WELCOME TO S&S

[William St. Jude]

JANUARY 22, 2012 @ 10:13p

Will found himself staring at the sky more and more, desperate for answers these days. Something was wrong, or missing. Did he miss his life on the streets? He didn't miss being cold, not sure when the next meal was coming, fighting to survive. But he did miss the freedom. He appreciated Jim Singer and the family he'd been adopted into these last few years. He appreciated Beth fighting him into the ground to get him through high school. He appreciated Joe and Rob, who hadn't been required to adopt him as a younger brother, but had. He appreciated Jenn, the only sister he'd ever had, and one he knew he could never replace.

Then why did he feel like something was missing?

Dreams. Echoes of a place and time that he couldn't even fathom. He'd always had fantastic dreams. A dark haired man standing at his side, dressed in orange and white and gold. Safety and loyalty there. A beautiful palace in a place like a rich, endless garden. A prince? He'd never wanted to be a prince... he would be a terrible prince.

The dark haired soldier was sometimes replaced by a beautiful young woman, a blonde with the ocean in her eyes. Her laughter was as soothing as rain. Her touch as cool and comforting as the creeks that ran through his garden.

But these dreams meant nothing. They were nothing more than the self indulgent dreams of a boy who hadn't even been given a real name by his mother. His father probably didn't know he existed. It usually didn't bother him, but sometimes he was angry. He'd never been adopted, not really. No one had wanted the boy with problems, with a medical record that had scary words in it like "addicted to heroin" and "hiv positive". It had been a false positive, dammit, and he'd been born addicted.

None of his problems had ever been his fault.

Okay, that wasn't true. None of the problems he'd been born with had been his fault, at least. But he'd chosen to leave St Jude's at twelve, to protect the Father and Sisters working there. He'd come to Philadelphia.

Most importantly, he'd survived.

He looked up at one star in particular, but he didn't know one from another. The brightest star in the sky, he thought. The most beautiful.

He didn't even hear it approach, which was impressive. He'd gotten soft, or something, he thought, when he could still think. The thing, whatever it was, approached from behind and used one of those razor sharp blades embedded into its arms to impale him through the back. The blade protruded from the front of him. He looked down at it, dumbly, and tried to say something. Anything.

He failed.

Bloody foam appeared at his lips as he slumped. The monster pushed him off, and he landed in a heap. Briefly, as he died, a symbol glowed on his forehead, but then faded entirely.

Will St. Jude died on January 22, at 10:13 pm.

[Leon Mason]

It was total coincidence that Leon was there when he was. As the senshi of time he was using his particular abilities to jump forward and back in time to search for others who carried star seeds. Jumping forward and back wasn’t an exact science, but he has still managed to keep himself in the month of January more or less which he was OK with.

During his future search this particular time he had come across a youma, flitting down streets and through alleyways, seemingly intent on a particular destination, and Leon had followed, sometimes having to use his own particular gifts to ensure he didn’t get left in the dust – this youma was a fast one.

The youma travelled by streets an alleys, he travelled behind on the rooftops, keeping out of sight of the speedy youma. The fucker had energy, and Leon was being pressed to keep up, but he managed to stick with the monster until he was at the Indepence Historical Park. Since he was in the future it didn’t matter so much what he did – the future wasn’t set, this was only one possible future. It was when he was in the past that he had to be extremely careful.

He landed on a thick tree branch, crouching to reduce the noise of his descent, and watched from afar as the youma prowled towards…a black figure in the distance! Leon leapt out of the tree and ran, slowing time around him as he did so and leapt up into another as he got a closer look – the youma was too close to the figure that even him slowing time down to close the distance he still didn’t have enough time, ironically, to stop the attack that he saw coming in slow motion, but saw happening in real time.

The time senshi sighed heavily as he watched the man get impaled on the youmas blade-like arms, flinching when he saw the yellow glow, brief as it was, emanate from the mans forehead. That was why this youma had targeted him! As bad as it was the man had to die for him to learn this piece of information, this was not set to happen. Leon smiled at finally having learned something valuable, then his mouth set into stern stoicism as he readied his staff and blasted the youma.

“Timestream Resonation!”

The youma hadn’t been prepared and was met with the full brunt of his attack, obliterating the youma from time and space. Then the time senshi lowered his staff, forcing himself onward even though his breath was fast losing him after all of tonights continuous activity.

