For a time, Faustite had abandoned Murikabushi to the basement of the Farnsworth. He estimated that it hadn't been longer than ten minutes, for ten minutes was all the patience he had to spend on scattered Negaverse personnel gathering themselves together and declaring their need for a teleport to the Dark Kingdom. Albite, he expected, would have the majority of them, for several had been injured.
With no windows and no present light source, the room's dimensions were unguessable. It was a maintenance space, however, and lacked anything more than a couple floor-to-ceiling pipes and wall-mounted ventilation shafts, some fresh cords, and a few abandoned tools. The sprinkler system hadn't yet been refinished. The room reeked of old, rotten flesh and urine, though there were no signs that anyone had moved in. There were no signs that construction had resumed, either, for everything housed a fine layer of dust.
When Faustite's estimation of ten minutes had passed, he returned for the Mirror Senshi that he had abandoned on the stained concrete floor. Having taken this one up by a fistful of clothing, he dragged the senshi across the ground in his usual rectangular pacing pattern. He was winded, and with each breath cane billows of smoke, but he made no mention of their cause. He made no mention for why Murikabushi was in the darkened basement of a building that was caught between bankruptcy and insurance payout, or why Faustite was pacing around with him like he was a child's security blanket.
When he had caught his breath enough that he could breathe through his nose comfortably, Faustite waved a hand at the air, as if beckoning darkness. In the span of a breath, a cloud of fireflies formed from nowhere, each bright as a camera's flash, before they coalesced into the shape of a hulking, dusky-skinned Negaverse senshi. This one wore sage greens and silvers, and looked as though he had never suffered a thought before in his life. Wordlessly, he summoned a tablet to hand and waited for Faustite's instructions.
"Call everyone," Faustite commanded. "Non-urgent business. Bottom of the Farnsworth. Need some creative thinking."
The silent figure nodded and painstakingly typed Faustite's clipped message to the rest of the team.
team spicy grasshopper
NON-URGENT BUSINESS. BOTTOM OF THE FARNSWORTH. NEED SOME CREATIVE THINKING.
amorremanet
heart
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2022 3:50 pm
Albite felt his walking cold front of a friend ******** right the hell off and outta danger, with -- of all people -- his very own water-blight-fight Senshi *Fulofgrit*, and in his heart he was glad for it! Seeing the team shore each other up like they shoulda-been, managing a battle so perfectly; especially when a brief reprieve between playing both pack and mule to the hospital allowed for him to shoot a text Sy's way. The reply he got was short n to the point -- really just -- it spoke Waru's language; a beautiful meme of the most basic of blond house wives chugging the words largest glass of wine in the middle of a jacuzzi, followed up by a barrage of middle fingers n kiss emojis. <********, loveu's, and a whole heft of self care suggestions, implying that his boys were done for the night. Just an estate sales worth of evidence that Sy' was alive, peeved, but also very likely having a good time instead of actively *dying*. It was a relief, something good to imagine as he awwed at the scene of images unfolding on his phone, and then those images were disrupted by a ping on his tablet, making him squint as he read the all caps invite right back into the smoky, dilapidated belly of the battle that'd just been.
"Creative thhinnk--ugh, " and who had more creative thoughts than him! Okay, maybe his Haybay, or precious girl Zuzubee, or Emmy when she was in an entertaining mood, or -- whatever! He threw back a *CommmmmminG*, filled with enough M's to denote not only a long sigh, but to also buy the kinda time he needed needed to psyche himself for having to think! That almost took more energy than teleporting tenthousandpppl between gods knew how many planes of existence!
'Ughhh, higher thought....It's fine, I can do this!'
It wasn't like he hadn't planned on going straight back to Faustite after he was done anyhow, to check on his boy after he checked on his team, to see how Helio was holding up after taking a few hits -- Albite had to make sure all his Q's were crossed and his T's dotted, and that his people were okay. It was instinctual to find ways to be busy, less he slow enough that he got the sort of tired the lingering adrenaline rush couldn't combat. He hated that overcaffeinated shaky in-between spot, when his body got done n his brain got loud, before fritzing out into empty, hollow, static. He woulda rather been curled up home for that part.
"Cryolites not coming! He's home washing his hair, apparently," loud and fast enough with his re-entry as to be messy with it, he kicked loose gravel across the causway -- watched it skitter into the dim, bounce off other bits and clang into rotted pipes, "speaking of hair? You think I can suggest the higher ups get some beauty allowance going? Maybe make some Senshi-centric salons all down in the underdark? Cause I don't keep myself looking good as I do with hopes n prayers, Firebrand. It takes a whole ******** lotta apple cider vinegar n baking soda in order to manage the masterpiece that is *my hair*," headache caught him off guard long enough that he paused in movement, if not in speech, sized the collection of fireflies up with obvious approval and an unceasing grin, "n as much as I love bathing in the gore of my enemies? I could stand for just, yanno, the once! To have my enemies be less the gore-filled pinata type, like, wheres the kidnappers from the planet of bath bombs? Or -- <********> -- if any sentient lotion demons wanna take over the cosmos today? I'm asking the universe personally, gotta put it out there in words if you want it given back to you..yannoo...."
