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 Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:35 am
Every time Alya went out on his own, he told himself that he was only going to go for a minute, just to make sure everything nearby was okay, and made sure to promise himself he wasn’t getting into trouble.
Sometime, a while ago, Alya realized he was just lying to himself, but he was still trying. He wasn’t the strongest of Senshi, or the smartest, and he’d had his fair share of bad run-ins to remind him that going out without backup was foolish.
But, he kept going out.
And tonight he was remembering just how foolish it was.
The youma had come out of nowhere; one second he was walking absentmindedly and the next a bear of a youma had pummeled into him, sending him flying through the air. The fight had been brief; Alya knew when he was outmatched. He’d tried his best, but if he stuck around for much longer he knew he was going to have injuries he couldn’t hide with careful layering and makeup.
He ran, instead.
There were other energy signatures in the area—strong ones.
He ran to the closest one he could, youma in hot pursuit. Two minutes of steady bolting and he realized he’d lost it. Or, at least, he couldn’t see it.
But he wasn’t going to let his guard down twice in one night; he wasn’t going to let it ambush him again. It was a ferocious monster and if anyone was going to destroy it, he’d need help.
Alternatively, maybe a Knight would act as a youma repellant.
Either way worked for him; he wasn’t sure where he was but he assumed it was one of the historic parts of town. The buildings looked like they were shut down and everything seemed dark. He hadn’t seen anyone since he came out—and then, there he was.
“Hey,” Alya greeted, trying to look like he hadn’t just been running at top speed. He was good at regulating his breath, but his face was flushed and his hair disheveled. Even as his lungs burned, he forced his breathing to remain even and cool. He waved to the man and tried to walk over, even if it was hard to move that slowly suddenly.
“You, uhm. Do you mind some company for a minute or two?” he asked; his voice was quieter than he’d wanted, but that was the price of keeping it steady. He jutted out a hand in introduction. “I’m Alya, Senshi of Apathy. You’re a Knight?” it was rhetorical; he gestured to the outfit with his outstretched hand before offering it again to shake. “That’s a nice getup. I love the red. And, you have really great legs. How do you do that—running?”
It was small talk, and possibly not the best way to introduce yourself, but he needed to buy as much time as he could to compose himself.
And make sure he wasn’t followed.
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 4:50 am
The sound of running feet and an approaching sense of senshi was definitely enough to get the Knight of Mars' attention, and get him searching the area for any trace of what had someone moving so fast. Had to give the guy props for improvisation though, and he grinned a little as the racing senshi came over, reaching up to pat him on the shoulder in what he realized afterward was probably an assumptive sense of camaraderie. "Sure go for it. I'd ask what was eating you..." He added, nodding at the other mans slightly disheveled condition. "But I'm guessing it's more 'what tried to'." He didn't catch anything that seemed like a greater youma or general sovereign, not off the cuff, but that didn't mean whatever was out there wasn't nasty. Youma tended not to come in 'cuddly' unless it was a trap. "I'm Kairatos... Knight of Mars." he added, taking the hand a second belatedly and giving it a firm shake. "And yeah I... run and jog. I like it better than the treadmill if I can do it." His tone turned a bit awkward at the reference to his legs, embarrassment really, and he made a dismissive brush at the uniform as the handshake ended, as though he could dust off some of the scars that crisscrossed the back of his otherwise powerful legs. "You sure you're alright? You don't seem particularly apathetic at the moment."
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 9:04 pm
Alya laughed with a bit more enthusiasm than he needed to but quickly moved to fix his hair and adjust his appearance to be a bit more respectable. “I’m fine. My sphere is apathy, but I feel plenty, thank you.”
If he had noticed the scars, he said nothing. Instead, Alya’s attention immediately returned to Kairatos’ face. “A Mars Knight, is it? That makes you the first. I’ve only met up with one of Polaris so far, and the rest have been Senshi. Or, you know, the Negaverse.”
He glanced over his shoulder, back in the direction he had just come from. It was quiet, though. Unmoving.
He wanted to believe he hadn’t been followed—that the youma had just gone back home to its little youma family for a nice little youma dinner. Or, maybe not dinner; he really didn’t want to think about what youma ate.