He practically collapsed beside the body and took a few seconds to just breath before he rifles through the dead mans pockets to retrieve something that would tell him who he was. He found ID’s and other things that only told him a name – William St. Jude…poor guy. But he found an organ donor card too, and on that, ladies and gentlemen, it said where he lived. Perfect. He kept the wallet and its contents as proof for his story later and then turned and slipped out of that time and back into the time corridors.


January 12th 2012 9:37pm

Leon stepped back into his own time, still at the park, but now he had a face in mind to look for. His internal plutonian clock told him when he was, and from looking around he saw that he was still in the park, but he had a new destination now – the home of William St. Jude.

After another little rest he was on his way, shedding his senshi form and walking the distance in his normal clothing…

Knock Knock Knock

[William St. Jude]

The junkyard wasn't a place the normally got door to door types. It was a sprawling thing, situation on the neat plot of land owned by Jim Singer. While Jim did a decent business out of the yard, few customers ever knocked on the door to the house, to disturb any of the various inhabitants of the house. As it was, Jim and his new wife, Beth, were out on the yard itself. Jim was trying to convince Beth of something (he usually was). Beth had left her daughter from a previous marriage (Jenn) and Will in charge of the soup simmering on the stove. If they let it burn, not only would they not get to eat it, she would probably kill the pair of them.

Will was sprawled out on the couch, socked feet resting on the upper edge of the couch, watching some true life documentary on the Medical channel. Jenn had just returned from the kitchen with a pair of pops... root beer for him, something diet for her. She tossed him his just as a knock sounded on the front door.

Will frowned, twisting to put his feet on the actual floor, but Jenn waved him off. Beth owned a little bar just down the road, and Jenn was used to dealing with folks from there. Not that it was the same, but since Wll was guessing that it was some Mormons or something, they'd be a real shock for them.

So it was Jenn Brevard who answered the door. A petite blonde with a mean right hook and a smirk on her face. She wasn't expecting Leon, or anyone like him.

"Can I help you?" she said, tone a little stiff.

[Leon Mason]

He didn’t expect William St. Jude to be living in a junkyard, but who was he to judge. The knocked thrice on the door and then waited for someone to answer. He had hoped William would be the one to answer it but instead he got a short blond who did not look or sound pleased at his presence here. Can I help you she asked him in a tone that bordered on hostile.

“Yeah, is there a Willian St. Jude living here?” He asked, sounding like one of those guys in a movie, one of those government guys who wore suits and knew too much and were here to kill you. That, or a terminator… He flashed her a smile that he knew made him look cute, both to see if it would work – if so then yes! – or to just annoy her further – she was being rude so tough shit for her that he was the funny type at times.

[William St. Jude]

Jenn looked the guy up and down. She'd met his type all day long down at the bar... right down to that cheesy smile that she was sure won him all the ladies he wanted. She nearly scowled. Instead, she rolled back a step, and looked up the short flight of stairs to the main part of the house. "WILL!" she bellowed. She glanced back at him. "Who are you, IRS or something? Jeez, no one calls him William." She fluffed her blonde hair and took off up the stairs, passing Will as he came down.

Will took one look at Jenn and snickered as he approached Leon. "God, what did you do to her? She's PO'd." he laughed a little. Served Jenn right. Will liked annoying her. She was like a sister after all.

But then Will realized that something was probably up. His expression darkened somewhat and he ran a nervous hand through curly hair. "So yeah... what's up?" he asked. The guy standing at the door didn't look like bad news, but Will knew for a fact that some of the more normal looking people were some of the most batshit crazy. And this guy knew his name... his full name. And where he lived.

Suddenly paranoid, Will backed away from the door slightly, ready to bolt if the situation warranted it.

[Leon Mason]

Alex raised one eyebrow and squinted the other at the woman, girl’s(?), abrupt scream. The note hitting his ears at a semi-painful level. Awch. Both eyebrow went up at the question of him being IRS. “Oh gods no…” Was all he got out in answer before the girl had dismissed him and was off up the stairs, passing someone, a man this time, as she went. He presumed this guy was William St. Jude. And he seemed a lot nicer than little miss bitch screamer.

“I dunno, it can’t be a hatred for men ‘cus she didn’t touch you.” He replied, finding this guy much more amiable and friendlier than the previous house tenant had been. The fluffy, funny attitude evaporated from William and Leon got serious too when the other man did. He didn’t miss the man take a step back once he had given him a once over…who was this guy?

“Ahm…that’s a long question…do you mind if I come in or if you come out…somewhere we could talk with more privacy…” Oh god did that not come out right…now he’s going to think he was some sort of weirdo or assassin or something…something equally bad for him.

