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 Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2024 8:21 am
“You are no fun,” Maisie told Reims. At least Luke and Amarynthos seemed to sort of agree with her. “If they’re white, we can just take sharpies to them. Restake our claim or whatever. USA! USA! USA!” she faked a cheer, making her voice deep and manly because… Well, it was usually creepy dudes who were weirdly patriotic, in her experience.
“All I’m saying is it would be cool,” she added, back to her regular voice. “I had to walk from where the bigger Code Piece is to get to Cynthus the first time. I figure you guys probably did, too.” She looked between Amarynthos and Atticus, but mostly Amarynthos since Atticus seemed busy trying to trick Julian into eating. “So we know we can explore, we just don’t know if the things normal people could find here exist for us. And vice versa. Like, an astronaut couldn’t actually stumble into one of our Wonders, right? Not that any astronauts come up here anymore. But if they did... They’d probably keep it top secret if they found ruins. People might get scared about aliens. Kinda funny that aliens aren’t even the thing anyone should be worried about.”
Maisie rambled. And she rambled. And she rambled. And she rambled. And she didn’t care if it got on anyone’s nerves or if no one wanted to join in on it, because she would just keep rambling to herself.- “I’m fine,” Rose reassured Reims, keeping her voice low so she wouldn’t interrupt Maisie’s rambling. (Not that she thought she could. Maisie liked to talk, and that was okay with Rose.) “Not even hurt. I think I might’ve been for a second, but then a Senshi I was helping healed me. I don’t think the Chaos magic affected me as much as some of the others.”
She chewed quietly and glanced from person to person, trying not to put too much of her attention on Julian or Énna without ignoring them either. She had a feeling the ones who got the worst of it were the ones who tended to be the most quiet, but she also didn’t want to assume anything.
Then there was Reims, who wasn’t quiet necessarily, but who definitely didn’t make a point of talking about himself if he could help it.
“What about you?” Rose asked anyway. Even if he didn’t want to talk about it, he should at least know that someone cared.- Énna tried to keep a smile on his face—a small one, because he didn’t have the strength or the confidence for anything wider, but a smile nonetheless. It wobbled a little bit when Atticus came over with the food, but Énna bit his lip and managed to keep it in place.
“Thanks,” he said again, barely more than a mumble, taking the plate that was offered to him and helping to transfer some of the food onto the plate that had clearly been meant for Julian all along.
Énna sat in one of the offered chairs—not necessarily because he wanted to sit, but because he thought doing so might encourage Julian to take the other one. Énna knew all about feeling out of place, or not wanting the attention on him, or feeling like a burden and not wanting to take up more space than he had to. Sometimes he could fight the feeling if it meant helping someone else to do the same.
He curled up as much as he could in the chair, balancing his plate of food on his knees and sipping at his cup of hot chocolate. Énna didn’t need to be involved in the main conversation, unsure what he would even add to it. He liked quiet companionship more than extensive conversations a lot of the time.
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Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 8:31 pm
Luke listened and nodded as Maisie went on her rambling tirade, and honestly? It all sounded really neat. And the idea of coloring on the flag that had been left here…
…Okay but they could make it better...and yeah, it would be better to keep those thoughts to himself, he thought, or to maybe tell Maisie later if they ever hung out sometime. He thought they might, she was nice and very outgoing and honestly…was helping him feel as though he fit in. The Moon Knight Mary was too, and honestly…
He was so thankful that Julian had so many friends to support him. It was really nice to see how they all supported each other…and he hoped that maybe he’d be in a position to call them friends as well.
“I’m always going to be game for walking if you want to try sometime. Even if we can’t reach the flag, I want to see as much of the Moon as you guys can show me! It’s so different from Lysithea.” But just as pretty…and felt just as safe. Even with the bears.
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 1:35 pm
Julian looked a bit flustered when handed an extra plate but he held it obediently while food was transferred onto it. Atticus had worked so hard to get seats for them, and Julian just didn’t have it in him to protest. When Énna sat, he did too.
