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 Posted: Fri May 20, 2022 10:00 am
Nothing felt right.
For starters, Reiki shouldn’t have used his drink tickets before going onstage. Somehow, two Cuervo-and-Diet-Cokes hadn’t managed to completely ******** up his performance—far from it. As he stumbled and snaked through the crowd at Scandals, making a beeline backstage, Reiki collected even more tips than he’d gotten while performing the one number Sybil and Cherry agreed to let him have tonight. By the time he got some breathing room, he wasn’t sure how much more his outfit’s pockets could hold. More than one person had shoved him a five-spot or a ten-dollar bill, rather than a single. Counting them out later would probably feel pretty good.
Except for how everything still felt……off. Not exactly wrong, but distinctly far from right. As Reiki took off his half-blonde, half-pink wig and placed it and his tips in his transport case, it seemed like every part of him was trembling, shivering with emotions he couldn’t name, much less explain, despite them lurking so close to the surface. Coursing through him, they made the air burn, made his breath feel like an electric crackle—God, he had to get out of here. His keys and wallet were in his wig case. He’d come over to the bar already up in drags. All the sounds felt even more distant from him than those thoughts, as if Reiki were hearing them from underwater, even when Brenda Snap! and Dorian Gay rushed up to congratulate him on the number going off so well.
In his heart, Reiki appreciated his drag siblings’ enthusiasm. Their love and support meant the world to him. But he couldn’t think, right now, of how best to respond. Nodding and thanking them, of course…telling them that he loved them too because he did…trying to keep everything together, no matter how it felt like the strings that bound the universe together were unraveling around him.…
Something must’ve seemed off about him from the outside too, judging from how quickly his siblings told him to go home and get some sleep. Was he breathing wrong? A tight feeling in his chest suggested he might’ve been. And his drag siblings had the right idea, Reiki knew they did.
Stumbling out one of the bar’s side-doors—stable in the ankles, he knew how to walk in heels, but teetering down a curved path like walking puddles down the stage at a pageant—he fully intended to do exactly what they’d said. Stomp it out, a quick trip down this alley and then a block-and-a-half to the stop where he’d catch a city bus. After a short ride, it would drop him off right across the street from the apartment. He’d take the elevator up and, once he washed off his dramatically smudged up drag face, he’d bury his real face in a soft, warm dog who loved him unconditionally, no matter how much of a hot mess her Dad seemed at any moment.
Reiki barely made it halfway down the alley before his legs just…stopped cooperating. A chill crashed over him. His stomach lurched. He needed to keep going. Same as he’d done since walking out on the worst thing that ever happened to him—same as he’d always done, for as long as he could remember—Reiki had to keep going. He wouldn’t get home by just standing here, eyes fixed on the pavement and tremors jolting through him with each sick, heavy, shuddering crash of his heart against his chest.
How he wound up on some stacked up milk crates, he hardly recognized. Must’ve been, he fumbled over to them and flopped into sitting down? But Reiki’s thoughts all whirled too fast to keep up with. Emotions tsunami-raged, rushing through him like something about tonight’s number had finally blown up the dam.
Conceal, don’t feel, he tried to tell himself. Don’t let them know someone who doesn’t deserve you managed to hurt you like this—but it was too late. His eyes misted over, and all too soon, started crying in earnest. His breaths grew shorter and shallower. Soul spiraling in all the despair he’d kept fending off with “I’ll handle it later” and “not right now, ya filthy animals,” Reiki cracked.
How had he been so ******** stupid with Greg? Why had he ever given that son of a b***h a chance? A chance to prove that he really did see Reiki, a human person, instead of the fantasy about Miss Sayuri that he’d made up in his head? Two of Reiki’s ******** shows and Greg had started blathering about love being all you needed and a many-splendored thing that lifted us up where we belonged, like the ******** “Elephant Love Medley” from the only godforsaken movie musical that he enjoyed.
