Ever since that run-in with the obnoxious, preachy little b***h in white, Lete had done exactly nothing to slow down any of their efforts to drain people for Mirrorspace. If anything, bun had ramped them up. Bun could only summon one wraith at a time, but the mirrorshard that bun had gotten entrusted to them didn’t seem interested in cutting bun off at any point.
The wraiths didn’t seem to stay consistent between summonings either (at least, not that Lete could tell……which admittedly was not much, given how little about the Mirrorwraiths was properly tangible, never mind being anything close to human), so Lete supposed it made sense, bun having no real restrictions on being able to summon however many wraiths bun wanted, as long as they only came one at a time.
Perched on top of a playscape for kids in one of the parks near the DCU campus, Lete waited for their third wraith of the night to come back. The first one had made quick work out of a pair of guys they vaguely recalled taking freshman comp with, returned to her fat and happy, practically chittering with what a good job it had done. The second had made some graduate student fall asleep on her girlfriend’s shoulder, which was honestly kind of adorable until the girlfriend had gotten all weird and stressed out about how hard it was to wake her up.
(She had woken up, for the most part—a fact that Lete wanted to rub in that smug, nosy, White Moon b***h’s face. Sure, the girl who’d actually been drained leaned so heavily on her girlfriend as they left that she might as well have gotten bridal carried—but she didn’t die, though, and she’d be fine come morning, so honestly, who gave a ******** unfortunately hadn’t paid much attention to where her third wraith had gone off to—but as she started getting impatient, she looked up to find it had returned to her. “Mmm, thank you for your efforts,” she chirped pleasantly, holding up the mirrorshard so the wraith could skulk back to mirrorspace with the energy they’d drained.
Looking out at the park, Lete hummed.… Bun might have been pressing bun’s luck by calling on a fourth wraith without moving somewhere else.…… But oh well, bun had a comfy spot up here on the play-scape, near the starting point for the large, spiral slide. Bun had kicked back with a thermos of hot cocoa and some reading for class tomorrow, and any White Moon interlopers would probably blame the Negaverse anyway, if they even noticed anything.
With an eager smirk, Lete called up a fourth wraith and sent it off toward a nearby picnic table. Some boy in a heavy overcoat and skin-tight jeans sat there alone, seemingly whining, staring at his phone, and vibrating with anxiety. Hmph, he couldn’t be nervous if he got too drained to feel anything, now, could he? Of course not. Truly, Lete was doing him an excellent favor.
Noir Songbird
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2023 11:33 pm
Not for the first time, Dagon wished that she had the ability to be powered up and not look quite so alien.
She'd followed the strange, ghostly creature she'd spotted flitting in and out of some poor college student, leaving him so exhausted he looked nearly about to fall over, back to what she suspected was its master, but she struggled to figure out exactly how to approach. There were people around--not many, but enough, and someone might notice that she was blue, and then there would be problems. So she had to calculate her approach--slip across this play-space without alerting either the woman at the top of the slide or any of her other potential targets.
Worse, she couldn't directly intervene to stop the strange ghost-thing that was bothering a different young man.
Her eyes narrowed. She was quick and quiet, moving between trees and playground equipment, until she could tuck herself close to the base of the slide the woman sat atop.
"Is that your creature?" She demanded, flatly. Best to make sure, after all.
Lete startled at the sudden incursion of Someone Else’s Voice, fumbling her book and dropping it in her lap. Looking around for the source of said voice, she couldn’t help feeling foolish for that. Whether or not she’d been seen, she knew herself that she’d done this, and that made her Vibes feel all……wrong. And Off. And not nearly as cool as she wanted for them to feel!!
All of which additionally did not help address the fact that Lete found herself peering around the slide at a White Moon senshi who was distinctly blue. And who looked not entirely unlike a mermaid, save that she was walking around on land and making demands of someone who so obviously had less power as a senshi than she did. Honestly, these people in the White Moon were so pushy, and rude, and totally fine with bullying starter-level senshi for just being with the Dark Mirror Court.
