The Fireflies (6) : In the warm summer nights, little glowing lights begin to bob and dart through the city. Fireflies are mating, so this isn't uncommon in itself; in the past few days you've probably seen hundreds of fireflies. What makes these lights so unique is that they seem to change color; you might see a blue one, a green one, a red one. They flicker randomly, and something just seems off with them. If you come into contact with one, you will find yourself with a strange electric jolt. They cannot be caught, and will flicker away if you pursue too aggressively. This isn’t the first time they’ve appeared in Destiny City, but no one’s been able to tell where they came from or where they’re going. No matter how quickly you chase them, they always seem to disappear before you can find any answers.
After talking to Kerberos, Murikabushi had been trying to keep his eyes open for Eternal Sailor Ida. Approaching another White Moon Eternal Senshi sounded like an incredibly dubious idea, even one who Kerberos was willing to vouch for—which, itself, just felt so weird to think. Maybe Kerberos has some lesser magical power to make people trust him or something (or maybe Murikabushi was simply more open to Kerberos than he wanted to admit, not least because he doubted he could get through the explanation without saying the word “senpai” and feeling kinda sick with himself for doing it). Still, the dead spot that Murikabushi and Fang had looked at…there was no way it wasn’t a Very Big Deal, and if Kerberos’s friend Ida might know anything about it…? Then Murikabushi had to suck it up, look for her, and try to talk. Like adults.
Adults who ran around after dark in very pretty, if somewhat impractical-looking, outfits—but adults nevertheless.
Fortunately, parks seemed to be good places to look for other senshi in Destiny City (at least, this was shaping up to be Murikabushi’s experience, between meeting Sappho, Bélénos, and Asmvartnir in one park; meeting Captain Phoenix Force in another, wherein Kerberos happened to have his favorite bench; and meeting Fang in yet another). The fireflies out and about tonight weren’t helping Murikabushi focus any. Honestly, where did they get off? Pretty, yes, they obviously were, but… “Ugh, come on,” he groused at a pair of them who seemed to flash pink and have some kind of special interest in fluttering around Murikabushi personally. At least cousin Tatsuya’s special interests weren’t so distracting. “God, yes, you’re perfect, you’re beautiful, you look like ******** models, but does neither of you care that a b***h’s Adderall wore off a while ago?”
Apparently, no. None of the fireflies who were out tonight seemed to care much that some people had both ADHD and more important things to do than get distracted by all the pretty colors. At least, that’s how Murikabushi chose to interpret the way that so many of the little bastards cropped up as he bounced around the park, trying to follow the aura he sensed to an eternal senshi who would hopefully be the right one.
Whether it was a was a prize for perseverance or the universe taking pity on him, after a bit of flitting around, Murikabushi spotted her: short and hooded, fluffy white wings like Kerberos’s coming from somewhere around her tailbone, and purple, glowing tattoos all up one arm. If she wasn’t the Ida who Kerberos had pointed him to, then at least she was another transcendent eternal senshi. Another person who probably needed to know about the dead spots.
Murikabushi approached her carefully, coming at her from the side rather than behind (so he would hopefully seem less nefarious) and keeping his hands out in the open where she could see him (so he hopefully wouldn’t seem like he was up to anything funny). “Excuse me?” He called out as he got closer to her. “Are you Sailor Ida of Orchids? …I’m Murikabushi, of Hunger, and…Kerberos sent me?” Oh, s**t, that probably sounded Not Great. “I mean, not like he sent me, in that I’m carrying a message for him, or like I’m saying that to get you distracted like some shitty spy movie, I just mean…? I went to him with something, and he said to go find you?”
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 3:50 pm
Standing quietly, Ida watched as the little colored lights flitted about, seemingly completely oblivious to the blanked section of earth beside her. They avoided it, apparently able to sense the danger of entering it, but their lights were such a cheery contrast to the deep worry she'd been carrying ever since she saw the first dead spot.
