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Frozen Time (3) : Midnight is a magical time of night; parties, dancing, kisses--there are a number of rituals celebrated in the winter nights. Every night has a midnight, but this one is special. There is an old church and bell tower on the quiet outskirts of town, near a beautiful forest that has been decorated with lights to celebrate the season. Maybe you are alone, maybe you are with friends, or maybe you’re at a party celebrating one of the many events--whatever the case, small, delicate snowflakes have been falling lightly for the past hour. And then--suddenly--they stop. The clock strikes midnight and the bell echoes a low, metallic chime that feels like it can be heard for miles. By the second chime, you realize that nothing else is moving. Snowflakes are suspended in the air and all living creatures--plants, animals, and people alike--are completely frozen. The clock chimes twelve times and the world is still frozen. Suddenly, there’s no way to tell how much time has passed--but nothing moves. Maybe it feels like a moment, maybe it feels like an hour. You can try to leave the area but you can never go far enough that the church is out of sight. In an instant, time seems to snap back into motion. To everyone else, it feels like no time has passed. To you, you know. The church seems eerie and foreboding and if you return you feel uncomfortable, as though you have broken something and are unwelcome. If roleplaying with a partner, multiple characters can remain unfrozen as the world around them freezes!
It hurt and she was still frustrated with the whole situation so she’d sent out a message with her signet ring to Aaru and ventured out into the snow. Her uniform did keep her warm which was nice but it didn’t help her face from hurting less. The swelling and bruising had gone down after she’d gone to the dentist to get her filling replaced but it was far from back to normal even with makeup covering things and the color correction concealer she’d used. Kinsley would be looking into Rene on her behalf even if he wasn’t the culprit but she needed to figure things out with someone who knew what actually was going on.
Huffing as she made her way up to the church, she’d wanted to see it anyway and with how far off it was from the hustle and bustle of the city she figured it would be a good enough place to sit and chat without anyone bothering them. At least with the lights dangling the clearing wasn’t too dark even on a cloudy night like it was tonight. The cold felt good on her face as she settled down on one of the wooded benches and waited. There was a lot to ask about and she figured they’d know something at least given they’d been around at this much longer.
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As soon as he got the signal on his ring, Aaru started making his way to the designated meeting point that Spasskaya wanted. He decided to use the roof tops for travel since he didn't feel like running into a civilian that would look at him funny for his choice of outfit. He eventually made it to the church, feeling around for her signature. Once he locked on, it wouldn't take him long to get to her. The knight was not expecting to see the damage done to her face, which showed in his shocked and concerned expression. “The hell happened?” Was he a little angry? Maybe. It's hard to see a newbie get their asses handed to them. He's been in their shoes before and knows how frustrating it could be.
The battle with ******** Moonstone came to mind and the scar on his leg throbbed at the memory. He hoped that b***h was rotting in the dirt somewhere along with her disgusting youma.
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Looking up, she was a bit shocked to see them angry. It was just like Kinsley had been but with much less tact. Shaking her head for a moment she waved for Aaru to sit. “A couple of things, mostly this long-haired a*****e that decided not to go down after I broke his nose.” It hadn’t gone as she’d planned in the slightest which was why she was here and had sent a message.
“Might be better to learn a different way to fight if I want to avoid this happening again.” Another huff as she touched her face gingerly. “Had to pay out of pocket since I’m not from here, how rude of them to price gouge me.” At least they’d gotten her in quickly when she’d not even flinched over the price. That was something that hadn’t changed at least which was good if she needed things done quickly.
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Long-haired a*****e?
Ah…..He knew about those kinds of people. “A corrupt senshi is what that sounded like.” He sighed and shook his head. Corrupted senshi were some messed up ******** that much was for sure. Aaru felt sad for them sometimes, given the fact that they were cut off from their planet and turned it over to chaos. “Did the corrupt look like they belonged in a weird Japanese play? Was there some sort of fog around their feet that caused ice?” He was referring back to that one corrupt he fought that seemed pretty offended that he was flirting with them.
Either way, he figured having the page learn how to fight would be the best thing for her out here in the wilds like this. “Well, I take Muay Thai kickboxing, I can give you the card for the referral and we can practice in powered form wherever you want to meet.” Since she had his contact info he could reach her anywhere so long as it was after the usual work time schedule.
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So that’s what that a*****e was, a corrupt senshi and from the sound of it the long hair was part of the deal. “No, he was more wild looking no fog or anything like that. It was like he spit some sort of weird tentacle blob out. Definitely not Japanese.” If anything he looked like a wild man and not just because of the crazed look he’d had during the whole thing.
“That sounds… interesting. I don’t think I’ve heard of that back home but that should work.” If anything she’d never really thought about fighting in a proper sense. Ice skating was the most sportlike thing she did and because of it she had strong legs and balance at least. So if kickboxing meant legs she figured that would work well. It also would work out better to meet up with Aaru more to learn about this before she ended up getting into more fights that weren’t her finding René and beating the s**t out of him without him knowing it was her.
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A wild looking one? He hasn't heard of someone like that before…Maybe next time he would have to see if he could go investigate. “If you run into him again, call me and let me know, yeah?” Call him crazy but he felt the need to take this feisty woman under his wing, like a weird powered sister. He had a feeling she would grow to be a badass under the right tutelage and he was so here for it. “Here, lemme see if I have a card on me.” He reached his hand into his subspace with a small smirk, pulling out the card to give to her.
“Here you go. Just let them know…Mitry sent you.”
