The usually headstrong warrior was stumbling like a drunk, despite that she hadn't touched a drop. But, on the flip side, she just might need a drink by the time the night was through. Madoka rested a hand against the brick wall, before conceding to finally just lean against it. Whatever had just happened, it was taking it's toll in spades - her entire body was cramping, while her sense of time was skiltered. Although she couldn't tell exactly what time it was, year wise, it was easily past midnight.
 
But the very fact that she couldn't manage the exact time without a watch was disconcerting. It had been something as easy as breathing for as long as she could remember. The only other time that she had difficulties was when she had first awakened as a senshi.
 
The nearly white haired woman's fist hit the wall, coming to the belated conclusion. She had jumped, again. Again, her powers had acted on their own. But to when? And was it even a valid dimension this time?
 
 
After debating about where she was for ten or fifteen minuets, as well as when, she ended up giving up and relying on her henshin item. After the crescent-tined key was used as a bit of a sixth sense, looking through the Gate to see where her mother lived in this deminsion. Thanks to the mystical mumbo-jumbo involved, Meioh Setsuna tended to exist in multiple periods all at once. Unforunately for Madoka, the shift in centuries meant she had no idea how to get around this area.
 
Which meant it was probably close to three in the morning before she finally found her mother's house. Now thoroughly aggravated, she probably would've forced the door open had it not been unlocked already. The senshi grumbled under her breath as she all but slammed the door behind her, before managing to find her way through the house without knocking anything over. Knowing her mother, she would likely receive yet another lecture about maintaining proper grips on her sense of time - something she had learned even before awakening as a senshi. But this seemed to be out of her control.

A loud noise woke Tan from a deep sleep, and the young man propped himself on an elbow, glancing around the room groggily, half in sleep even as his eyes scanned through the darkness. He was about to fall back to his pillow with a grunt, coherent thoughts still far from the zombie state he was in, when suddenly he heard clear footsteps stomping through the hallway. Only then did his mind kick in to high gear. Blinking furiously to clear his eyes, sleep leaving him all at once, he quickly decided on a course of action, analyzing the situation.

His mother was out, but was due back sometime during the night, so it could just be her return.

But Setsuna was always in control of herself; she would never slam the door behind her and stomp through their home – just then he heard a large vase move, but it did not crash so he assumed someone had caught it, but the lack of broken crockery did little to ease his nerves. It was not Setsuna. He pulled back the covers and stood, wondering if he would need a weapon of some sort, while still holding a faint hope that it was Haruka or another of their close family friends who just came in after… he didn’t know or care to guess. Determinedly he strode to the door and softly opened it, peering into the dark hallway first before stepping out into it, heading towards the livingroom and kitchen.

When he spied the tall girl with white hair, he froze; she was neither old, nor did she dress as a thief would; whom, then, was this intruder? Standing in the doorway in his blue-and-white boxers and sleeveless black shirt, Tantalos Meioh, all of sixteen and standing near six feet tall, had no idea what to do.

((to help me:
Modoka
Tan

The thoroughly misplaced senshi had been about to crash on the couch, but paused midmotion as quiet footsteps caught her attention. She immediately shifted at the attempt of stealth, taking on an instinctive preparatory stance. As expected, it was not who she had been intending to visit in the first place. While he looked positively baffled, one thought after another was running the last over in Madoka's head.

Threat? Probably not - it looked like he'd not only just woken up, but barely remembered to pull something on. And the thought of her mother being married - much less to someone so young - was about as foreign as things could get. Especially since said mother would be guaranteed to outlive any significant other she might take. There weren't really a whole lot of options for who this guy might have been, but each one seemed less and less likely.

She relaxed her stance, but only marginally - settling for lowering her hands to her thighs. "Who are you?"

OOC:

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, looking at the young woman with a stunned, out-of-place look. What a forward person, breaking into his house and demanding to know who he was. “I think I should be the one asking you that question,” he asked, an eyebrow cocked now, “this being my house and all.” His eyes glanced over to the side, to check that she was the only person who had broken in and he was not to be surprised again.

But when he looked back and really examined her… He had certainly never seen her before, but there was something familiar in her face. “So… who are you?”

A chuckle escaped her at his words, straightening. "Oy vey ... And here I thought my life was strange enough," Madoka sighed ruefully, shaking her head. She idly crossed her arms as he seemed to give her a once-over, relatively inexpressive and not giving much of an impression now. "I'm Meioh Madoka, if you want to open that can of worms," she added after a moment, inclining her head towards him and and then gauging his reaction.

