|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2021 5:27 pm
The aliens, their plans, and their weapons were all concepts that had consumed Cybele's thoughts just a few weeks ago. In the evenings, she'd go out to the hills at the edge of town to watch them. At night, she'd repeat Lyndin's words to herself over and over again, trying to decipher the truth of them, before she drifted off to sleep. Now all of that seemed distant and difficult to focus on. She'd seen death before. She'd lost people before, in more ways than she could count. It hadn't been like this, though. She'd been making friends among the ranks of Order, promising to watch people's backs and to have them watch hers. They talked about other things, too. Shoes, sometimes. This one had talked about movies a lot. Then the General had shown up and stolen his starseed, and with it, the light from his eyes. Cybele couldn't get his blank, dying, face out of her head, as much as she tried. They'd only spent so much time together, but she still felt empty, walking down the streets alone. When she wasn't thinking about him, her thoughts turned to her time in the Negaverse. She'd starseeded two girls in an alleyway one night, teenagers who were passing a cigarette back and forth. She remembered the face that the second had made as the first had dropped to the ground. She'd been wide-eyed, wailing. Terrified, yes, but also distraught. She hadn't felt guilty about it at the time. Now, she wanted to throw up. Was this how she'd made people feel? Going out alone might not have been safe. She'd fallen into one of Sylvite's traps the night after the boy had died, and that had her shaken in its own way, but Cybele had never been one to hide away when the stress built up. She walked down the sidewalk, clenched fists trembling at her sides. Head spinning, she turned back to old instincts. She needed to find something to punch.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2021 12:07 am
The arrival of the aliens, the arrival of Caedus and Lyndin, and the fulfilled promise that came with them - they came with a force, they came prepared, they were determined to finally end the Negaverse threat - well, it had occupied Encke's thoughts for much of the last few weeks too, occasionally dropping by to leave them a bit of that extra energy after coming back from a comet trip, hoping that maybe some of that pure transcendent energy would get them there a bit faster. If anything, those efforts had only redoubled after Basiluzzo had so insisted on going out alone, after he warily sent Viatrix behind him, after she called with a frantic warning that he needed to hurry up because there was a starseed loose and she was fairly sure it wasn't the civilian's-- He shivered. It also had him back to mostly patrolling by himself for the moment, partially hoping that he wouldn't sense anything. Not that he was unwilling to deal with it; he had already chased off a lieutenant and a captain that evening. Every stronger aura he felt had him wary, though. If it was Faustite, he wasn't entirely sure he trusted himself at the moment, and he needed to reserve his spare energy for helping power the anti-Metallia comet laser. An Order aura was much easier to deal with. An Order super, at that, and he decided perhaps he'd go intercept them just in case they needed someone to patrol with. Oh, she was ... storming his way. Encke stopped in his tracks and attempted to make himself as non-threatening as possible as he lifted his hand in an attempt at a friendly wave. If she wanted to be left alone, he'd let her be, but - Oh, wasn't that ... wasn't that Cybele?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Codebreaking Conversationalist
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2021 6:19 am
No agents were appearing out of darkened alleyways to oppose her, which was fine. No youma were, either. Technically that was probably a good thing, but it did leave Cybele feeling somewhat unsatisfied as she paced the streets. Eventually, another Order aura came onto her radar. It was bright, but not in an unfamiliar way. Most of the ones she'd ended up closest to were Transcendent Eternals, and her curiosity about who was out broke through some of the other feelings, at least enough that she switched her path to pace in that direction instead. When she got closer, though, she came across someone who was only passingly familiar. He waved at her, though, and she waved back, even as she took a moment to let her gaze linger on the markings on his arms before she looked him in the face. "Hello," she said, giving one of those practiced smiles despite everything. "I've seen you around, haven't I? When we fought that monster in space, and then," she tilted her head, "The other monster in space." She went quiet for a moment, pressing her lips together before she added, "You haven't happened to see any more of them, have you? I could use something to punch tonight, and if I could glow afterwards, that would be a bonus."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2021 3:49 pm
Encke spread out his arms a bit to let Cybele inspect the markings on him as she inspected. She didn't seem to know who he was. That was worrisome, but he and Anser had talked since Anser had started seeing Cybele again. Encke had seen how angry Anser was, how her rage could have set fires by its simple existence alone. To some degree, he was expecting her to only recognize him by where they had recently crossed paths. Still hurt, in a way. Still hurt that the Negaverse had just taken- Like they had taken- Except he would not have been taken- "Yeah," Encke rubbed his neck, "lots of space monsters lately, haven't there been?" Honestly, a bit concerning. "Good to see you're doing okay. Sadly, haven't seen any other space monsters." He could definitely agree with her, though; getting to glow afterward would be a nice bonus. What had happened to Basiluzzo recently had perhaps only redoubled his absolute determination to make sure that everyone was protected; at the very least, if they were to somehow meet their worst potential fate, it wouldn't be the absolute worst option. He couldn't think like that. It was hard not to. "But if it's transcendence you're looking for, you're in the right place. I've been trying to help more people transcend for a few years now." He offered his hand and a lop-sided smile. He could understand the anger. Could feel it. Was still a bit off and shaken and quite relieved that the auras he was finding were ones that were easier to trust himself with. "Eternal Encke of Plasma." Maybe he should give her some context. "Also, Anser's older brother."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Codebreaking Conversationalist
