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 Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:16 am
Personal Raincloud (11) : It’s a beautiful, sunny day in Destiny City–for everyone but you. There’s not a cloud in the sky–except for yours. No matter where you go, a dark cloud seems to hover, casting shadows wherever you go. It’s been raining since you woke up today, and it’s like bad luck and bad weather just follows you. It’s a constant downpour, always exactly where you are. The raincloud is usually big enough to easily cover a full building, so if you stick around for too long, your misfortune will turn into someone else’s too. The raincloud might follow you for a few hours or for the whole day before slowly fading; there’s no escaping it, or the strange, sombre mood that seems to follow you."
If it made any sound at all, the rainfall swallowed it up.
He normally loved the rain, but not today. Not when it persisted the way that it had been from the moment he woke up to now, well into the night while he was on his usual patrol to meet quota. He just finished (to the misfortune of a drunk who he left passed out in an alley near the hospital), and so was considering his options for the remainder of his dedicated Negaverse work time. There was never any harm (at least to him) in going over quota, though that meant dealing with the rain for that much longer…
Staurolite looked skyward, eyes narrowed to try and keep the rain from landing square on his eyeballs, and debated for a second before flicking his gaze off to his left. Not that he was in any kind of mood to deal with Order, but before he could think too hard about it he turned and started toward them.
At worst, they'd attack on sight and he could ******** right off. At best, maybe he could hazard a conversation?
Maybe they'd have some kind of insight into all this rain.
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:16 am
The sensation of a nearby Chaos energy signature piqued Tempesti’s interest. Her arm was still healing from the souvenir that agent left her the other night and she was in no hurry to repeat the experience. With luck, whoever was nearby wouldn’t be interested in fighting. Or in draining random people she’d have to defend. Sore or not, she wasn’t about to run from that. A sudden downpour slashed through the sunlight as she turned a corner, shocking her system and leaving her drenched. Whatever magic drove this, it wasn’t the energy she’d felt, at least it didn’t feel Chaotic. The person who seemed to be the focus of the deluge, on the other hand, was another matter entirely.
He didn’t seem to have any sort of control over his situation, which hopefully eliminated the possibility that the Negaverse had the ability to control the weather. Or at least this unfortunate fellow didn’t. Keeping her distance, she raised her voice enough that he would hopefully be able to hear her “What’s going on with…all this?” The senshi gestured at the strangely localized rainstorm. Member of an enemy faction or not, she couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for him.
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:17 am
He stopped in his tracks when he was in conversational range. The senshi seemed to do the same, which bode well for his hopes of a conversation rather than a fight. Unfortunately, her simple (and very fair) question mercilessly dashed his hopes for possible answers about the rain. The Captain heaved a sigh, his shoulders very noticeably moving up and down with the long, drawn out breath.
"I was kinda hoping one of you guys might have an answer," came his eventual reply. He sounded about as dreary as the weather, and he took another step or two closer because the rain seemed to fall that much harder for whatever reason and it seemed like his voice was getting drowned out by it. He would have said more but he wasn't in the mood to purposely grate at the first person he'd come across for the night.
While not desperate for conversation, he wasn't looking to chase away company either.
"I think it's been following me around all day," he went on, "Not sure what to do to shake it."
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:18 am
Tempesti grimaced sympathetically as the agent spoke, wishing she had any useful answers. Curiosity outweighed her wariness toward a member of the Negaverse and she was definitely curious if her harpies could disperse the cloud. Somehow she suspected that being in the center of that experiment wouldn’t feel like an upgrade for someone who had been dealing with a stubborn rainstorm all day. “Sorry, I have no idea.” The senshi shrugged, emphasizing her unfortunate cluelessness on the matter. “Maybe it’s something to do with everything else that’s popped up in the past few weeks. I’ve been ambushed by these horrible chicken monsters four times.” She hoped that the ridiculousness of her own situation might make him feel a bit better about his own. “They smell awful. There was a slight laugh in her voice as she wrinkled her nose at the memory. “So I can relate to being caught up in this nonsense.” A ping in the back of her mind tossed up something she could help with and a plastic rain poncho sealed within a small snap fastened plastic pouch materialized from her subspace. She approached the agent slowly, hoping to make clear that she wasn’t attacking, and held out her squeaking water-resistant olive branch. “No clue how to make that,” she pointed upward at the cloud, “Go away, but hopefully this will be useful until it gets bored.”
