flameandpassion | 71 [Video] 12:20 AM.

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71 [Video] 12:20 AM.

[It's dark outside -- pitch black, with only the softest sound of footsteps squelching in the mud. There's the briefest flash of white as Hino Rei drops her PCD onto the ground, where it bounces lightly. The girl is sopping wet -- aftermath from the abrupt draining of the water from Adstringendum -- but her eyes are bright and she appears happy as can be.

-- and then, fire engulfs her.

It's a column of flame, and it lasts for at least twenty seconds, before it falls away to reveal Mars, in her glory, perfectly dry and unharmed. She looks down at her gloves before grinning to herself, casting a glance down at the PCD, where she notices the red light. Instead of being bothered, Mars picks up the device.]

If this place floods one more time, I'll go to the Animus myself and deliver a complaint.

[But it's hard to take the threat seriously -- Mars looks a lot happier than she has in the past week. With a final smile, the senshi clicks off the feed.

And no, she is not apologizing for waking anyone up.

You people do it to her all the time.]

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[...]

It's my uniform.

[A ball of flame appears in her right hand and Mars smiles at it.]

I wanted to feel it again. I can't do this underwater -- obviously.

Now I see what you meant.

[She sits up. Her hair is caked with mud, and she's shivering slightly. No way she's going inside just yet, though.]

You're like a...magical cheerleader.

[She is going to fucking murder Gabriel. This isn't his fault. But every time Mars hears the word 'cheerleader', she has an instinctive reaction to stab him in the face.]

I'm the senshi of war.

Not a magical cheerleader.

You're a pedophile's dream and, jeeze, your legs are, like, seventy-five percent of your entire body.

I need them to run.

[Somewhat irritably.]

... you wanted a demonstration, right?

Uh-huh.

[She lays back down in the mud, closing her eyes.]

Not right now. I'm too busy being the most relaxed I've been all week.

[Mars lets the fire trickle through her fingers, catching it with her other hand.]

So am I.

[She hates water.]

I hate water, I can't swim, and Gabriel tried to drown me. I'd rather spend a month without my powers than go through that ever again.

I'm betting I hate water more than --

[Pause.]

Gabriel tried to what?

He thought it would be funny. It wasn't.

[She sighs to herself before she closes her eyes, her transformation melting away to reveal Rei. Her hair settles around her shoulders and she dusts her hands off.]

I doubt he actually tried to drown you.

Where are you, anyway?

He totally did. Then he trapped me.

[She rolls her eyes.]

On the ground outside the Chateau. I didn't get very far.

[Rei opens her mouth to say "I told him to be nice, but wisely thinks better of it.]

Give me half an hour.

[More than enough time to distract Castiel with something so he doesn't try to follow her to the Chateau.]

Whatever.

[In a half an hour, Jinx will be cleaned up. She'll have two chairs sitting outside, a bit further away from the chateau. There's a table with a lantern, a tea pot, and two cups on it.

Yeah, she's happy to not be under water.]

[True to her word, Rei shows up half an hour later, hands deep in the pockets of her light jacket. Her pace slows as she nears Jinx, her eyes flickering towards the lights of the Chateau, but she doesn't look nervous or afraid. Instead, she looks almost resigned, and she stops just shy of the table.]

He's there.

[And, after the explanation for her behavior, Rei arches her eyebrows at the tea.]

Classy.

[Jinx shrugs.] It's his house, too. About time he came home.

[Oh. The tea. She looks down at it, back up and Rei, then back to the teapot.] I was thirsty and I'm angry at water right now.

It's not his house.

[Rei pauses before she sits, though it's on the edge of the seat, and Rei rests her elbows on her knees, steepling her fingers together in thought, resting her chin on her thumbs.]

It belonged to Rhode Kamelot and Tyki Mikk.

[It sounds vaguely nostalgic. There is no love lost between Rhode and Rei -- Rhode nearly killed her during Rei's first month in Adstringendum. Tyki, though, was another story. Nearly redeemable, for his offenses against the general population in Adstringendum, in Rei's eyes. Almost a friend -- but not quite. It made her horrendously sad to think what would become of him in his own world. There was no option for freedom there.

She's quiet, for a long moment, deep in thought, before Rei clears her throat and straightens abruptly, to turn to the tea.]

Do you know how to make tea or is this going to taste like mud?

Lucifer's sister... [Jinx says softly. The reason why there's candles all over that place. Probably the reason why that room was destroyed, but she wasn't dumb enough to comment on it. Not just yet. They were getting closer, though. More open with each other. It was progress, and progress was slow.]

Well, now it's our house, so get over it. [A pause.] And it's Lipton.

[Hard to screw up Lipton. Then again, she couldn't cook if her life depended on it. It's bitter and bland, but at least it's warm.]

Edited 2011-08-15 04:18 (UTC)

She wasn't his sister.

[It's said a bit sharply -- a tad harsher than absolutely necessary. But she wasn't. She never would be. They were two completely different universes and Lucifer had twisted the truth in order to manipulate the two Noah into doing what he wanted. -- ... well, almost. Tyki hadn't exactly been completely on board with Lucifer. Thankfully.

But her irritation quells at the mention of the tea, and Rei groans softly to herself.]

That's disgusting.

We make our family sometimes, Rei.

[A pretty philosophical thing to come out of Jinx's mouth. Maybe she would have expanded a little more on it if her tea wasn't insulted.]

I try to do a nice thing and this is the thanks I get? You know what? Fuck you, fuck your whole Asian nun thing, and you can make your own goddamn tea at your own place. At the Chateau? We drink Lipton.

[Rei actually looks surprised, at that, before she settles back in her chair, suddenly quiet. It's true enough. She's formed her own family, both in her own world and in Adstringendum. Her life would be woefully incomplete without them --

-- but then, Rei snorts into laughter, and rolls her eyes to the sky to look at the stars.]

I'm going to show you how to make real tea, with tea leaves, because that stuff in the bag is a disgrace against nature.

...I hate tea.

[She pursed her lips, looking off to the side.]

[Rei pauses, at that, before she extends a hand towards the cup, taking it into both hands, swishing it around with a gentle flick of her wrist before sipping it.]

It's not really an American thing.

You'd be surprised at what Starbucks has done.

Me? I'm still going through caffeine withdrawals. I don't know how I've lasted this long without a cup of coffee. ...or a hot shower. Or a radio. [She curls herself up into her chair, hugging her thin knees.] My sketchbook. My brothers. My own bed. My shoe collection. Pizza.

[Rei pauses for a second or two, after Jinx is finished, before snorting to herself. Basic things to miss. Comfort, security, family -- but the thing that stuck out the most to Rei was something so... utterly useless, in the long run.]

My mother died when I was young. And my father -- he's a politician. Really, really famous, and successful. He does a lot of amazing things, I guess.

[Rei doesn't sound all that impressed or enthralled -- or even proud.]

He left me at my grandfather's shrine one day, a month or two after my mother passed away. I was five and he couldn't -- handle it, I guess. My mother passing away, having me around, and his job -- his work helped him get over it better than I did. And I was so angry, because I wanted my own room and my clothes and everything my parents had given me, and when my grandfather took me to my new room, the only thing in it was a bed and a brand new radio.

[She drops her head lightly against the back of her chair with a laugh.]

I hated that stupid thing and I told him I didn't want it. It broke about four years after that, but I could never throw the stupid thing away.

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