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Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 4:14 pm
For once her training had been going well; sure, she was getting her a** absolutely handed to her and her new found instructor was absolutely hellbent on making sure she got things right... But for once in her life she had someone hounding her in a constructive manner and she was starting to notice the effects.
She'd always been fast, she'd been quite flexible and agile as well, these had been observations that Nix had made when he'd first helped her learn some of the ropes... But when it came to using all of that constructively she had never really worked out how. It wasn't until she'd almost gotten herself killed and the other senshi had intervened had she met someone who'd taken some interest in it.
His words hadn't been kind, but they hadn't exactly been cruel either, he'd just gotten to the heart of it and stated the obvious.
She was not equipped for what she needed to do.
If she didn't fix it, she would die some day.
...And no, he wouldn't just leave her to figure out how to fix it, if she wanted, he'd at least show her where to start.
It was for this reason that the senshi had a spring in her step as she skipped down the alleyways. Sure she wasn't anywhere near the place she'd probably have liked to be, but she was certainly feeling more capable. Come what may, she thought she would be in a much better position to defend herself if she had to and if she couldn't then she knew how to get away from it a little more strategically than just throwing dust in someone's eyes.
This evening she sought nothing in particular, but then again she never generally did. Her sole purpose as a senshi (or so she had decided), was to make a nuisance of herself around the Negaverse and remove youma from the immediate vicinity of the vulnerable where possible. In short she intended to be an inconvenience when needed but she hadn't exactly mastered the art of finding those who needed to be irritated.
All things considered the above was probably a good thing and had kept her alive for longer than she might have been able to either... But on the whole she didn't really enjoy violence anyway. She liked to see the best in people, the potential they had, and more importantly she wanted to be able to show them there was another way if they were prepared to take a hand and the help that came with it.
She was quite the idealist to say the least.
...And in her current mood and with her current gait, she also stuck out like a sore thumb to anyone with some ears and semi-functioning eyesight!
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2020 1:43 pm
Ears, semi-functioning eyesight, and a good grasp on energy signatures all drew Paracelsian's attention to the senshi skipping around below him in the alleyways. He made his way across a few rooftops to approach her and decided to watch her for a few moments. She was not being careful in the least, which led the Captain to conclude that she was probably a very fresh senshi or an excessively blithe spirit. Or maybe just not very bright. He wondered if she even noticed his decent-sized dark aura. He hadn't been too far away when he noticed her coming, so if she knew he was there, she wasn't doing anything about it, not even properly retreating. He felt bad for this woefully unprepared senshi, so he thought he'd give her a head start of sorts. "Excuse me," he called out, as though she was in his way. She kind of was.
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2020 5:50 am
It was probably the last two, if anyone had actually asked for an outside opinion then her own tutor would have categorically went for the last one. When it came to spacial awareness and an overall survival instinct she was a bit dense. Sure, when it came down to it she could certainly put up a fight but preparation wasn't really her strong suit and 'winging it' was very much par for the course. Adorea never had a game plan, never saw the need for a game plan, and as a result that was normally why she found herself stumbling in to trouble as opposed to being prepared.
...This included missing very obvious auras.
Had it not been for Paraclesian's decision to be considerate he could have gotten the jump on her. However now that he'd let her know he was there she spun round on her heel and cast her gaze up. She was surprisingly graceful, all things considered with the right direction she could probably be quite talented, but as it was... He had her at a disadvantage. He would be afforded further entertainment as she wrinkled her nose and glanced back and forth before she finally twigged on to where his aura was.
"Aha, there you are!" she flicked her visor up to inspect him and flashed a warm smile. She wasn't exactly the most threatening sort, nor did she seem terribly confrontational. For all intents and purposes he appeared to have stumbled upon a someone looking for company rather than trouble. Whether he sought the same thing was another matter entirely, but she herself didn't seem to be intimidating at all.
