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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 1:22 am
Viatrix was hanging out on Encke's shoulder. Again. Encke seemed to come with an abundance of shoulder pals these days, and he glanced once to the wisp that had insisted on tagging along on this patrol - wasn't sure how a wisp could insist, but it very much refused to just stay in his room - before glancing to Viatrix. "Don't you have something better to do?" The question was asked with some level of exasperation. He didn't mind having Viatrix along, but she was a very inconvenient thing to look out for if they ran into a stronger enemy-- Also made it harder for him to jump up buildings and dash if he had to worry about a cat not clawing the s**t out of his shoulder. "No!" Viatrix kneaded his shoulder and clawed it a bit anyway, because of course she did. "Listen, Encke. I got a sense today. A sense we might find a friend." "Is that how awakenings work? You just get a sense you're going to awaken someone today? Ah, today, a mighty fine day for an awakening-" "Quiet, you," she glared mildly at him, before turning her kitty eyes back out to the street in front of them. "Look, I already missed out on awakening you-" "By like ten years." "I'm not here for your sass, Encke!" She papped him lightly with her paw before pointing that same paw out toward a young man she saw walking, holding a cell phone - and then proceeded to stop walking, positioning himself against the wall. "Him. He's a senshi." Encke blinked. "Ah." "See? Told you I had a sense."
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 11:32 pm
Him. He's a senshi.Him, the young man--barely that, really--with a puff of dense curly hair who had leaned himself against the wall of a building, staring down at his phone because someone decided they weren't going to cooperate. 'Someone' being a cluster of pixels on his screen that dodged and weaved. His mothers had suggested that he go take a walk. Fine. It wasn't like he was doing anything at home anyway. A change of pace might do him some good, probably better than watching YouTube videos that were supposed to tell him how to find his life's purpose. None of them had any sort of real merit and honestly felt more like entryways to pyramid schemes. Either that or weird videos about 'gaining power when you feel powerless'. Kamen didn't feel powerless. He felt purposeless. He had quickly grown bored of them and was about to start watching the recent TCG tournament when it had been suggested he go outside. So he was doing the next best thing, with his lunch bag slung over one shoulder and holding the precious cargo of a sandwich and carrot sticks. His mom wanted to make sure he had food as he wandered around, even though his ma had handed him twenty dollars for the same ******** Clefairy," he grumbled under his breath, swirling his finger around and attempting yet another curveball, "I swear to ******** if you pop out of that ball one more time, that was an excellent--" He got the sense he was being looked at, but he figured it was just his grousing about his game and kept at it. He was out of the way of passing foot traffic, and the store whose shopfront he was standing in front of wasn't open anyway--
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2021 2:23 am
"Is he playing PoGo?" Encke's brows knit. "I think he's playing--" "Doesn't matter!" Viatrix pressed back on her hind legs and Encke instantly worried about whatever she was thinking about doing. "He's a senshi! And if his starseed is going off like that, that means a Chaos cat could sense him too! I gotta get him!" Before Encke could even tell her to perhaps think this through a bit better, Viatrix launched and was off, dashing across the street like it was nothing, much to Encke's combined exasperation and alarm, and skidding to a stop like a cartoon nearby the young man who was so passionately playing a phone game. She let out a quiet purr or three, sauntering up to him and rubbing her body against his legs. Encke watched, warily. The moment he looked down to her at all, she looked up to him with her beautiful red eyes, thrumming out a purr of delight at him. Which was then followed with a, "Hi!" Encke across the street groaned, pinched the bridge of his nose, and quickly made his way across the street to likely run the necessary interference. Had she ever actually awoken a senshi? Seriously?
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:34 am
Kamen cursed under his breath as the Clefairy somehow popped out again-- "I swear to--" he felt something rub up against his shins, something soft and fluffy, distracting him. He ended up curving the ball just a bit too far, and--while he still hit the Pokemon he was attempting to--it was far outside of any of the circles. He ignored it for now, far more distracted by the thrumming and rumbling against his leg. A cat? Alright. Sure. There were plenty of strays in the city, and a lot of them were pretty friendly... Kamen started to bend down to greet it with a pat since it seemed to be friendly and clean and lacked fleas. Very clean and lacking fleas, actually. Lacking the vaguely greasy coarse feeling a lot of stray cats had to their fur. ...Maybe he could figure out who exactly was letting their clearly indoor cat wander outdoors in this neighborhood. Perhaps that could be his purpose of the day--she talked. The cat talked. Said an actual word. Had inflection and everything. Was speaking at him. He yelped and bunted the cat just slightly out of instinct. And then was stuck between yelling a, "sorry!" and "Christ, maybe my parents were right about needing a ******** walk--" Oh no, he'd kicked her--
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:39 am
Encke swore under his breath when he saw Viatrix go flying a small distance that she hadn't intended to, speeding up his steps a tad to go interfere with whatever was happening before the cat said anything else ridiculous-- At the instinctual kick, Viatrix yowled quite dramatically, flaring out her body and landing at a small distance. Harrumphed for it, puffing out her fur in instinct before it flattened against her back as she grumbled back, "Yeah, you better be sorry," still talking as if she didn't notice that was the entire problem in the first place. "Jeez, you're like," she glanced up at him, "six of me, so be careful with those long legs of--" "Vi," Encke scooped the cat off the ground, and glanced up to--great, another tall guy--with a murmur of, "I am so sorry-" "Sorry!" Viatrix, naturally, kept talking. "Why are you apologizing to him! He just kicked me!" Encke, in retrospect, realized he probably didn't make this situation look any less ridiculous. He looked like a comic book character. He was holding a talking cat. There was a ball of light literally hanging out over his shoulder. Oh boy... "Listen," Viatrix leveled the young man with a very serious look, "you know about those gang wars you sometimes hear about? Not a gang war. People trying to drain civilians and the people trying to stop them. You can be one of the ones that can stop them." Somehow, Encke didn't think this was going to work, but they were going to have to figure this out before anyone Chaos overheard them...
