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 Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:58 pm
Somehow, Cybele had ended up at that carnival, the one she had been pointedly avoiding for so long. She'd been following a youma, actually, but the faint aura was gone now. There were several Order auras around, however, so someone else must have gotten to it first. Now she was just... here. It wasn't too bad, which was surprising. Obviously it wasn't swarming with monsters now, but even the awful memories it brought back were blurred with time. She had so many new battles to think about now, with more blood and more screams and more people dying and almost dying, all in totally different locations. But... she wasn't going to think about those now either. To stop herself from thinking too much, she decided to continue through the structures. She'd look for something else to hunt on the other side.
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Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:49 pm
 Luxor felt the presence of another Order aura near his carnival. He had not opened it up to the public again yet, despite all the work, all the effort, and all the precautions he had been taking. Everything was still covered in tarps and tents, as if it were still under construction. There were always more things to tweak and change, but by most standards, the place was done, and ready.
But Luxor wasn't. Or rather, Chester wasn't. He could not forget what had happened the last time he opened it up, and he was not sure he was ready to risk it again. What if the Negaverse tried the same thing again? It had worked all too well before, and he'd been oblivious... even with all his precautions and security, what if it all went horribly wrong again?
He was not the kind of man who would voice these worries out loud, to any one, but they churned inside him and he struggled to make a real decision.
So he patrolled and he focused on keeping people safe, and he chased his fears away with the progress he was making each night. If he could be strong enough, maybe he would be ready. Until then, he had to keep working. Keep fighting.
Moving toward the aura, Luxor hoped up on one of the tall light posts, feet sideways on the pole, one hand holding the pole to keep him in place. He was suspended above the ground like a human banner. His position cast a shadow down over Cybele, as if she needed more of a hint that he was there outside of his aura.
"What are you doing here?" he asked stiffly, never much a fan of someone coming onto his grounds.
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:54 pm
"I'm hunting." That was Cybele's first response, before she even turned and looked around for the source of the voice, then noticed the shadow and glanced up to see a... Senshi? Knight? The headband made her think senshi, but he didn't look like any of either she'd ever seen. In any case, she took a few steps backwards. If he wanted to defy basic laws of physics like gravity, that was fine, but she wasn't going to be standing underneath him when he fell. "Patrolling, passing through, whatever you want to call it." She realized it wasn't just a small talk kind of question, but she kept her voice casual as she added, "Is that a... problem?" She really didn't need another argument. After she spoke, though, she went back to looking at her surroundings. Just watching him was making her kind of nervous. While the whole place was covered, not in use, and generally screaming 'keep out', that wasn't the kind of thing that stopped Cybele, and probably not anyone else in the war either, especially not from coming here. She'd almost died trying to protect this place. She'd definitely earned her right to stand here.
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 11:55 am
The Squire of Pluto watched the senshi for a long moment, then nodded his head. He dropped down to the floor, on purpose for the most part, and straightened up to stand tall, with his arms folded over his chest. He watched her for a quiet moment and then shook his head.
"Not if you're on patrol," he said tensely. He had a short way of speaking, his words coming out slowly and in small clusters. He did not like speaking too much, and really, he had a difficult time thinking of anything to say. He was definitely not the best with conversation, though most of the time people did not want to talk to him because of the way he glared all the time.
He never went out of his way to correct the notion that he was mad all the time. He wasn't. His passive expression was a glare, and he was passive a lot of the time.
"This place isn't open yet. But you're welcome here... if you are helping to protect it. My name is Luxor. I own this park."
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 4:34 pm
“Yet?” Her voice was surprised. Though she could obviously see now that it was being rebuilt, she’d assumed it would just sit in ruins. That was probably just because she’d never had any desire to come back. She’d staunchly avoided watching any news about it, or coming here before now, so she really wouldn’t know. “When is it going to open? There’s not really anyone who needs protection here right now.” Luxor was still making her fairly nervous even though he was no longer literally hanging over her head. It was probably the glare. If he was really the owner of this place, that made sense, but even that was strange. She hadn’t really thought about the people she in the war she’d met wearing real clothes and doing things that didn’t involve trying to kill each other. "Oh, I'm Cybele, Senshi of the Hunt. I’m not going to mess anything up. I promise." She curtsied and smiled like always, though something about the way he was staring at her made the whole thing seem pointless and really silly.
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Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 12:13 pm
"I don't know," Luxor admitted.
