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 Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 6:43 pm
Nectaris had always thought winter was pretty cool. Like, not even in a pun way. It had snow days, and Christmas and Hanukah and Chinese New Year, which meant twinkle lights and candles and parades. It just also happened to be kinda freezing, which meant that Alexa had actually just spent most of the wintertime inside, back in the day. Being magic solved that problem, though! She wasn't cold at all when she was running around in her butterfly cape with the power of the Moon flowing through her, and that meant that she could fully enjoy the icy fairytale parts of winter without being totally miserable. She took patrols slow a lot of the time. She looked at the icy whirls that the frost made on car windows, and whenever she found a frozen puddle, she'd spin and spin on it like she was ice skating, until she got so dizzy that she had to sit down. There was one thing that could break her out of the winter wonderland vibes, though, and that was auras. Obviously she went and tracked down all the Chaos ones she could find, that was the whole point of her powers, but finding Order ones was better because that usually meant new friends. That meant feeling two Order auras had her stopping in the middle of and frozen-puddle twirl to see who was coming by.
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 6:55 pm
Ever since going out with Sessrumnir and Alastor to work on figuring out Amarynthos’ magic, Sessrumnir had insisted that the boys brought extra blankets with them. It took up most of his subspace, but Ephesus was grateful to have the warm white blanket wrapped around his shoulders, while he held onto Amarynthos’ hand as they walked through the park.
They were getting better at their magic, and they’d promised their dads that they would be extra careful and to run if they came across anything they didn’t think they could handle. Ephesus was still certain that their dads would be pacing around the house as they waited, if not show up on a bike with a night time snack, or lurking around in the shadows just in case.
But another aura like theirs was okay, right? And this one felt like a Knight.
He glanced curiously up at Amarynthos to make sure he was still okay and wanted to keep going. When he didn’t seem as though he wanted to immediately turn back, Ephesus felt a little more confident in meeting someone new.
Not just any someone new but--
“You’re a Knight of the Moon,” Ephesus gasped when he caught sight of her in her pink and purple cape. But then his cheeks flushed with embarrassment because, well, her being a Knight of the Moon was obvious.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2023 6:20 am
“How are you doing that and not getting dizzy?” Amarynthos chimed in, even though he had better manners and knew he should have introduced himself first. He kept one arm wrapped around Ephesus beneath the blanket and held him close–for warmth, of course.
The chill didn’t really bother Amarynthos, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t pretending like it was absolutely awful to have an excuse to keep Ephesus pressed against him.
Of course, Amarynthos had significantly more coverage than Ephesus, so he did very much want to make sure that he was actually staying warm. Truthfully, he was a bit surprised that she wasn’t half frozen over.
“If it’s a Moon Knight thing, I don’t think we got that ability. Are you busy? We can pass through if we’re interrupting. I’m Amarynthos, and this is Ephesus, though. It’s nice to meet you. We haven’t met another Moon Knight, I didn’t even know there were any to look for.”
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Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2023 7:11 am
"Practice," said Nectaris, before she even really got a good look at who was coming over to see her. "Also, spotting, which is, like, where you choose a single point in the distance to look at so you don't get-" Halfway through the sentence, she cut off and she was just staring at them. For one thing, their outfits were everything. The matching lavender and blue color scheme was just precious. The ruffles and little details on the blonde one's outfit were really cute. She wished she could see more of it from under his blanket. The other one had a flower cape, which was almost as cool as her butterfly one. But all of that stuff wasn't nearly as important as the fact that they both had little moons on them. They were Moon Knights. They all were. They were pointing it out, too, and Nectaris's hands were on her cheeks in a half second, her eyes going as wide and sparkly as everything. "No, no, don't go, please," she told them. "I've never seen any other Moon Knights before, either. It's kinda a new thing, right? We're kinda rare." At least, that was what it had seemed like, but now she was here with not one but two of them right here in front of her. "You guys match each other better than you match me, though. I hope that's okay." It was okay with her. She was already bouncing up and down on her toes. "But, yeah! My name's Nectaris, of the Moon obviously."
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Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:44 am
Ephesus offered Nectaris a smile when she spoke to them, although he stayed close to Amarynthos, shivering just a little, but not seeming to be completely upset about it. Not when Amarynthos was trying so hard to make sure he stayed warm.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he parroted Amarynthos. “We haven’t met any others, either,” he admitted. “Well, we haven’t met too many others of any kind of Knight. Um. We know a Jupiter Knight. And a Cosmos Knight. And a Lysithea Knight,” he offered, glancing up at Amarynthos for help with jogging his memory.
“I mean, we kind of saw a bunch of other Knights, and Senshi too, in passing when we were helping my dad get rid of the Chaos on his world-- oh…”
He’d been so excited about meeting another Moon Knight, he completely forgot that Michael wanted them to be as cautious as possible. He bit his lip and chewed on it nervously, but it wasn’t as though he could take back what he said.
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2023 12:42 pm
“Nectaris is a pretty name, where is that?” Amarynthos asked; he either hadn’t put much thought into what Ephesus said, or put a lot of thought into it so he could move the conversation along and away from the subject without making a big deal about it.