Shaking out her impressive mane of hair, Lete huffed at the White Moon senshi of the day who clearly lacked an education in manners. “What’s it to you?” she clapped right back. “It’s not like it’s hurting anybody.”
Noir Songbird
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2023 12:51 am
Dagon raised her eyebrows. There was a distinct air about her that radiated deeply unimpressed, because, well. She was. This Dark Mirror was not like Murikabushi--he seemed thoughtful, intelligent,a ware that he was not the be all end all of the universe.
This one seemed....ugh. Arrogant.
"The young man your little monster drained nearly collapsed on a concrete walking path," she said, flatly. "That would likely have harmed him, but luckily,a stranger noticed him wavering, and caught him before he fell. That, I would say, is harm, averted only because someone else took more care than you did."
She crossed her arms.
"And in any case, Chaos is a poison, and I cannot condone taking energy from innocent people to feed whatever monster makes your Court."
“Uggggh,” Lete groaned, openly rolling her eyes because……well. Yet another smug, pain-in-the-a** White Moon senshi was butting in when she literally had not been asked, and giving her opinions (which, again, had not been asked for because frankly, Lete didn’t want them or care very much about anything that the weird, blue fish-lady had to say), and acting like, ooooh, Chaos bad just because somebody ******** said so. “Do any of you in the White Moon know any other ******** songs than that? I’ve heard it already and it’s booooring.”
Strictly speaking, this was probably not the best idea that Lete had ever had. Some part of bun realized that antagonizing a more powerful senshi like the weird, blue fish-lady was, in fact, an epically bad idea—not just for Lete herself, but potentially for the rest of the Court as well. They occupied a delicate position within the magical balance of Destiny City; Tantalus has explained that pretty well. Plenty among the White Moon hated them for existing while Chaos—some of those haters and losers, like the nosy redhead, allegedly had been among the Court at one point—and plenty among the Negaverse hated them just as much for simply not being with their particular brand of Chaos.
Lete wanted to keep going on. Wanted to keep running buns mouth because this weird, blue fish-lady was pissing her off and she didn’t want to deal with it. But—the Court didn’t need to end up in an actual gang war because Lete had decided to mouth off to the wrong senshi. For the moment, she took a deep breath and literally bit her tongue, to remind herself that a cooler head had its benefits, too.
“The people will be fine, ma’am,” she said, folding her hands in her lap, on top of the paperback book she’d fumbled. “It’s not like the Negaverse, where they just suck people dry and leave them for dead, okay? They just need the night to sleep it off, or maybe a little coffee.”
Noir Songbird
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2023 1:32 am
Dagon tilted her head to the side. It seemed that this Senshi had heard objections to her actions before, and was determined to justify them. She supposed that only made sense; plenty of people had to object, and yet she was doing ti so casually that she had to have already made her choice.
Ugh, the arrogance that Chaos instilled in its adherents. Or perhaps it chose those that were already arrogant, molded them into something to better suit its needs.
"That young man would not have been fine. Only luck saved him. Your actions have consequences, often beyond that which you see in front of you." Dagon had lived a long life. Plenty of time to learn that sort of thing. "Never mind that I have seen what Chaos itself does, unchecked. It destroys entire worlds, kills all life on them. I watched my own home wither and die, and I would gladly guarantee you that whatever force empowers you, it would love to do the same to Earth."
Chaos was Chaos. It hungered. It consumed. That was all it was, all it existed to be.
"Leave this place. Leave these people alone. And I will not be forced to harm you."
Uuuggggghhh, was there honestly no reasoning with these White Moon weirdos?! Like, seriously, none?! None whatsoever?! Even while trying to behave and offer some kind of consolation about the actual realities of energy draining, Lete apparently couldn’t win! Because goddamn, she was still getting lectured as if she were sitting in the Principal’s office after a prank had gone too far.
“I’m not going anywhere, thanks,” Lete drawled. As a gesture of goodwill, she put her mirrorshard in her subspace pocket. “See? No more mirrorwraiths tonight, I promise. But I’ve got just as much of a right to be here as you do, soooo……I’m staying.”
Noir Songbird
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2023 3:02 am
Dagon tapped her foot on the ground. "I do not believe I made the two options I presented to you unclear. Leave, or I will be forced to hurt you."
