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Erytheia, Knight of Cosmos
Action: Erytheia is back.

Erytheia appeared back on the ground in Almadel’s museum.

He had missed everything.

But he had gained everything.

He knew Tama was alive.

The knight saw him with his own eyes.

And saw what he did not want to see.

Because the cat, too, was staring at him.

With eyes that were blank.

With sight that did not know what it saw.

With gaze that held no recognition.

With light that was dark.

With view that was obstructed.

With care that was not.

With vision that could see, yet not know the significance of what was seen.

With eyes that viewed no past.

Or present.

Or future.

For the memory was gone.

It was truly gone.

And what is truly gone can never return.

At least —

Not the way it came.

And, yet, still they looked on for some unknown reason, they looked!

Could it be that… the Mauvian no longer knew him… at all?

✪

Tama, Guardian Cat
Action: …

“No. I have never met him in my lifetime. What is his name?”


☆

Tama, Guardian Cat
Action: Tama is making a connection… but not to who Erytheia is. But who he is related to.

“Erytheia?”

Tama looked good and hard and fair at the knight.

But he did not know him.

Not him, anyway.

But, out of subspace, he pulled a crystal that he had pocketed at the beginning of their mission.

“I know no one by that name.”

In that, Tama was being true.

He knew no one of that name.

But he bore a striking resemblance to ‘a man named Yuki’ — the man he saw when he first touched that star-shaped crystal.

And that — that he held in his heart. For later.


☆

Deep Space Eternal Selinur
Action: Remember me Almdel? I'm here to...help?

"Of course, now if only you'd be so good to me." Trailing off as he spoke, this was not the first time he'd dropped hints to Almadel, he'd done it before, and he would continue to do so. Taking the offered broom he nodded his head once to the others words. "Interesing...perhaps I can help with those projects in some manner. I would be interested in what you have planned." As he wouldn't mind spending more time in space, other than visiting his world. It would be nice to see more of space...to let those who still lived in space know that he was still alive - that one of his people were still alive.

"If I wanted to come and visit you...do you have a way I can do it from time to time? I would like to see your collection here once things are fixed up." Already sweeping, having taken several steps away, as he spoke aloud for Almadel to hear. Selinur didn't care, for right now anyway, who heard what he was saying. "In fact, I wouldn't mind traveling with you if it were possible, or could become possible." He had grown up in space, Earth was not his home, and being back in space would please him greatly. He would, in time, free his planet from the chaos there. He did need to figure that out and perhaps some time in space would help him, Perhaps he could gain allies or tools which he could use.

Meissa, Corrupt Super of Bobcats
This had been all too weird. Meissa had lost track of Beatrix and the other senshi, Chrysocolla, in the melee after the hole in the wall had been made. Knowing that she had her own key to the apartment in which she shared with Morgan was tantamount to what she did next. Simply strolling up to this Almadel did she collect the card that he seemed to be offering to everyone before she flipped it over a few times, as if studying it for some hidden flaw. Only belatedly did Meissa suddenly remember the assignment that she had been given by Chrysocolla before the battle had started and she yanked out her tablet pen before silently acknowledging, more to herself, that the first assignment given out - she had already failed. The tablet winked back out of existence. She'd try to remember details later, right now she just wanted to go home. Remembering what had been said about how to leave did Meissa simply think about doing so before she vanished.

Space bug battles were so definitely not her forte.

(Meissa exit)



Irenaea - DMS Senshi of Widow Spiders
Last year, when Almadel had been courteous enough to trade those mysterious pods for that compact, Irenaea had thought the stranger to be rather charming. Now though, as she stood amongst the rubble of the battle that had just concluded did she feel as if the veil had been torn away from the guise that was Almadel. He had promised rewards yet none had been produced. People could have been seriously hurt and yet he was more worried about the museum. He seemed grateful enough for the assistance rendered but he also seemed more interested in putting things back to the way it was.

Something about that just rankled the woman. Her gaze scanned the interior of the room and even as she caught sight of Hela & Asuka did Irenaea simply snag her "reward" for a job well done before blinking out of sight. The whole battle had sapped her will to do anything else that could have been deemed productive. All she wanted to do was sleep, but something about the surge of anger just underneath the surface of her skin indicated that she would need to cool down first.

(Irenaea exit)


Irkalla - Squire of Cosmos

There wasn't anything that would make her want to even attempt taking a creature back to Earth. Whatever happened up here the Squire of Cosmos wanted to keep it to this location. The good ole space version of "what happened in Vegas, stays in Vegas" except for a space museum. She did however snag one of the cards that had been produced because whether he liked it or not, Almadel was now in debt to her and Irkalla would collect ... just not today.

