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 Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:39 pm
Finding proper shelter in a world of ruin turned out to be no easy feat. There was no telling what might shift out of place or crumble on top of them, so they settled for putting a little distance between themselves and most of their “companions” — still within sight so as not to put themselves at a disadvantage, but far enough away that they could converse at leisure without concern of being overheard.
Lucasta placed herself in front of the boys and took stock of them. Young. A bit scrawny. Ephesus in particular seemed a bit soft. Not exactly a liability — he was too new to determine that as of yet — but he certainly required seasoning. Pages of the Moon. New blood in an entirely new caste of knights, at least as far as Lucasta was aware. Ganymede had indicated as much; Lucasta trusted her bonded Senshi to fill in the gaps left by her own absent memories.
“You asked how you can help those who’ve devoted themselves to Chaos,” Lucasta began. “There are two methods. The first of which is purification.”
Her demeanor would seem grim. Lucasta thought this was entirely appropriate. After all, she took her duties very seriously.
“Only Cosmos or a Royal can purify,” she continued. “If you have not yet met one, I expect you will at some point, if you continue to ally yourselves with Sessrumnir and Alastor. Ganymede, my bonded Senshi, is one such Royal.”
Lucasta seemed to stand a bit straighter at that, holding her head up high, almost puffing up with pride.
“Alas, Chaos cannot be extracted by force. The one infected must long for its removal. Chaos is persuasive, but there will always be those who see through its power. If you choose, you may attempt to guide them onto the path toward purification. Some respond well to compassion and understanding. You must assess the danger each threat poses and decide who can be saved, and who would be deemed a lost cause.”
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:36 pm
Ephesus sat on the uncomfortable ground with his legs folded underneath him, not wanting to miss any word that Lucasta told them. He was very invested in wanting to know what they could do to help people who were the bad guys when they didn’t seem that bad. Well. Some of them were pretty mean, but they didn’t all seem that way.
He wasn’t going to say that out loud though, and he anxiously chewed on a piece of his granola bar, offering some to Amarynthos if he wanted any.
“You’re bonded Senshi is a Royal?” Ephesus chirped curiously, obviously intrigued by everything. Except… “What… what does that mean?”
Bonded? Royal? Cosmos? Maybe he was asking a stupid question again already, but he knew only what Alastor told him when he’d still been recovering from being stabbed. Oh, and the Code. And Sessrumnir now, too. Maybe Alastor had told him some of that stuff, but Ephesus shifted uncomfortably, unsure if his poor memory was making him look like he knew nothing.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2022 9:42 pm
Amarynthos had been scrutinized by cats before. Not talking cats. Not magical cats. This was familiar, but still different. She had the capacity to judge him accurately. It was almost more intimidating than being sized up by a human if only because he didn’t know what a Mauvian expected of someone.
When Ephesus took a seat on the ground, he joined him; with Sessrumnir and Alastor nearby he wasn’t worried about anyone attacking them. It was nice to relax for a minute, and he preferred being closer to Lucasta’s eye level while she spoke.
His knee bumped Ephesus and he leaned forward a bit as he listened intently. Except for when he leaned over to take a small bite of Ephesus’ granola bar, but his eyes never left Lucasta.
There was a lot to digest about what she’d said and he chewed contemplatively before he added to Ephesus’ question, “And what does bonded mean?”
He had no doubt that they’d continue to ally themselves with Sessrumnir and Alastor; he’d seen how dangerous the Negaverse could be. He didn’t want to risk harm because of his inexperience, and he certainly wasn’t going to let Ephesus go out on his own. He didn’t want him to get hurt, either.
…But if Chaos could be purged willingly…
That was worth fighting for, wasn’t it? To have a chance to save people?
He wanted to help. But, this was obviously serious. He didn’t think Lucasta would be sitting them down to have this talk, right now, right here, if it wasn’t important.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 2:32 pm
Perhaps there could have been a better time for this lecture — some place safer, some place less foreign, at a time when they were not still attempting to understand their purpose here — but Lucasta would never turn away a captive audience.
“There is a closeness between us,” she explained. “We have a more intimate awareness of one another than I have with other Senshi, or with you.”
A pity Ganymede couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge it, that she insisted upon holding onto her distrust of Mauvians even a decade after her awakening. She was too hard-headed for her own good, though perhaps that was a trait they both shared.
