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Post by Kino Makoto on Mar 19, 2009 13:45:35 GMT -5
Makoto had taken a cab back to her car that she’d left in the lot near Lumiere. Somehow she’d maintained her composure enough to drive back to the safety of the palace. She got out of the car and tossed the keys to the palace valet and began her march to her quarters. ’Only a bit further…only a bit further…’ she repeated over and over. She couldn’t let anyone else see her break down, and definitely not palace employees. It’s times like this I wish that I’d never given up my small apartment outside of the palace compound. It would make for a great escape right about now…’
The elevator bell sounded with a ‘ding’ before the doors opened to reveal a rather dark common area. She assumed that everyone had retreated to their rooms for the night and she could sneak to her own without running into anyone. Turning the corner to the hall where her own quarters lie, she noticed a light out of the corner of her eye. Makoto crooked an eyebrow. There was no noise coming from that direction, so she figured that someone must have left the light on. Deciding it best not to waste energy, she went to the kitchen to flip the switch off…
…and was promptly met with Rei’s angry gaze.
“Shit.”
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Post by Hino Rei on Apr 1, 2009 22:14:56 GMT -5
"Shit."
To be fair, Rei hadn't even been glaring at Makoto, it just appeared that way. Well... to be honest she'd been glaring at anyone and anything that had come into her presence in the past few hours. Already the life and wits had been scared out of the shrine maidens, several servants of general note, a few of the bodyguards, an errant cat and one problematic toaster. The toaster which was right now puffing out a bit of smoke and barfing up bread. Or perhaps that was the other way around.
Regardless, the fact that the fire senshi was angry and troubled could not be denied and her expression didn't soften so much as break upon seeing the friend she'd been (subliminally) looking for. "Makoto. You were out."
The words were growled, but not for anything Makoto had done. Rei barely remembered the date plans, and was more concerned with fishing out the remains of her toast with clever little device Americans called a "spork." The plastic and heat weren't doing well with one another, but Rei knew better than to use metal. She doubted her powers would save her from being electrocuted. As much as she wanted to whine about the toaster or the spork or any other amount of equally unintelligent but exceedingly annoying problems in her life, Rei clamped her lips shut and simply slapped the wilted plastic down upon the countertop.
Carding one hand through her well-groomed mane of hair, Rei heaved a sigh and seemed to remember, briefly, what was going on. "How did it go?"
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Post by Kino Makoto on Apr 2, 2009 9:32:44 GMT -5
Makoto lightly winced at Rei’s growled words. It was then that she got a whiff of the burnt toast. She scrunched her eyebrows as Rei dug at the toaster with a plastic utensil, and frowned when she practically slammed it down on the counter in frustration. Makoto shook her head and walked over to the counter. She set her purse down as her sister inquired about her outing that evening and heaved a sigh. “It started off pretty well, actually. And then…” She felt her throat dry out as she attempted to pull out the memories of what had happened only minutes ago, which were now currently swirling and combining with memories from eons ago. “And then… It all went downhill from there. Or uphill. Or… I don’t know.”
She needed composure, and she needed it NOW. Her first stop was the fridge. She removed a small glass jar of strawberry jam and a jug of milk. Placing those items on the center island, she turned back to the counter where Rei was standing. “Why don’t you sit over there and I’ll fix this, OK?”
Moving to the bread box, she pulled out the loaf of sliced bread. Then she pulled open a drawer and removed a set of tongs. She unplugged the smoking toaster, swiftly plucked the over-toasted bread from the slot and promptly dropped it into the trash bin beside the counter. Removing two more slices of bread from the loaf, she dropped them into the toaster slots and reset the level to something much lower and less…burny. She plugged the toaster back in and pressed down on the lever.
Above the counter, she opened the cabinet and removed two glasses. Then she again turned back to the center island and took a seat across from Rei. She placed the glasses before each of them and reached for the milk. As she poured, she decided to continue. She’d been silent long enough and whether she liked it or not, Rei needed an answer.
“I’ll just stick with the short version, and elaborate when necessary. Over dinner, our discussion turned to his issue with needing answers. I know I said way more than I should have, because after I’d said it he turned pale and broke out into a sweat. I suggested that we retreat to somewhere more private, and the best choice was his home.” She stopped for a moment, taking a sip of the milk and letting it coat her throat before continuing.
“Once we got to his apartment, I had him sit on the couch. He didn’t look well at all. Still, he asked me to continue. I guess I slipped and said something that jogged his memory, or something, because before I knew it…” she trailed off and closed her eyes, pulling the memory to the front of her mind again. “…Before I knew it, he was off the couch and had me in his arms again. He kissed me, asking me all sorts of questions between kisses.” A tear slid down her cheek. She couldn’t hold back any longer.
