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 Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 8:13 pm
The youma really should have known better than coming by the Bell house.
Like, Nectaris understood that there were glamours and stuff. They weren't gonna know exactly that there was a giant magical family inside of those walls, and sometimes also their equally magical friends. They probably should've figured out that something was up, though, 'cause anything that tried to lurk in the shadows anywhere close to here ended up turned into a pile of dust five seconds later.
They must have been pretty dumb, though, 'cause they kept coming by all the same. Sometimes they didn't even hide that well.
Livie hadn't even been powered up when she'd seen this one. She'd been up in her room, packing some orders for her business, and there was just enough light left that she saw something slipping and skittering around when she looked out her window. She was pretty sure she saw tentacles. Also, teeth. Tentacle teeth.
It was fine, she could use a break from work anyway. By the time she'd powered up, it had hidden a bit better, but she was able to track its aura to about a block away, and then she saw a trash can wiggling all suspiciously.
"Sorry, Destiny City Waste Management," she said, and then she whacked the trash can with her moon staff, sending a bunch of trash and a blob of tentacle-teeth flying out into the street.
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Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2023 11:42 pm
Perhaps there was one friend of the Bells who was unaware that youma really should have known better. Abzu was out in the area of the Bells' home, an area he was relatively familiar with. It had started with a few times he had dropped off his documents at Luke's house directly to give him something to work on over a few weeks. Over time, it had developed into Michelangelo dropping by for social visits with an associate turning to a friend, and then it turned from social visits with a friend to social visits with something a bit more than that. It was enough that they were friends on its own, but Abzu felt protective of Luke and the family that was intensely important to him, and Abzu felt that since he had the power, he should use it. He should keep youma away from this area. He should convince any agents nearby that perhaps there were better areas to patrol or better things to do. He felt the youma in the neighborhood and determined, grimly, it was exactly why he was there. He strapped his artifact to his body and headed off to go give the youma? a youma scolding. Abzu stopped in his tracks with the sound of a bang followed by a crash, and an amusing follow-up of an apology to Destiny City Waste Management. Someone else must have been nearby. As Abzu pursued in the direction of the youma, he felt the aura proving that. He saw a knight nearby, dressed from head to toe in pink and a bit of purple, and a nearby youma laid flat on the ground. Abzu was willing to presume that she was the reason why the youma looked like it was too busy being dizzy and regretting its life choices to immediately jump back up. That meant he could associate with the new knight guests for a little bit. "Hey, thanks," Abzu approached, keeping an eye on the tentacle teeth horror youma to see if it would evaporate into dust or if it needed another hit of more trash can lids before the area was clear as it should be. "Trying to keep things away from here and I'm not exactly a fighting type. Maybe the saxophone makes that obvious." Definitely less effective fight-wise than a whole pointy moon staff. Good thing he wasn't really looking for a fight. The cute butterfly-caped girl could handle that. "Abzu, by the way." Abzu's smile was charming.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:46 pm
Saxophone? Not the fighting type? While the youma laid in a sad little blob in a trash pile at Nectaris's feet, she looked up and over to see a man all decked out in shiny blue coattails, and seashells, and, yep, that was totally a saxophone. In another situation, she'd wanna go up and stare at it and run her fingers over all the bouncy keys, but there was something to deal with, first. "Oooh, you're Neptune, aren't you?" she asked, voice bright with the knowledge that she was finally starting to figure out some of these colors and symbols. "So you're, like, one of those hippie pacifist types?" This was said without any judgment, but without any doubt, either. If he wasn't a hippie pacifist, obviously he would've been getting his hands dirty right now. "Don't worry. I got this," she said, and she spun her staff around in a little flourish she'd been practicing before she caught it in both hands and brought it down on the youma. She brought it down on the youma again. She frowned. "Oh, come on, little werido," she told it as she kept smashing. "Go back to the Rift already." Maybe it was all those teeth giving it a kinda armor effect. Either way, it wasn't letting her dramatically poof it in front of her new Knight friend very easily.
