Heatwaves (11) : An unfortunate dry spell has come over Destiny City, and a heat wave has made it all but unbearable. The heatwave is only projected to last for a week but it’s been rough. Plants are wilting, people are wilting. The city is experiencing blackouts, which isn’t helping. Thankfully, the reservoir is always open. Just, crowded. It might just be the worst part of the summer. People are passing out regularly, and the hospitals are getting too many admissions to keep up with. It’s probably just the heat and not anyone up to anything nefarious, right? Better stay hydrated and try to keep cool, and maybe avoid everyone in weird costumes, just in case.
Sooner or later, Reiki figured, Haruhi was going to cotton on to how he was using his senshi powers to take off his makeup after a gig. Then, ne was going to be all upset about it, and get all cross with Reiki for making arguably dubious decisions, and probably impatiently tap nis foot while crossing nis arms over nis chest and making that face ne always did when ne thought Reiki was being exceptionally stupid. If not Haruhi getting cross with him for being irresponsible, then maybe someone else was going to notice the weird way that a Chaos aura blipped into existence around Scandals almost every night, only to blip away soon after, then come back a while later.
But: 1. consequences hadn’t come to kick his a** yet, so that sounded like Future Reiki’s problem; and 2. honestly, what else did people expect him to do? It was so needlessly hot today that, even considering the cooling and ventilation systems at the bar, he’d needed way more setting spray than usual just to keep from sweating out of his face during his numbers. Given how much he’d done to keep his face on, staying limited to normal, non-magical ways of removing his makeup meant that he wouldn’t have had time to switch things up backstage between “Surface Pressure” (an acquiescence to every drag sibling who’d asked him recently why he hadn’t done this number yet because honestly, the song reminded them of him so much) and “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” (dedicated, in Reiki’s mind, to a beautiful boy who sadly wasn’t in the audience tonight).
Roof-hopping after the show wasn’t much better, in terms of the heat. Honestly, wasn’t sunset supposed to make things cool down? No sunlight! No added reason for molecules to move faster and generate heat, or however that worked! The continued heat was honestly homophobic. Forcing Reiki to break out the chilled water bottle he’d made up special and stashed in his subspace before leaving the apartment (he’d made up another for Haruhi, and god, he hoped ne had taken it).
On the plus, it seemed like fewer people were out and about tonight (probably doing the smart thing and staying home).
On the fairly significant downside, however, as Reiki hopped around the roofs near Jefferson Park, he spotted one of the Scandals regulars slouched against a streetlamp—right in time for Gabe to pass clean out.
“Goddammit, Gabriel,” Reiki grumbled, rushing to put his water bottle back into his subspace. “Ricki and Jaime weren’t telling you to stay hydrated just to sell you more drinks, you idiot.”
Frustrated as he was with Gabe’s current round of dumb-shittery, Reiki redirected course. Hopped off the roof with more grace than usual (in his mind at least) and darted across the thankfully empty street, over to where Gabe had fallen. He only took care in kneeling because he’d stressed his knees out quite enough onstage tonight, and Reiki honestly didn’t need more pain in his life. If he could wake Gabe up, he wouldn’t recognize Reiki right now, but that didn’t matter. Making sure he was alive and could get help—those were the only important things.
Seiana_ZIx
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 2:10 am
This might have counted as the first time she wished her outfit was a bit... less.
She wasn't warm, necessarily, but the feather skirt, the wings, the hairstyle that wasn't in a bun -- well, it was a lot to lug around in the heat. She could handle it and she would handle it to make sure no one was using these already exhausted people to their advantage. Still, she couldn't help wondering if things would be a bit easier if she had just been wearing the simple dress with a brow she wore back when she was awakened. More breathable, at least...
It was nonsense musings that cut when she felt a chaotic energy signature.
Dark Mirror. Interesting. She didn't see them as much, but snatching energy from people was still taking s**t that didn't belong to them, drawing from their life force that could harm them--
A basic, too. Maybe she could put them in their place before it got worse--
And they were already standing over a civilian of all things--
She tapped into her magic to charge them before she could be noticed, hoping to knock them away from the civilian.
"Back off! Taking advantage of the heat so they can't fight back? Are you kidding?"
