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 Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2022 9:29 pm
Haruhi was already not having a great day when the freaky monster showed up. Ne'd been rained on, then splashed by assholes deliberately driving their car into a giant puddle as ne walked by (and ne knew this because the damn thing literally drove into the oncoming traffic lane just to splash nem!), and honestly, ne was just cold, wet, and tired after a horribly long night shift. But ne was making it, somehow, and even though ne wouldn't be able to hit up a McDonald's before ne got home for breakfast, considering ne had to walk home and couldn't use a drive through, ne would probably make it home in time for Reiki to heat up leftovers for nem, because ne really, really didn't want to take a shower and then cook, too. But of course, when it rained, it poured, and it started getting worse almost right before the monster appeared as if a movie was being filmed. So, initially, Haruhi wasn't especially worried. But then it roared and moved in a distinctly not-a-robot-of-some-kind way, and thenne was just really, really pissed. Whatever this ******** giant centipede thing was, it was going down. Ne pulled nis small can of bug spray from nis shoulder bag and sprayed it in the monster's face. "Go away!" ne roared, standing nis ground by planting nis feet, squaring nis shoulders, and biting at the air like a lunatic.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 1:06 am
What was it, of late, with civilians who thought they could stand up to youma? What was it, specifically, with people Levi knew doing this incredibly stupid thing?
Once again, Elsa found himself careening into a fight betwene a civilian he knew and a youma--this time, it was Reiki's cousin, and there was no way Elsa was going to let nem get hurt.
He whipped off his glove and smacked a hand against the ground, calling up his magic. Words weren't necessary anymore; it was a part of him now.
"Watch the ice," he warned, with little other preamble. Hopefully Haruhi was smart enough to back off.This situation felt all too familiar to Soyala, too; it wasn't unlike what they had rescued Elsa's other friend from. And--oh, that was--hm.
It was the young person from Reiki's apartment.
And there was something about nem--something she had not sensed before. As if nis starseed had been waiting for the right moment. Her heart flipped, and she hissed "Senshi" in Elsa's ear before she darted over to nem and butted her head into nis leg.
"Get back from that thing, it could kill you!" She scolded, firmly.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:48 am
Haruhi startled at the sudden appearance of one of those weirdo gang members the city had, blinking and stepping back a bit as the guy coated the strange bug-thing in magical ******** ice. Okay. Cool. Cool cool cool. Ne rather felt like ne was in some kind of Men In Black movie. Especially when the cat that had been with Levi when he'd come to visit Reiki ran up, slammed into nis leg, and spoke. Okay. Alright. Ne was handling this fantastically. Right? Yeah. Ne took several more steps backward until ne could squeeze into a little area between buildings, something that could hardly be called an alleyway, and took a deep breath. "You TALK?!" ne shouted down at the cat, eyes wild. "And that thing—what in the s**t is that? And you just—did you see the ice coming from that guy's hand or am I just getting more and more insane as the night goes on from my horrible shift at work?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:08 pm
Soyala huffed, pressing her head into Haruhi's leg again, and then casually launched herself up to settle around nis shoulders.
"Of course I talk. What good would I be if I couldn't?" She whapped her tail, gently, against the side of nis face.
"And you need to worry more about your physical safety than your mental state right now."
Or, well, perhaps ne wouldn't have to. Elsa seemed to have the situation well and in hand.Youma were sometimes wonderfully susceptible to magic, and Elsa always liked that. Sure, his magic was just scary for an ordinary human, but for a youma, it was basically deadly.
He walked around the creature as it crumbled to dust, putting a hand on his hip and looking Haruhi up and down. Sometimes, he wondered if this magic s**t ran in families--he and his sister, now Haruhi and Reiki.
"You're not losing your mind. You're getting a taste of what's really going on in Destiny City, which is: it's not a gang war. It's not random violence. Some people are lucky enough to be born with power in their souls, and if the right person--or magic cat, like Miss Soyala here--finds you, you get to awaken that power."
Sure, that was a good enough crash course.