Seeing those show up on the news had filled her with dread, a soul deep sense that something was very, very wrong. Bad enough this... disease, or whatever it was, had shown up on multiple worlds and wonders. Out there, it was isolated, contained, and they could deal with it. But now that it had cropped up here, what did that mean? Everything she'd tried so far to treat it, or even just to find the cause of it, had failed. It was so similar to what she had found on her world in the past, but... every time that had cropped up, it had been contained. They'd been able to find the source, and destroy it. This... this was formless, source-less...
But the colorful little bugs didn't seem to care. They didn't seem at all worried. As Ida watched them, she wished she could be as care-free.
She'd felt the powered signature approaching, getting stronger as it got closer. She hadn't been sure if it would pass her, when she recognized someone from the Dark Mirror. Surprisingly, they didn't, and though she prepared herself for a confrontation... none came. Instead, a lovely young woman arrived, approaching and... calling out her name?
The transcended eternal turned with surprise, pushing her hood back from her face to get a better look at the person who'd joined her.
"Ah... yes?" Kerberos? Why was Kerberos sending a Dark Mirror to her? Granted, she didn't know him that well, but she hadn't realized he was friends with some. "That's okay, I know who Kerberos is. I know he wouldn't send someone to hurt me... Why'd he send you?"
It made her wonder what had happened. After the monster they'd faced on his world, she couldn't help the pensive frown now. And... why this senshi? She... they? he?... certain was... well, pretty...
“It’s about something strange another senshi—one of yours—and I found,” Murikabushi said, cutting right to the chase. Even though Ida said she trusted Kerberos not to send someone dangerous her way, some trepidation on her part made sense. After all, Kerberos was the only White Moon senshi he’d met so far who hadn’t gotten tense if not outright hostile in the face of Murikabushi showing up in their general vicinity with a Chaos aura. Didn’t matter that it wasn’t the same sharp, hard, cold feeling you got from Negaverse auras; Chaos was still Chaos, and if being around him made Ida uncomfortable, it was best to just……get on with things.
“So, I was patrolling a few days ago, and I found this…weird patch, over in Ramsett Park. It smelled like an ashtray, and everything inside of it looked…dead. Grass, flowers, trees, everything. And I know what the news has been saying about some kind of tree disease or whatever, but…” Shaking his head slowly, Murikabushi cringed (which probably wasn’t necessary to make his point, but it was the theater kid in him). “I mean, for one thing, it got the grass and flowers, too. For another thing, I think you’d usually expect diseased patches to slowly peter out? But this one just…stopped. Maybe about twenty feet in diameter? Twenty-five? Didn’t measure it exactly, just…walked around the perimeter.
“Then the senshi from your team showed up and things really got interesting.” Tucking his fringe behind his ear, he took a deep breath. “It if’s necessary context? The White Moon senshi wasn’t human. He’s Fangite, according to him.… Sailor Fang, I think of chrysocyon? He’s sort of like a cute wolf-man, and I don’t know if he has any different or enhanced senses from humans? But when he showed up, he said he was seeing snake-monsters or something around the dead spot. I had a feeling like I was being watched, but not by any kind of aura I recognize. Then, Fang tried to attack the dead spot, which made me see the monsters, too.
“And…then my attack hit him instead of whatever I thought I saw, and…we didn’t really poke the dead spot after that.… More like, trying to make him feel better because I hadn’t meant to attack him, and…I guess my powers brought up some nasty trauma for him.”
Which wasn’t entirely Murikabushi’s fault, and the part that was, he’d already tried to make better with Fang. Fang had certainly seemed to accept the apology, which counted for a lot. Still, thinking about what he’d done to Fang, and to Kerberos before him, made him slouch and hug himself. Made it harder to look Sailor Ida in the eye. “…I don’t really know where to tell you to look for Fang, if you want to talk to him, too? But…if you do, just? Be patient with him? Please? Talking to people is hard for him, and he’s very sweet, he means well, but…he’s insecure about not really fitting in so well on Earth. Especially about talking.
“And…then I didn’t know how to end this story? But…Kerberos said that you might know more about the dead spots than he did?”
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:42 pm
There was... a lot going on here. Ida did her best to look attentive, right up to the point when she mentioned the dead spot. Another one, which was not so surprising. If the people of the city had noticed it enough to put it on the news, then there were quite a few of these spots.
