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 Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 6:24 pm
Kerberos was antsy. Anxious. Ever since he'd discovered the strange monster on his planet, he'd been recruiting allies--and the time finally felt right. An assault on the monster that had wrapped itself around the First Flower, to drive out the Chaos. Maybe then, maybe once it was over, Kerberos would be able to escape the crawling desire to run back into the arms of Chaos. Truth be told, he knew it was probably impossible, but the urge that bubbled under his skin, and his fraying temper, and all of the violence that he'd worked hard to be better than, bubbling back tot he surface.
He had people he could trust, who were capable of helping him fight. He had his own magic. He had...hope.
And that was what he needed to hold onto the most.
So he waited at his bench, where he'd asked everyone to join them, and hoped that they would come.Next to him, Lyonesse rested a hand on Kerberos's shoulder, gently squeezing. "It's going to be okay," he said, softly.
He couldn't be certain, of course, but he could hope. And he specially hoped that he could use the magic he was barely familiar with and the sword that still felt unfamiliar in his hands (********, did he long for his kusarigama, that would do some real damage against whatever had infected Kerberos's homeworld.)
The people Kerberos had asked to come were strangers to him--though that was probably for the best. They might remember General Natron, and that would be...messy. Even given the years in between.
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 6:30 pm
Albireo had felt…very honored to be asked to help Kerberos with his issues, and of course she had sent a message to Cybele. She was her partner in crime…at least when it came to senshi things, and well…
They had been through a lot together, so of course that was who she would call.
She let the other senshi know where to come, and arrived on the scene, almost skipping up to greet the blue haired eternal. When she saw the knight, she paused and suddenly felt…rather guilty that she hadn’t invited Seig. Ah…if knights were coming to help too…well. This wasn’t the time to think about it. “I’m here, Kerberos. And my friend Cybele is going to come too, I asked her to join us and let her know where to meet. I don’t think she’ll be long. She left when I did. Um.”
Looking at the Knight, Albireo extended a hand. “If I would have known Knights were invited, I would have told my husband…I thought this was just going to be a senshi fight, my bad! I’m Sailor Albireo, Senshi of Swans. It’s lovely to meet you. I’m ready to do this thing, and I hope you don’t mind that…my magic isn’t very…powerful? But hopefully it will get the attention of whatever we’re doing off of those of us who can fight.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 7:04 pm
A moment later, Eternal Sailor Cybele appeared next to her friend. She was a bit fuzzy on the details of what was going on since she'd heard about it secondhand, but she understood that there was some type of Chaos beast that needed to be destroyed, one that was bothering Kerberos, and she knew that Albireo had asked for her help. Cybele knew that she was just as committed to doing nearly anything Albireo asked of her as she was to hunting the darkness. Kerberos had been kind to her, as well, and kind to Ganymede, in that last awful battle, so that made her even more determined to put an end to whatever was happening here. "I'm here," she whispered to Albireo, making sure to stand shoulder to shoulder with her friend while she looked over the others. The third person was a stranger, or- No. She felt the vaguest twinge of familiarity in her chest, which usually meant that she'd known someone before. "Hello," she said, cautious as always, "Were we perhaps friends before? I'm sorry, I've lost a lot of my memories, but-" She trailed off, then added, "I'm happy to fight at all of your sides again, in any case."