“Modoka…” he repeated, his brow furrowing in confusion yet again, “Wait, Meioh Modoka? But that’s… Are you related –“ he paused, wondering what was going on and finally deciding to ask the obvious question, “Are you in any way related to Setsuna Meioh?”

ooc:

Judging from his reaction, he was also somehow related to her mother. And she had an inkling if what just crossed her mind was right. "Since she's my mother ... I'm guessing that this means we are somehow related," Madoka finally said, tilting her head to the side now. After having gotten a better look at him, he did look distinctly like her mother in certain areas. She sighed. "I hope I didn't just put my foot in my mouth."

He didn’t quite understand what she meant by the last part, but the first he understood too well; the mechanics of it, however, quite puzzled him. With a sigh, he crossed his arms, looking at her through eyes much like his father’s… and quickly realized that he had mirrored her stance and so dropped his arms by his side again uncomfortably. Setsuna was her mother, which made them half siblings, in a sense. But where had she come from? He hadn’t seen her in sixteen years, and she looked just a little older than he, so where had she been this whole time? “How is that possible?” he asked, rather than confirm or deny her assumption.

His question pretty much was the equivalent of her life. "Well, since I technically shouldn't exist, your guess is as good as mine," Madoka pointed out dubiously, though arching a brow when he belatedly realized he was mirroring her.

OOC:

Technically shouldn’t... exist? Well, technically… he shouldn’t exist either, should he? None of them should exist. Hiccups of the Cauldron, abnormal children forced upon their mothers without their consent. Thoughts they had probably all dwelled on, at some point in time. He preferred not to go too far into it, especially in the company of others. But she, Modoka, seemed to have thought on their circumstance quite some bit.

But it still didn’t make sense. He had met and known all of the other ‘hiccups’ throughout his life, and to have someone born of his own mother, and never ever heard of, let alone seen before, was just… eerie. “But, well I meant was, how is it possible I have never met you before, if your mother is Setsuna?”

ooc:

Hmm. She cocked her head to the side after a moment, before finally nodding to him. "What year is it? A bit of a stupid question, yes, but humor me, please," Madoka added, as her sense of time was still skewed. Whether or not he had the same ability was something she could ask later, but this was by far the simplest means of finding out why.

OOC:

While anyone else might find it a strange question, with the thought in mind that she, like he, was daughter of the guardian of the gates of time and space, it wasn’t so strange. “2012,” he answered.

ooc:

OOC:

Her brow arched. "Well, that would be why, then. Now the question flips back to you - unless this is a completely different timeline, with the same origin, how haven't I even heard of you? I'm 'from' the 32nd century, not this time period," Madoka stated bluntly, but more than a little surprised that she had been just dropped so far back when her powers spasmed.

No matter how hard he thought about it, he just couldn’t figure it out. Staring at her for nearly a minute trying to puzzle his way through the conundrum, he finally had to admit defeat.

The ‘hiccups’ started to be born less than a year after their parents’ return from the cauldron, but Modoka just claimed to be from far in the future – living over a millennium forward in time. He didn’t know what to make of it; she hadn’t heard of him… had she heard of anyone else? This probably meant that he did not share the eternal life his mother and grandfather shared; he didn’t know how he felt about that, but there were better times to consider it than now.

“I don’t understand,” he admitted. “Is the Cauldron still malfunctioning that far into the future? What of the other children of the senshi – do you know about them? Were they part of your history? … Or, wait,” he hadn’t even considered, “are you a true daughter of Setsuna?” he asked, seeming to have forgotten her earlier admittance of her existence.

If there was ever a complicated subject, it was time paradox.

She finally just sat down on the arm of the couch, trying to think of how to explain the situation to him. "Well ... there are a couple possibilities. One is that I'm from a completely different timeline, as I suggested just a second ago. Because, no, I haven't even heard of the other senshi's children - even as much as I've used the Gate," Madoka added, before he could ask about that.

"Since there are so many strands, it's not unlikely for it to have started unraveling. And while I'm in that train of thought, it's probably that very reason I haven't heard of the others - there are literally millions of alternate timelines, if you haven't already been informed," the nearly white-haired girl continued, leaning back as she rested her elbow against the main cushions.

But his last question had elicited a somewhat hollow chuckle, one that was devoid of humor. "And as nice as it would be, no. To my knowledge, I am the result of Neo Queen Serenity and Sailor Pluto's starseeds being fused."

He accepted her words easily, nodding at the reminder of how time works, a talk he’s had several times with his mother; his eyes grew at the mention of her actually haven travelled through the Gate; he hadn’t even been there yet, and that she not only had but had used it was something he was very interested in. In fact, he probably would have somehow found a way to ask her what it was like while trying not to sound too interested when she mentioned her parentage. Sailor Pluto and…

Neo Queen Serenity.