Of course they weren't. Chaos destroyed and it didn't care.
amorremanetx
"Mothers Geese!" Geese are known for being great guards. Anser says her attack name and a few ethereal geese appear in front of her, honking. After the geese honk out their warning, Anser and other allies within a ten-foot radius find that their reflexes are enhanced, allowing them to either better fight back physically or put some distance between themselves and whatever danger there may be. (Usage: Twice per battle Duration: 30 seconds Range: 10ft radius)
On the plus, Gabe was still breathing, and while he wouldn’t rouse enough to sit up, he was conscious enough that Reiki could probably get him to an ER just fine. Not what he’d expected to be doing with his patrol, but what was he supposed to do? Leave one of the regulars from his home bar out here to die from his own asinine refusal to hydrate properly?
(Arguably, there was a lesson to learn in that, but Gabe wasn’t going to learn it if he died, so. Yeah. Somebody had to help him, and Reiki happened to be available.)
On the rather significant downside, though, as Reiki was trying to shift so he could pick Gabe up, something swooped in and knocked him back from Gabe. Sent Reiki flying back into the streetlamp Gabe had been standing near when he fainted. That sent his head reeling—but not so much that he couldn’t hear the accusation or feel the aura that he’d somehow missed before getting ambushed. White Moon, aggressively bright. Pulsing with power. Leaving Reiki with the distinct impression that looking at whoever had it would be like peeking in the Ark of the Covenant.
“You wanna talk about taking advantage?” He snapped, eyes still closed as he stalled to give his head a moment to calm down. “I wasn’t taking advantage of s**t—do you see a Mirrorwraith anywhere? My means of summoning one hasn’t left my subspace all night! I saw someone pass out while I was heading home; I stopped to help. If anybody’s taking advantage here, it’s the person swooping in to hit me while my guard’s down.”
The short, exceedingly young-looking person who, now that Reiki felt a little better about opening his eyes, definitely had a triple-layered feathery skirt, a flock of spectral-looking geese all lined up where Reiki had been, and……glowing periwinkle tattoos all up and down her face and arms.
“Oh, what the <********>,” he groaned. “You’re, like, twelve! What the ******** are you doing with transcendence tatts? Go do your homework and leave me alone, Sailor Untitled Goose Game. Ugh!”
True, it was summer break—the frankly oppressive heat made sure nobody could forget that—but some wunderkind overachiever who had transcendence tatts at her so big age? She was probably in summer cram school, or one of DCU’s summer courses for high school students to rack up college credits early, or <********>. Reiki didn’t know, but that seemed reasonable.
Seiana_ZI
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2022 6:30 pm
Mission Accomplished.
Seeing the dark mirror knocked back easily was satisfying but it was something she only enjoyed briefly as she advanced on where she knocked them too. The excuses were already spilling--it was true, she didn't see a mirrorwraith now, but that didn't mean there hadn't been one--and then they were accusing her of taking advantage. Typical. None of these people ever took responsibility for their actions.
"Your fellows haven't left me a choice," she snarled, shoving her fist as a very clear threat. "I've seen too many drained and dead civilians to trust--"
Wait.
Twelve?
Was this b***h kidding?
All five-foot-eight of Anser seemed to grow more threatening at that moment. She was no longer a child! And even if she was, chibis were strong. Chibis witnessed more than the adults realized. Chibis wanted to protect others from suffering in the way that the people they had known did, like Ignacio, Cybele, and--
"I'm in college," well, not officially for a couple more weeks, but some chaos a** didn't need to know that, "and I've witnessed the s**t Chaos has done for my whole life, so, again,"
Watching the Order gosling’s darling little dominance display, Reiki felt his gaze dulling over and one brow quirking to rival Commander Spock’s. Uh huh. Wow. She really thought she was doing something, apparently. Punching at him, puffing herself up like every wet tissue paper ego’d jock at Meadowview who’d hated him for existing while femme, getting all offended about him pointing out her age (technically about him guessing it wrong, but that was pointless semantics) while the civilian she allegedly cared about protecting was still sprawled out on the frying pan sidewalk.
Still baking under the absurd heat, when he’d already passed out from it.
How up oneself did someone need to be to care more about punching someone for wearing the wrong color dress than the human life that was demonstrably in danger?