He’d seen Reiki in, what? Four numbers, total? One of them, Reiki couldn’t bring himself to regret; he’d done Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” while dressed as Madame de Pompadour (though he’d ended with a fake beheading, an acquiescence both to drama and to how many of his drag siblings had looked at the dress while he made it and guessed he was supposed to be Marie Antoinette). Another, he didn’t even recall what it was or if he’d find it in the archives of Scandals’ official youtube channel. The other two had been group numbers with some of his legendary House—so how had he remotely let Greg convince him that he’d felt anything about the real person underneath all of Miss Sayuri’s geish?
Why hadn’t Reiki stood his ground about turning him down, like he had the first twenty-some-odd times? Why had he started feeling rude and guilty for doing that? He never would’ve told his friends, his siblings, or his cousins that they were in the wrong for telling some stupid. little. boy. to take his crush on a mere idea and leave. So, why had Reiki ever let himself feel like that?
Why had he been stupid enough to let Greg in?
Why had he stayed with him so long? Any of their previous disagreements could’ve justified splitting up before they’d gone so far that not getting married felt, in its way, like losing. Why had he done so much for Greg—busted his a** to get extra money, first for Greg’s LSAT prep and then for bar exam cram school; exhausted his ability to cook anything so Greg had a good, solid lunch he could take out to campus or any of his internships; helped him study for the bar, only for him to fail once and make no moves at retaking it—then let that b*****d hold it over his head for years that Greg’s father had found out about Miss Sayuri well before Greg had felt ready to handle having that conversation?
(As if that had been Reiki’s fault. It hadn’t been on Greg’s father, either; he wasn’t the middle-manager at his office who’d decided to book a bunch of local drag queens as their winter holiday party entertainment. But a job with a good paycheck was a job with a good paycheck, and even if Reiki had known Greg’s father worked there, how was he supposed to turn it down? When Greg’s latest internship paid only in experience and graduate student stipends could only stretch so far?)
More recently, how had Reiki missed the ******** cheating? According to Justin, he and Greg had been seeing each other for eight months, but as of tonight, Reiki and Greg had only been broken up for a little more than two. Surely, there must’ve been signs.… None of Reiki’s siblings had pointed any out so far, nor had Haruhi and Ayame, nor had any of his drag family—Justin, their latest member, had never once suspected that Greg had had a fiancé at home—so maybe Greg had discovered his real talent for bullshit artistry and simply convinced everyone that, for all the flaws Reiki’s family had ever seen in him, at least he’d never sleep around.
Why hadn’t Reiki seen it coming? Living with Greg, how hadn’t he noticed something—anything—that hadn’t been right?
The trend was continuing, though Reiki didn’t realize it yet. As these too-long pent-up emotions burst free, they brought a crying meltdown with them. Jagged sobs clawed their way up and out of Reiki. More tears gushed from his eyes than he felt he should’ve had, especially after sweating under the stage lights for a number that had probably been long enough to get an ad break on youtube. Dimly, he thought about checking his wig case for a bottle of water, but he couldn’t follow through on that impulse. Not while his entire being got so swept away in breaking down that he didn’t notice an unearthly buzzing sound……didn’t notice the flutter of rapidly beating wings……didn’t notice either of those sounds sweeping closer and closer to him……
Reiki hadn’t fully stopped crying by the time he decided to try and make himself get home. If he absolutely had to waste tears like this on some stupid. ********. BOY., then at least he could go home, where he had hot tea, a hot shower, and a soft dog to snuggle. At least he could go lean on Haruhi and probably get more softness than ne typically showed to anybody. Forcing himself to take a deep breath, Reiki lifted his wig case up, shifted the strap onto his shoulder.
……And then, he noticed how much darker his spot had gotten, how many more shadows had sprung to life.
Please…no… Not right now… he mused, but as he slowly looked up, Reiki suspected that Reality’s answer would come back a resounding, Yes, right now. b***h, deal with it.
He didn’t expect the answer would take the form before him: massive butterfly wings in a frankly gorgeous rainbow gradient, attached to a body like Echidna out of Greek myth, a beautiful, mostly naked woman from the waist up, and a powerful snake from the waist down, her mostly bronze scales punctuated by spots of vibrant color. Still, after whatever the ******** had happened with Centi-Tina yesterday, some part of Reiki felt like he couldn’t be that surprised.