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2021 3:35 pm
Cybele let out a low sound, something that sounded suspiciously like a stifled sigh if Encke was listening closely. The restlessness, the anxiety, was palpable, and if she could find some monster to release it all on, that would make things just a bit easier. His offer of helping her Transcend didn't seem to reassure her much. "Are you going to tell me to go to my asteroid?" she asked, her voice flat, not annoyed but not particularly hopeful, either. "I tried that." Although she was cut off from telling him just how that had gone when he said the name Anser. At that point, she just blinked at him for several drawn out moments. She'd known that he seemed familiar. She'd assumed that it had just been from the few times she'd seen him in passing, but he seemed to know who she was, and he definitely knew that she knew Anser. Which meant it only seemed polite to ask, before they went any farther, before she said nice to meet you if they'd already met, even in a different version of her life, "Did I know you?" Then afterwards, she added the caveat that was becoming all too familiar. "I'm sorry. I was corrupted for a bit. I don't remember much."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2021 6:18 pm
It was palpable and Encke could understand it. Deeply. Enough so that just sensing it from her was enough to make him bounce on the tips of his toes minutely, attempting to keep himself from seeming too anxious and making her more anxious in the process. When she asked if he would tell her to go to her asteroid, his smile was wry. Yes. No. They'd get to that. Probably good that they cover the ground and the unknowns in the middle, first. "Yes. Not as well as my sister, but," he rubbed his neck. "I get it. The corruption thing. You're not the first ally I've had who has been forcefully corrupted and then brought back." Sedna. He hadn't known her when she was Sedna the first time, but from what Encke had gathered, that had been a good thing. He was one of the only people trying to bring her back that wasn't already invested in a ghost. He knew, at least, to respect that for Cybele - didn't know if she wanted to be thought of as a new person with the same name of Cybele and some spotty memories or the original one with memory gaps. "We did work together. Saved starseeds. From the general that's always on fire, if you recognize him." That ******** image of that glittering starseed flooded his mind. He let out a thin breath. "Sorry. Came across him again recently." Too many times. Just purify. Or go away. Something. Anything but stick his hand in Basiluzzo's chest again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Codebreaking Conversationalist
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 5:12 pm
Cybele's smile was thin. "I'm glad you understand. It still always feels a bit rude when I don't recognize someone who I've fought beside." Someone her old self had fought beside. Cybele still had trouble reconciling herself with the person she'd used to be. She no longer called the old Cybele dead, or completely distanced herself from the consequences of her former actions. Others told her that her that much of her personality had carried over, but it was still strange, when she didn't have memories. At least Encke seemed to understand this better than some of the others did. Her lips pressed even thinner at the mention of the General on fire, though. "Faustite," she said, voice low. Her stomach had twisted the first time she'd seen him. At the time she hadn't realized it, but now she was becoming more and more certain that it was because they were old enemies. "He said I broke his wrist before. I thought that he was holding it against me and that he didn't like me even while I was corrupted, but," she inhaled sharply, "Now it almost seems that he wants me back?" That was possibly turning into him just wanting her dead, which was better, but still. Her hands still curled into fists at her sides, the tension only growing as the conversation brought back all the thoughts that had barraged her in recent days.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 11:49 pm
In one breath he found himself thankful that he had the experience that allowed him to understand what Cybele was going through. In the next, he hated that this was a repeatable situation. Sure, He knew Sedna wasn't the only one. Knew Cybele wouldn't be the last one. But he wish it wasn't common enough for him to have so easily known at least two. ... And that was the two who returned ... Great. She had run into Faustite too. Seemed that their common enemy might remain that way. "Wouldn't surprise me. If they forced you with the intention of making you a pawn for them, and you were useful in that sense, he wants you back." He pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course, if they did force her back, no proof she would be the same for them as she was before. Of course, if they did force her back, could her starseed even handle it? He hadn't known anyone else to swap that many times. What would it do to them? What would it do to their personality, their life-- "Plus, they don't seem to take well to losing those that they've decided are theirs very well." His bouncing grew a bit more rapid as he thought not only of the reasons why Cybele had seen him but the reasons why he had seen him-- "He took my husband's starseed. Don't know how I got there in time. Civilian knocked it out of his hand, I guess." And then Viatrix beamed him when Encke attempted to reason from a distance to stop Faustite from just crushing Basiluzzo's neck--