Still, throughout Sailor Gosling’s performance, Reiki didn’t interrupt. Better to let her get it out of her system, and besides, it was taking enough focus to keep his breathing deep. Steady. Meditative. Somewhere in the vicinity of calm and distinctly not inclined to throw hands with a little girl, even one with more magical power than he had. When she’d finished, he simply shot her a look like “Is that it? Are you done?”
Another deep breath, and he pulled himself up to standing, all six-foot-four of him. Two could play at the Almighty Tallest Game, and even slouching slightly at the hips, he had the clear advantage. He would’ve been fine even without his heels.
Looking her in the eye, he drawled, “Well, unfortunately for you, Sailor Untitled Goose Game? You are not my boss.” With a huff, he moved to just walk past her and around her flock of spectral geese. Wasn’t like the line of them went on and on forever, after all. “Nor am I obligated to roll over for you just because you want to be right so badly. By the way, of the two of us, who has thrown any attacks at whom?”
As he crouched and readied himself to pick Gabe up, he made a throaty, dismissive sound like Couldn’t be me.
“Stalk me all the way to DC Memorial if you feel like it. But I’m not leaving without him—not when the bill for an ambulance ride is so outrageous.” Fortunately, the potent mix of senshi strength and normal people strength-resistance training made lifting Gabe into a princess carry easy. “By your leave, Sailor Untitled Goose Game.”
Seiana_ZI
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 4:49 pm
Was she done? Of course the ******** not. The Dark Mirror wasn't leaving, and was in fact getting closer to the civilian. Much closer. If she wasn't well aware that the dark mirror relied on those weird mirror creatures to take anything at all (mirrorwraiths, that was the word), and at least they couldn't snatch souls (not like it made the DMC not a clear threat considering the ones she came across, and Chaos was still Chaos) she would have bowled him over on the spot.
"No," she responded, watching them extremely warily as they went to pick up the civilian, "I'm not done because you're still ******** here."
"If I was your boss, you wouldn't be wearing black, first of all," she watched them even harder as the civilian was picked up, all muscles and nerves and soul singing with a tension that's only release would be the eradication of the things that threatened this world and its inhabitants. "I don't know what you did before I got here, but my life has told me I have to assume the worst. And I am stronger and faster than you, anyway."
Not even considering their levels or just how long she had been training and patrolling and fighting, just her magic was a boost...
"I wasn't gonna just ******** leave him, and I'm not leaving you either."
She wasn't gonna let this Chaos a** take the civilian away somewhere else to drain him, or abandon him. or kill him, or corrupt him somehow--turn him into a youma if he had any connections to the other shitty Chaos--and now the civilian was being held by Chaos, and she didn't want to risk any further harm to the civilian unless it was vital to make sure no more of their life force was stolen.
Anser shook.
"So, taking him to DC Memorial? Better get ******** moving." Or she'd take this righteous Chaos a*****e out and rush the civilian there herself.
Honestly, every day that Reiki was forced to deal with teenagers who ought not have been his damn responsibility? Was a crime against him, personally. Not that he didn’t overall agree with Sailor Gosling’s point about getting a move on—he had, after all, been the one to suggest it first (…well, maybe one could’ve argued that her telling him to back off had been some overture in the direction of actually caring about what happened to Gabe)—but seriously. Teenagers were why he couldn’t have nice things and oh, how he burned, pined, and perished for the day when real life developed a setting like “I don’t want to see or be seen by teenagers.”
………Maybe Kerberos would still be at his bench when this was finished. Not that Reiki really had a good reason to go bother him, but god, only a few minutes with this kid, and he longed to just……be around someone his own age. Even Arsenolite would’ve been better than this abrupt, unpaid babysitting gig.
“Mhm, but as we’ve covered? You’re not my boss.” Adjusting Gabe a bit—he’d hoisted him up a bit awkwardly—Reiki shot Sailor Gosling one last unimpressed look. “Sort of like how it doesn’t matter that, if I were your mother, I’d be horrified and disappointed that you have all this phenomenal cosmic power and you run around in the middle of the night, throwing it around like a bully. But I’m not your mother, so who cares, right.”
Well, hopefully, Sailor Gosling and her moral high-horse might care, but Reiki didn’t feel like sticking around to find out. Now that he had his hold on Gabe secure, he took off in the direction of DC Memorial, leaping up onto the roofs so he wouldn’t need to worry about anybody on the roads this late—not least since, in his experience, they had a good chance of being drunk. If Sailor Untitled Goose Game decided to follow him in the way that Daphne hadn’t, then……ugh. Jesus. Whatever. He’d just have to deal with it, since, in fairness, he had invited the feathery little upstart to do that.