“We’re still trying to figure out where we are, but we haven’t found any maps of the Moon to know. And it’s not like Earth has much of an idea about any of that. We’re right next to each other on the Moon, so I think it makes sense that we match. Ephesus has a really cute outfit, I think. We were thinking about going to ask the Code about our Wonders, or the places around us. We haven’t really ventured much outside of that.”
He seemed in a good mood, and pulled Ephesus a little closer as he rubbed at his arm to warm him up a bit.
“How long have you been a Moon Knight for? And you’ve never seen another? I knew we were new but the Code said it was looking for people to help protect to Moon, so I was thinking it might have found more by now.”
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2023 2:46 pm
"Wait-" Nectaris totally froze for a second, her gaze zeroing in at a random point in the distance, and her eyes narrowing just a little bit as she thought and then nodded. "Actually, yeah. Maybe I did meet one, like, right after I purified? That whole month was a blur, let me tell you, but yeah. I think he was Moon." There had been a lot of feelings, a lot of paperwork. There had been adjusting, new experiences. Definitely crying. She gave a silent apology to the dude who'd slipped through the cracks of her memory. "But it's still, like, a pretty rare thing, and you guys are still awesome." It was just cute, too, that on top of matching, they were, like, pulling each other close, watching out for each other, all that. It was cute that when Ephesus looked embarrassed about something, Amarynthos was trying to change the subject. Nectaris let him. "But yeah, the Sea of Nectar is kinda, like, if you're looking at the moon, it's on the right side, just south of the equator." At least, as far as she could tell, her Nectaris was the same as the Mare Nectaris on NASA's database. "I don't think my Wonder takes up the whole sea, it's like, this butterfly-garden-slash-preserve thingy?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2023 9:31 am
Ephesus was grateful for Amarynthos changing the subject. He didn’t want to cause his dad issues by sharing too much information, even if a lot of people had been there to help with fixing his world. He knew they were at least trying to keep it a secret that they were associated. To protect them! Not because they didn’t want to have anything to do with them! Besides, Amarynthos was strong and brave and could use his magic now, so they would definitely be okay.
“That sounds really neat. I think Ephesus is an apiary. Or was. Um, there’s a lot of things that look like they could be beehives around,” he explained, but he still wasn’t really sure what it was. “I bet once everything is fixed up, Amarynthos will have flowers just like on Mary’s jacket,” he said proudly, even as his cheeks felt warm from the compliments about his outfit.
“Maybe one day we can try to visit each other’s Wonders? I would love to see what other Moon Wonders look like.”
It was a shame that he didn’t have bees to share, otherwise with them and the butterflies as pollinators, they could have a lot of flowers all over the place.
Except something Nactaris had said was pulling at his curiosity, and while he didn't want to be nosey, he couldn't help but watch her with innocent curiosity.
"You purified...? So... um, you were in the Negaverse...?" He didn't know what else she would have purified from.
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2023 9:36 pm
Purified? Purified?
He’d been mulling it over almost the whole time Ephesus had been thinking, and he was glad that he’d mentioned it first. His curiosity felt like a strange energy inside of him; he rocked on his heels a bit to keep himself grounded and burn off a little bit of energy.
He wanted to ask if someone could purify from anywhere but the Negaverse, but he didn’t want to bombard her with questions. He’d nodded when she’d discussed her Wonder, and when Ephesus had suggested that they should visit. He didn’t volunteer that his Wonder seemed like it had also been some sort of flower-bearing structure.
The garden was still fairly lifeless, beyond some enthusiastic weeds. He hoped to see a bit more color, but he understood that they had a lot of work to do.
Briefly, he’d glanced up towards the moon in the sky and squinted at it as if he could spot the Sea she was talking about, but he resigned himself to look it up online or ask Michael if they could borrow a telescope.
The question about the Negaverse was at the top of his list of curiosities though, and he tried to keep his feet flat on the ground and not bounce onto his tip toes while he waited for her response.
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Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:07 am
Oh yeah. That. That was the obvious question, wasn't it? She could never just casually mention the part where she was purified. "Oh yeah, you can come up to my Wonder whenever," she decided to say first, before they could get into anything deeper. "It's still kinda ruins, I don't have any live butterflies or flowers yet, either, but it's pretty up there! Yours sounds interesting, too." She liked bees, as long as they didn't get too close to her. She really liked honey, it'd be cool if they could get a place like that fixed up enough that she could get moon honey. "But, yeah." She puffed out her cheeks and then blew out the breath in a sigh. Her smile edged sideways, kinda apologetic. "I was in the Negaverse for seven years. I don't remember any of it." That was it. That was the basics of the story. If these guys were her moon friends, though, and they got curious when she glossed over stuff, she could try to give them a little bit more detail. "I remember being your age and having this guy in an alleyway offer me superpowers after he found me trying to fight a youma. Kinda sketchy in retrospect. I can see that, now. But I took him up on it, and then it was like I blinked and it was a year ago and I was on the moon, like this." She waved at her butterfly cape and at all the little moons on her outfit. "Also, I broke a Princess out of captivity on my way out. Ganymede. It makes me, like, a super traitor." She wiggled her fingers.