|
|
|
|
|
|
Codebreaking Conversationalist
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:07 am
“Faustite is-“ Cybele cut herself off, not sure how to finish her sentence save with another sharp breath through her teeth. “In some ways, we have a lot in common. He was forced into the Negaverse, you know, more or less forced into being a half-youma. He lost his identity in the process somewhere.” Cybele’s eyes flicked downward, voice steady but not overly emotional. “He doesn’t feel human after all that, and neither did I, for a time, so,” She trailed off again and let her silence speak for itself. They hadn’t bonded, exactly. They hadn’t been friends, but there had been something there. “I stopped taking starseeds, though. He hasn’t, even after years. He’s taking his anger out in the wrong places.” Her lips went thin. “I’m glad your husband’s all right.” It sounded like it had been a close thing. Did she have sympathy for Faustite? Yes. Was it looking more and more like his best chance of freedom from chaos was going to be in the next life? That was also a yes. “Anyway,” said Cybele, rolling her shoulders and setting her jaw and trying to keep a bit more still, “A few people have hinted that they want me back. I don’t know if it’s true or if they’re just saying it to throw me off. I know the orders out are to kill me for being a traitor.” She made air quotes around ‘traitor’. “I don’t care. If there’s even a chance they want me back, I need to glow. I can’t do that again.” Her voice cracked as she said it, the feelings finally coming through.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:28 pm
In a strange way, he empathized, and he wasn't sure entirely how to articulate it. Even now, he wasn't very open about his past. There were very few people who knew of his introduction to the war. Some people could make something of a connection. If the name Ignacio Araya was entered into search engines with connections with Destiny City, time had started to bury that under references to acting but it wouldn't take much to find old articles from 2009 about the teenagers who survived Barren Pines. And anyone who lived in Destiny City long enough knew that organ ring was probably enough to be suspicious-- He bit his lip. "Understand the feeling of inhumanity." There was that. "And thank you. Same. Never want to see his soul again." It had been a very close thing. Orders were out to kill her for being a traitor. Others wanted to bring her back. Made sense. The Negaverse seemed quite touchy over their own. Either way, both were bad. One probably meant her starseed would feed their machine, their Metallia. The other meant that she would be torn to even more pieces, memories gone that she didn't even know she had, again, brought back to the brink of inhumanity and not wanting to live and -- she was right. She needed to glow. Encke agreed that most people needed to glow, but the situation seemed especially special for those that came back from the Negaverse. Sedna had the same sensation. "Agreed," his voice was a bit grim considering the situation as he ran his hand through his hair. "It can take time. You'll need to show your planet that you care for it. That you'd like to help restore it. Restore the place in space where your people used to live. And then it will choose to reward you." He had encouraged several people to get more in touch with their planets and wonders. A certain Basiluzzo was finally listening to him. Anser had transcended. Pendour had transcended. Sedna had been working toward it. Keiko seemed to be, too. Could he help here? "Your place in space can be beautiful and its rewards can be beautiful in turn. I'm willing to help."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Codebreaking Conversationalist
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2021 4:41 pm
Cybele had seen plenty of starseeds come out of people’s chests. That was the sort of thing that happened when you spent months collecting them as the Negaverse’s hunting dog, and then turned heel and fought them just as fiercely in battles to the death. In all that time, she hadn’t seen a single soul returned to it body. Encke and his husband had gotten very, very lucky, and she understood why he was so shaken by it. There was so little you could do when the starseed was already in someone’s hand. So little. Cybele found herself shaking again despite her best efforts, under Encke’s gaze. “My friend got starseeded about a week ago,” she admitted. “Died.” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk about it, exactly, but there was no point hiding it either, when they were skirting so close to the subject. “It’s why I’m looking for things to punch.” Her eyes flicked upwards. “It’s why I’m looking for ways to protect myself.” Cybele the asteroid was far too small to see from the city, but she’d gotten into the habit of staring at the stars anyway. Yes, it seemed Encke was telling her to go there. “Cybele is already beautiful,” she said, voice still somewhat flat. “I just don’t know-“ she trailed off, not sure how to end that sentence. She didn’t know if her world liked her? That sounded ridiculous. She didn’t know if her asteroid would ever like her, or if her damaged starseed was keeping her from being able to connect with her world at all? She still didn’t know what it had been that had been keeping her from space before her corruption? “I don’t know if there’s much to fix up,” she said in the end. “It’s a forest.” Although she glanced back over at him, since he was here. She held out a hand. “If we’re going to talk about this, it might be easier to show you.” It was true that she could probably use a second opinion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2021 6:05 pm
