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 Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2022 5:33 pm
Each passing day felt like it was faster than the last. There was always much to do, but with the team in a right mess because of his own insecure stupidity, he found that there was more action needed from him and less time to meditate on those actions before committing to them.
He'd already committed to meeting with Murikabushi. Already wrote the note to summon him to talk. Already notified the sneering, shitty little Mauvian that first offered the boy some help that he'd be riding on Faustite's shoulders that day. Now that it came time to leave the note for the Mirror Senshi's discovery later, Faustite found that he couldn't simply teleport to the Farnsworth — he needed a minute to think before he followed through with his decision.
When the burning General teleported to the city, he chose a spot a mile away from the target building. It was late evening, with the bloody sunset clawing its long shadows out of the city's topography. Trees shivered in an uncharacteristically cold breeze. While the sky was clear, the auric landscape for the area was not, and Faustite doubted that any of the less powerful Order signatures would come bothering him.
As he started his walk, he felt them each taper out of his periphery. While they numbered only a small handful, it was relieving to know that he wouldn't have to waste time on a fight in the interim. He took to a deliberate pace, something below a jog, with the expectation that he'd have a solid fifteen minutes to himself. No communicator to bother him, no youma to take calls for him, no outreach from a boy who only wanted to help and so often made messes of Faustite's more delicate dealings. No feisty Heliodor coming for his head. No Tama to stare him down and tell him every single way he failed as a leader. No Jadarite to purse her lips at him. Nothing but the sound of the restless city and the breeze that laced through it.
It was plenty of time, but it wasn't enough.
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:13 pm
Meleph was still adjusting to patrolling. She understood why it was important from Lesath, but by the same degree didn't. If they were there to be chill and a safe haven, why exactly did she need to patrol? Meleph supposed she did understand it from the perspective of organizations like the Peacekeepers; they did patrol areas they were concerned about where fights may start or where events were happening that could spark fights. She was probably looking for that. So she had settled on an area with unfinished buildings and places that should have simply been condemned. From what Lyna had learned, a lot of people used these zones for their own shady dealings, even as places were being rebuilt and disasters were having a fresh new coat of paint slapped over them in an attempt to hide the roaches. Seemed like an easy enough place to start, and perhaps she could return with something to help the wraiths if a person was causing trouble. Meleph was not good at sensing auras yet. She knew Lesath's, but that was a strong person of her own faction. She didn't quite make a connection to anything else. And so, she hummed quietly and walked.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:30 pm
Perhaps it burned most that Trey had been right, and Eion had inadvertently ******** him over. Led his little brother straight into a meeting with him, lacking warning, and exposed them both to each other in front of the majority of the team. It was a level of carelessness that burned Faustite, and he breathed a smoke-laden sigh into the atmosphere as he walked.
Reaching the edge of a flat roof, he stepped up onto the parapet and launched himself over the gap between buildings. A quick aerial somersault landed him atop a gabled roof, whose shingles clinked underfoot.
The team had a mole. Waru knew it, Faustite knew it, but neither of them knew the identity of their leak. Some of the team they could rule out by virtue of not being present for the affair, and others Faustite felt comfortable overlooking due to their longevity in the team. Faustite imagined that the leak was a recent one, though there were a couple of recent members present at the meeting at Emmy's; for that, Faustite worried all the more about the recently exposed brothers. Would someone be putting Trey's mother to death if they couldn't find him asleep in his quarters? And what about Aelius? He hadn't any level of security to his shabby apartment. No one was looking over him.
He considered, briefly, somehow convincing Tama to go stay with the boy and watch over him. However, Tama may well be the very leak they were looking for. That cat couldn't make his distaste more known —
As he crossed to another roof, Faustite felt a Dark Mirror Senshi in the vicinity. Basic, by feel. A glance across the intervening buildings confirmed that it wasn't the Dark Mirror Senshi, so he wrote it off as nothing.
