This was bad. This was very, very bad. Certainly Daedalus would have expected some attention, if he was thinking straight--which he was not, between the clinging press of Chaos and the way his lungs would not stop aching. The coughs would not stop coming, and while he was just barely catching his breath between, he still felt--dizzy. Weak.
That was not an ideal way to be feeling when there was an army of Negaverse officers descending upon them all. But there was nothing he could do except grip the doorframe and gasp, and look around, and feel his heart pick up in his chest.
So many of them, all coming--and a Chaotic aura that was so powerful it made his knees weak.
Whoever was here, they were incredibly dangerous, and Daedalus realized, hazily, that he and the others were in quite a lot of danger.
Of course the General had seen him, he was pretty damn conspicuous with his lavender tail coat and bright blue hair. Spei's eyebrows furrowed slightly as Chaldene followed close behind and joined him in the cover of the big HVAC unit. At least his friend had made it across safely, without getting skewered by one of the General's arrows. In the pandemonium that was swirling around here, that alone was a minor miracle.
"If you think your magic would work," the Moon Squire nodded. "I'm willing to try it if you are. The worst that could happen is we piss him off and we bail off the roof before he attacks us." Off the roof and right into the fray below – out of the frying pan, into the fire, probably. "I can put up something of a fight with my parkour moves, at least. If we need to. Subdue the guy and tie him up, yeah. Plus I can always knock him down or even off the roof with that spell of mine." Whatever it took to survive, Spei was prepared to do it.
To the General he called, "There are more of us than there are of you. I suggest you should be the one who's getting out of here, not us..."
Sleet Tempest Snape
go for it, Chaldene XD
Sara Draconia
bantering right back from behind cover XD
tatterpixie
Tipsy Codger
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Sara Draconia
Wheezing Loiterer
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2023 9:26 pm
General Chalcanthite Location: B1 (Rooftop) Action: Moving into a better position to flank
Chalcanthite felt two more order auras surround him as he stayed close to the HVAC. One was behind him and the other was over by the one he had been talking to. This was no ideal to say the least so he carefully moved to the other side of the HVAC to see if he could take a pot shot at either of the new arrivals.
Just as he was preparing to try shooting an arrow out from this terrible angle. Benitoite appeared behind him. He swore internally for a moment before nodding to the other General to try and get a better position towards their targets. “There are currently two Order signatures behind that HVAC over there and one behind us down on the ground. On the ground below the building over behind the HVAC there are at least three or four more order senshi and at least one other of our group. I unfortunately do not know more than that at this point in time. I was in the area when the signal came through.”
At that point he heard the other man who had called out before again. “I believe things are pretty even still, if not weighed in our favor at the moment.” With that he shot at what looked like the edging on one of their outfits, either a sash or corner of their coats. The goal was to distract or pin them so Benitoite could go in to incapacitate them further. “I can watch your back if you watch mine General.”
tatterpixie
shooting towards
Sleet Tempest Snape
shooting towards Chaldene motioning Beni to assist
It was in Faustite's good sense, while he waited, to make use of the two interloping individuals nearby for some quick youma to disrupt the enemy. When one of the less human-looking senshi (Terebellum) stepped in for them, he thought the opportunity looked far more promising — turn the two into youma and maybe the senshi would be so beside herself that she'd forget everything when he forced her into the Negaverse.He turned and gave her a smile that was mostly knives with a dash of you're irritating me with your existence.
When Mizuki spoke, he turned away from the creature and her two sentient decorations. He pointed at the top of the bank, at the Moon Squire (Spei), his Eternal Senshi friend (Chaldene), and some of the others. "Get rid of the enemies on the roof; they impede extraction for our injured officers."
Borax responded over the comms, and Faustite looked about until he saw a spot outside the bank that matched the description. He squinted at it, then blinked as he listened to the message. "Copy that. Bringing the team."