Too bad for him, some mysterious little man in purple probably wasn’t coming this time. And for all he’d grabbed random debris and joined in yesterday, Reiki didn’t have it in him. Not tonight.
Seven ******** Hells—he’d just performed the most successful number of his entire drag career to date. Put his heart and soul all over the stage at Scandals. Given so much of himself to the performance that all he could do was finally break down over everything Greg had put him through……and now, he was going to die. Niji Kidna over here would drain what little he had left in him, and Reiki would die in smudged, tear-streaked makeup, with his hair still in the pinned-up braid he used to fit it under his wigs and a mullet dress-style kimono, whose long train he’d fashioned as a tribute to the bad b***h oiran of history.
Ugh. Jesus. Gross—but if Reiki was gonna die, then at least he’d make sure his last words did not go gentle.
“Oh, honey,” he drawled, not really having the energy to crow right now. “Is this because I told the other giant monster-girl she looked like a model, yesterday? Because if that’s the case, then sorry I’m not sorry, sweetie. You’re both pretty and I’m allowed to say so.”
Not the best he could’ve done, he’d admit that.
But as Niji Kidna howled like a swarm of locusts, all dead rustling and mindless hunger, Reiki guessed that it would do. Please.… he prayed, watching her snap her serpentine tail like a mastercrafted whip. Someone, please.… Help me, someone, please—but since when had hopes and prayers accomplished anything for anybody?
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2022 11:41 pm
It was not someone in purple who came to Reiki's rescue.
Elsa knew it was dumb and sentimental of him, but although he'd had to carve his free time tonight into time to gather energy for the Mirror, and also take Soyala hunting for new Senshi, he'd specifically angled his patrol so it took him near Scandals. Soyala hadn't complained; she seemed quite content with the new route.
And, okay, Elsa was a little bit transparent about it, at least for himself; he was looking out for Reiki and everyone else at Scandals. But mostly Reiki. If there were Negas prowling around here, Elsa would...well. Get a little territorial, maybe.
It was not an officer he found, but instead, the ever-ugly aura of a youma, and he ran towards it, feeling his stomach sink when he realized just how close it was to Scandals. In the alleyway near the bar, even.
And even from where he was standing, on the roof of a neighboring building, Elsa could recognize the figure the youma was looming over.
There were only so many 6'4" drag queens in Destiny City. Only one who would be here.
Reiki.
"We're going in," Elsa told Soyala. "Stay out of the way, you don't need to get in trouble."
He leapt off the roof, and when he landed, he felt Soyala leap off his shoulders. Good. Smart cat.
"Hey," he said, whistling to get the youma's attention. "You want a snack? Come get a Senshi."
The good news was, Senshi starseeds were infinitely appealing to youma, which meant that this would almost certainly redirect her. The even better news was that as an Eternal? Elsa was pretty sure he didn't have jackshit to fear from some sparkly snake-chick.
"Reiki," he said, without thinking--Reiki wouldn't recognize him, and if he did, there could very well be Problems--"get out of here. Let me handle this."Soyala wasn't much use in a fight against a youma, except perhaps as fuzzy bait, or for one good kitty beam, and so as soon as Elsa moved to engage, she leapt off his shoulders and darted towards the civilian Elsa had moved to protect.
There was something about him--and when she hopped up onto his lap and put her paw over the center of his chest that she was sure.
The starseed there was singing, full of energy, practically ready to burst.
"My goodness," she said, "how negligent. Who let you wait so long?" There was no reason for her to be subtle; no reason for her not to speak. In front of her was, she was certain, an unawakened Senshi--which meant that it was fortuitous that she and Elsa had arrived when they did.
"Don't worry," she said, and she reached her other paw up to gently bat at his face. Poor thing, he'd been crying. "Elsa will have no trouble with that thing, and then we're going to get you Awakened. Goodness. What are those Order cats doing."
Not their jobs, that was for damn sure, because if they were, surely one of them would have found this light sooner.
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 12:13 am
As much as he hadn’t enjoyed the prospect, his own death had seemed rather imminent—so, when it didn’t come? When Niji Kidna whipped around in the direction of someone whistling, when she charged their way instead of coming for him, his brain staggered, trying to catch up.