Arrogant. Ridiculous. But Dagon did not have to simply tolerate it.
She smiled.
"Aura of Dread," she said, softly, under her breath. (A thousand years ago, her magic came without needing to call its name, at the bend of her will. But it was not a thousand years ago, and her magic so liked to err, that she would take no chances.)
Fog wrapped around her, flowed around them. And Dagon glared up at the Senshi, and dared her to continue to stand and argue.
Quote:
Super Sailor Scout Attack: Aura of Dread! Dagon touches her fist to her chest, and a strange fog begins to swirl around her. Enemies within twelve feet of Dagon will see her as something monstrous and dreadful, and experience a sense of oncoming doom in her presence. The sense of dread around her is oppressive, and can make it hard to breathe or focus on anything but that feeling. These effects last for 35 seconds, and Dagon can use this spell twice per battle.
True, the pushy-a** fish-lady had not made her own ideas unclear—but that did not obligate Lete to agree with her, or to just get out of the way. The park didn’t belong to either of them; it was a public space and, no matter what this woman thought about Chaos, Lete did have as much of a right to be here as Sailor Bitchface. Pulling herself to her feet, Lete took a deep breath and steeled herself, ready to stand her ground……
—Until that magic crashed down on her like a waterfall. Cold, and heavy, and oppressive. As the fog swirled around them, Lete’s chest tightened. Her heart raced. Her stomach roiled. <******** was wrong with this senshi? She was going to kill Lete, that much felt obvious. Lete had to run—but ******** leaving without a fight.
Pulling up the magic within herself, Lete reached out and traced her hand through the air. Once she got the spell off, she’d run. Get away from here and leave the b***h with a parting shot to remember her by. Lete snapped out, “Sensory Decadence!”
Quote:
Sailor Scout Attack: Sensory Decadence. While calling their attack, Lete traces their hand through the air as if following the curve of a face. One enemy within a ten-foot radius feels something like a warm hand brushing down their cheeks, and then, the world around them seems to erupt in decadent sensation. For the duration of Lete’s attack, affected enemies are subjected to an onslaught of their five senses. Colors seem brighter, bolder, clearer, and more vivid. Their other senses are likewise overwhelmed: tastes are magnified by a power of ten, sounds feel as if the volume’s been turned up to ear-splitting levels, anything making contact with their skin feels heavy and oppressive, and nearby scents might as well be right inside their noses. Although this may initially feel pleasurable, such decadence soon begins to hurt. While distracting, this does no physical damage and enemies can still act, if they can stomach the overwhelm.
This attack lasts for 25 seconds, and Lete may use it three times per battle. Any lingering effects of the sensory overload after the attack ends are up to individual players!
Noir Songbird
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2023 11:54 pm
There was a smug sort of satisfaction in Dagon's heart, when she watched the girl draw herself up, and then recoil. Fear was primal, powerful, difficult to resist. The knowledge that something was coming for you that would gladly destroy you was enough to crumble the resolve of armies.
In a way, it was impressive, that her target managed to fight back. Because Dagon recognized an attack call when she hear one, not that it meant much--the magic slammed down on her anyway.
And suddenly, it was like her first day in the city all over again. Everything was too loud, too bright, too wrong--she covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, going to her knees--a mistake, because the ground under the slide felt almost unbearably painful against her skin.
She hoped the girl was running. If she wasn't, Dagon would pay her back for this agony a thousand times over.
Lete allowed herself to linger for a moment. The satisfaction of watching the pushy, demanding, White Moon fish-b***h fall to her knees in pain as Lete’s magic assaulted and overwhelmed her senses—oh, that was so supremely Chef’s Kiss, the rush of it briefly managed to pierce through the fog of dread and terror to let Lete feel exceptionally pleased with herself.
……But only briefly. The rush faded fast, leaving behind only the fear that the fish-b***h’s magic had inspired. Before letting her get a chance to recover enough and consider attacking again, Lete turned on her heel. Leapt off the playscape. Took off running in the opposite direction with all the speed her enhanced senshi abilities had to give her.