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 7:42 pm
She was adorable, honestly, with how bright and excited she seemed to have correctly identified him as Neptunian. "You got it," he might have even taken a moment to pose, showing off the outfit he thought fit him quite nicely. Neptune really knew what they were doing with formalwear--. "Neptune, loud and clear. Not sure I'd call myself a hippie though..." He just very much preferred not fighting. Abzu would do what he had to do if push came to shove, but in the greater majority of situations there was a better way. A better way that didn't require him to actually familiarize himself with fighting for one. A better way that maybe eased people and convinced them that perhaps an eternal war wasn't the best idea, after all. He hoped. She seemed confident she had it, in any case, so he would let her have it! Well, until she didn't have it. The youma wasn't vanishing like it was supposed to. Hm. Abzu wasn't sure how much he could do with his generosity magic and his literal musical instrument, but-- Abzu stopped casually chatting and took a moment to kick the damn thing, his foot impacting against its side a lot harder than he expected. "Oh." Maybe being a squire now just gave him some physical ability--
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2023 4:21 am
"You have long hair," Nectaris pointed out, matter of factly, without taking her eyes off the youma that she was trying to smash out of this plane of existence. "And it looks like your weapon is some kind of music thing?" Which, like, that part was a dead giveaway. She'd listened to some songs from the sixties. She knew all about how hippies used the arts as their weapons for social change. "Textbook hippie," she told him, and she would've thrown him a smile, too, but his kick and one final smash from her staff seemed to do the trick. The youma did the exploding into youma dust thing, and Nectaris stepped back and squeezed her eyes shut to make sure that not too much ended up in her face. A couple of seconds passed while the youma dust billowed up and around, and then when it started to settle, Nectaris opened her eyes again. There weren't any more auras around that she could tell. There was just the Squire, and while she guessed she could have talked to him in this pile of trash, it seemed like there were better options. "Whew," she said. "That one was pretty tough, huh? We're, like, actually right outside my house, do you wanna come inside, get water or something?" She was already powering down into an oversized t-shirt with chibi bunnies on it, and pajama shorts.
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Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2023 5:12 am
He did have a saxophone for a weapon and he did tend to prefer his hair on the long side. She might have been right about that one-- "Suppose you're not entirely wrong there." When he thought about it, there were other aspects of him that at least fell under the hippie spectra close enough. He was pretty sure the descriptor he heard the most frequently for his behaviours was lush, though now she had him thinking about it-- Enough that he didn't quite catch the youma sparking into dust and had to spit out youma dust that wafted toward his face. He shook his head. Oops. "Why do they dissipate like that," Abzu ran a hand through his hair, sighing lightly at the concept. There could be some metaphors made related to phrases of starting as dust and returning to dust, but he wasn't the one to make them. He just wished they didn't exist, especially because he knew what they represented. They were the end result of what Chaos was doing would lead to in a lot of ways... An easy smile came to his face as he turned his attention away from the disappearing youma remnants and instead to the knight, now civilian. "Your shirt is adorable," was his first comment, before he leaned very easily into the concept of going somewhere else for a bit to talk as civilians and just sip some water. Did she live that close? Must've been a neighbour of the Bells, then. "I know some people who live nearby! Good to know they've got a whole knight in the area." He dropped his knight form too without another thought, remaining in comfortable pants, a luxe robe with a leopard print, and a smooth silky undershirt. Not nearly as adorable as what she wore, but clearly a pajama outfit nevertheless. "Michelangelo duPont. Always a pleasure to meet other people involved in this." Well, mostly. He'd make an exception for the people who tried to murder him... "Show me the way...?"
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:32 pm
As the magical clothes faded away, what was left over actually did a lot more to convince Livie that this guy was not a hippie. Leopard print robe? That was, like, sophisticated, if a little bit dramatic, and she was pretty sure that hippies didn't wear silk shirts either. She wiggled at the compliment about her shirt. "Thanks!" she chirped. "I like your look, too. Just 'cause you're chilling doesn't mean you don't have to have style. A bunch of people don't get that, so it's always nice when someone does." Livie might have been intensely passionate about pajama fashion. Then again, she got pretty excited about most other kinds of fashion, too. If he'd powered down into some stereotypical hippie outfit, with the fringes and everything, she would have been bouncing up and down on her heels about that, too. His name made her puff her cheeks out, 'cause there was something about it that seemed familiar for some reason, but she didn't overthink it. That happened sometimes. It was usually something from the memories she'd lost trying to come back up and be remembered. "It's this way," she said, waving him towards the house. "I'm Livie like this, by the way. Livie Bell."