When the person said his name—“How do you…have we…? Do you know…”—Reiki’s thoughts tumbled out of his mouth, as improperly half-formed and clipped off as they whirled through his mind.
As something hopped up in his lap, he tensed……but it all melted out of him when he saw—“A cat…? …At least this is a nice…concussion vision, or whatever? You…you really…”
You shouldn’t be climbing on me, your species is allergic to me, he’d meant to say.
Except the cat put her paw up on his chest…and she spoke to him.… She batted at his face the way Cersei did whenever she thought he sounded too sad (or at least he that’s how he’d chosen to interpret that behavior, since unlike this black-and-white girl with her big green eyes and apparent capacity for human-ish speech, Cersei had never given Reiki a direct explanation for why she ever did that).
“I…I have no idea what you’re saying?” He almost shook his head, then thought better of it. If the cat wanted to touch him again, he didn’t want to scare her off of that. Especially since she hadn’t yet decided to start using her claws. “Like, I—I haven’t been here that long? And the only Order I know is, like? The Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes? …Or there’s a different order? From the wizard books by the big name transphobe from Scotland? And you…what you called him…”
Glancing over toward Niji Kidna and Reiki’s rescuer, Reiki could feel it bubbling up, the impulse to say something ridiculous. And part of him wanted to fight it, since this apparently talkative cat would probably judge him for being a useless homosexual, but—
“If his name is Elsa? Does that… Is he the one I’ve been looking for, all of my life?”
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 12:52 am
Fighting youma, at least, was easy enough. tHe Negaverse's worst footsoldiers didn't discriminate between Dark Mirror and Order Senshi, and as far as Elsa knew they weren't fans of the Negaverse's Senshi either, so....well, to say Elsa had tangled with one or two in self-defense over the years was, he figured, a fair assessment.
He was small, sure, and she was a lot bigger than him, but that was fine. (She? It? Did youma have genders? Nope, existential crisis later, protect friend/crush now.)
She moved at him, and he brought his fist up to slam into her gut. Or, about where he figured an equivalent structure was. Youma probably had organs, he guessed.
"I'll explain once this thing is dealt with," Elsa said, "I promise." He'd show Reiki who he was under all the sparkle, since Soyala seemed to be interested in him the way she only ever was with potential Senshi. Given the opportunity, he skipped a few steps back, and peeled off his gloves, and then knelt, fingers touching the ground.
He took a breath. Breathed out. Frost formed from his breath, and ice trailed out form his fingertips. He'd had his first stage magic at his fingertips for years; his second stage for about that long. He didn't have to speak their names anymore, just....will the magic to bleed out from his fingers.
"Stay out of the ice circle," he warned. It was too late for the youma, which whipped around, shivering and looking for a predator that wasn't there.
Between the cold, and the panic his magic instilled, Elsa was pretty sure she'd be down for the count pretty fast. Soyala, given the opportunity, was taking a moment to examine this human. Tall, broad-shouldered, muscular; he would make a fine Senshi, and someone bigger to look after tiny and too-brave Elsa when he went charging into situations. Yes, good. This was perfect. She gently batted at his face with her paw.
"It's alright. You'll understand soon enough. We're about to make you a Dark Mirror Senshi, darling, and you have been waiting all your life for this, I promise you."
She started purring. She couldn't help it; finding new Senshi was always so exciting. "I don't know if you've been waiting for him, specifically," she sounded amused, "but that's not impossible."
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 6:05 am
Reiki still felt……rather like it was the first day of kindergarten, and he was trying to learn theoretical physics from a teacher who only spoke Ancient Sumerian. But……okay, magic……seemed to be happening all over everything, tonight? That……was fine. And honestly, not that unexpected, on consideration. First, the redhead in the purple skirt and the off-putting but tragically attractive blond in the shorts. Then, Centi-Tina and the mysterious little man in purple, rushing in to beat her up with a tiny stick.
And now……all of this. Strictly speaking, Reiki thought he was far enough away from the magical circle, but just in case—“I’m sorry, neko-hime? Just…keeping you away, too?”
