(no subject)
(("Ohh sh.. all awa shan.... Mellra to zalr sha'ra nn....
Sh.. all trian do awa lewan.... Zoire we'ar do quor meallin....
Shotra, milli maskus, shtru..."))
Bare feet tread over fallen leaves. Ruby red lips open and close in silent pronunciation - their sound heard from far away, always.
Tonight is a full moon... Hotaru gazes up at the round, bright white face. She's looking for the rabbit pounding mochi when the words of this new song drift to her from outside. Her eyes turn towards the sound, and an autumn wind blows across the treetops. The trees bend and sway and leaves leave them, floating away.
Hotaru folds her arms on her windowsill. She rests her head on them and closes her eyes.
It takes me away. This sound. Like I know it... I've heard it somewhere before.
The singing continues. It is otherworldly, somehow. Yet, not at all. Someone of this Earth, but, perhaps, Not from it. Like us?... There is a feeling of affirmation in her heart when she thinks this. It causes her to sit up, think back to her past. She searches the thousands of years that come to mind, trying to pinpoint that one time, the one place where its familiarity finds its root.
"Pay attention to me..." the song seems to say. And she does. It bends and twists and turns, finding new highs and familiar lows. And then it stops. Hotaru raises her eyebrows, startled by the sudden pause... and then, when it doesn't start again.
"Hm," she says. "Why stop? I was enjoying that..."
She hears a fluster, and a huge amount of flapping, far away. She looks more closely through her window. There are birds flapping and flying up and away out of the trees, startled by something, their wings black against the moonlight.
"I wonder..." Hotaru says aloud.
She turns and slips off the side of her bed and into her slippers. Then she grabs her robe and puts it on, tying the sash around her middle to keep it closed.
After a thought she grabs a whole blanket and wraps it around her thin shoulders. She creeps out of her bedroom, down the stairs... Setsuna is still at the planetarium. Haruka and Michiru must be asleep in their rooms. Chance for her. She walks out of the back door, and shuts it gently behind her.
The world outside is dark and empty and big. She gazes at it all calmly, taking it in. She takes care to make as little noise in the bed of dead leaves as she can as she enters and passes through the woods.
What am I looking for...?
She breathes slowly in and out. The crisp Autumn air is invigorating in more ways than one. She steps over and around some huge dead branches, a few small and shallow pits.
She glimpses a rippling white glimmer through the trees. She's close to the lake. The place where those birds were startled was somewhere around here... she presses on. A wind blows again, and her hair flies in the breeze, dark strands floating momentarily. A dead leaf gets tangled in it as it settles again, near her ear, unnoticed. The lake is getting closer and closer. She hugs the blanket closer around her. It's getting colder. Then, suddenly, she is upon the lake, black waters rippling against the shore just a few feet below her, and moonlight shimmering near its middle. The stars are shining within it, too, outside the moon's round face, little blue pinpricks by the hundreds. "It's beautiful..." she says out loud. She's never been out here in the middle of the night before.
It's then that she hears the distinctive rustle of someone moving. Just behind her, slowly. Almost ambling, without a sense of real purpose or direction. The something making the sound falls into a tree; there is the dull and soft 'thud.' Hotaru turns, fixing her eyes on the direction of the noise. Then there is a quick motion, a dark mass. It bursts out from the foliage in speed. Hotaru has no time to react when it 'thuds' again, into her, at full force. It is pressed against her and she against it as it runs straight into the lake. Soon they are far out, and quite underwater.
As she regains her senses, she pushes away from it. Can I see..? she thinks. What are yo-- with enmity it shoves her several feet further into the lake, following close behind, nearly on top of her again. The water's getting much deeper; what fish there were in the area have scattered into the now deep blue colors beneath them. In such a pinch, she sees no other option but to pull her arm up towards the surface and shout.
"Saturn Crystal Power, Make Up!"
Purple ribbons swirl around them as if flying in the wind even as they are underwater. Her robe and pajamas are replaced by the Sailor Suit of white, purple and violet. "Who are you, Creature!?" she tries to say. She realizes, though, that she does not have enough breath for all of that. I need to breathe... she realizes with a start. She starts to swim towards the surface, and the dark, blurry creature pulls at her leg, trying to bring her down to it. She kicks it in the face with one heel, swiftly, without emotion, and it releases her long enough to kick her way up to the surface.
She takes a deep inbreath of air. "What... what is going on?" The dark blur swims into the lake, away from her. She starts to swim back to the shore. is this what was making all that commotion? she thinks. Michiru is a good swimming teacher, and taught her daughter well. She reaches a shore shortly, then peers across the lake.
-Beware...- She hears a voice that seems to come behind her. She turns, and sees... a woman, perhaps, standing just within the trees, partially obscured from sight. Clothed all in dim white, her dark hair hangs down to her knees, and she has...
"White wings..." Hotaru says aloud. Her vision from before, and this woman. Is this what it was referring to...?