He appreciated the sympathy, the understanding, and having the starseeding actively acknowledged by someone else who understood made Encke's stance wilt for just a moment; he was shaken, even if he had been trying his best to bury it down under continued patrols and continued work against the Negaverse. Hearing that she had outright lost a friend to it made the wilted expression turn to one of sympathy, and he nodded in understanding. "Felt that." He rubbed his shoulder. "Don't think I'd trust myself if I happened to see the right Negaverser right now." He tried his best to keep by his stance of only attacking those who were an active threat. So many of them were just pawns of Metallia, so many of them had purified to escape a horrible situation. But at what point did their continued existence make them an active threat? At what point did his priority need to take a different bend? It was a lot to think about, a lot of why he hoped the beam worked-- "Maybe it's not about something to fix, necessarily. I know my mission was fixing, I know Pendour's mission was fixing," he pursed his lips thoughtfully, taking Cybele's hand as he spoke, "but Aokigahara transcended by defeating a dark force on his planet. Anser--she transcended recently by performing a ritual that her planet had done for every Sailor Anser before her." He shifted and gave her hand a supportive squeeze to show he was ready whenever she was. "We'll see if we can suss out what your planet might need."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Codebreaking Conversationalist
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2021 3:38 pm
“You don’t trust yourself not to hurt them?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t be. They deserve it.” The breathiness grew stronger in her voice, the sorrow and rage she was feeling over her friend’s death nearly coming out as tears. Instead, she gulped down a deep breath, then added, “And I’m saying that as someone who was one of them.” She redirected her attention to drawing her phone out of subspace, looking through the apps until she found the one that would take her up to her asteroid. She took Encke’s hand, carefully enough that she didn’t squeeze him in a vice grip from all the nerves. Then, she pressed the button. For the briefest moment, everything went dizzyingly blurry, and when it cleared, they were no longer on Earth. They were, in fact, in a forest. The trees around them were the giant, old growth type, with burls and tangles of roots and pale silver bark. They were also very, very dead. The empty branches reached out across a soft violet sky, one that was a bit dimmer than broad daytime on Earth would have been. The undergrowth was in slightly better shape. Flowers like the ones in Cybele’s tiara were visible here and there. It was all woods, though, as far as they could see. “I came up here for the first time after Aokigahara transcended,” she said, stepping away from Encke so that she could curl her hands white-knuckled tight again. “With all the space monsters, I thought I might be able to find something to hunt, like he did, but,” she shrugged and let the silence of the place speak for itself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2021 9:06 pm
Don't be. They deserve it. It was something that stuck in Encke's head that he couldn't help bristling slightly against. Did they? Did they deserve hurt just for being a member of the Negaverse? At what point did they push over the edge? How did he interpret that edge? Had Faustite crossed that edge? Did it make it different that he wasn't so much worried about hurting them as he was worried about becoming blinded by rage? He swallowed that fear down as they were transported into the abyss of space and to an asteroid that Cybele called her own. A forest. Giant forest, with pale silver bark and blanketing the sky as far as he could see. Encke could imagine that in its glory days that perhaps those trees would be full of leaves that'd blot out the sky and greens and blue reflections and perhaps in the silver of the bark. The violet of the sky was beautiful, the undergrowth that was beginning to sprout even more so. He stepped forward when she allowed him, touching his hands to one of the trees and letting himself, for a moment, breathe in the air. On the exhale, he murmured, "Beautiful." He was still listening. "There's no one here." Encke let out a deep sigh, before turning back toward Cybele, "Not for now, anyway." All these planets should be populated-- "The trees are dead but the ground is alive. This is good. Your planet's responding to you." He could see the sparse flowers on the ground reflected on her tiara. "Where have you looked so far? Is it just forest so far as you can see?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
Codebreaking Conversationalist
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 7:09 am
Cybele kept her eyes on the trees, which were beautiful, even as lifeless as they were. The beauty of this place had never been a question. She did like it here, she thought. It was just strange. Too quiet. Dead. On top of that, it didn't feel particularly special. Nothing spoke to her, here. She shook her head a bit when Encke said the world was reacting to her presence. "When I purified, Ganymede told me that my asteroid would be waiting for me," said Cybele. "Scylla told me the same thing a few weeks later, when she let me visit her homeworld. I visited for the first time not too long after that. They're Transcended, as well, if you didn't know. I thought that they'd bonded with their worlds somehow, so they would be the experts on that, but-" She walked over to a tree, pressed her hand flat against its bark, and then sighed. "It's just a place. Pretty, but it's not like there's a voice coming from the core of the world that's whispering 'welcome home'. There's no signs or omens for me. No memories, even," she paused and bit her lip, "And from what I hear, that's something that everyone's supposed to get." The flowers were one of the few signs that this place was hers, since they matched her outfit, and she glanced down at them once more, but in the end she shook her head again. "These were here before." She squinted when he asked where she'd looked already, trying to get her bearings in the twisted woods.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
