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 Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2019 8:19 pm
Out alone, again. It was a habit Adria hated that he was getting used to. It was lose-lose no matter what he did; if he stayed at home, he felt guilty about not powering up. The thoughts that he wasn't good enough, that he was behind, that he was unworthy, that he was letting everyone down--they just kept building up.
If he went out, the constant anxiety that he was going to be outmatched, that he was going to be caught unawares, that he was going to be thrown back on his deathbed.
He was overly cautious; sometimes he worked up the nerve to interact with Negaverse Agents. Sometimes. More often, if they were weaker then him. Rarely if they were as strong as him.
Never, if they were stronger.
Tonight, it wasn't an Agent that he was spending his night with--it was a youma. A horrible, disgusting, giant of a youma that he had severely misjudged. He'd figured they were supposed to be weaker than agents--and he recalled that a member of their Court had once been a youma. So he was giving it a chance.
This thing was nothing like Evan.
He'd spent all of ten seconds trying to soothe and befriend the youma before it was trying to kill him. The next fifteen minutes had been a combination of running, fighting, and dodging, and Adria wasn't doing so well.
They'd made it up to the rooftop--at least, away from anyone who might have been hurt--and Adria thought he'd have an advantage.
He thought wrong, but by the time he realized it, it was too late to do anything about it.
He was too close to the edge of the building and the youma, moving faster than he'd seen it move all night, tackled him right off the edge of it. The rolled in the air, but the building wasn't high enough for Adria to wind up on top. Instead, the two of them fell side by side; the youma's arms were half wrapped around Adria as it tried to crush him.
In tandem, they slammed into the ground below.
Right at the feet of a Lieutenant.
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Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2019 10:25 pm
Alpersite had felt the auras and had moved towards them rather than away, though he almost wished that he hadn’t.
After a moment, he saw two figures falling from the top of a building and as he moved, holding his arms out to catch them, to catch the one that looked the most human, he realized that…he really shouldn’t be doing that…though when he stared down at both figures, he bit his lip for a moment before summoning his butterfly wand and snapping it over his knee, stabbing it through the youma.
When the creature turned to dust he narrowed his eyes and tried not to cough, and moved into a fighting stance, holding both halves of his now broken weapon.
“It’s an unfair fight if there’s two of us, Senshi.” His voice was low and his pale eyes were steely. He watched and waited for Adria to get up though. This was going to be fair. This was going to have…honor.
“Catch your breath. Get up. We will commence when you have regained your equilibrium.” This was fair. This was…how to have a war.
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Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2019 10:35 pm
Adria had inhaled a lung full of dust and was feeling both sore and dazed. He carefully began pushing himself up but his arms felt like noodles. He could put weight on them, though, nothing was broken.
Even if his bones did pop and crack far more than he'd have liked as he pushed himself up.
The Negaverse Agent registered, but he was still cloudy headed from the fall.
...From the collision.
He understood that this Lieutenant had dusted the youma, and he processed that the man was saying this was more fair--but honestly, he didn't even know if he could get up.
"--Do we have to fight?" he coughed, trying to turn his head away from the last of the dust. His eyes were stinking and he was squinting, trying to push himself up. His hair was a mess, his braid looked like it was coming undone. His uniform was torn and he had visible scratches and bruising.
"...I appreciate you helping me, but I--I don't want to fight." He kept his eyes on the Lieutenant, not trusting that he wouldn't try to stab him, too.
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Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2019 10:49 pm
Alpersite pursed his lips and crossed his arms over his chest, watching the senshi carefully. “I’m afraid that we do have to fight, yes. It’s what I have to do. It’s my job.” He kept his voice even, kept his expression carefully neutral.
He had been so gentle with Sidouer, but this wasn’t Sidouer. This was a stranger, and he was an officer and…he had to keep up appearances.
“I’m not going to attack you until you’re on your feet. Do you need assistance?” Hesitating a moment, he let his weapon vanish from his hands, holding them out to show the other male that they were empty. “I’m not going to stab you. My hands are empty. I will not hurt you.”
This was harder than he wanted to admit. It was difficult to not kneel and offer more assistance but…
But at the same time, this could be a trap. A trap from the senshi.