A splash of water behind her, and the dark mass rushes out of the water. She has just time to turn. She blocks her body with the staff that she calls to her before it tackles her head-on, pinning her on the ground. It seems a formless creature, a mass of nothing. But it is heavy, and stifling. Its body is smoky dark, its 'flesh' swirling and reforming and un-forming and swirling like polluted, smoky air.
She presses the staff of her polearm into its chest and yells out, "SILENT WALL!!" A brief invisible wall forms directly between them, and as it forms, grows outwards; a barrier between her and her enemy. Caught on the wall, it propels him off of her - he flies away and lands sixty feet away, dazed. With enough time to get to her feet and refocus before he is on top of her again, she takes the opportunity.
"SILE---"
-No...!- the silent voice sounds out again and she glances quickly to see that the mysterious figure is moved to another position within the forest.
The dark, smoky being is up and revived, rushing towards Hotaru. She looks back to it curtly, resolved to ignore the woman. "SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!!" she shouts. She brings the blade of the Silence Glaive slicing downwards and across her, through the air. The dark creature dissipates into the air, unforming into so much smoky nothingness. With nothing in its way, the attack bolts on. There are three seconds of silence, of stillness, as it moves unseen. Then, two large trees explode spontaneously, when her attack makes contact. Wood chips and leaf shards flutter and rain upon the rest of the forest nearby.
Hotaru stares at the spot where her opponent vanished in confusion... should she still be on her guard? Or is it gone..? There is the sound of a sigh. She turns to see the white-garbed woman hang her head, covered with one wisp-colored hand, shaking it slowly with what seems disappointment, or frustration... Hotaru looks at her. She cradles the glaive in one arm, blade facing upwards.
Finally, she begins to walk forward slowly. She is curious, more than anything. The forest-figure seems to know much more than makes sense to Hotaru. She knew what she was going to do, when she attacked. She knew that the creature was going to attack her from the water. What is your deal?..
The woman continues to shake her head slowly side-to-side. As Hotaru approaches, she does raise her head, at last. She gazes at Hotaru with dark eyes. Her arm raises very slowly, deliberately, until at her own chest height. She suddenly calls out - her lips move, no sound utters from them - -Stop!- and thrusts her palm facing Hotaru. Sensing the blast, Hotaru covers her face with her arms in one deft movement. Dead leaves go flying up around her ankles, her feet trying to plant themselves firmly to the ground to no avail, and she goes hurtling back over her head into the lake.
...That was careless of me, she sighs to herself.
Sh.. all trian do awa lewan.... Zoire we'ar do quor meallin....
Shotra, milli maskus, shtru..."))
Bare feet tread over fallen leaves. Ruby red lips open and close in silent pronunciation - their sound heard from far away, always.
Tonight is a full moon... Hotaru gazes up at the round, bright white face. She's looking for the rabbit pounding mochi when the words of this new song drift to her from outside. Her eyes turn towards the sound, and an autumn wind blows across the treetops. The trees bend and sway and leaves leave them, floating away.
Hotaru folds her arms on her windowsill. She rests her head on them and closes her eyes.
It takes me away. This sound. Like I know it... I've heard it somewhere before.
The singing continues. It is otherworldly, somehow. Yet, not at all. Someone of this Earth, but, perhaps, Not from it. Like us?... There is a feeling of affirmation in her heart when she thinks this. It causes her to sit up, think back to her past. She searches the thousands of years that come to mind, trying to pinpoint that one time, the one place where its familiarity finds its root.
"Pay attention to me..." the song seems to say. And she does. It bends and twists and turns, finding new highs and familiar lows. And then it stops. Hotaru raises her eyebrows, startled by the sudden pause... and then, when it doesn't start again.
"Hm," she says. "Why stop? I was enjoying that..."
She hears a fluster, and a huge amount of flapping, far away. She looks more closely through her window. There are birds flapping and flying up and away out of the trees, startled by something, their wings black against the moonlight.
"I wonder..." Hotaru says aloud.
She turns and slips off the side of her bed and into her slippers. Then she grabs her robe and puts it on, tying the sash around her middle to keep it closed.
After a thought she grabs a whole blanket and wraps it around her thin shoulders. She creeps out of her bedroom, down the stairs... Setsuna is still at the planetarium. Haruka and Michiru must be asleep in their rooms. Chance for her. She walks out of the back door, and shuts it gently behind her.
The world outside is dark and empty and big. She gazes at it all calmly, taking it in. She takes care to make as little noise in the bed of dead leaves as she can as she enters and passes through the woods.
What am I looking for...?
She breathes slowly in and out. The crisp Autumn air is invigorating in more ways than one. She steps over and around some huge dead branches, a few small and shallow pits.