He explained himself gently, and shifted his hands onto her back even more gently, trying to brace her somewhat so he wouldn’t knock her off while twisting around on the milk crates, angling himself away from the magic circle.… Once he had them pointed away, he tentatively brushed a hand down her back.… She was purring, which no cat had ever done for Reiki that he could remember, so he hoped this wouldn’t upset her any?
“…Your fur’s very soft,” he muttered. “And it—the thing I said? It’s a song? From a movie? With a character, and she’s called Elsa? And it—the story’s all complicated and stuff? But in the song, she calls out to someone she’s been waiting for, she says for her entire life, and then the person is herself, actually? Because she’s always had these magic ice powers pent up inside her, but then it’s more than just snow, and ice, and cold? And she’s always had to hide who she really is, and what she can do, even after people stop seeing her power as something bad? And, again, the person she’s been waiting for is herself, but……her name is Elsa, and his name is Elsa, so that’s just……”
Explaining the plot of Frozen 2 to a talking cat, however vague and inept Reiki felt he sounded at the moment, still made a great deal more sense to him than……everything going on with Niji Kidna and the Elsa boy who’d jumped in to save him.
He sighed. “Sorry, it…it’s late.… That and whatever-the-Hells a monster like Niji Kidna is? Not so good for focusing or making sense, I guess.”
Glancing over his shoulder, Reiki hoped that his new Elsa was managing things as well as the talking cat said he could…and he certainly seemed to be. Niji Kidna radiated frustration as she whipped around inside Elsa’s ice circle, shivering and hissing at nothing in particular. It sounded like she meant to attack, and swiping her claws at the thin air surely supported that assessment. But she kept hitting nothing, and each move only seemed to sap more and more of her energy…her raw vitality, even.… At least, Reiki would’ve sworn she seemed to wither and grow more emaciated, the more she tried to attack whatever she saw that the rest of them didn’t.
Then, suddenly, it didn’t matter. Niji Kidna let loose another howl like before, this one’s locust swarm sound filled with pure agony, as she collapsed into dust and scattered.
Now probably would’ve been a great time for Reiki to say something clever. He liked to think he had a reputation for that sort of thing. Yet, as he turned himself and the talking cat back toward Elsa, all he could think of to say was, “…Thank you. For saving me? I…I don’t know what I would’ve—or what would’ve happened, if you hadn’t—I… Thank you?”
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 12:31 am
Soyala tilted her head to the side, ears pricking and twitching. The thing he called her--she wasn't sure what it meant, but it sounded flattering.
"Oh, don't worry about me, I'll be alright," she said. They were well and out of range, anyway, and Elsa knew to be careful with his magic. Or, at least, she trusted he did. He'd never hit her by accident, certainly.
His explanation made her nod along. "I doubt this Elsa is related to the movie version," she said, idly. "Senshi are named for celestial bodies. I'm quite curious to see what yours will be." Her tail swished, contentedly. Certainly, this human knew how to lavish a cat with attention!
"Ah, but--that's a youma. Low-level beasties used by the Negaverse. It really is unfortunate that they're terrible at discerning proper friend from foe, but the poor things usually don't have much in the way of brains." She sighed. "But that's all handled, now."The youma dissolved into dust, and Elsa let out a breath. He stretched his fingers, and with a thought, his uniform was repaired--namely, the glove he'd discarded was back on his hand. That looke,d he figured, a bit cooler than walking over without. Michael Jackson could pull it off, sure, but Elsa was not the King of Pop.
"Are you alright?" He asked, earnestly. "It's--I--" He swallowed. The way Soyala was acting, Reiki was a potential Senshi.
That was....actually really spectacular.
"I know you don't recognize me right now--that's magical glamor, by the way, super helpful--but it's, uh. Levi, under all the fancy costuming." He blinked up at Reiki, heart pounding. "And this is going to sound absurd, but you did just watch me use magic and you have a talking cat in your lap, who seems to think that you might get to be a Sailor Senshi, too? So, uh."
He grinned, a little nervously.
"....Wanna become a magical boy?"
