Lesser & Greater (Circa 2046 AD England) [Lots of stuff happens including pseudo vampires & second encounter Sailor Arcturus & OS] "What?!" It strained Azurite's self control to the limit making the exclamation a quiet hiss rather than yelling loudly enough to be heard outside. Chipper as ever and apparently unaware of Azure's shock Titanite repeated, "Another six months and I'll have my first niece or nephew." Azurite just sat there radiating disbelief while Titanite sipped her white wine. At length she managed to regain enough presence of mind to say, "But the genetics ..." "Anything's possible with the Silver Crystal. Though it helps that we've got human ancestry rather than being descended from an unrelated species. Anyway Ami thinks the child will be mostly human but might have some of the more useful youma characteristics." "Like what?" "Well the healing factor and the longelivity would be bonuses. There might also be an aptitude for magic though that's just speculation. Guess we'll have to wait and see. Anyway they're discussing names. If it's a girl Minako wants to name her after her mother which is fine with Cal. But they can't decide on a boy's name. They've asked Ami not to tell them which it is in advance. So she's just confirmed that the kid certainly looks like a human fetus." Azurite shook her head, "This is madness." Ti grinned, "All part of living in Crystal Tokyo. You should try it." Then she actually got a little serious. "I mean it, Azure. Look I know why you and Pyr bailed but this should convince you that we're fitting right in. So there's no reason not to join up." Azurite just shook her head again, "Ti, I'm sorry but I don't believe that." Ti looked very surprised. "Things are happening way too fast! I still can't believe they got married let alone they're starting a family. It can't possibly last and when it falls apart things could get very nasty. The senshi are bound to take Minako's side, you'll take Cal's and God knows what'll happen next!" "Azure, how can you say that! You've never seen them together!" Azurite sighed and tried her own drink before continuing. "Ti, that marriage is a disaster waiting to happen. It should have happened in the first place and believe me if I'd heard about it before the fact I'd have bent Heaven and Earth to stop it." "That would have made two of you wrecking the service. You should have seen it ..." Ti trailed off at Azurite's look and let her continue. "Ti, Cal's made some major blunders when it comes to falling in love but this one is almost beyond belief. How he ever let himself get involved with her other than casually is insanity! Let alone her falling for him! I can maybe see some sort of infatuation or curiosity drawing them together but it shouldn't have gone any further than that. How your brother convinced himself they've got a future together I'll never understand. Why the hell she said yes when he proposed is even crazier. They used to be deadly enemies, it can't possibly last! Five years maximum and they'll be at each others throats kids or no kids ..." "Who the hell are you to judge them!" The words were quiet but intense. Azurite stuttered to a halt at the very unfamiliar expression on Titanite's face. She was angry. More than that she was furious. "You're very sure of yourself for someone who wasn't there. In case you've forget you ran away from Crystal Tokyo so you couldn't give Cal the benefit of your oh so wise advice! So don't bitch about what's been going on in your absence because you're the one who abandoned us!" Azurite found herself at a loss for words at this unexpected turn of events. "Ti, I ... we ... that is we all decided ... I mean ..." Ti's face softened, "Yeah, I know the three of you decided we'd better split up just in case. The last flare of the old Dark Kingdom paranoia. You thought Cal was sticking around to shield Margrave 'cause we didn't want to let on she existed. That was part of it, he'd sworn to protect her from the senshi if she behaved but the fact was he'd already started falling for Mina-chan. It was kinda obvious except I guess you didn't see it because it seemed so unbelievable." She sighed, "Look Azure, I know Cal's screwed up quite a few times when it comes to women but this time it's for real. He loves her and she loves him. It's not like ... not like Margrave where there was only feelings on his side." Mentally she sighed with relief at stopping herself from saying "not like you thought it was between him and Margrave". She had sworn to Margrave that she'd keep her true feelings secret. No one knew apart from the two of them and that was the way she wanted it to stay. Meanwhile Azurite had regained her composure. "You're right Ti I wasn't there to see it happen. I did sound pretty patronizing didn't I?" "Yeah, you did." "I'm sorry. It's hard to remember you're not a kid anymore ..." She paused to consider her words so Ti chipped in. "I sense a 'but' coming." "You're right so here it comes. But you tend to look at these things through rose colored glasses. I admit I could probably use a little more romance in my soul but it just strikes me as terribly wrong. They've got nothing in common." Ti looked thoughtful, "Well I'll admit I can sometimes look a bit too much on the bright side." She grinned suddenly, "Remember when Hermes found out about Cal & Zeus?" "How could I forget? You don't often see a flash frozen hottub." Ti chuckled, "Lucky Cal teleported them before she freaked. Anyway I said something like, 'A senshi and a youma, here they should be enemies but they've fallen in love. That's incredibly romantic, like Romeo and Juliet!' Then you said, 'That's what I'm afraid of" and I looked really confused so