But the undeniable fact remained: teenagers were why Reiki could not have nice things.
Seiana_ZI
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2022 5:10 pm
Did she feel like a pain in the a** to him?
Good. It was the least she could provide.
Anser rolled her eyes at being called a bully, both an action that backed up his youthful impressions, and one that showed just how little she cared. If Chaos thought she threw around her power like a bully, that meant they saw her as a nuisance at the very least, potentially a threat. Anser wanted to be seen by them no other way. Let them be bothered by her. Let them be scared of her. The Negaverse and the Dark Mirror were all too comfortable existing as threats to the civilians of Earth.
"Who cares, indeed." They sounded as much like a teenager as they accused her of being! She'd be eighteen in August! And she was willing to bet they knew nothing of Chaos' history in this city...
Even if she hadn't been invited, she would have hopped onto the roof after the mirror a**. And she did.
Couldn't trust any Chaos.
Half-heartedly, as she followed, she offered, "I can get us both there a bit faster."
The concept of using her magic on anyone in Chaos was more nauseating than the heat, but she wanted to get the civilian away from the threat as quickly as possible. If that meant temporarily sharing her magic to get the threat out of there--
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Reiki huffed without even needing to think about it. Honestly, the entitlement and gall of some people—which, sure, fine, was probably due in no small part to her age, but that didn’t mean he had to cave for her and roll over. Magic enhancements or no magic enhancements, he didn’t run as a civilian every morning and work out daily for nothing. “You cannot demand that I trust you or your sparkly goose magic after you’ve already used it to attack me. And over things that I. didn’t. do.”
Leaping to a new rooftop, Reiki wasn’t entirely certain if he meant the accusations she’d aimed directly at him, or the way she’d acted like his black outfit meant that he had to shoulder accountability for all bad actions by any Chaos rats ever.… Both sounded like perfectly valid options.… Mostly, he wanted to get this over with so he could double back to North End Park and go sit with a senshi who actually behaved like a magical girl was supposed to act, rather than being profiled, stalked, and generally treated like his mere existence was a crime by someone who couldn’t even buy her own tequila yet.
“God, or whoever you may believe in, is watching, Goose Game: how long of a conversation have you even had with a Chaos rat before tonight?” Since she was insisting on making this the worst buddy cop movie ever, and the sound of feet thumping on roofs got terribly dull very fast, Reiki itched to just……fill the dead air with something. “And I mean actual conversations. Listening to some jumped-up Negaverse moron with delusions of grandeur give you their best impressions of Jafar, Rasputin, and Auric Goldfinger does not count.”
As far as he was concerned, it stood to reason that she probably hadn’t had very many actual conversations with the rats like him. For one thing, she kept acting like simply being in his presence offended her almost as much as not being given her way just because she wanted to do a Veruca Salt about it. And for another thing, the way she was so happy to dehumanize someone who was right in front of her, blatantly a human person, probably came out of ignorance. It always ******** did.
Then again, with so many of the bullies Reiki had known before her, the ignorance had been willful and deliberate, and the dehumanization had been desperation to make him feel terrified, and broken, and wrong, just because they could. Because somewhere along the line, they’d learned that violence made them powerful, and that it was their divine birthright to exact violence on whoever they wanted. And yet, despite all the parallels Reiki could’ve vocally drawn between them and Sailor Untitled Goose Game, here he was, keeping that to himself and giving her a chance to do better than any of them ever had.
Ten New Tricks To NOT Make Your Trauma Into Everyone Else’s ******** Problem, he mused to himself, dashing through one of the more residential areas of town. (Number Six Will SHOCK You!)
Seiana_ZI_
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2022 6:21 pm
The concept of anyone rejecting a boost made her snort a laugh, but whatever. They should still get there in time, she presumed. And then she didn't have to give her magic to a presumptuous chaos b***h...
Said Chaos b***h was still on some s**t, ranting at her, saying she accused them of things they didn't do--"Still have no reason to trust that"--and then went on to accuse her of not even trying talking. Delusions of grandeur on the Nega's part was at least accurate; it was interesting to know some of the dark mirror didn't like the Negaverse but the only credit she'd give that was at least they'd tear each other apart eventually. Or one would shred the other. Fewer enemies--
"Yeah, actually, I have."
