The Negaverse housed a growing population of Negaverse senshi — magical artillery that lacked a White Moon senshi's incessant and irrelevant bond to their planet. Senshi who understood the part they played in the war, the support they offered to their officer counterparts, and the support they could expect from their officer counterparts. These Negaverse senshi, they worked diligently and tirelessly to claim a position equal to agents like Faustite.
And yet? Youma still despised them. Worse, they had gaping holes in their head and chest, like bodies broken down into aberrations. But the worst slight that the other half received was the way their starseeds showed so prominently in their chests.
Faustite had to acknowledge that, for all their historical difficult work, a Negaverse senshi need not die at the hands of someone like him. The longer he stayed, the higher the chances he would kill one — snatch that precious little gem of a soul from the warm confines of their chest and swallow it whole. And if he killed one, wouldn't he keep going? After that Dark Mirror's magic, he was hunting starseeds until he had eaten a few, and had to pick the colorful shards from his teeth to know the exact count. If he could do as much to strangers, then what would happen to fellow officers?
So he made for the Hall, and he walked with purpose. The sooner he was through those double doors, the greater his chances for remaining clean of Negaverse blood. It was a short jaunt from his office, too; only a few dozen feet and he would taste a desperate freedom —
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2022 6:31 pm
Something was off.
Kamacite didn’t know what it was, but he’d been in the process of looking through some of the decrepit buildings around the castle that might still have things of value -- mostly containers for the ever growing population of plants.
His robe had been removed at some point, since it was just getting in the way. His hair had been shorn short since it would just grow back later. Underneath the bright robes was a simple dark navy bodice without sleeves to cover the scars that left lattice work up his arms.
Youma, mostly.
He knew the risk in being around them. He’d been forced to survive around them for this long, with an irresponsible General, too possessive to realize, or care, about the damage being done.
But when he saw Faustite, he didn’t have to get a look at his face to know there was something different. He could see it in the way he walked, in the tight muscles of his shoulders, maybe even in the way the smoke billowed and curled in his wake.
His call to him had been either ignored or unheard. When his call once again feel on deaf ears, despite attempting to follow--
When it was clear how close Faustite was to the giant double doors leading into the Hall of Shadows--
“Faustite!” Kamacite begged as he teleported between the fiery General and the doors. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Not just from the aura he could feel pulsing from just behind the doors, but the expression on Faustite’s face.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” he asked, standing with his hands out as though prepared to physically stop him from going inside those doors.
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2022 2:58 pm
He heard Kamacite, but he couldn't wait for the boy. Couldn't lag back and have a conversation with him when he was one of many who had their starseeds on display. But for all that he wanted to explain it and have it understood, he knew better than to open his mouth, so he pushed forward —
And nearly ran into Kamacite bodily when he teleported. He halted himself abruptly, but now Kamacite stood between him and sanctuary. His focus came to his friend's bared starseed, tucked beyond the simple dark robe, then to his friend's face. He felt cold sweat beading up on his hands. He flexed them shut with nails biting into the palms, as if he could read the reminder through the language of pain.
"Move," he urged. "Now."
There wasn't time to explain, and an explanation only put Kamacite at a greater risk for all the extra seconds it would take. He didn't know how to explain it, didn't have the language for it, but he had instincts that told him precisely how well another few starseeds would heal all the fissures in his life.
Those same instincts told him where the next one laid.
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2022 6:33 am
Fear prickled along the back of Kamacite’s neck. Not necessarily for himself, but because this wasn’t like Faustite to just demand that he moved.
“What happened?” he asked again, his voice more confident now that he knew for certain that something was wrong. “I will not move,” he said then, backing himself up so that Faustite would have to physically move him away from the doors to the Hall of Shadows in order to open it himself.
“Merde! Talk to me! What do you think you’re going to do?”
Faustite had looked at the hole in his chest before, but Kamacite had never once thought he was in danger. But the hunger in his eyes made Kamacite self conscious enough to try and draw his sleeveless robes tighter over his chest. He internally cursed himself that he’d left his actual robe behind. He could hide under that, at least.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2022 3:08 pm
Kamacite was so tragically loyal — he would give everything for his friends, for the cause. Faustite had seen it each time, made a mental record of all the unmentioned injuries, the youma claws that cut ribbons from his arms, all the batterings he took in a war that only thanked him by sending him out on the frontlines, time and again.
He didn't deserve to end this way.
The thought was automatic — something half-formed by the time he started moving. The distance between them evaporated with a simple teleport. Eye contact came automatically as he reached for — into — that gaping hole. He had just finished the thought when his claws wrapped around the fragile, shining gem and pulled it free of its finebone cage.