“He called me by my name, Rei! He called me Maeve!” She looked up at her sister, and tried to wipe the tears away that were now falling more steadily. “And then I remembered. I remembered everything. It just hit me, one wave after another. And finally… I remembered what happened. I remembered what he did, what they all did.” She swallowed hard, her throat had gone dry again. She reached for her glass again, and took another small sip.
“So I left. I freaked out and I left. Again.”
Behind her, the toaster made a ‘ding’ noise as it popped up, signaling that its job had finished. Makoto never moved from her spot.
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Post by Hino Rei on Apr 2, 2009 17:02:16 GMT -5
After having given up the toast with much less of a fight than one might have expected--indeed, the Priestess simply took the seat she'd been gestured to, put her elbows on the counter, and sulked--Rei listened. If she knew what Makoto was saying, or doing, there was no indication on her impassive face.
At the name 'Maeve', however, she twitched just faintly and seemed to come out of it.
"You're not Maeve." Rei replied slowly and stared at the milk. There was a large possibility that she could make it boil simply by glaring at it--it probably would have felt good to have some sort of release--but she was far too tired to expend the energy. "You're Makoto. Maeve lived in the Silver Millennium. Maeve was a princess. Maeve died."
Once again running her fingers through her hair, better to push the dark mass out of her face, Rei finally lifted her gaze from the milk. "We need to remember that, Makoto. Just because a part of ourselves was in them does not make us the same people."
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Post by Kino Makoto on Apr 2, 2009 17:29:29 GMT -5
Makoto gawked at Rei’s harsh reply and stiffened herself. “No Rei, I’m not Maeve. Not anymore. But at one time I was, and I am not about to deny that past.”
Pushing the chair away from the counter, she skulked back over to the other counter. Reaching into another cabinet, she produced two plates and placed them beside the toaster. With one short motion, she removed the toast from the slots and placed one piece on each plate. She opened a drawer and pulled out two butter knives. With knives in hand, she picked up the two plates and went back to the center island. She set one plate before her seat and spun the other one across in the direction of Rei, and dropped one knife flat on the surface between herself and her sister. She grabbed the jar of strawberry jam, opened it and dug in with her own knife before smearing the red goo across her toast. Once satisfied with the amount, she slid the jar over to Rei and took a bite of her toast.
Rei’s words echoed through her head as she chewed. She wasn’t sure why, but she suddenly was feeling rather angry. She furrowed her brows and her cheeks reddened. “You know, right now I have memories of two separate lifetimes cruising around in my head, one of which decided to manifest itself in one crushing wave not even an hour ago. So until I can get this shit straightened out, I don’t know WHO the hell I am right now. Unless you have any ideas on how to get this mass of memories to stop swirling around and confusing the hell out of me, don’t give me the ‘not the same people’ stuff.”
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Post by Hino Rei on Apr 18, 2009 3:04:21 GMT -5
The first statement Makoto made was enough of a slap in the face that Rei went silent and back to brooding. She merely stared at her plate when Makoto put it in front of her. It was hard to believe, especially after what she'd gone through with Mina, that the girl was even still in the kitchen. Makoto's next little speech only confirmed that.
At first Rei wanted to be angry. She wanted to hold on to that spark of indignation that had been roaring through her since that afternoon.. and then it was doused with shame. Rei sighed again, a faint sound, and buried her fingers into her tangled and abused hair.
"I'm sorry," she muttered after a second. Then, looking up, she repeated more clearly, "I am sorry. It... it isn't easy."
There was more to that simple statement than she wanted to say but wasn't really sure how. Instead of trying, her eyes fell back to the toast and she began to pick it apart, fully intending to eat some of it... at least at first. "There are ways to stop it. But you probably wouldn't want them anyway. I'm not sure if they're even worth it anymore."
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Post by Kino Makoto on Apr 18, 2009 20:30:09 GMT -5
She wasn’t sure if she’d heard correctly at first. Was that an ‘I’m sorry’ from Rei? Makoto’s face softened a bit as her sister looked up and confirmed it. She was apologizing.
Makoto was speechless for a moment. How the hell was she supposed to reply to that after being so angry only moments ago? She lightly sighed. ’Put yourself in her shoes…How do you think she feels about all this?’ They were all under a lot of stress over this, but Rei most of all. She had no idea who Hiroki was when he awakened as Jadeite... She’d been blindsided.
