. She stumbled backwards, clinging to the wall helplessly. If Sinistra was there, she would have been panicking, just seeing the generally emotionless, expressionless Wezen actually looking upset and scared.
Of course, if Wezen was in her right mind and saw herself doing it, she would have been concerned, as well.
"I... who... what is going on? Who are you?" She asked, remembering language after a moment's pause. It felt so strange, making sounds, and communicating with someone else. On her planet, that had never been necessary. They were not people, they were things. They were means to an end. Replaceable moving parts whose purpose ended when they stopped moving.
She shuddered, looking around. This place did not look like her world, not really, and yet she felt the same. Cold. Lifeless. She put a hand to her head, taking a deep breath in an effort to clear away the fog and strange thoughts that this fever seemed to bring with it. The tendrils of a long, dark past remained, coiling just outside her vision.
"I am sick," she said, recalling what Sinistra had said. Samantha, back at home. "I don't know where I am. I... should not be here. The... the engine. It must keep running." She reached forward suddenly, grabbing hold of Daphne's arm, but let go of it almost as quickly, as if shocked. "But why are you here? What is your crime?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2023 2:47 pm
It was a good sign that she could talk, but the longer Daphne stood there, the more obvious it got that something was wrong. "Have some water," she said, quieter than she usually talked, unscrewing the cap and offering the bottle over. "I'm Daphne," she said, spotted tail swishing behind her. She wasn't sure what the senshi was thinking, or what she was looking at, but she was supposed to try to keep her focused, wasn't she? She was supposed to try to keep her engaged. What she needed was a doctor, but healthcare on Earth was, as they said, a hot mess. It was all about money, and insurance, and there were identification numbers and robotic voices when you tried to call the hospital. She needed someone who understood all that better. In her other hand, she pulled out her phone. "It wasn't a crime," she said, trying not to let the other girl know how freaked out she was. "More like politics? I was the senshi, and my people turned on each other when the Chaos came, and then they turned on me." That was making a long story a lot shorter and a lot less sad. "They tried to kill me, but instead I ended up here."
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2024 11:54 am
Wezen looked at the bottle in confusion, then took it with a shaking hand. She held on to it, not drinking, but rather watched the other and waited for their answer. Her planet was one of servitude, where those meant to be forgotten, to die in punishment, were sent to become a cog in a wheel. They stopped existing, long before their bodies stopped moving.
That had been her life, as well, though she had never committed a crime.
"I am... I am..." Wezen looked baffled for a moment, searching her mind for the word. What was this feeling? She felt heat flushing across her body, but there was something new, now, hearing that small tale. Betrayed by her own world? Wezen was not sure if she could relate: if she had been betrayed, it was long before she could ever fathom it. But this one was cast out, and somehow that felt worse. "Sorry. To hear that. I am sorry."
She wobbled a bit, then finally took a small sip of water. The cool liquid did feel nice, and the alien found herself soothed in a small way. The gesture itself also calmed her, her mind clearing just a bit to understand that she was not on her old planet, but rather her new one. They both were.
"Earth is better," she said softly, sadly. "Humans are... kind. You are kind, too."
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Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2024 1:59 pm
It was starting to slowly register to Daphne that this wasn't just someone sick. This was also someone like her. Well, perhaps more accurately, this was someone like Alastor, who looked human even though they were not. She wondered, briefly, what her crime had been, and what that meant for her story, but that seemed like it might be counterproductive at a time like this. She was stuck in the past, so maybe Daphne should try to nudge her towards the present? She didn't really know, and that made her heart pound. Her schooling hadn't covered this. "Earth is better," she repeated, even though she didn't agree. Maybe her world had some problems, even before the war, but it had been her home. Even two years into living on Earth, she still got uncontrollably homesick as often as not. "The humans have been kind to me, to. I. I'm trying." Was she kind, or was she caught up in her own problems? At least the other senshi was drinking the water. That was a good sign, but not enough. "Do you want me to try to call a doctor?" If she did, maybe she could get one of the mauvians to deal with the insurance.
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Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 4:59 pm
Wezen watched the stranger in confusion. All the emotions she did not understand, and usually successfully kept at bay, felt like they were crushing her. She shuddered and hugged her arms around her for a moment, as if to find some sort of strength in her own shaking hold. Of course, there was none to be found.
"No, I cannot see a human doctor. They would... not... react well," Wezen breathed, mind clearing enough to remember Sinistra's warning. The sweet senshi had been doing her best to learn as much as she could from Wezen about her chemistry and body, so she could at least attempt to heal her if she came to harm. They were long and tedious lessons, but Sinistra always took notes, and never failed to look anything less than riveted.
Where was she, anyway?
"F-forgive me... I fear I am unwell..." it was an understatement, to say the least. But whatever this poison was, it was running amok in her system and causing her brain to function in ways she was not used to. Doors to emotions she walled off were suddenly open, and she was feeling things in such an intense way she almost wished it could continue, if only for the learning experience.
But she was not herself.
"My name is Wezen. I am the Senshi of Haunting," distantly, somewhere in the back of her mind, her heard Sinistra's voice reminding her to introduce herself, especially if someone else went to the trouble to. But this rule tended to only apply to those who were not also threatening her in the same sentence. She realized the other had already said her name, but she'd missed it. "Daphne."
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