|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2023 6:39 pm
Niter must've put in like a hundred job applications by now. He applied to a bunch of tattoo places looking for receptionists, because that's what he knew. Then he applied to easy-looking jobs where he could hang out at home and do data entry or take calls or whatever. Plus there was the theatre job that Andesine told him about, but he had to wait for them to respond to his application. He'd started getting rejections back, or places just straight up ghosting him about his application and then taking down the job posting. That was where the discouragement set in.
And the panic, too, because if he didn't find something else soon? He was going to be out of money without any way to pay for his apartment. Then he would have to resort to rifling the pockets of people he drained, if he could drain them that far without someone noticing.
At least, that's what he told himself a week ago. Now that he was staring down his rent payment with his bank account coming up short? He was doing exactly the thing he told himself he shouldn't be doing.
Niter sighed a puff of steam as he looked down at the girl who had slumped over on the bus bench. She wore one of those big, puffy coats with the horizontal stitches that made her look like the Michelin Man. She had leggings on, too, tucked into a pair of big, fluffy boots that always had him wondering if it was real animal fluff or not. He didn't think he'd find a wallet on those leggings, so he went for the backpack that was sitting next to her. It seemed like the easiest choice when her pockets hadn't panned out like he was hoping.
The problem was that there were many problems. He didn't know how long she would be out for, nor did he want her bare hands to freeze out in the cold. He was also exposed, what with his back to the street, and anyone driving by would find him super suspicious. It was also going to take f o r e v e r to go through all the million zippers and pockets of the backpack and he didn't know where to check first to make the process quicker.
Frowning to himself, Niter started with the ones in the front.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 8:43 pm
"Hey!" A sharp, feminine voice called out.
Ida shifted into a trot as she got a good view of the corrupt bent over a young woman, seemingly passed out on a bench. She only felt one signature and that was a pretty good indication that what she was seeing was an officer of the Negaverse draining a civilian. Straight forward enough, and in the mood she was in, Ida was not terribly inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Everything had felt... off lately. Ida wasn't sleeping well and that made her temper short, something almost unheard of for the orchid senshi. She'd almost wondered if she had a cold coming on, but in the days since the feeling started it had never really manifested. She'd had to brush it off as just... seasonal depression, or something, but the fuse had remained short and the patience thin. She'd had just about enough of all of this tonight, after chasing off two other officers she'd found while out on patrol. Couldn't they give it a rest once in a while?
"Whatever you took, put it back!" Ida called as she neared, slowing her pace and trying to look stern. As stern as a young woman wearing a short skirt and decked in flowers could, anyway. He felt like a super... hopefully she could lean on her eternal power signature to get him to back down without this turning into a scuffle. She was just... really not in the mood for it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:27 pm
Wow, what was it with the White Moon instantly zooming over the minute he started doing anything bad? It was like they had a sixth sense for wrongdoing. To that effect, Niter not only sighed, but he felt his hackles raise and his stomach drop between his feet for the admonishing that would inevitably come.
While Niter was still squatted in front of the backpack, he raised his hands overhead, hoping that she'd read it as some level of compliance. "I didn't take anything," he added, not that he expected her to trust him.
That's how these things went, right? Get caught, and then he had to spend like a million years working on becoming trustworthy again. Not that he needed to be trustworthy to the White Moon, he supposed, but like, he'd expect even his own side to admonish him for doing this? So it was just kind of inevitable? But Niter didn't think he had any other choices, here. It wasn't like his landlord was going to let him skate on rent. Even if he couldn't find a better paying job.
"I, um, don't really have anywhere to put things," he added, in case she was the reasonable sort.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:56 pm
Her steps sounded as she slowly approached and Ida looked this corrupt over with a critical eye, lingering on the large patches of bare skin at his hips.
Okay so, he really didn't have a lot of places to stash stuff, but...
"Would you step away from the girl please?" She said, eyes still on him, but a part of her relaxing just a fraction. His response had not been brash or aggressive... maybe a little nervous, but otherwise calm. She could work with that. All the better if they could resolve this someway peacefully. Her first priority was the girl, second making sure he wasn't going to hurt someone else, and if she could fulfill the first but not the second? The way she felt today, she wasn't going to sweat it. There were other senshi and knights out there who could get up and do some of their share of this thankless work.
