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 Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2025 8:44 pm
After the group field trip to the Moon to talk with the console in the Celestial Theatre and the bit of the Code that lived there, Ida had felt some amount of duty to find Caedus and discuss their plans with him. Yes, they needed to know what he knew about what was going on, but there was also a part of her that needed him to know what the others were planning, if the worst happened and the Vanguard asked for his starseed in exchange for their help.
That plan had not sat well with her... the idea of it had felt so deeply wrong, it had left her restless and unable to sleep afterwards. Work had not allowed her the luxury of giving up on sleep entirely, but as soon as she'd managed the time, Ida had set out with a plan to find the alien. Which... had proved harder than she expected. Granted, it wasn't like she knew him particular well, to know where he spent his time. She also wasn't sure if any of her friends knew him well enough to know where she could find him, so she'd been forced to start asking around and canvasing the city outside of her usual patrol routes.
It had taken multiple nights to make her way through the city and finally the outskirts before she had any sort of luck. She'd run into a squire who had mentioned seeing someone odd past the next hill, so she was cautious as she approached it. Steps slow, she made her way over the curve to the crest and came to a stop, letting her hands hang loose and open by her hips as she took a moment to glance up at the stars.
It was so clear tonight... chill, but not too cold as spring came to Destiny City. It made her wonder where Caedus was living while he was on Earth... if he was staying warm in the winter.
Dropping her eyes, she turned to scan the area. "Caedus?" She called out, keeping her voice gentle. "I'm Ida. I don't know if you remember me... I was hoping we could talk, if you're here."
If this was someone else, it was going to be... rather embarrassing.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2025 8:26 pm
The hill was silent, and the trees eerily still. For a long moment, she received no response, and as with her other efforts to locate him, it seemed as if this too would result in failure. And then, from the shadows, a heavy sigh. It was impossible to tell which dark figure was him and not a tree, but he must have preferred it that way because he didn’t come into view when he responded. “I remember you.” A soft breeze passed through and the trees rustled. It was only when the wind slowed that Caedus spoke again, soft in volume but with a familiar rumble, as if he’d hurt his voice recently or just hadn’t been using it. “What were you hoping to talk about?”
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Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2025 8:55 pm
It was... disappointing, that he chose not to reveal himself, but Ida could accept that he had very good reasons not to. She had never really gotten to know him in all the time he'd been hiding here on Earth, there was nothing she'd done that really screamed 'I'm trustworthy!'. So the senshi let him stay in hiding, if that was what he preferred, and simply turned towards his voice, lacing her fingers together in front of her.
"Some of our people were pulled somewhere else and shown visions of a great serpent monster. Something that travels in a storm, and is big enough to devour a world. Some of them were given stakes, and some a vision of a place we call the Celestial Theatre. There is an old console left over from the time of the Silver Millennium there, and I visited it with a couple of my allies. Unfortunately, it couldn't give us any more information than... a handful of its names, and that it was on its way here." She said, debating on how much to tell him about that place. Maybe all of it would be fine... but it might also be safer for everyone if the full details of that place weren't widely known. For now, anyway.
"I was hoping I could find out what you might know about the 'Calamitous Hollow'? All signs point towards it destroying this world if it makes it here... and I don't think we have very much time before it does."
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2025 6:20 pm
Caedus was quiet again, but for a briefer period this time than he had been before. “I have only limited information. I do not think it is of much use. I have heard stories of it, I think. If you mean the large serpent.” He sounded reluctant, maybe disappointed. “I do not wish to be useless. But I did not engage in storytelling when I returned to my people. The Rift did not offer much entertainment. And before I was there…” His voice drifted away again but he picked up not too long after that. “I visited many worlds. I met many people. I heard many stories. But I liked the ones with happy endings. I was thinking, though. I remember seeing storms. Purple, with strange energy. I do not know if it is my imagination, or a dream I am confusing with reality, or wishful thinking. But I thought, long ago, that I saw a white beast writhing through the clouds, in a storm like the one here. We were passing through, we did not land. It was a very long time ago, and I was very young.” He added a soft, apologetic, “I think.”
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 10:37 am
Ida offered a gentle smile out into the darkness, hoping he might take some comfort in the expression, if he could see it.
"You don't have to apologize for not having the answers. We're trying to explore all avenues, find any information we can. It does sound like maybe you saw it... the purple storm is something we're seeing now. I'm pretty sure I saw that when I was at Almadel's museum." Her smile faltered a little then, seriousness settling back over her features and darkening her eyes.
"I wanted to talk to you for another reason too. We're going to try to enlist the help of the Negaverse, and the Vanguard." Ida spoke slowly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "We're going to need everyone's help to save this planet. Earth is the only place left in all of the cosmos that supports life, where senshi and knights are still awakening... This is our last bastion. Hopefully, we can all simply work together to save everyone. But, there's a small chance that... the Vanguard might demand your surrender in exchange for their cooperation."