"Are you another one of those ones who goes -" she paused, cleared her throat and then growled. "'I am the night!' folks who perch in dark places and wait for that perfect moment?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2020 7:28 am
The series of gestures this senshi went through befuddled Paracelsian further. It was almost as if she didn't know where he was. Did she have a functioning aura sense at all? What came out of her mouth flummoxed him to the point of near speechlessness. "I... guess so?" he said at last. How old was this senshi? How did she not know that a dark aura and a dark uniform were bad news and not a joke? Unless her opening was just trying to smooth things over for an easy escape. People could be deceptive. Shaking his head and deciding that this situation merited further investigation, he leapt off the rooftop to land close to the senshi, though not on top of her. Jumping on top of enemies like this was some kind of platformer game was someone else's weird tactic. "You, there. Senshi," he said upon landing. "Just from this slice of what I've seen, I am concerned. You couldn't find me, you barely showed any reaction when did find me, and you seem to have very little awareness of what a Negaverse agent can do. Many other agents would have sniped you and ripped out your starseed already." Why was he giving her this lecture? Probably because this kind of behavior was indeed concerning. Negaverse doctrine held that he should really just pick her off or drain her dry of energy already, but he wanted to at least give her a chance. She might be amenable to donating energy, which would be a decent price for the warning, he thought. "For clarification's sake, in case you really don't understand: your starseed is your soul. Once that's out, you die. Your existence is deleted." The sharp language nearly made him shudder himself.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2020 9:10 am
"Oh boy you sound just like someone else I know," she sighed. She'd had these lectures before, she knew the ins and outs, to have an Agent spout the same thing that she'd heard before seemed entirely pointless. Just because she hadn't put her fists up, raised her hackles or shot magic at him didn't mean she wasn't aware of what he could do.
...She just didn't care.
Not yet anyway.
"You must think I was born yesterday," she clucked her tongue and pulled her arms behind her head, her eyebrow lifting as she regarding Paracelsian with interest. "I know what you guys do, you try to do it an awful lot to me," she pointed out. A shrug of her shoulders seemed to indicate that this was neither her first rodeo, nor the first time she hadn't necessarily sensed that someone was nearby until they were right in front of her.
"My aura sense isn't broken," she clarified and pursed her lips. "As per my buddy's remarks, I'm just really bad at paying attention," she stated. This should have been a flaw, one she should really be working on, but while she had been trying it had been very slow going.
"What reaction would you have preferred though?" she asked curiously.
"I'm not exactly big on beating someone up when for all I know they may just have a real hankering for McDonalds," she finished. "Only difference is the craving hit while you were all dolled up and pretty rather than looking normal and stuff."
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:58 pm
At some point during Adorea's speech, Paracelsian's mind became filled with an endless stream of what. There was this feeling that this senshi knew about the hazards but... didn't care? The casual handling of the warnings and shrugging off of what agents tried to do to her, and the sort of glib admission that she wasn't good at paying attention, along with the sudden reference to McDonald's, rolled together into one tremendous ball of wondering what this lady was on. "Uh, I think i would have preferred... any reaction at all," Paracelsian murmured in response to that particular question. "Your detachment is... well, it's worrying. Maybe you don't have a stake in this war, and that might be all right. The least you can do, however, is be ready to protect yourself. If you can't do that, you'll face the consequences in a terrible way." Did he not want her to face those consequences? Maybe. He was going topsy-turvy over the bizarre reaction, or lack thereof. He sighed and shook his head before continuing. "You have a good instinct if you're willing to understand people instead of attacking first. That's not entirely wrong. I can only hope that someday, you do actually find someone who's dolled up for McDonald's and just going about their business." That did sound a little like a nod towards his envisioned future, where maybe a senshi could pass an agent who was meeting some other agents for McDonald's without any problems. "Speaking of business, I have a proposal for you," Paracelsian added as a segue. "I would like you to please donate some of your energy. My end of the deal is that I will stop when you start feeling uncomfortable, and if needed I will stay near you till you feel better." He didn't ask what she thought of it. She'd probably tell him.
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:16 pm
"I mean I did say hello," she pointed out.
"Technically that's a reaction," she continued with a warm smile. His dubious response to her demeanour was neither new or unusual, but she preferred to leave those kinds of things alone. Everyone had their own way of doing things, everyone had their own personalities and moods, and when it came to Adorea she simply didn't sweat the small stuff.
In the grand scheme of things if Paracelsian had been inclined to do serious harm to her he would have taken his opening already and their encounter would have been significantly less cordial. No doubt she also would have lost, and she'd have to rely on her signature speed to move as quickly as she physically could away from the scene. Sure, she had the ability to think on her feet now and then but when she was outclassed she tended to book it.
...If she'd been in a team though, she'd probably have been a liability. In the name of justice she probably would have leapt in to protect the weak if she thought she had back up.
"But you're right this whole war thing is a little odd to me," she conceded. "I don't really like your weird overlord, parasite, thing..." she shrugged. "Pretty sure it'll eat its own face if it runs out of food," she pointed out.
"But..."
She paused, not necessarily for dramatic effect and more-so because she may have been gathering her thoughts together.
"I've met more than my fair share of people who didn't really want to be there, they'd been taken without being given a choice," she continued and released a sigh. "It's a lot harder to be mean or aggressive towards people when you don't even know if they asked to be -" she motioned at him. "Like you, I guess."