This wouldn't be the first time he's referred people to the same martial arts place that he goes to, in fact he swore half his family was taking classes now. He even started his baby sister on it because he’d be damned if he would have her prim and proper a** out here without a means to protect herself. He wasn't stupid, he knew there was the potential for any one of these negaverse ******** to drain a child and he wanted to make sure Aylonna had all the advantages that she could possibly need. The twins and Emorali would be taking classes in a couple of years as well.
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“Of course, maybe if two people are punching him in the face he might go down instead of smiling like a psycho.” It hadn’t been pleasant with their hair around her throat either but at least that didn’t leave visible marks on her like the hits had. Tapping her heel against the ground, she looked up as the bell started to toll. It seemed to fill the air and she couldn’t help but wonder if the clocktower might sound like that once she fixed it.
Taking the card, she noticed something odd as he pulled it back and looked at it. There wasn’t anything odd about the paper but then she noticed it. The snowflake that had been falling that would have hit it was stuck in mid-air, not moving. None of the snowflakes were moving anymore and the sound of the wind had gone as well.
“I have a feeling I can guess what that’s short for, my father’s name was the same.” Shaking her head as she smiled, she really noticed the snow then. It reminded her of her wonder, how everything felt too still at first and it brought a slight frown to her face as she focused her attention around the area.
“Something’s off… like on Pluto.”
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“I mean sure. I have skulls for that though." He was pretty proud of his nightmare inducing hallucination magic, deciding that he would tell her the story of when he sent that one corrupt into a midlife crisis it seemed. “There was this one corrupt, pretty fancy looking, that apparently was using a cat to…I dunno what the cat's purpose was for. Either way, he was a complete wet noodle. Was draining some civilian or whatever and I hit him with the skull magic. Guy was talking in another language while having a full on panic attack. It was pure gold…”
He wondered what happened to that poor thing.
As he was talking, Aaru felt a shift in the air around them. He saw what Spass was looking at and he touched one of the flakes in awe. It was…Creepy, but also pretty fascinating. “Ah, well nice to know then. About your father that is. My name is pretty common to be honest, I'm just glad my parents didn't name something like apple.” Something did feel off but he wasn't a pluto knight so he wasn't sure about how to fix it.
“Maybe if we just lay in the show?”
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“I thought breaking his nose with my pendulum would work but something was seriously wrong with them.” Not that she didn’t get riled up and in over her head as well but that wasn’t something she was going to mention out loud.
“I wonder what language, sounds like a p***y though. I saw one with a cat too, a french one but the cat was also human? I don’t really know but the man was a wet noodle too. The woman though, she was fast and I wasn’t expecting it.” Something had been odd about their eyes too but she didn’t really get to look for long.
“True it’s common but it’s a good name.” Taking a few steps, she knelt to look at the snow on the ground. Nothing seemed weird but she was also still figuring things out on her wonder as well. “If the bell caused it maybe walking further away from the church will be enough?” It didn’t look like either of them could just walk into the church right now, there was a lock on the door and she didn’t want to deal with that.
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“Yeah I've met an agent like that…All purple. Complete and total nuthouse.” It made him wonder if they were related somehow? “Believe it or not…..YES! It was french! So apparently or maybe the same guy?” He knew cats could change into humans but he wasn't really into them since he couldn't have one. “We could try walking away, yeah, see what that does.”
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“This one had short hair though but ugh I hate the French… they’re all so pathetic.” Nothing redeemable about any of them if you asked her, especially the men. It made her wonder if either of them had been her ex. There would be no way to tell though, not if it worked the same way as things did on her end.
Moving forward through the stilled snow, she kept an eye out for things, for any sign of movement or sound but nothing seemed to change even as she moved further from the church. “Hrm… I wonder….” Just as she crossed the trees, she blinked and felt herself yanked back to the front steps of the church but this time the snow was falling and the rest of the bell’s tolls continued until it finished striking midnight. “Weird….”
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“Hate the French huh?” He was tempted to ask what happened but maybe he shouldn't be too nosy. In fact, he found the French interesting if only because they were different from his people and whatnot. That was the same with any country and their people. He wanted to take a trip around Europe with Ryan one day for their anniversary. But that would have to be when the kids got older and could safely look after themselves, or at least until he could find someone to watch them. He was thinking Moon would be a good choice since she was their mother but that would be something to discuss later.
Aaru followed the page through the paused snow, casually whistling a tune while they walked. If something wanted to come after them he would be more than happy to show them why that was a bad idea. When they reached the treeline and crossed it, Aaru found himself back at the church, but it seemed like time was moving again. “Interesting but then again it's ******** DC.” Looking to his….Friend? He shrugged, “Ready to get out of here? I have brats to entertain and a husband I'm sure is wondering why my run to the store is taking so long.” Knowing Ryan, he more than likely wasn't worried but he liked to think he would be.
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“I have more than enough reason to dislike them at this point, and even here, they keep adding to the pile of problems.” Eventually, she’d talk more about it, but for now, she was curious about what they were whistling as they walked.
“This city is so weird… if I was superstitious I’d say it was possessed by something.” Raising an eyebrow at the mention of kids and a husband, she was surprised at least a bit. It wasn’t something she’d pegged them for but then again it wasn’t her business.
“Gone out for milk and a pack of cigarettes?” Teasing as she tucked the card into her pocket, it was enough for tonight. “Be safe I guess, I need to put some more ice on my face.”
Viva Viola
