Abzu, Squire of Neptune Location: G1 -> F2 Action: Feeling surprisingly small, following Pendour from a distance
Pendour, in light of everything, in light of the push of nauseating chaos and the way a shield lit up above them to protect them, suddenly said she had something that could help and turned her attention elsewhere. She wanted to help the Vanguard, it looked like, to keep that shield going longer. It made sense.
Abzu turned his attention outwards again, once again searching the sky to see if something was obvious. There was ... Nothing. A smaller creature, but an even smaller him where he stood.
... Hm.
It made the hairs on his neck stand on end. There was something in him that liked feeling small, sometimes. This was not that type of occasion.
He glanced toward where his future spouse had headed. Pendour, themself, had been accepted fine, but seeing weapons drawn at others gave him pause. It was enough of a pause to keep him from outright joining Pendour, though he would stay at a safe distance if they needed him. Better to stop the Velencians from getting even more distracted by defensiveness...
Abzu gazed back beyond, wishing he could see beyond the clouds as much as he wished to shrink into himself every time he did.
Ibirapita's face lit up in mild amusement as Abzu walked away from Eridu just as they arrived where Abzu was. Eridu did not find it nearly as amusing. "The ********? Why would he want us to get ******** separated with that kind of magic flying around?"
"He went over there. It appears Abzu went near the cluster of other aliens, even if he isn't looking at them." ... What was he doing? "That is likely because Pendour went over there."
Eridu's brow knit. "The aliens with ... Guns. I think I'll stay over here."
With Yddagen setting off to join the rest of the Vanguard, it left just herself and Neryn. Lysvi was fine with this -- Yddagen had himself figured out, just as Lysvi had themselves figured out. That came with the prevailing sense that Lysvi didn't necessarily wish to join the others, no matter what they were doing, no matter how much they had defended against the aftereffects of the massive bolt the Negaverse Queen had sent off.
Lysvi shuddered.
"Agreed," Lysvi pulled out their phaser as they prepared to move locations. "Let's go."
Meleph, not really knowing anyone else to go with even remotely, followed Prince Remarque when he suggested moving over. It worked about as well as anything else, especially considering Meleph had no idea how she would ever be safe against the falling scales or the massive blast of Chaos Laurelite pushed out.
Meleph shuddered.
Quote:
Dark Mirror Squad! Not going to spam up notifications because she's not saying anything haha
Did Hydor have some idea of how powerful chaos was? Sure. It made sense. It had basically wiped out every planet in the cosmos so far as he had been able to put together. There weren't exactly a high supply of ******** alien senshi and there weren't any alien knights at all. It still was one thing to know it and another thing to know it.
Hydor wasn't so distracted, though, that he didn't notice a strange feeling at his side. He went to snatch his hand back, but Ancha snatched hers back first and had a quick follow up question.
"Not exactly," replied Hydor, rubbing at his hand.
Nembus grabbed her guardian and buried her head in his fur as too many things felt like they were happening at once. Too much chaos. Too many things falling. Too many -- shields?
While Nembus guessed that wasn't bad because they were all still alive, Nembus could barely process what a relief that was as the chaos still reverberated through her mind and body. The most significant part of her life she even still remembered was when she was part of whatever that dark magic was.
"Do you want to follow the princess?" Elliott tried to stir his bonded out of the fear that was holding her and also, perhaps, out of squeezing him-
Nembus didn't let go of Elliott. (Unfortunate, he figured.) "N-no. They hurt a lot of us a few years back. They can be benefiting us now, but I don't think I should trust them that close ..."
"What," Minkowski swallowed around a lump in her throat that she hardly realized was there with how heavy the air around her felt like it was wearing, "are we supposed to do against a threat like that?"
Minkowski worried it was nothing. She fidgeted, wringing her hands and Anser tried to find her answer.
Unfortunately, Anser had no answer for herself, either. All she had was caffeine and the smallest sliver of hope. It wasn't for what the Negaverse had pulled off, of course, but if they had shields and if they had all been talking to the Moon Queen, maybe Order had a better solution up their sleeve.