“…Here.” He held a hand out, a little warmth coming into his eyes, even though he tried to smother it. “I’m not going to attack until you’re on your feet.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2019 4:31 pm
Adria still seemed reluctant, and there was an undeniably defeated expression on his face. He didn't want to accept help, obviously concerned that this was a trap. Still, he understood that it would be rude to deny assistance when his hand was offered. "Ah, I'm okay. Thank you," he said reluctantly, reaching out to accept Alpersite's.
He wasn't ready to be on his feet, but he seemed ashamed that he wasn't yet so he forced himself up on wobbling legs and dropped the Lieutenant's hand.
Now that he was on his feet he seemed like he was anticipating an attack any second now. His back hurt, his leg hurt, his arms hurt. His chest and head hurt.
...Everything hurt.
"No one has to know," he suggested, "We could just part ways amicably. I'm--I'm really not here to hurt anyone in the Negaverse. I just...I didn't like what that youma was doing. I thought we..." he faltered. "I thought I would see if it was one of the ones that...uhm."
Probably not best to tell the agent that you were trying to purify a youma.
"...I just wanted to see if I could get it out of the neighborhood, so no one got hurt. There's a daycare down there, I didn't know if there were kids, it just. It didn't seem safe..."
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Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2019 9:44 am
Alpersite was watching him with as impassive an expression as he could muster, feeling a bit of relief that he had managed to get to his feet without falling back to the ground but…
Moving closer to the senshi, Alpersite reached out and picked the male up with little effort, holding him as one would a bride and beginning to walk off towards the nearest bench. He shouldn’t be on his feet. He looked as though he were ready to collapse.
Without a word, he moved the blonde to the bench and sat him down with as much care as he could, sitting behind him. He used his fingers and gently smoothed out the long blonde hair, working as gently as possible to work out what knots and tangles that had come from Adria’s fall, and after braiding it back up, he took the ribbon off of the bottom of his own braid and tied it into a bow at the base of the braid.
“If you were trying to protect children, I can not fault you. We are supposed to be enemies, but I will let you go this once, senshi. Don’t expect such kindness next time, and don’t expect it from anyone else in the Negaverse. Most would have stabbed you and not the youma. But I suppose I’m a bit more chivalrous. At least for now.”
He reached out and readjusted the bow at the base of the male’s hair again, making sure it was straight. “Maybe travel in a small group instead of going at things alone? You might have been killed, and that would have been a disaster for the children. And everyone else that you protect.”
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Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2019 8:27 pm
Dread flushed through Adria; alarms were ringing so loudly in his head that they seemed to deafen him. He wanted to struggle out of Alpersite's arms, to scream, to fight, but he clammed up. He went rigid. He waited for the knife in his back, or the hand to starseed him, and though he anticipated it coming he couldn't move.
...It was a relief then, that it didn't come.
He held his breath the entire time the Negaverse Agent worked, too afraid that any wrong move might be his undoing. His mind was clouded; it was difficult to even process what was going on.
The Lieutenant had carried him to the bench, set him down. Braided his hair.
"I know," he said, in a voice so horribly small he felt crushed by it. The others probably didn't have to. But here he was, alone, and failing.
Again.
He wasn't anything in a group, and he wasn't certainly anything without one. He didn't even have to question why he felt like he never saw any of them; a stab in his heart was a truth he didn't want to hear.
They didn't need him.
They probably didn't even want them; he was slowing them down. He was a liability.
Adria tried to keep a straight face but his lip twitched and faltered in the tight line he'd pressed it into. "I don't expect any kindness," he said, trying to speak with more volume. He wanted to reach up to rub at the moisture that had built in his eyes but he didn't want to draw attention to it. He didn't want to move and have the Lieutenant change his mind. He tried to blink the wetness away, taking slight solace in the fact that Alpersite was focused on his hair and not his face.
"I know all about the stabbing. I appreciate you not stabbing me tonight. Thank you. For. All of this," he said, keeping his voice as even and steady as he could.
Strangers didn't have to be nice, much less Negaverse Agents--the enemy.
He crossed his arms over his chest and gripped his arms tightly.
"I can be out of your hair in a minute, if you want. I'll go home, I won't give anyone anymore trouble tonight."