Her eyebrow quirked up again at Rei’s next remark. “Why wouldn’t I want that? What isn’t worth it? I don’t want to lose the memories I’ve finally regained. I just want to be able to neatly file them away to the parts of my brain they should be in. Keeping them from confusing the hell out of me like right now would be well worth it.”
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Post by Hino Rei on Apr 18, 2009 20:54:54 GMT -5
Rei stared down at the mess of jam and crumbled bread she was still picking at with sticky fingers. Lifting one hand to her mouth, she began to suck them clean without any regard for manners. It was just her and Makoto, so what did it matter? She looked like shit, anyway.
Makoto's response left her a little mind-boggled though. She had thought her "secret" would be out with her last admission, but it seemed she'd have to be more direct about it. Rei made a light face. "Well... The only way I know how to do that is through heavy meditation and... mental blocks. Shoving the information aside and forgetting about it until you have time to sit down and sort it out. In other words, it's like the barrier that was there before, but with a door that you can open and close at will. Assuming you'd want to open it at all."
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Post by Kino Makoto on Apr 18, 2009 21:12:42 GMT -5
“Mental blocks? I just got past those! Why in the world would I want to-“ Realization hit her right smack dab in the face. She sat for a moment, staring at her sister, her mouth slightly agape. Makoto wracked her already frazzled brain… No, it couldn’t be. Could it? She closed her eyes rubbed her temples lightly. There was only one way to find out.
Looking back at Rei again, she asked the question that she knew had already been answered. But she needed to hear it again, just to be sure. “Rei-chan, is that… Is that what you’ve done to yourself?” She couldn’t wait for the answer before asking yet another, more pressing question. “Why?”
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Post by Hino Rei on Apr 18, 2009 21:20:21 GMT -5
A shallow chuckle escaped her lips and Rei shrugged, "Why not, Makoto?"
As much as she didn't want to admit any of this, it was time that she began to come clean. The block was still there.. but she did know of it, and she did know what was behind it. "You weren't... with us when he died. I didn't know him when I killed him. ... this time, anyway." Once again her finger pushed the crumbs about her plate. "I was confused and hurt and there didn't seem any reason to have the memories anyway, so I dealt with it. Even now, I'm not sure what good they would do. It doesn't change anything."
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Post by Kino Makoto on Apr 18, 2009 21:50:44 GMT -5
Makoto was a bit shocked as Rei seemingly laughed it off. She just couldn’t wrap her head around the idea of not wanting to know. Sure, she’d love to be able to sort through the memories on her own time rather than deal with them as they were. But to completely block them off…
“No, perhaps it didn’t matter that we had our memories before we knew they still existed … Well, that we didn’t have to face those memories at least. But now we’ve been presented with this all over again and we can’t just ignore it. Whether you like it or not, it’s happening. Jadeite is back. And after what I saw of Nathaniel tonight, I feel rather comfortable in saying that I don’t think Nephrite is far off. I’m sure the other two will follow suit in the not-too-distant future.“
She took another drink from her glass before continuing. “It changes everything, Rei. Yes, there are some extremely painful memories. Yes, it was from a completely different lifetime. But it’s still part of us. It’s who we were. I’ve been waiting so long to know it all. I know the truth now, and with that knowledge I’m far more prepared to face whatever it is that is bringing these men back than if I didn’t know.”
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Post by Hino Rei on Apr 18, 2009 21:54:23 GMT -5
"I know you don't want to hear this, Makoto," Rei replied after a moment of thought. She looked up and met her sister's eyes, hoping that Makoto would understand how much it pained her to have to say it, "You're right in that we do have to deal with it now. ... and it's silly. Childish of me. But I don't want to do that for a very specific reason."
Rei pursed her lips and then finally said it, "What if they chose to betray us?"
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Post by Kino Makoto on Apr 18, 2009 22:18:23 GMT -5
Despite Rei’s warning, Makoto listened intently to what she had to say. She looked straight into her sister’s eyes, hanging on every word. No, that was not what Makoto would have wanted to hear, but it was definitely something that needed to be addressed. She couldn’t blame Rei for feeling that way. It had flickered through her mind, but she just hadn’t had the chance to really dwell on it yet.
“You may not want to hear this either, but I’m going to say it.” Her gaze remained locked with Rei’s. “We won’t know unless we ask. We’ve finally been given the opportunity to find out, and I truly believe we need to take advantage of it.”
Emotions were high and there was no holding back now. “And if they did, “ her eyes narrowed as she continued, “then we kill them on the spot.”
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Post by Hino Rei on Apr 18, 2009 23:11:27 GMT -5
It wasn't a pleasant thing to agree on, but agree they did. But it wasn't going to be so easy as asking, Rei thought. After all... if they had lied once, what would stop them from lieing again?
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