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 Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2022 5:22 pm
The text she had sent the two had been simple, a generic Quote: Hey! I have something I want to ask the two of you, can we meet at the park that I met Atticus at in like, fifteen minutes or so?
Brookly had intended to get there when she had said, but the meeting with the blue lady…with Dagon had been unexpected and…a little uncomfortable.
And the warning to stay away from her benefactress was…
Honestly annoying. Why the woman thought she had the right to tell her anything was beyond her but…
The good part about it was the fact that she got some clearer pictures of her so that obviously the two would believe her. The first picture she had snapped made the woman look like an utter cryptid, blurry and blue and kind of shapeless but…
Brooklyn broke into a bright smile and waved when she spotted the two and ran over. “I’m so sorry that I’m late. I got…I mean.” She laughed, trying to catch her breath. “Did you two know that there are legit blue people in this city? Like walking fish people?” Drawing out her phone, she pulled open the clearest picture of Dagon that she had been able to take. It still wasn’t good considering it was a flip phone, but you could see that she was, indeed.
Blue.
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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2022 11:41 am
Atticus had been bouncing his food against the pavement as he sat with Elliot on the bleachers while they waited for Brooklyn. He held his hand, but also had his other hand on Elliot’s arm, quietly drawing little shapes along the fabric of his shirt with his fingers.
He appreciated being able to spend some time with Elliot and Brooklyn. Not that he didn’t have a lot of fun with Devyn and Michael! But it was different when there were others the same age as him.
“Blue people?” he blinked curiously, although he wasn’t sure if he could hide on his face that he had seen strange looking people before. Or robots that talked. He glanced up at Elliot and then over to see the picture Brooklyn had with her.
“Oh, she’s pretty,” he observed. “Is it makeup? Maybe there was a convention?” He felt as though he knew that wasn’t the case, but… he promised Michael and Devyn that he would be careful. Even if Brooklyn was their friend.
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2022 10:25 pm
Elliot squinted at the picture, and his first thought was that she was playing some sort of trick on them, but it didn’t really take much to convince him that she was telling the truth. He just didn’t want to tell her how much he believed her.
“That’s weird,” he said, as if he were commenting on someone’s eccentric outfit, or a weird flashing light in the sky. “Destiny City does have a lot of weird events,” he said, glancing back at Atticus and then returning his attention to Brooklyn. Of the two of them, he suspected he was a better liar than Atticus, so he leaned forward again. “I don’t recognize that costume.”
Not that he was an expert, he was just trying to play off of Atticus. “Where did you see her, what was going on? I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a blue person. Not even in makeup, not in real life.”
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2022 12:24 pm
“Well, this was actually the second time that I saw her, the first was last week when I was…well, see.” Brooklyn wrinkled her nose and wiggled her lips in thought, trying to figure out the best way to share everything that had happened and invite them to it without sounding like an absolute and utter crazy person.
“Okay so. And you guys can’t judge me for this, so please don’t think I’m crazy because I promise I’m not…but I met this girl in this really pretty lolita dress and she was saying how she could get me one if I helped her out, so I did. Honestly? She’s kind of creepy and she never actually kept up her end of the bargain, I never got so much as a bow from her but. Whatever. So, I guess she’s part of a group or something called the Negaverse and she’s trying to get me to join her. The blue lady was telling me not to, and honestly, I don’t want to do anything without you guys with me, like…we’re friends. And.”
This wasn’t coming out well, but she couldn’t just stop. “I guess there’s magic or something involved. The lolita girl like. Can just appear places. She did that in front of me once, and then took us both away the first time the blue lady met up with us, I don’t know…what do you guys think?” Brooklyn looked between the two, half hopeful, and half embarrassed by how utterly crazy that she knew she sounded.
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2022 1:22 pm
The more Brooklyn told of her story, the tighter Atticus squeezed Elliot’s hand. By the time she was finished and asking them what they thought, there was no judgment in Atticus’ eyes.
But there were tears.
He was trying very hard to hold them back! But the Negaverse?? They were trying to get Brooklyn to join, and she wanted them to join?
Atticus didn’t know what to say. He knew he couldn’t just tell her they were knights that fought the Negaverse. But he was so worried about her. What if she took them up on their offer and made her join, or worse?
Not only that, but they’d attacked him. Several times by now. The youma the first time he met Devyn, and then that guy with the fire. The man who tried to kill him and later caused Elliot’s house to be destroyed was still out there. The Negaverse had done horrible things to Michael’s family as well.
“You can’t,” he blubbered as tears spilled out and down his cheeks. He quickly dropped his head onto Elliot’s shoulder to hide his face, frustrated with himself because he wanted to tell her all of the horrible things that he knew the Negaverse had done.
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2022 7:09 am
A growing alarm flashed in Elliot’s eyes; the more she spoke, the more worried he was for her. “What? No.” He drew Atticus close and wrapped his arms around him, but he stood on his tiptoes so he could hold Atticus close and still see over him to look at Brooklyn.
