|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 2:41 pm
She would have gotten the note the moment she powered up that night, a sheet of notebook paper, lightly used with math proofs scribbled on the back. Quote: Let's touch base tonight about potential training areas. I'll be around Pluton Park tonight. My M.A.P. transponder's been showing an uptick of youma around there lately, so keep an eye out. See you there, Halle Not getting an answer back from Celadon was fine, it's not like she was powered up 24/7. Still, when she arrived just in time to see him trap a youma tightly between a tree and his summoned shield, Halle found himself smiling in relief. As the youma opted to peace-out back to wherever they came, he greeted her with a friendly, "Hey, wasn't sure you'd be able to come."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 3:01 pm
Celadon had been surprised to find the note. It had just appeared to her, like it was meant for her, and it reminded her of the night that she awakened. But when she swallowed her shock enough to read the note, she realized its appearance was nothing so extraordinary — Halle wanted to meet with her.
That was a welcome break from the weather, at least. With a short sigh, she shook off her nerves and started making her way toward Pluton Park.
Celadon had to go it without GPS, but she'd learned the remarkable simplicity of signs as a result. Often, she could find simple notifications around town of landmarks and which direction to proceed to reach them. Simple things like a boxed-in H with an arrow pointing down a street, or a sign indicating that she should go this way to reach that park. Sometimes, it took a bit of wandering. Other times, like tonight, she needed to rely on less obvious indications. Like a small rash of youma auras.
It was just under an hour before she found the park in Halle's message, and she was still beating the youma dust from the edge of her skirt when she sighted him. She flashed him the beginnings of a smile, raising her hand in greeting.
"That's quite the trick." She pointed to the space where the youma used to be trapped by Halle's magic. "Does your magic force them to do that? If so, while helpful, she wasn't sure how much protection it offered for the civilians that they so often ambushed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 3:30 pm
Blinking at the spot where the youma had been, Halle considered it and then shrugged. "I was just keeping it in place in case it was moving along with others." His shield holding it definitely wasn't enough to have dusted it, but he didn't sense anything waiting around if it just changed into a smaller shape. "Youma keep being weird in new ways, I guess." Looking around for a moment, he went on, "Do you want to go to your wonder or mine to talk?" Halle pulled out a notebook from his space and began writing a note to Lisse on it, informing the other that he'd be off world for the night. bringing his ring up to it as a seal, the page disappeared. "Both will be good options for training session, I think. Lysithea and Cybele are able to carry extra people up if we get their help, right?" And he felt pretty confident than the princesses would be willing to do at least this much.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 3:52 pm
"Do you think that has something to do with the storm?" Celadon questioned, then looked up at the sky. She didn't let her gaze linger long, though, in case it invited disaster.
His next question led her to realize that youma might have been beside the point. She spared a last look at where the youma was, then made the easy decision. "I can take you to mine." She held her hand out toward him. "It's not much, but it has a lot of space. And running water."
She watched the way his ring vanished a page out of his notebook. It was the same type of paper he sent to her; was that what their rings were for, then? She'd not seen one at work up close before.
"You're right, though. Cybele can take others up. I don't know how many, but she's offered before." And she would again, Celadon knew, if anyone would but ask her. Celadon came to admire her steady dedication.
It was easy enough, too, to recall the oath that came to mind whenever she thought of her wonder — of Celadon. How that oath would whisk them both away, beyond familiar parks and battles to the twilit skies of Cybele's asteroid.
She always noticed the change in smell first. How the acrid tang of pollution and the storm's damp wake shifted immediately to fresh blooms and the mountain's crisp air. The area about them grew far quieter, with little else to break the silence but the muttering creek that lapped along a much greater basin. True to her word, they stood at the center of a sprawling space that would have made for an impressive forest, had it not all burned at some unknowable point prior. Even so, tiny sprigs of saplings broke ground at steady intervals and lent the solemn space the slightest touch of whimsy.
"Welcome to Celadon," she offered. "The running water's over there. As far as I can tell, I've got all this space and part of that mountain, there? But I haven't hiked up it all the way yet.
"Oh, and there's some fallen logs and tree stumps we can use for places to sit. Not that tree stump over there, though; I had to stick the piece of Code there."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 4:11 pm
They could likely ask Princess Ganymede too, but the only knight of hers he really new was Santa Maria Novella and that guy... Well, maybe one day he would venture outside of the hat store that was his wonder and realize there was a lot more of the world that was waiting. So for the time being Cybele and Lysithea were the two ideal choices. And Halle to admit, Cybele was a great world for training outside, having experienced it at last year's tournament. Looking around he nodded, "I think we could do a lot here." It was very much in line with what he'd seen before, but with the wonder's own, special feeling. Thinking about it, while his wonder did have a lodge for resting, that wasn't going to be needed, and may even distract from training. In addition, he couldn't help but feel increasingly protective of the native creatures of his forest. It would definitely be kinder to the wildlife if he held off on knights and senshi shooting magic all over the place. Suddenly feeling a sort of relief he began to sit down and then abruptly stood straight up as looked at the stump in total bafflement. "A stump? Why would it..." With a weary sigh, Halle griped, "My..past m-... my predecessor made me go through a whole invisible forest maze and...oh!" He pointed at Cybele as he suddenly remembered, "Cybele is a new princess. I'd almost forgotten that! You don't have a predecessor making you jump through hoops, right?" She just got to chuck her code piece in a drawer, or stump, and call it good? Or maybe it was a magic stump? Squinting at the stump, he asked, "Is there uh...something special about it?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 4:25 pm
Celadon regarded Halle quizzically. He had a predecessor? As far as Celadon knew, there was nobody else here. At least, she never saw anyone else here when she took Cybele up to look at the place. Not much had changed since then. As she thought about it, though, an eerie feeling overcame her and she checked about their vicinity, half-expecting to catch a ghost.
But there was nothing. Nothing but the low rumble of thunder on the horizon.
After thoroughly reminding herself that there were no ghosts on her wonder, Celadon picked out a nearby log and sat on it with her legs stretched out. "No offense, but if that's what predecessors do, then I'm glad I don't have one." She wasn't sure how going through an invisible forest maze was supposed to be useful when they had a whole war on earth that they could be doing something about instead.
"What? No, not that I know of? The Code Piece needed me to put it somewhere, and I thought that hollowed-out tree stump was a good spot. Was there supposed to be more to it than that?"
If there was, the Code didn't say anything about it. The whole experience was pretty overwhelming; she was rather glad she didn't have to do extra tasks all the while. Though, perhaps it would've been nice if she had someone who told her about how to be a knight when she first awakened.
"I'm guessing it wasn't like that for you at all." She stood, then, having decided that she should show Halle that she wasn't lying about such a simple spot. She rounded the stump to the other side, where a small knot exposed a largely hidden hollow inside. There, the Code piece shone, though she didn't remember it looking quite like that before. "See it?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2025 1:06 pm
"it's usually kinda helpful, though. Uh...I guess some people get ghosts, but mine was, well, me." Feeling a little awkward about that fact, even now, Halle scratched under his cap, feathers bouncing with the movement. "So I get bits of that life's memories. Mostly about the insects and animals that have been reappearing in my forest." Thinking about it, most other wonders he'd had described hadn't made their knights' rings too hard to find instead of turning it into some kind of rpg puzzle. "No, I think a stump is fine, as long as its safe?" He tried to give it a more appreciative look. Thunder rumbled again and Halle gave the sky a wary look. Returning to the stump Celadon was trying to show off, he decided it was kinda cool. "Wow, I guess it is pretty glowy? Your piece looks a bit different form the few I've seen."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