Alya had to clear his throat and redirect his attention to Kairatos.
“This is a sort of out of the way part of town,” he said after a second. “I’m used to seeing most people by the park. Maybe that’s why I haven’t run into more Knights?” He didn’t wait for an answer and instead asked, “What are you doing so far out here?”
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 12:15 pm
"There's a handful of us, but most of them I've either seen because we got together on purpose or only seen once or twice." Kairatos admitted. "Senshi seem to have us outnumbered... but then I haven't seen Polaris in... well damn I don't think she'd recognize me actually." Which might be just as well. He still didn't want to test her magic versus his armor or the pin in his ankle. "And... yeah... the Park seems to be a hot spot but..." He grimaced. "Ok this sounds immature as hell but there's a Cosmos knight who camps out there and we had a fairly public falling out and I'm not... ready to deal with her face to face again right now." God it sounded childish, but he just... wasn't. He could think of too many ways for the conversation to go and most of them left a sour taste in his mouth. "So since everyone else is busy turning the park into a hot spot of power signatures I figured I'd cruise farther out and make sure I didn't miss anything. They're not dumb... the Negaverse I mean. Well... on average they aren't, and it doesn't take rocket science to say 'hey let's get off the beaten path and do stuff. I'd say it's what I would do if I was still fighting for the other team... but honestly it's not. I'd probably be throwing down in the park as showily and loudly as possible and send some lieutenants out to work the back streets and the shady parts of town that don't make the news as often." His grin was only slightly self-derisive as he grinned, popping a fist into his open palm. "I know my strong points."
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Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 12:37 am
Alya nodded as Kairatos spoke but it seemed more out of habit than comprehension. He’d had his crash course in Senshi-dom; he relied on Elvira for all things, but he could barely remember names without a face to put them to. If Cosmos had ever come up before, he’d long since forgotten her.
There was a part of him that lit up when Kairatos mentioned a public falling out, either because it was something to gossip about or because it was something to talk about, and he was still desperate for any reason to stay close to the Knight.
“I’m usually in the park, but I haven’t seen a Cosmos Knight. I admit, I definitely contribute to the ‘hot spot’, but I’m trying to run into people. But I suppose I wind up in the dark parts of town just as much. Sometimes, on purpose. Usually, because I’m lost. I am lost right now,” he noted, glancing around. “I have literally no idea where we are. You’ll be lucky if I don’t have to follow you home.”
He finished twisting his head around to examine the area and offered a smile, still trying to keep a light hearted tone.
Because, he still wanted gossip.
“The Cosmos Knight,” he said, drifting back to her as he reached to try and fix his hair again. “What type of falling out are we talking about? Should I stay away from anyone in particular? I mean, you seem like a likable, trustworthy guy. I don’t think it’s immature at all to avoid someone you don’t get along with. Me,” he sighed heavily. “I’m the immature one. I get jealous and have to try and show them up all the time. I’m very competitive. If I were you and had a falling out, I’d just flaunt myself all over the park out of spite, probably.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 5:20 am
"Well... I can name a few agents I wouldn't tangle with in a hurry...And one senshi prince..." He grimaced. "I mean she's hard to miss, white hair, white dress, big ol staff and a glowy tattoo. She camps out at this one bench and waits to chat with agents. She made this oath not to hurt them and all that. but... There was this... A while back when I... when we went to our wonders things... got... strange. I mean there's these pieces of something called the Code there that we draw power from and it got... very weird. And it started talking about..." He took a deep breath and let it out. "It started talking about Metallica and about Beryl and how Beryl was wronged and just... it sounded like the kind of koolaide they pass around in the negaverse, and I mean.... I'd heard that before. I used to -be- an agent." There wasn't a way to explain how he had recognized the particular arguments without bringing that up, the wallowing in anger for a moon princess and her court who had never so much as showed a whisper of their presence as justification for everything. "I mean the phrases were pretty much spot on in places. It was ******** creepy, but we couldn't figure out what was happening and people were starting to wonder if we were wrong about everything... and I put in my two cents but didn't get too far. I mean I pretty much came on as a full knight and I hit things, that's what people expect I guess so..." He shrugged broadly. "I'll skip the horror show but it involved an damn massacre, a Grand Youma, and a handful of General Soverigns, and dropping a dead Grand Youma on one of them like the damn wicked witch of the east... but we pulled out a mound of star seeds and a major code piece from the ******** Rift and getting our assess saved by Cosmos herself... and then figuring out where to put the damn thing... it's uh... on the moon now." He decided not to mention that had been his call. "So we end up called up there to discuss how to fix this code piece which as been sitting around marinating in pure chaos energy for a good thousand years and... Sorry this is really long huh?