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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 3:42 am
"The exact one," replied Encke, and he almost sounded reverent. For the two of them, it was primarily a worry of what might be caught by any cameras in the museum that kept them in place while she wandered off. Her finding another place to transform minimized the chance of an unwitting security guard catching a video that might compromise her. When she reemerged and came back into their view, Viatrix gave her a small round of applause -- as well as she could with her two front paws, anyway. It was in part to applaud a new senshi of hers, in part to applaud the efforts now Sailor Raksha had taken that day and the new ones she could take, and in part because Viatrix had gotten to her before anyone else... "Hi! I love that uniform on you! I can definitely see some influences of the magic. Do you feel more powerful now?" Could she? Encke gave her outfit a once-over, determining that Raksha definitely had the paw prints to match up with what her sphere meant-- "You should have a feel for what your magic is, even if it's not familiar yet. I think one of the first things I noticed when I powered up the first time, though, was that I could do parkour easier." As Encke talked and laughed, Viatrix had once again turned her attention toward her paws and appeared to be working on something, humming to herself as she went to work. Needed to get her set up with a senshi phone, after all, then make sure she had Encke as a contact, then show her the fun part... Oh, right-- "She's working on something that'll give you access to some other things." He found himself glancing around the room out of an innate paranoia, before offering, quieter, "I'm Ignacio Araya, by the way. Outside of this. I think it helps to have at least someone you know as a civilian who's in this. And you?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:00 am
Raksha looks mildly embarrassed when Viatrix applauds her, but it's hard to be embarrassed about a cat. That kinda softens the blow.
"...Yeah, I do. It's kinda nice. Thank you"
She could get used to this. Actually… Raksha flexed her fingers thoughtfully, before her train of thought was derailed by Encke offering his identity- as an actor the other kids talked about at school.
She tried very hard not to laugh- the other kids would be wildly jealous if they ever found out the kid who hadn't seen a movie in years was hanging out with a real actor.
"Oh. Uh, Aerin. Aerin Vance? I volunteer here. Usually in the kids section actually, but the security guard was sick today so they asked me to cover for him, since it basically involves watching the lost and found and announcing the next IMAX movie."
"...That's how I knew to come over here. All the cameras are fried right now, though. Random power surge right after I saw it on the cameras."
After saying that, Raksha looks thoughtfully at Viatrix.
I want to try something.
She reaches over and taps Viatrix gently on the head, channeling something inside of herself she assumed was probably magic, giving the cat a fluffy, ethereal tail in addition to making her look Somewhat More Dangerous.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:09 am
"Aerin Vance," replied Encke, committing the name to memory. "Guess you were in the right place at the right time, then." Honestly, it was probably for the best. The security guard might have not known what to do with the monster, kids might have gotten hurt or considerably worse, Aerin might not have been where she would have needed to be to run into Viatrix, which could have resulted in other problems... Admittedly, it was a relief the cameras were fried, and something in Encke's form unwound and relaxed. "Well. Guess I didn't have to worry so much about something catching you--" His words cut off as he watched Raksha wander over to the busy Viatrix and tap her on the head. She jumped in surprise, mostly because she was focusing, before turning behind her to get a look at what happened. Oh! She giggled in delight, the phone momentarily forgotten as she swirled around to swing the ethereal tail back and forth. "I don't actually have one of these! I guess this is part of your magic?" To test this, Viatrix slashed at something next to her, finding to her surprise it felt like her claws were a bit longer. And for such a small thing, Encke was amused to find she looked a bit more frightening than she probably deserved-- "This is pretty cool! Feel like I could tear some enemies up!" Viatrix hissed for good measure. It was honestly only intimidating because of the magic, considering she wasn't actually angry about anything...
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:15 am
"I hope so. I'm glad I was here to help. "
Even so, the museum was probably going to be out for repairs for a while. From what she had briefly seen on the cameras, a lot of the exhibits had been badly damaged- that on top of the camera systems and the other damages would be expensive and probably take a lot of time to fix.
