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 Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2022 5:50 pm
So far, so good; the Star Festival was going well.
That wasn't exactly a hallmark of anything perfect. It was the first day, anyway, and if Anakeion had been to one or two of these before - and she had, she'd lived here her entire life, after all - it'd start out fine, and then something just absolutely wild would probably happen, and maybe there'd be a big monster?? There'd been a big monster last year. She'd been there at the time, but mostly she'd been running, because at the time she'd also been swearing off having anything to do with superhero bullhonkey and, well, what else did you call a giant monster a bunch of superpowered people were fighting --
Even in her own head, she was rambling. But it was nice out, tonight, so at least there was that. This fire escape was close to the main body of the Festival, so her poor ears had been taking the brunt of it, but it was a great view -- she'd taken a couple of photos (and then very safely tucked her phone away, so she could post them later so it didn't indicate Anakeion had taken them, just Amaris).
And there was another aura coming into existence, into range, close -- first-stage, so probably fine, even if her strongest memories of the Dark Mirror were trying to strangle their princess to death - "Heyyyyyyyy," Anakeion called (not a catcall!! she'd done it before she'd even seen their face!!), juuust loud enough to be heard around the corner, "what'cha doin'," and kicked her legs over the side between the railings.
Hopefully they weren't about to set off a firework in her face. Her poor ears...Quote: The Silent Firework (9) : Fireworks are aplenty this time of year, and there’s always something going off somewhere in the city. Little pops and noises are common, but something about this firework is completely abnormal–it makes absolutely no sound. Instead, light and color splashes across the night sky and leaves a lingering glow behind. No one knows where it came from, but it lit up the sky like a midnight sun, and was gone after about a moment. Anyone who managed to see it in person may find that when they blink, there is a residual glow before them. Strangely, it even seems like there’s a trail of faded, glowing light guiding them somewhere. Maybe you’re led to some special place, or some special person, or–maybe the trail ends before you ever find out where you were supposed to go.
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2022 7:32 pm
It was a nice night, even if ti was still a little hot and sticky out. Sappho wasn't exactly having the best time, but it was the first night of the Star Festival, and that meant lots of very lovely fireworks. The city would have a big display, sure, but the private ones, too.
She loved getting out during the festival, loved wandering rooftops and watching--and to her surprise, a firework burst right in front of her as she landed on the next rooftop.
The firework was huge. Had her blinking. And also had no sound.
There was a glowing trail left behind, and she frowned--it was always magic bullshit time this time of year, and...well, okay, so she was going headfirst into the bullshit. She was definitely following the glow, and it was definitely leading her towards an aura. Alright. Fine.
She kept following it until she heard someone call out to her, and she turned, and when she looked back, the glowing trail was gone, so...either she'd made it all the way, or she'd lost it.
Whatever.
"Following a weird firework," she called back. It was probably a Knight--well, a Squire, or whatever it was. Sappho didn't know, she had basically zero experience with Knights.
She ducked around so she could see whoever it was--a woman, kind of cute, in Greek clothes and pretty blues.
"Not, like, anything nefarious, I swear."
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 8:47 am
"What kinda weird firework? Assuming it didn't, like, blast your ears off or try to eat you, because you'd probably be walking a little faster if it did that, y'know?" Anakeion splayed her hands on the metal behind her, leaning forward, trying to get a better look at the senshi -- who was cute, always a plus -- and managing to do it without doing something like... overbalancing and falling off the fire escape. (Sure, she'd probably be fine - she'd had worse tumbles as a Squire and only come out with a few bruises and scrapes - but it'd be embarrassing. That was important!! Not looking bad in front of people who were her juniors or seniors in power was a big, important aspect of her interactions with them!)
"I trust ya! Nothing nefarious goin' on here, either." Okay, so, like, she'd fight if there was anything nefarious, but that was details. Anakeion didn't want to get in a fight tonight (and most nights) (generally she just didn't want to do things).
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 4:40 pm
"Oh, yeah, no, not that," Sappho said. "The opposite, actually? It was dead silent, and there was this...trail of sparkly stuff? So I followed it, you know. Obviously," she waved a hand, "because that's what you do when there's weird magic s**t, you check it out, yeah?"
She spread her hands.
"Anyway, it led me over here, and then you called out to me, and I lost track of it." She spread her hands.