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Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:56 am
Ephesus chewed anxiously on his lip, still leaning close to Amarynthos for comfort just as much as for warmth. She seemed like she was okay, at least. And maybe she didn’t want to talk about it, but she’d mentioned it like it wasn’t really anything significant so maybe that was just how things were?
“I’m glad you were able to get out,” he said after a moment, feeling a little more anxious now that he knew she was a super traitor. “Are you… I mean, doesn’t that mean you’re always in danger of being caught by them? Aren’t you afraid of what they might do?”
After what the Negaverse did to him and Elliot, especially before they’d become moon knights, Atticus was hopeful but still cautious, especially after the warning they got from Michael and Devyn and Lucasta about the Negaverse.
“I really hope they don’t do anything to you. You seem really nice. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us.” He knew they were pretty new to all of this. Definitely not seven years of it all.
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Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:44 pm
Amarynthos listened as she spoke, and while he was interested in her Super Traitor status, he didn’t think that she’d been in the Negaverse was anything he should look down on her for. The Negaverse could have recruited either him or Atticus before they knew what they were getting into; they were just lucky that they’d gotten on the right side of things.
But then, to have seven years gone? To spend that much time in something and not remember it?
“We’ll help you make new memories,” Amarynthos suggested after a second. “Better ones. If you want help cleaning up your Wonder, we can help. You can have some of our flowers if you want to get a little color up there, too. Maybe it’ll inspire the rest of your Wonder?”
He didn’t mention that they knew Ganymede–not because he didn’t trust her, but because he wasn’t sure he’d heard the full story and it would have been too easy to get distracted now. Especially when he was really interested in what Ephesus had already asked and he wanted to try to stay on topic, even if he couldn't help but chime in, too.
“You can come visit ours, too. Well–we’re still fixing a few things up, but. If you ever get into trouble with the Negaverse, we’ll try to help. And if you need some time to get away and have somewhere safe, we’ve got supplies and stuff on our world. Our parents worry, so we’re prepared for emergencies.”
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2023 4:52 am
Was she afraid? If she stopped to think more about the situation, maybe she would've been. As it was, she made a point to never, ever stop. "Oh yeah, there's totally people who wanna kill me," she said, still smiling for right now. "I, uh, I try not to think about it too much? And, like, there's people to help me out if I get attacked or something." When she got attacked. It had already happened a couple of times, at this point, but she didn't think that going into detail would do anything other than freaking out the boys. "So, like, I appreciate the offer. About the help, but, like, about the Wonder, too. We should totally go up there next time, right? It'll be adorable." She'd kinda ended up neglecting the place with everything else that had been going on, but if there were three whole Knights up there, the Wonder wouldn't be able to help perking up a little bit, right? Especially if they brought flowers. "And, like, I wanna talk to you! You guys seem really nice. I don't wanna hold you up or anything," because they were together, it didn't look like they actually needed all that much help, or protection. "But, we should hang out again some time. Like, in space." Nectaris's face lit up. "Oooh, we could bring snacks!"
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2023 7:24 am
Ephesus nodded in agreement with Amarynthos when he suggested making new memories. Better memories. Ephesus knew first hand how good at doing that Amarynthos was. He helped him with new memories after everything. Not that Ephesus lost any of his, but he was happy to have good things to think about and not all of the bad that happened before.
Fear found its way into Ephesus’ expression when Nectaris said there were people who wanted to kill her, but she was still smiling so he held onto Amarynthos a bit tighter because maybe his heart was just in overdrive and he was overthinking things. She didn’t seem too worried about people trying to kill her, but it must have been scary all the same.
“Mary’s dad is really good at baking cupcakes. And my dad can help me with making some sandwiches,” he offered, because if they were going to bring snacks, they might as well bring something that would keep them energized for a while.
“Gardening makes me hungry,” he admitted, even if his appetite was less than average already.
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2023 5:32 pm
Amarynthos looked at Nectaris while she spoke, not quite certain if she just had a morbid sense of humor or if she was overcompensating for fear by trying to joke it off. He’d have probably tried to laugh it off if he had people that were trying to kill him–especially if Ephesus was there, he didn’t want him to worry.
He squeezed the other boy’s hand gently in response, trying to silently soothe the concern he just knew he was going through.
“Gardening makes me ravenous,” he chimed in. “A space picnic sounds good. And it sounds like it would be safer. We wouldn’t have to worry about anyone creeping around in the shadows and trying to jump us.”
…Not that he felt anything now, but if Nectaris was worried that her life could be on the line it was probably best that they find somewhere safe if they were going to let their guard down.
“We know some really strong people. So if you ever need help, more than you’ve got already, keep us in mind. We’re not all that strong–yet–but they are. But that’s–you don’t have to think about that if it’s too stressful! But we’ve got your back too, that’s all. And we’re glad to have a Moon friend. Maybe if we work together we’ll be able to impress the Code!”
Maybe.
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