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 9:45 am
Without Niji Kidna—the youma? apparently?—around, things quickly rushed back into the realm of not making terribly much sense. They were starting to come together in Reiki’s head, but only somewhat. A Negaverse sent around the Youma things to do gods-only-knew what, but they weren’t very smart. And someone had to be sending them, plus a “-verse” implied something bigger than a few random monster-ladies, no matter how amply they’d been endowed in the “tracts of land” department.
The Order that Ms. Talking Cat-hime had mentioned—they had to be involved in all of this somehow (which immediately made them better than one of the Orders that Reiki had thought of, initially. True, outdoing Fallout Boy was probably beyond a bunch of cats who were apparently quite negligent and whatever humans they had with them, whose numbers apparently could have once included Reiki. But they weren’t the creation of certain rancid, filthy rich bigots who lived in Scottish castles and sent hate mobs running after trans teenagers on ******** Twitter, so the Order had clearly done one thing right in their overall existence.
It wasn’t very much of a thing, but considering he should’ve been dead right now, Reiki felt generous about granting that it was, indeed, a thing that had been technically accomplished).
Then, there was Ser Elsa standing in front of him, all in blacks and icy blues and—“If you’re with the Dark Mirror senshi that Ms. Neko-hime mentioned? Then may I say, whoever designs your costumes does exquisite work…”
Cardcaptor Sakura was a magical girl, and Tomoyo-chan made all of her pretty, fluffy outfits for her, so it made sense that whatever these Dark Mirror senshi were, they also had a designer working for them. Clearly, quite a talented and dedicated one, at that. As someone who’d been making the vast majority of his own clothes for well over a decade, Reiki had to recognize and appreciate craftsmanship.
But……the introduction? of a sort? that Ser Elsa had put out there? …It didn’t seem right, at first. True, Ser Elsa seemed to be about the same height as Levi, but that didn’t mean much, when Reiki was just unreasonably tall.… But the closer he looked, the more sense it made, conceptually? Ser Elsa had the same long, wavy hair as Levi, going in an ombre gradient from such a rich, dark blue that looked nearly black, to the brighter shades that looked not entirely dissimilar from the magical ice circle he’d created. Between the glittering tiara with its little horn-shaped decos and the splash of red across Ser Elsa’s nose and cheeks, his eyes seemed so undeniably similar to Levi’s. Reiki needed to say something, and soon, but first, it was probably fair enough for him to shift to a few different angles, right? Just to watch how the light reflected off those eyes?
……And yes, what he saw seemed to suggest that Ser Elsa was telling the truth. Reiki had never seen anyone else whose eyes caught the light quite like that, with the mix of blues and copper tones that could look so different based on a simple trick of the light.
Taking a deep breath, Reiki finally gave Levi/Ser Elsa a nod. “Okay, I believe you…and that sounds like what Ms. Neko-hime was saying? Something about some Order cats being negligent, and ‘who let you wait so long,’ and Dark Mirror Senshi? Which all sounds……yes? I’d like to? ……Just please tell me I can get that from you and her? And I don’t have to make some Faustian nonsense contract with a watermelon-headed cabbit from outer space?”
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2022 10:32 pm
Elsa felt tension grow in his spine as he waited. As he stood there, letting Reiki look him over, waiting for the moment of recognition through the glamor. Waiting for an answer, because this was probably the most fraught offer he had made.
Other people--they'd been strangers. Not someone he knew, who knew who he was. Not Reiki, who deserved to have something good happen for him, and Levi so, so badly wanted this to be good. It had been for him, and for Chione.
"Uh," he said, "I don't....know fit here's a person doing our designing, my outfits have always just magically changed when Soya helped me get stronger?" If there was someone, Elsa had questions--
He took a deep breath.
"No cabbits. Just us. You'll have to trust me," Elsa said. "I'm going to take you into a place called Mirrorspace, to an artifact called the Black Mirror. You walk throguh it, come out the other side, and you'll be a Senshi. Soya will tell you your magical boy name and what you're the Senshi of and give you your fancy transformation doodad. I can crash-course you on the important stuff after that."
He extended a hand.
