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 Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 1:59 pm
Cybele wasn't stupid. She had some idea about what Viatrix was talking about, even before she came right out and said it. She didn't giggle at the implication that Viatrix was a very clever, starseed fixing Mauvian, possibly with super glue. Her expression didn't shift into some kind of excitement, the way Anser's was, even when she said that her starseed was ready. Her gaze was still locked on the horizon. Her eyes were blank. Deep in her chest, a spark of hope flickered. She wanted it. If she let herself think about it, she wanted the wings back so badly. She wanted the strength to fight that much harder. She wanted the Negaverse to see that they could not break her, not even weaken her. She just did not want to let herself hope and have that all crash to the rocks the moment it turned out that she was still broken, that she was still weak. "We could try it, I suppose," she said, noncommittal. From subspace, she summoned a green henshin pen and held it up to the feline on her shoulders. "You'd need this, wouldn't you?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 3:20 pm
Anser's expression fell slightly when she realized Cybele didn't seem nearly as excited as she did. Perhaps it was for good reason. The Negaverse had hurt her. The Negaverse had taken her power from her. The Negaverse probably implied to her and told her that if she left she'd never get it back. Probably thought she wouldn't with the level loss. Anser hadn't really met anyone who had lost a level and got it back. ... Of course, she wasn't sure how many people she met who had lost a level, unless turning into a youma counted; she was pretty sure becoming a whole monster was probably a level loss-- Viatrix took the henshin pen from Cybele, almost seeming reverent in how careful she was with it. "Thank you! Yes, let me get on working on this." She didn't dislodge herself, in case petting her would give Cybele some comfort still, as she focused her attention on the pen in front of her and unlocking what she thought she felt within Cybele. Upgrading had been something she had done before, a few times. She had never upgraded anyone in Cybele's situation, and she wondered if that would come with more of a challenge as she fiddled with the pen and tweaked it in the way she had before. Her pupils were dilated as she stared at it and worked at it with an intense interest-- "Oh!" Viatrix's eyes lit up. "I got it." She held it back out toward Cybele so she could take it back in her grip, unable to keep the pride out of her voice.. "Try it. Feel free to put me down if it'd help. I'm sure you know the spiel, but you can either say Cybele Eternal, Make-up, or I guess you can just think about it really hard. I think it's less fun, but that's what Encke does." Anser's eyes lit up again in hope.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 3:44 pm
Cybele did, in fact, keep petting Viatrix. She tried to keep all of her attention on what her fingers were doing instead of what her mind was doing. She didn't want to edge into either hope or despair, not right now. When she was done, Cybele took the pen in both hands and looked it over. She ran a thumb over the parts near the top that looked like wings, and they were solid under her touch. There was something similar about the shape of it. Perhaps she was procrastinating, admiring the design as much as she was. It was time to try it. It was time for the moment of truth. "Cybele Eternal, Make-up," she called out, as if she meant it, because she did. In that moment, she let herself hope. The next, something shifted. "Oh," she whispered. Out of instinct, she reached behind her, and there they were. Wings. Finally, a grin spread across her face.
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 4:14 pm
It worked. Anser let out a shout of joy, and Viatrix couldn't help feeling almost outright smug. Wait until she told the rest of the Mauvians about this one. Namielle, Liryn, and Realta would love the fact that they could give that power back to a starseed that the Negaverse thought they had permanently damaged-- (Their little crew needed a name, didn't it,) "I knew your starseed could handle it," stated Viatrix, confidently, as she reinforced that with a followed, " not broken." Either that or Cybele could choose to believe that she was just a very clever Mauvian, and Viatrix wouldn't quite mind that either, but she did want to make sure that Cybele knew she was not broken, she was never broken, she was just healing from what was a traumatic event-- Her thoughts scratched to a halt as Anser practically wrapped Cybele up in a hug. "Your wings!!" Anser practically wanted to spin Cybele around. She only didn't because she didn't really want to send Viatrix flying-- "Your aura! Your magic! You're," a brief pause as she reminded herself to not say again, before finishing with, " eternal!" She parted with a wide grin of her own. "You did it!!"