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 2:26 am
He'd kicked the cat, he'd kicked the cat, he'd kicked the cat-- Well, at least she somehow landed just fine--because of course she did, she was a cat--but then she kept talking, because of course she did. Because she had just been talking to him. Because how the hell was there a cat that talked christ on a cracker his parents had been unbearably right-- Oh, there was a-- Comic book character. The hell did he step out of, Justice League? He guessed the cat was Vi. Alright. Made sense. Vi. Vee. Sounded like a video game character too, honestly. They both looked and sounded like something out of a graphic novel. "Uh, it's fine..." because the comic book character apologized--never mind the fact that the cat was still talking. The comic book character also had a glowing ball of light with him. Alright. He was having an aneurysm. Or something. Something was finally coming for him. He didn't remember what he could have read or watched recently that would explain why Freckles looked like that, but Kamen was prepared to roll with it. Gang wars. Yeah, he heard reference to them. Shrugged it off as things that he would hear about in most any city. It was when she--the cat--started mentioning draining civilians and him being able to stop them -- Oh, no thank you. Oh, he was out of there. "My moms said I'm not allowed to get involved in fights with supervillains until I'm twenty-one!" And he bolted.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 2:44 am
" Motherfu--" The PoGo guy ran, saying something about supervillains. (That would have probably been funny if he wasn't agitated.) Great. This was definitely the impression he wanted to make on civilians. This was going super well. Encke glanced down at Viatrix with an exasperated, " Really?" because of all things that had happened lately--everyone yelling at the aliens, Basiluzzo nearly dying--this quite possibly ranked as the most annoying. "By Cosmos, why can't senshi just self awaken like the knights-" Viatrix bounced up in his arms and pointed her paw ahead. "Well, after him!" "Are you serious?!" "Yes! His starseed's doing the thing, and if I can sense it, so can every Chaos cat in a ten-mile radius!" That seemed like an exaggeration, and chasing down this poor guy made him feel like a bad guy, but she was right. He couldn't really let the guy <******** off he went after him.
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 3:16 am
Oh s**t he was chasing him. Oh s**t oh s**t he was fast. Oh s**t oh s**t oh s**t-- Kamen pushed himself even faster even as he could hear the guy gaining on him. He was not the athletic type, much to his misfortune. This other guy seemed very much to be the athletic type. Just his luck. He was going to get mugged by a clown and a talking cat. He slowed down, realizing that he was going to be caught by the clown and the talking cat, and then stopped. Kamen looked over his shoulder at the guy and cat chasing him. And then bolted to the side.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 3:22 am
This felt like the exact opposite of what he was supposed to be doing as a senshi. Chasing down civilians wasn't really in his purview. Unless they were doing something catastrophically bad, he guessed. If he were to be the witness of a soon-to-be murder he would chase down that civilian and also maybe-- Oh, he didn't look as straight-faced when he turned around. "You'll catch him!" said Viatrix, excitedly, and Encke very much wanted to throw her at him for just a vital few moments but did not- Oh, he slowed down. Alright, maybe this would be easier than he- Really! Again! "Vi," griped Encke, holding the cat tight to his chest as he bolted after the not-so-athletic senshi-to-be once more, the wisp trying its best to keep up with him, "why couldn't you do this the normal way?!" "What was the normal way?!" she barked back at him. "How did you get awoken?!" "I don't remember!" "Why not?!" "I was disassociating at the time!"