The rest of what she went on about... well, Ida got a little bit lost along the way. She was very earnest, which the orchid senshi appreciated, and tried to show that as she listened, nodding slowly. Fangite? Was that a Negaverse name? She'd said he was 'one of yours', but... a wolf man? A senshi wolf man? There were certainly a lot of aliens showing up in Destiny City the last few years, but this was the first time one of them had been a senshi, that she knew of. Were there more like him?
"There is something big going on, I think." Ida said slowly, when the other had wound herself down. "The dead spots aren't just appearing in DC. Before they started showing up here, they were appearing on home worlds and wonders. I met a couple of different people who told me about them, and... I found one on mine as well. I don't... know for sure what they are, but..."
White teeth flashed as she bit her lower lips, her fingers smoothing the dark braid that draped out of her hood and down over her shoulder. The fireflies seemed to catch the movement of her glowing arm and they flitted nearer, hovering around her. It might have been pretty, if she hadn't feel so much creeping dread.
"Some times, things that don't belong to the Negaverse, or the Dark Mirror Court, make it through to the unprotected worlds out in space. Or even all the way here to Earth, despite the protections it has. Little... bits of Chaos, and land and try to take over. Or maybe they were already there, and they woke up. But then they start causing trouble, and we have to deal with them. I think... I think this is something like that." She said. "I thought it might be some sort of plant disease, I mean... those worlds out there have whole... ecosystems that are totally different than Earth, they likely have their own diseases too, but... stuff like that doesn't normally appear on multiple worlds."
Glancing back into the darkness where the spot she'd been studying lay, Ida wrapped her fingers about her thick braid and shook her head.
"We have to figure out what's causing these spots before we can do anything about it. I wish I had more information for you... or for your friend. I hope whatever happened, it didn't hurt him too badly... but if you see him again, you can send him my way." The jewelry around her wrists jingled as she gestured with her glowing arm. "I'm pretty good at healing things. Does that happen a lot? Accidentally hitting someone with your magic, I mean."
Even though he wasn’t entirely following everything Ida was saying, Murikabushi nodded along, hanging on her every word. Most of them, and most of her idea about what was going on, did make sense. But…wow, Kerberos had not been kidding about how complicated this situation with the dead spots was. So much of what Ida was suggesting, for all Reiki could piece it together in a way that made sense, was so far beyond everything he’d ever considered, even after being taken to the Black Mirror and Awakened as a senshi.
“If it’s spreading to Earth after being on people’s homeworlds and…wonders are what the knights have instead of homeworlds, right? And, sorry, that’s such a beginner-level question, but…I’m really new to this, and I’ve only even met one of your team’s knights.” And I was kind of a huge b***h to him, but that’s beside the point. “But…if the dead spots started out in space, then…could they have followed someone back? Not that anyone would’ve meant to bring it back—Negaverse, sure, I’d believe they did it on purpose, but not someone on your team—but…it could’ve been an accident? Like, I don’t know, seeds or spores getting on people’s shoes, then passing from the shoes to the ecosystems around here, or something?”
That wouldn’t necessarily explain the dead spots spreading, Murikabushi thought. Maybe any senshi or knights who’d seen them up in space could have tromped all around town and left space-spores in so many different spots, but surely, they’d run out of spores to drop eventually. But……if the cause came from Chaos, like Ida was suggesting, then maybe that could explain things? Mysterious Chaos problem from space follows some hapless senshi or knight back to Earth, starts propagating itself with Chaos magic?
“Either way…I can’t speak for anyone else in the Dark Mirror Court, or promise them out? But…anything I can do to help with this, I want to do it. Chaos or not, I don’t want to see the Earth get destroyed because of this. So…I don’t know if there’s an easy way to keep in contact across different factions? But I know where to find Kerberos, so if I ever can’t find you, I can check in with him?”
