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 Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:49 pm
Backdated. Takes place directly after this RP, which took place before Star Fest. The car Chris spoke of turned out to be some sort of self-driving carriage. Only it wasn’t self-driving at all, because Chris had to direct it with his hands on a wheel, plus something about breaks and feet that Tyr didn’t completely understand. Perhaps, then, it was more like an internally driven carriage, rather than externally driven by horses.
It was confusing. Tyr didn’t like it much, even if the ride was smoother.
They drove away from the area they encountered the youma — a park, which Tyr could have figured out for himself if he’d had more time to explore. With his hands on the wheel directing the horseless carriage, Chris took them through the city. Tyr looked out the window and watched the buildings pass by. Some were short, some were tall, and others obscenely tall, to the point where Tyr had to cran his neck to glimpse their tops. Most of them were quite boxy; others seemed almost entirely made of glass. (Chris assured him that was not the case, that much more than glass went into the design, but his explanations were lost on Tyr, who had very little knowledge of architecture even on his own world.)
Away from the more densely packed part of the city, Chris took them somewhere with taller trees, wider roads, and quieter surroundings, where they could increase speed and weren’t stuck behind another honking car as often.
Behind a gate, down a winding road, and nestled among greenery was a manor house of gray stone. Tyr knew little of Earth, much less an Earth a thousand years more modernized, but he was certain that they shared at least one similarity with Ymir: property was a sign of wealth.
Given that the Valhalla he once knew protected and commanded a fortress, it didn’t seem so odd that this one lived in a manor.
“This is your home?” Tyr asked, when they both stepped out of the car.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:56 pm
He’d called Paris, of course. Asked her if it was okay to bring a complete stranger there. A stranger that would need their help if they had any hope of not being caught and corrupted by the Negaverse. He was cautious, of course. They didn’t know Tyr, and he didn’t want to put his children or his wife or the rest of his family or friends at risk.
“It is,” he confirmed as he got out and shut the door behind him. “It used to be in worse shape. We fixed it up over the years,” Chris explained as he led the way towards the large front door.
“The carriage house is around the side. The previous owners had horses, but we don’t. Just a Mauvian that lives in the barn.” Better than the shelter where Lucasta had been when Chris found her.
“Are you hungry? We have plenty of food for you to try. It’s probably different from what you’re used to. And we have water and other things to drink as well.”
He didn’t go in the house yet. He sent a quick text to Paris to let her know they were there. If Paris didn’t want to invite Tyr into the house because she sensed something off about him, then Chris would just bring Tyr food.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:05 pm
Tyr was immediately disappointed by the lack of horses, but didn’t show it. He kept the same blank, emotionless face he’d worn for much of their interactions so far. The emotions he did experience felt so distant and muted, he wondered if they could even be considered emotions at all. Mostly, they came and went as minor whims and passing thoughts.
“I could eat, I suppose,” he said.
Hunger, too, seemed like such a far away sensation. Tyr wondered if it had something to do with how long he’d spent in stasis, or if that was just how he was. He couldn’t even remember when he last ate, or what it might have been.------- Paris came to the door, resigned to awkward conversation and a romp through past memories.
Another Devyn situation, Chris’s text had said. He went into very few details, and Paris didn’t ask for them. Details wouldn’t change much about the situation. The Senshi had nowhere to go, while she and Chris had plenty of space, and a Mauvian who could assist.
She hadn’t expected there would be another. That two Senshi from the past had shown up within half a year of each other was unpredictable. Unprecedented. As far as Paris knew, anyway. And she knew quite a lot. Just… not everything. Never everything. There were always missing pieces.
One could have been a fluke. Two was a pattern. Paris had to wonder if there were more, if they were already here, if they’d been here longer than she realized.
She should message some of the others. Call people. Search around for news.
But she was so tired. Her time in Negaspace took too much out of her.
Paris opened the front door, dressed in leggings and one of Chris’s old t-shirts from DCU, with her hair bound into an easy braid, because she couldn’t make herself care enough to put more effort into her appearance these days.
She froze as soon as she saw the young man with Chris.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:05 pm
Chris didn’t blame Paris for freezing like she did. Tyr looked so similar to Liesel in many ways that it was a little unnerving.
“Hey,” Chris greeted and moved closer to meet his wife and give her a quick kiss in greeting. With his arm slid around her back, he turned to Tyr again.