His peacockish ogling reached its peak, and his eyes finally slid to properly assess the pacing figure hooked by clawed fist into the fabric collar of another Senshi. He was cute. That was the first syrup-simple thought that trickled through Albites brain-sieve, before he thought to open his mouth and ask an actual question, instead of running on about a whole lotta nothing at all.
"Oh, hello...s'this'ah...uhmn..." and it was definitely a Senshi! He knew that, had a whole Senshi aura n it was all chaosy flavored n everything! He totally knew that, except this one didn't have the holes? Weird s**t, but fine, some people probably didn't want all their secrets on display the same way Albite did. The outfit was straight ten's though. Like, damn...
"S'this who we're thinking creatively about, Firebrand?"
team spicy grasshopper
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Shiningamisgirl
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2022 4:48 pm
Creative thinking, said Faustite, and of course Jadarite had to show up to see what that was about. She had faith in her General in most regards, but she was fairly certain that most of the team members that he'd talked into staying around were men who he found attractive rather than people who could think logically about problems.
If she wasn't there, they might just try to kill whatever was giving Faustite issues, regardless of the effects that such violence might have on the overall scheme of the war, or their reputation.
She had to end a stream early, but that was fine. Within a few minutes, she was at the basement of the Farnsworth, powered up and already asking questions, mostly about the smell of this place. At least it didn't seem fresh, but it was disgusting. She wondered why Faustite wanted to meet here of all places.
She wondered, when he came into view, why he was dragging a Dark Mirror senshi behind him.
Albite was asking that question, though, and she assumed Faustite would answer, so she did not repeat it.
"I'm going to want a bath bomb after this," she said instead, wrinkling her nose. "We can go somewhere after this, pick a few up?"
Shiningamisgirl
amorremanet
Strickenized
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2022 5:06 pm
Faustite had left little in choice of where Heliodor was going, but the senshi didn't much care. What had surprised him was the arrival destination but he didn't voice anything as the dark mirror senshi was deposited for what Helio assumed was 'safe keeping' before the General dealt with the few others needing passage. A choice was quickly made to stay out curiosity was more interesting than catering to the battle wounds he'd been dished out. Tired, yes. Sore and aching. Yep. But far more interested in why this Dark Mirror was being secluded. Oh hell yes.
Upon their return to the basement, Helio stayed back and watched. It wasn't his place to interrupt or interfere at this point. Instead, he leaned against one of the walls. A hand brushed away at a cobweb that dared tickle his face. Useful thought the room was with its few exits, couldn't have Faustite picked a bit cleaner of a spot. He sneezed. Ugh. Still, Faustite didn't seem to even notice the dusty particles practically floating around him and the senshi he had proceeded to drag across the floor.
Headache making an appearance was still a fairly novel thing. Helio still expected to see the tentacled squiddy appear despite knowing the youma was long gone. Instead, this convergence of fireflies was what came and there was admittance to the more aesthetic appeal of the youma. Not to mention it was certainly interesting with its abilities even if the newly formed senshi was a bit dull and near lifeless in its expression.
The call was sent out for the others to join. Something was certainly about to go down.
"What has you so keyed up?" He questioned the General just as Albite and Jada made their appearance.
Faustite's husband was as eloquent as usual and a smile tugged at Helio's lips. Albite was so straight forward and to the point. Except when he wasn't, of course. "Considering he's been prowling around with that poor senshi like he's some sort of carcass or next meal, I imagine so."
Jada on the other hand had the right idea of it. Getting cleaned up was going to be a priority once this whole affair was taken care of.
“This Is Fine,” Reiki told himself, over and over and over in his head—because it had to be Fine. Not being Fine, that luxury didn’t get afforded to people in the situation that Reiki had gotten himself into, this time.
And he had gotten himself into it.
Distantly, some part of Reiki’s mind realized that he wouldn’t have tolerated someone saying the same of anybody else. All sorts of rationalizations swam around his head, fighting for the privilege of justifying why, actually, Reiki very much deserved this blame: If only he’d kept a handle on his emotions and gotten himself out of the old subway station.… If only he’d been strong enough—smart enough—to dive through the artsy-looking mirrors on the dilapidated wall and get out of harm’s way.… If only he’d made himself get home (to an apartment that was probably empty, devoid of Haruhi, much less Soya) before having his selfish little meltdown over nothing of significance.…
No one else would’ve gotten away with saying things like that about themselves in any comparable situations. Not on Reiki’s watch. Blame rested solely on the shoulders of the person who’d taken him, same as blame in a different situation would fall on the shoulders of whoever had done what to whom.
