The Reservoir (4) : The Destiny City Reservoir opened about two years ago and is an easy escape from the big city. It’s a five minute drive outside of the Eastern side of town and features clear water and sandy beaches--although, the sand here is notorious for squeaking when you step on it. It’s a hot spot for all fun summer activities, but it’s been in the news for mysterious reports of some strange, aquatic monster. Some accounts say they’ve spotted a twenty foot long, snake like creature capable of rearing a long neck high above the water. It’s hard to tell if the videos are doctored, but there are too many rumors to dismiss easily. Something strange might be lurking deep in the water. Or it’s just a hoax to get people out to the Reservoir!
But…Sometimes, people feel like something is grabbing their ankle, even if they are just wading in the shallow end. In the deeper parts of the water, it gets a little more intense: something has been said to grab onto ankles and pull. People have been warned about dangerous pranks, but so far no one has been caught. In the shallow end, anyone unfortunate enough to be targeted may feel themselves being knocked off their feet and tugged into the water; anyone in deep water may feel a firm grip on their ankle, tugging them lower and lower. Somehow, anyone it targets is freed--either by wriggling and fighting, or because someone intervenes and pulls the would-be victim up. No one has drowned in the lake. Yet. It's impossible to see who, or what, is doing this, but it usually gives up after one failed attempt. Usually.
While you may find yourself harassed by the supposed cryptid, or see something visibly odd in the distance, you cannot take any pictures of the creature. Who knows if you’re even being attacked by the cryptid–or just another youma?
The sand squeaked beneath Spei's boots as he walked along the sandy beach of the Destiny City reservoir. It was an oddly quiet evening, especially since the Star Festival was still going on, but that made him happy – he didn't have to try to conceal himself from prying eyes. A light breeze stirred his hair, delivering some cool relief from the uncharacteristically warm summer air; the waves lapped gently against the shore. Deceptively calm, given the reports of something living in the deep water, grabbing swimmers. It was mainly curiosity that brought him out tonight; maybe he'd see the mysterious long-necked cryptid for himself and become a believer. Because as it stood, he was rather skeptical.
It was also a good place to think in general – and he had a lot on his mind. First and foremost was dealing with the Big Lie. He'd made a wish and sent up a lantern for luck, but he wasn't sure if either would do any good. He'd heard something about being able to skip the graduation ceremony, which was his biggest concern. He didn't want his parents to trek out to Destiny City to watch him graduate from a program he'd dropped out of three years ago. Telling them he was skipping the ceremony would potentially solve a LOT of problems, especially if it was because of a job offer, which he could drum up in no time, given his freelance programming work. He had to time everything just right, though.
Second, but right up there with the Big Lie, was Abbey. He found himself growing quite fond of the budding social media diva; she was an amazing girl, so fearless in her dealing with the cutthroat world of online influencers. The collection of local DJs that he shared a Discord with had been delighted to add her to their numbers as someone who could help with self-promotion – he just had to tell her she was in and send her an invite code to the private server. Maybe he'd see her later tonight; at the very least he was sure he'd be talking to her via text message. He wanted to tell her everything, not just about the Discord -- but he feared for his safety if he spilled the beans to her. What if she was a Chaos agent?.
Spe felt a tingle in the back of his mind, one of the inklings that told him another powered person was nearby. The way this one felt, though, wasn't bad – it was clearly an Order aura he was sensing. He gave a wry little smile and wondered if it was another Knight, or maybe a Senshi, and headed toward the source.
xBronze Coffee
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2022 3:37 am
This was a nice break from the hell that was her life. It was all spiraling out of control because a youma...
She stared out at the water, standing on the sand that made noises on it when she walked. It wasn't her first time here, at least... As Celestia it was her first time here. She supposed she should be enjoying this. All her tears were gone by now, her eyes red and puffy, but there was this brief moment where she felt... like she wasn't going to perish from this.
She stared out at the water, just at the shore, not quite in the water yet. Her eyes ached. Her body felt heavy and her mind felt like it was wading through mud. Yet somehow, this was tolerable. This was something she could manage.
Something went off; a feeling, a power single, and Celestia turned her head to spot a very.. pastel-clad man on the beach with her. He wasn't directly near her, but... He didn't feel like a youma signature. Rubbing at her face, trying to look presentable, Celestia found him looking around for someone. Perhaps he felt her here as well by her energy signature. That happened, right? That's how the Super senshi had come and helped her. That and the cat was apparently Kepler's too.
Instead of calling out, she walked over, boots squeaking the entire way, away from the water for now.
Spei saw a figure appear and approach him, their boots squeaking the sandy beach as they walked. It was a girl, clearly the source of the Order aura, wearing a uniform that looked rather… Pirates of the Caribbean, if he were being honest. Jacket, vest, ascot (or cravat, he could never tell the difference), tassels everywhere, and a jaunty hat (which he was a bit envious of – he wanted a hat). She seemed rather wary and cautious, and he couldn't blame her, living in this town.