“Tyr, this is Paris. Paris, Tyr Stilmyst. He, uh… is from Ymir,” Chris explained, now that he wasn’t having to rely on passing information over the phone. He wasn’t as paranoid as his older brother when it came to keeping things secret (actually he was very lax about it), but even he was cautious about having too much information passed over the phone.
There was no telling who could access their phone records.
“He was dealing with a youma when I ran into him,” Chris continued, hoping to give Paris enough time to sort out her thoughts.
Oh, and he should probably tell her…
“He knew Serge.”
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:13 pm
The woman who answered the door was pale and slight and unfamiliar, but, judging by how Chris greeted her, then introduced her, Tyr assumed she was Chris’s wife. Tyr noted the way she froze. He copied her stiff, motionless stance. Encountering a stranger was uncomfortable enough; encountering one who grew tense in his presence was even worse.------- “I remember,” Paris said, perhaps not as warm or welcoming as she would have been otherwise, but she’d been through a lot. Though she’d physically recovered from her ordeal, the mental and emotional toll lingered.
She studied Tyr the way he studied her: silent, tense, and watchful. That he looked somewhat like Liesel was odd enough. That she knew him — or of him, really; he and Liesel barely spoke — was even worse. From Liesel’s memories came a bitter swell of jealousy.
Paris stepped closer to Chris, settling further into his side.
“You can come in,” she offered. “You must’ve had a trying night. I assume it was one of your first youma?”------- “Yes,” Tyr said. “There are no such creatures on Ymir.”
He realized, then, that he did not know Ymir as it was now. A thousand years had passed there, too. For all he knew, Ymir could be overrun by similar beasts.
“Or… there weren’t before,” he amended. “I’m not so sure now. I didn’t have much time to take stock of things before I arrived here.”
Tyr followed them into the house. The entrance was grand —- wooden floors and a curved staircase. He glanced around briefly, but reserved most of his attention for his two benefactors.
It occurred to him that he might not want to put himself into a position to owe anyone, but he didn’t know what other choice he had. Earth was a strange place to him. He didn’t know where to find accommodations, and he didn’t have any of the local currency.
He would have to trust in Chris’s kindness, and hope it extended to the wife, even if trust was not an easy thing to give.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:14 pm
Chris cast a cautious glance down at Paris. She remembered, which meant Tyr must have been telling the truth about knowing Serge, and Liesel. Sort of. Not that he’d expected Tyr to be lying about such a thing, but still. It just confirmed that he was the same as Devyn — a Senshi from another time, frozen as they were until now. Although Tyr seemed to have been in stasis instead of actively trying to survive those thousand years like Devyn.
“How are you feeling?” he asked as they entered the house. He waited until Tyr had crossed the threshold before shutting the door behind him. “I mean… are you cold? Warm? Would you like to take a shower?”
He hoped he wasn’t overstepping what Paris felt comfortable with, but he wanted to make sure Tyr had a chance to relax and take in what was going on.
“Hi, you’re pretty,” a voice chirped from the upper banister as golden eyes peered through the rungs, surrounded by golden hair. “Are you staying the night? Can we play in the morning?”
“Abby, you should be in bed,” Chris sighed and glanced up at their eldest daughter.
“I just wanted to say hello,” she whined, clearly thinking it was perfectly reasonable and polite to greet a guest.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:22 pm
Tyr had few answers for Chris.
How was he feeling? He wasn’t feeling much at all, really. He fared neither well nor poorly, but hung somewhere in between. Was he cold? Hardly. The interior of the house seemed to be at a pleasant temperature somehow, but outdoors was a bit warm for Tyr’s tastes. Would he like a shower?
“What’s a—”
He couldn’t finish the question. A new voice, notably young in tone, came from the upper floor.
Tyr glanced up to see the child. She was small, perhaps around thirty. No, the people of Earth aged more quickly, didn’t they?
“Hello,” Tyr said, because he could think of nothing else, but knew a greeting would be polite.
His looks were apparent to anyone with eyes and frequently resulted in hardship, so her compliment earned no response. As for the rest of it, Tyr didn’t think it was his place to answer. He would be staying here, yes, or in some structure close to this house, but whether or not they could play in the morning wasn’t for him to say.
“You have children?” he asked instead.------- Paris closed her eyes briefly, not annoyed by Abby’s presence, but… distressed. With any luck, Abby hadn’t overheard anything.