“As a page, you would have awoken spontaneously,” Lucasta continued. “Or was the Code involved in yours as well? You Moon Pages are so new. I’m afraid my knowledge of you comes to me secondhand. Regardless, Senshi require the assistance of a Mauvian to awaken. That is my primary responsibility in this war, whether or not the Senshi in question is my bonded.”
She was certain Ganymede would have fared better in her early years if Lucasta had been the one to awaken her. She would not have been left on her own, at any rate.
Now was not the time to rant about irresponsible Mauvians, however.
“The Royals,” she said with lingering pride, “are the most powerful of our forces. That is to say, a Prince or Princess, or a Royal Knight. You know Sessrumnir and Alastor. They are powerful in their own right, but their power is eclipsed by that of a Royal. They are few in number, but when they appear at full strength, you will know them when you sense them. Their aura would be unmistakable, even to your inexperienced senses.”
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 5:35 pm
Ephesus glanced over at Amarynthos, shifting a little so they could sit closer together. But also so they could share the granola bar easier! He just liked the closeness. Amarynthos had always been kind to him and made him feel safe, so of course he wanted to stay close to him.
He also couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible for people to be bonded. It sounded like it was only something between a Mauvian and a Senshi, but if he had the chance to be bonded to anyone, he would want it to be Amarynthos. There was a closeness between them. Their Wonders were right next to each other, after all! It would make sense, even if they weren’t best friends!
“The Code helped us,” he said quietly, before taking another small bite of his granola bar and then glancing over his shoulder where Sessrumnir and Alastor were keeping lookout but giving them enough space to talk to Lucasta on their own.
If anyone asked him, he thought that Alastor and Sessrumnir were just as good as any Royal. Especially together. But he nodded to Lucasta so she knew they would keep an eye out for anything that was stronger than Alastor or Sessrumnir’s auras.
“You said there were two methods to help people devoted to Chaos?” he chirped excitedly, still eager to learn as much as he could. So purification was one way, but knowing that there was another way to help people was definitely good to know!
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:40 pm
Though his eyes never strayed from Lucasta while she was giving her lesson, he wriggled a little closer to Ephesus out of habit. When Ephesus glanced over his shoulder, Amarynthos repeated the gesture. He only watched for a few seconds, just enough to know that they were still doing okay. They were talking, quietly, but not so animated that he thought something was wrong.
Well, nothing more wrong since they’d been swept away to this strange, magical world with talking robots and a cheese alien.
He turned back to the Mauvian. “I think that’s really neat. You must be really important to be bonded to a Royal. We haven’t really met that many people,” he admitted, “We’ve only been doing this for a little while. We know Alastor and Sessrumnir and Paradise. Oh, and he knows Soleiyu, he’s a Mauvian, too, but I haven’t met him yet. But those two are the strongest people we’ve met. I can’t really even imagine anyone stronger. Even the Code didn’t feel…”
He hesitated and then shrugged a bit. “I mean, it was there. It had an energy about it, but it’s hard to describe.” He didn’t know if she’d ever met it, and he didn’t think he could have described it with any sort of justice, anyway. “The moon got all bright, after we got attacked by a youma. And then we went to go look at it and it pulled us up and gave us a choice and then gave us our names and Wonders. We have to do a lot of work up there, but you can come with us if you want to. Oh, but I’m sorry.” He reached out to put his hand on Ephesus’ knee to apologize.
“I’m still excited about all of this, I’m used to talking a lot. Sorry,” he said again, and offered an apologetic smile. “What’s the other way to help the people who are stuck in Chaos?”
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:29 pm
Lucasta puffed up with a bit more pride. It should be obvious already that she thought very highly of herself, but she also thought it was warranted. She wasn’t some airheaded Mauvian easily distracted by the next new or shiny thing to cross her path. She was dedicated. She had a duty, and she would do it to the best of her abilities — for her bonded, for any other Senshi who might need her, even for a couple of young, impressionable Pages, wide-eyed and full of wonder.
“I would be delighted to accompany you,” she said. “There is much that can be discovered up at your Wonders. About yourselves. About the past, in some instances. In my experiences with knights, the more devoted you are to your Wonders, the more they will repay that devotion.”
As the conversation returned to Chaos and those in its service, Lucasta’s demeanor once again grew grim.
She looked beyond the boys, to the visible but distant figures of Sessrumnir and Alastor. She knew little of what they each might have told the boys already, but she assumed, by the rosy outlook the boys still seemed to possess, that they’d been treading carefully with them. Perhaps they thought it best, with the boys being so young.