... Anser didn't know about what that would be, but.
Was it too late to ask to be returned to her homeworld?
Who would she even ask?
Somehow, that Chaos felt worse than the chaos she had been surrounded by for centuries. Perhaps it was because she was used to hers. Hers felt the same, an idle background noise at this point. This was a pure concentration, meant to destroy anything it confronted.
Thestias shivered despite the fact it wasn't cold, quickly acting to keep herself shielded by whatever she could.
Perhaps it would have been better to let the other people who were powered handle it, and then he could have either woken up like nothing happened, or he could have woken up dead. Which meant that none of them would be waking up, actually, which was what he was there to prevent.
But being stuck in such a small area only able to watch felt like a waste of his talents.
It was probably for the best that Rakovanite stopped him with a steel grip, because otherwise Narcissus didn't know what he would've done. Run closer? Just to make everyone made it out of harm's (immediate) way? Or run away entirely... Except it didn't seem like there was a way to get out of this plane, so he'd just be... running...
Like an idiot.
But there was just so much more here than he felt equipped to handle, even excluding the Calamitous Hallow. Unlike Rak and his friends, he wasn't Negaverse-affiliated. So even if Laurelite's Chaos blast didn't make him want to die from that much energy crawling over his skin, he did want to shrivel into himself. He'd met her only once, and though the tidings had been amicable enough then... He wasn't sure he'd like to meet her again.
He followed Diesel's gaze over to the Queen, and the pesky princess flies "flittering" around. No one was going to hop over there and jump on that poor Princess... right? Like, surely everyone in the Negaverse who'd seen it would think to handle it later, and not now? Narcissus found himself grabbing Rakovanite back, despite his fervent hopes. "Are you g-going...? N-no, no... Right?"
Despite how Calaverite very frequently only had eyes for one person, he did find himself watching with a very particular interest as Laurelite blasted such an immense beam of energy at the Hallow, that it actually shrank. It actually came closer to being something ants could kill (and while Cala was hardly smart, he'd definitely seen a colony of ants completely ransack a whole snake- a slow, agonizing death...)
But what would be the point of following someone so religiously, if they could not even do that much? She was their Queen for a reason, after all.
"Those scales are still massive," Feldspar replied to Diesel's awe-struck (and delirious) ramblings. "Can't imagine how many more blasts it would take to get it to 'garden-hose' sized." But he didn't expect it to be a number they'd be hitting any time soon. Letting Queen Laurels do all the work would be too easy on them- and having her make it an easy victim before they dogpiled it was probably not in the cards, either.
"But it's not like anything we do will even touch it in this state... Not as far off as it is like that."
(sorry for crappy replies this time, I'll do better next round! TuT)
Such a display of immense and unparalleled power felt like it shouldn't be possible for someone human, but if she was the only one who could damage it, Weissite wouldn't be surprised. Cala was right. If they were going to put their faith in someone so many swore was evil, if they were going to use a power as likely to attack them as help them, there had to be a reason. Lethal weapon to any enemy they faced was certainly a good reason. Weissite was glad not to be on the wrong side here.
If there was ever a time when Markeb might have considered leaving the Dark Mirror Court, becoming a Corrupt to stand beside her brother and his team in the Negaverse, it would have been now. But the mere thought of swearing loyalty to their Queen made her stomach churn.
She could accept that her brother found something worthwhile under Rakovanite’s command. That she understood. But the Soverign’s power was something else entirely; oppressive and sickening to be near with no care for the lives of the people who had rallied together to fight. And Markeb knew in that moment she could never serve someone so unfeeling.
That kind of power didn’t protect… it consumed.
While it’s true, she had been intimidated by Remarque, the reservations she had about him were never because he had done something to make her fearful of him. For the few times they spoke he had in each instance been kind and understanding. But it was the desire to not disappoint him that had her moving between mirrors like a mouse in the wall; barely seen and rarely heard.
He was a leader deserving respect, where she… she was something truly terrible... truly evil.