"I'm Eternal Sailor Elsa, of the Dark Mirror--but you already know me as Levi. Reiki's friend." He smiled, smugly. "So, how about it, Haruhi? Wanna become magical?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:24 pm
Haruhi didn't even have time to react to the cat climbing up nis body and slapping nem with her tail when the ice freak sauntered up and said— And said— "Oh my ******** God," ne said breathlessly, looking at Elsa. At Levi. At Levi who was named Elsa as a superhero with ******** ice powers and holy s**t, ne needed to suppress all the stupid jokes that crawled up the back of nis throat because ne was sure Levi-Elsa had heard them all before at this point. "You're actually serious. I'm— wait a ******** second, does this mean that Kiki-chan?! My COUSIN?!" ne shouted, suddenly furious. "You dragged my cousin into this s**t? My cousin who texted me about watching a guy die—it was your magical gang s**t?!"No, ne did not care that Levi said it wasn't gang wars, it just seemed like gang wars with magical spice added. Random evil creatures, and people being killed right in front of nis cousin's eyes, and nem feeling unable to help and useless and— Well. There was nis answer. There was no ******** way ne was going to leave Reiki to deal with this s**t alone. Ne didn't care that Reiki wasn't alone by technicality, ne hadn't met Levi before and usually ne met Reiki's good friends or knew about them quite soon, so they clearly hadn't known each other long. No, Reiki needed someone who knew him well, in and out, and Haruhi wasn't going to turn this down. "I'll become magical," ne said quietly, firmly, in a tone that brooked no arguments. Ne didn't care how dangerous these people were. Nis glare left no room for it. "For my cousin."
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:47 pm
Elsa blanched. He didn't bother to hide the distress on his face--he hadn't expected to be hit with a pile of accusations straight on, and he actually took a half-step back.
"I saved him from a youma, like I saved you, and I asked him if he wanted to join the Dark Mirror, like I'm asking you." He put up his hands, defensively. "Anyway, what's this about watching someone die? What happened?" Maybe he sohuld ask Reiki. In fact, he was definitely going to ask Reiki.
.....It was probably the ********," Elsa said, and he extended a hand. "Then let me take you where we need to go."
There would be no princess carries, this time. That sort of treatment was reserved for Levi's crush.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:58 pm
Haruhi watched Elsa take a step back with no small sense of satisfaction. Good. Ne could still pull off being an intimidating b***h. Ne'd been worried about losing nis touch on that, recently. And Elsa explained, so ne felt less like punching nis face in. Ne really, really didn't want to take Elsa's hand, but for all Haruhi knew, it was essential to getting them where they needed to go magically. Magic. ********... magic. Ne took Elsa's hand more gently than ne really wanted to. "I don't know what happened, in full," ne said tiredly, "Just that he found someone in an alley, dying, apparently. I guess it had to have been something magical because he was cagey about the details, even more so than he usually is about his traumatic experiences." Taking a deep breath, ne continued, "But yeah, let's go.... Thanks." It was a bit reluctant, but it was there. "For saving my life. And his." Ne glanced back at the cat still on their shoulders, and then back to Elsa with a raised eyebrow. Ne'd ask his questions later, but ne had to let Elsa knew that ne had them somehow.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 11:20 pm
The nice thing about Destiny City was that there was never far to walk before one found a mirror. The Court was good about making sure there were transportation options around, and so Elsa gently tugged Haruhi further into the alley, towards an antique-looking full-length mirror leaned against a wall.
"What I'm about to do is called mirrorwalking," Elsa explained, "and you'll be able to do it too. We're going to an in-between place called Mirrorspace, and once you're there, you'll get to walk through a big, fancy black mirror and come out the other side a Senshi."
Elsa tugged, pulling Haruhi with him, to and through the mirror.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 11:33 pm
Haruhi didn't really like the idea of walking into a mirror, but ne had to just... take a deep breath and do it. For Reiki. Nis cousin needed someone in his corner, and Haruhi would simply have to do. So ne took that deep breath and followed Elsa in, clinging tightly to his hand, and kept nis eyes screwed shut until they were out the other side and standing in some kind of room with.... yup, that's a big fancy mirror alright. Haruhi especially didn't want to walk through this one, but without waiting for any input from the magical assholes ne'd had to follow to get in here, ne dropped Elsa's hand and quickly marched up to the mirror and through it, feeling... distinctly changed, on the other side. Ne looked down at nis outfit and shrieked. "Is this really how ugly I'm going to have to look!?" No, it wasn't nis first concern, not ultimately, but in the moment, Haruhi was about to have a ******** heart attack. That skirt was way too short and ne wanted to cry. Why were there boob bangles?! Nis shoulders and chest were so exposed, and ne shivered from the cold immediately. Ne didn't want this. God, ne didn't want this. But ne had to. Someone had to help keep Reiki from making stupid a** decisions, and ne would be the one to do it. "Okay, so... now what," ne asked flatly, looking up to Elsa with a burning determination in his eyes.
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2022 1:19 am
When Haruhi moved towards the Black Mirror, Soyala bounced off nis shoulders, waiting for nem to come out the other side. Her tail swished, and she tilted her head to the side.