Lucasta could not agree. Their youth should not preclude them from a thorough understanding of the war they’d been drawn into.
With her steady gaze once again trained on Amarynthos and Ephesus, Lucasta said, “If one does not wish to be purified, especially if they pose a grave danger to our allies, or to other innocent lives, then the only other option, difficult as it might be, is death. With their death, their starseeds can return to the Cauldron and be birthed anew.”
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:54 pm
Ephesus happened to like listening to Amarynthos talk. He had a nice voice. He was very good at debating, too. He was glad that he started listening to him at the debate club because he always had such good points.
He leaned a little closer to Amarynthos so that their shoulders brushed for a moment. He was excited to hear everything Lucasta had to tell them. He wanted to be a good knight. He wanted to make the Code proud. He wanted to make Alastor and Sessrumnir proud of them.
So he wanted to know the two ways to help people with Chaos.
He just didn’t know it involved killing them.
Ephesus’ smile fell. He stared at Lucasta, because maybe he didn’t hear her correctly. But she was telling them their starseeds could be returned to the Cauldron. They could be reborn.
His voice was stuck in his throat, and although he had nothing to say, when he opened his mouth it was with a choked sob. He didn’t want anyone to die! He just wanted to help them! If their only way was to purify them or kill them--
The Code said they didn’t have to fight! That there were other ways! But Lucasta was saying there was only two options and… and Ephesus knew that people weren’t going to easily leave their family and friends, especially if they were happy with them.
He buried his face in his hands as he sobbed, the rest of his granola bar abandoned on his lap. He was embarrassed! He didn’t want to cry! But he didn’t know he’d have to help kill people!
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:48 pm
The eagerness of sharing the Moon with Lucasta was short-lived. Amarynthos had gotten too complacent dreaming of simple, painless things. Restoring a world was easier to digest than killing someone.
Maybe a part of him understood that this was a war. Maybe.
But this was a magic war. It didn’t matter that people died in real war, he’d thought–somehow–that this would be different. Or that, if it happened, he would be so far removed from it all that he wouldn’t have to think about it.
It was numbing, in a strange, overwhelming way. Sort of like when the youma had attacked his house, except he’d had so much adrenaline that he’d been able to keep himself going.
He reached out for Ephesus immediately and drew him a little closer. “Hey,” he said softly, quickly. He rubbed his back and turned to face him. “Effie, that’s the worst case scenario. We’re not going to run out and look for people to hurt, that’s not the type of ‘help’ I want to give. I’m stubborn,” he insisted, to Ephesus and Lucasta. “I make a pretty good argument. And Ephesus has a big heart. If someone’s in the Negaverse for the wrong reasons, if there’s any hope for them, we’ll do our best to help them get out–because they want to, not because we have to make them.”
He wasn’t the only one who was worried about Ephesus. Whatever conversation Alastor had been having with Sessrumnir ended abruptly when Ephesus began to cry.
It wasn’t that Alastor didn’t trust Lucasta. Sessrumnir had not expressed any concern with her talking to the boys, and until now they’d both seemed to be very engaged. He didn’t want to say that he’d expected Ephesus to cry, but he’d have been lying if he’d said he hadn’t been keeping an eye out for him.
And how could he blame him? He knew what the boys had gone through to get here. What they chose to tell others was their choice, but Alastor couldn’t help but come check on them, anyway.
At first, he didn't know what had been said, but it wasn’t difficult to piece together what they’d been talking about. There were only two ways to purge the Chaos of this world. One of them was willing. The other was unwilling.
He crouched on Ephesus’ other side, partly to give him comfort, partly to serve as a barrier against the rest of the world. The last thing they needed was someone barging in or trying to take advantage of his emotions. He pulled at the ribbon around his waist and offered it to Ephesus to dry his eyes. “There’s a lot of hope to be had in this world, Effie. There are some dangerous people. But Sessrumnir and I are going to make sure you don’t have to deal with them. You want to heal, right? People and places? That’s what you’re going to focus on. You being safe is the most important thing. We’re going to keep practicing so you can protect yourselves and each other.”
He caught Lucasta’s eyes, only briefly. There was something almost like an apology in the gaze. He continued for the boys, “And then, when you’re stronger, you can try to help others, too. And if anyone gives you a hard time, you come talk to one of us. We won’t be far. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
They hadn’t asked for this. They were young. He’d been young when he’d first started all of this, he understood what was expected of you.
He wasn’t going to put them through that.