She knew it wasn't really in character for her to not worry about the other mischief a corrupt would get up to. She did worry, but... she was also tired. How long had she been at this? Nearly ten years now? And she wasn't sure any of her chasing off had done anything more than just... shift the damage to another part of the city. What did it matter if he did it here or there? She'd save who she could, who she could see and reach, but worry about what she couldn't... just didn't feel like she had the spoons right now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2023 5:55 pm
"Um…" Niter would've preferred to just drag the girl's backpack away from her and leave her there. But a lot of the White Moon, he found, didn't really have tolerance for the by-the-letter reactions? And it was definitely easier to go along with that than the alternative. "Okay, I guess…"
Niter stepped a few paces away, far enough that he wouldn't be able to pull her energy even if he was interested in getting more out of her. His attention swapped to the senshi who effectively told him to go away, and found that she didn't look all that intimidating. Not that she was powerless or anything, but a lot of the White Moon outfits just struck him as fashionable rather than functional. It helped, too, that they never really had any weapons on them. There were no spears or swords or whatnot, and maybe some staves at best?
But this senshi made it to Eternal by the look of those wings on her, so she probably knew what she was doing, and she probably had magic that was pretty good. Though —
Damn, he could have used his magic to kidnap that backpack. Maybe next time…
"So. Uh. I actually just. Need. Money," Niter stammered out quietly. "Do you… Have any money on you? I could give her back her energy. I won't ask for much."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2023 10:14 pm
She approached as he retreated, one eye on him as she turned her attention to the girl on the bench. Bending down, she slid her fingers under her chin to check for the steady pulse and then thumbed her eyelids open to check the activity. Everything seemed normal and Ida was relieved to see it. He'd taken her energy, but that was all. It didn't seem like he'd taken her starseed... she didn't have that same sense of emptiness to her that she'd seen before.
"Money?" Ida said in surprise, her attention jumping from the girl back to the corrupt, who hadn't taken her opening to make a break for it. Why was he sticking around? Did he think she would have attacked him for moving? He didn't look like someone hard up for money, but how much could you really tell about a person past the glamour? It made her wonder. Was he being truthful? Was he trying to trick her? Her instincts leaned a bit to the former, when she considered her experiences, even as another, distrustful part of her argued against it. Too many questions, not enough answers she could trust.
"Doesn't the Negaverse support you?" She asked with a hint of a frown, her dark eyes considering, but not dismissive. "I thought, with all of their resources, none of their members would need money badly enough to give up their quota for it."
But then, what the hell did she know? She'd never been on such good terms with an agent, or a corrupt, that they'd shared the inner workings of that shadow organization. Titan... well, their conversations had never really been about mundane things like money.
"I don't have money on me, I'm afraid. My wallet is, literally and unironically, in my other pants." Ida said as she gestured at her skirts. There was no way she was going to power down just to dig out some money for him like a pan handler on the corner.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2023 5:48 am
"Um. Well. Um." Niter's softspoken stumbles felt both increasingly embarrassing and frustrating to the Super. He knew that it was probably a bad idea to talk to the girl about the Negaverse and what it does or doesn't do for its recruits — for all he knew, she didn't know anything and was fishing for answers — but on the other hand, he was coming to some realizations himself. Realizations that, yeah, the Negaverse probably would support him, but he would have to ask? And Niter wasn't sure that he had the strength to ask. He wasn't good at asking for things. In fact, he usually went through digital purchases and online ordering for whatever he needed so he wouldn't have to talk to anyone, and thus wouldn't have to ask for anything.
And it frustrated him to think that, if he could just open his mouth and ask for help, he could have it. He didn't have to suffer through being penniless like his evil grandmother wanted. But he had to ask!!
Niter sighed softly, his shoulders dropping with the sibilant sound. So much for that idea. It was fine, though, It was fine. He got energy out of it. That meant he was doing his job. And the girl he drained was fine, more or less, he guessed, because the senshi didn't seem too panicked about looking her over. Niter didn't really care for the pounding feeling in his chest that cropped up whenever he drained people to the point that they weren't awake anymore. It seemed too easy to accidentally kill them once they weren't conscious for it.
"Never mind," he muttered, softer still, but more meaningfully than his prior stammering.
The senshi didn't seem super aggressive toward him like he expected, and she was an Eternal with those wings on her, so Niter took her diverted attention as his cue to excuse himself. Not wanting to make any sudden moves, Niter simply walked backward for a few yards until he reached the corner between the sidewalk and the alleyway, then left for the main road.
He needed to find a different solution. Like, maybe, unfortunately, asking the Negaverse for help.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