He ran this place, but he was not sure when he wanted to open it back up to the public. He had put in so much work and time and money into the place, building up the security, building the rides and the areas, expanding until he couldn't any more. It was a theme park now, in many ways, and it was the best money could buy. But he was not ready to let people into it, for all his preparations and precautions. After what happened before, he was not sure he would ever be ready.
Not elaborating on his answer, he nodded his head at her introduction and offered her his hand. It was as polite a gesture as he knew, and since he did not generally go out of his way to get to know others or introduce himself, it was actually a fairly large step for him. He did not smile, but that was mostly just because his placid or thoughtfully expression was naturally a glare.
"Cybele," he repeated, to commit the name to memory. "Well. Welcome. I was going to go out and patrol, but I tend to walk the park just to make sure there's nothing lurking before I go."
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 5:20 pm
Cybele didn’t say anything for a second, just stared back at him, her smile a bit less awkward now that he was being... nicer. She was just going to take the fact that he was offering a hand, welcoming her, and not glaring any more than he had before to mean that he wasn’t mad at her. She shook his hand. That seemed more socially acceptable than curtsying, at least. Then, her attention turned to scanning the surrounding area for auras. “There’s definitely nothing here now, except us. Can’t you feel it? ” That was true, but to Cybele, the memories of this place swirled around in her head and seemed to clog the air as much as the aura of any Negaverser. She barely paused before asking, “This… is the place that got attacked before, right?” and almost immediately regretting it. Of course it was, for one thing. It looked different now, but it was still in the same place. She'd been trying to sugarcoat things a little, but had just ended up sounding stupid. Well, it could have been worse. She stopped looking around to meet his gaze. “I was there.” It wasn’t something she talked about, really. She’d mentioned it a few times in passing, that was all, but now not talking about it would have just made things more awkward.
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Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 1:38 am
Luxor had a lot of trouble being nice. It was not that he was a mean man, so much as he was just really bad at showing and sharing his emotions. Everything he did, he did with a frown, and he kept his enjoyment or happiness locked away behind a wall of stoicism. He tried not to be that way, sometimes, but for the most part it was just easier to accept what others thought of him rather than try to fight against it. Some stuck around long enough to realize he was not as bad as he seemed, and others didn't. As long as he did his best, he supposed he could not blame them and did not let himself get upset about it.
"You're right, there's no one here. There hasn't been anything here since that time. Not even the negaverse or their monsters have set foot back here after that. I wonder why... sometimes."
But the rest of the time, he was just glad that they were leaving his carnival alone.
"I'm sorry," his expression softened and for a moment an emotion was visible on his face. He looked guilty, sad, and his eyes fell to the floor when she said she had been there that night. "I never thought something like that would happen... I'm not going to let it happen again, but that won't undo... all the damage that was done, and the people that were hurt and killed can't be... can't be healed or brought back."
That night was what fueled him, kept him patrolling and fighting to get stronger, so he could stomp out any Negaverse threat that came his way.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 1:27 pm
He apologized about that night and she said, "It's okay," which was not at all true. After that she didn't really know what to say. "There's nothing to hunt here," was what came out of her mouth after a few seconds, because Cybele really couldn't tolerate silence. "That's probabally what they're thinking, why they're staying away. They're always looking for starseeds, right? And there aren't many here..." As she thought about it, she realized that she didn't really know what the Negaverse was after, only that they left too many bodies in their wake and needed to be stopped. “You’re right,” she admitted, “It was… horrible.” She didn't need to explain it more than that. It was obvious that he understood, maybe even hated that night more than she did. He was wrong about one thing, though. "But, I healed." It was only as she said it that she really realized it. That night hadn't ruined her life. She managed a smile adjusted she sleeve of her fuku so he could see her wounds from that night- they had been deep scratches on her collarbone and shoulder from when Bischofite had tried to feed her to the youma. Even the scars were barely visible now. "Other people healed, too, I think, and this place looks a lot better than I remember." She was aware of how weak her encouragement sounded, but it was the best she could do.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 2:00 pm
Luxor shrugged off her words and shifted gears, trying to redirect his thoughts and the conversation.
"What does it mean, to be the Senshi of the Hunt? I know you senshi can have magic that supports your titles... do you have magic that helps you find prey?" He knew it was an abrupt subject change, but he had never been the best at conversations.
Thinking too much about things like the Carnival, or any other harrowing adventure he'd had so far in his tenure as a knight, sometimes overwhelmed him to the point of wanting to shut his brain down. He would rather avoid it than talk about it after a point, which was probably not the healthiest tactic, but it worked for him so far.