Of course, that was where everything got complicated, wasn’t it?
Maybe Captain Phoenix Force—or Firebrand, or whatever his name was—had been the one hauling Reiki out of the old subway station while he’d gotten caught up in feeling lonely, and abandoned, and sorry for himself……but wasn’t that just valid retribution, and more than slightly deserved? Consequences come home to roost, all on account of Reiki’s own actions?
If only he hadn’t used his magic on Captain Phoenix Force in the first place.… If only he’d tried harder to phrase this magical girl bullshit in a non-suspicious fashion and brought it up with Father Charles at Confession, instead of treating those every-other-weekly sessions like a free chance to gossip with someone who tended to offer more circumspect life advice than Reiki’s drag siblings.… If only his magic had simply failed to go off in the first place—like, honestly, it had let him down in so many other situations, he’d barely managed to keep a hold on it while fighting the Blights down in the subway, he’d gotten better than he liked at improvising weapons out of garbage and using them to save himself from feral youma because he couldn’t rely on his damn magic……so, why couldn’t it have simply chosen to fail him back then, when it actually might have mattered?
Really, getting down to brass tacks, all of this was happening for the same reason that Ida had left him behind: because Reiki was stupid, and he wanted things that he wasn’t actually meant to have (regardless of what magical destiny had allegedly been baked into his starseed), and he made terrible, stupid choices that would only get people hurt—if not outright killed—if he wasn’t kept in check.
That’s why Phoenix Force was hauling him around like a disobedient puppy. That’s why he’d told his hive-mind of magical fireflies to put out a summon, presumably for their team (lucky little bitches, getting to have such extravagances as an actual ******** team). That’s why others had started joining them—two Negaverse senshi, judging from the cracks in their chests and foreheads, and one sharp-dressed ma’am who seemed rather like Phoenix Force and Arsenolite, the agents or officers or whatever the proper term was for “Knights, but like, they’re with the Negaverse.”
Nothing anyone said got a protest out of Reiki. Being dragged around like this while still carrying injuries from the Blight didn’t, either. He’d earned this. Didn’t matter how sorry he was; it was about what was fair.
“Murikabushi of Hunger, the pleasure’s mine,” he told them simply, tiredly, with none of his usual sparkling wit. What was the point when it would only make him look like he didn’t care or take seriously the fact that he’d ******** up, and hurt someone these people obviously cared about, and so they deserved to hurt him back?
……On the other hand, if he was going to die—and he didn’t know, maybe he was?—Reiki didn’t want to insult his entire drag house by going down without putting up his verbal fists, hopefully to say something less stupid than What’re you gonna do? STAB me?
With a heavy sigh, Reiki continued allowing Phoenix Force drag him……wherever. All this pacing wore on the nerves, but if it was what Phoenix Force needed, then it wasn’t Reiki’s place to judge. His only real pushback was trying to cast a glance at the senshi with the dreadlocks, the one who looked closest to Reiki’s height. “‘Hello’ yourself, Hot Lips. Does your t’hy’la over here typically appreciate you throwing looks like that at other boys? Because yeah, you’re a unique and incomparable beauty, but for my tastes? I’ve made enough of a mess here without adding ‘home-wrecker’ to the list of sins.”
……Strictly speaking, Reiki had no idea what their relationship status was or wasn’t. But Hot Lips had been the only one calling Phoenix Force by the name “Firebrand,” and thanks to Vulcans being more advanced than and superior to Earthlings in every way imaginable, “t’hy’la” was multipurpose. Whatever Hot Lips and Phoenix Force were to each other, the term probably applied.
If that failed, he could try “your Sun-and-Stars” for his next guess.
team spicy grasshopper
Pleasure to meet y’all ICly! I’m excited, even if Murikabushi……is just generally unhappy right now. (ﾉ ˘ ³˘)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ♥
Strickenized_
Shiningamisgirl_
stari_maga_
Kolina_
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2022 6:09 pm
"… ******** sake, shut up, Albite." Accompanying his demand was a fiery roll of the eyes, and Faustite was already turning away from the boy on the ned leg of his pacing journey. Whatever report Albite was trying to give had gotten lost in his ceaseless self-obsession, which Headache only exacerbated by picking him — of all the team — to imitate. And Faustite wasn't terribly in the mood to watch Albite eye himself up lecherously, or make filthy comments at the senshi in tow, and he certainly didn't want to spare any time imagining what would come of that matchup if either of them were allowed to appraise each other more casually.
Didn't help that Murikabushi always picked the most self-destructive option on the table, and Faustite wasn't sure if that was a) simply opening his mouth and speaking, b) introducing himself, or c) riling Albite up even more than he already was. He decided he didn't care. He decided he didn't want to know. What could be worse than this whole mess?
