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Sessrumnir had been wary of the Lunar Eclipse from the start. During his time in the city, it wasn’t unusual for one to grow suspicious of large events and astronomical phenomena. Sure enough, there had been something that happened the night of the eclipse, but what was even worse — the eclipse seemed to be happening again.

“What the hell…” he growled to himself, arms crossed as he stared up at the sky. He’d requested a meeting with both Pasiphae and Melchior at this spot, above the pizza place near where he and the eternal senshi had met. Pasiphae he was sure would meet him. Melchior, well… this was new to him, and part of the reason he wanted Pasiphae to meet the kid was so he could get another set of eyes watching out for him. He liked to think of it as spreading out the babysitting duties.

So far, he hadn’t seen any of those weird creatures, but according to the texts he got, they had indeed existed, and the only thing they seemed to do was touch people and leave with a sense of foreboding — at least for Sessrumnir.

Part of him wondered if he needed to be more careful about powering up and exerting himself. While he’d only needed a handful of stitches both on his side and head, it had only been a few days out of the hospital. And definitely not something he wanted Pasiphae to know, as she’s seen the inside of a hospital with him all too recently as well.

His goal, at the start of the evening, had been to meet up with Sessrumnir and his friend (girlfriend? Who even knew anymore,) on time. Melchior might have had his own issues with the knight, but… learning what was going on in this whole ‘senshi’ thing seemed to be important. Sess was a knight. Not a senshi. So maybe talking to someone lumped into this whole shitty boat of costume changes and sparkles would be helpful.

Honestly, this whole mess felt more like a terrible theatrical performance than the war Sessrumnir had told him it was.

Sessrumnir had told him they were meeting at some pizza place. Apparently, he and this girl had history there? Unimportant. But at least it would mean it was somewhere in the city, and he could bolt on an excuse if things got too ridiculous. Which he would probably do, about thirty minutes in, if it went south. He could always use Kor as an excuse… then actually drop by…

Yes, this was a brilliant plan.

So absorbed in his own world, Melchior did not notice the shadowy figure trailing him. His eyes were trained on the screen, mouth quirked in a little smirk as he figured out some clever line to shoot off at Kor. His thumb hovered over the send button, and just as he was about to fire off the message, the fist connected with his face.

Melchior reeled, hand flying to his face as he held his nose. And there was… a copy of him!? His lips drew back in a snarl, and the blood from his nose. No way. No way in hell was he dealing with this. He was powered up, all ready to fight, and…


“Sessrumnir!!! Sessrumnir, I didn’t sign up for this!!!” Melchior cried, hauling a** as quickly as he could. He wasn’t much of a built runner anyway- add in heels, and he was the god damn slut in every shitty horror movie. Fortunately, while the thing was intent in its pursuits, it didn’t have the sense to duck and weave like he’d been doing. Skidding around the corner, he sprinted past where Sessrumnir and the girl had met, probably looking like he’d *been* in a god damn horror movie. God, his nose was probably broken, and it was bleeding…! And he still didn’t know what that thing that looked like him was! He didn’t stop for long, however, as he quickly hopped to the next near rooftop, wondering how in the hell he was managing this.

Meanwhile, the creature that bore Melchior’s face did not fall far behind. It took it some time, but it seemed to catch up soon enough- hand caked in dried blood clearly not its own. At the sight of the other two individuals, it snarled, rushing forward in an attempt to get past them.

“Is this normal for you guys!?”

Pasiphae frowned at Sessrumnir's response. He knew as little as she... and even if somewhat rudely suggested, he had a point. She could go to the moon to see if everything was in proper order. Surely the hologram that had greeted them there, that had the ability to teleport them from the blood-soaked ambush could keep it safe... but the memory of the Surrounding made her swallow nervously. No, it would not hurt to double check--

The Eternal blinked and suddenly a blur of color was hobbling past as fast as it could while shrieking at her friend and being followed by... itself? It was like the contrast of Kansas and Oz--if the citizens of monochrome Kansas had somehow not inherited the colors of the rainbow and instead sought to harm their colorful counterparts. This must be the Senshi that her fellow Jovian had wanted her to meet. There was simply no time for introductions. What... what was that thing?

Whatever it was, it was not alone. There was a black-and-white version of herself coming her way... and one of Sessrumnir as well, currently holding up a dark stormglass. The Shade of Pasiphae had cringed when thinking it would be hit by the true version of said weapon... but now that the Squire was suitably still? She rushed right past and towards the Eternal Senshi.

Pasiphae bit her lip, torn between the two individuals that needed her help. Obviously, something was wrong with Sessrumnir... but he had said to watch over Galadriel. She did not even pause to consider that she did not know the other Senshi or that she should probably defend herself. She had been given direction, and she would do her best to accomplish said goal! The Shame Senshi turned towards the fleeing Senshi and called for a shield to form around him, "*Pasiphae Social Pariah!"

Energy expended, she ducked a loose punch from her Shade and kicked the legs out from under it. While it landed with an undignified 'oof,' she rushed over to try and tackle the black and white Squire. It was not a well-thought out plan, but it was all she could think to do.