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "So she says "Well none of us could have predicted this" and I say "Well I kind of actually did" and she says "No way, you absolutely did not you're too stupid to do anything but punch where we point you." I mean... not in those exact words but... But that's basically the way it came off, and we haven't talked since, not that we'd been really... hanging out for a while before that because of some other crap but... I mean it is what it is. I mean we had tried going out once but getting kidnapped and tortured on your first formal date is probably a given relationship killer, and the argument over the Code Piece just kind of put down any doubts we might have had that it wasn't going to work. Which is fine, I mean... it is fine. It worked out. We fixed the code piece, it lives on the moon, and we went our separate ways. Which probably woulda happened anyway because we don't necessarily agree on approach to the Negaverse which kinda tends to be a big deal." And he realized he hadn't remotely addressed the bit about being lost, getting caught up in ramble about the Code and Hver and the falling out, trying not to mention the parts he didn't feel were as relevant, like not being able to handle an open relationship as well as he'd thought he could, or the long, long silences. "Don't worry, I've got you covered. I used to hang out in the back areas of town... and uh...." He coughed again, giving an exadurated look skyward out of feigned innocence. "...Street race. Also did some energy gathering for part of it but... I can't undo that part. I mean I don't know I would if I could at this point. And God knows it was hella tempting to get up her nose some nights but she's never been corrupt and I have and I felt like I've got enough proving to do without picking a fight with a literal peacenick in white. It would be like showing up to a cat lovers convention and kicking a fluffy kitten. I mean don't get me wrong not all Cosmos knights are passive, Meteora will put a boot up anyone's a** if they mess with her." He grinned, abruptly and brightly, at the mention of her name. "My kind of Cosmos Knight." Kyuseisha no Hikari Conversational level up: you have unlocked 'word barf'!
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Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2017 12:34 am
Alya stared at Kairatos for a long moment. His expression was blank and his posture was nearly unreadable; he gave no indication of what he might have been feeling or thinking, until he finally breathed an impressed, “Wow. I don’t even know where to start.”
He took a moment, drew in a breath, and seemed to be trying to keep up with the mental chart he had formed while he listened.
But, he kept getting caught up on one thing. “You used to be an agent?”
The rest was interesting, of course, but that part.
That part just made him think of Whisler.
And he had so many questions.
…Deep, personal questions, that you probably weren’t supposed to ask someone the first time you met them.
Alya had to clamp his lips shut and pry his mind from the list of inquiries he was prepared to unleash on the poor Knight.
“Then,” he said, before giving Kairatos a chance to respond, “I’m sure you really do know what you’re talking about. With the whole ‘Kool-Aid’ and crazy thing, I mean. Street Racing, though, really? Are you sure you didn’t just throw that in there to impress me? Because, I mean, I was already impressed, but that’s just icing on the cake. Though.”
He hadn’t missed the way his face lit up when he mentioned the other Cosmos Knight.
“You sound like you’ve already got your eye set on someone else, hm?”
There didn’t seem to be any seriousness to Alya’s words; he was wearing an almost playful smile now.
Make friends, and then ask the questions suddenly burning in his mind.
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Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:49 pm
"Well it's something of a trade off for not remembering the other parts from before I side swapped. I remember the powered parts pretty well. The good and the bad." He admitted, with a wry twist of the mouth. "I mean it wasn't for -nice- reasons, it was a fast way to meet quota because people expect to feel run down and tired after going flat out and drinking. And it gave me a nice fast get away from ambitious Senshi, not that too many came my way when I was driving. But I can still ride. I just need to get a bit more practice in, over-correcting on a turn at race speeds will give you something to think about alright." If there were things he could ramble about, that was one of them, and Meteora, and his grin lit up until it was all but literally incandescent. "Yeah, she's great. Wicked smart lady. She's been helping me get through taking some courses, re-get a degree since I don't even remember if I managed to get one before. Might as well now, right?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 7:12 pm
For some reason, Alya couldn’t help but smile. “That’s sweet,” he said after a second. “She seems like a wonderful lady. Does she fawn over you the same way you do her, or…?”