Lieutenant Vauxite Location: F9 Action: Concerned by his sister's reaction.
Glancing over at his sister’s pale expression, Vauxite reached out and placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. He had no words of solace to offer her, no explanation for the questions she dare not ask aloud.
“If you want to stand with your Court, now’s the time to move.”
If she’d heard him, Markeb didn’t react and that worried him even more.
Location: A4. Action: technically, this is probably some form of insubordination. also, it is a tantrum.
Awe filled Ilmari as the Queen began her work. He’d only seen her once before, at the dinner party before the launch of Club Biolumina, but truly, she was a stunning woman. Tonight, Laurelite was in even finer form than (what Ilmari presumed constituted her) usual, summoning such overwhelming power. Bringing out that Chaos cannon and firing it on the Calamitous Hollow. Dealing it such a devastating blow.……utter perfection on her part. Nothing could compare, and for a moment, Ilmari felt as though nothing could ruin any of this.
But then his team started talking again.
All of the talk from them made sense enough. Ilmari recognized that. Heliodor didn’t mean anything untoward by saying I am honestly not sure if the Calamitous Hollow even cares we are down here; he only wanted to share important information.
Litharge hadn’t meant anything before with his Albite, if I die, please take care of my plant or by saying that he would get into Valhalla if he died in battle tonight. He didn’t mean anything now, either, with this nonsense about I’m with you all, until the end of the line. An expression of solidarity preceded by coping with humor.
Albite absolutely had not meant anything upsetting by any of his words about There’s no world where, win or lose, I’m anywhere but here or Sides, whether we come back or not....whether we even can or not...what’s it matter anyways?. Maybe Ilmari hadn’t known his Boss as long as any of the others here. But he knew Albite well enough to recognize when Albite only intended to express his personal feelings with a side of team solidarity.
Yet, hearing all of these things……
Putting them together, mentally, with what Faustite had signed before the sky had split itself open……
Ilmari blenched. His jaw tightened, as did both his fists. Dropping from their ready position, raised and primed to summon his magic, Ilmari’s arms fell to his sides. Both trembled with the tension that came from biting back on the impulse to start punching people (not least because all of the convenient Order rats with whom Ilmari could have thrown hands were at least several good paces away and Queen Laurelite was currently present, in the flesh, to disapprove of him spoiling everyone’s efforts at saving the world like ******** unthinkable, he couldn’t live with himself if he were to disappoint her so badly).
Bowing his head, he looked away from the team, but it didn’t help. He tried to focus on the storm clouds roiling around their feet, tried to count how many individual ones he could spot or look for interesting shapes among their ranks, but it didn’t help. He clenched his teeth together, lips pressing into a line so thin that they almost disappeared, but it didn’t help. The real storm clouds for Ilmari whipped around inside his chest, whirling and churning, growing darker with each fluttering, anxious beat of his hideous heart—
And then Faustite’s spike pierced the ground.
And then the energy from it arced out toward the team.
And then—
“Will all of you <******** stop it!” Ilmari’s head snapped back up, moving as independently of his whims as his tongue now did, loosened up by whatever Faustite had looped them in on. Green eyes burned as he looked from Mizuki to Hestia to Tama (kitted out in his fabulous senshi regalia) to Albite and Haymitch to Borax and Tincalconite (who hadn’t actually done anything Ilmari was upset about but were part of the team regardless) to Pax (who also probably did not deserve this) to Faustite himself to Fafnir and Heliodor to…… “If one. more. single. ********. one. of you says <******** anything about ‘if we don’t make it’ this, or ‘if I die out there’ that, or ‘it’s been a damn fine honor,’ I am going to <******** scream!”
Honestly, it may not have taken anybody saying anything, at this rate. Even without such prompting, Ilmari was quickly descending from projecting his voice into literally screaming.
“Stop saying things like that! Don’t even put that energy out there in the first place! You’re all tempting fate by manifesting things like that and I’m ******** sick of it because none of you are allowed to die, period! End of story! If any of you so much as think of dying, I will chase you down into the realms of death and drag you back myself!”