*--Social Pariah - Defensive
A more powerful version of Shameful Isolation, Social Pariah allows the energy shield to exist for a longer period of time, anywhere from 30 seconds to 45 seconds depending on the amount and intensity of attacks absorbed. The energy shield can now activate around one ally; if Sailor Pasiphae chooses to do this, she cannot shield herself. Whoever Sailor Pasiphae shields will find their mobility restricted and unable to attack as long as the shield lasts.

In addition to shielding Sailor Pasiphae or one companion, whenever the weapon/her attacker comes into physical contact with her shield, it induces a deep sensation of shame which can actively affect the enemy for as long as the shield lasts.

NOTE: How each opponent experiences this shame differs based on their personality. For example, a proud warrior might feel shame at attacking a purely defensive opponent, whereas a chivalrous guy might feel shame for attacking a girl.

--Drawbacks -
Only works on 1 person
Only works for a limited amount of time
Reduces mobility, making it impossible to attack as long as the shield lasts
Can be broken by a powerful enough attack/multiple lesser attacks

Whatever Pasiphae’s plan of attack was, the shadow of Sessrumnir seemed ready and waiting. His storm glass was held up, capturing the real thing within the torrents of a storm, but his grin only grew as the Eternal senshi advanced.

The real Sessrumnir was suddenly released from the storm he was in, and spinning around it didn’t take long for him to see Pasiphae rushing towards the source. “Pasiphae, get back!” he yelled, rushing forward as well after a glance over his shoulder to make sure Melchior was okay. Good, he was inside one of Pasiphae’s shields…

The shadow didn’t seem too pleased with being distracted despite the dark grin, and jumped out of the way of Pasiphae's advance. It lunged for its target once more, storm glass swinging like a mace, ready to inflict some serious damage if it hit its target.

There wasn’t much for Sessrumnir to do besides duck out of the way and try not to get hit, but he also knew Pasiphae’s shield wouldn’t last forever. After dodging a vicious swing from the storm glass, he took off in the direction of the new senshi, hoping to duck out of the way of another strike from his own weapon just as he was passing the shadow giving Melchior trouble.

For as much irregular activity as the senshi and knights seemed to undertake, Melchior was gathering that this was particularly irregular for all of them. His calculated gaze returned to the shadow which had been stalking him, now seemingly recovering from its earlier doubts. It tensed back, muscles poised and ready to strike, and waited. This was some sort of shitty Mexican standoff, with the shield acting as their third member. As soon as this thing dropped- and judging by Pasiphae and Sessrumnir’s continued glances in his direction, Melchior assumed it was going to- he was going to have to make the first move. Just had to play the waiting game, and…

Melchior was in motion the second the shield dropped, not even aware that he had sprung so quickly. He ducked low and pressed forward just as the shadow lunge, narrowly avoiding contact with his other self. He would give the thing credit, it was certainly fast and dedicated to its cause of murdering him. It all just meant that Melchior was going to have to act quickly.

Whirling from his lowered position, Melchior turned his focus on the shade Sessrumnir. Change targets? He could do that.

“Melchior’s Gift of Pearls!” Summoning up his pearls, the small projectiles whirled across the battlefield towards their attempted target of the back of Shade Sessrumnir’s head. Even if they didn’t all hit, the b*****d might wind up tripping on a few, which would still be a pretty good distraction. He watched with baited breath for a few moments, hoping his strike would land true… only to recall that he had his own little demon to deal with.

He very narrowly sidestepped the thing again, and at this point turned to take off running. With a snarl, Shade Melchior took off after him, hopefully distracting the other two shades from their targets.

“Sess, it would be majorly appreciated if you took fake Galadriel out of the way here!” He called, suddenly doubling back and turning which way he was running. Melchior shot a look in Sess’s direction, offering him a s**t-eating grin.

“Seriously! Don’t deny you’ve wanted to beat the s**t out of me before- everyone does, at some point. Now I’m just giving you the opportunity to do it.”

Both of her male companions adopted to the strategy with a speed that surprised her - mostly because, despite Sessrumnir’s jest, she had never been a boss, never considered her own contributions all that much in comparison to those of others. Some of her surprise, however, came from the apparent willingness of the others to hit even a false version of each other. Pasiphae would fight, that had never been in doubt, but it at least discomforted her to do so against the face of a friend, no matter how monochrome.

The Eternal Senshi grabbed hold of the Shade Sessrumnir’s storm glass and pulled back as hard as she could, hoping to pull the other down. With her and Melchior double teaming the entity, she hoped that (1) she was doing a decent job of protecting her allies and (2) they would soon all three be able to tackle the other remaining shades. The sooner they could get past all the violence, the sooner she could more properly welcome the Senshi she had barely just met.

The shade of Pasiphae lingered in its position in the shadow… but there were too many obstacles now in the path of her target. Other Shades, and two other fighters and she couldn’t get in for a good shot. With a scowl, it flitted off into the night. There would be another time to seek her prey.