Once again, comms crackled with messages sent over all lines in the area. Faustite's initial response was to ignore the incoming requests for plans and focus on his own team, but it belatedly occurred to him that it was his responsibility to answer, now — that he didn't get to get away with blowing people off anymore. It was a disappointing realization, but Faustite huffed it away before responding to Roselite's request.
"Building's a loss. Anyone who isn't combat proficient: focus on extraction. Prioritize our officers; civilians are secondary. Anyone hale and combat proficient, protect the extraction team. See an opportunity to neutralize an enemy, take it. Once ours are rescued, exterminate any remaining White Moon."
When he looked back at the two youma-to-be and the one Negaverse senshi-to-be, his mouth pressed into a line. Standing with them, now, was Murikabushi, which rather interfered with his original plans for them. Wouldn't do to crack a couple starseeds in front of a boy who so cared about the sanctity of human life.
Well, ********. He'd have to fetch his own youma, now.
"Later," he hissed back to Murikabushi. For now he vanished.
In the next instant, he reappeared by Borax with a clear view of the bank, even if it was a worm's eye view. He curled a hand into the air wordlessly, pulling on his connection to a multitude of agents and senshi to deposit the remainder of his team there along with others he knew. They needed a force, and he could now mobilize a force at an astonishingly cheap price for his energy. He smiled, feeling delighted for it.
But that smile was quickly quashed in the interest of seeming mildly competent, and he turned to those summoned with a few choice words. "Bank's a mess. Need our injured removed from the building before it falls. Some of you will constitute an extraction team — best we use anyone who can teleport others. The rest of you, engage the enemy. Kill them, make them into youma, do whatever you can that they should never take action against us again.
"If orders are clear, go. Stay in contact. Youma come next."
Quote:
If you have characters to pop into the fray and haven't made an entrance for them yet, feel free to use the summon to yeet them in! If your character is a part of Faustite's team and you would like to relocate them to A5, also feel free to use the summon! But if you would like for them to stay put, assume Faustite saw them here and elected not to summon them heart
Faustite has also given orders if your characters need them! They're generic and meant to fit into the flow of the RP OOCly, so please let me know if something does not work for you!
noir songbird
summons
shiningamisgirl
iirc you wanted a summon for cryolite!
seiana_zi
response to borax!
a-disgruntled-dragon
orders for mizu! tere menacing!
amorremanet
a cute boy appeared
kolina
if you need a summon for helio!
whimsical blue
if you need a summon for fafs!
Strickenized
Garbage Cat
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Strickenized
Garbage Cat
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 12:39 am
Negaverse Super Niter Action: Moving from C2 to C1, trying to find injured NPC officers
Oh, Aqua was here! Niter almost felt relieved, until he remembered that Aqua took some getting used to. Sure enough, when he started to talk? He sounded about ready to snap someone in half. And since Niter had enough of a sense of self-preservation to not want to be snapped in half, he nodded immediately to the orders. "Okay," he agreed. For as mad as he sounded, his orders seemed pretty reasonable.
Then there were the orders coming in over his tablet, and Niter didn't recognize the voice, but they sounded roughly in agreement. That was fine; Niter could go along with what Aqua asked.
Niter was partial to avoiding conflict at all costs, so dashing into a gently burning and possibly collapsing building seemed a lot safer than trying to fight the people on the outside. There were senshi all over the place, though, and knights too — some were fighting on the roof, which seemed extra dangerous, and others were fighting around the building, and others still were picking up credit cards like vultures. Niter cringed inwardly. He was just… Not going to reflect on that right now.
Instead, he made for the big hole in the wall of the building. His magic could be good for just getting people out, even if he couldn't really teleport them anywhere, so he waited for a moment when he could dash inside without attracting too much notice from the nearby White Moon folks.
Once he was inside, though, it was super hot and there was enough smoke around that it stung his eyes and throat. It was going to take him a minute to find the injured and use his magic to take them to safety.
sunshine alouette
following orders!