The Farnsworth was on the horizon, looming over the nearby, smaller businesses. Bustle reclaimed the area, though not to the magnitude it once was — seemed that the public remembered what happened, and would continue to remember for some time yet. He expected that Trey and Aelius would behave in the same manner: hold their grudges for months and months, Trey ice cold and Aelius red hot for the ire they shared toward him.seiana_zi sorry, he has no reason to approach a basic ;;
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:40 pm
So not used to the sense, her humming skipped and jumped when she noticed something that felt very wrong at the edge of her senses. Well, wrong was the wrong word; different, maybe, but not wrong. It was jarring, though; she hadn't been expecting it and it made her skin prickle as she considered the reality and presence of it near her. Felt like it was emanating from something near enough to her, anyway, and much like a mystery game she decided she should probably pursue it. It was too bad she didn't have a magnifying glass that could majestically become bigger when she was near the source of whatever it was. Maybe adding it to a list of clues to look back on later. Like this clue, the one that there seemed to be a source of light at an unexpected angle, and it was moving. Maybe she should take a look. Was it trouble? She had learned of her mysterious ability to scale buildings with single jumps and so glanced up to a roof and decided to aim for it, squatting down and leaping with a single fluid movement. A victorious laugh followed-- And then she saw the source of the light. The ... fire? "Oh." Smooth, Lyna. Strickenized you're good!! Hopefully that works~
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:47 pm
This one was like a moth circling around a flame, he realized. The Dark Mirror's aura did not vacate like the others, instead staying in his field of senses. He ignored it.
He had to wonder if he would run into Murikabushi while trying to drop off the note. Faustite supposed that was his main fear, working with a dead drop — something about that seemed so passé that he was sure he'd die from embarrassment. Combust on the spot. Turn to ash, then Murikabushi's guilt complex would lead him to the rest of the team to apologize profusely and perhaps consign himself to indentured servitude. The boy had a stubborn, idiotic streak much like Albite, with a guilt complex that he knew no matches for; if it all worked out like that, he supposed he could accept dying so shamefully.
Someone made a shout behind him. Faustite paused at the edge of another precipice, turned, and spotted his tail.
Likely this was the Dark Mirror Senshi he sensed previously. Striped thigh highs, striped — what were those. Arm tubes? Detached sleeves? Whatever, didn't matter. She looked like she was ready to s**t herself about then.
Faustite spared her an exasperated stare. "Go away. Don't have time for you."
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2022 7:00 pm
Her first thought was that perhaps this was what a youma looked and felt like. She had thought she understood youma, but she primarily ran into the inhuman ones; she had been told there were humanoid ones too, but they weren't her priority nor had she ever had to dispatch one. But that didn't feel quite right. He looked human enough, sounded human enough, acted human enough with the way he was telling her to leave-- And she flushed, perhaps she should have immediately listened, but there was something about seeing a man on fire that froze her in her tracks, plus the concept of a bad mystery phone game sitting unfinished. She at least needed to get through the level. "Ah, sorry. Won't waste your time," felt like the right thing to say, and yet, she didn't quite leave. Meleph shifted where she stood. "I have to ask, I'm sorry," she gestured widely to the man with the clockwork fire abs that looked back at her, who was being stilted but at least not rude. This must have been an agent, then; members of Chaos like her, but different. "Are you okay? I... you're not dying but you seem to be burning. Do you need anything?" A fire extinguisher, maybe?
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2022 4:33 pm
It was all as expected at first. The Mirror Senshi apologized for her intrusion. Intimated that she was going to leave. Faustite waited — no sense in turning his back on their kind — but she didn't move. Seemed frozen in place. For a moment, he wondered if she was too afraid to move, if she needed him to leave before she would find it in her legs to bend again. This one, she seemed green.
Then, as she spoke again, he realized she truly was green. His brows furrowed at her questions.
