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Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 10:56 pm
[Takes place two weeks after A New Page in the Story. Whether that happened in February or this happened in very early February... well, that's a mystery.]Lukomorye Page of Lysithea really, truly, deeply wanted to resent the fact that "patrolling" with Halle felt more like having an arranged playdate -- the guy was still in high school, probably?? -- but the emphasis there was on wanted. It was... nice. Okay, maybe it wasn't nice, but it was still the most in-control of his life Marley felt in any given month. And Talia had been nothing but wonderful to him in the last two weeks, and Halle had been pretty great, too. So maybe this whole Page thing was... actually... pretty alright? The uniform was solid, it was comfortable... his knees were actually potentially a little less ******** like this, even, or at least they hurt less.
Still. He had a reputation to keep up, even if only in his own head. "You don't need to walk me home for my," airquote, "safety." Supposedly there'd been a whole ******** kidnapping snafu last month, -- not supposedly, Halle had been there -- but so far they hadn't run into any problems worse than a youma or two in any of their meetings so far, Lukomorye had never run into any Nega-problems worse than a youma in general, aaand he also did not particularly want Halle to see where he lived because he hated the ******** place. So there wasn't any reason for the chaperoning to that extent.
...Right?
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Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2025 5:21 pm
Were all new pages like this? Between Lukomorye and Santa Maria Novella's total assurance that they were fine and didn't need much in the way of help or advice, Halle felt that Lisse maybe was a lot more cautious than he'd given his twin credit for. Still, he could admit that it probably felt odd for the other guy to be protected by a high schooler, and not even a hulking lineman of a high schooler. Luko wasn't exactly big for a twenty-something either though. "Nobody need anything until they absolutely do, and then it's too late," Halle countered firmly. He paused a moment and then remembered the more paranoid knights he's either met or heard of. On certain level he couldn't blame them for that level of caution, especially now, with the concern about allies leaking information to get people ambushed. "We won't go to your actual house, okay? You shouldn't power up or down there anyway, unless it's an emergency. Just a block or so away is good. Is there a private alley or park nearby?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 5:10 pm
It really, truly, wasn't anything personal: Lukomorye would've taken all of this from someone their senior -- worse, honestly, than they were taking it from Halle. Him being their junior stirred up a whole host of feelings that they didn't particularly like, but again, that descriptor worked for most of their feelings most of the time. "I've somehow managed to survive my whole life up to this point without getting murdered, against all odds, and the chances that this is the night that goes wrong? Not high."
Then its shoulders inched down just the slightest bit in acquiescence. Fiiiine. If that'd make Halle sleep a little better and keep him off its back, that was an unfortunate sacrifice. "...The closed-down playground right near Langholm and Sumner? If you know it." If he didn't, well, GPS existed. That was a few blocks away from where they lived: far enough they could limp their way without suffering much for it.
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 2:05 pm
Is that so? Faustite signed to the raven with the pale eyes.
"Caw," it replied affirmatively. The bird hopped as it about-faced, then stretched its wings in a fearsome display toward some invisible attacker in that direction.
Faustite grit his teeth. The youma did well to sweep the area and inform for him — certainly it did so more admirably than Headache would have done — but it couldn't tell an Earth Knight from a Venus Knight or any other version of knight. That there was a pair of knights was itself a promise, even if they weren't the exact knights who stole Heliodor from under their noses.
Faustite hoped that his General's regalia would beggar less attention. Facing the youma bird's direction, he shifted into a few rivulets of flame that jumped each other ritualistically on their way toward the knights in question.
While they may feel a General, perhaps the sight of fire alone would buy Faustite some time for a proper ambush.
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 2:55 pm
It was a fair point. At least for a civilian. But that wasn't what either of them were anymore. "Yeah, but now you're a delicious treat to them. Or at least your starseed is. Like instead of milk, you've become a steak dinner." He gave Lukomorye a little eyebrow waggle, trying to lighten his own mood more than the other's. Nodding, pleased that the page agreed, Halle said, "I know that one!" As they shifted direction he went on, "I swear, I won't be such a helicopter Knight once you reach squire. You'll have a lot more to defend yourself once..." His voice trailed off at the large, vague presence that entered their senses. Power covered in something...oily and ominous. "That's a general." Tensing, the weapon in his hand up and the one made of magic waiting at the edge of his will. "Stay behind the magic shield if they approach. They may not, or they may just try to act friendly but some..." It was only one, but maybe they had a youma hidden under that aura. The fire could have been any sort of light from any sort of thing, until it proved to be moving at them much too fast to be anything but magic, and terrible.
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 7:02 pm
"Or they could try to kill us? Me and my big mouth," Lukomorye said, with a self-directed spiteful bitterness, and stepped behind Halle just in case. They couldn't - didn't - run. Halle knew that, had known that, they'd been very up-front about the whole thing: objectively they could run, their legs were fully capable of it, but it was something they tried not to do often if at all.
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2025 5:09 pm
Oh. Oh,
The feel and claim of a Knight and Page was enough to pique his interest at the outset. What he wanted to find was a Knight and Squire, but he was prepared for a youma to be less accurate about Knight nomenclature. And while he hadn't found the Earth Knight or Cybele Squire he was looking for, he did find someone every bit as worthy of his time.