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 5:35 pm
Cybele fell into Anser's arms, squeezing a bit tighter than perhaps she should have. All that anxious energy from the last few moments had to go somewhere, after all. Some of it escaped in a slow, satisfied sigh. Viatrix wasn't completely right. Her starseed had been broken. Perhaps it hadn't been shattered to the point where it would have killed her, but it had been something close, and she'd known it. It had just turned out that along the way, she'd found some superglue, whatever that ended up being a metaphor for. Then, in the end, she had found a very clever Mauvian, one that had been willing to try despite her hesitations. "You fixed it, Viatrix," she said, and then, she let out a bright, bubbling laugh. "I'm Eternal!" She pulled away from Anser enough to examine the rest of her outfit. She glanced at her gloves, then her fancier shoes. Carefully, so that she didn't jostle Viatrix, she reached up to touch her antlers, which were now solid on her head. Only, then her expression fell once more. "I wish I could show Ganymede," she whispered.
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 7:28 pm
Anser didn't quite care how tight the hug was -- she squeezed right back, and she squeezed with an enthusiasm that didn't necessarily consider the fact that the other needed to breathe. She loosened it up after a few seconds, of course, once Viatrix quietly reminded her that maybe Cybele might need a bit of air-- And space to inspect her uniform, of course. "I did!" Viatrix's statement was as confident and bold as she was feeling at the moment. Let her at some other senshi who had thought their power had been lost -- maybe she could figure it out. With enough time and patience and experience-- "And you look really good. Like, those antlers are super cool. Do you mind if I poke them?" Anser's gaze followed Cybele's as she traced over her outfit -- the gloves, the shoes, the antlers -- she had seen this outfit before, and Anser felt her excitement swell at seeing it again. The Negaverse hadn't defeated Cybele. They hadn't taken this away from her. She had gotten her power back. ... Oh. Right. Anser tried to bury her excitement a bit as she hugged Cybele again, but this time it wasn't that choking kind of exciting hug-- "I'm sorry. ******** the Negaverse." Viatrix found herself scooting her body draped around Cybele's shoulders a bit closer and bumping Cybele with her head. "You have more power now though, right? We can keep looking and fighting and try to find someone who knows where she might be."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 2:37 pm
Cybele nodded when asked if Viatrix could poke at her antlers. Tehy seemed sturdy enough that they could withstand a cat's paw, and even if Viatrix had been a normal cat with fewer manners, and decided to bat the flowers around, it still probably would have stayed. It felt heavy, but in a comforting, familiar kind of way. She leaned into Anser's second hug, as well. She allowed herself that small moment of comfort. Then she took all of the grief and anxiety and loneliness and anger that had slipped out, and taking a deep breath in, she shoved them back down under her skin. Anser was right. They would keep looking. They would find answers. They would find something. They had to. She knew that Ganymede was alive, after all, and that was something that she'd been holding onto. "Thank you, both of you," she said. "I'm all right. We can go, now. We can keep looking, yes."
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 4:15 pm
Anser gave one last tight squeeze before letting go when Cybele said she was alright. They could keep looking. Time to get back to the business of kicking every Negaverse a** they passed near-- "Alright. I'm ready too, then." She grinned. "Maybe you'll get a chance to try out your new powers." Viatrix did end up batting gently at the antlers, with considerably more good behaviour than a cat without the whole Mauvian sapience thing might have, but only after Cybele was ready to get moving again. Didn't seem appropriate to interrupt that moment with play as much as she burned to. She got her chance, anyway. "Let's see what we can find," Viatrix projected confidence that was enough for the three of them. "A Mauvian, a super, and an eternal now. We're a force to be reckoned with." "I like how you led with Mauvian." Anser's eyes twinkled. "And not the strongest of us." "I will beam them. Just you watch me."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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