you added ....'" "'I'd prefer something with a happy ending.'" They both laughed and the mood lightened. Ti sighed, "I admit that turned into a real mess but it was just bad timing and a fluke they got together in the first place. This is different." She paused to consider her words. "Cal and Minako do love each other. And it's not a case of opposites attracting. They love each other and they need each other." "Need? Why would either of them need each other? Venus is becoming incredibly popular. Why would she need Cal?" "Mina is ... look you always thought I was impulsive and reckless?" Azurite nodded. "Well compared to Minako I look like Dr. Spock." "I think you mean Mr. Spock, the always logical one?" "Right, that's it. I guess you've picked a lot of Trek lore." "Far too much. Anyway so she's worse than you were. Are you saying she needs Cal to look after her?" "Not exactly." Titanite considered her sister in law. "Mina ... she knows she's out of control but she can't do anything to stop herself. She needs an anchor. Artemis did his best but he's too easy to ignore. She needs someone who can stand up to Hurricane Minako and not be swept aside." Azurite considered this. "I can see how Cal could fit the bill. But why does he need her?" Ti hesitated before replying, "You remember the Overlord? Sorry, silly question. How could you forget?" She was looking very serious now. "Cal got a closer look at his counterpart than we did. It ... affected him more than he ever let on. Just before the Overlord went into the Abyss he said something that's haunted Cal for years. 'You are me and I am you. We're two sides of the same coin, closer than brothers. There is nothing I have done that's beyond you.'" Azurite swore, "How do you know that?! He told me and Pyrite that not long after it happened but I know he sure as hell wasn't going to tell you." Ti paused then reluctantly said, "Margrave told me. She ... thought I needed to hear it. I should have guessed he'd told you. You guys were pretty close." "How'd Margrave know? By then he'd given having heart to heart talks with her 'cause she never listened to him." "She said after it happened he talked in his sleep for a long time. In the early days he'd often wake up shouting. Incidentally speaking of Margrave she's legit these days. Everyone knows she's in Crystal Tokyo but long as she keeps her nose clean there's no problem." Azurite grimaced, "That'll last until she resumes her habit of sucking lifeforce. When she does there'll be trouble." "I guess you haven't heard yet. She's already doing that but long as people freely let her drain their energy everything's fine." Azurite stared at her in disbelief. "Why in the Abyss would anyone voluntarily let a youma suck their energy?" "Uhhh ... I should have said men rather than people. See, she uhhh ..." Azurite's eyes narrowed, "I think I can figure it out! But we're getting off the topic. What does this have to do with why Calcite needs Minako? We were all shaken up by our counterparts but we got over it. They weren't us and we could never have become them!" Even as she said this she felt a familar doubt resurface. Could she have become like Lady Azurite? No, impossible. Cal blamed his counterpart for corrupting theirs but that was only true for Ti's other self. Her own and Pyrite's douplegangers beat their own paths to hell by choice. They could have turned back at any step but they hadn't. There as here Calcite had been their leader but she'd never have followed him blindly. Not the way Lady Azurite had followed her Calcite. No, she'd never have done that. Not even if they had been lovers. She was stronger than that, Yet despite this thought the unease remained. Just how different had they really been? Until this was banished by another worry. Crap! What if Margrave had told the Ti the truth about her counterpart? If Ti had found out her counterpart wasn't pure evil had been practically identical who knew what that would do to her? Princess Titanite had been in the strange position of being both a victim and a monster. Then what Ti was saying penetrated. "... I know they weren't really anything like us. I mean look at Princess Titanite. Absolutely no similarities. There was no way I'd wind up like her!" Azurite breathed a silent sigh of relief. If Margrave knew any different she was keeping quiet about the late Princess. Meanwhile Ti had kept talking. "But I guess it's a lot different if you wind up mindlinked to your lookalike. He saw, of thought he did, a lot of similarities between them. It ... well it scared him." She overrode Azurite's protest, "He wasn't scared of the Overlord. What scared him was the thought he could become like that. That everything he did out of necessity in the bad old days was really because of this tremendous darkness inside. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, to quote an old saying. He's developed this fear that he'll inevitably follow the Overlord's route. You start off by justifying your actions as necessity and before long anything's possible." She fell silent so Azurite asked, "I thought he'd got over that but he's just been repressing it. But what's this got to do with Minako? If anything they sound like a worse match than ever." She'd been expected a denial, instead Ti chuckled. "Remember what I said about Hurricane Minako? Well it works both ways. With her around it's impossible to brood. He can't take life or himself that seriously so he's in no danger of going into an existential funk and disappearing up his own ..." Ti coughed, "Uh, well ... let's say she's a light unto his particular darkness and leave it at that." "That ... that almost sounds like it makes sense." Titanite