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 7:11 pm
Hearing that something could potentially still damage their worlds even after transcendence had alarmed Encke and caught him off-balance. It made sense, of course. How had their worlds died before? Something had to have gotten to them, of course. And if it was happening again-- Well, he couldn't let that happen. And if he could help in any way... His agreement had been easy and without hesitation, and at the time he was supposed to come to the bench, Encke had come. Before he had left the house, he had let Luke and Safira know that it might be a bit before he got back. There was trouble on a homeworld, and he didn't know how long it would take to defeat it or what it would take to defeat it-- Well, Luke had ended up sending him on his way with some rations that would hopefully cover everyone, and he had tucked them away in subspace before actually leaving his house. He, thus far, only recognized Kerberos and Eternal Cybele--he had known, Viatrix wouldn't quite stop bragging, but-- "Oh, congrats!" and didn't recognize the others. It seemed Cybele recognized one of them to some degree, a knight of Earth that was standing with Kerberos. And there was a senshi -- Albireo of Swans. Huh. He wondered if she knew Anser at all-- Giving the knight and Cybele a moment, he spoke after, "Encke of Plasma. Nice to meet you all! My powers are nearly all offense, so hopefully, they can help." Though he did have something else now that he hadn't gotten a chance to try out yet-- "Definitely want to see how I can help, here, however I can."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:47 pm
When Ida finally arrived, it seemed she was one of the last. Part of it had been work keeping her late and part of it, perhaps, had been reluctance to come here to this too familiar place, making her drag her feet. She saw the small cluster of senshi and knight, but she also saw a glimmer of opalescent hair, the shine of gold and white... and her chest felt heavy. She'd avoided coming here in the beginning because her presence might have scared off the people who needed to come here... and then, after, she had avoided it because of the ghost of memory that haunted it.
It was weirdly ironic to be coming here know, and she wouldn't have if Kerberos hadn't needed her to. Ida saw him among the others and a familiar red-head she had treated once for an injured arm. Encke... it had been a long time since she'd seen him. The others she wasn't quite sure about... Was that Cybele? She remembered a basic senshi, but this one wore wings. It was just a bit of a relief to see how far she'd come.
Stepping up to the group with a bit of hesitation, feeling weirdly shy, she nodded at the people she knew.
"Ah, Hello... I guess Kerberos asked you all to join him too?" She said as she glanced over the people she didn't know. "I'm Ida."
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 6:24 pm
As everyone showed up, Kerberos smiled, relieved. So many of them--most of them Eternals--and they were all here to help him.
He was going to get to take his world back.
When Albireio arrived, he gave her a soft "thank you;" he hadn't expected anyone to invite other people, but it was a welcome thing. He recognized Cybele--she had been one of the people with Ganymede at the great battle--and he was glad to see her. She was still in one piece, still Order, and now she had some lovely buttwings to bring to the party.
When Ida arrived, that made the full scope of people he had asked--and no one else had mentioned bringing friends, so. He stood up from the bench, although he was loathe to move from Lyonesse's steadying hand, and gave everyone a warm smile of greeting.
"Thank you," he said, "all of you. I already know I can't defeat this monster on my own--and I'm lucky that I had so many people willing to help. This is Lyonesse of Earth, my partner."
He extended his hand.
"I don't want to delay too much further, I'm sorry. Not when my planet is already dying."
And not when he had other worries--he turned the Mourner's Bloom over in his other hand, blackened edge to edge from the weight of Valhalla's grief. He knew that wasn't helping his mindset, knew that the bleed-over of pain from him and from Sylvite was likely not exactly good for Kerberos's state. But the Bloom needed his planet's energy to clear, and his planet was poisoned.
"I only know a little of what we're going to see up there;" he continued, "but the monster the Chaos has created is fierce, and I don't know what tricks it might have--I realized I was outmatched pretty quickly, and in lieu of dying, I heroically booked it." There was a light touch of amused irony in his tone, but for the most part, he was thoroughly serious. "Lyonesse took Albireo's hand when she extended it, giving it a brief shake.
"Lyonesse," he introduced himself, and a wry grin crossed his face. "I'm here over Kerberos's protests, but I told him I'm not letting my boyfriend fight some unknown monster without showing up."
Few of the people here were at all familiar to Lyonesse--but he did sort of recognize the Senshi that addressed him. It had been many very long years, and she had looked different back then, but...a slightly awkward smile crossed his face.
"Ah, yeah,not...friends, exactly, but. We did know each other," he said. "We fought. Back when I was a Captain in the Negaverse. It was years and years ago, though, and we can definitely just...start over, if you don't remember?"
A blessing, really. He'd been an idiot back then, so certain of himself and of the Negaverse. He knew better now.
A nod, when Kerberos introduced him, was the only other thing he said. This wasn't his show--it was Kerberos's.
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 7:17 pm
There were so many people coming to help Kerberos, and Albireo glanced back to smile at Cybele, though let out a soft gasp, her eyes going wide when she saw that her friend was an Eternal senshi. “Oh!”
