*I apologize for anyone confused by the last chapter. Kent is not Crystal's father. Urawa is.* Trigger warning of self-harm in this chapter. Self-harm isn't cool. Please get help if you are harming yourself intentionally.
Despite the other girls getting along well with their parents, more or less without needing to transform/use their powers, Christen felt Mars's fire raging through her veins violently. And the more she ignored it, the more it burned (pun entirely intended) to be used! The dark-eyed girl turned to rituals to lessen the discomfort when the itching and clawing became most destructive!
Christen was not into cutting. However, she had cut and tattooed small symbols into her arms before. However, she was meticulous in cleaning and covering them up after! So, no one minded because no one knew. The Solider Of Fire never showed any adverse side effects. This time, when Mars's daughter cut herself, a sharp, long, bright flame shot out, too!
Christen let it wear itself out, and she felt better. "At least Mars fire doesn't cause me to experience Spontaneous Human Combustion," Christen muttered to herself. She quickly headed to the nearest bathroom. She then dabbed cold water and a little soap around the bleeding new symbol on her arm. Afterward, she checked her other markings in the bathroom mirror to ensure she took proper care of them.
Not the most comfortable on her cuts but perfect at masking them, the oil-black-haired girl pulled on her fingerless, fishnet gloves. Some of her gloves had mesh under the fishnet material, making them more comfortable (and easier) to wear. Yet bloodstains could show through it. As the dark girl strolled into the dining room...
"How are you feeling now, firebird?" Rei addressed her daughter by the nickname her friends had created due to her favorite attack.
"Fine..." Christen mumbled, as her mother always seemed to know when she was having a tough day.
"We know not being able to transform must be tough on you." Yuuchiro gave his child a pained look.
"You think?!" Christen snapped furiously. After all, in Roman mythology, Mars was the God of War. It was in her nature to want to fight!
"Christen-" Chibiusa was going to scold, but Christen was not having it!
"My Dad can't comprehend anything about having powers you can't use! He never had any! I was raised learning how to fight. Being a normal person isn't for me!"
"None of our dads have powers, Christien! Do I need to remind you of that fact? We all agreed to refrain from using our abilities unless necessary. That includes even the kittens. This is the experience we need. We were raised to fight, yes. However, that doesn't mean that's all we know how to do." Trisha preached.
"I just want to eat!" Christen groaned.
Meals like this are mainly quiet, as no one wants to hear the discourteous girl's opinion on anything else! As uncouth as it is, Dawn wanted to lighten the mood, so she declared, "FOOD FIGHT!" and threw a cream pie into Christen's face!
The adults cleared out as the fight started, including cutlery and furniture! "How is this somehow more dangerous than them using their abilities?!" Urawa trembled against the wall next to Ami.
"My queen, I mean no disrespect, but why didn't you stop them?!" Haruka asked in exasparation.
"It's just a childish food fight. These girls won't use their powers. Consequently, they need to uncover other ways to expel their energy." Neo-Queen Serenity shrugged.
"Let's hope none end up impaled, and we still have a dining room when they're done." Endymion sighed exhaustedly. Luckily, no one was seriously injured, and the girls and kittens cleaned up. As expected, the furniture, with knife slashes and fork stabs all over it. Therefore, none of it could be salvaged.
"I know we made this mess, but even with nineteen of us working together, it's exhausting." Alexis wished she could use her power to wash all this away!
"I had fun. Oh, chocolate!" Christen admitted, drawing a finger along the ground, thinking she saw the sweet treat.
However, when Christen's tongue even lightly touched it, she gagged!
"That's not chocolate, it's cat food." Jewel giggled.
Everyone burst out laughing. Yes, it is highly impertinent, but it was only fair for the dark brown-eyed girl to get tormented at times. The Princess of Mars decided to help haul out the damaged furniture to get away from them. This saved her from scrubbing the floor and walls clean, which was more challenging. In the middle of this, Gracie walked in.
Why was she out almost every day? "I go out for one afternoon, and you girls have fun destroying the dining room without me?!" Gracie sounded like she was hurt, but her wide grin said otherwise.
"Well, you can help us clean up." Ariel shoved a bucket of soapy water, sponge, and cloth into Gracie's hands!
Gracie rolled her eyes and began working on the opposite wall. Outside, raven-haired Soldier of Fire stared at the wood pile, which had been delicate, hand carved, nicely furnished table and chairs only minutes before.