Looking to Litharge in particular, he (rather loudly) clarified, “No ******** Valkyries will stop me from getting you back, either! Odin himself can catch these hands and I’ll take care of Jörmungandr’s job for them so that lazy serpentine <********> can just keep napping or whatever they ******** do! Wherever Vesuvianite is, that applies to them, too! We are going to work together, and get through this, and go back home alive, all of this is extremely non-optional! And you—!”
Trembling all over now, cheeks flushing with both fury and a certain embarrassment at abruptly making himself so vulnerable (never mind doing it by letting his self-control slip so badly), Ilmari looked toward Albite. “I know that you were just expressing yourself! I know you’re right! If we aren’t here, there won’t be a home to go back to! But don’t you ******** dare start saying things like it doesn’t matter if we make it back or not, because it does! For all of you! It does matter if you make it back!”
Ilmari’s vision clouded, Albite’s figure going all wobbly and distorted as angry tears filled Ilmari’s eyes. Only when they spilled over did Ilmari himself recognize they were there, then desperately try to scrub them away with his sleeve. “Most people only like me for my parents’ money, okay! Don’t do me ******** dirty by deciding it doesn’t matter if you ******** die! Because it does ******** matter, Albite! Please don’t take one of the precious tiny handful of people who actually likes me and throw him away like <******** garbage! And in case I’m being too subtle, it’s you! That’s the person I’m talking about, okay! <******** you!”
As he took a deep breath, Ilmari intended to keep going.
But the pause gave his brain enough of a moment to catch up with what his mouth had been doing while the brain had been locked in the basement.
Ilmari paled again, eyes going wide with fear. Oh, repercussions would be had later, he just knew it. When they all got back to Negaspace, he was going to be in so much trouble. ********. <********>. No, but seriously, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Entire body tensing up, Ilmari hugged himself. He turned away from the rest of them, facing back towards another corner of the arrangement, where Faustite’s leggy loudmouth Order skank was probably being all cloying and disgusting about the plight of the space whales or whatever he talked about when left to his own devices. God, what a repulsive son of a whore. Despite no longer facing the team, however, Ilmari maintained his connection to Faustite and the spike and whatever was going on there. Outburst or not, he was not going to abandon his team.
“…………I just feel very strongly about this issue,” he said, his voice back to a normal speaking volume, and his tone frosty, prickly, but suspiciously devoid of any other emotion.
lizxbot
Hestia
strickenxized
Faustite + Niter
Sexiana_ZI
Borax
Koxlina
Helio
a-disgruntlxed-dragon
Litharge + Haymitch + Mizuki
amxasis
Tincanolite
Shiningaxmisgirl
Albite
meigxhei
Tama
whimsicalx blue
Fafnir
Daxekie
Pax
Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2025 12:17 pm
General-King Faustite Location: A4 Action: Staring at Ilmari, signing orders at Albite
His flaming appearance wicked away and Faustite was once again solid. At the first signs of Ilmari's outburst, he kept his attention trained on the spike. He could allow a few emotionally charged words.
But as the boy went on, as his pitch rose, Faustite's gaze slowly shifted to him. He stared hard, as if asking are you ******** done yet? with his actions alone. Once Ilmari remembered where he left his self-control, Faustite took one hand off his spike.
With it, he signed to Albite. Hug your ******** subordinate. That's an order.
post 1234 Location: F3 with Lyndin and the Vanguard & Company Action: Approaching Kerberos for energy donation
She watched the some of the others step forward, collecting energy from those that offered. Even the half-youma that had channeled the lightning before in the city. Taking a slow breath, and trying to ignore the nearly overpowering smell of ozone, she stepped forth herself, drawing out her Source Stone. Energy was needed to help keep the shield up... they had no idea what this thing would do next, or if the Negaverse's Queen would send out another blast that'd knock more scales to crash down...
