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 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 2:10 am
Lafayette Park wasn’t normally one of Reiki’s haunts while he was out in his civvies, and he normally didn’t patrol around here either. It was an inconvenient distance from home, campus, and Scandals, so he didn’t really have any reason to skip over and check things out while on his way from one of those locations to a different one. The park also didn’t lie en route to any of the homes or apartments where the people he most cared about lived, so no reason to wander through it while he meant to go stone and bedazzle some new performance outfits with Brandy at his place, deliver a new piece he’d put together for Sibyl, or chill out with Yuki and maybe play some new batshit ludicrous fighting game he’d found so he could include an “Opinions From My QPP, who is chronically terrible at video games” segment in his review.
Tonight, however, Reiki had felt hopelessly bored with all of his normal hangouts and patrol routes. No youma made themselves apparent, nor did any erstwhile energy drainers who meant to prey on innocent people. Nobody from Team Spicy Eggplant came crawling out of the woodwork—which was getting ******** frustrating, actually! Honestly, the staff and owner at Puppy Paws were probably going to be on a personal-name basis with him soon because Reiki kept buying boxes of intended-apology cupcakes to hand off to Faustite, Miss Jada, Green Imouto-san, Abbey Roadkill, Heliodor, or whichever one of Faustite’s Miscellaneous Sluts happened to cross Reiki’s path……and he kept not running into any of them. Good thing Reiki had no shortage of people in his life with whom he would gladly share cupcakes.
So, he’d wandered out of his usual stomping grounds, and following the spirit of wanderlust had brought him to Lafayette Park. Almost immediately after stepping into the snow, his sense perked up at the feeling of an aura—White Moon, definitely not as strong as he was, so probably a basic or maybe another super who was even fresher to their shared rank than Reiki himself……and something didn’t feel right. Reiki couldn’t tell if it was something about the aura itself, or if he was just imagining things, but he really didn’t like the feeling he was picking up. Barely breathing, he darted through the park, trying to find where the White Moon aura felt strongest……
And his senses led him to the monument dedicated to Destiny City’s first mayor. Sprawled out in front of it, down in the snow and surrounded by a horde of rabbit footprints, lay a White Moon senshi, and she looked more than slightly worse for wear. A sharp breath jolted into Reiki and he rushed to her side.
“Hey, hey, sweetie,” he said as he dropped to his knees beside her. Gently, he reached for the pulse point on her neck. She seemed to still be breathing? But oh no, her pulse was weak. So many things could have caused that, and all the ones that came to Reiki’s mind first might not have engendered trust in a Chaos rat like him, with whatever his aura felt like to White Moon senshi. ******** Hell, he had to try and help her, didn’t he? “Sweetie, can you hear me?”
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:23 pm
Demeter didn't feel very good. She felt someone nearby—more Chaos, though it felt more... muted. Soft. Dangerous, still. She couldn't move, only tremble with fear as she begged her eyes to open, legs to get under her, but nothing opened. Her breathing barely changed, increasingly slightly as panic began to set in again. But she was also so, so cold. Was this hypothermia, maybe? Oh, dear, she should be doing something about that. The person kneeling next to her wasn't trying to kill her... Maybe... "Cold," she tried to say, but it came out in a wheezing breath, and she wasn't even sure she'd made any sounds at all. "C-Cold." That time she thought she heard herself. Please just help, she begged inside her head, letting herself slump again and wondering when she'd managed to tense up just enough that she needed to relax again.
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 11:02 pm
Oh, gods, the poor girl sounded terrible. Exhausted and worn out and just……like she needed help. Considering how short and skinny she looked, even the protection from the elements that senshi got might not have protected her very well, especially not if she’d had her energy drained. “Yeah,” Reiki agreed, keeping his voice as gentle as possible as he opened up his subspace. “It’s under twenty degrees tonight, last I checked. It’s really cold. Even worse for you right now, I bet?
“My name is Murikabushi. You can call me ‘Muri,’ if it’s easier? I’m a senshi, like you. I’m here to help.” Deep breaths. Introducing himself was a good idea, probably, he thought. Helped show her that he came in peace? Or he hoped it did? Trusting her with his name and all. Pausing a moment, he unfolded the beach towel he’d taken out. “I’m sorry I don’t have any blankets? But I have a towel and body-heat to share. I’m gonna get you out of the snow, wrap you up, and help dry you off, okay? You can lean on me as much as you need.
“And—” Maybe this was an unnecessary addition? But at the same time, cute young girl who’d clearly just gone through something horrible before Reiki had gotten here. He wanted to help, but he was still a strange, unknown guy, and he had a Chaos aura besides. He wouldn’t have blamed her for being afraid of any funny business. “And I am one-hundred percent gay, so I promise: I won’t take advantage or try to hurt you like that. You’re gonna be okay. And first, we’re gonna get you out of the snow in three…two……one………”
So help him, she was going to be okay. Even after getting to one, he gave her a moment to process what he’d said. But she’d already been down there for too long, so it was only a brief moment before he very gently, gingerly lifted her into his lap and wrapped the towel around her like a blanket. It was an old one, Dad had bought it on some family trip to Sea World when Reiki and Junsei had been in eighth grade. For being so old, though, it was in remarkably good condition, and usually, it came with Reiki to the gym, but……good thing he’d thought to put it in his subspace tonight instead.
Holding her close so she could get some of his body heat while getting dry, he asked, “Can you tell me your name, sweetie? Or anything about what happened?”