Kerberos didn't think it was likely, Ganymede hoped it wouldn't come to that. But they'd discussed being willing to give him over if it did. It made Ida's stomach knot. There had to be another way. If they couldn't find one, they were simply not trying hard enough. There was always another way.
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Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2025 8:38 pm
Again, the silence, and then a long, rattly sigh. “I know,” he said quietly. This time, his voice hadn’t moved, but neither did the shadows. There was a heaviness in the air that hadn't been there before, and a strange current on the wind. There were no storms tonight but something still was amiss. When Caedus spoke again, it was with a tired sort of grief, like something torn between acceptance and exasperation. "...Have you come to ask me to turn myself over to them?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2025 7:50 pm
Ida shook her head slowly as she turned towards the voice in the darkness, her expression solemn.
"I think that you are the only one who can make that decision, but also that you should be the only one who gets to make it." She said. "I wanted to warn you that there are some of my fellows who are considering one life worth our world... and to be careful who you trust until this is over. It didn't sit right with me, and I wanted to make sure you were forewarned. I don't know what the Vanguard will ask for in return for their help, and all of us hope they will give it without strings, considering what's at stake."
"I'm sorry you are in this position. It's unfair and horrible... and if I can find some way to help, I will." Ida tried to put her earnestness into her voice. "But that's all I wanted to speak to you about. Find out what you knew, warn you about what was coming."
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 8:26 pm
“...I see,” Caedus said, but maybe it was just to fill the silence while he considered her words. He didn’t sound surprised. “I wish I had more information to share with you. I am not in active communication with the rest of the Vanguard.” Perhaps for obvious reasons. “I have limited contact with some Senshi. Some Knights. I do not see any others.” He didn’t know if he was trying to reassure her or himself. Maybe it was foolish to tell her how few allies he had. She had come here to help. He wanted to trust her intentions. “I will be safe,” he promised, though his voice had softened and he sounded a bit doubtful. “...When you offer…to help,” he said after a few seconds, but he seemed like he was second guessing his words. “...Do you think it is possible to save Velencya? Or to restore Velenia, without my starseed? …I think, my people do not always know who to ask. If anyone should be offered help, I hope it is them.” He spoke with great, unwavering conviction. “I know they will try to save your world.”
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 11:54 am
Ida hesitated, feeling herself draw back, inwardly, against the idea of helping the Vanguard. That was a feeling she had to pause to examine, wondering why she felt such reticence about it. Was it just because they had lied to their white moon allies and then betrayed them at a critical moment to the Negaverse? She hadn't really tried to get to know them beyond that... but there were numerous examples of the Negaverse actively warring with the White Moon, and she knew that if any of them asked for her help, she would give it. Granted, there were caveats... she wouldn't hurt someone for them, or do anything to further their agenda. Did the Vanguard not also deserve that same willingness? Or was it just Lyndin that she distrusted?
"I don't know how to safely offer my help to them." The senshi said after a moment, quietly. "Lyndin betrayed us before, and it cost us lives. I don't know how to trust them not to do that again, or how to prevent it from happening. It's not as simple as with the Negaverse, where I can just purify their soldiers to free them. If I could help them through you, I would do it without hesitation. I guess if you vouched for someone, I would trust them as well..."
"I don't know if we can restore your world without restoring your starseed, but I do believe that we can figure out some way to save it that saves you too. There are always other answers, other ways to solve a problem." Ida pulled her senshi phone from subspace and felt the weight of it fall, familiar, into her palm. "Do you have a way of sending me what information you have about Velencya and the connection with your starseed? I have people I want to talk to about it, and I don't trust my memory after all these years."
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2025 4:46 am
Though Caedus was disappointed in the response, he could not blame her. He knew she–and the others of Earth–had been through a great ordeal. Lyndin had betrayed him, too. And yet, Caedus still hoped for the best. He still wanted to have faith. He couldn’t find it in his heart to say or think disparaging things about Lyndin, or the Vanguard. “I do not,” he said apologetically. “Commodore Lyndin has access to my records,” he added, but there was a sort of guilty reluctance about it. She’d already mentioned that she didn’t think she could trust him so Caedus did not attempt to convince her. “...I will see if there is anything I can do. But I am not optimistic. It is a mystery I have not been able to solve, nor my people. I do not carry much technology on me but…I am visited, sometimes. I will see what I can do. I do not wish for you to feel unsafe. But, please. Do not blame the Vanguard, if you can find it in your heart not to. I think they are all good people. I think they are just desperate. I am sorry to ask so much of you. I want to save them,” he said, but there was a sort of helplessness in his voice. He sighed. “I have always asked so much of you. I wish to repay your kindness. I hope one day I will bring you more than trouble.”
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