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 Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 9:20 pm
Her Page was lying in a puddle of her own blood.
It had been impulse that made the youma demand Arsenolite help her get Houshi away, a flicker of sentiment that Kiyokonu had thought long deadened in her transformation. And yet, sentiment remained.
Houshi was laid out in the ground—not exactly dignified, but better than being abandoned to the strange youma-General’s flames, Kiyo thought.
It was unfortunate, that the Captain she'd seen had chosen killing over corruption--Kiyokinu was still certain that she would have made a fine officer. But Houshi Ryokan was lying bleeding, and most everyone else had cleared out--just a single Lieutenant left behind to witness a youma lying down and resting her head on Houshi's stomach.
"You could have been great," she told the unconscious girl. "It's too bad the other side found you first."Orangeish Sherbert made some tweaks to account for end of ORP
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Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2021 9:27 pm
Arsenolite swallowed heavily, kneeling in the mud next to Houshi and moving some of her hair from her face gently. The youma had startled him at first, but she seemed to know a lot more about all this than he did, and he'd listened to her, getting Houshi away from the fire that someone had started. He just wanted to keep her safe, somehow. In whatever way he could. He wasn't sure what he could do, at this point, but... Something. He hoped.
"I didn't want this for her," he said heavily, "I didn't know her very well, but I was hoping that... that was a yet, you know? That I could get her corrupted instead, because she... Makes me feel things I haven't felt in... ever, probably."
His eyes twisted shut and he pretended the tears on his face were the rain. "Atheneite is gonna pay for this somehow. I swear."
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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:59 am
Tinaksite wasn’t really one for technology. She had the communication tablet, and she tried to make use of it as often as she could...but just because she had it and tried to use it, that didn’t mean she knew how to.
She had no idea of the battle that had just gone on. Of the injuries that had been sustained and the kidnapping of a corrupt...she had no inkling at all. Scatterbrained was simply a state of being that she enjoyed living in.
The three energy signatures, two chaos and one order...one that...felt as though it were fading slightly order...she was interested and made her way over, stopping as she got closer, staring at the vibrantly colored hair of…
“Thief!” The word was pulled from her mouth before she was able to really take in the full situation. There was blood...a lot of blood, and Tinaksite frowned slightly. “...What happened? Why is she…”
...Dying?
No. No, not until Tinaksite got her weapon back could this girl die...that...wasn’t how things were supposed to work.
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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:22 pm
Kiyokinu lifted her head to regard the unfamiliar Captain, and huffed.
"An overeager Captain decided to skewer her," she said, and she nudged her nose at Houshi's cheek. "She is, I think...already gone, but--"
She stopped speaking, because her nose was sensitive, and she felt a wisp of breath across the skin, with her face so near Houshi's mouth.
Kiyokinu had heard things. Officers talked around youma, often, and she had heard tales of nearly-dead officers being saved by the magic of a youma merge. Perhaps....she straightened, and stood.
"Call a General Sovereign. She can be saved, but only if we act very quickly, and she must be corrupted first." Her lion-tail swished agitatedly. "Speed is of the essence. In the meantime, try to stop the bleeding."
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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:47 pm
Arsenolite nodded, gesturing to the Captain that he didn't know to provide medical aid while he worked on getting someone here. She hadn't been here for the battle and it made him a bit mistrustful of her ability to actually use the damn tablet.
God, okay, he just tapped on the first General-Sovereign on list. Axinite. (Followed by Hessonite and Lepidolite, because he kept things in alphabetical order. Even if his life wasn't well-organized, at least his communicator was.)
URGENT. Need corruption. Squire is near-death. Central Park, not too far south from the main fountain.
He really hoped he wasn't about to get his a** kicked over this.
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Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:20 pm
Axinite always had his tablet on him, at his desk. He was typically aware of messages that were sent to him in seconds, and that meant that as soon as the message flashed across his screen, he was in the park. Not quite near them, but he corrected and teleported right next to them as soon as he felt their energy signatures. His mouth had been open to speak and it seemed like he’d been holding his breath so he could do so as soon as he arrived. “I can’t bring people back from the brink of death,” he announced, because he couldn't work all miracles. And yet, he moved to her side to see what he could do; his sleeves were rolled up and he hadn’t come with a weapon. He had a first aid kit, but it wasn’t exactly enough to fix a giant hole through her chest.