He was using that teasing tone again, but just laughed and gave Kairatos a quick pat on the arm. “I’m teasing, don’t take that too seriously. That’s too much to get into with a stranger, isn’t it? I honestly don’t know, I’m used to being around gossips and people who want to rub it in your face just how happy they are and how good their life is going. Not that you are! I’m happy for you. It sounds like you’ve had a lot going on. I hope that things settle down. But—speaking of prying and getting into things that maybe are inappropriate with a stranger…”
His voice drifted off and he shrugged before asking, “Does it still call to you? The Negaverse, I mean. Are you more susceptible to the Chaos, or less? Or rather, I suppose what I’m trying to ask is, do you ever feel like you made a bad decision, or that you should go back?”
Alya was not a nervous person, and yet for some reason he found himself holding his breath. He didn’t want to insult this man, but he wasn’t very good at keeping his mouth shut—not when he couldn’t get a question out of his head.
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Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:30 am
"She's not so much the fawning type but she hasn't dumped me yet, in spite of having plenty of opportunity." And plenty of reasons, he supposed, though it was the question about the negaverse that went over his expression like a shadow. "...Not... calls. But you don't forget it either. I mean there's people who use it as an excuse but the Negaverse doesn't really -make- you bad... it was more like... it makes it easier to not care when you're doing bad. You aren't a puppet, though I can't grantee it's not the same with Half Youma, they're one slip away from being full monsters. I haven't met one that didn't think they'd become something better than human and I can't think of many regular agents that didn't think of something less. I mean... I can see where people might regret it and consider that a form of being called. It's -hard- starting a life from scratch no matter what memories you loose, there's the glamor and everything and trying to find resources to start over, to get a good job and a house and just go through the motions of being normal can feel nearly impossible, and damn. I got -lucky- finding people to help me get on my feet and I know that. But it doesn't call me. Even if I didn't think they'd sooner kill me at this point, everything they offered me in the first place was a lie. I mean sure there's been some hard times but hell no. No regrets. Why do you ask? Just curious or do you know someone...?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2017 11:57 pm
“No,” Alya blurted too quickly. He realized this and pursed his lips, looking a mixture of angry and disappointed. At himself, of course; he sighed heavily and then just shrugged, reaching up to tug at a few stray locks of hair.
“Maybe,” he corrected, and then gave up altogether. “Yes,” he said, exasperated. “But it’s complicated.”
He lurched into an animated tone and seemed to gesture with his hands for emphasis as he spoke. “I don’t even know where to start. Honestly, all of the concern is just in my head. I do know someone who purified, but I’m always so afraid to ask him about it. I’m curious, I want to know more about him, but I don’t want to bring up painful memories. I’m absolutely terrified that I might say the wrong thing and then he’ll push me out of his life. It’s not like our relationship is so fragile, it’s just—you know, I really have a habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and this is just so important to me. I don’t want to mess it up.”
He shook his head and seemed like he was trying to force himself to stop moving so much, stop talking so much. Instead, he simply shifted on his feet and then directed his attention back up at Kairatos.
“I am glad you have so many people to help you, though. And that you’re doing so well. I only hope that he has enough.”
Or that Alya could be enough.
He sighed, long and dramatic, and then shook his head. A smile formed on his face, either in earnest or because he willed it to be there. “I’m sorry, I could really talk your ear off about all of it. I hope I haven’t said enough to chase you away. You seem like an interesting man, I hope I haven’t said anything offensive. Even if I didn’t know someone, I’d have been curious. I think it’s all fascinating. Not that I’m interested, personally,” he assured. “But I am curious, all the same.”