"Think creatively about this one," and Faustite jerked his head back at the obviously taller Dark Mirror, sole of his kind in the room.
"Tried to kill him first. Tried to threaten him next. Tried to physically remove him from my presence. Can't ******** murder him because of what he is. Don't have the 'way with people' that the rest of you have, so tell me: how do I make him go away?" His attention landed on each of his teammates while he made the rounds, pointedly inviting each of them to cast in their opinions.
They were all more human than him, so as far as he was concerned, they were each more well-equipped to deal with human carbuncles. Would've been nice to have Cryolite in the mix, given that boy's brand of interpersonal knowhow, but they would have to do without that blonde in hopes that their other blonde had a few cogent answers.
To Heliodor, he added, "He'd be a next ******** meal if that wouldn't piss off a whole ******** Court." And Faustite couldn't decide if that was a euphemism or not; he knew that Murikabushi irritated him thoroughly, and so had every other boy who made his way into his life.
"So. We can't murder or hurt him. What do we do with him."
“Hey!” Strictly speaking, Reiki could’ve—probably should have—just said nothing……but he had Objections to raise that actually mattered. “Quit making it sound like I’m seeking you out on purpose! You’re the one who came up to me, the first time, and neither of us intended to find each other. How could we? We didn’t know each other existed.”
Although he kept following where dragged, he looked away from Phoenix Force, glancing between Hot Lips, Sharp-Dressed Ma’am, and the one with the purple hair and the fuku that looked like he’d stolen it out of some pinku eiga about slutty ninja from outer space or something. “We ran into each other in North-End Park. Near a bench frequented by an Order senshi, name of Kerberos. I was out patrolling; I think he was looking for Kerberos, since……he held off attacking me because……”
He rolled his eyes, very badly wishing to reach back in time and slap himself. But—coulda woulda shoulda. “Because I was hacked off at Kerberos after my own run-in with him, so I ran my mouth like it made me any less ridiculous and insecure, and wow! Calling someone else ‘fat’ doesn’t make you any skinnier. Calling someone else ‘stupid’ doesn’t make you any smarter. And being a rancid b***h about Eien no Bishounen Kerberos-chan sure as ******** didn’t make me any happier. Almost like I could’ve learned that lesson from Lindsay Lohan, twenty ******** years ago!”
Well, eighteen, but who cared. The actual release date of Mean Girls was hardly the most important matter while Reiki was reading himself to filth in his own defense here.
“Then, in the industrial district? All I felt was a Negaverse aura. I had no idea it was you. Not until both of us came out of cover.” Not that it helped with anything, but Reiki frowned at the back of Phoenix Force’s head. “Like, sorry I didn’t immediately recognize your voice, but in between those run-ins, I’d been busy with, oh, let’s see……”
He counted nonsense off on his fingers. “Researching what was up with the Blight spots in town. Getting beaten up by a magical Christmas lesbian because of some ******** lesbian romantic drama that I had nothing to do with. Getting imprinted on by an overgrown duckling who’d previously threatened me because he decided like ‘No, wait, you’re sparkly and gay and I want to be friends now, please teach me gay things.’ Getting beaten up and stalked by some Sailor Untitled Goose Game because someone I know in my civilian life passed out from heat-stroke in the middle of the street, like a dehydrated jackass, and I tried to get him to the ER.
“Figuring out that my allegedly useless garbage magic? Is actually anything but! It’s more like the sort of hellacious, horror-terror <********> you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemies’ pets. And I found out because, including you? I had to trigger three people before the fourth finally had a breakdown in front of me! It’s all been very ‘Oh, wow, I’m a ******** monster, aren’t I? These powers reflect on me? They project an image of my soul like they shoved a camera into it? Oh, jail for Murikabushi! Jail for one thousand years! Except not really because jail might have other people in it and monsters like me are fundamentally dangerous.’
“Working myself to death for basically all of June and July because those are two of the top money-making months on the entire calendar in my industry. Worrying myself sick over a friend who’s gone missing because—oh sure, it’s one thing to grow up in this town and get used to weird disappearances, but now I have actual context for what that actually ******** means, and sorry not sorry, I’m ******** scared for him. Then, getting kidnapped to some middle-of-nowhere planet, where I proceed to get separated from everyone I know, yelled at by a tiny, angry woman who’s determined to hate me, assaulted by some ridiculous toy robot that ran on compulsory happiness and bullshit, and again, treated like a criminal for trying to ******** help someone. This time, by some inscrutable, holier than thou a*****e who looks like the imitation Jeff Goldblum you’d find on a half-off sale at the Dollar Store.