Anyway, she looked like she wanted to change the subject a bit, too. Maybe he was getting to be a little more aware of others and their emotions, even when his were lacking. Or he was just getting lucky here.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 8:45 pm
Cybele did welcome the subject change. Thinking too much about the past wouldn’t do anything except make her more upset, and she didn’t really have anything else to say about it. She was caught a little off guard, though. “Oh, um… I do have magic. It’s like…” She paused long enough to consider trying to explain the magic instead of demonstrating it. There was always the chance that she would need it later, but… she wasn’t really one to not show off. “Cybele Hunter’s Grace!” She smiled, then fired the bow that formed in her hands at him without hesitation. People tended to start getting nervous when she pointed it at them for too long, she had noticed. “See? It helps you concentrate. I’m pretty sure it makes you faster, too. It would be be good for tracking, maybe, but it doesn’t last very long and Negaversers don’t run away much, anyway.” Now that they were talking about something less depressing, she felt herself relax a little. She also had more time to study his outfit, but she still wasn’t really sure about it.. “Are you a knight, Luxor?” she asked, finally. It was the kind of thing she felt like she should really be able to figure out, but couldn’t. At least this way she had a fifty-fifty chance, unless there was some Order faction besides Senshi and Knights around. “Do you have magic?”
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 12:02 pm
Luxor was not sure how he felt about someone pointing a bow at him, but he knew in the back of his mind that she would not do anything to harm him, since she was on the Order side. Was that a safe thing to assume, as someone aims a weapon his way? He did not have much time to think about it.
He felt fogginess he had not even been aware of lift from his mind, and he looked at her in confusion, tilting his head to the side.
"That is a very good trick to have," he said, looking impressed. Well, as impressed as he could look, when he had such difficulty making facial expressions and showing his emotions. He did think that her magic would be helpful in a fight, though, and nodded his head. "I can see how it might not be as practical when you're not hunting something... but it would be good in a fight, to help others."
At her questions, though, he quieted down again, folding his arms over his chest.
"I am a Squire, for the knights, yes. I don't believe I have any magic, though. I've never used any, though I've seen other knights with it."
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 7:51 pm
Cybele smiled, genuinely, and then nodded as he reacted to her magic. "It's nice. I can use it on myself, too." His comments were more analysis than anything else, but she was taking them as compliments. She was proud of her magic, even if it wasn't really something she had chosen. It looked like she had guessed correctly about him being a knight, too. "I don't know much about knight's magic, or knights in general, actually," she admitted. "I didn't even know you had ranks other than just 'knight' until right now. It makes sense, though." She tried thinking back to the knights she had met and came up with a very short list. "You have... weapons, right?" That was also an educated guess. The only time she'd actually seen knights fight was in big battles when she'd been focusing on other things. The battle that came to mind was, again, the one that had happened here, but she definitely wasn't going to dwell on that any more. That meant leaving was probably the best option. "You said you were going to patrol. Can I come?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2014 1:06 pm
stari_maga I think we could wrap this one up here-ish?
He was worked up, just thinking about his carnival and what had happened there, and also thinking about the future, and when he might open it up again. That was a point of true fear with him, and something he did not like to dwell on or admit to. Being made to face it, even in passing or on accident, was always difficult for him. He spent too much time avoiding it, though, and one day he would have to make a real decision.
And accept whatever consequences came with that.
"We have weapons," he said, holding out his hand to show her his glove. It was ornate with steam punk like gears and pipes, and looked like it would hurt if he punched someone with it. He did think it was a bit of a stupid weapon, though, when he saw some of the things other people had at their Squire stage. Tangible, swingable items.
"If you want to come with me on patrol, you can." He would like the company, anyway, and nodded his head toward the direction of the front gates. They could start the night of patrol from there. He was not used to company on his patrols, but maybe that would do him some good.
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Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:29 am
Cybele had started to figure out that Luxor wasn't a chatty person, and even though she was, she was starting to deal with it. Now, she was actually okay with not filling the moments of silence by talking about their clothes, or the weather... which was progress for her. She'd come here to think, after all, not to have conversations about pointless, distracting things. Weapons and magic were good distractions from that night, it seemed, but they weren't that pointless. It would be good to know if they ended up fighting something. She smiled a little when he said she was right, then glanced at his glove, hopefully looking impressed. "Yours looks nice." It did, actually. It was pretty, but... she wasn't sure if she'd call it a weapon. "I'll come with you," she said, then smiled and nodded when he said she could come with her. Not that she minded being alone, but she was less nervous when there was someone with her. Then, before there could be more awkward silence, she started towards the gate and the city beyond. "Let's go." Lithiasaur Yeah, this is fin for me.
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