There was a very small dart of jealousy that was replaced by an overwhelming wave of pride, and she smiled at the knight once more before flinging her arms around Cybele and squeezing her tightly. “You look so beautiful!.”
Well, so much for bringing a friend because they were both super…but. It was fine. She would be helpful, Kerberos had asked her, and he wanted here here, so here she was.
Her hand took that of Cybele and she threaded her fingers between the other senshi’s, glancing at the other two people who arrived.
Both glowing, both eternal…both lovely, honestly.
“We’ll get it done, Kerberos. We’ve got your back, no matter what. We’ll make sure that your planet doesn’t die.” She held out her free hand to him and grinned a little. “We’ve got this.” Her eyes glanced around to all of the others and a little excitement swelled in her chest. Fixing the past. Saving a Homeworld…it was such a fantastic thought.
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2022 5:33 pm
Cybele was only so much of a hugger, but she didn't flinch away when Albireo threw her arms around her. Instead, she squeezed back, a soft smile coming to her face that was quickly joined by a bit of a blush when her friend called her beautiful. She was happy to keep their hands linked afterwards, and she ran her thumb gently over the back of Albireo's knuckles as she looked over at the others. "I can hardly hold that against you when I was corrupted for a while," she said to the Knight, Lyonesse, with a small shrug. "So, all right. Let's start over." Encke got a nod as he arrived, as did the other Transcendent Eternal who also just barely seemed familiar. "I'm Cybele. I don't think I said that yet," she added once everyone had gathered. "Senshi of the Hunt. I'm always interested in hunting down Chaos. Just show me where this flower is so I know what to hit, and let me know if you need a boost. My magic can help with that."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2022 5:56 pm
Ida earned a playful salute when he saw her. It had been a long time since they had seen each other, long enough that he was fairly sure that the last time they had interacted extensively, he wasn't yet eternal. He wondered if she knew the news about Babel, who was now Kosmochlor. Later. Encke didn't terribly want to delay either; it was hard to say how long they had to curb whatever had invaded Kerberos' world, especially considering even as an eternal he opted to, as he said, heroically book it. It did bring a smile to Encke's face, the amused irony enough to make him chuckle quietly under his breath. He did give himself a chance to observe Lyonesse, pondering briefly if he recognized him at all, before quickly deciding it didn't matter if he did or didn't. What anyone did in the Negaverse and under the influence of Chaos didn't define them. It never would. ... If it did, he'd have to answer for those former cravings of-- "What Albireo said. We've got this, and we'll make sure your planet doesn't die." He offered a smirk in Cybele's direction. "And like Cybele, just point me to where this flower is. Hopefully, the Chaos still burns like everything else." And if it didn't, Encke was prepared to figure out what would stop it. He paused, before adding, sheepishly, "And if it takes a bit longer than planned, my father-in-law insisted on giving me some rations," which was said in gestured quotation marks, "so that can help us sustain a bit longer if needed."
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Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2022 6:43 pm
Enke's response earned him another smile, still shy but a bit warmer this time. Everyone seemed so earnest and ready... not that Ida didn't feel determined to help, of course, but... she almost felt weirdly out of place. She was sober when she nodded, drawing herself up straight.
"I'm ready as well." She said, pushing down the flutter she felt in her middle to be part of whatever this was.
This was a much smaller group than usually tended to show up to fight monsters like this, things that popped up on homeworlds and wonders to threaten the keepers of them. Aokigahara had a horde of people... but it seemed like it was just the six of them this time. They should be fine... most them were eternal, or knight. Surely they could handle whatever it was. Surely.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2022 12:20 am
"I can't express how much this means to me," Kerberos said softly. It was...incredible, that they had all said yes. That they were going to do this. That his world didn't have to be choked out in blackness. "I hope it won't take long enough that we need food," he said, and he laughed, quietly, "but maybe for after. A good meal might help."
Kerberos took Albireio's hand, and gestured for everyone else to come close. This was more people than he had ever attempted to take before, but he believed he could do it.
So he closed his eyes, and pressed he button on his phone, and prayed.
And when he opened them, they stood on Kerberos--and it was worse than before. His heart sank into his feet.