“Oh! And here’s the pièce de résistance!” The fact that he was telling a bunch of Negaverse assholes, only one of whom he actually knew, about it before any of the people who cared about him……goddamn, that was so very Reikiya Rokugin, wasn’t it. Only admitting to the thing he was feeling ******** up about because someone had pissed him off enough to admit that he felt ******** up in the first place. “Up on Astraya? Aforementioned middle-of-nowhere planet with the robots and the guy who couldn’t get past quality control at the Jeff Goldblum factory? After he treats me like some sort of serial killer for wanting to help, I get approached out of nowhere by another ******** robot. And this one digs some magical golden tendrils into my chest and steals my starseed because he thinks it’ll turn him into a real boy.”
In his heart, Reiki only paused for dramatic effect and to give his audience time enough to process……literally any of that. In reality, part of the issue was also that he needed to breathe. “So. Like I told you before: I. am. sorry. for however my magic affected you. I’m sorry that it hurt you. I’m sorry that I didn’t recognize your voice immediately—but only two of those are something I actually need to apologize for, and the other one does not mean that I’ve been stalking you or whatever.
“No matter what I ******** up or how badly it’s broken, neither of our run-ins has been intentional on my part or yours.… For that matter, neither was tonight! Oh wow, we both happened to be in the same place, fighting the same smug-b***h monster. But unless all the other dozens of people present for that are also allegedly stalking you, I don’t see how ‘does not want Blight monster from outer space to destroy the place where we live’ constitutes grounds for acting like I’ve been seeking you out on purpose.”
Strickenized_
Shiningamisgirl_
stari_maga_
Kolina_
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2022 10:08 pm
Pax did not, strictly, want to be here.
To be fair: Pax - as Strix, or otherwise - generally did not want to go anywhere unexpectedly, or at least without six hours of warning for them to really think about it, aside from very specific places where they knew there would be minimal other people (or, at least, only people they knew well enough), but they were... they were working on it. Sort of. Maybe. At the very least, Faustite had implied they should show up, and he was their boss and also capable of setting them on fire, so... off they went. Simple as that.
Nobody here they hadn't already met really set off any recognition bells, but that wasn't too unusual. They didn't like looking at faces too much - well, they did, but they weren't good at it - and even without that, matching faces was a fool's errand with magic in the way. Someone else might've felt a little proxy-sympathy at the pathetic look of the guy on the floor, but Pax wasn't exactly gifted with empathy; they made a bit of a face at the smell of the whole place, reaching both hands up to fiddle with their headphones. This wasn't too many people, but if everyone talked, especially Albite and this guy -- who didn't seem to know what shutting their mouths was, either of them -- it'd be too much noise, too loud. At least the headphones worked for noise mitigation, even if they were otherwise completely aesthetic.
"Does emotional - does emotional hurt count," they ventured, sounding about as faintly irritated as they usually did. If Murikabushi or whatever his name was didn't want to get in trouble, he could've just left before getting caught, right? Sometimes it really was as simple as just walking out! You could leave. Not this, specifically, but whatever had been before this.
The message summoning the team had not actually arrived just after Trey had finished working, finally releasing him to power up and seek out the office in the Dark Kingdom. The ping stopped him short in the parking garage he used for his transitions, and when he pulled out his crystal, the message drew his brows up in curiosity.
Creative thinking? What an intriguing concept. He couldn't imagine what would prompt something like that, but he knew where the building in question was and it was only a moment of thought to take him there instead of his comfortable office. The place looked deserted on the surface, but his inner senses picked up the collection of signatures below. It seemed others had arrived before him and Fafnir made the short trip to the basement with his curiosity still high. The closer he got, the better he could make out a weak signature that wasn't a corrupt senshi or an officer.
Dark Mirror? Even more curious.
Stepping inside the dim, reeking trash hole that was the basement, Fafnir tried hard to keep the disgust out of his face and his nose from wrinkling at the stench. He had to wonder why whatever this was, was happening here of all places. What did Faustite want with a Dark Mirror? From all he knew of them, they couldn't be corrupted, already having their own chaos source, and the official stance was 'don't make waves unless they start s**t'.
Someone was doing an awful lot of talking... and when he was close enough, he could see Faustite with a young senshi in tow, one that was clearly the dark mirror he had been feeling. This boy was just... all words. A tumble of zoomer lingo and drama, and he had to wonder if the verbal flood came from nerves. In a room full of officers, and not a single other of his own kind, Fafnir could see how that might be the case.
He was saying something about something called Astraya, and a blight monster, and hurting Faustite? Well, this 'creative thinking' must involve this one somehow... but without more context, he had no opinion to share. Instead, he glanced about at the others, noting people he knew and others he didn't. He had a rough idea of the roster of Faustite's team, but he had not yet met all of them in person to put names to faces. Albite, of course. A young woman with pink hair, a younger man with dark purple. That one had a weird familiarity to him, but nothing that called up any sort of recognition. Another dark haired basic senshi. Curious, that these were the ones that came to the summons.
Fafnir inclined his head at his general as he came to stand with the others, tucking a hand under the other arm and letting his fingers rest lightly under his chin as he settled in to observe.