Faustite had spent years burning. Years, and it never became painless — he only learned to live with the constant pain. He couldn't say if it was precisely the same as burning alive, or if it was something less, but he felt it always. Paced because, otherwise, hungry flame licked at his ribcage, his diaphragm, his lungs. Knowing that, he was seldom asked if it hurt, even by his own allies. He couldn't remember anyone asking about it. Anyone showing more than perfunctory concern.
Nor could he doubt them for it. He wasn't screaming; what signs did they have that he was in pain?
When he found his voice again, he answered. His tone remained stern, but something inside it had wavered. "Not 'seem to be'. I am burning. Comes with being part youma. Been years enough that I'm used to it."
He thought about bidding her to leave again. It was enough information for her to mull over, he supposed, but she did ask if he needed anything. "… Know someone named Murikabushi? Courtmate of yours."
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Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2022 6:28 pm
He wasn't answering her, but she was patient; there was fire licking in his abs and she wasn't exactly sure what she could do but it seemed appropriate to try asking, to see if there was anything he could think of, to see if maybe he at least needed some burn cream-- "Oh," her eyes widened in surprise. Alright, so he was ... sort of a youma. That was fascinating in its own right, but that wasn't the part she was concerned about. Being sort of a youma meant that he had just been on fire? For years? How had it not burned him to a crisp? "... I'm sorry." Meleph opened her mouth to ask if he needed anything, again, but then he asked her a question in return, and she could definitely give him that. They were on the same side, at least, following the same Chaotic force even if their organizations were separate. Not that she had a good answer. "I'm sorry, I've never met Murikabushi. I only have a couple contacts on my side right now, period." Her smile was sheepish and likely gave away what the clockwork man of fire knew before she even hinted at it. She was green. "I could let you know if I come across him, though. Or try to anyway, I'm ... not entirely sure how our factions communicate."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 7:07 am
"I'm not," he returned promptty.
As she spoke about Murikabushi and her circumstances among the Dark Mirror, Faustite approached her. While he walked at a deliberate pace, it wasn't with the intent to intimidate her or subject her to the heat rolling off of him. He stopped at a conversational distance from her — a fair six feet to account for any wayward flame or smoke on a windy day.
The youth curled a clawed hand against his hip as he spoke. "They don't." To his knowledge, they never had.
His other hand flourished outward as he kept eye contact with her. A swift beckon to nothing but the sky and the great gap between buildings had yielded a sudden flash of rift, and out of it erupted a swarm of fireflies. They glittered in the sky like a sea of stars before they coalesced beside him in an ovoid cylinder.
"Murikabushi," he said to them. Then the firefly youma built out the shape of the boy, the proper height, and filled in the rest as the individual bugs shimmered and beamed their special ability. The process took seconds at most, and at Faustite's side stood a nigh perfect image of the boy that he sought.
"If you've any court-wide meetings, tell him Faustite needs to see him."
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Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 7:37 am
Meleph remained relaxed while he approached. Perhaps she was too green to be worried about any danger, perhaps she simply did not see a reason to fear the man in front of her. She did take the moment to take a closer look at his features; his eyes were black and orange, his hand was clawed, and he stood at a similar height to her... And his abdominal area was made of fire. "That seems like a missed opportunity if we are on the same Chaotic side." Meleph knit her brows. Perhaps there was something more to it that she didn't have a chance of knowing or hadn't had time to learn yet. She'd need to ask the people she knew, which primarily meant asking Lesath if she had any thoughts on the matter-- Her thoughts moved on quickly as her eyes followed his flourish and then the purple shade that opened, yielding ... fireflies. Fireflies that seemed to move as a unit. Fireflies that took commands. Fireflies that took commands to turn themselves into representations of other things. Murikabushi. Tall, black hair, and a purple, red, and pink outfit that dripped fashion sense. She found herself withdrawing her civilian phone, perhaps not the wisest decision, but it was the easiest way for her to take note of what she was looking at. She kept it vague, of course. No need to hint at what she was actually involved with. "Got it," Meleph nodded her head when she finished, before asking, uncertainly, "May I take a picture of," she gestured to them, not knowing if they had another name. She paused, following afterward with a "That's an amazing ability they have, by the way." Mirrorwraiths couldn't do that, and she wasn't complaining but that was really cool. "And all of it. Being just able to open a portal like that..." And to work through what was paining him every day for years.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 8:01 am
"Ask your court how they lost the alliance." It would likewise explain why they didn't have a means of communicating with each other. There was, however, the very unfortunate fact that they shared those walking trash bags that called themselves Mauvians — he supposed they were the only ones to have remote contact with both sides.