She glimpses a rippling white glimmer through the trees. She's close to the lake. The place where those birds were startled was somewhere around here... she presses on. A wind blows again, and her hair flies in the breeze, dark strands floating momentarily. A dead leaf gets tangled in it as it settles again, near her ear, unnoticed. The lake is getting closer and closer. She hugs the blanket closer around her. It's getting colder. Then, suddenly, she is upon the lake, black waters rippling against the shore just a few feet below her, and moonlight shimmering near its middle. The stars are shining within it, too, outside the moon's round face, little blue pinpricks by the hundreds. "It's beautiful..." she says out loud. She's never been out here in the middle of the night before.
It's then that she hears the distinctive rustle of someone moving. Just behind her, slowly. Almost ambling, without a sense of real purpose or direction. The something making the sound falls into a tree; there is the dull and soft 'thud.' Hotaru turns, fixing her eyes on the direction of the noise. Then there is a quick motion, a dark mass. It bursts out from the foliage in speed. Hotaru has no time to react when it 'thuds' again, into her, at full force. It is pressed against her and she against it as it runs straight into the lake. Soon they are far out, and quite underwater.
As she regains her senses, she pushes away from it. Can I see..? she thinks. What are yo-- with enmity it shoves her several feet further into the lake, following close behind, nearly on top of her again. The water's getting much deeper; what fish there were in the area have scattered into the now deep blue colors beneath them. In such a pinch, she sees no other option but to pull her arm up towards the surface and shout.
"Saturn Crystal Power, Make Up!"
Purple ribbons swirl around them as if flying in the wind even as they are underwater. Her robe and pajamas are replaced by the Sailor Suit of white, purple and violet. "Who are you, Creature!?" she tries to say. She realizes, though, that she does not have enough breath for all of that. I need to breathe... she realizes with a start. She starts to swim towards the surface, and the dark, blurry creature pulls at her leg, trying to bring her down to it. She kicks it in the face with one heel, swiftly, without emotion, and it releases her long enough to kick her way up to the surface.
She takes a deep inbreath of air. "What... what is going on?" The dark blur swims into the lake, away from her. She starts to swim back to the shore. is this what was making all that commotion? she thinks. Michiru is a good swimming teacher, and taught her daughter well. She reaches a shore shortly, then peers across the lake.
-Beware...- She hears a voice that seems to come behind her. She turns, and sees... a woman, perhaps, standing just within the trees, partially obscured from sight. Clothed all in dim white, her dark hair hangs down to her knees, and she has...
"White wings..." Hotaru says aloud. Her vision from before, and this woman. Is this what it was referring to...?
A splash of water behind her, and the dark mass rushes out of the water. She has just time to turn. She blocks her body with the staff that she calls to her before it tackles her head-on, pinning her on the ground. It seems a formless creature, a mass of nothing. But it is heavy, and stifling. Its body is smoky dark, its 'flesh' swirling and reforming and un-forming and swirling like polluted, smoky air.
She presses the staff of her polearm into its chest and yells out, "SILENT WALL!!" A brief invisible wall forms directly between them, and as it forms, grows outwards; a barrier between her and her enemy. Caught on the wall, it propels him off of her - he flies away and lands sixty feet away, dazed. With enough time to get to her feet and refocus before he is on top of her again, she takes the opportunity.
"SILE---"
-No...!- the silent voice sounds out again and she glances quickly to see that the mysterious figure is moved to another position within the forest.
The dark, smoky being is up and revived, rushing towards Hotaru. She looks back to it curtly, resolved to ignore the woman. "SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!!" she shouts. She brings the blade of the Silence Glaive slicing downwards and across her, through the air. The dark creature dissipates into the air, unforming into so much smoky nothingness. With nothing in its way, the attack bolts on. There are three seconds of silence, of stillness, as it moves unseen. Then, two large trees explode spontaneously, when her attack makes contact. Wood chips and leaf shards flutter and rain upon the rest of the forest nearby.
Hotaru stares at the spot where her opponent vanished in confusion... should she still be on her guard? Or is it gone..? There is the sound of a sigh. She turns to see the white-garbed woman hang her head, covered with one wisp-colored hand, shaking it slowly with what seems disappointment, or frustration... Hotaru looks at her. She cradles the glaive in one arm, blade facing upwards.
Finally, she begins to walk forward slowly. She is curious, more than anything. The forest-figure seems to know much more than makes sense to Hotaru. She knew what she was going to do, when she attacked. She knew that the creature was going to attack her from the water. What is your deal?..
The woman continues to shake her head slowly side-to-side. As Hotaru approaches, she does raise her head, at last. She gazes at Hotaru with dark eyes. Her arm raises very slowly, deliberately, until at her own chest height. She suddenly calls out - her lips move, no sound utters from them - -Stop!- and thrusts her palm facing Hotaru. Sensing the blast, Hotaru covers her face with her arms in one deft movement. Dead leaves go flying up around her ankles, her feet trying to plant themselves firmly to the ground to no avail, and she goes hurtling back over her head into the lake.
...That was careless of me, she sighs to herself.