Strickenized
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2022 12:18 am
Helio snorted at Faustite's demand of Albite. Fat ******** chance that was going to happen for longer than five minutes. What he hadn't expected was how jabbers the mirror senshi was. This boy just kept going and going. While the information was certainly useful it definitely borderline too much.
Shifting against the wall that was keeping him standing, Helio looked over to Albite. "I think we found someone who may be more chatty than you." He teased with a tired grin.
More of the team began showing up each one acknowledged with a glance in their direction before turning back to the problem at hand. "Alright well, assuming our little 'guest' here is telling at least half of the truth I am curious the intent behind all of this?" Truthfully, he was either missing something here or there was something of the story being conveniently left out. So best to get a bit more from their dear General.
"But, beyond killing him, I don't see why we don't utilize him." He glanced over to the boy whose face he didn't recognize and could only assume was one of their newest recruits, "Emotional manipulation could be incredibly useful. Find what he cares about most and hold it hostage. Make him work for us or just torture him through whatever it is he cherishes."
Turning his attention to their chatty friend, Helio raised a brow at him. "It honestly wouldn't be hard to figure out. He seems very forthcoming with information. I won't lie and say I am not curious about his supposedly monstrous magic."
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Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2022 1:12 am
”Don’t see why not—“ cheekily half-whispered, Albite tossed Jada an encouraging nod and made a silent vow to do just that with her when things were some degree of calm again — Maybe they’d make a whole day of it? After all, she deserved some fresh, new Lush brand bath bombs. Maybe a coffee face scrub, or that angel dust black clay and coal purifying mask! Not only that? But he wanted new memories to compile so he could wash over the dull, sour of his feelings for Lysis with an easy new bath-based affair.
And if he found something particularly nice? Eion probably needed to be bullied into more self care days, had been put through his paces as of late, so much so that Albite was surprised he was handling the other Senshi so well as to not have barbecued him already — Muri of Hanger or something? Whatever, what mattered was that he knew his boy blowing off blazing steam over the arrival of a fresh new princess might not have been *enough*.
Some fresh bath bombs and soaking herbs could do the trick, especially if he talked Helio into ‘helping’ - or Haru - or….
As more of the team tickled in he made *note*, acknowledge those he knew, like Fafnir with a familiar smile, or a curious head-tilt; especially the new body-suit in hot-pink trim. They just kept growing as a team, he didn’t even know which subordinates belonged to which superiors anymore!!
He liked this one though, thought he had a level head.
“M’thinking you n Helio are on the right path,” encouragingly to Pax and then Albite blessedly shut up for a time — *listened*— *stared* — shifting from standing over them to crouching in the filth of the place on his thick heels; elbows balanced on knees and a hand pressed to his mouth lest all the words he had spill out — cause Muri n Faustite had so much to say, and if he got caught up in the fact that the Dark Mirror Senshi had apparently already been to their shared homes and seen they were — (not *wrecks*, okay, but works in progress!!) On top of thinking him n Faustite were T’hy’la’cines — he figured it was like the Tasmanian kind, probably? The extinct ones with the stripes? Which he was just gonna take as a compliment, cause he didn’t otherwise know what that meant.
Focus! He could focus on one ask over a thousand others. Cause the more Faustite spoke, the more it sounded a lot like - *like* - like how Him n Faustite had been? Way back at the *start*, a different dance with startlingly familiar beats; a warped echo gone funhouse-mirror levels of wrong.
Muri was apologizing for what he’d done, while sounding so utterly alone, so self loathing. That Albite could only wonder if it were possible to steal him away from his Court? Neglectful thing it must’ve been. Maybe a cat would know how. A sovereign. A —- Hell, if that wasn’t an option! He would’ve been happy to put that apology-debt towards a better use — if ever they needed an informant with links to the court — with links to other order Senshi; that would be indebted and close under heel the way Helio suggested!
That was all secondary though, his lizard brain wanting the pretty, shiny, sassy boy that Faustite must’ve been interested in, surely. Though fate had been so tragically cruel as to have intertwined their meetings like they were magnetized dooms; the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs and the planet it was aimed for.
Because what Muri’s magic had caused — what it’d cost them?
What it’d cost Faustite.
There was only the one incident which came to mind, an old horror that’d been awoken: shiny, sharp, murderously starved. It’d all spiraled wildly out of control. They’d only just barely reeled it back in n swaddled it all away beneath a barely holding wrap of solutions.
Faustite loved boys — if he didn’t wanna see this *one* so badly? It set Albite back to lounge heavily on his heels, watching Muri more warily than before.