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Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 10:02 am
Alpersite hesitated, frowning slightly. He hadn’t expected such an emotional response and he wasn’t sure what to do. He hadn’t intended to cause harm to this senshi, and his stomach was churning unhappily. It would be far too easy to draw the male into his arms and comfort him as he would have done with December. It would be far too easy to try and do anything and everything to try and protect this blonde male.
“If you would join us, you would get a lot of kindness. You and I could be friends, you know.” His voice was soft, and while he hadn’t meant to say it, hadn’t wanted to push anything, now that it was said…he felt better. It didn’t feel like he was shirking his duties.
“You could…be family. You could stay with me. I have an amazing captain who has really cute dogs…we could…we could all work together. I wouldn’t ever let you be alone. I would make sure that you stayed safe and…we could even make sure that we keep little children safe. I have no desire to hurt kids. I like kids. They’re the future…”
He finally hesitated and wrapped his arms around the senshi, unable to let him have a panic attack alone. He couldn’t stand that. “Take your time. Get yourself centered. I want to be your friend.”
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Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 6:41 pm
Adria had to force himself to stay calm, had to shove the emotions away as best he could. It wasn't much success, and he felt no slight grief at being so vulnerable in front of an enemy. Maybe it would work out in his favor if everyone thought he was pathetic, maybe they'd go easy on him.
He tensed in the hug, expecting the worst and finding himself surprised when, once again, it didn't come.
"I had a friend in the Negaverse," he said; he'd have claimed Zack as his brother if he hadn't been afraid that somehow they would track down who he was, what he'd become. They'd all explained how dangerous it could be if they found out the truth. "...I didn't know they were my friend. I'd known him my whole life. Unpowered, of course. Something happened one day, I ran into him while he was powered. He was insane. He tried to kill me. He almost did. He left me for dead, and by all rights, I should have died. I know that. It's hard to come out now, but I'm trying. But I--I can't do that. I can't be that person. It drove him mad, he had to purify. And then I found out who he was. Underneath the mask, underneath the Chaos. I don't want to be like that."
He swallowed and finally forcibly rubbed at his eyes. "I can't even fight a youma by myself, why would the Negaverse even want me? I don't want to fight anyone. I'd be horrible, they'd use me for target practice."
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Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 8:34 pm
He listened to the story with a deepening frown and swallowed after a long moment of silence. “I’m…sorry that happened. That sounds…” His mind strayed to something that Sidouer had mentioned. When he was still looking for December…the thought that anyone could have been his brother…and that things only got better when he knew that his brother was on his side of things…
He could have very well done that if things had gone on. If he did what he was supposed to have done.
If he would just stop treating senshi like they weren’t his enemies, he could have very well ended up beating the living daylights out of his brother…or someone he knew in real life…and that…
That would…be an issue.
He choose instead to sigh and shake his head. “I’m sorry that you got hurt…I promise though…you wouldn’t be hurt if you were to come to us…I…I wouldn’t…I wouldn’t let you be hurt. And my Captain, he is so good about helping me get stronger, I know he would do the same for you. He cares so much about people. The people that he’s in charge of…
Not everyone was like that though, and once again Alpersite thought of December, scarred and bruised and blaming a General that he wouldn’t give the name of…
“…My captain is special though, I think. But…he would make sure you had safety. And a loving home. With some really great dogs.”
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Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 10:34 am
Adria managed a small, tired laugh. "Well. Thanks. I think I'm more of a cat person." Or a starved for affection person, so it didn't matter where it came from. "I don't know. I'll think about it."
He would, probably, but it was like any other call of the void; he'd imagine what-if, but he wasn't prepared to commit to something like that. He wanted to succeed, but he knew that if he ever corrupted, he'd just wind up being the ultimate disappointment. He'd let down the entire Court--Cambria. Even his brother.
"...Sometimes this whole war confuses me. Like, it's so black and white. Like, bad guys versus good guys, only everyone thinks they're on the right side. I always figured I was on the right side because Senshi don't take anything from anyone. We don't drain energy, we don't pull starseeds, and we don't have monsters, like the youma. And we can go into space, and have worlds of our own, apparently."
He didn't know, he'd never been. He was afraid of getting lost and didn't have the confidence or drive to visit his own world. He could imagine one--and had, many times. The writer in him had created some beautiful, sunset themed world.
But then, he'd never worked up the nerve to visit. He was afraid--what a surprise--of being let down. Or letting his planet down.