“Yes,” she said, quietly, in answer to Tyr’s question, voice low so it wouldn’t carry up the stairs. “They don’t know what we are, or anything about…”
Unsure how much Chris had managed to explain about the war, Paris trailed off. She looked up the stairs to find their oldest daughter, greeting her late night mischief with a frown.
“You can say hello in the morning,” Paris told her. “It’s late. Go back to bed.”------- Tyr glanced between Chris and Paris. How would their own child not know what they were? Did that mean Paris was a Senshi or Knight, too? Chris hadn’t said. Tyr hadn’t thought to ask. Everyone on Ymir had known who he was. There hadn’t been any need to keep it secret.
It wasn’t his place to say anything around the child, so he didn’t, but he thought his confusion must be obvious.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:24 pm
Abby pouted and gave Paris a wide eyed, innocent look, but she hung her head sadly and did as she was told. Because she was a good child! She would just have to wait until they were asleep so she could sneak out of bed again. Oh, if she didn’t actually fall asleep.
“Okay, well. Good night! Love you!” she said as she shuffled her feet on her way back to her room, making sure to be extra dramatic about lowering her head sadly.
Chris sighed softly and shook his head.
“She gets it from you,” Chris said quietly to Paris, but wasn’t quite able to keep himself from grinning in amusement. He turned back to Tyr then and nodded.
“Three,” he shared. “Come on, there’s an extra bathroom and bedroom down the hall. You should maybe be able to fit into Paris’ clothes…” Oh, maybe he shouldn’t be offering her clothes for her. “I can show you how to work the shower,” he said, and then paused because he’d heard the start of Tyr’s question before. “Or bath if you prefer.”
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:28 pm
Tyr followed Chris, because his only other option was to follow Paris or the child. He had no experience with children, and Paris seemed moderately less welcoming than her husband — sort of haunted, almost; kind of creepy, too, with her long, empty stares and that quiet “I remember,” which Tyr didn’t understand the meaning of.
So… Chris, then. Chris who was Valhalla, but not the Valhalla Tyr knew. Tyr wondered if he should be more upset by this, that everyone he’d ever known might be dead and reborn — or worse, gone forever — but he couldn’t muster up the energy to feel anything. The situation he found himself in was unpleasant, yet he could not help but think being forced into stasis and waking up a thousand years later wasn’t even the worst thing that had happened to him.
Chris led him to a bathroom and demonstrated the use of a shower, which turned out to be a tiled stall that sprayed water like rain. Once Tyr understood how to operate it and what various bottles of soap should be used for, he was given enough privacy to undress and wash up. He could have spent hours there, letting the water pour down on him, but he had to be careful not to wet his bandages, and he thought it would be rude to keep Chris waiting.
Tyr turned off the water and stepped out as soon as he felt clean enough. A pile of clothing had been left for him — a simple shirt that fit well, and a pair of soft trousers that seemed much too big. He pulled the string taught at the waist and tied it off, but the trousers still fell a bit low on his hips.
Oh well. The shirt was long enough that it didn’t look indecent.
He left the bathroom once he was done and found his way to the kitchen, where Chris and Paris sat waiting.
“Thank you,” Tyr said. He knew of no other way to express his gratitude.------- Paris went upstairs long enough to help Abby settle back into bed, then dug out some clothing for Tyr, who was slim enough for Paris’s shirts but too tall for her pants. In the kitchen, she heard a brief explanation of the events of the night from Chris — the youma, Tyr’s confusion, his insistence that something brought him here — but had little to say on the subject herself.
When the water shut off, she gathered some leftovers onto a plate and had it warmed by the time Tyr made his way into the kitchen.
“You should eat,” she said, motioning for him to sit as she set the plate on the counter bar.------- Tyr did as he was instructed, taking the utensils that were offered to him. The food smelled palatable enough; when he took a bite, the taste was inoffensive.
“Earth is dangerous,” he assumed, glancing at Chris, who seemed much more forthcoming about things. “Due to that organization you spoke of? The Negaverse?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:33 pm
Chris waited patiently with Paris for Tyr to finish his shower. He didn’t want to rush him, or make him feel uncomfortable to the best of his abilities. He hadn’t texted Michael yet, but he thought it would be a good idea to check in and see if he had any thoughts on Senshi coming to Earth, completely removed from their time.
“The Negaverse is mostly dangerous to Knights and Senshi, although civilians sometimes get caught up in everything. And with the Negaverse controlling most of Earth… yes, it’s dangerous. But if you kept yourself hidden and didn’t use your magic, then you’re less likely to be a target,” he warned.