When he opened his mouth to speak, the deed was finished. He stood over his friend, starseed in hand, and felt that terrible taunt to simply eat it. That no one would know if he took steps to hide the crime. That they were all going to die, and this end was a better, cleaner one for his friend. That Faustite had never deserved him or his companionship.
Yuuri was so small. It was a surprise, then, that his starseed was the same size as all the others. That it gave off the same level of glow, despite the powers he commanded.
It was all he could do to think about the pain of losing his friend as he brought the starseed to his mouth. Kamacite deserved more than tears, but he could only give what he had.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2022 4:43 pm
-- What --
-- The --
-- ******** --
There were no thoughts. Only actions. The magic pouring out freely, tearing down bicep and forearm like velvet lightning unfurled. It was like muscle memory, the way he moved before processing what he was really seeing, the briefly terrifying snapshot that just couldn't possibly be true; but the magic that ran neath his skin was always hungry for youma: halves, wholes, pieces, his.
It didn't care. Flickered to life and snaked out to drag a boy down. His Husband.
All the times he'd been told not to torment the poor malingering creatures that yawned hungry and ancient beyond the glass. That clawed up marks along it as though they'd someday break through. Frustratingly denied, ever always denied; him, his soul, their prey...
Enemies as eternal as cats n mice, but Albite being who he was? He ******** with 'em as he pleased. Took pleasure in hanging himself over their heads the same way they hung their denial of his right to their space over his own. Ever so often it led to him taking this same route back towards one office or the next, throwing middle fingers up along the way, and getting close enough to hear the hissing screams echo down an empty hall. Ever toeing the line of irksome insubordination and death -- especially now that he'd ranked up enough to earn his wings.
Only this time, a commotion, a fiery glow.
He didn't see the beginning, only the end; a stunning blaze of ensconced fire holding the most fragile of purple hues clutched in pitch claws. Any other occasion the sight would've been beautiful to behold; the person on the ground some foolhardy enemy ended in the most casual kind of way--- Albite would've rejoiced!
But the body on the ground wasn't an enemy, and the thing in Faustites hand wasn't --- shouldn'tve been --- snapshots to all the ways and shapes his boy'd expressed his distaste for consumption of starseeds. Wept black over it in puddles of bile in distant memories, refused even to feed it to him lovingly like the pet he sometimes deeply wanted to be. He'd ******** tested it; Faustites patience, his resolve, his ironclad will to resist. Had dangled that prize, time n again before him. Had dangled himself no less, and in return gotten nothing like this at all --
So the image of that glow pressed to parched looking lips made, just, no ******** sense to him. Not that it mattered to the magic, it knew, it wanted a good time. Ready to haul down and throw down and drag Agni back where he belonged. It'd been awhile.
Eternal Sailor Attack: Praxidikes Exacting Justice! All of Albites tattoos appear to tear from his skin, lashing him to his three nearest enemies. They weigh like chains, and can squeeze to the point of bruising. The magic in the tattoos creates the feeling of being choked and beaten by a heavy hand; giving an opponent the sensation of being driven down and short of breath. Albites opponents can still move/fight, but remain bound to Albite until the magic is ended, or the bonds severed. The tattoo tethers are still magical and so can draw no blood. No physical or lasting damage is done, unless the target’s player wishes it. The illusion ends after 25 seconds. In which the bindings vanish along with the sensations. Range: 15 Feet Duration: 25 seconds Number of uses: 1 Number of targets: 3
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 5:56 am
Oh, the relief he never expected to feel when his body jerked backward, limbs wrenched away from the hall — away from his mouth. He still clutched the starseed, couldn't let it go no matter his desperation for it, but it was whole. Uncracked by greedy teeth. Still vibrant and hale.
But Faustite was still desperate. Felt the need for that starseed in a flush of gooseflesh over his skin, in the way his head throbbed and his heart hammered and his mouth ran dry for just another taste. This one, it promised to taste better than the rest, hadn't it? So steeped in Chaos energy, even if it promised years of lament in exchange for a few minutes of riding high. He knew, but he craved for it. Couldn't get it out of his head. It lived there like the monster in his body — a permanent thing, always playing at bending to his will but never fully heeding him.
He wanted to vomit for taking Kamacite's starseed, but he could only dredge up spit. The same as what he tasted when he was ravenous, or retching.
So Faustite let himself be dragged back. The best he could do was tamp down his fire — a fragile starseed could never survive it — and wait for Albite to reel him in, drop all his questions in his fumbled bullshit style, maybe wrestle him to the ground. Maybe take revenge for Yuuri by slapping him across the face (and he thought, maybe he should ask).