"Follow me," Kerberos said, heading towards the main building, and down the hallways. "The First Flower is behind a hidden door, but it's accessible to me--Senshi privilege, I guess."
And that was where it was waiting, wrapped around a sacred artifact.
He led them in, and paused outside the door, hesitating.
"Speak now or forever hold your peace," he said, "if you've got any doubts."Lyonesse was a silent presence, resting a hand on Kerberos's shoulder. But when they arrived on his world, there was a moment of pure awe. He'd been to his Wonder, of course, but only once, and that was a place on Earth--and it had been wondrous, yes, but it was nothing like seeing a whole other world.
Even one that looked...sick. The plants were withered, and there was a carpet of dead moths and butterflies littering the ground. Worse, the world was quiet--and Lyonesse remembered Kerberos describing the elation he'd felt when he'd come and found it full of cricket-song.
There was no denying--it looked bad. And the further they walked, the more obvious it was that whatever was attached to Kerberos was bleeding the world dry.
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2022 8:43 pm
When they first arrived on Kerberos, Albireo wanted to be excited, wanted to look around, but when she did…when her eyes took in just how bad things had become here, she swallowed hard, squeezing Cybele’s hand again, unwilling to let it go even if they were safe…well. Safeish. They were all up here in one piece at least.
The sight of the dead insects made her heart break, her mind thinking of her own little roy, her little firefly that she adored so much. What if this ended up infecting her homeworld too? What if she lost Roy? What if it all…
Swallowing, she drew in a shaking breath and shook her head slightly, continuing to follow. If that happened, she knew she would have people to help her too. Kerberos and Cybele, obviously. Siegfried, Ilse. There were a whole team behind her. A whole group of people who loved her. They all had to help one another, that was all.
If they stood together…senshi and knights could do just about anything, she was sure.
And the group they had now? Well, other than herself, they were all pretty fantastic looking!
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 3:48 pm
Cybele was not really phased by dead or damaged worlds. Her own world barely had any life to it, and while that had apparently kept her from spending much time there before she'd been corrupted, these days she liked it well enough. The dead bugs scattered across the ground were not exactly a pleasant sight, so Cybele did not look at them. They had a goal now. There was some infected flower. There was a place that Kerberos could take them too. There was something to fight. These were the types of situations that Cybele felt like she could handle, especially given that there were others that she trusted around. Of course it could all change in a moment if this force was too strong for them, but she wasn't going to assume that until they saw this thing. Of course she noticed that Albireo did not seem so confident about the whole thing. Her friend's face had fallen when they touched down on the planet, and she felt the way that she was squeezing her hand. She squeezed back, offering a small smile in the other senshi's direction.
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 4:02 pm
"I'm down for after, too," and, honestly, he'd prefer that. It would have meant that they were able to resolve whatever was hurting Kerberos' world quickly. When asked, he gathered close, closed his eyes and let himself be taken away. To some degree, Encke had been expecting the carnage that was Kerberos, but to see it with his own eyes wrenched his heart. In some ways, it was worse than Kerberos had described, but that was what a chaotic infection was, right? That was what whatever had befallen this homeworld from space was. It killed plants. It killed moths and butterflies. It left nothing but silence and the vague scent of death. He saw the way Albireo seemed to huddle closer to Cybele. Encke couldn't blame her for that. Any doubts, though? Not a single one. If anything, seeing the state of the planet had only made him more determined. "This world deserves to thrive again. Let's stop what's trying to kill it."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 2:59 pm
Their arrival was unceremonious, but the sight that greeted them made Ida press her fingers to lips, taking it all in with serious, sad eyes. This was awful... it was bad enough when you first arrived and you found some place long dead, empty and waiting. This... this was a world that had been recovering, even thriving, and now?
Kerberos had insects too... just like Ida. It was an odd thing to note, but the new life was still so novel. Life was spreading on more than just her world, and now something threatened that.
"Has it been this way for a long time, or did this happen quickly?" She said after a moment, stepping forward to follow the others. It reminded her some of the Blight she had found on her own world, but different. Did it have a similar cause? Possibly a similar remedy? Hopefully.
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