Stillwaterite. Prehnite. That one cat, technically--
"One of them actually realized she couldn't stay in her faction anymore and joined us after all that," though that was probably more Encke than her-- "But I've heard the arguments. Nothing justifies the fact that you have to steal energy from people just to exist. Mirrorspace needs to steal from people. I'll give you one thing. Nega's even more harmful. They steal souls sway from the rebirth cycle just to power their bullshit. To eat."
She huffed.
"If you were one of them, this'd be different. As is, still concerned. I've seen too many people drained to dangerous exhaustion, left for dead, actually dead--with the Negaverse, eaten, turned into monsters-- Save it."
“Excuse me, what am I supposed to be saving, exactly? Do you mean reminding you of the part where you. said. yourself. that you felt justified in attacking me, without even stopping to assess the situation beyond ‘Eww, it’s a nasty little Chaos freak, I’m gonna go kick it around and put it in its place,’ because of things you’ve seen elsewhere. Things that you’re still citing at me like I have anything to do with the Negaverse ******** up the magical girl Avatar Cycle or whatever.”
Huffing, Reiki glanced aside—not that he could look at her for long, with more roofs to leap around on, but he wanted that brief moment of giving her another singularly unimpressed look. “How is holding other people’s actions against me anything but expecting me to answer for s**t that I. objectively. did. not. do?”
Besides, if she were really paying attention to where they were running, she’d have noticed things getting more expensive—townhomes more than apartment complexes; bigger lots for the different stores that lined the streets—as they got closer and closer to DC Memorial. No reason to trust that, Reiki’s beautiful a**.
“Or do you mean save it about wondering how you can have spoken to Chaos rats, from the sound of it gotten to know at least one of them, and then still turn around and act like we’re all the same to you—” Just like every a*****e white kid at Meadowview who ever asked if I was related to Jackie Chan, like Chinese and Japanese are the same ******** thing— “—with the only apparent difference being that the Negaverse is worse enough that you didn’t just kill me?”
Even more than Sailor Gosling’s garbage, though, lower roofs were the worst, honestly. Hopping up progressively taller roofs was one thing, but jumping down from a taller one actually required a moment’s pause. Had Reiki been on his own, he wouldn’t have bothered. He could handle anything. But Gabe, still groaning down in his arms, required more care than that.… Not that most people would’ve considered it particularly careful for Reiki to platform down by jumping at an angle, getting one foot on a ladder connecting the smaller roof to the taller one, then ping-ponging down from there.
But, well, most people weren’t magical girls.
Anyway, Reiki stuck the landing without jostling Gabe around too much. That was the most important thing.
“Or,” he went on as he started running again, “do you mean save it as in don’t point out that the only things I was told were that your team’s talking cats must’ve abandoned me—unreliable narration on Soya’s part, but still—and ‘come with us and you can be a magical boy.’ Nothing about draining energy or this magical gang war until after I’d already said ‘yes,’ and at that point, what else is a b***h supposed to do except make the ******** best of it? Except do what I can, what little I can do? It’s not like you can go back to sleep once you get Awakened, right, and magical girls are supposed to help people. Everyone who’s read a CLAMP manga knows that magical girls help people. So why can’t I just do that without having other people’s bullshit held against me?”
A quick glance at one of the hanging street signs said they’d made it to Cherrygrove Street. Thank god. The sooner Reiki rid himself of this obnoxious teenage brat, the better.
Another huff and he concluded, “Am I supposed to save it about the truth because it doesn’t fit your narrative?”
Seiana_ZI
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2022 8:44 pm
Oh boy, she apparently just made the mirror a** angrier, Anser did the best to suppress the urge to roll her eyes again, and it only worked until they stopped looking at her directly. And it only worked because her anxiety was spiking, and she was charging that energy elsewhere with a tap. tap. tap. tap.
The question might have been more valid if she didn't know how this all worked, To thrive in a Chaos faction, to be in a Chaos faction, one had to take. Energy. Souls. And who wasn't to say the dark mirror wouldn't start taking souls as they grew stronger? Better to halt the infection in its tracks before any more lives were lost like hers--
She followed smoothly, hinting at the experience behind the glow and the wings, not even stumbling beyond an intentional roll as their descent lowered. She kept her eyes out for the familiar building, wanting to be done wth this as quickly as possible.
