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 Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 9:34 pm
Mason blinked, tilting his head slowly. "Hold on. Back up a second. What was that bit about a world-eating snake?" For maybe the first time throughout the whole conversation, Mason did actually settle down and lose some of his anxious excitement, hazel eyes somber as he looked at her.
"Like, literally? Not like, in mythology, the ouro--oro--the snake that eats itself, or--that thing in Norse mythology that I can't remember the name of right now? You mean like. A literal snake that wanted to literally eat all of our literal earth and everyone on it. What?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2025 9:45 pm
"Ouroboros is the name you're looking for but you're thinking jormungandr with the norse mythology and end of the world. And yes. I do mean that. But that's not the name of this one. It's called the Calamitous Hollow, the Herald of the Dark Star." He really hadn't been told anything, had he? This was not going to be a fun conversation. Delicately putting the teacup down, Halia turned to face Mason fully, one leg tucking under her as she sat. "Do you remember the weird storms recently?" She gestured upwards, indicating what civilians would have seen as a strange lightning storm. "Those were a product of the Calamitous Hollow. In essence, it was an entity who's entire existence was simply to go from world to world, consuming the energy within. It was originally imprisoned, but it ended up breaking free. Back in February, some people from each faction had gotten transported to the prison, ended up with some of the means to retrap it, and went to work looking into it. Some of us ended up breaking into the Moon Palace, back in March, myself included, and learned more of it. We....collaborated with Chaos in the end, working together to save Earth and make as many preparations as we could. I.....entered a partnership of sorts with General King Faustite to share information between us that would be useful, as well. In the end, we all ended up standing together to fight it, back in April. It isn't dead, isn't gone, just....trapped. And from what we learned on the Moon, there are more of them. This one is simply the first, from what I've come to understand." She looked at him, letting him absorb what she said and waiting for the inevitable questions.
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Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 9:47 pm
Mason really, truly thought he'd hit his capacity for Weird. And then the Weird just kept getting Weirder.
"Oh," Mason said in a soft voice, also wise enough to have set the tea cup down - because he was sure he would've dropped it in pure surprise otherwise.
"Did...Moon Palace?" Mason finally settled on, because at least he knew those words (admittedly not together like that). "Wait, more of them? Did those...preparations...include building a giant invisible anti-earth-eating-snake shield around the whole world, like in that one Marvel movie?" Mason asked, his voice sounding feeble to his own ears. Somehow, he doubted it - and he doubted that even if they'd tried, any simple machine or structure would be able to keep out a determined world-eating-snake that wanted to get in.
"Also, what's a General King," Mason asked, a bit belatedly, because it sounded scary, but not nearly as scary as world-eating-snake.
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Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 10:03 pm
Did Mason not know about homeworlds either? "While knights are a little different, senshi have their own worlds they hail from. My name, Aruna, corresponds to an asteroid out near Jupiter, for example. Knights have Wonders, which are....similar but different. The are locations, not entire worlds. Knights are, generally speaking, in service to a senshi, if that makes sense. But yes, there is a palace. On the moon. Presumedly belonging to the last senshi tied to the moon, seeing as the Queen Serenity I met was a hologram..." She paused and made a face, realizing she was probably getting far too off topic to be helpful. "But yes. Moon Palace." She gave him a small smile before continuing. "As for the preparations, I... have no idea if we would be prepared for another attack to happen or not. It is no small miracle that all of us walked away alive that day...and that is a miracle I do not see happening again any time soon." She sighed and shook her head, banishing the dark thoughts that tried to cloud her mind. "Ah. General Kings are.... wait let me start over. The Negaverse operates on a fairly militaristic hierarchy. You have the same corresponding stages that we do, where corrupt senshi are the same and Agents are lieutenant, captain, and general. A General King, however, is the pinnacle of power for the Negaverse. They would be equal in power to one of our Royal senshi, like Ida or Cybele. It is a fourth stage of power that very few have attained, and General Kings are terrifyingly formidable." She paused a moment to let him absorb the information before continuing. "As far as Faustite is concerned, he is one of the more volatile General Kings to my knowledge, and he is half youma. No, I do not know how that happens, and no it does not look enjoyable. Having been in close proximity to him, it looks....painful, to be honest. At least in his case, though I suspect every instance is likely different. But... Faustite, while formidable and definitely not someone you would want to tangle with, is someone I could potentially respect. He protects his own and seems to care about those close to him, from what I am to understand." Once again, her hand moved to touch the scar on her left arm. "In December, there was....an incident. An SOS went out to Order, saying they had been cornered and were under attack by the negaverse and that Faustite was there. I was close by and came to lend my aid. I was....horrified. Those of our own faction had found out the identity of one of the people close to Faustite, kidnapped him, and planned to do....what i can only imagine to him. The attack was not unprovoked in the least, and I responded without knowing all of the information. Had I known, had i had any idea, I would have been doing my best to get the victim out of there. Chaos or no, they are still a person and I do not abide by things such as that. That being said, I did not have to see Faustite to know that he was there. I could feel his presence. And it was terrifying."
