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 Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2022 6:18 am
'Go burn away your existence somewhere ******** else.'
He was used to taunts like these. Came to expect them from the White Moon and their knight cohorts. They were always after his fire, always assumed he would burn to death on some path of inevitability. And that might be so — day might come that his fire finally consumes him, leaves nothing but bones in its wake. But that day, Faustite oft thought, was far away. Much more likely that he'd die by the hands of —
Them. Was that what this was about?
Faustite winced as he straightened. He knew what he'd been thinking, but not how he got there. None of it made sense to him now — the desolation, the desperation, the grim acceptance that nothing mattered so he could gamble it all way on an ill-meaning whim. As he managed a sharp breath, he looked from the Knight's summons to the Eternal carrying the one from before. It wasn't her; he'd been hit by her magic and felt nothing more of it. Those thoughts came with them.
The burning boy didn't think himself so susceptible to battlefield depression. Or — had he? There had been a number of times where he thought it strategic to execute an action, even if he died from it. But was that the same? Since, he'd had Kamacite and Axinite explain to him, up and down, how he was worth more alive. Since then, he found himself a husband and three fiancés. Why, then, had he felt so convinced that he could finish it all here, in a lopsided fight between himself, a Basic, an Eternal, a Knight, and one of their strange jealousy-driven bastardizations of a youma?
"Faustite, you're a ******** fool," he murmured to himself. "A fire-breathing t**t. And your team should beat you half to death for this."
Then the howl sounded, and Faustite guarded his head as he was pushed back into the wall once again, as glass blasted away from the windows and a few shards dropped down. Then Sessrumnir struck him in the head hard enough to send him stumbling, hard enough that he felt his jaw shift, and the youth fell into his fire form to gain some distance.
Away from Sessrumnir. Away from his damn youma wannabe. As he traveled, the fiery form gained a humanoid appearance, and he looked back at the pair of senshi a last time. He would remember them — especially the troublesome basic.
When he gained enough distance, he dropped his fiery form to call a handful of youma from the Rift. Two were directed to the Eternal and Basic, three to Sessrumnir and his dog. It would be enough of a distraction to cover an escape, he assumed.
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2022 11:31 am
It wasn't sympathy or inexperience with wars that made her want them all out of there. She didn't curse in a nearly dead Solarian tongue just because Sessrumnir told Alastor to leave with her.
Desperation made animals lash out harder, fiercer. Even if he looked ready to fall apart, ready to collapse and be done with everything, Solaris couldn't be confident that he'd take killing blows from the Jovian Knight without trying to drag him down, too. That was the only reason she was so anxious and watching intently. She didn't want him to die again.
Least of all because she called them there, into something she'd not properly scouted.
She watched as the fire boy was struck by shimmering glass shards, and Sessrumnir's fist. And... he fell back. Into fire, he moved back. Away from the battle.
Never again, she told herself, memorizing his face as much as she could from before he'd taken on the fire form. That youma showed up were the least of her fears--they weren't nothing, but they weren't...
They weren't him.
"I'm sorry," she told Alastor sourly, watching the youma heading towards them. "Put me down, I can still fight hand-to... well. Melee." Could they probably just clean up the youma without her? Yes. But it was rude at this point to just abandon a fight-- ...ugh.
Which was what she was saying they should do by just leaving the agent to die on his own... ugh.
The pain in her legs and hand weren't helping her mood. Nor the fact she knew she was tapped out of most of her energy after using up her magic.
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2022 7:50 pm
“You stay where you are and don’t struggle, I don’t need to fight them and you,” Alastor said, managing to sound patient and composed. He balanced Solaris easily enough in his arms, and he didn’t need them to deal with the youma. Probably. He was feeling confident.
He had long legs and good boots, so as soon as the first youma got close enough, he kicked it with all of his might. Princess and Sessrumnir could take care of their youma, he wasn’t worried about that.
And, with the General running off, it meant that the greatest of their problems was quickly disappearing.
“Are you all right?” he asked Sessrumnir, already rounding to give the second youma the same attention as the first.
Youma were just walking piles of dust. Dangerous, if you weren’t sure what you were dealing with, but far from the worst foe Alastor had ever faced. He was in good condition; he knew Solaris was a little roughed up. He was trying not to seem like he was too interested in making sure Sessrumnir was all right, but what his face could hide, the necklace around the Knight’s neck could not.
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2022 8:51 pm
Sessrumnir grit his teeth as he watched Faustite run off like the coward he was. He wanted to ignore the youma. He wanted to send Princess after the little b*****d and finish him off.
But he could feel the flickering of the necklace against his chest.
He didn’t answer Alastor for the moment. His clothes were singged from the flames, and he was pretty sure his hands had burns he’d need to treat. But he was still very aware of the danger Faustite posed, being allowed to get away.
Sessrumnir took out his anger and frustration on the nearest youma. It barely had the chance to lunge at him before he was kicking it as hard as he could. Princess tore through the other two just as easily, but Faustite was already too far away to follow, especially if he was just going to teleport or send more youma after them.
“I’m fine,” he finally answered, growling in the direction of the fire boy. He didn’t want to look at Alastor when he was angry. Didn’t want him to see that expression, especially when it would never be directed at him.
“That was General Faustite. Don’t let his age fool you. He’s part youma and one of the more dangerous Negaverse officers you’ll hopefully never encounter again,” he frowned, shaking out his hand as he finally turned back to make sure Alastor and Solaris were okay. “You okay?”