Her attention focused on a glowing senshi (Kerberos), and her steps were steady as she made her way over to him. A critical--albeit curious--eye was cast on the winged, glowing woman beside him (Ida). It was... intriguing, those marks. How did that function for senshi and knights? Huh. Hand outstretched, she offered the Source Stone to the blue-haired senshi (Kerberos) with a slight smile and incline of her head. "Thank you. Your help is greatly appreciated." Even if she rather hoped not too much more would be necessary to keep the shield up, before the creature fell... the Commodore called the shield a tourniquet. She tried not to let the chilling thought overrun her mind for the moment...
post 1234 Location: F3, with Lyndin and Vanguard + Energy Helpin' folks Action: Energy donation
Oh?
Two glowing eyes peered curiously towards the Uranus Knight (Andronicus) that the Vanguard clearly had a reason to not exactly trust from the sounds of things. Killed one of theirs? She wasn't going to say she blamed the Knight, but goodness... the entertainment was worth coming over here, in and of itself. But as one of the Vanguard agents approached her (Fangnyl), she kept her face calm and fully suppressed the urge to laugh outright at the display. She almost rather liked the Velencians right now...
Instead, even as her calm state conflicted with the energy crackling around her and beneath her skin, she inclined her head to the agent in front of her. "I am grateful to be able to assist in this." She pulled back the electricity as much as she could from the air near her, not wanting to accidentally shock him as well, before carefully reaching out a golden metal hand to press her fingers to the Source Stone. As before... her own energy did not get really affected, but the excess she was able to absorb? It flowed through her, from her, and into the crystal without issue. Perhaps a couple little static zaps through her hair, but...
Location: F3 Action: Standing with Andronicus, feeling a bit uneasy, offering some energy to the Vanguard
That any one person had that level of power at all was concerning, Chaos or otherwise, though Ashur was still mostly trying to keep his head on straight after Laurelite's display, so he tucked the thought away for dissection another time. For now, he grimaced as his insides burned something fiercely unpleasant, looking up and around to see what all had happened.
Between everything, the salient point for him was that, by some miracle, it didn't seem like anyone was hurt. Though the shield looked like it might need some help. "Sounds like a plan to me," he replied to her with just a little nod, a wariness coming about as he'd never dealt with them before. Adding to that her warning about them possibly shoving weapons in their faces…
Still, he followed closely after Andronicus. Considering what all was happening, hopefully a grudge or revenge for whatever Andronicus did to this Lyndin individual was low on their list of priorities.
He followed her gaze to one specifically and assumed he was the one in charge and was about to offer his own energy when someone else spoke up…
"I thought you said you just punched the guy?" he said in hushed tones as he nudged his fellow Knight, hearing the comment about her killing one of their people. But then, louder this time, and to the one Andronicus was actually looking at (Lyndin). "Besides, I don't think any of us can afford to be picky about anything right now. So do you want our energy or not?"
There was tension in the air. Kerberos couldn't exactly blame the Vanguard for being wary, and he stopped in front of Aliez's shield, nodding.
"Right. Staying right here," he agreed. No need to ratchet things up. Especially not around what was undoubtedly delicate machinery.
If he jolted a little when Vyn shot Oberon, probably he could be forgiven, himself. At least Oberon didn't seem upset--or at least not too upset.
Maybe he was just too used to being threatened, because being stopped and having guns pointed at him really didn't faze him all that much. Not the worst he'd heard, anyway--just people who wanted to protect their Commodore, in yet another shitty situation where anything could go wrong very quickly.
He gently put a hand on Ida's arm for a moment.
"It's fine," he said, softly, for her ears only. "Let them be wary. They've got reason to be." His eyes cut to Andronicus. The blue Corporal with the hand scythe had said something about her killing one of the Commanders--Kerberos hadn't witnessed that himself, specifically, but he'd seen the bodies on the hill.
Honestly, Kerberos thought the Vanguard was being incredibly restrained in dealing with her.
Lyndin said the shield was only a tourniquet, and Kerberos tried not to think about what would happen if--when--it came down.
"Whatever I can do to help keep it going for as long as we can manage," he said.