[William St. Jude]

Will was a bit more than reluctant at the man's suggestion. He'd been in a tight spot more than once, and he was a bit more than a little paranoid. Sure, most folks weren't out to get him. But he didn't know this guy, and more importantly, this guy knew him. But Will's instincts kicked in. Survival was one thing, but protection was more important. He nudged the guy aside, stepped outside, and closed the door behind him... protecting Jenn. He didn't like the guy's tone about his sister.

Will studied the other guy. He slid a less serious expression on his face, and even turned his back on him. He was still in sock feet and a hoodie with jeans, not January weather appropriate, but he didn't seem to notice or care. Or he was good at pretending.

Will was damned good at pretending.

He glanced back at the weird guy who'd come to his house and shrugged. "So, it's private. What's up, buddy?" he asked. The question was sincere. The tone was not. Will was a bundle of nerves. If the guy made a wrong move, Will would prove what he'd always said. He could take care of himself.

This guy didn't look like much. Pretty average height and build. Will was short, but solidly built enough to surprise folks. The guy didn't have any obvious physical weaknesses, though, which was a disadvantage. It was so much easier to fight a guy with a bum knee or a limp or a weak wrist.

Then again, when had Will's life ever been easy.

[Leon Mason]

William, after a couple of seconds, stepped outside and closed the door after himself, and Leon didn't take it to heart - he was a stranger showing up at this random time of the night asking for him by his full name - William had a reason to be wary of him, from what information the other man had. If only he knew they were allies...of sorts.

So, it's private. What's up, buddy? Leon sighed, not knowing how to proceed. He couldn’t just blurt it out, well he could but it probably wouldn’t be taken well. And William didn’t sound too comfortable with the situation either, which didn’t help either of them much. “Ahm…it might be better if we sat down, but…?” He trailed off considering they were outside, at night, in a junkyard – there wasn’t really anywhere to sit, anywhere that wasn’t cold and probably rusted. The time senshi sighed and shuffled his feet, thinking of how he could start this - he could do the whole beating around the bush but he really doubted William would be conducive to that method, especially at this time of night.

“Okay…ahm…this is gonna sound weird but go with it. Have you ever had…weird dreams…or feelings that didn’t seem normal?” Here goes nothing…he knew from the future that this man was of Venusian re-incarnation, but that was all he knew – he had no idea how he could get through to the mans star seed…his own had activated during a time of crisis but they didn’t have that and he really wasn’t up for attacking the man to put him in crisis; that wasn’t a good way of securing the man’s good graces.

[William St. Jude]

Will frowned. What was this guy, a freakin' guidance counselor? Will had had one, brief, brush with therapy, and this guy sounded like he was about to tell him that puberty was okay or that being gay was perfectly natural or some shit. Even if 'dreams' did strike a chord in Will, he didn't make anyone of it. Who was this guy?

"Alright, I think you skipped a few steps. Why don't we start with who you are and why you're on my doorstep? Maybe how you know my name or why you're looking for me?" he said stiffly.

He had no freakin' clue who this guy was, but Will's patience was about gone. "And for fuck's sake, my name is Will, not William." He planted a hand on a hip and turned to glare this guy down.

[Leon Mason]

“Okay…Will” Leon said slowly, understanding Will’s apprehension, especially because he is so not handling this right – but give him a break, this is his first time. The time senshi sighed one more time as he bought time by just looking around the junkyard, at nothing really, just so he wouldn’t have to look at Will.

“Alright…” He said, forcing himself to start and say something. “See, if you answered my question this would be a lot easier, for you, but fine, here goes.” Here goes…what?! He reached into his pocket and retrieved the wallet from the future – Will’s wallet – which he will be burning later to remove all evidence of temporal displacement. He handed it to the other man and waited for it to dawn on him that it was his exact wallet. “I brought that wallet back from the future, after watching your death.” Can of warms…open wide.

[William St. Jude]

Will recognized his own wallet alright, faster than it took the man to hand it to him. He had an eye for details. Casually, in the same motion that he took the wallet from the other guy, he patted his back pocket. No, his was still there. No one was good enough to pick his pockets, no one dammit. He flipped the one he'd been handed open and looked down at his own face. Suddenly cold, and very suspicious, he stashed that wallet into the front pocket of his hoodie, and turned fully to face the other guy.

"Even if I could possibly believe you," Will said with none too little of ice in his voice. "How would I know you aren't an enemy?"

The words, the exact damned tone, resonated in his mind. It awoke a vision, a dream, something that Will couldn't entirely define. He was staring down a man dressed in white, with a strange crescent moon insignia on his breast. He was a prisoner. He knew that, felt it in his bones.