"In those cases it's not their fault so yeah," she shrugged delicately and pursed her lips at his request. She'd never been asked for this before, not even by her best friend who was an agent, but as he explained the process she weighed up the pros and cons. On the plus side if he took her energy then that meant that less people would lose theirs, on the other hand, she'd be left with very little to take care of herself.
He seemed nice though so, wasn't it more appropriate to give him a chance?
"I think I can do that," she didn't seemed to need much time at all to make her decision and smile warmly. "Although, how do you take it?" she asked curiously. "Never actually worked that bit out to be honest."
Another of her not-so-dramatic pauses.
"Oh and uh, you gotta promise that you definitely won't murder me and all that," she wiggled her fingers at him. "Just like you said, cause I gotta find my way home eventually."
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Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2020 1:49 pm
"I suppose it is a reaction, if you turn your head and squint," Paracelsian muttered. She wasn't wrong, he decided. The mention of the "overlord parasite thing" only garnered a head shake from him. Where Adorea went after that, however, reversed the action into a nod. "Indeed. Not everyone jumped at the call and begged to be made an agent of Chaos. It's for those people that I... At least try to extend a hand of diplomacy." He nearly said that those people were who he fought for and nearly mentioned his dream of coexistence, but he stopped himself. "If the forces of Order understand that some of us are just trying to live the best we can the way we are, then I think that's a step in the right direction." Paracelsian gave another nod when his deal was accepted. "All I have to do is keep one hand on you. The energy will flow out of you on my cue, and I'll collect it from there." His gaze flicked off to the side briefly. "You have my word that I will not harm you. I'll stay by you till you feel ready to move on. Just let me know if you start feeling off at all, and I'll stop right there."
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2020 5:27 pm
"I'd prefer it if y'all stopped taking things that weren't yours without permission to be entirely honest," she adjusted her visor as she wandered towards him. She wouldn't lecture anyone about what they did, but they did have a rather bad habit of removing things without permission. Paracelsian seemed to be the exception to this rule and she might have been more willing to allow bygones to be bygones more frequently if they all did that... Sadly, it appeared that whatever their leader was or even who it was disagreed.
"And if people didn't wanna be somewhere, kinda feel like y'all should be leaving them but it is what it is," she shrugged and placed her hands on her hips. Now no more than a foot away from him, she was within touching distance and was really quite short. She most certainly wouldn't be striking the fear of anything into anyone at any point in time, but her smile was warm and she appeared genuine.
"You can't force people to do what they don't want to do, at least you can't if you want to be better than the thing that hurts them," she explained. She knew Chaos forced people to do its bidding, but if they were to haul people back out (even for their own good), then would they really be any better than them? It wasn't quite like drug addiction but at the same time what was to stop them from going straight back to it on principle, out of stubbornness, or even because they were simply indignant that someone had made a decision for them?
"This sounds like it shouldn't hurt though so you can go ahead," she continued. "Promise I'll let you know if anything feels off but it sounds like you've done this before."
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Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2020 8:29 pm
"Strange though it may seem, I would prefer that as well." The insistence that people who didn't want to be in the Negaverse should just leave it made Paracelsian sigh despite trying to hold it back. "It really isn't that simple. People have ties that make the loss of their identity too much to bear for some. What about the agents who are parents or otherwise have people who depend on them? Having to leave that all behind could be catastrophic for others." He didn't want to think about that too much. Seeing Adorea's warm smile made him smile back, just a little, though of course it wasn't visible behind his scarf. "I agree about not forcing people to do what they don't want to do. I think that goes both ways." Before the senshi could potentially argue about it, he gently put one hand on her shoulder and started draining. An orb of energy formed in his free hand, and his attention shifted from the orb to his donor in a methodical manner. As he drained, he asked a simple question. "Would it be too much for me to ask you your name? I feel it would only be right if I knew who my donor was. I am Captain Paracelsian, if that helps at all."
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2020 1:32 pm
"Or it might be just enough to save them from suffering the same fate," she pointed out gently. When it came to anything cultish, any form of addiction, even crime, it tended to impact the entirety of the family and it was rarely for the better. She could see where Paracelsian was coming from of course, but a larger part of her had to admit that she found it a touch selfish to force that choice on the family too.
...If she had a chance to save them, then she would have saved them.
Even if it meant losing her.
Nevertheless, she'd also come to realise that when it came to chaos they were extremely stubborn and more often than not, walked themselves in circles when it came to their excuses. Whatever drove them to make those excuses seemed to be the overriding principle, they genuinely believed their own reasoning and no matter what others might point out, what equivalence may be drawn, it mattered very little. In the grand scheme of things they were bound to chaos and there was nothing she or any other senshi could do about it...and until they broke those chains, they'd force their families to remain that way too.