Was her mother on shift tonight? She'd have to ask after the guy in the dark mirror's arms as Raina if she was--
Wait-- what was he on about? Did he feel trapped in Chaos because an unreliable narrator of a Chaos Cat woke him? Vi would be so mad-- This felt like a job for Encke, but-- "You can leave, you know. You don't have to make the best out of being in a war where your side, even if not you, has drained countless people. And you are Chaos like the Negaverse, on the same side, to some degree aligned with them-- and they do the s**t they do, no telling your side won't be capable of the same once you get more numerous."
She sighed, looking out for the hospital.
"This war has gone on for the greater majority of my life. I was raised in it. Seen how many people your side has ******** up. The reason why I say save it is because I have to assume the worst or more people will die."
I'm making sure you don't ******** up anyone else.
"My life has shown me that."
tap. tap. tap. tap.
She hated talking when she just wanted to set it all aflame.
“No, actually. I can’t,” Reiki said, simply and matter-of-factly. Because as far as he knew, it was. “Sure, fine, people leave the Negaverse, and good for them? I hope more of them keep leaving, because high-key ******** the Negaverse. I’d rather deal with a million of you than another one of anybody I’ve met from the Negaverse—except the one who isn’t there by choice, but……that’s not my story to tell.”
For all that logic mostly applied to non-magical trauma, in Reiki’s experience—abuse and assault and the like—it felt like it more than applied to Toráin’s situation. Everything that had happened to him, everything Arsenolite and the Negaverse had done to him……it wasn’t Reiki’s trauma to go airing out for unrelated third-parties. He was on a fine enough line by even mentioning the forced Corruption. For sure, he couldn’t say anything explicit about how the Negaverse was, from the sound of things, abusing Toráin into accepting his chains. Loving his chains. Agreeing that his bargain bin Hawkeye brother had been right to get him forcibly Corrupted.
Still, though, Little Miss Sunshine over here would probably argue if he didn’t clarify, “The Mirror’s different from the Negaverse, though, remember? We might not take people against their will—” As far as Reiki knew, which was admittedly about as long as the distance from his bed to the shower. “—but once you’re in, you’re in. Nobody gets out.”
It had to be that way, he figured, because Reiki couldn’t see why someone like Levi would’ve stayed somewhere awful if he had any other option. Strong, brave, beautiful Levi, who worked so hard—so tirelessly—to help people. He was an activist, for ******** sakes, not some idiot who retweeted things without fact-checking them and whose investment in leftist politics began and ended with whatever the most popular hashtag was today. Levi lobbied in support of projects and legislation that were meant to help people, to make the world a better place.
If there had ever been an option to leave, then surely, he would’ve left by now.… There was the matter of his sister and Acubens, though.… They were family, and Reiki would’ve understood if Levi felt like he couldn’t leave them (mostly because Reiki felt the same way about Haruhi, especially since ne had only joined the Mirror in the first place because of Reiki, to protect his stupid a**).… But for all Reiki hadn’t met Chione, he had met Acubens, and she just didn’t seem like the sort of person who’d stay somewhere irredeemably terrible if she had any other option.… Yeah, okay, she was really excited about Mirrorspace and interested in the crystal at the heart of it all, but it was just her, like Reiki, making the best of the situation.
As they finally got back on the ground, heading for the ER’s doors, Reiki shrugged (as much as he could while still carrying Gabe). “I’m just saying,” he pointed out, “you don’t know people’s lives or situations just because they’re Chaos. And I may not like it, but I can handle being a universe-designated villain. I can handle you or anyone else hating me. Because I know who I am and it’s nothing I haven’t already spent my whole life getting anyway. Plus, at least your heart is somewhere adjacent to the right place, which is more than I can say for all the assholes who came for me when we were your age.”
Which should’ve been a crazy thing to say to someone so much more powerful than Reiki, but here they were.
“But if you always assume the worst about every. individual. person like this,” he went on, “sure, you might keep yourself safe? But it’s at the risk of alienating people like my one friend in the Negaverse—people who don’t want to be there, who didn’t get a choice, who might need help because they can’t see that a way out is even possible.”