“The Negaverse is trash, Brooklyn, don’t let them sucker you into their weird cult. They tried to kill us, my dad got really hurt. Did you hear about the house that had a gas leak and blew up a few months ago? That was my house, and it wasn’t a gas leak. The police said we hallucinated, but that’s a total lie. There was this guy in this uniform, and he could teleport, and he summoned this giant monster. He was trying to kill us. Atticus was spending the night, we had to run. My dads had to fight it off. I believe you, a hundred percent. They wanted me to join, too, but how was I going to do that? They expect you to kill people.”
He shook his head. “Brook, you can’t. If you want a pretty lolita dress, come over and Devyn’ll make you one, that’s so much safer.”
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2022 12:03 pm
Brooklyn stared at the both of them for a moment, her mouth falling open at the vehemence of both of their words this…
This wasn’t what she had expected at all. She expected to be laughed at, to be told that she was crazy, that she was making it up…that…that she was insane. The sight of tears in Atticus’ eyes made some well up in her own and she swiftly wiped them on the sleeve of her jacket. “I…o-okay. I was having some second thoughts anyway…and I never told her my name…I…I’m sorry I didn’t…didn’t know this would upset you guys like this I…I really didn’t know…”
Her mouth felt dry, and her stomach was twisting uncomfortably. If this was how she was going to lose her friends, she…no. No it…
“I’m so sorry…I…what…what about the blue lady then? She…she said she was on a different side of things…she called…called the girl I was with a Negaverse Senshi, do you know…know what that might mean?” Brooklyn found that her teeth were starting to chatter slightly, and her whole body was trembling. This…wasn’t how she expected this talk to go at all, and she was honestly ready to just run and hide and never show up anywhere again…
“A-atticus I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to make you cry…”
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2022 7:13 pm
Atticus was grateful that Elliot held him. He wanted to hide his face from Brooklyn, not wanting her to worry about making him cry, because it wasn’t her fault! And when she assumed it was and apologized, he quickly shook his head.
“I’m just scared for you,” he sniffled, waiting between sobs to speak so he didn’t stumble over the words. “I don’t want you getting hurt. I don’t want them making you do horrible things. But my dad could make you a really nice dress, if that's what you want."
As for the blue lady, Atticus wiped his eyes off with his hand and glanced up at Elliot to see if he knew what to say. He didn’t want to get Brooklyn more involved than she already was, but… the lady sounded like she was an alien of some kind. And she didn’t look like the ones they saw on Astraya.
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2022 3:00 pm
“Brook,” Elliot tried again, because he could see the wetness in her eyes, and he was pretty sure he could hear uncertainty or fear or–whatever, something bad–in her voice. He adjusted just slightly so he could keep one arm wrapped around Atticus, and opened his other arm as if to invite her in for a hug, too.
“Come here, it’s okay. We’re just worried about you. They’re really dangerous people. You don’t have to apologize for telling us, we’re glad you said something. Anyone who’s an enemy of the Negaverse can’t be too bad. I mean, maybe. It’s not like we know a bunch of them. But we’ve gotten in trouble before. This guy rescued us from a monster before, he wore a weird outfit and had weird magic. He said he was a Senshi, too. I mean, he looked like you or me, no blue skin, but. We don’t think you’re crazy or anything, I promise. So there are good Senshi and bad Senshi, but anyone who thinks the Negaverse is doing the right thing is probably corrupt, that’s what you have to be careful about. I’m not kidding when I say they literally demolished my house. My dad’s got a scar from the thing that attacked him. The less interaction you have with them, the better. I don’t want them to turn on you and come after you, okay? I’m sorry if I upset you. I just care about you, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2022 3:45 pm
“I won’t go back…I promise….I really do promise…I…” Brooklyn sniffled and hesitated, moving into Elliot’s offered embrace and quickly wrapped her arms around the both of them as best she could. “...I don’t want to lose you two…she. Said that her name was…S-Sailor Dagon, I think. And that she wasn’t from Earth, I don’t know…it’s all a lot and I just..”
Brooklyn squeezed them as tightly as she could before she pulled away and wiped her face on her sleeve once again. “...You didn’t upset me..I’m sorry that I upset you two…I…I didn’t know…I really didn’t. I wouldn’t have ever…I wouldn’t have ever even thought about it if I had…”
She reached out and put a tentative hand on Atticus’ back, rubbing it lightly. “...When…when can I…” Brooklyn drew in a breath, trying to find her courage and dispel this uncertainty that was overwhelming her. “When can I um. When can I meet your dads? All of them? I…I think..maybe I’d like to.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2022 6:26 pm
Atticus was grateful that Elliot knew what to say. Even though Atticus had promised to be good and keep everyone’s secrets safe, Brooklyn was their friend and it was so difficult for him to not blurt out how his dad was a Senshi.
He didn’t know how to react to her saying Sailor Dagon wasn’t from Earth. He tried to look surprised, but it probably didn’t come across very well with the tears down his cheeks.
It was good that Brooklyn was coming around and wanting to meet their dads, though. Including his newest dad. Well. He’d always thought of Michael as his dad, but he was pretty sure that Michael didn’t think of him as his son. At least not until recently, which was nice.