"So! Yeah! Uh, have you seen anything weird like that?"
Obviously it would be polite to ask. That was just the thing to do, and maybe she could find out a little more information if someone else had seen that weird, silent firework.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 5:27 pm
Anakeion squinted in thought, chewing on her lip. "Uhhh. Okay. A totally silent firework that left some trail of sparkly stuff, and it disappeared fast..." That left a few options. This chick's whole generally not-chewed-on self meant it was probably not any kind of youma tactic, unless it was simultaneously a really damn dumb and really damn smart youma - dumb enough to lead her to someone stronger than her who could help, smart enough to try some stealth.
Probably not.
It could also be some kind of magic, but that didn't seem too likely, either. She hadn't felt any auras nearby, even poor as she was at placing relative positions of auras, not until the senshi had showed up - and it probably wasn't some sort of joke being played on Anakeion, or at least she hoped it wasn't, mostly because there wasn't anything the other woman would actually gain from this -- she was extrapolating way too much in her head, anyway.
She'd seen the flickering trails of it out of the corner of her eye, but she'd apparently been too far away or too distracted to notice it'd made no sound at all. "I might've seen the firework?? But I was, like, kind of distracted, so it not making any noise didn't stand out to me. If that's the only firework that went off within a couple'a blocks in the last ten minutes, anyway, 'cause if it wasn't I got nothing."
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 6:24 pm
Sappho listened to what Anakeion had to say, expression thoughtful. "Yeah, it's the one that went off not too long ago," she acknowledged. That still didn't tell her what she had been following, but at least it meant she wasn't the only one who had seen it.
Not that the insight she had was necessarily more than just "it happened," but hey.
"I've probably completely lost whatever trail it was leaving," Sappho lamented, "but it is nice to have run into someone chill. I'm Dark Mirror Sappho of Violets--what about you? I can tell you're a Knight, but I uh. Don't know a lot about those? So...are you a Knight of anything special?"
That was a reasonable thing to ask, right?
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 7:32 pm
Now that was something that Anakeion could offer up more confidence on -- especially these days. Okay, she had her own drama about her Wonder that she was totally not going to go into with someone she'd just met (...except she'd done exactly that with Ida, but that wasn't the point), but! Introductions! She could do that.
"Anakeion Squire of Castor, at your service," she grinned, with a dramatic little arm-and-hand flourish. "So - not, like, really special?? But most of the Knights you're probably gonna meet are either ones from this solar system or," she shrugged, "Cosmos, which is just, like, space in general or something, iunno what their exact deal is. If you've got a couple of minutes I can give you the Knight Rundown, TM," and she pronounced both letters separately, TEE-EM, "so if you're down for that, just tell me what you do know so I'm not rehashing anything. It's good stuff to know! There's a lotta us around."Noir Songbird anakeion, in her head: just because her name is sappho and her sphere is violets you CANNOT ask if she's gay. no not even if it's pride month!! maybe it's apophenia!!
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 7:43 pm
Sappho nodded along. Anakeion was a pretty name--not as good as hers, obviously, but she had just. Won the gay girl jackpot, really, all things considered, there.
"Iii gotcha," she said, nodding. "Pretend I know basically nothing? I've never met a Knight, and we don't have anything like that in the Dark Mirror, so I'm pretty much totally new to all of this." Senshi, she got. Negaverse officers....a little less. Knights? Totally nothing. But that was okay, because she had gotten lucky and found someone who could at least give her the bargain basics rundown.Daekie wheezes laughing. also if you're good on wc we can fade to black on your post if you like!!
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 8:03 pm
Anakeion nodded eagerly. Sappho might not have known it, but she'd just secured herself a positive reputation in Anakeion's head: someone willingly listening to her ramble about anything automatically gained a place of honor in those (un)hallowed halls.
"Okay, so! So. First off, like, we don't really awaken like you guys do? The whole pen thing? Cats are involved? Iunno what the Dark Mirror does but it's probs similar, right? Yeeeeah, we don't do that..."
She knew how to keep herself fairly brief, but Sappho was going to walk out of this a lot more informed than she'd come in, if nothing else.Noir Songbird APOPHENIA IS REAL, ANAKEION SAYS, AND IT IS HER ENEMY WHEN IT COMES TO SENSHI NAME/SPHERE COMBOS. but yes i'm good on wc, so this works as a fin!
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