[[ Irkalla exit ]]

“Selinur, so bold. As charming as your flirtations are, I’m sure you can understand why I have to reorganize my priorities.” Almadel did not seem frantic right now but he did not seem happy, either. Of course he wore his charming little smile and flitted about the room to pass out cleaning supplies and give instruction where he could but he couldn’t really afford to be thinking about company when there was a very obvious flaw in the structural integrity of a place that clearly meant a great deal to him.

“Maybe we can talk about such things later. You do have my card, we’ll make something special of it. But don’t waste it just to see me. I’m sure you’ll find me in town sooner or later. We can discuss the intricacies of my traveling. And some of my projects. Perhaps. I tend to keep them close to my chest until I’ve got a solid plan. Too many bad run ins with competition, you know how it is. Unfortunately, space travel isn’t as easy as I make it look. And I might be busy for a while.”

One more disheartened look around his collection and Almadel moved on. He couldn’t spend much time in any one location, lest anyone accuse him of not doing enough to clean up his own mess.

On the way, Almadel noticed the way Tama was looking at Erytheia, and vice versa. He didn’t know what the looks meant but he knew the Mauvian had asked for his card so he passed it over. There wasn’t anything to be said but he gave Tama a questioning look.

Whatever he thought he saw in the interaction he filed away for himself. Tama was in good hands–literally–and Almadel had enough to do that he didn’t need to loiter.

Even if he very much wanted to know what was going on.

He’d heard Byakko mention a mop and bucket but he passed another broom to her. “I’m sorry, the water’s been out. But if you’re interested, I’ve plenty of these to go around. The acid will need a special composition but I think I can handle it after I get the important things out of the way. Thank you for being so considerate. Kosopods actually live just about anywhere that can sustain them. I’m surprised you haven’t had to encounter them before, but–well, the universe is a very large place. And Kosopods are rather sensitive to the flow of things. Maybe they know something we don’t.”

He shrugged; he didn’t want to give them too much credit.

He passed Botein the last broom he’d carried out of the storage closet as he continued, this time focusing on Urania’s question. “No books that you could read, I’m afraid. And even if you could, after the last few days here, I’m not even sure where I could find it. I don’t think anyone’s ever really gone out of their way to care for a Kosopod. You know, the Vanguardians might have some tips, I know they’ve worked with them. But I’ll see if I can scrape up some information to send out to you in a bit to help, perhaps?”

He nodded to Magnus, “You as well. It might help you to know what you’re dealing with, of course. I’ll get right on that. I suppose…”

He sucked in a breath, held it, and then nodded firmly. “I can let you borrow some boxes to make sure they don’t melt their way out of it. I’ve got some spray that should keep them docile for long enough for you to get them somewhere safe. But you’ll need to be quick. I’ll get you a list of components that can keep them docile.”

He mentally added it to his list of things to do.

He nodded to Niflhel and smiled. “I appreciate your help. And those muscles. Yes, please. I’m not sure about any transportation trinkets. I’ll look into it later. But it would be dangerously irresponsible for me to open up my museum to anyone, any time. Imagine if that pass fell into the wrong hands!”

He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and shook his head. “There’s a lot to consider.”

Almadel picked up a few scattered pieces of something, because he wasn’t just asking for help and not putting his best efforts into it, too.

He heard Rainier as he moved and paused to examine the item she was holding. “It could be fixed, yes. But I don’t have the right pieces. I’ve tried. Of course, that was before the Kosopods. I’d have to look it over to see if there’s even a chance. Why, are you good with technology? Maybe we could talk about options some time. I’m always looking for mutually beneficial arrangements.”

Transcended Eternal Encke of Plasma
Action: Helping with cleaning and keeping an eye out for Chaos (soft exit!)

"Agreed. Glad we skipped that s**t. Suppose it'll be mostly fine here, now." Mostly. He wanted to see the chaos gone from here first before he believed it would be entirely fine, but Almadel was of course giving them favour cards as well. It would probably be a bit longer before chaos filtered out of there.

Hopefully soon. He wouldn't be leaving until they did, anyway.

"That's what it sounds like. Suppose it works like transporting home from any of our wonders," his brows knit, "and homeworlds," he digressed, "would. I'll meet you when I get back, though. Feel like I should stay and help out with this mess at least a little bit."