He recognized the stupid ******** hat from Borax's reports. He recognized the whimsy and flair and headband-horn symbol from the uniform as belonging to his ex-sister, who spread her wings on the other side and so fortunately reared up knights of her own. That he would find two such knights was fortuitous, especially when one of them had been implicated in the scheme to take and murder Heliodor. Rare were such times when he could repay an egregious slight while also taking a jab at an old enemy.
The trio of flames spooled up into the vague gesture of a human profile, which then drew its frenetic, burning arms outward as if welcoming something. Brief flashes of portals welcomed not one, not two, but a count of five youma that spilled into Destiny City armed with their ravenous appetites. The flaming figure motioned for them to surround the pair before shifting back into his native appearance as a Negaverse General.
You were there, he signed, though Headache was not around to translate. And I know the coward princess who owns you. What pain and glory would tarnished young wreak, I wonder?
It's a kinder fate than what you saved for Heliodor, you know.
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2025 5:48 pm
It wasn't some fireball attack, but something much, much worse. "He's a general king," he warned Lukomorye. As the youma surrounded them, Halle summed his shield in front of the page, bracketing Lukomorye between him and the nearest youma. There was a a piece of notebook and a sharpie in hand, a roughly scrawled cross-street, and then the touch of a ring to send it off. He only had time for the one SOS, and he hoped he'd chosen correctly. "When help gets here," he said, raiding his smaller shield up, " that's when you can run." At that point, hopefully, they could keep Faustite too occupied to bother teleporting after the page. The general king was signing and Halle didn't know it meant, but he was pretty sure it was something along the lines of, You've angered me and now you're going to dance the tune of my ire. A horrible calm, fell over Halle, and he quietly called out, "Tulip." A pony sized boar with brilliantly flowering tusks abruptly appeared and slammed into two youma as Halle made eye-contact with Faustite and mouthed, <******** off. Quote: Knight Summons: Tulip Trinket: a wood ear stud, shaped like a bluebell Summons appearance: a large (pony sized) boar with wooden, flowering tusks Ability: a powerful physical charge, convenient for both entering and leaving battles, and dealing blunt impact damage Magic Pool: 45 seconds
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2025 9:59 pm
"My big ******** mouth," Lukomorye hissed with acidic vitriol -- why had it opened its mouth and tempted fate -- and turned to keep an eye on some of the youma. They weren't under the illusion they'd be able to do much; being able to hold their own in petty little human brawls didn't mean a lot when a youma was - well. When a youma was, mostly. But it wasn't like they were going to go anywhere at all with the situation like this, so pretending they were useful was about all they could do.
There was probably a solid 70% chance that if he tried to run he was going to twist an ankle or worse, all the physical benefits of being a Page couldn't fix what was going on there, but that was the issue of Future Lukomorye (who was probably about five minutes away from being Current Lukomorye). So far those dice hadn't been rolled quite yet.
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2025 3:16 pm
The magic boar blitzed across the scene, obliterating two of the youma who lacked the sense to withdraw from its path. The other three grew riled as Faustite's expression became unamused. Then it twisted into a snarl when the Lysithea Knight had the gall to mouth obscenities at him. Then he shifted, and as he drew his right arm back, a crescent moon of volcanic grasp formed in his hand and his uniform developed into something more ornate.
Of the three youma, only the oversized penguin waddled in the direction of the boar, squawking its displeasure as it flapped useless fins. Perhaps it knew its typical stunt of luring in kids and using the vertical mouth on its belly to clamp down on them and extract their energy wasn't of much use against a creature like that. But the remaining two, the scorpion youma and snake, were even less inclined to face off against a knight's summon.
While the scorpion youma hadn't yet made its move, it crept closer while brandishing its stinger. The snake, black and not so visually distinct from a blown piece of tire, slithered closer and raised itself to strike out at the Page's calf.
Faustite vanished. He reappeared at Halle's four, shotel crossed over his body. As he swung it in an arc, its blunt back poised to strike the boy, he aimed for the temple.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2025 6:15 pm
The weight of the transformation from general to general king was expected, but the sickening flare of power still hit Halle like a punch to the gut. Hopefully it would make it that much easier for Lysithea to find them, and maybe Halle should thank Faustite for turning himself into a beacon for her. Seeing the general king's snarling anger, it was honestly a little tempting to make him even angrier. Seeing the snake youma start to slither toward Lukomorye, Halle desummoned and resummoned his shield, bringing it down rapidly between it and the page. It was close, the snake was so close, but Halle had been practicing again and again to be fast and precise with his magic. It had to be on time. It had to be in the right place. It had to stretch his pool of magic into countless averted attacks. Otherwise, what was the point? But he wasn't the only one who trained and strategized to use all the tools at hand to their maximum effect. And even as a knight, his battle experience was far, far more limited than many others. Most especially a general king. Distracted by the youma, he missed the teleportation of the actual monster they faced. The giant cheery shield vanished as Halle collapsed onto the ground at Faustite's feet. The Boar, readying it's next charge, returned to aether. Suddenly, the street was a lot more still and so much quieter.
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