“Just like m’thinking a ‘sorry’s’ not gunna cut it, but that might just be *my* magic talking. M’all about the need to see some proper Retribution, the sort that doesn’t cross one-ah Firebrands stated lines. Cause apologies don’t undo things the same way actions do. ********, if anything? M’glad yer ‘’not stalking’’ our Boss, so we could have this little - uhm — Oh! Soirée,” the teasing surety held an edge, all his short words spoken as if he didn’t recognize they sat in a basement colonized by a myriad of foul scents n the kind of rust-born tetanus that no shot would cure. It might as well have been Treys mansion, filled to the brim with people ready to party.
Daekie
amorremanet
Strickenized
stari_maga
Kolina
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2022 4:48 am
She'd known this was going to happen.
The team was so predictable in their methods. They jumped towards violence in most cases anyway, but if someone so much as threatened a hair on Faustite's head? His harem of boys dissolved into a pack of mindless, blood-seeking hounds. No matter how much Faustite told them that the situation needed subtlety, or even flat out not to hurt someone, they were always trying to find loopholes, trying to threaten.
She wasn't even totally sure what the problem with this one was. He was saying something about magic, and apologizing, but his story was more of a ramble and she couldn't pick out the details. It didn't sound so heinous from his perspective, though.
Jadarite rolled her eyes at the ceiling.
Why couldn't her General make enemies with some White Moon senshi? Then, they could all stick the person full of knives and that would be just fine. Instead, he kept bringing his pack of hounds into these kind of delicate situations, and Jada had to be the one reigning them in.
"I doubt the Dark Mirror would like it when our friend goes back and tells us that he's being emotionally tortured, " she said, with a sharp shake of her head, "And it's always better not to make enemies."
She wasn't in charge here, but she still spoke like they should listen.
"Have we tried the basics?" she asked, and then stepped forwards to address Murikabushi directly. "Why don't we go back to my apartment," she offered, with a bit less intensity. "We watch a few episodes of Star Trek. Original or Next Gen, obviously, maybe DS9. None of whatever they're putting out now. It'll be a nice evening, and then you go home."
He'd used a word from the series, and watching shows had to be nicer than sitting here while people argued about just how much they were allowed to hurt him.
"And then next time you see Faustite out and about, you slowly walk away. You see how much of a frenzy you'll whip up, otherwise."
He'd be smart to take her up on it. It was the kindest offer he was going to get from this group.
Fighting the impulse to roll his eyes at the Amazing Technicolor Outer Space Slut-Ninja took everything Reiki had. Of course he was leaving something out, but bringing up the fact that Phoenix Force had asked for a demonstration of Murikabushi’s magic—had heard Reiki talking a big game to make himself feel better and gone “Tell me your sphere and show me your magic”—didn’t sound like the behavior of a particularly contrite person. Misplacing blame onto the actual victim in this situation.… The victim who Reiki had been responsible for injuring.
Defending himself from the charge of seeking Phoenix Force out on purpose? That was one thing. Trying to act like anyone but himself bore the fault for the actual problem here (at least, as Reiki understood things……inasmuch as he could claim to understand any of this when he still didn’t know exactly what his magic had done beyond “make a huge mess that he now had to answer for”)? No. Nein. Nyet. Absolutely not.
Still, since there was apparently some manner of confusion here, he looked at Sailor Outer Space Slut-Ninja. “You can stay curious, thanks. Not in the habit of using that s**t on sapient beings anymore. But if you’re angling for a description…?” Quirking his shoulders, he made a throaty sound like I don’t know. “Never hit myself with it, don’t know what it feels like. But I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of what it does to people, and the fact that magic like this even exists is a sick joke on the universe’s part. Or Cosmos. Or whoever designs senshi magic and hands it out to people.” He huffed. “Told you all I’m the senshi of hunger. Your boss told you to think creatively. Extrapolate.”
Thrill me with your acumen, he considered adding but kept to himself. There was a time and a place for Silence of the Lambs, and neither of those things was “right here, right now.”
—In fairness, Reiki supposed he hadn’t exactly told all of them. More members of this team had filtered in (and seriously! did the lot of them not understand! how lucky they were! to have an actual team behind them! maybe several of them were lunatics, but at least they had each other!), and some of them had missed Reiki’s introduction. Some bruise-and-Windex-colored one with scales, a crown with dragon’s horns, and an air about him that (by Reiki’s current estimation) erred toward either haughty or brooding silence. A little one in a bodysuit that, for no reason Reiki could put a finger on, made him think of roller-derby. Put their number up to six, with at least one other name mentioned (Cryolite or something?) as extant but not coming because he had to wash his hair.
How many more of these people were going to show up before everything was said and done? Fairness……well, if Reiki had upset their boss in a way that had also harmed all of them, then all of them deserved the chance to have a go at him, didn’t they? So did anyone else who met that description but hadn’t shown up yet.
Which made Sharp-Dressed Ma’am’s offer all the more confusing……but as he tilted his head at her, Reiki remembered the admonition he’d gotten from a different lady with significantly worse people skills.