Sometimes he thought about asking Cambria, but he didn't know if she could even leave Evan or Zac alone for long enough to go traveling, and he didn't know who else was out there there he even could ask.
Tiredly, he wiped at his face again as he tried to clean himself up.
"...Do you have anything like that? I've seen the Negaverse Kingdom. But I don't think that counts as your own world or anything. I just. I don't know. I'm sorry if I'm being nosy. I just feel like sometimes there's still so much that I don't know. And I'm so afraid to talk to anyone in the Negaverse, on account of all, you know. The stabbing."
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Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:07 pm
Alpersite paused. “What do you mean? You have your own worlds? That…sounds quite cryptic.” But every bit as exciting as Samir’s forge, and he had a sudden, overwhelming desire to see it. Maybe if he was a little more kind to this senshi…he would get an invitation.
He paused. “Oh, no…we don’t…I don’t think we have anything like that…I can find out though. And I can tell you when I find out, if you would want to meet me again. Perhaps though…you won’t fall off of a building that time or nearly get killed. And I can keep working to convince you that you should come with me.”
The lieutenant flashed a sudden smile. “You should show me this world of yours…I would love to see it. What’s it like? Is it as beautiful and gentle as you seem to be?” He hesitated and reached out to wipe a few more pieces of dirt off of Adria’s face.
“What is your name, senshi? I know I shouldn’t ask but…I’m not so good at being aloof.”
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Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 4:58 pm
A flush covered his cheeks both from his words and from the gentle touch to his face. He hesitated and then shrugged, trying to resist the urge to look away. He couldn't help but laugh softly at the idea of anyone thinking him beautiful or gentle; it seemed like a joke, but it was enough to make him laugh.
"My name is, ah...it's just Adria. Senshi of Sunsets. Please don't turn me into the Negaverse. I don't want to be in trouble with them."
He allowed a moment to pass for that to sink in and then sniffled once more. "And it's...Yeah, Senshi have their own worlds. But...I haven't...been to mine," he confessed weakly. "I have no idea what it's like. I've...been meaning to go but..."
He kept getting scared, he kept doubting himself. He kept wondering if it was a mistake, if his world would hate him.
If he'd make it back alive.
"...May I ask for your name? If...if you're allowed to share...I won't tell anyone you were so nice to me."
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 2:33 pm
Adria. It was a name that he would file away, a name that he would reveal only to Lopezite. He managed to give a smile and nodded, thoughtful. “My name is Alpersite. It has been a pleasure, Adria.”
The lieutenant watched the senshi and shook his head, almost amused by his reactions, but at the same time, just a little bit worried for him. He didn’t seem happy…and Alpersite thought that he really might be if he would consent to come with him, to allow them to bring him into the fold of the Negaverse…it would be a family. They would be a family.
“I won’t turn you in to anyone, but I may mention you to my Captain, just so he knows that I’m working hard to help win you around to our side of things…he won’t harm you, I promise. He’s wonderful. And you…you should go. We should go. You could take me and it would be…fun, I bet. Or…maybe…take me sometime?”
It was hard to keep the excitement and the wonder from his eyes as he began to once again try to imagine what it must be like up in space. “We could go together, it would be a great excuse to get you up there, don’t you think?”
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:14 pm
Adria seemed a little reluctant, like he wasn't sure if he should have said anything at all, but he nodded finally, choosing to hope that he hadn't just made a horrible mistake.
He offered a small smile to Alpersite, and it only reaffirmed that he had thought this might have actually not been a bad idea; he couldn't imagine someone behaving with such enthusiasm if they wanted to destroy him.
"It's nice to meet you too, Alpersite. I...I'll go up there, I'll take a look and make sure that it's safe and...maybe we could meet up again some time?" he said, trying to stay calm about it all. "I...I would probably have more confidence if I had someone to go up with, so I think I would like that. But I--I do need...to get myself up there first. I would feel really awful if I tried to go up there--with someone--and...I don't know, it was horrible. Or, imagine if I lost them along the way," he said a bit nervously. "...Because I didn't know how to travel very well. So I--I want to make sure I'd have that down. But you'd...really want to go with me?" he seemed a bit hopeful. "Do you like...I don't know, exploring? Adventures?"
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