sighed, "Azure, you're a real cynic." "Yeah, but I came by it honestly. Seriously I guess we'll see which of us is right." After a pause she added, "Despite all I've said for Cal's sake I hope it's you." "I'll drink to that." With that the talk turned to other things. It returned to Crystal Tokyo but Ti decided not to try talking Azure into returning. She wasn't ready yet. Still there was no hurry, time was one thing they all had in abundance. Azure asked how she was getting on with the other senshi and wasn't too surprised to hear she got on with everybody. With the exception of this Ferrite character. "... so I guess he just doesn't like youma because he can't get along with Cal either. Otherwise since they're both tough guy types you'd think they'd have lots in common." "So how's Cal getting on with everyone?" "Well you know about Minako and everyone loves Serenity. He's getting along great with Endymion. 'Otherwise sane men who marry crazy blondes have to stick together', to quote his majesty when he thought no one else was listening. Artemis is just the opposite. He didn't like getting the boot after living with Minako all those years and did everything he could to sabotage their romance. When that came out he wound up, if you'll pardon the expression, in the dog house. He spends most of his time watching Cal waiting for him to reveal ulterior motives. Luna thinks he'll settle down in a few years once he's got over his surrogate father complex." "Other than that ... well Mako-chan's friendly but she's keeping a definite distance." "Why?" Ti looked embarrassed. "Uh, I sorta inadvertently mentioned his brief involvement with Sailor Zeus to her." "But that was over with long before we crossed back!" "Yeah, but ... I guess she and Minako were the only single senshi for a while and they both had lousy luck with relationships. Minako kept having to put Mako back together when her heart got broken. So she figures she owes Mina a lot and she's glad Mina's found someone. But she's afraid she might wreck things so she's avoiding him as much as possible without being rude." Azurite shook her head. "After that fiasco in New Camelot she's the last senshi who needs to worry about Cal chasing her." "Yeah, I figure in a little while she'll realize that. Or she'll fall for someone else and forget all about it. Now where was I? Oh yeah, Ami. They get on fine. Friendly but not really close. Which is good 'cause it means Tom doesn't get jealous." At Azurite's quizzical look she added, "Tom aka Starhunter ... remember the ninja guy we found frozen besides Ami? Anyway I'd say he and Cal are friends. Drinking buddies anyway. Which brings us to Rei." Titanite paused to consider her words. "Rei is ... I didn't really know her in the old days but I gather she's a lot more ... uh, intense than she used to be. She lost her husband during the Darkness and they think that's affected her a lot more than she'll admit." [Internal note - Rei concept for discussion Okay Rei marries Yuuchiro and loses him. We know he's from a wealthy family which could mean he was slated for an arranged marriage. What if (in the best SM love conquers all tradition) he rejected it to marry Rei. When exactly is another matter but we know they're married by 2007 (V at A). After his death Rei develops a feeling that if he'd followed tradition and obeyed his parents he'd still be alive. As a result Rei develops something of an obsession with the traditional values of obligation and responsibility. This makes her a good choice for running CT's police though she can be a bit of a trial socially. I'd tend to see Rei as a neo-traditionalist. She honours japanese traditions, ceremonies etc as long as they don't conflict with her opinions on equality and the status of women. I might explore this in a GM sidestory I've thought of, "Bloodlines" which has the first meeting of Elder & Younger Mars.] "Anyway Rei's a pretty toughminded individual. While she sometimes agrees with Cal when it comes to policy they've had a number of fairly spectacular clashes in court. Sometimes she wins, sometimes he wins. I guess it's about even. Still despite their differences there's a definite mutual respect between them. They think quite a bit alike. But they can come to very different conclusions." "Maybe Cal should have married her." Ti shook her head, "She's still mourning Yuuchiro." Then she grinned, "Besides which they'd definitely be at each others throats inside of six months." "Heh, well he could do worse that Venus. That's sort of hopeful. So is that everyone?" "Well there's Neptune and Uranus but I don't know them very well. They travel a lot. Roam the world then show up out of the blue with reports on what's happening." Azurite frowned, "Those are the only two you haven't named." "Uh, yeah. I'm not quite sure why but unlike the inner senshi they've decided not to reveal their real names. Well in a sense their senshi names are their real names as that's who they really are. But what I mean is .." "The names they were born with this time around." "Right." "Then you don't know their birthnames?" Titanite looked a little uncomfortable. "Actually I do, I am one of the Senshi after all. But I'm honour bound not to reveal them to outsiders." A thought struck her ad she brightened up. "So if you really want to know come back to Crystal Tokyo and join up." "No thanks, I'm not that curious." [Flashback ends - Azure reflecting Kimeko Aino now (2046) 26 years old, there are other kids & her parents still together with no signs of a breakup immenent] [Lots of stuff including vampire hunting and Michiru getting inspired by Arcturus costume (which makes Haruka nervous). Plus big fight with dark lord at Stonehenge.]