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 2:28 am
DARK MIRROR BASIC LETE Location: B5 Action: *popcorn.gif* (also wondering if she can get away with unleashing a mirror-wraith)
“Go patrol somewhere different tonight, somewhere unexpected, somewhere you don’t normally go to look for energy-sheep,” Lete had said to herself.
“It’ll be FUN,” she’d said.
Mostly, this adventure to a different side of town than normal had wound up yielding nothing but boredom and a nagging sense of guilt. The latter thing, Lete absolutely did not want to think about nor deal with, not under any circumstances……mostly because the sense of guilt was about Meemaw, and about Leandro working so hard to take care of her, and about how little time he’d taken for himself lately. The sinking feeling in Lete’s chest as she wandered around this park she didn’t know very well—it told her that she’d have to go over to Leandro’s sometime soon, and like, volunteer to help him with Meemaw for the day.
Or maybe it wouldn’t be his day with her and Gabi could take him out on a Best Cousins Treat Yo’self Day. Like, hit the mall, and his favorite spa, get him all of his favorite skin masks and things…… Yeah, that sounded like a great idea to do with Leandro.
Not that it made this patrol any more interesting.
The massive flare-up of Other People’s Energy signatures sure was interesting, at least……and oh hey, when Lete followed them to the source, she found that yes! Indeed, interesting things WERE occurring.… Some big building over elsewhere was kinda on fire or something? The guy with the super-powerful Negaverse aura was saying things? People were fighting……?
And there, over about kitty-corner from the side of the pond where Lete was, stood Murikabushi. She didn’t want to go over to him, not even remotely. Two big reasons why not: one, he was her reliable ride to Mirrorspace and Lete didn’t want to ******** that up for herself by getting sassy with him about how stupid it was to throw himself in harm’s way like this; and two…………eh? If Muri wanted to throw himself into danger like this, then that was his own business, but the whole idea seemed pretty blatantly stupid, if you asked Lete.
Instead of getting anywhere near the fighting, she found herself a nice rock by the lakeside and plopped herself down. One good idea she’d gotten from Murikabushi: keeping snacks in her subspace. Reaching in, she pulled out a bag of white cheddar popcorn, then kicked back to watch the show.
……Could she unleash a wraith into all this nonsense? There were a LOT of people here, and they all had a LOT of energy to spare. Sure, there were risks, but……hmmm. Lete munched on a handful of popcorn. She’d have to think about that idea.
lizbot
one dark mirror sibling for hybris to chill with!
Seiana_ZI
and if meleph wants to come, she’s welcome, but feel free to ignore! heart
dms Hybris Location: B5 Action: being a gossip next to Lete
"So like," Hybris began slowly, peeking around the boulder like a luxuriant rock chuck, "...is there anyone you hate mixed in there?" He liked to know who to cheer for.
amorremanet
hiiii
Seiana_ZI
mayyyybe
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 6:25 am
Ephesus, Knight of the Moon Location: C3 Action: Trying to be brave. Has Negaverse deterrent in the form of a large tiger prowling the area.
Ephesus wasn’t freaking out. He was just overwhelmed, but could anyone really not be overwhelmed when such a dark aura of Chaos had descended around them?
He wanted to stay close to Alastor and Sessrumnir, not just for their familiarity, but because he knew they would keep the rest of them safe.
To the best of their abilities.
Which was why, as a Knight, Ephesus was doing his best to blink away the tears in his eyes and stand up straight and hold tightly to the flowering honey dipper staff instead of making it obvious that he was emotionally close to any of the others around him.
It was safer, that way.
He knew he wasn’t accidentally channeling his magic, but the bauble of water he wore around his neck glowed regardless and a spectral tiger seemed to appear from nothing. He looked from Amarynthos to Alastor and Sessrumnir with surprise, and reached out to give the tiger a gentle pet -- but there was nothing for him to touch. It seemed like it was just a projection of the tiger’s image. Maybe because he wasn’t using his magic?
