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 Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 8:31 pm
Quote: The Lantern Festival (7) : Scientists have been hard at work trying to understand the strange, glowing qualities of the luminescent caterpillars found in the caves by the reservoir. The caterpillars still shrivel up if they are taken out of the caves but their glowing secretions have been processed into an organic paste that can withstand the outside world. The city is selling paper lanterns infused with various seeds. The glow paste is full of minerals to support healthy plant growth without risking damage to the environment; all lantern purchases come with a small packet of activating power that will heat the paste up enough to mimic the effects of a candle without the concerns of flammability. When the glow paste loses its heat, the lantern will return to the Earth and upon the first rain (or any contact with water) the paper will dissolve and the seeds may begin to grow. All proceeds from the lanterns are put right back into the community to support local conservation and environmental protection efforts.
On top of that, Murikabushi needed to observe the civilians. He paused several times as he moved through some trees and bushes that stood nearby the path where people were hanging up their lanterns. Nobody seemed to show any signs of energy-draining. Definitely no cases of starseeding tonight either, sinceâŠâŠwell, that wouldâve been a lot more obvious. Somebody collapsed like that, not moving and probably barely breathing? Unless they were extremely well hidden, a sight like that really wouldâve ******** up the atmosphere present in the lantern festival tonight. Instead, everybody seemed reasonably calm, peaceful. Kids smiled while their attached adults hoisted them up to hang a lantern. Young couples made starry eyes at each other.
Maybe Murikabushi had gotten lucky tonight, same as heâd gotten in finding the little rainbow-colored star charm? Maybe whoever had the Chaos aura around here just wanted to enjoy the lantern festival like everybody else.
When Murikabushi finally traced the aura to where he felt it most clearly, he realized immediately why it had felt so difficult to place. It also seemed, to him, that he was right about the person attached to said aura only wanting to enjoy the lantern festival. There, atop one of the picnic tables, sat a familiar, longhaired cat, mixed black and white with a green star on her forehead that very nearly matched her eyes. Soyala-hime, the Mauvian whoâd found his starseed and helped take him to the Black Mirror. Sitting there by herself, whichâŠâŠdidnât feel entirely out of the norm. Murikabushi didnât know what Soya-hime had going on for her outside their very occasional run-ins, but it often seemed like he found her sitting by herself somewhere.
Purified or not, Murikabushi didnât like thinking about Soya being lonely in that way.
Softened up before even speaking to her, Murikabushi took a moment to dig around in his subspace. He didnât need to have a gift when finding her; he knew that. But it happened that heâd found something the other week, up on his home-world with Yuki, and heâd kept it in his subspace because it had made him think of Soyala. For a moment, Murikabushi looked down at the little necklace in his hands: a choker made of thick, black silk ribbonâprobably the right size for Soya when she was in her human formâwith a cameo pendant. Although he didnât know what the pendant had meant to its original owner, it had been lovingly carved from a layered gemstone, vividly violet in the background with the relief, the unsatisfied ouroboros symbol on his brooch with a rose blossom in the center, done in black.
Carefully cupping his hands around the necklace, Murikabushi made his way over to Soya-himeâs picnic table.
âHey, himesama,â he said gently, fondly (because, purified or not, Murikabushi would never not be fond of Soyala, could never forget how good sheâd been to him and the way sheâd come to check on him after his first Star Festival as a newly awakened senshi, when heâd burned himself out on that and Pride bookings, and needed a weeklong nap). Taking a seat on the bench, thus putting himself more level with Soya, Muri kept his cupped hands visible and gave her a smile. âDidnât anybody ever warn you about sitting by yourself where strange senshi might find you and kidnap you to space or something?â
It was affectionate teasing, nothing more, and everything about Murikabushiâs tone conveyed the truth: he would have taken Soyala to his world, any time, whether she was with Chaos or not, but only if she wanted to go. Kidnapping her wouldâve been a poor way to repay all the kindness and guidance sheâd shown him before.
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Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2025 6:21 pm
Perhaps it made sense, to simply enjoy basking in the sounds of human joy and celebration. Soyala would not say she felt particularly longing, but it did feel good to hear such a lively celebration, and to know that perhaps she had some small part in seeing it happen.
A very small one, of course; she had been but one Mauvian at the battle, and hadn't even contributed as much as some who had helped Senshi Awaken new power. But she had witnessed the Calamitous Hollow's fall, and now got to witness the world continuing to turn in its wake.
And knowing that things could have ended had left her with...a change in perspective. Cuan and Lucien had both offered her new thoughts, and she had spent much time turning things over herself.