The courtesy-of-nowhere blows from Albite's magic felt deserved. He gritted his teeth for them, with only a harsh breath escaping to betray his pains. He would let Albite beat him all afternoon if it would rectify this sordid situation. If it would make this up to Kamacite.
His shoes screeched metal against stone. Each tug forced him to balance, though he never tried to break free. It was Kamacite's only shot.
Faustite seized a desperate breath. "Take it," he urged over his shoulder. A clawed hand opened up like a lotus, bearing the starseed for Albite's protection. Hard enough to manage even that much when Albite's magic seized his elbows and his knees.
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 1:39 am
Faustite didn’t have to ask twice — Albite’d never make him beg like this for anything -- gave one more firm yank on the magic in hopes of off-balancing his beloved even more; before dropping the brutal chains entirely. The Eternal teleporting so fast the air crackled in the wake of his steps, heels a staccato of horror singing right along with Faustites lack of struggle to be free in brilliant harmony; if they’d been the thin kitten heels of his past, they would’ve snapped clean off. The sturdy high soles saved him now, as he wrapped a wide palm round the most delicate of glass while pretending life wasn’t seeping between his fingers in a brilliant purple sheen; that it was just a game of keep away with a really pretty stone.
His boy’d made an offer, like a mistake wrapped in a prayer — a desperate plea that Albite’d never witnessed at any other time. It made him want to stab something, viscerally; open its throat and slip in its gore till he dug a cause from the corpse for this fresh new madness.
Till there were reasons staring back at him, instead of Yuuri’s blank eyes and Faustites desperate, burning, starvation. It’d always been his own personal belief that there were subtle differences between being hurt n being harmed; that harm was deep, defining, corrosive and done with malicious intent. Harm was hard to cure.
Hurts could be soft playful things, accidents, could be full of intent of a whole nother kind. Had limits. Hurts were varieties of flavors — Harms were — that Albite hadn’t been home in years to hug his mom, that so many of his team mates true families were dead and gone — harm was what he was going to do; once he had a target to do it upon.
Because to Albites eyes? Faustite looked harmed. It was a new pain to see, a new hunger, n whatever had caused it?
Would they die, how slowly, was there a cure for this? Was —
“Elex — baby — what the actual ********?” hissed over the sound of fire inherent to being around his boy, that disruptive natural soundscape that was part of their lives as Warus snoring n the cling of smoke after a long night; the surprise that shuffled in along side the shock on his face, for the heat he felt in Faustites hand as he stole his prize back with quick steps and a defensive stance, the hint of sear that hadn’t existed before — not with almadels gift playing buffer — n yet now?
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poor kama ;;
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 9:05 am
Albite was truly the dumbest man alive. Stupid for releasing him from bonds, stupid for holding that glittering starseed in hand, completely dumbstruck, without considering returning it to the rightful owner.
Faustite knew how it looked — knew anyone would've assumed they had a fight, that maybe Kamacite turned traitor — but Albite knew Kamacite. He knew their relationship, that Kamacite had known him the longest and was terribly dear to him. Maybe it was too much to try to process, the boy was confused, he needed directions and probably three different diagrams on how to put back what he was usually taking out of someone. But now wasn't the time for that. He wasn't the person to ask right now. He doubted he would ever be.
Better if they could've asked Kamacite to explain, despite lacking a starseed. Instead, he grit his teeth against the urge to liberate Albite's starseed from his body, too, but that was a losing proposition.
"Put it back," he barked as he began approaching his boy. Slow strides, eyes always on the prize so proudly displayed in the boy's chest. Didn't matter what they'd been through, what they'd done, for even this moment would be endurable if he could bite down on one of those opulent gems. Soldiers' starseeds always tasted better, even if he was raised on civilians'.
His pace toward the pair of starseeds quickened and his body boiled with growing flame. Stocked in anticipation, flickers of it curled out and away from the grate, threatened to catch on anything worth eating.
"Get him out of here. Tell Jet, Axinite, Hessonite -- doesn't matter who. But don't return alone."
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 10:21 am
Oh -- <******** -- that was the 'don't argue with me tone'! He remembered that tone; like it'd left as physical an imprint on his body as Faustites hottest flames. The kind of scars that were closer to keloid than graphable in nature. Even if his mind was slow to catch up -- even if it liked the idea of playing prey and luring Faustite into a real fight -- preferably somewhere far away from the ******** hall!
Except that tone wasn't playing.
It was fingernails chipping off the brickwork of a wall for purchase, barely clutching on. It didn't broke arguments or nascent yammering from him. It was the weeks after the Scar, at the lowest of low points, chasing Eion around till he'd made it clear as dawn at the birth of the solar system that he needed space -- and what he couldn't get he'd take. When he'd been fresh n far too foolish to see the signs and know that leaving for a moment didn't equate to running away forever...