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Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2025 8:44 pm
In service to a Senshi? Mason frowned a little - just any old senshi? The first one they came across? Or did he have a specific senshi he was supposed to track down and swear fealty to or something?
Mason decided to table that question for the time being; it seemed like the sort of thing that would become evident sooner or later on its own time. He remained quiet as Halia explained about a queen of the moon, which had a palace, and then about the Negaverse and its General Kings, and how this one was...
"Half youma?" Mason echoed, plainly horrified. "How are you--" Mason cut himself off, closed his eyes and swallowed thickly. "You know what? Nope. I don't even want to know what weird stuff they're doing in the shadows to make someone half youma. God, no wonder we need to wipe these guys out, they're freaks." Mason shuddered and shook his head, making a 'blech' noise that was not exaggerated in the least.
"Seems like there were...other options there," Mason agreed, when he'd managed to block out all the images pertaining to a half youma half person in his head. "Like, way better to use that to blackmail them, right? Get the inside scoop? Torture isn't even a reliable method of information gathering, people will confess or tell you whatever you want to hear just to make the pain stop, and--" Mason paused, gave her a sheepish smile.
"Sorry. Mads watches a lot of documentaries, and that means I watch a lot of documentaries. Anyway...how do SOSes work? In case I need to send one out someday?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2025 10:12 pm
"I don't know the specifics or how it's done, but yes. Some agents can be partially youmafied. Such is the case of Faustite, as well as the agent who pulled my starseed. I...know very little about it, unfortunately, but I may know people who have more answers." The next words out of Mason's mouth made Halia visibly bristle, her eyes hardening in repulsion and fury. "No." Her tone was firm. "They don't need to be wiped out or anything of the sort. Two of the people very dear to me are former chaos and mirror senshi who purified." The scowl on her face was definitely a new expression, and her face felt hot with... Not quite anger, but displeasure at the least. "Some people may be forced to corrupt, and that is not their fault. Others do so willingly for various means and ends. A senshi I've met, Ako, did it to escape something painful and to start over, to escape the feeling of wanting to die. While I may not agree with their allegiance, I will not fault people who did not choose it or did so as a last resort. I know far too well what feeling trapped is like." Still. The idea of someone having wanted to "wipe out" Murikabushi or Kerberos? It made something in her heart scream. It wasn't Mason's fault, he didn't know, but the idea still made her angry.
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Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2025 7:05 am
Mason blinked in surprise, holding up his hands in mock surrender. "Woah, woah, I'm not talking about your friends," Mason said quickly, even as his brain was trying to wrap his mind around purification and corruption.
Then--
"Wait, wait," Mason said, "Ako? I met her," Mason said. "She seemed--like, fine, minus the whole..." he gestured vaguely at his own forehead and chest, indicating the cracks that Ako had there. "I tried to talk to her about her side's--y'know, like, motivations, but we didn't quite get that far, we got interrupted. But--like, even if it is for their own reasons, Hali, aren't they...aren't they the bad guys? Not--not your friends who came over to the light side or whatever it's called. But like...don't they want to do bad things to innocent people? Like, you know, the one who pulled your starseed?" Mason frowned, hopelessly lost.
"Y'know...I dunno, Halia. Lots of people feel trapped and don't...decide that they're a-okay with yanking out people's starseed or whatever. Most people don't get the option of just, writing over the bad parts of their lives. Isn't that kind of..." he hesitated, not wanting to say the word 'cowardly' out loud, aware he knew really next to nothing about the whole situation that seemed far more complicated than it seemed.
Mason shook his head. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. I'm glad your friends are on the right side now, and I'm sure they're great people. I didn't mean any slight against them, I promise. Can I show you my new look now?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2025 6:47 pm
"To quote a dear friend, in the cosmic sense of things yes, we are the good guys and they are the bad guys. However it's so much more complex than just good and bad, black and white. People are so much more complicated than that, Mason." She smiled tiredly, then went utterly still. "You met a Corrupt and didn't say anything?" She took a slow, deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. "Masonnnnn... You need to be careful. Despite not being a bad person, they still drain people's energy and work against us. Ako is..... From my experiences, Ako is one of the more kind, level headed ones and will answer questions if asked. But that doesn't mean we should trust her. And....as for my friends, I.... I'd like to introduce you to a few people, if that would be okay? A very dear friend of mine would be able to explain some of this far far better than I can." Right. He wanted to show her what he could do. She smiled and nodded. "Alright. Let's go on a walk then and power up nearby. Sound good? I can even teach you a bit maybe, if you'd be game?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2025 6:57 pm
Mason rolled his eyes, but good-naturedly. "I didn't give her my debit card PIN or anything, or make a blood oath or something. I don't trust her, I just met her, like, out in the world. Can't control who's hanging out in a public park, right?" Mason shrugged. He hadn't been hurt - and he hadn't had anything to do with energy. And it had just been a minute or two, anyway. "And I told you as soon as I could! I had a lot to tell you, we just got distracted with all this other stuff," Mason chuckled and shook his head.
"I'll meet whoever you want," he agreed easily as he stood, "and I'm game to be taught anything you can manage to impart. I'll be a good student! Or, you know, as good a student as an easily distracted, brand new Page of Earth can be."
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