"Oh, but my name is Adorea," she offered with a wave of her hand. "I am Optimism," she added and raised both eyebrows behind her visor. She wasn't quite sure if she needed to provide that title, but she might as well, some people seemed to do it so she'd give it a go.
"This doesn't seem so bad though," she motioned to his hand. "Why do you all have to pull out hearts if you can just do this?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2021 11:01 am
Paracelsian merely gave a flat "Hm" in response to the counterpoint that the process of leaving the Negaverse could save the family from suffering. It was a concerning thought, and his mind kept going back to the theoretical possibility of someone with a child purifying out of the Negaverse and never being recognizable to that child again. Of course, that person would have to be selfish to purify without thinking about the consequences of that, but this was all just a very sad hypothetical anyway. "Pleased to meet you, Adorea," he said upon the senshi's introduction. "Optimism... what a curious sphere. Care to tell me what it does?" The next sentence gave him pause and nearly made him stop the drain, however. "We do not pull out hearts." He sighed; that was an extremely literal interpretation of the question and he knew it. "I wish I had a better answer for you. Sometimes, it's... just the only way. Some senshi and knights go out of their way to be very dangerous." He winced as he flashed back to Bezel's lifeless face. Even in his ideal world, her fate may very well have been the same. Shaking his head to shake the thoughts out, Paracelsian slowed the "tap" on his draining so to speak, and swiftly tucked the orb of energy away in subspace. "I think that will do it for now. Are you okay to go, or do you think you'll need to wait a moment?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2021 3:52 pm
"And so you delete them and every chance they have of existing again," she raised a brow. "Not a great answer if that's the one you're going for," she pointed out. To her knowledge, Order never quite stooped to the level of removing the ability to be reborn regardless of how evil the person might be. Everyone deserved another chance and all that...so if Chaos's answer was the opposite then she found that one a touch hard to buy in to.
'Dangerous' against those who could literally 'delete' another seemed warranted in her eyes, not ideal, but certainly understandable. If the Negaverse didn't want to encounter such dangers then maybe they shouldn't perform such undeniably inhumane actions?
Who knew, it wasn't as if she could persuade the masses of that and given her own naivety regarding the nuances, she could have been totally wrong in the first place!
"I make everyone realise things will work out in the end," she replied after a moment of consideration and hazarded a smile. "No matter how badly things may go, their wounds will heal and they'll find a way through it," she added. It was perhaps the most succinct explanation she had ever given, normally she rambled on, but evidently she was beginning to slowly understand how her powers affected others...and maybe their value as well.
As to how she was feeling...
A quick glance at her own hands and she took a breath. She seemed ok, a little more achy and tired but nothing debilitating. Whatever he had done to her hadn't been as painful as it potentially could have been. Then again hadn't he reassured her he'd be considerate and not put her in that sort of position?
"I should be good," she added, a firm nod of reassurance following. It wasn't long before a smirk appeared on her lips. "You didn't do a number on me so I think we're good, a little tiredness never hurt anyone."
"Thanks for sticking to your word." She finished. He deserved her gratitude, he didn't have to keep his promises and yet he had. Like December, he might well be one of the 'good' ones..
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2021 4:32 pm
Paracelsian shook his head. There was no suitable way to counter the argument of destroying starseeds through consumption or otherwise, and he was unsure that he would be able to make any propositions towards altering the policy when the time came. He couldn't counter, so he didn't try. The mention of how Adorea's sphere worked gave him something else to focus on. "Ah, so mental magic. It sounds very pleasant." It must have been nice to give people the power to endure, he thought. When he released the senshi, he nodded in response to her thanks. "You're welcome. With some rest, you should be back on your feet soon enough. Speaking of which, I suppose I'll go turn this in and then get some rest myself. Thank you for making my work easier tonight." With that, he began walking off, relieved that tonight's interaction had gone off without a hitch.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2021 1:31 pm
"Certainly doesn't hurt anyone," she confirmed and gave a small wave as he took his leave. She hadn't really had the opportunity to use her magic in a situation that would show it's true strengths. Perhaps when she did have that chance she would begin to understand that she'd criticized her abilities a little too harshly and that they did have their place.
For now though, it seemed beneficial for her to make her way home. She'd take the quieter streets and if anything popped up along the way then she'd take care of it, but he was right when it came to overall strength. She was weaker than normal and given that she was unlikely to come out of these encounters safely with anyone significant it was better not to try her luck.
When she'd recovered she'd return to her musings and her general antics...and perhaps she'd meet a few more on the 'wrong' side were more like him. With a little time she might understand their challenges better and then maybe, just maybe, she could hold out her hand to assist them...
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