"I'll bring an Army," said the words in the same manner which he blew disrespectful kisses, goad and promise all in one. Serious buried under the show of teeth that was nothing like a smile. He'd never learned how to properly fear Faustite, but worry for him? He could do worry the same way he could teleport at an angle -- tilted back on his heels n let his magic unfurl one more time --
It was angry. It let him know.
Like the magic had moods that sung just beneath his skin, full now of some unspoken upset that snapped through the way it uncoiled and snarled round Kamacites limp form. It didn't like being denied anymore than Albite liked running away.
Yet the two things obeyed. The Eternal binding himself to Kamacite and vanishing, body and Starseed clutched in either hand; the most precious thing's he'd ever carried. All spat out through distorted space and time into an open office that was slowly coming together, but still mostly overpiled chaos.
He wanted moon phases in labradorite, floor tiles in obsidian and agate, he wanted inches thick crescent tables made of sheetrock and granite, he wanted things too heavy to throw, and easy to clean, and ---
He wanted Kamacite to do more than be some limp, shallow breathing ragdoll. The breathing part was important though! It was right. Right as taking the recaptured soul and pressing it into the space between Kamas collarbones watching the light disappear home where it belonged -- in the body -- not out of it. It was all kind of terrifying doing the usual in reverse, especially since he'd never realized just how light n thin Kama was till he had him cradled carefully in his arms.
He was always so bright n badass --
"Wake the ******** up sunshine ---" how fast did this happen? Was there an arbitrary time limit before he hit up their infirmary? How come Aqua n Jet managed to make it sexy instead of scary!! Pretty married bastards the pair of 'em. "Pretty please? ******** -- I swear if I have to ask Jet to take this thing out n put it back in...." he'd been there for the orientation after all, spoken, sat, watched and applauded loudly. "Aqua's gonna laugh me out of existence. Maybe if I had a partner to practice with? But no, apparently deep merlot wine is his flavor of choice today..." and the words weren't jealousy or tease so much as they were lurid desperation, an arbitrary counting down of panicked seconds laid out in syllables as Albite waited for a deeper breath, or a slap across the face -- He would've taken being blinded right then. "N Faustite loves you, so I need you to just --- blink twice if you didn't die...please?"
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K luv u baieeee!
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Weekend at Bernies with Yuuri?
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 5:07 pm
There hadn’t been any resistance when Faustite plunged his hand into his body. Maybe Kamacite thought it wasn’t necessary to protect himself. Not against Faustite. There were hiccups with their friendship, but Kamacite didn’t think that at any point in time he’d shown that he wasn’t loyal to Faustite.
He gasped and stared wildly up -- at Albite? His arm hurt. Had he landed on it wrong? He was on the ground. He--
Kamacite remembered the coil of fingers around his starseed. The spark radiating through his body as if pulling a live fuse from an electrical socket. Crackled for a moment. Then died.
And then sparked back to life.
But they weren’t near the doors to the Hall of Shadows. They were in some… office? Albite was talking -- of course he was, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that Faustite wasn’t there. Kamacite couldn’t feel him, couldn’t smell that burning flame that he knew to associate with Faustite.
Instead, he clutched tightly to Albite’s arm and tried to pick himself up enough to stand.
He couldn’t just be there--
“Where’s--” he tried gasping for air as panic set in. “Where is he, Albite?”
Tears flooded his eyes before he could stop himself. He was already sobbing when he tried to teleport but-- he felt too weak. His chest ached -- his starseed? It didn’t matter. He needed to go. He needed to get up and get back to the Hall before Faustite went inside. There was still time! There had to be, right?
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 10:22 pm
Relief barreled through him when Albite finally obeyed an order and vanished with Kamacite's body and soul. It was, perhaps, an unintentional grace granted to him that Albite didn't assemble the two before vanishing — Faustite was spared any betrayed expression from his friend upon his rousing. Instead, Faustite was left alone, with only the company of his well-deserved bitterness and self-disgust.
When they were gone, he spared not a single moment — Faustite started at a brisk walk for the door to the Hall. He pried it open deftly, and once he shut it behind himself, sprinted down the hallway with the whispered rasps of their silent sentinels at his back.
Two days, he told himself. However long that would feel. Celadonite would come on the second day, and they would leave together, with the hope that he wrested his violent cravings under control.