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Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:47 am
"A job and a place to live are a good start... and anything that lets him feel..." He didn't know how to put it exactly. "Normal. I mean he just erased part of his life. Normal gets hard to come by for a while. My resources are... limited but I've done shop work, and I know a bit about cooking. Good stuff to know if you're getting back on your feet. But hey, if he needs help, ask. If I don't know and you don't know, someone probably does. Think of it like..." he wrinkled his nose, because the comparison seemed almost humorous. "...Networking? I mean it sort of is. One person might know or have a place to stay, someone else has a job lead that won't poke too much... And for the love of god keep the poor b*****d away from Castor. He's unpredictable at the best of times. I got offered a place to crash at what he described as a brothel and bounced off a brick wall like one of those supermarket rubber balls that cost a quarter... in the same conversation... and that's not the worst I've seen him do. Though I guess I might have had the bounce coming. ...Might have been a bit antagonistic as an Lieutenant." He cleared his throat. "...Hit him with a chair... among other things... but honestly busting a royal square in the ego was pretty chump change comparatively. That white haired vulture has a bigger body count to compete with some General Sovereigns, and I'd be stupid if I sent anyone past him that might set him off."
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 5:37 pm
“Oh,” Alya laughed goodnaturedly. “No, I think he’s been purified for longer than I’ve been a Senshi. He’s got his life figured out, but it’s just a part of him that I wonder if he’s gotten past yet. We’ve talked, some. About his life before, or the Negaverse, but not too much. But,” he started playing with his hair again. “Which one’s Castor? The name doesn’t sound familiar at all. Did he deserve to be hit with that chair? You don’t paint a pretty picture of him. He doesn’t sound like someone that would be safe to send anyone around.”
So much of this was new to him, but Kairatos didn’t make him feel self conscious or silly for asking. Instead, he found he rather liked talking to the Mars Knight—and for more than just his nice legs. He seemed easy going—strong, but not imposing, like some of the other, more powerful, Senshi and Knights. Alya didn’t like looking foolish in front of those that would judge him for it, but Kairatos didn’t give him the impression he was going to look down at him or chastise his curiosity or ignorance.
It probably helped that he was quite certain the only reason he was safe and not being attacked by a youma right now is because he stumbled onto the male. He breathed a little easier, rolled his shoulders, and relaxed some.
“I’ll bet you have a lot of good stories. You seem like an interesting man to hang around. Would you mind, too terribly, if I said I wanted to? Would you be available for that? I mean, if you’re just powering up sometime and wouldn’t mind company.”
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Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 7:19 am
"That makes that part easier then." Kairatos nodded, thoughtfully. "Good for him. And um..." Oof tough one. "Well he's hard to miss. His hair's gone all white, but the wings are black, the only black wings I've seen on someone who doesn't radiate obvious chaos energy. As for the chair..." He twitched his mouth in an awkward smile. "Well at the time I was a hopped up Lt with exactly no ideas how David and Goliath the situation was, and I was just sick of him mouthing off and referencing his junk every few seconds. So my motives weren't exactly pure at the time. I just wanted to shut him up and show what I could do. Now days.... Yeah I'd absolutely slap him with a chair again. Just for entirely different reasons. Then probably straight up murder me, citing my time in the negaverse as an excuse. So, that would probably not end in the satisfying way I imagine." He grinned self consciously and shrugged. "I don't know if they're -good- stories but I've got stories." He added, deciding to jump at the chance to change the subject from 'would you bash one of our few, not missing royals in the face with furniture'. "I mean sure, that's fine by me."
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 7:26 pm
If Alya seemed alarmed or offended with Kairatos’ thoughts on Castor, his face didn’t say it. Instead, he just smiled and withdrew his phone. “Perfect,” he replied. He pressed a few things, eyes locked on the screen, and asked, “Do you have many Senshi friends? These cell phones we get are,” he paused, “Interesting. Someone told me that if I scan someone into my phone, I can shoot them a message. Even Knights, though,” he glanced up from the screen. “You don’t have phones? So if I shoot you a text, how do you get it? I mean, if you know. It must seem like a silly question. I don’t use my phone enough, honestly. I mean, I don’t know that many people to message. But I was working on a project for it. To fix that, I mean.”
He paused for a moment; he kept his head bowed and his eyes on the screen, but it was apparent that something had made him stop.
When he spoke again, his words seemed a bit sterner. “I mean. I was testing it. I wasn’t working on it. That’s not my scene.”
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