To be honest, he was mostly staying and helping out with the mess at least a little bit because his husband and his father(-in-law) were staying and helping a little bit. If they were both bugging (heh) out as well, he would also probably bow his head, claim an excuse, and leave, especially because that would mean the chaotic threat to Nectaris would have also cleared out. It was nothing personal. He did his best to help everyone with homeworld things, and he had dealt with a lot of disgusting things in homeworlds, but ...

Well, he felt like he was done with acid-bile spitting whatever kosopods qualified as back on Earth. The fact that Ibirapita suggested flipping them on their backs--and it actually worked--made them sound more like crabs or lobsters than bugs. Bugs were pretty good at right themselves, right?

... Had he ever actually seen a bug upside down?

Well, no.

He watched as Hy-Brasil vanished back to all of their shared abode, sighed deeply, and turned his attention to the mess that stared in front of them. Hy-Brasil was right. He would take being stuck in those horrible close quarters with the kosopods again versus whatever had caused this absolute mess...

Why was Abzu helping so enthusiastically?

Abzu, Squire of Neptune
Action: Fantasizing Cleaning a bit (soft exit!)

"So did Almadel just say we could use these to call him wherever, whenever, for whatever?" Abzu slid it between his fingers. Honestly, it had thoughts running through his brain. They were thoughts that he only kept to himself fully because he was in public company and Ibirapitá was leveling him a look he was convinced could melt lead if he wanted to. Whatever. If Ibirapitá understood the thoughts running through his brain without him even saying them...

Maybe he knew what he wanted to use this for already, in any case.

Sure, Almadel clearly had some bizarre way to get to his wonder already. There was a reason why he had managed to procure things from Abzu in the two times he had stopped by his stand during Star Fest--which had surprised him enough considering how deep underwater Abzu the Wonder seemed to be, but now considering where they were he wasn't surprised at all. Wouldn't it be interesting, though, if Abzu could intentionally invite him? Then he could intentionally invite him with flowers, some soft music, some mood lighting like the kind that Pendour had once suggested she would help him install even if she had no interest in what Abzu would want that mood lighting to lead to. It was a dreamy thought, and it was enough to let an absolutely above-the-cloud sigh escape his lips as he started to lift an object and move it with more strength than he might have expected to a different part of the nearly destroyed display.

Abzu did not notice the way his alien senshi friend was blinking at him, nor did he notice the way he smacked himself in the face and groaned quietly when he realized that Abzu was so lost in the clouds that he wasn't even paying attention to their conversation anymore.

Abzu, for his part, was too busy thinking about uses for the ticket which would be useful in only certain definitions of the word useful and only in certain dimmer lights beyond that.

Deep Space Sailor Ibirapitá of Shade
Action: Exit

Was Abzu even still there?

... No?

Ibirapitá shook his head and rolled his eyes. The ticket wasn't that big of a deal, really, or at least not such a big deal that Abzu needed to lose his entire head within the fantasy land of the ancients. If he did not know better, he would swear an incubus was controlling Abzu's thoughts at that moment, but it wasn't as if they were on his original homeworld where those myths were perpetuated.

Not that it mattered, in any case. There were no Ibirapitáns left beyond himself, and once he was finally allowed to pass through to the great beyond, there would be none of them at all.

He picked up an item and turned it over experimentally, trying to decipher what or when it was, who or why it came from. Something about it felt familiar and yet not familiar enough. Perhaps it was from a sibling world, or perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps it didn't matter. Perhaps Ibirapitá was slightly disappointed they hadn't defeated the kosopods and immediately launch into finding the general-sovereign to launch him at. An unfortunate end to what felt like a fortunate idea. They needed a better plan, better resources, and the ability to not piss off their (draconic, according to Abzu, he remembered) host.

Mm. Maybe this was from a sister world. Perhaps he would pocket it.

He heard Hy-Brasil speak of leaving, and it tempted him deeply, too. Tempted him so deeply that he took only a few moments more of attempting to help clean before he murmured, "I think I am going to join her. I will see thou all back at thy abode."

"Wait. Ibi." That was enough to finally snap Abzu out of it.

"What, Abzu," with that accursed name shortening he was finally, begrudgingly, starting to realize he was never going to escape so long as he lived on Earth.

"Don't do anything rash while you're there, alright? I'll send Zee after you if I have to."

"Your civilian parent."

"Yes."

"... If thou must." And Ibirapitá vanished to return home as well.