This was a mess, and she definitely couldn't tell anyone the full story. Raksha's parents- well, she was pretty sure they'd never let her outside again, even if she could get them to believe her.
Viatrix's delight and big, fluffy tail were a welcome distraction from her musing and a surprise and delight to Raksha in turn; She hadn't been entirely quite sure what that would do, just that it was something she could do, and that it could make her or her allies more powerful in a fight.
"I'm glad you like it, and- You probably could. You look very intimidating, at least." There had been a lot of weird stuff today. Raksha had no doubt that a weird magic cat could have incredible combat prowess. Sure.
…She should probably ask some more relevant questions. They got their powers from a place in space, but- what did that actually mean?
"You said the magic come from astronomical objects, right? Uh. How? Also why? It's not like I've ever been to space." It seemed kind of odd for her to have space magic powers, and not like. Astronauts. Though she supposed maybe they did, and just kept it secret? She wouldn't have expected Ignacio Arya-Bell to be a magic space wizard either.
I swear to god if astrology is even a little bit real I will scream.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:45 pm
"I am, too." A slightly more intimidating hiss followed in response to Raksha, and the guardian cat seemed effectively derailed from her duties with another laugh of delight. In the process, she had dropped the phone she was working on, and Encke walked over to scoop the phone up from the ground. Looked complete-- Viatrix's delight with her boost would continue until she saw the tail begin to fade, something that was met with the smallest of kitty pouts. That had been fun, admittedly; Anser's buff magic didn't come with a fun effect like that. Sure, it had the geese honking, but geese honking didn't give Viatrix a tail and threatening claws-- "Hey!" She glared up at Encke now that she realized the phone was missing. "That's for Raksha!" Encke, accordingly, held it out with an amused grin. "Senshi phone. There are apps you can access on there, including a primer, contact -- you can add people by taking a picture of them, basically -- and a distress signal if you need it." Hopefully, she wouldn't. "And yes. Our powers do come from astronomical objects. You haven't been to space yet in this lifetime, but our starseeds are from those places. In a prior time, we lived there. Mine is from Encke's Comet. Yours is from Raksha." Viatrix was already on another device-- "I think Raksha's an asteroid." This was probably a lot, but he was pretty sure the next thing he was going to tell her might ease that a bit-- "Oh, speaking of yet. That'll take you to Raksha."
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 3:01 pm
"We get magical cell phones with special apps?" That was ridiculous. Also really funny. "Can they play music, or…?" If Raksha was going to fight more of those things, music could be surprisingly practical. Also, as terrifying as it was- fighting that monster to a soundtrack of "random songs on her phone" was pretty cool.
Raksha's amusement at the whole concept of magic cellphones was completely derailed by Encke saying people lived on comets and asteroids. Real living people.
"Hold on, people live on comets and asteroids? What are they like? How have our space probes and telescopes not seen them? Do they have laser guns?"
There are people living out there. Guess science fiction was right when it said we aren't alone.
If Raksha was unbearably excited by the idea of magic space civilizations, and she was, she was even more excited at the prospect of straight up going to space. With a magic cellphone.
"Can we just?? Go there? To space? Whenever we want?"
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 3:22 pm
The concept of it playing music brought light to Viatrix's eyes. "I could probably make an app for that. Maybe have a database full of cool songs for people to listen to when on a quieter patrol..." Or maybe if they just wanted to break up the quiet on their homeworld. She might have been taking some notes to herself on that-- Encke's eyes widened minutely when she asked about the people who might have been living out there, found himself giving the quite half-assed grin at that one. "Well, live d. We've run into a few aliens, the Velencians, primarily--" "Whatever Almadel is!" "--And him. But." Kurma probably qualified as an alien too, now that he thought about it, what with his apparent immortality-- "I remember what my people were like. They aren't living people anymore, or I wouldn't be here. They were wiped out. Most of the planets are wiped out." And maybe Raksha would be able to put the pieces together without him explicitly saying you're only here because your world was wiped out, too.His mood had become somber. "But we can go there. And one of our primary missions as senshi, I think, is to help restore these places. It's how I got these," he pointed to his markings, "which protects my starseed from Chaos, among other things."