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Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2023 10:32 pm
Demeter huddled close to him, the movements helping to start clearing her head. She was getting slightly warmer, at least. The towel was soaking the wet of the snow off, and Murikabushi's body heat seeped into her, making her shiver again as feeling slowly began to return to her poor little body. "Mm... Demeter," she answered, coughing. "She.... She... d-d-d-drained m-m-me. Dun... know her name. J-Just, boo." She wondered, faintly, why someone with a Chaos aura was being so nice to her, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Not when he was, after all, providing help so she didn't die in the snow like this. Sitting up felt truly weird, though, and she slumped further against the tall man's side, resting her head on his shoulder. For one delirious moment, she thought about making a silly comment like hey gorgeous, come here often? just to diffuse the "almost died" tension, but then her brain caught up to something the guy had said—right. Gay. Yeah. Don't say that, Demeter. amorremanet did she say most of the last paragraph out loud in delirium anyway? you decide XD
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:05 am
Even in his internal monologue, Reiki was getting a bit tired of his repetition here, but……oh, no, this poor girl. Someone had drained her and then left her here to die like that? What ******** cowardice. Maybe it was cruel of him, but he really hoped that Demeter had gotten something off against that jackass from the Negaverse who’d done this to her. Turnabout being fair play and all.
Sighing softly, he shook his head and (gently, but protectively) tightened his arm around her back. “Ugh, it was the Negaverse, right? Not someone else?”
God, the thought of it being another Dark Mirror turned his stomach. If Reiki needed to actually bother Remarque about one of their own leaving this girl to die in the cold, someone’s head was going to ******** roll. He’d do it, if necessary? Not to brag, but he was no stranger to running his mouth with people objectively more powerful than himself and getting feisty about things he personally considered gross injustices. Reiki just……really hoped that it wouldn’t be necessary to page Remarque like ‘Hey, Your Highness, we have, like, rules against letting mirrorwraiths drain Order senshi practically to death and then leaving them in the snow to die, right? This is A Thing that we are strongly encouraged to *NOT* do, yeah?’ Off the top of his head, he couldn’t think of any Mirror Senshi who seemed like they would’ve done something like that, but—Future Reiki’s problem.
Present Reiki still needed to explain to Demeter, “If it was the Negaverse? I’m not with them, I promise. The Dark Mirror Court……we’re different.” In a lot of ways, he doubted that, but……not the time or the place to debate the semantics of whose energy draining was more morally reprehensible than whose. “I can’t help fix the energy drain on my own. But I have a friend who can. He’s usually over in North End Park, and he can do energy sharing? He’ll get you fixed right up, if you’re okay with me taking you there?”
He also had a thermos of hot cocoa in his subspace.… It was supposed to be for Reiki himself, but warm fluids would help Demeter get warm. Kerberos replenishing her energy would probably help, too. But once she was a little more capable of sitting up and drinking said cocoa, Reiki would make sure she at least knew the offer was available.
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:26 am
Demeter shivered again as she warmed up, melting into Murikabushi's side. "Mm. Y'feel... different, from them. She... definitely was one of those Negaverse," she whispered. "I, um. I'm..." She wasn't sure, really, what to do right now. What choices did she have? Try to stagger home and hope a good night's sleep fixed her right up? Or just... accept that this guy wasn't... trying to hurt her? "I... Yeah. If, um. Please. Yeah. In a minute? I don't think moving right now is very good... My head is like, super mega swimming with the fishies right now," she said tiredly. "I think if I just... like, give it a minute for... a minute, hah... I'll be slightly more okay?" She wasn't even sure what she was talking about herself. But another few minutes of rest just sounded smart.
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:50 am
Nodding, Reiki loosened his hold on her a bit, but only so he could adjust the towel around Demeter’s shoulders. It wasn’t as good as blanket—definitely not as good as his fleece blankets that somehow, ever so mysteriously and for reasons that certainly had nothing to do with his Best Girl taking them, seemed to regularly grow legs and migrate from his bed to either Cersei’s pillow bed or Soya’s nest (sometimes both places at once, gasp, however could this have happened)—but……for right now, the towel would have to do. Added an extra layer of insulation, even if it wasn’t as good at keeping the heat in, and getting her dry would help.
“Yeah, I’ve noticed that about our auras.… My Dark Mirror friends, their auras all feel a bit more chilled out? Less aggressive and sharp? But Negaverse auras tend to feel like broken glass and barbed wire.” And sometimes also like standing on the edge of an active volcano that wanted to be sure you knew exactly how much he didn’t like you, but…… In fairness to whoever had attacked Demeter, she was distinctly not Faustite (for one thing, Demeter still had her starseed, and even if he didn’t eat them anymore, Reiki struggled to imagine Faustite putting in the effort to drain a basic senshi and not simply snatching her starseed, too). “But either way? Just let me know when you feel ready for me to move out, okay? I promise, Kerberos is one of the coolest people you’ll ever meet. And his energy sharing feels warm and safe when he does it for you.”
Gently squeezing her shoulders, Reiki added, “Plus, I have cocoa and cupcakes in my subspace. If you feel up to a warm drink and a snack after he recharges your internal batteries for your.”
The sooner they got out of here, the better, too. Reiki didn’t want to rush her, but he felt some thumb-p***k sense of something wicked this way coming. Negaverse, for sure, probably a Lieutenant or a basic senshi. They weren’t getting too close to Reiki and Demeter at least—he couldn’t say if they were even paying attention; there seemed to be a lot of fevered pacing going on with them right now—but having Whoever-They-Were so close right now put his nerves on edge, made him want to get Demeter out of here and over to Kerberos’s bench.
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2023 1:00 am
Demeter hummed. That sounded pretty nice, yeah. Slowly, she blinked, shifting to hold her head up on her own, testing to see if she felt strong enough. Yeah. Being more dry had definitely helped, and so had Murikabushi's body warmth. "That sounds g-good, yeah. Let's go see this Kerberos of yours," she said. "I don't think I can stand up, really? But I'm... more coherent at least. Thank you. So much."
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