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 Posted: Thu May 12, 2022 7:49 pm
Andreiya was enjoying the night. Sort of. He’d been out earlier gathering energy in the city but now he was on his way back and had just been itching to get out of his fake skin. It was just an illusion, he knew, but he was sure he could feel the changes.
Some unconsolable part of his brain was afraid that if he stayed in that form for too long he’d be stuck looking like a human, so as soon as he was out of the city limits and in the park he let his disguise shimmer away.
He felt whole again. Happy. It wasn’t cold. No Senshi had bothered him recently. No Negaverse Agents had come to yell at him.
Steve was healthy and as cute as ever. His plants were growing.
Things were good!
…Even if he was a little homesick.
His hurrying home slowed a bit in his effort to play with his ComTech. He fiddled with one of the programs on his wrist and tried to scan the sky. Velencya was so far away, but maybe, if he squinted just right, he could see it…
He stood alone, peering up at the sky and then glancing at his ComTech as he tried to calculate coordinates. His wrist, the sky, and back again. He was deeply engrossed, and very desperate to find even just a little trace of home.
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Posted: Sun May 15, 2022 6:13 pm
Ingrid was running. Not from anyone or to anything but…she was running. Maybe she was simply trying to just get away from her problems or. Or whatever.
Perhaps she shouldn’t have closed her eyes while she was running, and perhaps she should have been paying attention to what was around her, but…she wasn’t, and when she hit another person at full force, she gave a yell of surprise and concern and confusion, falling back on her butt.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking and I just…are you okay?”
She scrambled back to her feet, reaching her hands out to help the stranger, to steady him or pull him up but…
“...You’re…wait! Are you one of the aliens I heard about?”
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2022 5:41 am
Andreiya was visibly startled. Audibly startled.
He’d been minding his own business when, out of nowhere, a wrecking ball of a Senshi came charging in and plowed him over. Right into the ground. And it hurt! How were these Senshi all so reckless! How did they survive for this long?
No wonder the Negaverse wanted to get rid of them!
His elbow was burning in pain and he dreaded another check up or having to tell anyone he’d gotten hurt again, so instead of accepting her hand he rubbed at his elbow and stayed on the ground.
He squinted up at her. “It depends on what you’ve heard!”
She’d asked if he was okay, but he was afraid of being tricked. And attacked. And spat on.
He pushed himself up, guarded, and held his elbow protectively.
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2022 10:07 am
Ingrid held his hand and looked worried, eyes sliding to his elbow. “I really am sorry…I…I heard that there were aliens, but I haven’t met one before…I’m Sailor Ingrid, Senshi of Holly…and I shouldn’t be running with my eyes closed and I am so very sorry that I hurt you…It wasn’t my intention and I wouldn't have done it if I would have been…thinking. It…It’s been a rough night…I’m sorry.”
She hesitated and looked him over, seeming to really want to ask some questions and finally sighing. “...So…you’re from like…actual space? You breathe air though? Do you like the Earth? What’s your favorite thing about it? What’s your home like?”
…He might not want to answer any of the questions but…she couldn't’ stop herself from continuing to ask.
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2022 10:50 am
She still wasn’t attacking. She was talking. Apologizing, again.
Andreiya was suspicious but he was lowering his guard. He didn’t have to make friends with the Senshi but he didn’t want to make enemies. Even with whatever was going on with the Negaverse.
“...You ask many questions. I need a minute. I am not from Earth,” he finally admitted. “My name is Andreiya, of Velencya. I am a Corporal in the Vanguard. I breathe air. This air is like my air back home. But dirtier. Earth conflicts me. I don’t know if I like it or not. I like the plants. Home is my favorite. I want to save it. Why have you had a rough night?”
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2022 4:19 pm
Ingrid nodded. “Dirtier…yeah that makes sense. We don’t really take very good care of the planet, do we…ah. Plants? Plants are fun! It’s nice to meet you, Andreiya!” Hesitating for a moment, She drew a little closer. “Have you been out of the city? What’s the Vanguard? Is a Corporal good?”
Again, the fifty questions she was flinging at him, yet when he asked his own, which was only fair she shrugged. “...I had an argument with my sister and then ran into some people and it’s just. Been a lot. I’m still angry with her and my head feels like it’s filled with about a dozen bees. I was hoping that going for a run would help, but all I did was push you down and that wasn’t my intention.”
The very fact that he was the third person that got hurt due to her anger tonight was…worrisome but.
“Do you have a favorite plant? I hope you can save your home too!”
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2022 5:28 pm
Andreiya relaxed, very slightly, as they spoke. “I don’t know if I have a favorite plant. I am trying to learn about them all. Velencya is a synthetic world. We are trying to figure out how to save it, and restore my people’s true homeworld. But it got very sick and may or may not be dead, and our senshi will not awaken or die so he can be reborn. And that is a very complicated and stressful political affair that I don’t understand, so I am just trying to research how to make plants grow on a world that might be struggling.”
Or dead.
“So all plants that are useful are my favorites. But I like the ones that are just pretty, even if I think they are useless. I am learning to appreciate beauty for being beauty, even if it is wasteful. I have been in the city for a while. I haven’t really yet. Corporal is good in the Vanguard! I am working my way towards Commander! But Commodore is the best, and there’s only one of those. Commodore Lyndin is here with us. But we do want to go home.”
He couldn’t believe she didn’t know these things, but he was happy to tell her.
“I’m sorry to hear about your sister. Can you get the bees out?”
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2022 7:12 pm
Well, she wasn’t sure what she expected from throwing questions at him, but he answered with things she knew nothing about so..she supposed it was only fair, but she nodded. “...I see. That does sound quite complicated…I’m very sorry to hear that. I hope that a solution can be found! And I hope you get to become a Commander soon, and a Commodore after! You seem like you care a whole awful lot, so you deserve it…and um. It’s okay. About my sister…and there aren’t real bees, it’s just. Me. I’ll keep trying to get them out though. Maybe I just need to keep running and scream a little bit. That could help.”
Just scream to get the bees out…honestly, it almost made her laugh from the stupidity of it. And the earnest way he had asked was kind of adorable.
“I appreciate you. I should get going, but I really do appreciate you. And I’m sorry if I hurt your elbow, or anything else…um…I’d offer to get some ice for you or something but, I don’t have any out here and…the nearest store is a few miles away but…if I see you again, I’ll be sure to not knock you down.”
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2022 7:56 pm
Her laugh wasn’t cruel or mocking, which was usually a good sign. He suspected that meant she wasn’t going to attack him again. His elbow still hurt and he wanted to get home and get some ice on it. Or something.
“It’s fine, I will heal. I am on my way home anyway. I can fix it. I appreciate your apology and I hope you feel better. It was not entirely unpleasant to run into you, and I have learned a good lesson. Maybe we both have. We should be more aware of our environments. If I had seen you coming at me, I might have shot you first. You could have gotten hurt.”
He could have gotten more hurt.
“I will do my best to get stronger.” Because, he did care. And maybe getting stronger was the best way to prove that. “Maybe I will see you again. When you are not having such a hard night. Maybe we will be able to talk more. About plants, especially.”
Maybe. It sounded nice. He could dream about those things, if Senshi were going to keep running into him.
“Goodbye, Ingrid. Be safe.”
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