That was okay. He was grateful for her company when surrounded by Chaos.
“She’s mine,” he quickly reassured the others near him, offering a smile specifically to Dering, Cynthus, and Yvoire since they didn’t know him as well as Stirling and Amarynthos. Reims didn’t seem put off by what was going on (at least externally), but he got a small smile as well.
“Stay close,” he quietly requested as the spectral form of a large golden tiger protectively prowled between them and the closest Negaverse agents.
Ephesus' Summon
A golden tiger that shimmers with moonlight. When summoned, it will slash or bite with terrifying ferociousness. Players can choose for their characters to avoid damage, take temporary, or lasting damage at their discretion. Its roar drains hope from opponents for the duration of the channeled magic, with lasting effects up to the player. This tiger is a powerful protector and will do whatever necessary to guard its Knight and allies.
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Dering, Amarynthos, Alastor
Sunshine Alouette
Cynthus, Yvoire
Orangeish Sherbert
Stirling
Guine
Crew
Lonely Explorer
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Orangeish Sherbert
Lonely
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 9:35 am
Stirling Squire of Lysithea Location: C3 Action: Trying to figure things out and wondering why Effie has a tiger
s**t. s**t, s**t. Shitty shitty s**t.
Stirling knew that she should have just run off with Dering when they finished whatever mission they were supposed to be doing. Breaking into a bank. Whatever. But she had waited with the others, hadn’t wanted to upset Effie or leave Cynthus with her apparent arch enemy, even if the arch enemy was super sassy and not so bad.
Still…the next time she wanted to leave somewhere, she was going to. And now poor Dering was going to be in the middle of a madhouse and damnit. That was not what she wanted.
Reims had a good suggestion of watching Dering but…honestly? She was afraid to let him go. This whole time she had kept hold of his hand and the idea of leaving it now…but.
Damnit.
“Okay, just…be careful okay? He’s one of my best friends so if anything happens to him…I…I’ll eat you. That’s a promise, not a threat!” Carefully, she withdrew her hand from Derings, chewing her lip for a moment.
Okay…okay this. This was fine. This…
“...Effie…why do you have a tiger?”
No, no not the time, but…still. She was confused and the sight of the golden beast almost had the Squire’s eyes popping out of her skull. “I want a tiger…ah…oh! You! Bat kid, are you good at hitting things with that, can you work on keeping Dering and spiky croissant boy safe? I would really appreciate that, and ah…cute girl, you have a stick, can you do the same? Just…always have eyes out you know?”
She glanced at Mary and shrugged helplessly. “Thank goodness Effie’s dads are here but still…I don’t think we can count on being squished together for all of this, so…I’ll stay close to the front and can use my magic if anyone gets too close. What do you want to do?”
Lete shook her head and patted the rock she’d sat upon, inviting the other Mirror senshi to come sit. She didn’t know him and hadn’t noticed him back there, but hey, he was a Mirror senshi with an actual brain (unlike the one currently waving money at teenagers and making big sad goo-goo eyes at the Negaverse hotshot with the fire in his chest). That made this new guy Friend.
“I barely know anybody out here,” Lete explained. Pointing over at Murikabushi, the alien-looking White Moon senshi nearby him (Terebellum), and the distinctly non-magical teenagers, she said, “I know that guy—the tall one in the skirts? You can tell by the overlay and aura that he’s one of ours, but he’s, like, a weirdo or something. Like, he’ll give first-level senshi rides to Mirrorspace, and he’s game for making it kinda fun with music—nice singing voice, knows a lot of stuff—but he has this whole Thing about being a senshi responsibly or something? Not like ‘stay out of danger, don’t get on the bad sides of people who can beat you up, remedial self-preservation 101 for dummies’ kinda stuff either. More like that obnoxious line out of Spider-Man. ‘Blah blah great power, blah blah great responsibility.’”