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 5:25 pm
Lucasta didn’t have much experience with crying. Perhaps there was something broken in her, that she thought these subjects perfectly reasonable and Ephesus’s reaction extreme. She wasn’t saying it to scare the boys, or to back them into a corner. She said it because it was the truth, because the war was dangerous, and their enemies were ruthless, and ignorance had harmed so many already.
They should know, even if it was frightening, even if they were unprepared to hear it. Surely naivety would be worse. Not having a thorough understanding could be the thing that got them killed.
“No one has said that you must hunt our enemies down to inflict pain, misery, and death upon them,” Lucasta agreed with Amarynthos. Her cadence never lost its formal edge, but her voice softened enough that she shouldn’t seem unkind. “If your desire is to help people, then help them to the best of your abilities. Grow stronger so that your abilities might match your intentions. I only hope to ensure that you understand the dangers you face, the dangerous we all face. At times, those dangers require some of us to make difficult choices.”
Alastor’s presence was not unwelcome, though Lucasta did not necessarily approve of his promises. Alastor’s and Sessrumnir’s intentions might be noble, and perhaps, given their strength and experience, they may very well be able to prevent Amarynthos and Ephesus from having to deal with the worst of the war, at least for a time, but Lucasta thought they would be doing the boys a disservice by implying, however unintentionally, that they could control what became of them.
“You cannot shield them from everything,” Lucasta said, her discerning gaze locked on Alastor. “Protect them as long as you must. Guide them while you can. But there might come a day when you may not be able to stand alongside them. They must be prepared for that. They must be prepared for every harsh reality this war might throw at them. Too many of our own have suffered.”
If it were not for Ephesus’s tears, she might have detailed how, but Lucasta was wise enough to realize that he needed time to digest one travesty before being handed another. She padded closer to the boys, not to impose upon them, but to offer her warmth and proximity as comfort. They would not be the first human young to find relief and satisfaction in soft fur.
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 6:49 pm
Ephesus immediately leaned into Amarynthos when he was drawn closer to him, shifting his arm so he could hide his wet face against Amarynthos’ neck and shoulder.
He knew it was probably extreme for him to cry. He knew he was overly emotional about so many things, but even if it was the worst case scenario, it meant it had likely happened before already, and would likely happen again.
He could sense Alastor beside him, and blinked blearily as he peeked at the offered ribbon. It took him a moment to pull himself away from Amarynthos enough to be able to take it from him with a mumbled thank you as he sniffled and hiccuped from another sob.
Ephesus was grateful to Alastor’s encouragement and promises, but he also knew that Lucasta was right. No matter what Alastor or Sessrumnir did, they weren’t always going to be able to protect them.
Oh, but that meant some tears fell harder again, because he didn’t want to think about what he or Amarynthos would have to do if they did come across someone who… were better suited for option two.
Still, when Lucasta approached, he set the now we ribbon in his lap for the moment so he could reach out and gently run his fingers over her head and back.
“I don’t mean to be like this. I’m sorry,” he said quietly when he was sure his voice wouldn’t catch on another sob. He was still pressed close to Amarynthos, unwilling to let go of him with thoughts of death and killing in his head. “Thank you. I know you’re trying to help us,” he said to both Lucasta and Alastor, glancing from one to the other as best he could while squished up against Amarynthos.
“I’m okay. I want to learn.” He just couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t get overwhelmed and start crying again. Well, he was still kinda crying, but he would try not to cry harder. Sessrumnir had followed, but remained standing as Alastor crouched down beside the boys. He had his back to the four of them, keeping a lookout for anything that might intend to hurt them. But his leg was close enough to Alastor that the fur from his boot was lightly brushing against him. Maybe he was standing a little too close, but while the others were in any kind of vulnerable position, he was going to make sure they were protected.
No, they might not be able to protect the boys from everything, but they would try their damnedest to keep them safe.
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 9:36 pm
Alastor knew.
The world was cruel, the universe was cruel. He knew he couldn't protect the boys forever. Couldn’t protect them from everything now. It would have been a disservice to promise them that everything was going to be just fine, always, but he knew that they were still learning. Learning difficult things right now, things they probably weren’t expecting when they were whisked off of Earth to some unknown world.
He couldn’t shield them from everything but he would try his best to give them the time to adapt and learn at their own pace. When they’d had time to heal and process from the last trauma they’d undergone. Alastor made no effort to explain himself; he was stubborn and didn’t like to be told what to do, but because their intentions were the same, he nodded. She didn’t know what they’d been through, or him, and she was trying to help them and keep them safe.