"Friend," he replied, "at least I hope so." He showed her his empty hands. "I'm a Moon Knight – well, technically a Page, but we're on the same side. Spei is my name." Looking down, he met her mismatched eyes, adorned with markings, and something twigged in the back of his mind. She looked… familiar?
"You're a Senshi, right? I'm still kind of new at this. What's your name?"
Bronze Coffee
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 4:19 pm
She looked a little sheepish when he said friend and then nodded.
"Can't be to careful, can you?" She asked, trying to come off with an air of someone who didn't care.
Moon Knight? She didn't remember anything about knights, but he said they were on the same side. He wasn't attacking. She wouldn't attack either.
"Spei? I'm Celestia. Uh.. Senshi of Piracy is what I was told. Don't understand too much about what I am and things yet. I'm pretty new." She put her hands on her hips after shrugging a little. Something about this guy was... familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "So, knights and senshi are on the same team, eh? You didn't feel like a youma. Noted."
Senshi of Piracy… Well that explained the Golden Age of Piracy look she had. "Celestia… Yeah, Knights and Senshi are on the same side. At least the White Moon Senshi. There are Senshi out there who are Chaos-aligned – their outfits are black and they have holes over their hearts." Spei had seen his fair share of those kinds of Senshi recently. "You'll know a Chaos aura when you feel it. It feels… creepy."
He tried to remember what he'd been told by the Code and by Ricthersveld, and gave a little half-smile. Now it was his turn to be the guide. He hoped he did a good job of it, especially for this very new Senshi. "Youma are something completely different – they're summoned by Chaos, even the wild ones. So. we're trying to protect the Earth and its people, Chaos want to subjugate it. And no, you can't be too careful, because they want to corrupt us. Or kill us. Either way, not good for us."
Spei looked at her again and tilted his head. "Why do I feel like we've met before?" he asked. There was just something so very familiar about Celestia…
Bronze Coffee
Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2022 8:09 pm
Spei had her entire attention. She watched him as he spoke and logged that information away. Or at least she tried. Instead, she pulled out her senshi phone to start taking notes on the notes app. If he listened close enough, he would he Celestia mutter what he said under her breath.
Then he mentioned youma and her head jerked up and her face twisted.
"I know youma," she whispered grimly. "I'm hunting one. I'm hunting them all. They broke my family." Her parents were dead. She had to avenge them. There wasn't going to be one youma she ran into that wouldn't suffer her wrath.
But then Spei mentioned meeting before and she shrugged one shoulder. "Who knows," she said, trying to shake off the serious mood. "Maybe you have. Hey." An idea, and she turned around, back facing the Knight before she held her phone up. "Say cheese!"
Spei's eyes widened and his heart broke for her. Celestia, whoever she was, had lost her entire family to a youma. He couldn't imagine how horrible that must have been; he felt so bad for the Senshi he just wanted to take her in his arms and hold her, then help her avenge their deaths.
Before he could dwell too much on it, though, Celestia did a very non-Senshi thing: she took a selfie with him on her phone. (Senshi got phones? He remembered Richtersveld mentioning something like that, and why it was important for him to find his signet ring and get it upgraded by a Mauvian.) The instant she told him to say cheese, he reflexively assumed the nonchalant stance and flat, deadpan expression he wore as DJ Buster in his non-powered life.
And the thing that had twigged in his mind twigged even further. "You're… um, you're not… Abbey... are you?" he asked hesitantly. At worst, she would give him a look and tell him no. But if he was right…
Bronze Coffee
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:15 am
That expression. She had seen it so many times before. Surely it couldn't be --
Then she heard her name and whiplash happened. She spirited her phone away and then took a step back from him before starting to laugh nervously. Her whole face went red now. It confirmed it for her who he was though. She wasn't going to blurt out his name.
"Shhhh!" Celestia hissed out, giving him kind of a pointed look. "Don't think you're supposed to just guess that out in the open where people could be lurking in the shadows." It probably came out a lot more sharply than she had meant it, but it was a confirmation of sorts. God, her heartbeat was picking up now. Just outing her like that on a guess because she took a selfie? Surely there were more senshi her age who also took photos and selfies of first encounters or a wicked shot of the city from a great height. Why did he have to guess so accurately?!
Celestia took a few more steps away from him, heading into the shallow waters, glad for the magic. Wet shoes wouldn't have to be dealt with when she powered down. With her hands behind her back, she gazed out at the reservoir, watching the moonlight hit the water.
"A Knight huh? What's that lik--" And she was interrupted by a light tug on her ankle. She squinted down at the water. "Do you swim?" She turned back to face him, tipping her head to the side before smirking. "Are you brave enough as a knight, or page, or whatever, to come swim with me?"
Even as she spoke Celestia took a few steps backward.