Murikabushi tried to offer her a small smile, but it faded quickly. Shrugging like it wasn’t a big deal didn’t take the regrets out of his voice as he explained, “As for my magic…it’s more often the case that it doesn’t go off at all? Rather than hitting someone I didn’t intend to hit. And Fang is okay now? The pain was mostly emotional, I think…but, still. I’m the Senshi of Hunger, and he has trauma about long periods he spent starving after Chaos invaded his homeworld.”
Which was probably well enough…except the thought occurred that Ida might go talk to Kerberos herself. If she brought up Murikabushi, and if Kerberos mentioned what had happened between them on their first meeting, then it could look like Murikabushi had deliberately left that part out, which could make him look untrustworthy. “…Kerberos has experienced it, too. What my magic does? …He was trying to help me get a better handle on making it work when I tell it to, and I didn’t know what it did to people yet? I’d only made it work against youma before, but…” Murikabushi swallowed thickly. “Fang experienced it like physical starvation, but it made Kerberos want to drink—and he didn’t, as far as I know? He was definitely sober when I went to ask him about the dead spots? And…apologize? For acting like my attack hadn’t even done anything while he was struggling with something so awful? But…yeah.”
A soft huff. Another shrug. An expression that fell far closer to pouting than Murikabushi wanted to admit. “Unless your magic also heals emotional pain, what I can do might be a little outside your wheelhouse.… But for what it’s worth? I’m trying not to throw it around so carelessly, and as much as I can avoid it, I don’t intend to use it on Fang or Kerberos again.”
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 1:55 pm
Ida grimaced a little. It was possible that one of them had brought it here... there was no evidence to prove otherwise. If it really was a disease, someone could have spread it. They all could have, anyone who'd come in contact with their own and then returned to Earth. They could have even bought the bit of chaos with them, who knew how that magic worked, but...
"I saw the same thing on different worlds, with people who had not had contact with each other. Maybe it can be spread by senshi and knights traveling to different worlds, but it started in those places first. I don't know how it made it to so many worlds, but the way things work with magic and chaos, I couldn't even guess how it managed that." She said, feeling only marginally better. Appearing in multiple, unconnected places did suggest they weren't the ones spreading it... but that just brought up more questions. "I don't know if even the Negaverse would have spread this... at least not to Earth itself. They don't have other worlds to retreat to if this one is harmed."
Ah, this poor senshi... she seemed so new to all of this, and yet she wanted to help so badly... Ida regretted that she was part of the Dark Mirror. She carried her own bit of chaos inside of her. Ida could only hope it didn't eat her alive the way it seemed to take the Negaverse. She seemed to be a kind person... worried about the effect her magic had on other people, and upset that she'd caused pain. That part of Ida that used to mentor other new senshi pulled at her again, reminding her how long it had been and the good she'd done.
"Yes, Knights have Wonders. They're small places on other worlds where they get their power from, rather than the whole world, like a Senshi does. All Mars knights have their wonders on Mars, for example." She said, giving the basics. That was safe enough, and likely something she'd figure out eventually anyway. "I've never heard about anyone not able to use their magic, unless something... traumatic had happened to them, or there was some other strange magic effect going on. I've heard it happening when someone's starseed is damaged... but I don't think you look like someone with a damaged starseed."
This Fang she talked about... the more she shared, the more curious Ida became. He remembered Chaos invading his world? Like, a past memory? Or something else? Maybe... maybe she could find him. She wanted to know more about him, and perhaps that was best from the source.
"I think Kerberos would be a very good place to go if you need to get ahold of me. He knows how to contact me, and I know he's often at his bench, so he should be easy to find." She said, nodding. After a moment of hesitation, the shorter girl tentatively held out her glowing hand to the stranger, the symbol of an orchid in her palm. "I'm afraid my magic only heals the body... but there can be comfort in it, I think, which can heal the heart and mind, a little. Do you want to see?"
Murikabushi hummed, mulling over everything that Ida had to say and trying to digest it as quickly as possible. Which…probably meant that he was going to need to think over everything Ida was telling him again later, give himself some more time to sit with it all and really ponder her take on the whole situation.… Inasmuch as anybody could truly be said to have a take when, between Ida and Kerberos, it didn’t sound like anyone, even Eternal senshi who’d been to space and observed this phenomenon elsewhere, was truly prepared to handle it.