It probably wouldn’t help to ask if Sailor Untitled Goose Game was really okay with the risk of driving people like Toráin further into the Negaverse’s clutches by refusing to just be ******** nice for two consecutive minutes, so Reiki didn’t say it………but he sure was thinking it loudly.
As for more immediately important things, the ER door was close. Reiki huffed. “It probably says a lot that this outfit isn’t even the craziest thing I’ve ever worn while coming here.…”
Seiana_ZI
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2022 10:24 pm
Well, they had one very narrow thing in common. High-key ******** the Negaverse, indeed. But the mention of forced corruption both hit a chord and didn't. it had happened to Cybele. She had gotten out. She had even gotten her wings back.
But she also knew what Cybele would want to be done if it ever happened again. What if this empty shell of a nice person thought the same? What then? Was trying to save them denying their last wish as who they were, or was it what they had to do? Anser was glad Cybele was saved but would always wonder in these things as she had taken the unenviable position of needing to do what was necessary. And, anyway--
Mirror a** was wrong.
"No, that's false. I don't know how to do it besides the find Cosmos bit, but there are former members of the dark mirror on our side. You can leave. You're not trapped. Chaos wants you to think that, it always does, but," Anser shrugged.
If only she actually knew a former dark mirror to tell him about, but well, if they really felt trapped in there, might as well at least put the idea there. If he purified, she'd believe them.
They were doing the appeal. That her heart was at least adjacent to the right place--whatever--did she want to risk alienating the occasional person who hadn't even asked to be there--but was still threatening civilians? Or at least was expected to?
"Not everyone can be nice in a war. Not when the planet is gonna die. Others can do that. I will end it, no matter what."
Anser was a poster teen for good, not nice.
"The doctors here see a lot of wacky s**t. They won't even care." Anser wouldn't share the stories that Mama had told, but she may have seemed suspiciously knowledgeable. "They won't even notice. Just drop him off."
Her attempt at contradicting him should’ve given Reiki his own turn to roll his eyes. He wanted to, very badly, but there was no way that all the accumulated salt in this conversation had been any kind of good for either him or Sailor Gosling. Prolonging the nonsense by trying to argue that she had to be wrong about the Mirror would only exacerbate everything. (And she did have to be wrong about the Mirror, about thinking people could just scream at the cosmic nothingness or whatever and get out of it. Plain and simple, that didn’t make any sense with Reiki’s fantasy, though it did still make more sense than thinking that Levi would willingly stay somewhere terrible if, all along, he had the option to leave.)
Regardless, out of himself and Gosling, of them had to take the high road, sooner or later, rather than continuing on this game of trying to one-up each other into an early grave. Regardless of their relative levels of experience with the magical gang war, expecting the teenager to do it just……didn’t seem right.
Fact remained: Reiki had made a choice when Levi had offered him the chance to become a magical boy, and while he wouldn’t say that he’d chosen wrong, he’d definitely chosen impulsively. So, now, he had to just……live with the consequences and do the best he could with the bed he’d made for himself. Same as every other impulse decision he ever made. Honestly, he should’ve had a PhD by now—albeit in getting himself into questionable situations, rather than queer studies.
One thing Gosling was right about, though: the nurses in the ER barely looked twice at her and Reiki while he handed Gabe over to them, gave them Gabe’s name (Gabriel Maldonado), and explained that he’d fainted and may have been dehydrated (definitely was, in Reiki’s opinion, but admitting that he knew Gabe’s name was already enough of a risk with Gosling around; he couldn’t go around indicating anything else to say they knew each other personally, much less how or from where).
As had happened when he’d brought in Michel—the time when he’d actually done the thing that Sailor Untitled Goose Game was so pissed off at him for allegedly doing now—the nurses took things over from there. Heat exhaustion was probably something this summer was getting them all too accustomed to handling, just like they were for Destiny City’s endemic inexplicable comas (that, as it turned out, had been the Negaverse and the Dark Mirror’s fault all along). Once they had things under control for Gabe, though, Reiki turned to make his exit.
Not a word to Goose Game—which was, admittedly, odd for him—but she wasn’t the only one who wanted this stupid business between them to get over with already. If she followed to prolong it, then that was on her, not Reiki. As far as he was concerned, he’d dealt with enough teenager nonsense for the next few weeks, so he had every right to leave.
Seiana_ZI
probably a fin from my end, unless Anser wants to take issue with being shut down on or anything? heart