Rolling her eyes, Lete shook her head at the memory of listening to Murikabushi choose to Be Like That. “It’s super-boring of him, but Mirrorspace keeps giving him prizes when we go, so I guess he must be good for something.”
But there were other, more interesting people around to Judge, weren’t there? “What do you think the deal is with that leggy skirt in the purple and red, though?” Lete hummed, pointing rather a ways off, closer to the bank, where aforementioned skirt-boy (Kaifeng) was getting stabbed by someone in a fancy cape (Larimar) and continuing to act like he was just having the best time. “Garden-variety masochist or completely crazy-town banana-pants, what do you think?”
Quote:
Lete and Hybris are a ways off, but they’re judging the folks in E2!
Helio had gotten the distress signal from Jada. Indecision hit him at the problem presented to him. On one hand, he wanted to assist his fellow team mates, on the others, he wasn’t sure if they would actually feel comfortable with his assistance. It was an easy decision being made complicated by his own anxieties and insecurities. Any other time he wouldn’t have thought twice, his a** would have teleported at the mere sight of a distress signal and ******** whatever the situation was cause it didn’t matter.
He took a deep breath through his nose before letting it out slowly.
The summons grabbed hold of him and pulled. He quickly found himself slightly disoriented, facing a burning building, and Faustite’s voice barking out commands in his typical smooth, efficient way.
Well ******** barely looked to Faustite and the others before taking the orders and moving to comply. Extrication for him was limited with his rank. He’d get who he could but would be best off protecting for now. So, he hurried off in the direction of the burning building. He was keenly aware that this extraction would need to be quick. It wouldn’t take long for local authorities to arrive on sight with smoke billowing into the air like that.
As he hurried towards the entrance, his eyes caught sight of a lone page. He was too close to the entrance for Helio’s liking and could become a hindrance as agents were removed. Whatever the purple donned order member had in mind, Helio set out to ruin it.
“Cascade!”
b]Sailor Scout Attack: Cascade Visual: An opaque wall of hot water shoots up around the target before cascading inward and slamming down on the target. Duration: Immediate effect lasts 25 secs Effects: The pressure of water is great enough to make it difficult to move away and could knock the target off their feet. It can cause the sensation of bruising, first-degree burns, or drowning with lasting damage at players' discretion. Area of Effect/Range: Anywhere from Heliodor to up to 8 feet away from him. Can be used 3x per battle. Preparation/Incantation: Snapping his fingers, a ring of small golden spheres appear around the feet of the target just before the wall of water shoots upwards.
Strickenized
Thanks for the summons! Helio staying far away, sorry!
Fiction1119
Oh hi!
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 12:02 pm
Amarynthos, Knight of the Moon Location: C3 Action: Ready to move/wants to head out down by the pond; agreeing with everyone, just wants to safely evacuate
Amarynthos seemed to understand the gravity of the situation when Sessrumnir put his hand on his shoulder. He’d expected them to stay together; they’d trained, they’d practiced. They’d been in some battles. It wasn’t really anything like this. He didn’t want to be left alone now, just in case.
But he understood that Sessrumnir and Alastor had more experience, and they might have had somewhere else that they needed to be.
So, he was ready. He and Ephesus and Stirling had the most experience; they would do their best to look after the pages they were with. The important thing was getting out of here in one piece–especially because the Negaverse energy signatures kept coming.
And, more than that, there were some energy signatures he didn’t want to mess with. The Chaos was sickening; if their job at the bank was done, it was definitely time to get out of here.
Sessrumnir said they needed to get away from the building, and Stirling was ready to get a move on.
“Okay, good idea. You go first, clear the path. It looks pretty open if we just keep heading straight towards the water, so that’ll probably be the safest.” There were some girls over there, and a Senshi and–well, someone else, nearby but if they stayed close to the pond then they only had one side to worry about. Unless one of the Negaverse agents was interested in swimming over to get them.
He still thought they should stick together as much as possible; when he was a page, he hadn’t been able to do much, and he didn’t want anyone around him to wind up in danger because they didn’t have enough magic or a good enough weapon to deal with agents who wanted them dead.
