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 Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 12:11 am
Monoceros was proud of himself. He'd managed to gather his first energy ball without Arsenolite's help. Sure, he'd also gone out without Arsenolite's knowledge, but he felt like he needed to get out and away from Arsenolite. He had to learn to become his own person again sometime, instead of clinging endlessly to the literal coattails of the person in charge of him like some kind of two year old. He could handle himself. He'd hid whenever there was an Order aura and ensured his own safety. It had felt... really, really good to do it by himself. He knew what he was doing now, even if he was still confused about a lot of things. All he had to do was focus on what he needed to do as a Senshi for the Negaverse and he was sure things would all fall into place in time. ...Right? He went to turn in his energy, nearly running over someone else, so lost was he in his own thoughts. "Oh, gosh, sorry!" he rushed to say, eyes wide. He hadn't met this Senshi before—granted, he'd hardly met anyone in the Negaverse yet, so committed was he to just staying next to Arsenolite and not going anywhere (until recently), but still.
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 1:00 am
Draining energy felt like a chore, now. A terrible, miserable chore that had Lionel constantly looking over his shoulder, because so many people on the other side liked to randomly attack him for the crime of doing his ******** job. It must be nice, to be White Moon, to have no one leaning over your shoulder and shoving you around and insisting that you follow certain rules and do certain things or you would get in deep, deep s**t. The kind it was a struggle to get out of.
And Lionel didn't just have himself to think about. He was it, for Guinevere's structure in the Negaverse. Sure, he was trying to set her up on playdates with other officers, get her out there, make her some new friends, but that was the easy part. And it wasn't exactly fast going. He also didn't want her to run off and go feral on some poor Senshi, when she might regret it later--not that she seemed to have an ounce of regret in her messy little soul.
So he wasn't exactly paying attention to what he was doing--the person he'd gotten to help him get down to Negaspace was gone, but the energy was deposited, and so he needed to find a ride out, and that was going to be annoying.
It was always sort of a surprise when someone nearly bumped into him--Lionel wasn't exactly short, or slight--but still, this was someone higher ranked than him, and Lionel felt an immediate stiffening of his shoulders from fear.
He forced himself to relax, and smile.
"No problem," he said, reaching out to steady the other Senshi. "you okay?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 1:15 am
Monoceros let out an eep when he finally registered just how gigantic the guy was. ********, he was way too short to be running into big dudes like this. He could really get his a** handed to him. "I-I'm fine," he squeaked, blushing hard and looking firmly back at the ground. Sure, he was technically over Lionel in terms of rank, for some reason, but that was scary. He didn't know any of what he was doing, let alone being in charge of people. Having the power over them whether he wanted it or not. He had no idea to do with any of it, and that made it dangerous to him. So he didn't ever even think about using it. He was just too afraid. "So, uh how about you? Didn't hurt anything vital, did I?" he asked lightly, trying to make a joke out of the situation as he rubbed the back of his neck and forced himself to look up. He felt so... empty. All he knew was confusion, pain, and fear. He wanted to run away and curl into a ball under some blankets and never come out. Here he was, doing his best to do better than that, and yet immediately running into a problem the second he started feeling good about himself. Was there even a self left to think about? To feel good about? He was just following what he was told to do. By people he wasn't sure he could trust. But he had nothing else. Nothing but an empty head, a broken soul, and a person who said he knew exactly who Monoceros had been and could help. "I'm short enough to cause serious problems." Maybe there was something left. A glimmer of a potential person. Someone funny, at least. He gave a weak smile, hoping it hid the fear and pain that had suddenly risen to the surface.
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 2:03 am
Lionel relaxed, probably pretty visibly, when the other Senshi made light of the situation. Okay, so he clearly wasn't too pissed, if he was laughing it off. That was a positive, at least--sure, he was tiny, but rank differentials could make up for a lot of weight class, and there was the sheer fact that just by outranking him, this other Corrupt had a shocking amount of power...
Not fun, if he'd been offended.
"I'm fine, it takes more than a little bump to do damage to me." He made a bit of a show of dusting off his uniform, and then shrugged. "So no harm done, don't worry about it."
His smile was easy and more relaxed, and this whole encounter felt way less tense and terrible.
"Down here to turn in your quota? I thought that was mostly on us first-rankers, but I guess middle management still has to do it too. I'm Lionel, by the way. Pleasure to meet you."
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 2:12 am
Monoceros chuckled a bit when Lionel dusted himself off. Okay, good. At least he had a good sense of humor. Smiling sheepishly, he answered, "Well, see, I guess I count as a Captain because I have two different spells I can use? But..." He shrugged. "I've only been here... uh... something like a month, I think? Arsenolite told me when I woke up that the people I knew on the other side abandoned me. Apparently, I was seriously hurt, and corrupting me helped, I guess? So. I haven't really, uh... left my room since I first woke up, much. I'm taking baby steps on getting used to being here. Kinda scary, especially since he doesn't even know I went out. But I felt like... I needed to try to do something on my own. Oh! I'm Monoceros, by the way, sorry. Lovely to meet you, Lionel." He smiled a little more broadly and looked Lionel over a little more closely, feeling something close to human, having such a nice interaction with someone who hadn't been right there when he'd woken up and started talking at him. He felt more relaxed around someone like that. Who he'd clearly never met at all, since Lionel didn't seem to recognize him.
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 2:19 am
Oh.
Oh, s**t.
Lionel forced himself to stay visibly relaxed, but internally he was in turmoil. This was Arsenolite's brother? The one he was having so much trouble with? The one he'd had dragged in kicking and screaming? <******** a duck.
"Oh!" Lionel lied, easily. "Arsenolite is a friend of mine--he mentioned you. Lucky we got you over, it sounded like a rough situation. And lucky to run into you." Lies, lies, more lies, they were falling from his lips like whiskey poured into a glass. "Hey, you're a second stage, you can teleport, right? Do you think you could pop me up to the surface real quick? I can't get out on my own, so if you've got a second and the energy to spare."
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 2:28 am
Monoceros nodded, trying not to show his disappointment. So. Lionel didn't know any details either. This was just... sketchy. But there was nothing to do but trust in Arsenolite, until he got direct dirt. If it came up. "Yeah, I can do that. That's one thing I'm good at, at least. The second I found out we could teleport? Pop in, pop out. Dream superpower." He smiled, holding out his arm and taking the both of them back into the city.
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