“Offer appreciated, but……then you’d know my real name, which means your team would know my real name, and if it’s a choice between that and letting one of your boss’s boys just straight-up hurt me……?” He made an “ehhh” sound and shrugged once more. “String me up, take a pound of flesh, do what you will.… Bad enough I already can’t switch off my awareness of my magic, how vile it is, and what having it probably means about me as a person. But at least other people don’t see that when I’m powered down.”
Wasn’t the point by a long shot, but after taking a moment to decide he didn’t have enough impulse control to care right now, Reiki added, “Also, DS9 is the best Trek, but really, the new stuff’s pretty good, too. Haven’t seen all of it, but it deserves to call itself ‘Star Trek’ way more than the JJ Abrams movies.”
But really, though. Why wouldn’t they just do the sensible, very Negaverse interests-relevant thing and hurt him?
What trouble was it actually going to make for them? Six of them, plus whoever else could yet show up, had more than enough power to intimidate Reiki into silence, and besides, he hadn’t seen his Court’s Prince since their run-in at the reservoir. Anything Remarque didn’t know couldn’t hurt this ragtag band of misfits who were so, so enviable, despite also being with the Negaverse. Given everything else he didn’t talk about with the other Mirror senshi in his life (or with his parents, or his grandparents, or his siblings, or his QPP, or his drag family, or his cousins, or……), Phoenix Force and company had more or less total impunity here.
Not that they could trust him not to run his mouth, Reiki guessed. He………couldn’t exactly deny that he hardly inspired confidence there, with his tendency toward talking a lot, at great length, whether anyone wanted him to or not, even when it was in his best interests to shut the ******** up already.
Strickenized
Shiningamisgirl
stari_maga
Kolina
Daekie
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2022 1:32 pm
The burning General did nothing to silence the acute levels of verbal diarrhea coming from the boy in his grip. Instead, he waited until Muri had exhausted his words. "You see what I'm dealing with."
Words. Endless amounts of words.
Faustite considered Pax's words. They were new, freshly recruited by way of Jadarite, and still learning to navigate a complex world of impossible magic. They needed time to expand their understanding of such a world, and the means by which they could solve problems with these newfound abilities. He wasn't surprised to hear something like emotional hurt, but he still gave it a moment before answering with a succinct "No." Then, he added, "He's self-torturing, too."
Jada had put that one into perspective later; the Court would not be thrilled to hear Muri complaining of emotional damage. Everyone in the room knew, by now, that Murikabushi could talk forever about anything, and would likely give the Court a play-by-play on his emotional torture in excruciating detail.
Fafnir had been quiet; Faustite expected that he would take his time coming to a solution, and they need only wait for one to be provided, then their troubles — his troubles — would be solved. In the interim, Fafnir looked illegally handsome simply standing in a room lit only by Faustite's firelight. Were they not in the middle of an impromptu meeting, Faustite would have expressed that much more physically.
For Heliodor's question, Faustite drew a steady breath through his nose. "Starseed addiction was exacerbated by his magic. Unknowingly, as he said. Now he's wallowing in a self-pity rut. Apologizing constantly. Everywhere I am, accidentally or otherwise." He cast a glance over his shoulder. "Had run-ins with the Court before, though. Unpleasant affairs, all.
"Gathered that his magic stirs up a hunger. Not necessarily literal. Far more useful than he makes it out to be." Even if Faustite still struggled on his bad days.
Albite may have noticed the true problem that Faustite faced, but Faustite hadn't. Some aspects of the Dark Mirror Senshi he toted along reminded him of Albite, but the pattern between their run-ins and his early introduction to Albite remained unnoticed. But the boy wanted to encourage emotional violence, wanted to perpetuate this positive feedback loop that Murikabushi trapped himself in and worsen it until — what? Until Murikabushi removed himself from ever happening across Faustite again? That was what he was asking for, but maybe that wasn't quite right.
"Stop," he instructed Albite. "His magic exacerbated what was already present. Did so at my request, unwittingly. No need for him to pay penance, I just — don't know what to do with him." Faustite finished, frowning.
He still hadn't let the boy go. He still paced.
And Jada's idea was quite different than anything he expected of the lot. Not making enemies sounded like an astonishingly revolutionary idea — could they make non-enemies with the Court? Could they watch whatever the ******** she mentioned without going for the throat? Was there benefit in that, too? Better if they had a mole in the Court, of course, someone to tip them off if one of their own had nefarious plans to inconvenience the Negaverse, but Faustite assumed no one would strike such a deal with him. With any of them, perhaps.
"Well?" He asked over his shoulder.
Unfortunate that he didn't take the offer. Faustite thought it was terribly generous for how it meant no harm came to this one. The team knowing Murikabushi's civilian name balanced against him being familiar with their plainclothes aliases, and yet, somehow, beatings were preferred. Likely because that was the more damaging option.
"I could eat your starseed instead," he offered, half in jest.