To her request for a photo, Faustite grunted his assent. He stopped away from his youma momentarily, preferring to stay out of the shot. The phone she held looked like a normal phone; he thought they had compacts, but he must've been wrong. It certainly wasn't a Negaverse tablet, not that he was terribly impressed with those. If the Mauvians would just come up with a way to prevent his from melting in his grasp while he was in the middle of a mission, he would finally consider those things somewhat worth their trouble.
Once she got her photo, Faustite addressed the not-Murikabushi. "Headache. Dismissed." With a wave of his hand, the young man dissolved into fireflies that exited through another nigh instantaneous portal.
Faustite nodded as his attention lingered on the space where Headache was. "All youma can open portals, but only Headache disguises itself like that." Then he turned back to her, and the marvel he shared was soon gone from his countenance. "They communicate, too. Don't let me hear that you've been dusting any." He had hoped that, while the Negaverse had orders not to go starting trouble, the Court would kept a respectful distance from Negaverse operations. He supposed it seldom turned out that way.
Before he departed, Faustite added, "You never introduced yourself."
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2022 7:44 am
It sounded like she'd have a lot of questions to ask. Lost the alliance? There had been one in the past, therefore, and now discarded. Thought unnecessary in their move in the future. It seemed odd that they'd spurn potential allied forces, but perhaps there was more to it. More that this man of painful flames was not telling her or could not tell her. "I will," it was a promise as much as any. Couldn't stay this new forever, and it seemed Faustite was willing to bridge some of that gap. She watched as the youma -- the full youma, not the partially youmaified agent she was facing -- disappeared once again into that portal, vanishing into some other world she hadn't any access to. Much like them and Mirrorspace, she supposed. "Special talent of its, then." Meleph noted, in quiet admiration. She did quickly catch the second message. They talked. They'd know if she had dusted any. Faustite might find out. She didn't want to go from a decent conversation to being on his bad side. "Got it." This felt fine, but he was as powerful as Lesath. What would happen if it stopped feeling fine? "Oh, right." Her smile was sheepish. "It's Meleph. Ah, let me know if you need anything else, okay? I'll keep some aloe cream on me, at least..." She wasn't sure how much that would do for the flames, but she couldn't help wanting to offer something anyway.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2022 8:12 am
"Meleph," he echoed. She would be one to keep an eye on. Didn't seem like she would be up to much that would irritate the Negaverse, but the sooner she developed a healthy respect for them, the better. And if talks with Murikabushi fell through, then Meleph may be their second pick — still green enough to groom.
He chuffed at her joke. Spared her a brief wave before he turned away, leaving her to her own travels again. Whatever she was up to, Faustite didn't consider it worth his curiosity. The Dark Mirror Court was historically a scattered and disorganized people; even if she was running nefarious errands, Faustite expected that little would come of it, given that they lacked so much teamwork.
It was maddening, in a way, that she was being left out to ******** around on her own like that. Grievously shortsighted of whoever was to be mentoring her.
Whatever. Wasn't his concern.
Faustite kept on toward the Farnsworth, head still swimming with what-ifs and worst-cases. There was much to do yet, and much to discuss; even as he was going to leave the note, he wasn't sure he felt entirely capable of handling negotiations like this. Still, it was what he should do for the team.
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