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 3:46 pm
"It would be cool. I can give you my library, if it would help? Only some of the songs are pirated-"
Raksha cut herself off when Encke started talking, and luckily for him- she was pretty good at thinking on her feet.
So… everyone was dead. And, if she had to hazard a guess, it probably had something to do with the monsters and Metallia, given what Encke had said.
Everyone was dead, and she couldn't do anything about that, but she could do something. She could help, at least in a small way. There was even a helpful indicator of if she was doing a good job- if she started glowing, that was good.
Raksha would help. It was the right thing to do.
She was quiet for a second, processing all of this- it was a lot, finding out there were people, once, and now there weren't anymore. But-
"...So. What's your comet like? Are there weird magic space dogs? Or cool plants?"
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:07 pm
"Please do!" That'd give her something to start with, and considering the whole thing would probably be what the Earthlings would consider to be pirated, the pirated status of some of the songs didn't really matter to her... Viatrix fell quiet, afterward, looking to Encke as he bit his lip and buried down the thought of what his people were. There was an explicable sense of guilt every time he thought of their demise. He felt responsible. Speaking of what his comet was like in the present was considerably easier, and being asked about it drew the gloom off his face. "Think of a place that is in perpetual dusk except when it whips around the sun. There's a city made of stone and luminescent paints, with spires that reach up to the sky, electricity sparking between them, powering technology. There's gathering spaces, a place that used to hold the leading house, gardens of both Earth plants that adapted and native plants, smaller settlements branching out." His expression had become warm by the end. "And yeah, there's animals. Very recent development. Do you remember the so-called once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon about a month ago?" He waited for some sort of acknowledgment before continuing with, "Related. Since, I've had firefly pollinators, beetles, moths, I saw a few mice the last time I was there."
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:42 pm
"It sounds beautiful." Raksha meant it- Encke's comet sounded very alien- permanent dusk, lots of fireflies, giant spires and glowing structures? There absolutely wasn't anywhere like that on earth. But it also sounded beautiful. "...Could I see it sometime? If that isn't weird." She was curious, and it might be nice to see a real living world, in space.
"Hold on, what? The weird gas cloud thing from last month invented mice, but only in space?"
That was- ridiculous, but Raksha was well past the point of questioning the ridiculousness of literally anything that was happening at the moment. Sure. Gas clouds could invent mice in space. If cats could make phones in like, two minutes, spontaneous generation could be real.
"...Did the gas cloud invent anything larger than a mouse? You're not the only other senshi, right- are there deer or something elsewhere? Or is it just mice."
Not that the existence of creatures in space at all was disappointing; it was more than she'd ever expected to know in her lifetime. Raksha was totally willing to be content with space mice.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:09 pm
Encke beamed at the compliment to his homeworld, a compliment Viatrix seemed to be eating up as well. "I love showing the place off, honestly. And I can go pretty often. Not trouble at all to bring someone else up." She was Order-aligned and he was eager to encourage interest in space. He didn't really need to be asked more than once if he would be willing to take anyone like that to his pride and joy. "If you get vertigo, though," Viatrix giggled, "I'd recommend not looking up when you go the first time. It takes a lot for Encke's Comet to go the distance it does in the time it does. You'll see it." "That being said -- it's more complicated than that," probably. He was fairly sure that the explosion of Archideus didn't just invent the mice on his planet. He recognized them from memories now that he had seen them. "But you're on the right track. I actually don't know if there's anything larger than mice yet, though. I'm not the only senshi--" thankfully. If he was he wasn't convinced he'd still be alive-- "--but it's so new!" filled in Viatrix, and she couldn't help the excitement in her voice. "Right now I've mostly just heard of bugs, but Encke only saw the bugs the first time too, and then there were mice!" That Viatrix promised not to give in to a cat instinct and chase...