Will couldn't stand to be confined.

He blinked and he was back on the front stoop of the house, staring at someone who had said the damndest thing. He said he was from the future, and that Will had died.

Will considered the facts. If he could even begin to believe this, he had to know more. Judging by the state of the wallet and the picture inside, his death wasn't too far off... his death, really?... but what could he do to prevent it? He warily studied the other man, like a cat who isn't entirely sure he wants to be petted by you, thank you very much.

"You're on crack... or worse! Drugs kill, buddy." he tried for a flippant tone, but he heard the steel just under the surface. He glared. How could he even begin to believe this?

[Leon Mason]

Leon didn’t miss Will’s other hand move around to his back pocket, checking, presumably, for the wallet of this time period. The time senshi smiled at the other man, watching him as he inspected the future wallet before suddenly shoving it in the front pocket of his trousers and facing him with a look that he wasn’t sure he liked. Leon met that look head on, not backing down because he knew he was right. His eyebrows rose at what Will said, mainly the how would I know you aren’t an enemy – that one was easy to respond to.

But he didn’t get a chance to – Will was off again claiming that he was high, but his voice wasn’t that of someone flipping him off, there was another edge to it that was Leons gateway to continuing, and possibly finishing this. “Believe what you want, in a moment it won’t matter if I’m high or not.”

Leon closed his eyes and summoned up the plutonian star seed in him, summoning up its power without transforming, making the purple symbol of his planet glow on his forehead for the Venusian man to see. “I am Sailor Pluto, guardian of Time.” He stated, keeping the glowing symbol there, forcing the other man to look at it, not just give him a fleeting glimpse. “I saw your death within the month and would like to prevent it – you are someone of importance.”

[William St. Jude]

Involuntarily, Will stared, slackjawed. What in the hell? Pluto? This conversation had taken a turn for things stranger than Will entirely understood. He was still poised to run, but he was also a little sideswiped. What in the freakin' world was going on? But it only took a few moments for Will to realize it was a symbol he'd seen before. Memories were all jumbled, but... it hadn't been the man he'd seen.

A woman, dark haired and petite, dressed in dark red. Being... banished? It was something he wasn't supposed to see or know about, he was pretty sure... he shook his head to try and get his brain to stop, but it wouldn't.

It was off again. He was seeing another view, that of Earth as if... from the Moon? A beautiful blue planet, but he'd been disinterested. He wanted to see another planet. He was homesick. Homesick? For what?

He finally saw clearly, and looked back at the... glowing?... man.

"Pluto...? But... you're not a girl?" It made sense to him. "I thought... but no, I guess, she wasn't the soldier..." He didn't even entirely know what he was saying. He raised a hand to his head, brushing back his hair, not even entirely realizing that his own sigil was now visible, if faintly.

Venus. Planet of love and beauty. And he, their prince.

[Leon Mason]

After forcing Will to take a good look he let his plutonian seed simmer down, and the glowing symbol evaporated from his forehead. Will now looked sufficiently fucked, so Leon took that as a sign that he had gotten through, or made the man remember something that was relevant. Anything that would help him get through to Will, or Venus, would be great! He did have some sympathy for the man – he had written his own life, he sort of already knew it all; Will was being thrown into the deep end really…but tough luck, Leon needed him to awaken; they needed allies for what was to come – youmas were only the first wave, the herald of something darker – they came from somewhere.

He was sincerely confused at Will’s confusion of him not being a girl, but then that turned into shock, and a small amount of zeal, when he connected the dots and came up with his Princess. “…A plutonian girl?!” He asked, slightly rushed, excited that this could lead to both his Princess and his Time Key. “What do you know? I died too early on to see what became of her.”

[William St. Jude]

Will backed away, physically, at the outburst. Apparently the gender thing meant something to this guy, cause he seemed pretty insistent. Will tried to remember, to get a clearer image (was he even doing this? honestly? maybe HE was the crazy one...), and was surprised when he succeeded.

"The Princess?" he asked, for clarity. Of course it was, though. Who else would the soldier be concerned with? "She was banished from the Moon... I was there... I wasn't supposed to be, but Serenity was hard pressed to contain me. I saw the Plutonian princess stripped of her rank within the White Court and banished... for suspicion of treason?" he asked the last bit aloud, directed at himself. He shook his head. "I guess. I don't think Serenity had proof, but I don't think she needed it."

Will struggled with that memory. There had been a reason, but he didn't know what it was. He shook his head. Then he paused, and looked at the other guy.

"Fuck, how did I know that?"