“For what it’s worth? I kinda get that relying exclusively on aura-senses isn’t the most reliable measure of anything? But neither Fang nor I felt anything like the Negaverse around the spot in Ramsett Park. So…I’d probably count that as a point against this being the Negaverse? Even if one of their people said ‘Screw it’ and went rogue just to watch the world burn, they’d probably have to leave some kind of aura behind, right?” That seemed like the logical way for things to work, in Murikabushi’s eyes, but—well. He could’ve been wrong about it, given the extent to which he was still fumbling around in the dark with no flashlight, wet matches, and only the vaguest semblance of a clue what he was supposed to be doing as a senshi.
Still, he nodded and confirmed, “Look for Kerberos to pass along any intel for you. Got it.” Her hand, though, merited more consideration. Hesitation, even. The way her orchid symbol glowed reminded him of Kerberos and his tattoos—So, she probably has the same thing where her planet really loves her and gave her extra magic…—and so far, it didn’t seem like Ida was the type to do anything to harm someone coming to her, who only wanted to help, Chaos or not. Even so, Murikabushi couldn’t keep the nervous tension out of his voice as he said, “Sure, I—I guess? Seeing it, I mean? But…is it, like, allowed? Won’t you get in trouble with someone for—I don’t know—going out of your way like that for—” A Chaos rat. “—for someone like me? Even if it’s just a demonstration?”
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 2:04 pm
Ida smiled and it was a real smile, wide and bright and warm, her dark eyes crinkling just a little at the corners.
"I don't answer to anyone." She said, her hand still out. "The White Moon doesn't have ranks and bureaucracy the way the Negaverse does, or even the Dark Mirror Court. All of us make our own decisions, and if someone is a leader, its because people chose to follow them, rather than being compelled to do so. Granted, some people find it very disorganized, and there can be a lot of conflicting opinions about things... but everyone gets to make their own choice about how they approach the war. No one gets to tell me what to do, unless I want to."
Thinking for a moment, she shrugged lightly. "When I transcended, I formed a deep bond with my asteroid. I promised to take care of it, and Earth, and in return, it gave me more power. So much power, in fact, that I'm actually kind of over flowing with it." Her head tilted as she offered a shyer smile, self-deprecating. "I have more of it than I know what to do with, so its actually good for me to share it. And I just... maybe its selfish of me, because I have a little bit of an ulterior motive."
Ida held up her free hand, palm up, showing her lack of weapons.
"If you'll let me share some of it with you, I can show you a little of what its like to get your energy, freely and unconditionally, from the source your soul is bonded to... rather than from Metallia or the Mirror. I'm not asking for anything in return. I just want to... give you another view of things." She said, pointing finally at the amber stone on the back of her hand, held by delicate gold jewelry. "Its one hundred percent nothing harmful, and it only does healing stuff because of the bracelet."
This—all of this that Ida was saying—it felt like……rather a lot.
Granted, most things had felt like rather a lot since Reiki had gone through the Black Mirror, and every time he thought he was getting a handle on all of the magical insanity, some New Thing came crashing in on him, intent on giving him more to process.… Probably unavoidable, really. From what he had gathered so far, the magical insanity was only so insane because it was so much bigger than any one person participating in it. All of the history going on—the history that had already come and the history currently being formed—all of the stories weaving together, all of the happenings that Murikabushi, no doubt, hadn’t even scratched the surface of so much as he’d batted gently at the surface like a kitten with a sunbeam.
It doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, he thought to himself. Or that the problems one stupid boy with stupid dreams who never learns don’t matter much in the bigger picture of some crazy magical war, such as the case may be.
“Yeah, uh, Kerberos……did? Sort of explain Transcendence? When we first met each other? But…his immediate focus was more on getting me to calm down and see that he wasn’t planning on just…leaving me a charred black smudge or something. So…he skimmed over some of the details, I guess.” Running his fingers through his long fringe, he added, “And……I’m sorry? If I, like? Said something hurtful or offensive? By asking if you’d get in trouble? I just…” Know that I have a Chaos aura, and that it makes people on your team think I’m up to no good.… Have heard how some people on my side—myself included—talk about people on yours, and wouldn’t be shocked if it were mutual.… Am a Chaos rat and would understand if people on your side got mad at you for talking to me, even if they might not say so out loud.