“We’re not going to die, Cynthus. We just have to be smart about this.”
He looked at Effie for a second, and he really wanted to stay by his side, but he was trying to be practical, too. “Effie, are you okay taking that side and I’ll take this one?”
They could go on either side of the pages and at least be some sort of defense.
He didn’t rely on his summons, but he glanced at Alastor and Sessrumnir. “Are you coming with us? If you can keep an eye on our backs while we move, I know you can summon magic faster than someone can get to us. But I don’t want to distract you if you need to be somewhere else.”
There were a lot of people fighting, and he knew they knew people in there. He also knew that both of them would probably drop everything to get them out of there so he didn’t know what was reasonable to ask.
Alastor, Eternal Senshi of Despair Location: C3 Action: Wants the teenagers to head away from the bank, ready to watch their back while they move
“Go,” said Alastor; he nodded at Amarynthos because he knew they didn’t have a lot of time to debate plans. The faster they got out of here the better.
He didn’t like the sight of fire, not when it was a beacon in itself. The Negaverse was here now, trying to pick up what scraps they could before they lost everything. He knew enough about Earth to know it was only a matter of time before the police got there, and firefighters, and whoever else wanted to gawk at rampant destruction.
The faster they got out of the vicinity, the faster they could secure safety.
The plan had been to stop the Negaverse’s plans here. He couldn’t imagine they’d be able to go on given the rampant destruction that had gone on here.
If they had one weapon hidden, who knew how many more they had lying around?
“We’ll have your back, don’t worry about what’s going on behind you, just move.”
Before someone in the Negaverse noticed them.
He caught Sessrumnir’s eye for a second, because there was a chance for him to protest, but he suspected with that aura nearby that he would want everyone out of the area.
An agent could teleport, so distance didn’t matter unless you were far enough away to be out of their radar, too.
Dering, Page of Lysithea Location: C3 Action: Moving next to Reims, ready to leave
It seemed like they had a plan–which was good, because Dering did not, and this was way out of his comfort level. He’d been standing close to Stirling when the destruction unfolded. When they’d agreed to help, he expected a little difficulty-not a full on battlefield.
He was ready to leave. Wanted to leave. Even the reassurances of the more experienced Knights wasn’t enough to quell the concern he had, and he felt like the chaotic auras everywhere were suffocating him. He wasn’t ready for any of this.
When Stirling volunteered to go first, he instinctively moved closer to Reims like they’d suggested. He wanted to say he didn’t need anyone to keep an eye on him, but actually–yeah, that sounded really nice. He didn’t want to be doing this all on his own.
He still didn’t know how to fight, and he didn’t exactly have a weapon that could do anything. If he tried to hit someone with it, he was sure it would snap. He didn’t even know how fast he could run like this.
He just knew the Negaverse was dangerous and they’d done what they were supposed to do–now, he wanted to be out of here. The Chaos was so thick it was dizzying.
Sunshine Alouettex
Cynthus, Yvoire
Guinex
Sessrumnir, Reims, Ephesus
Orangeish Sherbertx
Stirling
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Crew
Dragonslaying Dragon
Online
lizbot
No Faun
Offline
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 12:38 pm
dDMS Hybris Location: B5 Action: being a gossip next to Lete
Settling in next to Lete, his gaze followed her finger to first a very tall Dark Mirror with great shoulders. The conclusion he came to was ultimately: a good person to ask for favors from and someone to avoid if he was making a responsibility face. Squinting into the distance, Hybris tried to get a clear idea of the face he was making right now, as he assumed that was it.
Lenka also had an undeniable heroic streak that was extremely cute and fun, for her. It was the sort of habit he treated like a communicable disease or certain shades of yellow.
"There's a mirror a block away from here. He should just put one under each arm and toss them in it." Shoulders shoulders shoulders.