She had regrets. And she was so, so lonely. And the most alive and engaged she had felt in....such a long time was when she was helping build those little satellites. Helping put something good and beneficial into the world, instead of things that might hurt it.
She had helped save the planet once, now. She was no longer sure that was what the Negaverse was doing.
She was drawn out of her thoughts by a familiar voice, and honestly, it was someone she had hoped to see.
"Murikabushi!" Her voice was bright and pleased, and he looked so....so....
Oh.
"You've been doing well for yourself since leaving the Mirror, I see," she said, and there was something in her voice that was both pride and sorrow.
She would have liked to be the one to give him his Eternal wing-bows. Alas.
"I don't think I fear such things," she said, and she placed her paw in his cupped hands, on the pretty cameo choker he carried. "What's this? Such a lovely thing."
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2025 8:07 pm
âI have been, yeah,â Murikabushi agreed, unable to help the small, sad around the edges smile he got from just being around Soyala again. Seeing her well (or so it seemed) but also wishing that the distance between them didnât exist. Who was she helping out these days? Maybe that shitty little blonde twink who clung to Albiteâs belt like he didnât want to leave his mom behind on the first day of kindergarten? (Then again, maybe not. Murikabushi struggled to imagine Albiteâs secretary being nearly as nasty if Soya-hime was helping him, plus their team had at least Tama on the Mauvian front.) âElsaâs been doing well, too. That, uhâŠâŠgarbage with the Calamitous Hollow notwithstanding.â
Better, though, not to think about that too much. The important part was not that Elsa had briefly died, but that he had come back. Murikabushi hadnât failed anybody whoâd briefly blinked out of existence that nightânot Tempesti and her sheer determination; not Mönch and her seemingly boundless enthusiasm (not to mention her sense of wordplay); not Tianyi, whoâd been so afraid but had come out to the battle anyway; and definitely not Elsaâbecause all of them whoâd died had come back. Better to focus on that. All of them had returned and gone home safely. Offhand, Murikabushi could only name one person whose status after the battle was any kind of messy and/or complicated, andâŠâŠwell.
Since when was that anything new and different for Faustite?
At the paw batting at his hands, though, Murikabushi had an easier time smiling without it being sad. âItâs something I found up on my homeworld,â he said. âIâve been hanging onto it. It made me think of you when I found it. I thought it looked likeâyâknow, something you might like?â It seemed very in keeping with Soyaâs elegant and refined tastes, or at least it did to Murikabushi. ââŠâŠItâs okay if you donât want to put it on, itâs better sized for your shape with thumbs and the energy signature might make people suspicious. ButâŠâŠI still wanted you to have it?â
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2025 2:49 pm
Soyala shook her head. "Terrible business, that. But I was able to help in my small way. I met a few of your Mauvians, too, and they seem...perhaps....more competent than I had previously given them credit for."
And kind, and patient with someone who was so very lost.
"It was a....fulfilling experience, helping."
She took a silent moment to let that hang, bending to take the lovely cameo from Murikabushi and tucking it into her subspace.
"As ever, you have such an eye for fine things," she said. "Thank you. I think it will suit me very well, yes."
Her ears flicked. She thought, for a long moment.
"....Murikabushi. You....how did you leave?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2025 4:39 pm
Murikabushi chuckled a bit at Soyalaâs admission, remembering what sheâd said that first night, when she and Elsa had found him crying in the alley by Scandals. âMy goodness, how negligent. Who let you wait so long? What are those Order cats doing?â Heâd carried that idea with him forâŠâŠlonger than was entirely fair. Until heâd felt sufficiently Over It with Mirrorspace itself and subsequently willing to tolerate even the most ridiculous s**t that Mr. Sparkles the Death Dealer had felt like doling out while kicking him in the head for trying to get help.
âA lot of them have their moments, yeah. Being fair, theyâre all individuals, so thereâs some variance? Not all of them are quite so helpful, butâŠâŠâ Murikabushi shrugged. âI mean, I treat one of our Mauvians to snacks when I run into him? And his biggest contribution to most things seems to be snarking at people and telling them to do their jobs betterâeven though he doesnât do much to help. So I guess I probably canât judge.â
Soyaâs more serious question, though, required a pause for consideration. There was a lot all bound up in the story and only some of it was likely to be relevant. But how much could he take out before it didnât feel like telling the truth anymore? Wasnât that always the important question with Murikabushi and trying to relay information to people? Combing his fingers through his bangs, he silently asked himself these questionsâand ultimately decided, as he so often did, to wing it.