Senshi and Knights didn’t have to power up and fight, after all. They did it because they knew a world taken over by the Negaverse would just rot it from the inside out. They were hanging on, literally by the thread that was Destiny City.
“They’ve got agents who fight with deadly weapons. And they can teleport quickly from one place to another. They can summon more of those youma that you saw. Some have even become part youma themselves. They’ll do anything to kill Senshi and Knights, but not just by ending their lives. They’ll take their starseed and destroy it.”
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:37 pm
“But what is the Negaverse?” Tyr asked, after another bite of food — chicken with some sort of rice, and a green vegetable. “How did it come to be?”------- “That’s a long story,” Paris said. She shared a look with Chris, unsure where to begin. Expressing the danger was easy enough. Discussing their origins required more knowledge than either of them had gained first hand.
What she knew of the war came to her through bits and pieces of experience over the years, shared by older Senshi, purified agents, or those who claimed to know the Moon Princess. Memories of the past offered Paris very little in that regard. Ganymede was loyal to Jupiter, and loyal to the Moon Kingdom by extension, but they had little to do with the Moon Queen or her daughter.
“Negaverse agents gain their power from Metallia, an entity of Chaos. I don’t know how much you know of Earth and the Moon Kingdom, and their royals.”------- “Very little,” Tyr admitted. “Whatever dealings my people had with them were handled by the Council, or the King himself. There was gossip, but nothing I cared to pay attention to. I had other concerns.”------- “Well, we were told the Moon Princess and the Prince of Earth fell in love, which sparked the jealousy of a woman named Beryl, whose heart was then weak to Chaos,” Paris explained. Even now, knowing what she knew, it was difficult to take the story seriously. “That Chaos was Metallia. There was a war. The Moon Queen used her crystal to seal away Chaos and Beryl, and ensure we were all reborn, etcetera etcetera.”
She waved a careless hand, as if none of this was to be taken seriously. “Obviously there’s more to it than that. Many of us were reborn, but you aren’t the only one a thousand years out of time. Anyway, Metallia has been spreading her influence over the Earth. Beryl was her puppet, the Queen of the Negaverse, but she’s been replaced by Laurelite. Their agents are ranked. Lieutenant, Captain, General, and General Sovereign. They’ll take your starseed, like Chris said, but they can drain your energy, too. They have their own realm. The Dark Kingdom. They claim to be protecting the Earth from us. Maybe some of them believe it. Not all of them do.”------- Tyr mulled this over as he continued to eat. The situation on Earth seemed more extensive than he imagined.
“Is Metallia unique to Earth, then?” he asked. “There is no Chaos entity on Ymir, not like this Metallia. Chaos spread as plague and famine. There was war, but… it was fought between ordinary Ymirans. No one had the power of Chaos on their side.”
None of them needed Chaos to excuse their hatred and their wickedness.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:40 pm
Chris made himself comfortable next to Paris. He put his arm around her waist in an attempt to remind her of his presence, and to give her any support she might need. She’d been through so much already. He couldn’t help but admire her perseverance, even in the face of certain death. Had they not been lucky in someone high up wanting to help and get out of the Negaverse, Chris doubted he would have ever seen his wife again.
So he hoped she would excuse him for being a little more clingy than usual.
“As far as we know, Metallia is unique to Earth. But Earth is unique too. Everyone seems to be brought here for one reason or another. We’ve had others arrive. A group known as the Vanguard of the Velencians. From the artificial world Velencya. The majority of them betrayed us to the Negaverse. Their unawakened Senshi had been previously betrayed by their own, although we didn’t know that until later, and locked away in the Negaverse’s Rift. A place where youma dwell, and where they go when they’re destroyed by anyone other than a Prince, Princess, or Royal Knight, from my understanding. Another that goes by the name Alamdel is usually around every so often to trade things he’d pilfered from other Worlds and Wonders,” Chris explained.
He knew it was a lot, but Tyr had a lot to catch up on. He would have to ask Michael what he gave Devyn to help him learn to read English.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:44 pm
Tyr filed away names into his memory. Very little of it was familiar, but the information would help him acclimate to Earth, if he stayed here long enough. He supposed there was a chance the power that brought him here might send him back at any moment.