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:49 pm
Raksha attempted, semi-successfully, not to vibrate out of her skin on Encke's agreement. Hell yeah!
All of this was a lot. All of this was so much, and a lot of it was painful and terrifying- but it was also exciting, and incredible.
"Not look up? On another planet? You can see space there! A little vertigo is worth it." Raksha hadn't ever gotten vertigo, but even if she had, it would be a small price to pay for a look at the stars on another planet.
"I'd like to see your space mice. And- even if there's never anything big naturally, if it can have life on it… you could at least do something like…" Raksha thought for a minute. "You could help out local animal shelters and stuff. House the animals they don't have room for there temporarily. Or build a really big telescope there and use it for interferometry. Or maybe endangered species conservation programs could use the land as a safe place to develop the populations of their animals."
"Even if we can't get back what was lost- we could still do something cool, and useful."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:08 pm
In all honesty, Encke could sympathize with the desire to vibrate out of one's own skin. Now that the danger was gone and the adrenaline that had him occasionally looking around was fading, the excitement of talking about words had him occasionally bouncing on the tips of his toes. The ideas that Raksha had were exciting, and Encke and Viatrix both found themselves looking at each other and mutually wishing for some way to encourage it. In a lot of ways, what she explained made sense -- ways to see more of space, safe places to house the creatures of this world that needed help -- they were ways to make the planets homes again even if they couldn't necessarily be homes in the same way. "Those are all really big, good ideas, especially if we can rid this planet of the Negaverse threat." Although maybe there were some senshi or knight conservationists that might be interested in an under-the-table experiment on a less extremely endangered species-- "But those are big picture plans. I'd love to show you my space mice. And when you're ready, maybe you can show me around Raksha, too." "You mean us, right?" Viatrix cut in and narrowed her eyes at Encke. Encke snorted. "Yes, I mean us."
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:42 pm
Raksha nodded- it made sense.
"We… probably wouldn't want to do that and then have it immediately collapse again. That would be… devastating, probably."
Just from seeing Encke- she wasn't sure he could emotionally take seeing his planet be devastated again.
She couldn't help but dream of a time where they had telescopes all over the solar system anyway. And dogs.
"I'd like to show both of you around Raksha too. …Once I know where all the cool things are." Raksha wanted to give Viatrix and Encke the best possible first impression of her planet- and she wanted to see it on her own, first. It felt correct, to do that.
"You guys are pretty cool, even if I never thought I'd be told aliens were real by a talking cat and a guy in a silly outfit. Thanks for- helping, with all of this. And I'm gonna try really hard to get a good grade in Planet. It seems like the right thing to do." Also the fun thing to do.
Raksha punctuated this statement by leaning down and gently petting Viatrix on the head.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:03 pm
The concept of his comet being devastated all over again was a heartbreaking thought on its own. It had fascinated him the moment he had stepped onto it, but it had still been so very empty. So many things were in disrepair. There had certainly been no running water coming up from the ground, no electricity through the air, no bugs and small animals thriving and making it a home. Best not to think about that. Encke had transcended. He had brought life back. He had done everything he could to reverse it and he still felt like there was more he could do-- "Yeah!" He buried it down with a grin. "I look forward to seeing all your favorite cool things wherever on your planet we end up." Viatrix purred very hard when Raksha bent down, leaning right into the pets. The pets were enough to distract her from responding right away, Encke remarking with an eye roll down toward his cat and a small snort at the concept of a Good Planet Grade, "Anytime, Raksha. Glad we were able to help, even if you got to the youma before we could." He smirked. "Though now you'll be able to fight them off better, right?" Viatrix finally glanced up to Encke, turned back to Raksha, and chirped, "I just want to make awakening into this stuff as easy as possible!" "Did you learn from when I literally had to chase one of the people you flagged down a street?" "--We don't talk about that!"
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