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Fireflies were said to be quite nice to watch, to see, making the sky just that much more colorful as darkness descended into night, the sun having set and leaving nothing but city lights and the moon to light the way.

Shoqafa would have been happy had the fireflies remained simply that -- fireflies, and something nice to watch without any trouble coming his way, a nice summer evening to relax. But it seemed that was not his lot in life, not tonight as there was something else amidst the fireflies, being malicious and zapping at nearby people, causing him to be where he is now, little stick of rattan held in one hand while the other is balled in a fist, almost...swatting at the youma like a pinata, jumping and trying to hit it as it would fly just out of reach, as if taunting him.

The youma was...certainly something, looking like a rather decently attractive woman from the waist up but a more insect like appearance below the waist, the end of her butt going from color to color slowly, almost like a defective Christmas light.

Help would...be nice, but he didn't have time to think or try to get any, focused as he was on just trying to hit the thing, let alone actually getting it to go away.

Arsenolite was meant to be having a good night. He was supposed to be just wandering out and about as Emmett tonight, enjoying the flipping festival, but instead he had to go out and do some stupid s**t for the Negaverse.

Now, look. He loved the Negaverse. Really, truly, he did. But damnit, he just wanted some nice time off to chill out and relax and very much not think about the fact that Monoceros had been missing for a few days and just... get smashed at the Festival and ride some stupid rides until he puked and stare at all the beautiful fireflies that flitted about, flashing different colors than the usual yellow he was used to. They were certainly pretty, and he wondered if he could get them to line up in a rainbow, or something.

But no. He didn't have time for any self indulgences tonight. Negaverse work it was.

So when he detected a White Moon aura and a Dark Mirror one, he snarled and barreled towards them, an arrow nocked in his bow and ready to fire on whatever poor b*****d was out doing their stupid White Moon s**t. He may not have liked the Mirrors much, but they were technically still allies, and he would protect them.

He darted into the alley, and noticed the youma. s**t. They really only obeyed Generals, but... sometimes Captains could control them. He didn't want the thing dusted by whichever one of these guys was going to do it when it took so much time for them to come back; but then, it certainly wasn't the Dark Mirror's fault that the youma considered them just as much of prey as the White Moon.

"Hey, ugly butt!" he hollered at it, praying it would listen, "Stand down! Now!"

Reiki couldn’t help but ugh and roll his eyes when ******** Hawkeye swooped in out of nowhere and tried to start giving the youma orders. Didn’t work, evidently—Nice to know that someone else out here has a negative amount of respect for you—but there wasn’t time to enjoy Arsenolite’s failure. Not when Effie rounded on Reiki and flew toward him, apparently keen on taking him up on that offer.

Thankfully, her massive size gave her flippity little wings trouble. She didn’t charge slowly, but she still gave Reiki time enough to square his shoulders and extend his arm. Bend back his wrist. “Gnawing,” he intoned, looking her in the eye, and then, as he yanked the invisible cord, “Hunger!”

Whatever wires had shaken into place after his chats with Kerberos, whatever all had come from the energy-sharing that Ida had done for him, Reiki felt it—that rush of power swelling up with in him. The magic of his starseed, burning inside him, rushing through his body, clawing and biting and screaming to get out. And while Ser Purple Rain was close enough to get hit by the wave of magic, Reiki gritted his teeth and fixated on the thought, Not him. Not him. A Lannister always pays her debts. He saved me before, when I couldn’t do anything to help him; he is not my enemy—not for right now.

No such considerations got extended to Effie and Arsenolite. If the latter wanted to make a fuss about it after Effie clawed herself apart from the hunger like Vanessa had—or whatever Effie wound up doing—then Reiki could worry about that then.

Shoqafa felt something as he heard the magic cast -- not hunger, thankfully, but there was a confused sort of feeling, a lurch in his stomach as he recognized it -- magic, something strange, something different, something...well. Something.

Effie really didn't like that, but at least she didn't have to be unhappy for long, as the arrow seemed to go effortlessly through the thing, and dust...so much dust, which was a bit gross, he'd freely admit. Even if he's seen it a couple times, it's just...

"I'd really like not to have firefly creature dead skin on me," he grumbled. He wasn't super close, but it sure felt like it as he made faces, hands brushing at his shirt, his pants, stomping his feet a bit, all while keeping an eye on the other two to an extent.

"Uh." Eloquent. So very eloquent, conveying so much in a single syllable. "I -- I'm fine. Thank you for your assistance, both of you." He didn't really trust either of them, but surely just a little conversation wouldn't be bad, right? Besides, he had been helped. He wouldn't have gotten anywhere with it unless it grew tired later on.

Arsenolite nodded to the Page and to Tagame, still smiling cockily.

"Too bad she didn't want to listen," he said with a sad shake of his head. "Ah well, she'll be back soon enough. Glad you're both alright."

He lifted an eyebrow ever so slightly at Tagame, having noticed that he didn't answer Arsenolite's question.

"What's your name, Purple Guy?" he asked. "I'm Captain Arsenolite."

“Arsenolite, actually,” Reiki corrected Shoqafa gently. “‘Arrr’ like a pirate. ‘Sea’ like the thing that pirates sail on. ‘No’ like……well, like ‘no.’ And ‘lite’ like the opposite of darkness. It’s a highly toxic mineral created through some messy geological weirdness involving arsenic sulfides.”

Reiki probably shouldn’t have wasted any time with googling Arsenolite after meeting him, especially during Pride Season, but……a b***h had been curious about what a certain ******** name meant.

……God, he hoped Arsenolite actually bothered to google Tagame sometime. Sure, maybe he’d only find My Brother’s Husband at first, but that might just make the ensuing shock so much worse, when Arsenolite got to the manga that Tagame-sensei built up his career around before doing My Brother’s Husband. Reiki might have paid good money to watch that.

Right now, he would’ve also paid good money for Arsenolite to go away, but since he was still here and arching his damn eyebrow—“And I’m doing well enough, Captain. Yourself?”

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He nodded, repeating it softly to himself, slowly before, "Arsenolite, got it." Look, it was not good form to mispronounce names, even if it was someone who ought to be an enemy. The chances were entirely too high that that would only anger the other person and cause things to be, well...

He could at least be polite when there was no active threats. Especially since it was highly likely he himself couldn't...completely hold his own against the other two present. Even if the one man was trying to be...casual. Like they weren't enemies.

Because...they were enemies, right?

"I -- right." He wouldn't correct that -- if it kept him alive, he needed to do that. He didn't want to have to fight again, especially after using so much of his own energy trying to just get the youma out of the sky. "Well, that's good. We're all good, then, yes."

Awkward, thy name be Shoqafa.

Arsenolite shook his head. "Naw, she didn't listen to me, so it's her own damn fault. If she didn't wanna be dusted, she coulda just listened and gone home. It was nice to meet you, Shaqofa. And be seeing you, Tagame."

He gave a little wave and then teleported directly into the Negaverse, sighing deeply. Geez. He wanted to make some progress on swaying people to the Negaverse, but it was difficult to be patient. Ah well. Hopefully... This Shaqofa guy would swing over.