“I’m just, y’know? Really new to this, and……trying to figure everything out without a lot of guidance?”
There was probable enough plausible deniability with that explanation. At least, nobody could prove that he was feeling anything else.
But it still left the question of whether or not to accept Ida’s offer.… Looking down at her hand, Murikabushi remembered one of the many things Kerberos had said, that first night, about how you did just go to other planets when you were on his and Ida’s team. Because with Chaos, it replaced your planet’s power with its own, but on their team, apparently, you got your power from your planet.… But where did that leave someone who, according to Soya, had been left until it was almost too late to Awaken him? Someone whose planet maybe didn’t even want him, since……whatever bond they might’ve had, it had never been strong enough for the Order cats to find him?
It couldn’t hurt to accept Ida’s offer, right? She’d promised not to harm him, and she’d seemed so earnest throughout this entire conversation. Why would she lie to him now? When she was openly admitting to an ulterior motive, and when he’d only sought her out so he could try to help with the dead spots?
………It might be nice, Reiki mused, to feel what a bond with your planet feels like. Even if it’s only once.
Nodding and looking her in the eye, he took Ida’s hand.
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 6:43 pm
Ida smiled as she took her hand and it was warm. Both the smile she gave and the hand she'd offered her. Warm and gentle and understanding.
"Its okay to be new and unsure. You don't have to know everything immediately. And I'm not offended. I just don't want you to worry. I've been around for a while and I'm not afraid what anyone thinks about what I do." She said as she clasped the hand given to her, gently placing her other over the top. "I'm glad if I can help even a little. That's what I like to do, help people. Especially new people."
Murikabushi was not the usual type of person she mentored, but that was fine. She was willing to listen, and that was a place to start.
Letting her eyes close, Ida concentrated and called for the power that glowed inside of her, filling her till she felt like she buzzed with it sometimes. Those times, she had to let it out, and that's what she did now. It flowed down her arms, pooling in her palms, and then flowed into the girl who's hands she held. It was warm and sweet, like liquid sunlight, and poured into her, traveling through Ida and down her bond from her Asteroid. The amber on her hand began to glow softly, a spark starting up in its center, as the energy flowed through it, transforming into something that prompted the body to heal, to remember how it should be and make itself so, while it provided the power the body needed. Any aches and pains, and soreness, would fade away, any tiredness would disappear as energy was replenished.
For Ida, it felt relieving. The tension inside of her eased and it let her relax, until finally she let the power trickle off and end, opening her eyes again. She nearly sighed, but she stifled it, offering another soft smile as she released the hand she held.
"That's... how Ida feels to me, when I'm there. I hope you could feel it, a little."
Murikabushi wasn’t sure what to expect. Even with everything Ida had told him about her powers, about her bond with her asteroid and what it granted her, about what being a magical girl on the White Moon’s side was like for her.… She’d given him enough preamble, so maybe he should have been able to guess what was coming, or how it would feel? Yet, the rush of her magic rushed over him like getting swept up in a powerful current, and it felt like……it hit him—hit his soul—like……the deluge coursed through him like……like nothing that he’d ever experienced.
Like nothing he’d ever imagined.
Warmth flooded his body, his heart, his very being. (Relative to the heat and humidity of this horrible summer, the warmth felt pleasant, not exacerbating the heat but offering something far less oppressive.) Light seemed to bathe his mind, hitting, among other things, a rancid, self-destructive impulse that Reiki knew too well, and sending it back to the shadows with a hiss of pain and indignation. Soreness evaporated from places that, being so used to pain, he hadn’t realized were sore: his ankles and the balls of his feet, from dancing in high heels immediately before darting out onto a patrol; his shoulders, from the tension he’d carried about this meeting since Kerberos had suggested seeking out Ida; the tightness that had settled in his chest a few days ago, when he’d heard from Mom that Ojiisan’s oncologist wanted to order some scans and tests that sounded fairly routine—indeed, Reiki had driven his grandfather to and from some of those tests before—but significantly earlier than anyone had expected.