That confirmed it. Even the hissed hushing when he said her name. Spei knew she realized who he was as well, though she was a LOT more discreet than he'd been and didn't speak his civilian name. There were just too many coincidences for it not to be her. His heart was pounding as well – this was the best of all possible good things to happen with regard to her. To him. To his blossoming feelings for her.
Celestia stepped away from him, and he took a few steps forward, toward the water of the reservoir. "Sorry, I didn't mean to just… you know," he murmured as an apology. "It's just… you couldn't have been anyone else. You have no idea how happy this makes me."
He set one booted foot in the water. "Yeah, I swim," he responded to her dare with a smirk of his own. Sure, he'd never gone swimming fully clothed before (except for that one time as a kid when he fell into the family pool and decided to make the best of it), but he decided why not? "I'll swim with you, Celestia."
The remembered rumors of a creature of some kind living in the reservoir were ignored as Spei stepped into the water up past his ankles. He would do anything she asked of him.
Bronze Coffee
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 12:27 pm
"I gotta admit," Celestia said, stepping deeper into the waters, "that I couldn't be happier it's you either."
It eased her mind a great deal. She had at least one friend inside and outside the faction. It did her heart some good. "I mean, I wanted to make friends on our side, you know, so starting with someone you know from the outside's the best possible way. Also means no lying to me if you gotta bail on some plans because of a late-night." Celestia turned back to wink at him.
Something grabbed onto her ankle and tugged, making her lose her footing and spill into the water, arms flailing. She came back up with a yelp and then looked around the water like there would be something there.
"Do we have octopus or something here?!" Were there such thing as freshwater octopus? Didn't sound like a thing, but right now it made no other sense. Was it a youma she just couldn't feel out?
Spei quickly jumped into the water to help pull Celestia up. "Are you okay? That was quite a spill." He was now soaked to the skin, but he didn't care – he just wanted to make sure she was all right. All he wanted to do at this moment was hold her and protect her.
"There's supposedly a cryptid in the reservoir," he commented, "but I don't know how much of that I believe, to be honest. Though… there's no one here who would be pulling pranks, and there's no such thing as freshwater octopus…" The reservoir had only been open for two years, so he didn't have much of a history with it. But he'd heard the rumors and seen the supposed footage of a long necked creature out in the water…
"If we're going to swim, we should be careful. You know, just in case."
Bronze Coffee
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 12:55 pm
"Yeah, I'm good. Something grabbed me." Celestia kind of clung onto his arms to keep herself upright if she got grabbed again.
Then he mentioned something about a cryptid and her eyes lit up. "Oh riiiight. I remember something about that." Why she hadn't expected it to be true, she didn't know. Slowly, Celestia leaned into Spei, letting herself lean against him more. He was pretty solid against her, and warm too.
"I don't think I really want to deal with cryptids. What if it's related to Big Foot or something?" She wasn't one to believe in things like that, but Celestia had just gotten dragged under by something. "This is going to make a great storytime though. "I encountered reservoir Loch Ness." Could you imagine?" She snickered and looked up at him with a little grin. "We should come back during the day and see if we can find anything. Snorkels."
Feeling her lean further into him, Spei held her as close as he dared in the water. They weren't that deep into the reservoir, maybe three feet or so, but if it was enough for the cryptid or whatever it was (maybe it was some kind of freshwater octopus) to grab Celestia, then maybe swimming wasn't such a good idea.
Even as he thought it, she came to the same conclusion. "Yeah, I don't really want to deal with them either," he nodded, "At least not at night. Let's get out of this water." He didn't need to add before something grabbed her again. Still holding onto her, he helped her back onto the beach. He didn't release her right away, though – she just felt so right in his arms.
"Yeah, I'd be game to come back and do some snorkeling during the day. That sounds like a fun date." He hoped the night would conceal the slight blush that crossed his face on mention of a date, spoken without a thought. But it was true, it would be fun.
Bronze Coffee
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 1:22 pm
Of course, she was going to let him help her to shore. Her eyes were half focused around them now, trying to sense anything out of the ordinary.
"We'll text and schedule it later?" Because they could both power down as soon as they got out of the water and be completely dry. ....Right? That's how it worked? God, she hoped so, because as soon as her boots were out of the water, that's what she did. A flash of light and she was back to being Abbey.
And she was right, dry! "So I was gonna Uber home tonight. Wanna ride with me? Oooor you still going out?" She was loathed to leave his company. "I would stay late, but I have a shift at the a**-crack of dawn."
"Yeah, that sounds good to me," Spei said once they were out of the water. He felt her power down, once more Abbey, and he followed suit, letting the magic drop off of him and once more becoming Yukio. And bone dry, she was right!
He was still holding her, though, so he gave her a squeeze and released her, stepping back but letting a hand slide down her arm to take her hand in his. "You know, I hadn't even thought about how I was going to get home tonight," he smirked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm wanting to head home, actually – no going out for me tonight. I'll ride with you."
Giving her hand a squeeze, he decided he was loathe to leave her company as well.