"This is just clutter..." Christen muttered to herself. Quickly glancing around, Christen warmed up hands behind her back, "Fire-"
"Aqua Storm Blast!" Crystal had come to see what was taking the shady girl so long to return to them and, seeing the flames, doused Christen's hands.
"You used an attack!" Christen accused as a few other girls came to see what the shouting was about.
"To stop you from using one!" Crystal would not let this witch get her to take the fall this time!
"I wasn't going to," Christen began to lie, but Crystal cut her off.
"LIAR!"
"OK, OK. Girls, calm down. We know you aren't supposed to use your powers. This is a challenging time for all of us. After all, we're all going through what essentially is detox after using our capabilities for far too long. Luckily, no one got hurt. So, we can drop it." Chibiusa got a nod from Christen.
"You don't believe me!" Crystal stormed off, tears prickling behind her eyes.
"I never said that..." Chibiusa stared sadly at Crystal's retreating back.
"She's just stressed. It's not pleasant to get caught doing something you shouldn't. She'll cool off." Christen fibbed as she was doing something she should not. But she was right about Crystal.
An hour later, Crystal came back to help finish up. Yet she did not speak or look at any of them. They could tell she had been crying, and Christen wanted an apology, but it was apparent she was not getting one because Crystal did nothing wrong. After they finished cleaning, Christen went to read her books, as she had plenty of them.
There was no particular genre she liked. She and Shadow both liked, however, dark fantasy novels. They even once talked about one. Regardless, she tried to learn about various creatures in case her team ran into them. For some reason, this did not make her want to use her powers even more.
Christen turned to her napping advisor and smiled. A black kitten with white-tipped ears, tail, paws, and, of course, the golden crescent moon birthmark on her forehead. Softly, Christen told Comet she was shopping and asked if she wanted to come.
"Not if you're going to go into that scary store again." Comet elegantly stretched as she addressed a small, dark, partially gothic store Christen adored.
Christen's teammates had been in the store at least once, named Shadow Topic (a reference to Hot Topic.) While it is not somewhere they would shop for every piece of clothing, it had a few nice things. Rei and Yuuchiro stayed outside the store as Christen shopped because Rei did not like the atmosphere inside.
"Come on, you're a mostly black cat, Comet! You'd blend in fine there. Only Luna would be closer to perfect." Christen complained.
"You wouldn't catch Mom dead in there!" Comet stated firmly, narrowing her red eyes at Christen.
"You can stay with Ariel then, but she's boring." Christen rolled her eyes.
"Better boring than satanic..." Comet grumbled as she curled up to go back to sleep. While at the mall, the dark girl swung by a pet shop before entering the gothic store. Christen squealed joyfully when she saw a pair of small, furry, rat-like animals.
"Chinchillas! Can I hold one?" Christen asked a worker.
"Of course, but be gentle." This worker warned.
Christen gave him a heated look; she knew how to handle a chinchilla. This worker placed one of the creatures in Christen's hand, which the cutie just sat on as the hickory-haired girl petted and fed him tiny treats. Sadly, Christen could not purchase one of them because the cats might eat them! Thankfully when Christen came back from the mall, Comet was not in the place she had been anymore.
So, the carob-eyed girl spilled her purchases all over the bed and began to remove the tags from them. She was saving some small cardboard character cutouts for showing off or selling. She only did it in person, and it was expensive, but that gothic store was expensive, too. Then, she washed the clothes to remove any chemicals, keeping them fresh on store shelves for long periods. While that was running, Christen was forced to practice her ancient reading and writing skills.
"Question. Why do I need to know this?" Christen felt it meaningless to practice a language if it was not used anymore.
"Sacred Shinto writing is in an ancient Japanese text," Rei explained.
Christen murmured something, but Rei knew it was not disrespectful to the sacred spirits as Christen learned not to dismiss anything as myth, considering what they discover almost daily! Regardless of how her interests might have changed, Christen still enjoyed plum juice, and she is sympathetic enough to bring some of it to school to share with her goth friends, who have less than stable lives.
Rei and Yuuchiro were relieved Christen could make friends on her own. While they were troublesome, it is never to the point of killing someone. Christen was unsure she could go through with it if it did come to that. Sure, she attempted to roast her teammates in the past but never torched them to death! Christen had a decent day, but she missed being Neo-Super Sailor Mars!