He respected that.
They were on the same side.
Though, he disagreed that there would come a day when he wasn’t there to stand alongside them. He wasn’t planning on going anywhere any time soon, and if he had anything to say about this, the Chaos would be long gone before he was.
He leaned back just slightly from where he was crouched, just enough to make himself a bit more comfortable and rest against Sessrumnir’s leg.
“It’s okay,” Amarynthos said, and again rubbed his back. “Better to get emotions out now while we’re safe, anyway. You’re with people who care about you. It’s all scary stuff, it’s a lot to take in. I wasn’t expecting to hear it. But thank you for telling us the truth, Lucasta.”
Amarynthos wasn’t a killer. Probably not even out of necessity. He could dust youma! But those weren’t real people, that wasn’t killing anyone.
He felt safer around Alastor and Sessrumnir, he wasn’t worried about being in over his head when they were around. He was a long way off from feeling comfortable going off without them, so it hadn’t occurred to him what to expect down the road.
If he was being honest with himself, he felt a bit sick with the idea of needing to fight that badly, of needing to hurt someone so much. But, it was easier to focus on reassuring Ephesus than it was to actually process those thoughts right now. He reached out to pet her, too.
“One day, I want to be strong enough that we won’t have to worry about people trying to hurt us. I know it’s a long way off. But the best defense is a good offense, so we’re going to work hard to be the best that we can be. The Code told us we could get stronger if we were devoted to our Wonders, too. So we’re going to go up and try to fix them up, first. And we’ve been practicing with Sess and Alastor–we were, just before we got here. I know we’ve got a long way to go, but I promise that we’re taking it seriously.”
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2022 10:09 am
“You have no need to apologize,” Lucasta told Ephesus. “War is never easy. It does not serve any of us well to pretend that it is, but it would serve you just as poorly to pretend as if the truth does not affect you. You have the honor of serving as a Page, and you were both chosen for a reason.”
She arched into Ephesus’ touch, then Amarynthos’. Dignified though she may be, Lucasta still enjoyed the occasional pet. She allowed their hands to run over her fur, and gave each palm a nuzzle when the opportunity arose.
“On a more positive note, you are in very good hands,” she continued. Lucasta didn’t necessarily agree with everything she’d heard come from Sessruminr’s and Alastor’s mouths, but she understood that they had the best interests of the boys at heart, and she knew they would both do their best to keep their promises, whether or not those promises could be guaranteed.
“Sessrumnir is a wealth of knowledge and experience, with powerful friends, and there is much you can learn from Alastor. The Senshi are your natural allies. It would seem, by your own admission, that you also have access to more than one Mauvian. Our primary responsibility may be to the Senshi, but no self-respecting Mauvian would ever turn away a knight in need.”
Lucasta puffed up a bit again — haughty and proud.
“For now, we must all remain alert.” She glanced from Amarynthos to Ephesus, then from the boys to Alastor and Sessrumnir. “We still have much to learn about this place, and the one who brought us here made sure to warn us of its dangers.”
If only he’d stuck around long enough to explain them.
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2022 11:04 am
Sessrumnir didn’t say anything as Lucasta and the boys spoke to each other, but he listened and he made sure his leg was braced for Alastor to lean against it as heavily as he needed without having to worry about him losing his balance.
His hand was already by his side when Alastor leaned back, so his fingers brushed through his hair. Lightly for a few moments, and then more deliberately turned his hand to lightly scratch the back of Alastor’s head.
But his primary focus was on the strange world around them while the others were distracted.Ephesus nodded and petted Lucasta a few more times, before using the ribbon Alastor had given him to try and dry some more of his tears. It was just really overwhelming. He didn’t want anyone getting hurt, even if it was the worst case.
But Amarynthos was right. And Lucasta was right. And he was grateful that Alastor and Sessrumnir were there to keep them safe. He didn’t think he was ready to be on his own yet. How did anyone survive on their own?
He nodded along with Amarynthos, because they would get stronger and people would have to worry about them as much.
“Thank you for worrying about us,” he said quietly as he placed the ribbon back into his lap once the tears were under control again. He was still leaning close to Amarynthos, but could comfortably reach out to Lucasta. And he knew that Alastor and Sessrumnir were beside them as well.
They would do their best to make everyone proud of them. And they were right. They were Pages. They would get stronger and be reliable and maybe one day be able to help others like Lucasta, Sessrumnir, and Alastor were helping them now.
Currently, only challenge was getting home.
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