How it felt……he didn’t have words. On some level, it reminded him of all the stories he’d heard, doing his undergrad at DCU, about the daydreamy, distractible cuties or zany weirdos who’d expected to get high, trying Adderall at the sort of parties that eventually got campus security called, only to experience mental clarity for the first time in their lives.
Trembling under exactly how much Ida’s power was—how much it felt like on his senses, on his soul—he thought about Mirrorspace.… He thought of how cold it always felt when mirrorwalking, how much colder it felt to pass into Mirrorspace, how he’d taken cold showers that couldn’t compare to the chill of passing through the Black Mirror—the frozen waterfall cascade of……whatever the Mirror had inside it……whoever was in there and had reached for him (or reached out to him? Had they wanted to welcome him home or snatch him up or something else? He still didn’t know, and even if he could’ve gone to Mirrorspace on his own, he somewhat doubted that he could ask the Black Mirror questions about how it worked and expect it to give him answers).
All of that in Mirrorspace……it was so different from what Ida was sharing with him. Was……was this what it felt like? To have a planet that actually wanted you for its senshi? And she could just share that power with him as if it were nothing? Like she did this all the time? As simply as ordering DoorDash?
Dimly, Reiki realized that Ida had said something. In the part of him that knew how to act with people, he understood that he owed her an answer. That he should’ve been able to tell her something, like Kerberos had done before running away after Reiki had triggered him. But even with Ida pulling her power back, his brain reeled so much, he didn’t realize that his face felt all flushed and hot because he’d started crying.
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 5:19 pm
She'd been expecting some relaxation in Murikabushi, or some new vigor from the energy she's given the other. That was usually how it went. She'd been truthful when she'd said the magic only healed, but she also knew that soothing pains or tiredness could bring someone to a better state of mind, one that didn't strike out defensively because they were hurting.
What she didn't expect was to see tears streaming down the dark mirror senshi's face. Startled, and alarmed, Ida reached out to take the girl's arms, gently holding them as she leaned closer.
"I'm sorry! Are you okay? Did it hurt? I've never... I guess I've never given energy to a Dark Mirror senshi before." She said, her voice tight with concern. "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean for it to hurt you."
Was it because of the mirror coating on their starseed, their connection to the dark mirror and chaos? Maybe pure, unfiltered energy had burned, instead of healing. She'd never actually tried that before with one of them, she had no way of really knowing. If that was what had happened, she was going to have to be very careful not to try healing any of them unless it was absolutely necessary.
“No, no, please, it’s not—you didn’t—I promise…” Trailing off a bit, Murikabushi shook his head. It didn’t entirely rattle his brain back into place? But taking a moment to breathe deeply felt like it helped, somewhat. Which he needed because—oh, no, he’d upset her, damn it, damn it, damn ********, he had to fix this. He had to find some way to fix this without admitting to being overwhelmed because what if she blamed herself for that? Reiki had to fix this—“It—your magic, I mean? It did help. Didn’t hurt at all, actually? It—it’s more like……have you ever gotten a massage? Like, a really intense, deep one. The kind that finds knots of tension you didn’t even know you had, and it’s good, it’s good for you, you’re going to feel better……but it’s, like? It has to hurt first? Not—not that your magic did the hurting? But like……hitting those spots of tension causes pain, because the muscles have been tight for so long, and now, the muscles are used to that, and you have to coax them back to where they’re supposed to be? And all kinds of stuff builds up while they’re carrying that tension around, so when you come at it for healing, it lets all that stuff release, and you are gonna feel better, it just isn’t quite as simple as it could be…?”
……As he let himself finish, it occurred to Murikabushi that his attempt at an explanation may not have helped as much as he wanted it to. Aside from him babbling like an idiot, he might’ve still left things too open to interpretation and that still could’ve led to Ida blaming herself somehow. Admitting to all of the things he’d felt from her magic……that sounded dangerous, for so many reasons (all of which very definitely made sense, he was sure of it! just like all of his reasons why Levi could never possibly reciprocate his feelings made perfect sense). But……he could pick out something else to focus on right?