He looked at her anew, searching her features for any sign of Serenity, but her eyes were their mother’s, her features her own… but on closer inspection, he spied the double odangos in her hair and felt a need to excuse himself, suddenly not in the presence of an equal at all. “I… Mother should be back sometime soon,” he said, changing the subject abruptly, looking away from her. “I can show you to the guest room if you’d like.”

question:

OOC:

As soon as the words left her mouth, it was as if someone had flipped his switch. She could practically watch his expression stagnate, before he abruptly changed the subject and looked away from her. The sudden insecurity was painfully obvious to the misplaced senshi - one that seemed misplaced in itself. She had never even met her second 'mother'.

But he obviously wasn't going to broach that subject again tonight, late enough though it was. Nonetheless, she wasn't going to just let something like that slide. Madoka nodded after a moment, his tone practically wooden. "If that is what you would prefer. I never did catch your name, though," she pointed out as she stood, moving to join him.

As she joined him, he kept his eyes averted and walked through the kitchen, leading her to the guest room that was just down the hallway from his own. As he opened the door into the moonlit room, he looked only upon the well-made bed in the sleekly decorated square room as he answered her, “Tantalos. Good night.”

He bowed his head and turned, leaving her to find her own way to the restroom if she needed it, disappearing into his dark bedroom and closing the door behind him.

Spoiler:

OOC:

Though she gave him a polite nod, it was hard to say that she wasn't off-put by his sudden withdrawal. And over someone she hadn't even met, no less. Proof that assuming made an ass out of someone, if he thought that the Neo Queen favored her.

That was a mess she could clean up in the morning, though. After her night, she would sleep like the dead.

When he woke after a sleepless, thoughtless night of staring at the ceiling, he expected to hear voices. The house was silent, however, and so he crept out of bed and dressed in loose dark blue jeans, a black tee and a maroon long-sleeved collared shirt, which he wore unbuttoned and untucked, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He popped out of his room and into the bathroom for a moment, washing his hair and running his fingers though his dark, messy hair before exiting, glancing once at the closed door across the hall where his somewhat half-sister had slept. Or still slept. Grabbing his backpack and slinging it over his right shoulder, he passed back through the hall and into the kitchen, where he grabbed a poptart and turned to leave, only to spy a note on the refrigerator.

Tan,
Sorry I didn’t get to see you. A long night has turned into an early morning that promises to be an even longer day; good news, though, I have a few more clients!
Have a great day, honey!
-Mom

He read the note quickly, and decided his departure should be even faster, for if Setsuna was gone, that meant that she probably hadn’t met Modoka, and he would rather not face her alone. He didn’t know how to take her, and things were just too confusing around here now. He reached for the door…

Trying to meditate had proven absolutely and utterly useless.

So, hair still down and barely brushed, she leaned against the kitchen door while her apparent half-brother seemed to be trying to creep out. "You don't have to worry about being quiet. I've been awake for over an hour," Madoka casually quipped by way of greeting, watching him.

OOC:

He froze. What should he do now? He couldn’t just leave, that would be rude. With a silent sigh, he turned around and greeted her with a forced half-smile on his face. “Good morning,” he wished, glancing away from her when she saw her pale hair messy around her head, the color reminding her of her parentage even in its washed-out hue. “I hope you slept well?”

The young woman nodded. "Relatively so. How about yourself?" Madoka asked, arching a brow at him. Even if she wasn't the most emotional person on the face of the earth, it didn't take a genius to realize that he was reluctant to talk to her all of the sudden. And it had something to do with Serenity.

“Just fine,” he lied, looking into the living room as though studying something interesting on the front page of the fashion magazine on the coffee table. “I was just heading off to a study session, so feel free to grab something for breakfast; the fridge should be stocked and there’s S’mores poptarts in the cabinet. Pots and pans are under the counter, plates in the cabinets above, utensils in the drawer beside the dishwasher. Don’t bother rinsing the plates when you’re done, just toss ‘em in and it should be fine. Mom wrote that she’d be home late, but if you needed to talk to her right away there’s a number by the phone that’ll get straight to her office.”

All of his bases were covered. Looking towards her for a moment, his eyes directed towards her but unfocused so that while he looked, he did not exactly see, he offered her a tight, toothless smile, “See you later.”

ooc:

While he gave her a quick run-down of where everything was, she was watching his distracted body language. He was tense, as he was last night before he had bid her to sleep well. She raised a brow at his reasoning for trying to slink out, but then, it was possible that he hadn't had access to the Gates - they had certainly sped up her studies. Even so. "In the middle of summer? You certainly are a go-getter, aren't you?" Madoka commented, before glancing towards the area that Tantalos said the number would be on.

Breaking the fake-gaze as quickly as he could, he listened to her remark and smiled uncomfortably, “Yeah, that’s me. Well, have a good day.” He turned back to the door, his hand on the handle.