He offered thanks but his voice hardly carried. He managed to catch Atticus’ eyes briefly so he knew he was grateful, and he offered another soft word of gratitude to Énna.
At first, he didn’t try to eat. He balanced the plate in his lap like he expected Atticus was going to come back, but when he didn’t, he held his hot chocolate between both hands, sipped at it, and then carefully began picking at the food. Since no one else wanted it!
Being seated made him feel smaller, more secure. He had a chair at his back. He wasn’t taking up so much space. He was next to a friend who didn’t expect anything of him.
Julian was tired, but he was at peace.
He knew how lucky he was to have friends like these.
-
“Maisie, you should come to my games. I bet you’d be a lot of fun in the bleachers,” Amarynthos laughed. He liked listening to her. It was more than just to fill the silence; she had an energy about her that was warm and inviting. A bit bold, but he didn’t mind. He kept an eye on Atticus and Julian and Énna, just to make sure none of them seemed to be getting overwhelmed.
He could see Rose talking to Reims but he didn’t try to eavesdrop. They looked like they were doing okay. When Atticus was close, he wrapped an arm around him to steal a quick hug. He’d have been happy to lavish all the PDA he could on him but that could wait until they were home.
He was proud of him, as he always was, but he thought it was sweet and attentive of him to look after their friends. He had a gentler presence than Amarynthos so it was easy to admire him. He hid a laugh, though. Atticus was a little obvious in what he was doing, but it had worked well enough.
He smiled at Maisie, and Luke. “I’d like to explore more of the Moon. I think a lot of it must be sealed off, if it was such an important place in the past? I’ve seen places that look, I suppose, like they’ve got a big bubble around them. I mean–when our Wonders weren’t letting us in not so long ago, it was like that? So I think they must be protected. I wonder if you have to be a Senshi or a Knight to see them. Otherwise I’m not really sure how an astronaut could have missed them. Although,” he drew out the word and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if there was some government conspiracy. I’ll let you know when I become president.”
It wasn’t not on Amarynthos’ agenda to get a high ranking political position; he wanted to be where he could make the most change. Even if he was teasing now, he’d still aim high.
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Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2024 7:54 am
Normally, Reims would have probably joked around with Maisie, but he was too on edge for any of that. He rolled his eyes at her, and turned his attention back to Rose.
She was always so kind to him, and he didn’t think he deserved it. He sighed and nodded. He didn’t want to upset her, and he knew she was trying to distract him.
“Better once everyone is rested,” he frowned, but kept his gaze away from the others. He didn’t want to interrupt, even if he wanted to check on them. They would just need to figure out a time to get together again when things weren’t so hectic and unplanned.
After such a stressful battle, the idea of walking and exploring was exhausting. He wouldn’t be going even if any of the others wanted. How some of the others weren’t affected by the magic on Fang wasn’t something he understood.
But he did understand that he wouldn’t leave Énna or Julian alone, nor would he make them get up and wander around for the sake of finding flags. Atticus was exhausted. He could understand the excitement of being in a new place, but he just wanted to sit and rest. He didn't fault the others for being excited, though!
“I’m feeling pretty tired, so I’ll stay here with Énna and Julian if you want to go explore,” Atticus suggested to Amarynthos, giving him a hug in return. And a kiss on the cheek. “Just stay safe, please,” was all he requested. Despite people probably thinking he and Elliot were joined at the hip, he happened to think they had a very healthy relationship and were able to do their own things comfortably without having to worry the other.
He made himself comfortable next to Énna and offered him another grateful smile. He didn’t get into Julian’s business, but he was happy to see him picking at some of the food.
This wasn’t the best time to meet anyone new, but he couldn’t say he regretted getting together after something so stressful. Hopefully they would all learn how to relax and rely on each other more in the future.
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