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Posted: Mon May 08, 2023 8:55 pm
Michelangelo shot her a wink. "I like feeling and looking good in my pajamas, what can I say?" After all, he could never quite tell who would end up seeing them. That and a lot of these more luxe fabrics tended to feel more comfortable, anyway, and Michelangelo was nothing if not married to the idea of relaxing at all times in all forms-- Why was she puffing her cheeks out? Had his grandparents done something shitty in her direction because considering his last name the duPonts being rich assholes was his best guess-- Wait. Michelangelo paused for a moment before he followed her. "You said Bell, right?" Perhaps she didn't fully recognize his name, but he definitely recognized her last name, at least. Bell wasn't an uncommon last name, but too many things were lining up here. Luke had a lot of relatives so far as he knew, but how many of them actually lived nearby, or at least nearby enough to claim that they lived in the same neighbourhood as Luke himself? He supposed he had never asked; usually, when he came by, he had other concerns. Livie-- "He seemed pretty excited about a new family member. Is that you?" with a pause, he added, "and by he I mean Luke."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 5:10 pm
Any thoughts that Michelangelo had about her being some kind of distant cousin that just happened to live down the street weren't gonna last very long. Not only did Livie lead him straight up to Luke Bell's front door, but she pulled a key out of those overly cute pajamas and turned it in the lock. Also, she was looking back at him as she pressed her shoulder against the door to hold it open for him. Her eyes were shining with the thought that maybe she already had some stuff in common with this person. Some, like, mutual acquaintances. "Oh, you know my dad?" she asked. Did your dad count as an acquaintance? Probably not, but the point still stood. If Luke knew this guy, then it was gonna be easier to make friends with him, and that was all that Livie wanted out of this. "Luke, yeah. Luke's my dad. These guys took me in after I purified, we made the adoption official a couple of months ago, and yeah! We had a barbecue about it, it was super cute." Without moving, she shot a glance towards Luke's office just down the hall from the door. "I don't think he's here right now, though, sorry. He went out like an hour ago, was saying something about, uh," she puffed her cheeks out, "Spreadsheets?" She didn't really know more about his work than that. "So you just get me! And my never ending compliments about your pajamas, it'll be great!"
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 6:39 pm
Oh he definitely knew her dad-- Michelangelo buried that thought under a winning smile as he said, "Yeah, I do," because ignoring what their relationship had evolved into it had started as a business transaction. It wasn't like they were dating or anything-- "He's a good friend of mine." Also, his literal accountant. He opened his mouth to say that before his brain took on a record scratch and he blinked in surprise. Michelangelo, thankfully, smoothly recovered his surprise as he followed her into a home he was definitely familiar with. "Huh, and I was wondering what caused him and Safira to adopt a whole 'nother child. Probably explained by the fact that you're not really a child, but--" A child enough to them, he was sure. Luke and Safira had incredibly strong parental tendencies and he had to admire that about them even if he himself had never had any inclination. "But so they knew you purified. That implies they know about all of this," he frowned, "powered s**t." That did explain why he didn't usually detect many auras in this area, though. "Are they knights too?"
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 7:10 pm
Livie was so ready to give the little speech she almost always had to give when she met a new person, about how she'd used to be evil. She'd got tricked into joining the Negaverse, she'd lost everything when she purified. Yes, it sucked. Yes, it was worth it. It was almost like reading off a script at this point, only she never knew how people were going to react. Some people were cool with it, some got a little weird. This one, Michelangelo, wasn't asking any of those questions, though. He was just curious about the family. Well, mostly Luke, she guessed, if they were friends. "Yeah," she said as she bounced away from the door and farther into the house, towards the kitchen where she quickly grabbed some cups so she could get that water she was offering. "Luke and Richard are Knights. Uranus, but, like, try not to make any weird jokes." Was Livie trying to hide a snicker? Maybe. "And Ignacio's a senshi but we love him anyway." He was the one who had found her freaking out on the street and brought here here. Obviously that made him the best brother.