"I think you look lovely," she said, and she took a moment to evaluate, then--"Dark Mirror Sailor Volterra, Senshi of Sunbeams. Congratulations," she said, and she sounded all too pleased with herself. Mostly because she did in fact feel very pleased with herself. It was always satisfying to see her instincts proven correct.
She performed a backflip, producing a pen, and offered it to Volterra.Elsa guided Haruhi into the Black Mirror Chamber, and then stood back to let nem go. No hesitation--that was pretty awesome, in some ways. Besides, it meant that the awkward part was pretty much entirely over.
Still, Elsa winced in sympathy.
"It took me a while to get used to my uniform, too," he said. Granted, by the time he was an Eternal and had the sort of stylings that Haruhi was starting with, he'd already well and accepted that he was good with looking pretty. "It changes, as you get stronger. So it's not this forever."
He hoped that was a comfort.
He met Haruhi's eyes, crossed his arms, and smiled.
"Now, I get to show you all the fun magic tricks you can do as a Senshi."
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Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2022 8:04 pm
Haruhi looked at the cat once again, taking the pen, only then remembering the name. Soyala. Ne wondered what that name meant, if anything. Nis name, Volterra? Sounded weird. But also like just the perfect name to fit nis strange little gender anyway, really. No real way to guess who ne was with that kind of name. But sunbeams?! No, Haruhi was going to kill Reiki when ne got home for getting nem into this mess and then getting them stuck with an outfit ne hated wearing, an admittedly okay name, and possibly the worst, most horrible magic. What the hell did sunbeams do? Why did it have to be something all bright and airy and happy? Why couldn't ne have been the senshi of something, God, ne didn't know, something like fear? Or cynicism? Urgh! this magical s**t was way too overrated. "Oh, thank God," ne blurted at the information on the outfit, sighing with relief and trying to tug subtly at the hem of the skirt. So short!"Alright, alright. Magic tricks. Gonna show me some sleight of hand, Buster?" ne asked, raising nis eyebrows.
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:39 am
Well. Some Senshi simply weren't going to be satisfied with the outfit they got,and that, unfortunately, wasn't something Soyala could control, for all that she loved fashion and loved design. If the rather...maximalist sparkle of Volterra's outfit wasn't for nem, it wasn't for nem, and there was no accounting for taste. And, as Elsa said, it would change as ne got stronger, and Soyala was quite excited to see how ne grew into their new role.
Perhaps this look better suited nis past life, rather than nis present one...ah, that would be unfortunate, she supposed, but then, sometimes that was the way of it.
She bounded up onto nis shoulders, again, settling contentedly there. Shoulders were her favorite perch, after all, and now she had a new Senshi to wrap herself around gleefully.
"There will be so much for you to learn," she sighed, proudly. "And when you are ready to get stronger, find em again, I'll be able to help you." It was always a blessing to get to upgrade her Senshi, the ones she'd brought into the war, and it happened so rarely--in the Negaverse especially, where General-Sovereigns often handled that sort of thing--that she wanted to stake her claim as early as possible. Volterra was hers. No other Guardian got to upgrade nem.
That was simply the fact of the matter, as far as she was concerned. Ne would just have to accept it for what it was."Oh, I'm gonna show you something way more interesting than sleight of hand," Elsa said. He beckoned for Volterra to follow him towards one of the mirrors that would carry them out of Mirrorspace. "Picture the mirror we came in together in your mind," he said, "and walk through this one. You'll be able to get back there. You can do it with any mirror in Destiny City, as long as it's one you know, and you know where it is. There's lots of them scattered all over the place, the Court likes to leave exits, so keep an eye out."
He started to step through, but paused, waiting for Volterra to follow.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:06 pm
Volterra wasn't really sure ne was okay with having the cat on nis shoulders, but ne probably didn't have much of a choice in the matter, anyway. At least the cat wasn't mean or something. "Really. Mirror teleports?" ne asked, eyebrows raised. That... wow, okay, so ne was now some kind of horror movie monster. Chant '"Volterra" in a full-length mirror three times and ne will step out and devour your soul or whatever. Still, despite nis concerns, ne closed nis eyes for a moment and breathed, picturing the mirror they'd all come through, and stepped into the one Elsa had just gone through. And came out the other side. "What the ********," ne whispered, eyes wide.
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Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2022 1:08 am
Mirrorwalking was as easy as breathing, now. Elsa stepped through, came out the other side, and exhaled, long and slow. He stretched, once they were back in Destiny City, and flashed Volterra a grin.
"Mirror teleports," he said. "Come on, let me show you what else we can do."
There was so, so much.
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