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 3:44 am
Kamen could feel his lungs and legs already burning, but he wasn't about to stop for the glowstick brigade. He just had to get somewhere where there was more people around. A more crowded location! It was harder to get abducted or mugged in a crowded location! Was he supposed to weave or something?! Or was that with alligators? He was pretty sure it wasn't with alligators! Kamen was, however, pretty sure of the area he was in, and he knew that there was a shortcut to that more crowded locale he was looking for. A passthrough, an alley just over--there! Kamen skidded nearly to a stop to make the corner necessary to fling himself down that alleyway. On the other side of the alleyway was a main thoroughfare, and it should let him out close to a bus-- Kamen skidded fully to a stop as he rounded the corner to take the alley. By the time he stopped, he was several paces down and looking up at way, way too many eyes and just as many too many teeth. Oh. He went to take a step back. It grinned, salivated, and took a step toward him. He took another step back. It took another step forward. Back. Forward. Back. Forward. He whirled back to the clown and the cat. "Give me whatever it is!"
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 3:50 am
"Get him!" "I'm working on it, Vi! I'm - oh, s**t -" "What's the oh s**t for!" "You can't-" Perhaps Viatrix was too focused on the senshi-to-be, but Encke sensed another thing to worry about in the vicinity. Starseeds giving off that kind of power were clearly an attraction to youma, considering he could recognize that tingle from anywhere even when he was powered up. And the guy was running into the alleyway right for-- Encke pursued to the edge of the alleyway and stopped, watching as the man backed up. Watching as the monster stepped forward. Watching as he backed up. Watching as the monster seemed to gain even more teeth, its face cracking open to a grin as drool dripped out of the side of its mouth. It blinked its too many eyes of too many holes and it looked like they were being beseeched for the-- The guardian cat in Encke's arms was very much staring at the monster as the boy came toward him, saying, "Ah," as she suddenly realized the actual problem. She then followed it up with a very flat, "Gross." Oh, right, the senshi was talking to her. "Finally!" Viatrix twirled her paw in the air and lightly tossed a henshin pen in the guy's direction. "Just say Ran Power, Make-up! I know, it sounds ridiculous! But you'll get magic!" She jerked her head to the monster. "Then you can get rid of Drooly McEyesface."
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2021 2:08 am
He wished she would talk faster. If she was going to be a talking cat, she needed to be a faster talking cat. He snatched the pen out of the air and was repeating, "Ran Power, Make-up," as soon as he could parse the words. Yes they sounded ridiculous, but dying by a B-movie horror would also be ridiculous. It would be stupid, and Kamen wasn't here for it. A moment later, he stood in front of the monster in a white leotard and a long skirt. The gloves were an interesting touch, and Kamen--or, Ran--appreciated the sneakers. But he didn't have much time to contemplate the sneakers. He'd think about them later. For now, he had to do something about, and he quoted, 'Drooly McEyesface.' Eloquent for a talking cat, ignoring the fact that Ran didn't really have anything to compare her to. "Okay, now what? You mentioned magic?" Ran refused to look away from the monster, taking another step back. Hopefully the cat--and the clown with her--had a clue for that, too. Hopefully before he got eaten--
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2021 3:56 pm
Encke glanced around the newly dubbed Sailor Ran to the monster and the way it had taken another step closer to Ran, another step that involved it reaching its arms out and blinking its way too many eyes, opening its mouth just a bit wider as if it intended to have lunch-- "Vi!" Encke was fully ready to throw her off him. "Do you need me to handle this!" "No, I got it! He's gotta practice his magic!" There was that word again, in case Sailor Ran hadn't believed the whole magic thing the first time. Encke glanced between Viatrix, Ran, and the monster and evaluated how much time she had to actually make him use his magic, if that was what she was going to insist on doing that day in that particular moment when he could have probably just-- Viatrix tapped a few times on her headset as she looked at Ran, humming a quiet, Hmmm, under her breath. Then, "Aha!" Before Encke could get out are you going to share with the class, she continued with a, "You're apparently the Senshi of Games. Uh. Try... Token Capture? I think that might be your attack?" Maybe? She was guessing here. "Or like, Game Capture? Meeples?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2021 8:46 pm
He stopped in his tracks to stare at her incredulously. " Meeples?" Ran glanced furtively toward the encroaching monster. Nothing. Damn. On the other hand, 'meeples' would've been really embarrassing-- But Token Capture? That... that one sounded better. Sounded right. Ran whirled back toward the monster, calling out, "Token Capture!" as it approached him. A card appeared in his hand out of nowhere, and he felt the impulse to fling it haphazardly at the monster approaching him. It was just... a playing card? But maybe it was razor-edged or something, something that could do damage-- Or it could open a pothole under the monster as Ran backpedaled....
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2021 9:24 pm
Viatrix frowned when her last guess seemed to have missed the mark, and tapped on her headset again with a paw as she considered what else might have worked, but Ran seemed to have gone back to one of her other suggestions. And it worked! She let out a victorious whoop as the youma closed its far too many eyes and let out a horrific screech. It stumbled over the card and its leg bled as it sliced across it. The entire ground was a slick pit, and the monster seemed to struggle to gain its balance in it, which was keeping it plenty distracted as Viatrix shouted, "Again! That should do it!" "I could just--" "He needs to practice!!"
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