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 7:42 pm
Michelangelo seemed innately comfortable here, and it was hard to say if it was because he had come here fairly often or if it was just the way he was. As she walked further in, he took a moment to stretch above his head and shimmy his shoulders before following, not necessarily paying attention to the steps she took but following to where the kitchen was. Huh. So Luke and Richard were Uranus knights. ... Heh. She said not to try to make any weird jokes, but he couldn't quite stop himself from taking out his phone and swiping a text message to his whole accountant. amasis didn't know ur a**s was so magical also, I'm in your house He snickered as he tucked his phone back into his pocket. Maybe he hadn't quite avoided making a terrible joke-- "So Richard, Luke, and Ignacio are the powered ones." The others must not have been, then. Or maybe they were? Luke seemed to always have new guests and he was never certain why-- "I honestly had no idea." And it wasn't like Michelangelo was only cursory levels of familiar with Luke. How long had he been powered?
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 6:34 pm
"Well, yeah. Of course not. They're secret identities," said Livie like that was the most obvious thing ever. Sadly she was pouring the water while Michelangelo snuck out his phone to get a text in, so she couldn't stalk what he was saying or secretly judge him for making any butt jokes. "We can't just tell people. Even our besties. There's, like, no way to know what kind of people the bad guys have influence over." And, honestly, with this guy specifically, she would have been suspicious under some circumstances. She'd seen movies. She was pretty sure that a lot of people with fancy sounding last names and leopard print bathrobes and, presumably, money, ended up in evil organizations all the time. He just needed a cat, and, like, a rose in his buttonhole. "But if you're a Knight, it's all cool. Really cool, actually." Her eyes widened for a second. "That means we can all do, like, magic things together!" Which, speaking of, she glanced towards the stairs. "Hey, Ignacio, are you here? I found a cool knight! He knows Dad! Wanna meet him?" No need to put off any introductions, right?
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Posted: Thu May 11, 2023 2:43 am
... She had a point, really, and even if the statement was the most obvious thing in the world it was still fairly salient. How could they just tell people? Even the closest people to them could secretly be agents or senshi of chaos -- corrupted or dark mirror or what have. It was a reminder of just what they were trying to end. It sat in Michelangelo's gut for a moment. But it was easy to shake off with a grin and a, "Yeah, I'm a knight. Not a concern with me at least." Oh, she was going to call Ignacio down? This was gonna be funny-- wait, was his phone vibrating? As Livie worked to summon Ignacio down the stairs, he looked down at a returned text from Luke that made his lips tick up. seiana_zi My a**s? Michel what in the world are you talking about? : - ( Michelangelo's returned response was fairly snappy. amasis ur a**s's magic of course I like those nep tunes 🎵 ... Your daughter may have told me a secret While Michelangelo was distracted with his phone, Ignacio belatedly managed a, "Coming!" while wondering what on earth Knight knew his father-in-law. Was he another middle-aged guy in banking? Maybe one of his fellow dad friends? The answer he got when he came around the stairwell and headed toward the kitchen made his eyes widen minutely. "Dad's boytoy is a knight? You're talking about him, right?" seiana_zi I get it now! : - D It's a knight thing period tell her I said high exclamation point no wait it's not converting it properly That was not supposed to say! Or. You know what I mean. Michelangelo pressed his hand to his chest with some faux glee. "Oh, I've upgraded to boytoy now! I'm flattered!" After a beat, he added, with a smile that hinted at just a bit of smugness, "Luke says hi by the way." amasis I got you ❤️ But in modern lingo "it's a knight thing period" would have still worked-- Just add a sassy tone to the period stari_magax returned texts provided by ama! [and included in quotes to me to make it flow right haha]
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Thu May 11, 2023 3:31 am
She hadn't been expecting Ignacio to come in looking all grumpy. She really hadn't expected the word boytoy to come out of his mouth. "What?" She blinked three times. The first blink was just surprise. The second blink involved her wrinkling her nose a little bit, 'cause it was true that that phrasing implied things she didn't really wanna think about. By the third blink, though, she'd accepted it. Pretty much everyone in the house did stuff she didn't like thinking about, and Michelangelo was still her cool knight friend with the awesome sense for pajama fashion. "You don't have to get weirded out, Michelangelo. He doesn't like any of the boys I kiss, either." This was meant to be silly, and she shot Ignacio a sassy little smile. She might have said something about how clearly Ignacio just didn't like boys, except for the fact that he was married to one. "But I didn't bring him here 'cause of any boytoy status, I brought him here 'cause he's cool, and nice, and awesome, and he helped me smash a youma." A beat passed. "Also tell dad I say hi back!"
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