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Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2022 4:43 pm
Solaris wanted to object to Alastor's order. She wanted him to put her down, let her be useful. She'd caused enough problems. Let her handle some of it. Her cheeks burned as she scowled. But instead of throwing a fit, she.... stayed still. Or as still as she could as Alastor's balance tipped to kick at one of the youma. Then the other. She tried to lean with his shifting balance, at least knowing better than to pitch a fit right at the moment. Getting her way mattered little if someone got hurt. She'd already caused enough problems. Her chest hurt.
The youma were screeching, but they were cut off by large fangs, and well-aimed kicks.
Her pulse thundered, and her wings were folded tight against her back in a subconscious attempt to make herself smaller. Sessrumnir's rough answer to Alastor made her wince, and she looked towards him tentatively. She didn't see any major wounds. A tiny bit of pressure in her chest eased up. He was whole. He was alive. Alastor wasn't hurt. Neither of them were hurt cuz of her. They were okay. She could breath a little easier.
...part youma? Her stomach twisted. It explain why he felt so... wrong. And looked it. They ate starseeds, and some were... part youma? Her disgust towards the Negaverse grew, even if she didn't understand the processes behind someone gaining... youma parts.
One of the more dangerous one? Again, Solaris flinched, starting down at her hand she'd used to block him. It was turning purple from bruising, hurt like hell to move her fingers. She wondered if she broken it. The smell of flesh burning, seeing that man being hurt like that...
It could have happened to them, too. Solaris herself was no more better than a civilian against something that strong. In her mind's eye, the man being burned by the fire boy--Faustite--wasn't that random civilian. It was Sessrumnir. It shifted again, this time to Alastor. Because she'd called them here. Because she hadn't scouted properly. Because she didn't know what she was running into. Because she wasn't---
"...I'm sorry," she said again, just looking at her hand. Because looking at them didn't feel right. She'd brought them into danger. They could have been severely hurt, because she'd acted impulsively. Her chest felt tight, and she swallowed thickly. Kyrie felt sick. She'd been useless. Her magic had been effectively useless. She almost got that man killed, never mind herself, never mind-- She still wasn't strong enough to protect people, was she? What good was age, what good was experience... if she didn't have the raw power to back it up? To really change things? To stop more people from getting hurt. How many Solarians were dead because of her being too weak to protect them, to change the outcome for the better?
Now she'd risked doing that to more people.
Solaris wasn't aware she was hyperventilating, that her pulse was erratic, her eyes unseeing because they were so unfocused. Staring back into the past, memories and the present clashing and focusing on all the horrible what ifs.
"I'm sorry-- I-I'm sorry--"
How many more people was she going to endanger? How many more people would she caused to die? Strangers and people she cared for, alike.
In that moment, she was lightyears away. Back on a world of vengeful storms, empty save her. Maybe it was better that way. She couldn't make stupid choices and hurt other people. They deserved happy lives. Long lives. Was she going to endanger that for people here, too? A soldier, she'd once called herself. Wishing that this war had ended eons ago, and no one else had to handle it now. Wishing it'd never become... this. But who was she to judge? She was a child playing pretend, acting like she knew something. She was just going to get people killed again.
Solaris' mind spiraled, and all she could do was shake and gasp out, "I'm sorry."
Strickenized know Faustite is out, just in case you wanna read <3
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 12:29 am
Alastor’s eyes followed Sessrumnir. He took in what he could at a quick glance, but he was already acutely aware of the movement in his arms. Solaris wasn’t fighting, but she was struggling.
Sessrumnir said he was fine, but Alastor was already used to him downplaying his injuries. It’s what he’d have done if he’d been in the same situation. He trusted that Sessrumnir wouldn’t deliberately ignore medical attention if he needed it.
Alastor hadn’t missed the anger in his voice, or how hard Sessrumnir had tried to make sure it wasn’t directed at them.
Solaris’ panic prevented him from giving Sessrumnir a proper response, though he managed to nod before he turned his full attention to her.
“Solaris,” he said, firm but not unkind. It demanded her attention but there was no reproach or frustration in his tone. He shifted her in his arms to make sure he wasn’t pinching her wings, but he didn’t release her.
He’d seen panic attacks before, he knew what they did to the mind. He could tell her it wasn’t her fault a thousand times, but if all she could think to do was apologize, he didn’t even know if she’d hear him.
She looked like she’d hurt her hand, but that was something they could fix later.
“It’s okay. You’re safe. We’re safe.”
His voice was quiet, not a whisper, but not his normal speaking voice, either. “I need you to focus for me. It’s important.” He needed her to focus on something, anything, other than whatever nightmare her mind had trapped her in. “We’re on Earth. What was the first thing you ate when you got here?”
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2023 8:08 am
Alastor was trying to calm Solaris down, but now wasn’t the time to talk. This wasn’t the place to talk either.
“Come on, this way,” he said quietly, more to Alastor than to Solaris. Alastor could focus on Solaris while Sessrumnir kept them both safe.
He placed a hand on Alastor’s back to guide him, ushering him away from where Faustite had been. He was going to ignore the biting blisters from the heat for now. He needed to make sure they were safe, first.
It was good that Solaris knew Alastor, at least. Good that she had someone familiar. There was the likelihood that she knew Percy as well, but even if the outfit was similar, the person wearing Sessrumnir’s Knight clothing was obviously different. Maybe that would be jarring enough to help her out of her panic.
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