“And this has been happening for a thousand years?”------- “Off and on, I think,” Paris said, sidling closer to Chris when he put his arm around her. Other than that, she drew no attention to their closeness. “I wasn’t aware of the Negaverse until eleven years ago, and things were already bad at that point, so it’d been going on for a couple of years by then, at least. I’ve heard there were other incidents decades ago, but I can’t speak of them with any certainty. Everything I know from experience is either from the last decade or from your time.”
She could sense the curiosity in Tyr — the confusion. Paris knew she should share who she was, that doing so might even add some weight to what she had to say, but the situation was awkward at best, like Devyn had been. Seeing ghosts on Ganymede was one thing. Meeting people she once knew as Liesel, even briefly in passing, was an entirely different experience.
“Metallia and the Negaverse aren’t our only concern, but they are the most dangerous. The Dark Mirror Court… they’ve allied with the Negaverse in the past, but they’re a different breed of Chaos. All Senshi. Both will try to corrupt you. The Dark Mirror Court may rely on a different power than Metallia and be less expansive than the Negaverse, but make no mistake, they still serve Chaos. Anyone who claims they aren’t a danger to us has no idea what they’re talking about.”
Paris offered a brief, derisive smile — not cruel, but… disappointed, almost. “You’ll learn very quickly that many of our White Moon allies, even those with considerable experience in the war, are either willfully ignorant or deeply misinformed.”------- Tyr would have been dismayed by Paris’s last comment if he weren’t still trying to digest what came before it.
“I’m sorry, did you say Earth is host to two versions of Chaos?” He stared between Chris and Paris, utterly bewildered. “How has Earth not been consumed yet?”
Ymir fell quickly. Tyr spent only three years watching his world crumble around him before he was forced into stasis. Given the dire circumstances that existed then, he couldn’t imagine his people lasted long. The end would have been swift and brutal.
Part of him still wished he could have witnessed it. Watching the life drain from Uncle’s eyes might have been worth some additional hardship.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:53 pm
“There might be many forms of Chaos,” Chris frowned when Tyr stared at them in bewilderment. “Or rather… Chaos might manifest itself into different things. Things that it knows people will want. Metallia may have already been incredibly powerful before Chaos consumed her. The Dark Mirror Court may have Chaos manifested in their own space between Worlds. Be cautious around mirrors. They can walk through them, both for travel and to corrupt and drain energy,” he warned.
“But we are looking for ways to destroy the Chaos. However… it might mean needing to hasten the time for starseeds to return to the Cauldron,” Chris admitted. He hated to do it. He didn’t want to hurt anyone, but he wasn’t stupid. Not entirely. He knew what Chaos was capable of, and he knew it was his duty to help stop it before it consumed everything.
If he was afraid of getting blood on his hands for his own self-decided moral superiority, then he had no right staying there on Earth when others were dying.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:56 pm
Tyr fell silent. Circumstances here were distressing, almost overwhelmingly so. How was this world still standing? What made it so unique? Did they have any chance to save Earth, to save themselves, or had they all been brought here — born or whisked away by magic — to be massacred?
If the Senshi and Knights born to this world had not been able to save it, what good could Tyr hope to accomplish? Why had he been brought here? What was he meant to do?
Those were questions neither Chris nor Paris would be able to answer. Tyr had to wonder if there might not be one.
He ate the offered food, as much as he could stomach, before he set the plate and his utensils aside.
“Thank you for your kindness,” he said, still struggling to process everything they’d told him. “I will do what I can not to impose upon your family for long.”------- “You’re welcome to stay as long as you need,” Paris offered, even if the thought made her antsy.
She took the plate and utensils to put them into the dishwasher — anything to keep herself occupied, to keep herself distracted, with that familiar face sitting across from her.------- Tyr looked to Chris first, then Paris. He could not quell the nagging feeling that he should know her. She spoke as if she knew things beyond what occurred here on Earth. She said she remembered...
“Were you born elsewhere?” he asked her — the closest he could come to asking, Are you like me?
They’d said there were others, after all.------- “No, I was born here,” Paris said.
She finished cleaning up, aware all the while the Tyr was watching her, his expression creased with confusion. She shared another look with Chris, uncertain, on edge, unsure how to proceed. Eventually, she turned back to Tyr and stared into his familiar face, studying all the ways he looked like Liesel.
It wasn’t quite like looking into a mirror, but it was close.
“Valhalla still likes broken things,” she said.
Paris stayed long enough to watch Tyr’s eyes widen, then left the kitchen and made her escape.
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