Shaking his head slowly, he clarified, “One of the spots of tension your magic hit for me? It……it’s about some family stuff, so I obviously can’t explain everything? But……someone I love—my grandfather? We’re really close. He……he’s the person I look up to third-most in the world, after my Mom and my grandmother? And he had some scares with cancer when I was in high school. He’s been in remission for a while, thank god, but not too long ago, some stuff came up—I don’t entirely know what kind of stuff specifically—but……we don’t know yet? If he’s getting sick again or not? And……I didn’t really realize how much tension I was carrying around about that until it wasn’t tense anymore.”
There. Nothing Reiki said was a lie, and he’d side-stepped around the messy, complicated problem that he couldn’t very well expect Ida to solve for him. It wasn’t her fault that he’d Awakened late, or that he didn’t know why that had happened, or that he had some serious questions about whether or not his planet—or asteroid, or whatever the Hell Murikabushi the celestial body was—even wanted him. Best to shove that s**t in a box under the bed, where it couldn’t bother anybody.
10’s across the board for emotional health and wellbeing, Reiki mused with maximum sarcasm, like he knew he deserved to hear. Still, needs must.
Whimsical Blue
Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 1:37 pm
Ida let her hands slide down Murikabushi's arms and took her hands now, gently squeezing them as she listened patiently through the rambling. The concern in her eased and she relaxed, her concern shifting now to more of a big sisterly type of concern.
"I think I understand that." She said as she nodded. It made sense... she'd seen people in pain cry with release when the pain stopped and the meds kicked in. She'd told her, too, that the healing of her magic could have an effect, but Ida had really not expected the response to be this intense.
"I'm sorry about your grandfather." Ida's features softened with empathy, with that sense of someone who truly did know how it felt to experience something. Her mind flashed back to watching her parents wait for the call, to days of visiting the hospital and entertaining her little brother while her parents talked to the doctors. She hadn't really understood what any of it had meant, but the memories had stuck with her. "I hope it turns out to be nothing serious, but I know the waiting is hard. I know you can't tell me specifics, but... I don't know. If you ever need someone to talk to about it, who knows what its like? I'd be willing to listen. For what its worth, me being White Moon."
She offered a wry half smile and a shrug. "Sorry this got kinda heavy? And not in the way you probably expected, since you wanted to know about the dead spots."
In its own way, Ida’s little not-quite-joke helped more than anything else had done……probably in the past few days? At the very least, it helped more than talking to Kerberos had done, since being forgiven for triggering him still didn’t entirely feel real—or anyway, Reiki didn’t feel like he’d done enough to earn that forgiveness, apart from apologize. What he’d done still felt so much bigger than a simple apology, and wasn’t it?
Maybe. Or maybe not. Reiki didn’t know—same as he didn’t know very much of anything yet, about how all of this high-concept magical senshi business worked, and what it meant, and where exactly he was supposed to fit in everything—but the acknowledgment of the unexpected turn that things had taken still let him breathe more easily. Got him to let slip a sound that probably wanted to be a chuckle, though it hadn’t made it all the way to that goal just yet.
“Well, specifics or not? Thank you. Truly, I appreciate the offer,” he told her with a small smile that, while clearly not quite real, was still earnestly trying to be a proper smile. “And…I don’t know, I’m willing to cop to missing a lot of the nuances in all of the ‘who’s on what side’ business? But you being White Moon doesn’t seem, to me, like something that would make your offer to listen sometime, or your well-wishes, or anything……mean less?” If anything, shouldn’t those things have meant more, coming from someone on one of the many Other Sides?
That kind of decency, across the lines in a conflict with such huge stakes…… It spoke well of Ida and Kerberos to even offer them. Or it did in Reiki’s mind, anyway.
“Either way,” he added, “I might take you up on that sometime.… And whether I do or not? I meant it about wanting to help with the dead spots however I can. So…I won’t be a stranger, at least?”