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:19 am
Again, not the answer he was hoping for, but considering his luck with everything all day he quickly and easily let it go. At this point he'd just file today away as perhaps the most depressing day of his summer and let it be. A little rain didn't necessarily have to be a bad thing (even though he definitely suffered through more than just a little rain up to this point).
Having someone to commiserate with helped, though, and he offered her a sympathetic smile in turn.
"That sucks," was all he could think to say, "but yeah, sounds about right. Holidays around here are always so…" Riddled with ridiculous shenanigans. Some good, some bad, but ridiculous all the same. He made a little wibble-wobble gesture with his hand to sort of finish the sentence for him.
"Though honestly it could probably be worse."
Which was maybe saying something.
He shifted his gaze skyward for a moment, the smallest of hopes clawing its way into his chest when he noticed the rain had let up slightly. Ever so slightly, but enough that he noticed. Turning his head to face the senshi as she extended a small plastic little thing at him, he managed another little smile but shook his head.
"I'll just take the thought, if that's okay. I'm already drenched so covering up is a bit moot at this point. Thank you, though."
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:21 am
Tempesti nodded. It was, of course, understandable that he wouldn’t want to wrap himself in plastic if he was already soaked to the skin. It would have been nice if she’d been able to offer it to him a bit earlier in the day, but hopefully he’d be on his way to someplace dry sooner rather than later. The fear and anger she’d felt toward the Negaverse since she saw Laurelite’s little display at the battle against the Calamitous Hollow needed this nudge. This reminder that there was still humanity there. Some of them were no doubt horrid, pompous, self-important, violent people. But that was the rub. They were people. People who got caught in the rain, people who had lives and presumably had hopes, dreams, families.
Dehumanizing someone was a step toward justifying atrocities, she’d read that many times over. Even if reducing an enemy to a wooden caricature of everything she hated about the world made them easier to fight, it shouldn’t be easy. If it was easy…well then it was probably time to step back. Maybe permanently. Better than becoming a monster. She followed the agent’s gaze and wondered if she was imagining a slowing in the downpour. It would be nice if it meant an end to the man’s bad day.
“Alright then.” She sent the poncho back into the intangible void of her subspace. “I’ll let you go, get someplace less…wet.”
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:22 am
"You should get someplace less wet, too," he said after a beat, eyes again moving skyward and this time noting the slightest break in the gray up above. That sliver of hope grew, along with his smile.
"I may just wait it out. Something about seeing this thing through without running and hiding from it feels…"
Like he would win? Like maybe it would make him feel a little bit better to know he made it through one of the weirdest experiences of his life (and considering agent life, that might have been saying something) without running and hiding from whatever intangible thing had decided to test him for the day?
Which was maybe stupid, but the more he thought about it the more the feeling clung to him.
"I don't know, but," he pointed at a tall-ish tree just up ahead, "I think I'll perch over there 'til it stops."
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:24 am
She smiled slightly as the agent spoke, there was no room for her to talk in terms of stubbornly trying to outlast a frustrating situation and she hoped that his would end sooner rather than later. Despite her grandmother’s well-intentioned admonitions, she knew that being wet for extended periods of time couldn’t directly cause a cold but it would definitely be uncomfortable. Going up a tree wouldn’t have been her first choice in that scenario, lingering anxieties about sudden lightning (thank you, Harold) would have discouraged her from making that climb.
“Well, stay safe! I hope it clears up soon.”
She’d definitely have to wring out her hair once she was alone.
As the senshi departed a small lavender form appeared, trailing behind her.
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:25 am
"Hey, you too," was all he said in response before teleporting off into one of the higher branches of the tree, the only indication of his arrival being the slightest bit of shaking of the leaves.
It wasn't perfect, but it was enough of a shield from the rain. So Staurolite made himself comfortable (enough, given his state of being drenched and all), the quiet pitter-patter on the leaves gradually lulling him into a surprisingly peaceful little nap. It was the most at peace he'd been the whole day, so even if it wasn't the greatest idea given the fact that he had an energy signature that could potentially call the attention of less friendly senshi than the one he just met…
Well. He'd cross that bridge if he came to it.
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