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thank you for the rp heart
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faustite exit~
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2022 4:09 am
Thank ********, he was alive!! Alive and moving and — okay maybe moving a little too much, because Kama looked freshly revived in the not so fun way! Albite foresaw himself getting gray streaks early because of this, he’d name the newly aged hairs Yuuri and Eion in loving commemoration of his time spent stressing over the pair.
“Wait, wait, wait, just... ” trying to haul Yuuri back against the beg of desperate questions asked through tears was tough, because ‘was’ and ‘is’ were relative things. Telling Kama where Faustite had been was not the same as telling him where he was going; where Albite could damn well guess he was currently, and the nice safe middle ground between the two points of the unknown? Was to tell a lie of omission, “I don’t know,” even as he stuttered the words out, he assured himself they weren’t entirely untrue! Faustite could’ve gone somewhere not the Rift, it was a completely plausible possibility!
“That is — I didn’t stick around to find out,” because he hadn’t actually asked and Faustite hadn’t been in a talking mood. Aside from relaying the most important orders Albite’d ever followed, “I’m so, so sorry Yuuri.”
“S’okay though, s’long as you’re alright?” quaver of unsurety sprinkled with panic, Albite wasn’t familiar with having his fragile inner bits roughly handled, everyone who’d ever touched his soul was either highly qualified or *himself*; he’d never nearly been a snack before - least not that way. “Not that you have to be alright, just — <******** hell — c’mere, please?” all his relief for the new breath tangled up in hurt for the sight of Kamas tears, if he could’ve gotten less squirming, more hugs. If he could’ve wrapped Kama up n just gotten him to breathe instead of trying to run off into the middle distance of who knew where.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2022 5:54 pm
He didn’t know? How did he not know? How was Albite there with him and he not know where Faustite was? He--
Kamacite lifted his hand to his chest. The hole was there.
His starseed was inside.
He sucked in a breath that he held. Desperately. Because if he let it out, he wouldn’t be able to stop the tears from falling.
In the end, he had to breathe. He let out a sob and then practically collapsed back into Albite’s arms -- and if he didn’t want to hold him and hug him, that was fine. Kamacite would be fine just crumpled on the ground to cry his heart out.
“What was wrong with him? Something-- something’s wrong,” Kamacite cried, not caring that he had his hands balled into fists around the fabric of Albite’s clothes. He felt weak. Exhausted. Faustite had-- no, he didn’t. He couldn’t have. He wouldn’t have tried taking his starseed. There was clearly a misunderstanding.
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Just quoting to keep you updated!
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2022 9:19 pm
He didn't know that either, searched every winding mazelike crevice of his mind n came up emptier than space was full. Something was wrong, beyond wrong, but as to what -- Albite didn't know. Startled himself out of the thought when he found his arms suddenly full of weeping Kama, and rather than shove him aside to hunt an army down with the strength to drag Faustite back; he pulled the other Eternal in close. Cared little for the tear stains n clinging. His Fuku'd seen far worse then Yuuri's gently curling hands, the sunshine senshi's nails weren't nearly as sharp as some others, his palms not full of fire. The outfit'd survive.
"I don't know," as if he could tuck Yuuri in and hide him away from everything. The long haired boy deserved more than a cold floor, could have him in a sprawl of winding arms n lap large enough to curl into without shame, "but we're gonna find out. Promise, s'not gone wrong enough that he wasn't thinking of you, cause he was." hisst full of determined woe, albite swallowed at the end of the gouted words. Sure that Faustite must've been thinking something more than how Yuuri would've tasted, ******** - maybe they'd get to ask him together exactly what fevered sorta thoguhts'd been going through his mind right then? What'd gone so south as to dredge up the unthinkable - they'd fix it then. Together.
"He loves you. Needs you safe. Warned me off to save both our asses, n we'll find him, Yuuri. There's nowhere he's gone to that we can't follow." Later, Albite thought. Later on when he could rally their team n check that nothing else had gone nearly as wrong as it all just had with Kama. The sudden spark of fear that at the end of a contact line might now exist a corpse -- They had sooo many Senshi -- Faustite was so close to them all. Albite'd been caught so unawares that checking on them was secondary instinct to running his fingers over Kama's well tied hair n rocking him gently.
If they were dead --
Finding out right now wouldn't've been any different then finding out three hours later, or after a whole 'nother day. There wasn't any way he knew of to bring some swallowed, shattered soul back into being. He just desperately hoped that wasn't the case. Didn't think Faustite would let it get that far, must've been eying the doors with some last shred of reason on how to manage himself...
Faustite didn't tell him everything all the time, though...
Could've been running away. Could've been looking for Kama specifically for help? Tiny communication blips, a problem shared between them like small forgotten secrets that dredged up curse laden sighs for how he loved Ei' so, no matter what happened.
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