"So? Do you trust me?"With all the important details settled, Soyala purred loudly, bumping her face against Reiki's cheek, and then bounded over to settle around Elsa's shoulders. She looked, almost pleadingly, at Reiki, waiting.
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2022 7:30 pm
Levi had Reiki’s undivided attention and singular efforts to focus on everything he was saying—inasmuch as Reiki could follow along while his head was reeling from……all of this with the magical girl stuff happening, and how much he hadn’t wanted to die but had felt it such a certain outcome, and the residual emotions that had made him break down crying in the first place, and every feeling that he’d put into his performance tonight, and having listened to the (in retrospect) dumb-s**t impulse to actually use his drink tickets tonight.
Not all of it made a lot of sense on its own, what Levi was saying? But in light of all the magic that Reiki had abruptly had thrust into his life in the past week or so—and its culmination in the magic that Levi had just used against Niji Kidna—it made about as much sense as anything felt like it was going to, right now. As Reiki looked up at Levi’s face, at his hand, there was only one right answer.
Nodding, Reiki took Levi’s hand.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 2:21 am
When Reiki took his hand, Elsa's smile got a little crooked and playful, and he tugged Reiki close, scooping him into a princess carry to jump up onto the roof of the building next to Scandals, sometihng Levi never could have done as a civilian--but the magical strength he had as Elsa made it almost trivial.
There, leaning against a rooftop access door that Levi had tested and found locked, was an antique-looking full-length mirror.
"First neat Dark Mirror trick: we can walk through mirrors. The place I'm about to take you into, Mirrorspace--it's basically the space between them. Ever shifting, ever changing except for a couple places. Risky to poke around too much. But worth it, if you put in your time to exploring. There's lots of useful stuff in there."
He stepped to, and through, the mirror, and on the other side was the familiar reception room. Before them were two great doors, the entrance to the throne room.
"I can put you down," he said, "but definitely stick close."
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 10:22 am
Getting swept off his feet so suddenly, never mind getting whisked off to the top of a roof like it was nothing, set Reiki’s heart racing. His whole face flushed hot, and dimly, he thought he probably looked like he did when he was really drunk, as opposed to two-drink intoxicated but hydrated enough to keep from completely falling all over himself. Everything about this, from Levi rescuing him to this impressive display of strength and dexterity, made Reiki feel like some ridiculous, swooning romance novel heroine—but all things considered, he couldn’t really judge himself for that.
Not least because self-judgment would’ve taken up valuable brainpower to help Reiki understand what was going on. Even with Levi’s explanation, it took him a bit to get his head around things because……people? Did not simply? Walk into mirrors like this? Magic or no magic, this particular example was still quite a new phenomenon, and for a moment, Reiki had to just gape at the splendor of the room around them, rather than actually answering Levi.
“I……I think I’d like to get put down, yeah,” he eventually managed to say. “But……stick close to you and Miss Neko-hime. Can do, will do.”
Considering the magic of it all, and the fact that Levi had whisked him away into some magical, ever-changing realm between mirrors, there was no telling what might happen if Reiki got separated from his guides.
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 11:03 pm
When Reiki requested it, Elsa set him down, carefully. He couldn't help but smile, watching how Reiki seemed bowled over by the wonder of it all. It had been a while since he'd really been completely knocked over by Mirrorspace, but there was still plenty of wonder there, and he gave Reiki a moment to take it all in before he beckoned for him to follow. Soyala, for her part, hopped off his shoulders and trotted next to his feet, tail swishing eagerly.
It always took a little theater, Elsa thought, and so when he got to the great black doors, he pushed them open with both hands, swinging them wide with as much gravitas as he could managed.
When they were open, he stepped aside, and gestured to the Black Mirror on its pedestal.
"Walk through. Come out the other side, and you'll be a Dark Mirror Senshi, and Soyala will be able to tell you your Senshi name and sphere."