âIt was kind of a whole production for me, actually,â he said, deliberately avoiding words like purification and purify. Regardless of how correct theyâd felt for getting the straitjacket of Mirror Chaos bullshit off his starseed, they still had such implications bound up in them, and it wouldâve been fair for Soya or anyone else to feel put off by that. âMirrorspace makes leaving all kinds of complicated. Like, even if I didnât understand that itâs the better and safer choice for some people, and where they can really be their truest, happiest selves? I donât think I could blame them for staying because having to go on a whole personal quest to find the copy of your starseed that Mirrorspace keeps on file, then fight a Mirror-copy of yourself to get it back? It was sooooo much. The fake b***h copy of me was decked out all like a princess senshi, going on about how Iâm weak and silly and nothing without Mirrorspace, but if I stay, itâll make me a Royal like Remarque.
âYâknow, which is, for me, on one hand, an admittedly very tempting proposition? Sue me, a b***h loves his mahou shoujo stories, so unlocking a special, extra sparkly power level that lets you help people better and comes with a cool new fit? Iâd be so there if it were ever in the cards for me.â Which it obviously wasnât, duh. Princess status was for badasses like Ida, Cybele, Lysithea, Remarque, and Ganymede, not screaming, overly dramatic disaster areas like Murikabushi. If he had to pick anybody else Order-side for the glow-up, his money was easily on Kerberos. âBut on the other hand, itâs like âYeah, but why do I want to do Remarqueâs job? Remarque already does Remarqueâs job, he does it way better than I could, and excuse me, you may have noticed, Iâm not Remarque. If he really needs the help, I can think of at least three other Mirror senshi whoâd be so much better than I would as his co-Royalsââthough one of them was Elsa and look how that turned out, right?â
Hybris and Acubens-oneesan, though? Yeah, Muri stood by telling Mirrorspace to make them into co-Royals with Remarque. Extremely not the point right now, and maybe Hybris wouldâve regretted the power as soon as he realized that he did have an obligation to the rest of the Court to use it for their greater good. But of all the handful of Mirror senshi Murikabushi had met, those two had seemed the best suited to the position of co-Royal with Remarque. If Hybris ever got the glow-up and needed somebody to cry on about being expected to do things with it, then Murikabushi knew damn well heâd be right there, indulgently patting Hybrisâs shoulder and telling him that Mirrorspace wouldnât have promoted him to Princess if it didnât believe in him.
Still, though, extremely not the point.
âLeaving the Negaverse is significantly less complicated, though,â Murikabushi said, trying to bring both himself and the conversation back to things that were actually helpful right now (he hoped). The Mauvians who aided the Dark Mirror Court were technically Negaverse Mauvians, justâŠâŠmaybe the Black Mirror didnât like Mauvians or something? Maybe Mirrorspace had cat allergies?
(Dimly, Murikabushi had to wonder if anyone had ever tried to corrupt a Mauvian into the Court, and if so, had the volunteer Mauvian just collided face-first with the Black Mirror, then bounced off? Or was this more of a nebulous, nefarious Negaverse means of keeping the Court effectively subjugated kinda thing on Queen Becky With The Green Hair and Metalliaâs collective part? Or was it really none of his business one way or the other?
âŠâŠâŠYeah, probably that third thing.)
âPeople leaving the Negaverse get to skip the whole exit interview with Mirrorspace and cut right to the part where an Order princess helps them out,â Murikabushi went on, bringing things on his side more to a close. âOr I guess Cosmos works too? She helped one of my friends leave the Negaverse, and helped another senshi I know purify out of the Court. I donât really know how to call her, though? All Iâve gotten told there is basically âwish on a star,â which is nice and all? But feels significantly less reliable than âI have Ida-himesamaâs number in my senshi phone, and if sheâs not available, itâd only take me ten, fifteen minutes to get some help from a Saturn Knight who could reach out to Cybele or Gany-himesama. And I think on of my senshi friends has Lysitheaâs number.ââ
He wanted to ask outright if Soya was thinking about purifying herself, butâŠâŠif she was, that was probably an overwhelming choice. Situation. Everything. Saying too much might have scared her off.
âYou know youâre not alone, right?â He held out the back of his hand for her, letting Soyala decide if she wanted the contact or not but ready to let her rub her face or body wherever. âI might be with Order now, butâŠâŠwhatever youâre feeling? And whatever you want to do? Iâll be here for you.â
And he would be. Order or Chaos didnât matter as much to him as Soyala being happy.
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