He gave Daesva a smile, extending the arm that did not have floral burn scars from the last time he'd very directly aided the Vanguard in a messy situation. Showing it off would have felt too much like demanding he be recognized, and frankly, it wasn't important.
"I'm glad to help," he said. He reached for that well of power inside him, the bright center that connected him to his world. "I can give more than you think. Senshi like Ida and I, with these glowing marks, are connected to our planets in unique ways. She and I have a deeper well of energy than most people. So don't worry about how much you're pulling, I'll be fine."
Location: G6. Action: hearing someone speak his language!!! making contact!!!
Oh, there was so much going on around Nekoite. So many things that required his attention because all of them were potential pieces of tea to take back to Ashanite and Arsenolite, once he managed to escape. The Earth Knight seemed to be extremely in favor of people purifying, maybe had some kind of close relationship with the enormous, horned banana lady? Meanwhile, Chaos Demon Marge Simpson was apparently named Grieve—as revealed by some other alien lady, very tall and pretty but sort of odd in the proportions of her face—and the other lady was asking her what she should do?
Ohhhhhhh, what if the two of them had been roommates?!?!?!
Could the Grieve lady have had an ex-wife and an Oh My God, They Were Roommates?
Nekoite hmmmed, mostly to himself, tilting his head as he listened to Grieve giving the rundown of things to the new lady (Brangane, apparently), and hoisted one of Nekoite’s fellow Negaverse operatives over her shoulder.…… Maybe he was misreading the vibes and the general dynamic here? And the Grieve sure seemed to think that she had rights to put her hands on the Nega-Senshi who’d been pulled in.…… Since he seemed to mostly be getting ignored, Nekoite leaned around, trying to catch the Corrupt’s eye and giving her a little wave, throwing in a look of concern with it. Maybe he couldn’t do much with a cat toy, but the point end could still put somebody’s eye out if Nekoite really applied himself, and if the Grieve was taking liberties with whoever this corrupt senshi (Mirabilite), he’d reach down deep to the bottom of his soul and find the drive and commitment to make her stop.
How he expected this sentiment to be conveyed by just some wide, sparkly eyes and an expression that begged to know Are you okay?—well, that was anybody’s guess.
(Of course, he noticed Miss Queen Laurelite doing something awesome that seriously wounded the serpent, too. Of course he also felt the overwhelming surge of Chaos. But unlike all the Order people getting sick around him, Nekoite had to fight the urge to go too starry eyed.…… Man, that must have been why Laurelite was the Queen, huh? Nekoite really needed to work hard, and git gud, and start collecting whatever the real world used instead of titanite shards so he could one day hope to be even a fraction as amazing as the Queen.)
…………oh, she hadn’t said anything about him, had she.
Leaning around another way, Nekoite waved at Brangäne. “Hi! I don’t think Miss Grieve mentioned me? And that’s fair, I can’t really do much yet?” Smiling, he held up his little cat toy, let them all see what he was working with. “But slaying massive demons or eldritch nightmare creatures with broken swords or rusty chain whips and stuff is, like, kind of my thing when I’m not powered up?” Which was a perfectly normal way to describe playing video games on Twitch for a living. “So I’m down to get creative with my little toy! Anyway, my people have a saying—”
He cut himself off as he heard exactly what he’d wanted to say, coming from somewhere else in the crowd: If it bleeds, it can die.
Gasping, Nekoite went all sparkly with delight in the eyes. “I HEARD THAT,” he called out to whoever the person of culture around here was. “IF IT’S ALREADY BLEEDING, LET’S MAKE IT BLEED SOME MORE! DON’T GIVE UP, SKELETON!!!”
In the hopes of finding the person of culture around here, Nekoite darted to somewhere still near his little group. He threw his left arm up over his head, then held his right arm out perpendicular to the ground, making an L shape, just like Bloodborne. Looking around hopefully, he slowly shifted his arms around, so that the right one stuck up and the left one aligned with the ground.
………Nekoite could do this “make contact” gesture all night, if necessary.