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Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:29 pm
When Axinite arrived, Kiyokinu stood, so that she could bow to the General-King. It was good that Arsenolite was so quick with his messages, and that Axinite was quick to respond.
"You cannot bring her back alone, no," Kiyokinu acknowledged, and she moved, touching the tip of her antler-horn to Houshi's chest, just above her starseed. "But in the past--officers have been saved from death by merging with a youma, no? And I am here, and will attempt to merge with her, if you first corrupt her. She was considering the path regardless, before this...unfortunate incident."
She looked Axinite in the eyes. "Better a live officer, half-youma or no, yes?"[quote="The Space Cauldron"
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Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2021 2:30 pm
Half youma? Tinaksite perked up a little...this was something she knew about. Knew how to deal with. She looked at the General King and nodded slowly. “I can assist. I know two half youma. They are my friends. If you are able to do this...I can assist. I am Captain Tinaksite, and she has stolen my weapon...but I will drop my grudge if she is on our side.”
She licked her lips, glancing at the youma, wanting to know more about the fact that the girl had wanted to join them anyway...it was news to her...though...since they had met only twice...it wasn’t a surprise that it was news.
“I can help. Help her adjust. I am good with that. I can stay in the barracks with her. I will cook…be her friend.”
Oh.
Oh that…
She could be her friend.
The thought made the captain almost dizzy with joy.
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:04 pm
Arsenolite blinked, staring at the youma with an open mouth. "You.... you're going to give up your life to save her?" he asked quietly, eyes wide. "Is that...Are you sure?" Of course he wanted Houshi alive, but sacrificing someone else—someone on their side—to do so... It didn't sit well with him.
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:46 pm
This was not the time for formalities; Axinite nodded his head to the youma when she spoke to him out of habit, but he did not greet the others nor give them more attention than absolutely necessary. He worked well under pressure, but the loss of one life, one of their own, would always weigh heavily on him. Guilt was already on his face. “You ask me to further maim her in order to save her. And to sacrifice yourself in the process.” He was checking Houshi’s vitals, because if he was going to do this, she was going to need to be alive for it. Axinite derived no joy from this; he was calculating things in his head; his brows were furrowed and his lips had pressed together in a grim line. “You can’t undo this decision,” he said to Kiyokinu. And yet, was a youma’s purpose not to serve Metallia in the greater good of all things? If she was choosing to sacrifice herself, she must have thought that Houshi was worth it. That, alive, she could better serve Metallia. “She will need help,” he said, eyes darting to Tina for a split second before returning to Kiyokinu. His hand was on Houshi’s chest, and then in it, and his fingers curled around her starseed. He didn't know if this would work. It might have been a waste of resources. But, he could try. “If you’ve change your mind, tell me now. If you want to go through with it…” He didn’t have to say the rest. If she wanted to go through with this, she needed to make it happen.
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:56 pm
"I am aware of what I am asking. What I am choosing," Kiyokinu replied. It was sweet, she supposed, for Axinite to be concerned about her; she wondered how many others would even take a moment to weigh the life of a youma against that of a human.
She lowered her head, and pressed her nose to Houshi's chest, and focused. The flow of Chaos around her was something to focus on, and so was the dimming but present light of Houshi's starseed--although she could not see it, she could feel it. So she let herself follow it, and follow the streams of Chaos from Axinite, and the youma Kiyokinu was utterly unmade.It took a moment. Then two. But as Kiyokinu vanished in a whirl of shadows, there was a moment--and the Page changed. As Chaos poured into her starseed, and as the essence of the youma merged with her own, her uniform shifted, and so did her physical form. She went, in a moment, from Page to Captain, and when the transformation was complete, Houshi Ryokan was gone--but she breathed.
The transformation was effective; the Page they had sought to save was alive and remade into a Captain of the Negaverse. Her eyes opened, and she sat up, and she looked around her in befuddlement.