Hybris took in the purple go-go boots and the mid-stab fan slap, and idly decided, "Drugs. The good guys get the good drugs." And then there was a maid. "And free housecleaning."
xamorremanet
yum_tea
xSeiana_ZI
yum_tea
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 12:55 pm
Squire Amsvartnir of Cosmos A1 He still felt completely freaked out over killing a guy, and then more Negaverse Agents began to appear. Everything felt like it was closing in on him and he couldn't move, paralyzed by all the overwhelming emotion.
Well, it looked like it was time for a fight, then. He rolled up his sleeves, eyeing the situation. Who would he best take out first? Or maybe he should watch the new Page of Saturn over here, he seemed pretty new... and there was a General right by him! Sure, there was another Senshi around, but... better safe than sorry.
"Moor Hunt!" he shouted.
lizbotx
Daekiex
amorremanetx
Quote:
A deafening silence settles over everyone within a ten foot radius. Shortly after the silence falls, two deep barks echo through the area, and suddenly every enemy within the radius feels like they are being watched by a large, dangerous creature. The silence can be disorienting; no matter how loud anything is, while the magic is in effect they cannot hear anything but the barks—and maybe the sound of something heavy breathing just behind them. Or worse, breathing on the back of their neck. Paranoia, anxiety and intense fear for the invisible threat are prominent for the duration of the magic, and may persist for longer if the player desires. This attack affects all enemies within fifteen feet and lasts for thirty seconds; it can be used twice per battle
Fang wanted to fight. The appearance of all these Negaverse Agents made his hackles raise and he widened his stance, eyes burning with rage at any Chaos person he could see.
It was taking him a moment to get his bearings and make a decision, but he was ready. His wisp showed up for a moment, curious about the reason for his power up this time, but he shushed it gently and sent it away.
Lete hmmm’d, considering Hybris’s suggestion. Undeniably, Murikabushi had the shoulders to pull off something like that, and the build like he worked out regularly, and the enhanced senshi strength on top of it. Truly, Hybris had the right idea about how to solve problems, if you did indeed feel they were problems.
“I think he has some kind of……morality or ethics boner going on? About letting people make their own choices or personal autonomy or something?” Lete shrugged; whatever Muri’s Whole Deal was, it was totally not her job or her pay grade. What did she look like, his therapist? “Talking to him one-on-one, he can get on about how, like, this ancient philosopher guy says that evil has to exist in the universe or else good doesn’t mean anything because there’s no choice involved? Or how some different ancient philosopher guy says that if someone doesn’t choose to better themselves—whatever that’s supposed to mean—then it doesn’t really make a difference in their life? And he talks a lot about consent, which is fine and all, but it’s also like ‘Ugh, yeah, I also went to that orientation week presentation, you can calm down now.’”
Honestly, for as much as Muri seemed to love Taylor Swift—or at least as much as he seemed to love her most recent album and in particular that “Anti-Hero” song with the video that got her yelled at by people on the Internet trying to make themselves the Main Character of everything—he could’ve stood to listen to her about “You Need To Calm Down.”
Hybris’s guess about the purple skirt guy’s deal got Lete to laugh (and it was more concern with appearances than concern with self-preservation that made her cover her mouth and try to quiet down a little). “I’d say ‘Maybe we should ask them who their dealer is,’” she told him, “but some of those White Moon jerks are sooooo aggro. It’s ridiculous. You can be minding your own damn business in the park, letting a Mirrorwraith have fun and collect some energy—which is, y’know, kind of our job—and they’ll come over out of nowhere to harass you. As if the people won’t recharge that energy with a nap and some coffee, right?”
Not that anybody was really close enough to hear them, but Lete did a quick check anyway before admitting, “Y’know, I have been thinking about setting a wraith loose out here, but like…? Look at all the people running around, right? And some of them are clearly stab-happy. If somebody sees the wraith once it drains some energy and attacks it? What if it gets hurt? What if we get hurt because we have to go protect it?”