This was the hardest part. Only Reiki could do this. So Elsa just had to wait, and hope.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 2:06 pm
As much as he wanted to do so, Reiki bit back on all of the impulses flaring up to start muttering about Curiouser and curiouser this, and Oh, my ears and whiskers! that, and Twas brillig and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe. True, all of that felt accurate to Reiki’s own present feelings, but Lewis Carroll did, in all likelihood, undercut the solemnity and seriousness of the occasion at hand. Besides, the stately mirror to which Levi led him had probably heard all of that and more in the past century-and-a-half.
(Whether or not the mirror was actually sapient, Reiki had no idea but in light of the magic of it all, he wasn’t willing to rule out any possibility.)
Still, there were more important things to handle—such as gently setting down his wig-case and approaching the mirror. Up close to it, heart thundering and nerves positively shivering in antici…………pation, Reiki closed his eyes. Took a deep breath. Levi was sweet. He cared about Reiki. Levi wouldn’t lead him somewhere too dangerous or tell him to do anything that would actually hurt him. A bit of necessary risk might be involved, maybe—but what was life without a little risk? Besides, any risks taken with Levi were sure to lead somewhere fun.
Nodding for himself, Reiki pushed a hand forward first. When it went through just fine, the rest of his body followed suit, taking him into the mirror. Whatever was in there, something cold slammed into Reiki like a waterfall.… Something else felt like it was reaching out to him? Or for him, maybe? Definitely felt like it wanted him—but was it trying to welcome him home or did it want to snatch him up for itself?
By the time he came through the other side, Reiki hadn’t quite decided what he’d felt—but he had certainly changed. “Did it work,” Reiki said breathlessly. Probably needlessly, but……he’d been wrong about a lot of things, recently. Being wrong about something as important as this might’ve killed him. “How do I look?”
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 9:17 pm
Soyala waited, tail twitching eagerly, and watched until Reiki had stepped through the mirror. Then, eagerly, she bounded off Elsa's shoulder and trotted forward, and when Reiki emerged, transformed, she let out a loud purr.
"Hello, Sailor Murikabushi of Hunger," she said, and then she did a little backflip, producing a henshin pen that she caught in her teeth and offered up, tail swishing eagerly. Elsa waited. He trusted Soya, trusted that she would never lead him wrong on a Senshi candidate, and had no trouble believing that Reiki had the necessary star in his heart to be one. But Reiki now was older than Elsa had been, than Chione had been, than most people he knew had been when they first Awakened. Was there a time limit on that sort of thing? Would this be more painful for Reiki than it had been for Elsa, ages ago?
He needn't have worried, apparently.
Because Reiki came out, clearly a Senshi.
And then. He had the gall. To ask how he looked.
"Uh," Elsa said, which was about all his brain could manage for a long moment, as he took in exactly how good the Dark Mirror made Reiki look. "You--that--it worked, you look....amazing."
There! That wasn't too stupid. At least it wasn't "I want to kiss you right now," which had become about 80% of Elsa's internal monologue.
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 9:43 pm
Breaking out in a bright, delighted grin hadn’t been Reiki’s plan, exactly? But with the two-fold confirmation that everything had worked with the Mirror, and that he was now Sailor Murikabushi of Hunger—oooh, sexy name, though somewhat more dubious on the magical sphere—Reiki couldn’t help it. The impulse to squeal and bounce like an excited teenager was too powerful, and since he didn’t do either of those things, he felt like he was allowed to grin like an idiot.
“Awww, thanks,” he said, to Levi as well as to Neko-hime, since……she had some kind of cute magical girl-looking pen in her mouth. Reiki supposed it was for him, so he’d best crouch down and get it from her. Once he had, he held out a hand and waited for permission to bestow more pets. Turning the smile back up at Levi, though, he added, innocent as a cabbage, “I really did mean it before, by the way? Whether there’s a team costume designer or not, you look absolutely gorgeous.… Seriously, Prince Charming whomst?”
Briefly, Reiki allowed himself a giggle at his own ridiculous phrasing, but then—“So……what now? I mean, I don’t think I’m up for fighting anything tonight, not after……everything? But…d’you want some tea or something, maybe?” He glanced down at the kitty. “D’you like salmon, Neko-hime? I have some at home.… It’s sushi-grade, since I was planning to turn it into sashimi, but I’d be happy to share…?”
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