"What...happened?" She asked, and she reached up a hand, and made a small gasping noise whe it came into view--the new Captain was sure that although she remembered nothing, she most certainly would have remembered being nonhuman? And yet, there was nothing, merely a vast, gaping blank where any memory of who she was or what happened to her should have been.
There was no sign of the grievous wound that had nearly ended her life on her new uniform; the upgrade and transformation had cleaned all the blood and mud and detritus from her, as surely as it had wiped her knowledge of her near-death and the circumstances leading up to it.
For no-longer-Houshi, it might have never happened. Except that there was a warmth in her heart, a feeling of success and contentment (the remnants, perhaps, of Kiyokinu's desire to save her), and it was the only thing that kept her from panicking in the face of a reality that was strange and nearly hostile.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2021 7:00 am
Watching someone turn into ha half youma was...kind of magical. Tinaksite’s eyes were wide as she watched the process, and as they almost greedily took in the new Captain, with her flowing clothes and lovely hair and tail...and that horn, she swallowed and nodded slowly.
“You have been saved. You are beautiful. I am Tinaksite. You are a member of the Negaverse now, with the responsibility to protect this planet from the invading senshi and knights.” Her voice was surprisingly firm, and her eyes were only for the half youma.
Who had been a thief, who had stolen her weapon but…
That clearly didn’t matter now. “You are home.” She paused and her eyes moved around the area, shrugging after a moment. “Or you will be when we take you to Negaspace. I will help you.”
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2021 3:49 pm
Arsenolite swallowed as she transformed before his eyes, leaving her beautiful and one of them. Chaos. And apparently amnesiac. God, he'd have to consider what to tell her carefully, huh? He exhaled slowly, nodding as Tinaksite explained. "I'll help too. Before you were this, we were... friends, kinda." He reached out and squeezed no-longer-Houshi's hand (and vaguely wondered what her name would be going forward). "We're gonna be here for you." Turning to Axinite, he gave him a grateful smile and a bow. "Thank you, sir. For saving her. I'm in your debt."
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 5:14 pm
Axinite sank back a bit, not quite sitting on the ground but looking like he could have benefited from a few good moments of breathing. A cold sweat had collected across his forehead and his breathing was forcibly even. He didn’t answer immediately, probably because he was doing his best to collect himself while drawing as little attention as possible. He shook his head at Arsenolite’s words. “You owe me no debt.” If there had ever been one, Kiyokinu had paid it in full. He looked at the new Captain and took in her appearance, and there was something of guilt in his face because she might have been alive but he knew what future awaited her. He hoped she would understand. He hoped she appreciated it. “You three should go back to the Dark Kingdom and rest. Take a bit of time to recover and figure out how you intend to move forward.” A Lieutenant. A new Captain. It was a lot of ask of Tinaksite, so he sucked in a breath and forced himself to stand. “Do you three want to go together? I can take us all down. We can get things sorted out. You’re in good hands,” he promised the new Captain. “We’ll explain everything, somewhere safer.”
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Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2021 2:53 am
Not-Houshi looked between the three people in front of her, feeling a sense of confusion and disorientation at their words. But they all....they all seemed like they wanted to help her, and that was surely enough, wasn't it? She was alive, and she felt safe, even if she was bizarrely shaped and her memories were an utter white void.
"I have been.....saved," She said, voice soft and a bit confused, like she was puzzling over the concept. Saved. From what? Or whom? What had these strangers rescued her from, and was it the thing that had resulted din her transformation?
....Why did she feel an ache in her chest, like something was missing? Other than her memories, obviously.
She looked at Arsenolite next, tilting her head to the side. "And we...were friends?" That was good. friends were good. Friends meant safety and protection, and friends meant people she could, perhaps, rely on.
The man with the orange hair and the powerful aura certainly seemed to think she could rely on these two, and on him, and that made her feel a little bit better. Everything was strange and new and confusing, yes, but there would, it seemed, be time to find her answers.
"Take me to this....Negaspace, yes," she said. "I would like to hear all your explanations."
She shifted, slowly, to try and get her feet under her, and found that they didn't quite balance like she thought they should--but maybe that was just the unfamiliarity.
She would have much to learn, she was sure.
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