He sniffled again as Brooklyn rubbed at his back, but he offered her a wobbly smile. “We could ask them when they’re not busy,” he offered, looking up at Elliot for confirmation. He knew his dads were busy with the end of the semester coming up. Michael was busy too. But Devyn at least had plenty of time.
He did feel a bit guilty about volunteering Devyn to make a dress, instead of asking him first. Which was why he wanted to make sure they knew they were going to meet Brooklyn before actually doing so.
“It’s okay,” he promised, still holding onto Elliot, but not doing anything to make her try and pull away from. “We just want you to be safe.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2022 7:50 pm
Elliot had squeezed Brooklyn close and tried to reassure her that it was okay. She just needed to stay safe, and she needed to be careful. It was the same warning Michael had given them, and even if they were Knights, it was advice they still both took very seriously. He didn’t try to pull her back when she put some distance between them, but he was always open for another hug if she needed one.
“I’m sure they could make time. I mean, my dads always like to meet my friends, so we can figure something out. They’re really friendly. You don’t have to be scared of them. I mean, I don’t know, you seemed a little jumpy before, but they’re good people. And Michael’s been looking after me since I was a kid, so I think he’s great. Just let us know what you want and when. It’ll be okay, I promise.”
He knew she seemed a little worried before, and now she seemed shaken, so he assured, “Everything’s okay. We’re good, Brooklyn. I just really don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all. Thank you for telling us. If anything weird happens, I hope you’ll always tell us. Maybe we can figure things out together?”
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2022 8:05 pm
“I want you two safe too…I…is there any way I can do anything? If I find this Dagon again…can she help me fight the Negaverse do you think? I…I don’t know. I’ll always tell you if something weird happens…you two are my best friends…I…”
Brooklyn shrugged, looking almost sullen for a moment, as though in admitting this they would laugh. That this would be the point where they decided that she was crazy. That she simply was being crazy putting her trust into people like this. “I don’t want to think about…where I’d be if I hadn’t met you guys…I mean. Maybe okay…I wouldn’t have gone to jail, the shop keeper hadn’t noticed me at all I’m sure…not until Elliot came over and got us both noticed…”
She sniffed and gave a half laugh, giving Elliot a smile. “And…I wouldn’t have had a coat! But Atticus, you’re the greatest and…you keep me warm like every day with it so…I appreciate it so much…and…and I want to figure things out together, yeah. Just…Um. I was meeting her at the park over on Downs Street…a few blocks away from my school um. Wednesdays at six, so it was after school but before curfew…so um. Maybe don’t go over there for a while until she realizes I’m not coming back?”
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2022 8:19 pm
Atticus wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. Why would she have gone to jail if she-- oh… had she been trying to steal things from the store? He hadn’t realized that. Not that he didn’t understand the desperation! He’d just been more terrified of being caught than he was of going hungry. He knew what happened to kids like him, if they were put into a prison. The man he’d lived with before made it very clear what happened.
The thought made him squeeze Elliot a little tighter and duck his head onto his shoulder once more. Because all of that was in the past. Even if he still started to panic over the sound of police sirens. Maybe one day he would get over it.
“You can’t fight them,” Atticus choked as he wiped his eyes again. “They’ll hurt you. You should stay away from them. Please.”
He couldn’t do much to help fight them, either. All he had was healing magic and a few lessons on how to throw a punch (poorly) from Michael and Devyn. It wasn’t their fault! And he was trying his best, but there was only so much they could teach someone like him.
“We care about you a lot, and don’t want you getting hurt or in trouble. That’s all,” he promised, and made sure his hand was clean from tears before he reached over to take hold of her hand to give it a squeeze. He still had his other arm around Elliot’s, not in any mood to move away from him when he was feeling so out of sorts.
"But we'll be careful," he promised.
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2022 8:38 pm
Elliot shook his head. “Don’t fight them, Brook. Just try to get away if you can. Don’t make an enemy of them. It’s best to lay low. Besides, if they think you can fight, they’re just going to be more interested in recruiting you. And once they set their eye on you? I don’t know, it’s hard to tell if they’ll stop before they have you. So it’s best to just seem helpless and not worth their time.” He leaned over to give her another hug again, not giving her the chance to step away until he was certain that she knew she was appreciated and wanted.
“But we’ll be careful, we won’t head over there. I’ll let my family know, too.”
Maybe Michael and Devyn could look into it and try to take care of things over there.
He rubbed Atticus’ back again, trying to reassure him. He kissed atop his head instinctively but didn’t take his eyes off of her. “Destiny City is dangerous. But you don’t have to deal with any of it alone, Brooklyn. We'll have your back. Thank you for telling us. And if any of them give you a hard time, tell us. Maybe we can find some way to scare them off–or, at least, keep you safe. I won’t let anything happen to you if I can help it, okay? I look after my friends, so I’ll look after you, too. It’ll be okay. Do you even know how to fight? I mean, if you want to learn self defense, that's one thing. But don't go picking fights, always get out of there first if you can. Promise me that."
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