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 Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 5:28 pm
Quote: CW: thread features an NPC who’s had their drink roofied.
Other times—like tonight—the needy, clingy bullshit came out in full-effect. Reiki let himself in via the usual means of slowing down while mirror-walking. He started meandering around wherever and singing in the hopes that it actually did make Mirrorspace feel better or whatever, but it never did. If anything, giving it some form of entertainment only made it feel like Mirrorspace clung to him even harder, so Reiki had needed to rely on song choice to keep himself emotionally stable enough to satisfy whatever obligations Mirrorspace had decided to assign to him for the apparent crime of being awakened as one of its senshi.
For tonight, he’d done Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” and choked down any uncertainty about which specific boy he didn’t deserve he’d had in mind while singing lyrics like “Said ‘I’m fine,’ but it wasn’t true; I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you,” “‘I love you’—ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?” and “I’m always waiting for you just to cut to the bone.”
Ultimately, what did it even matter whether Reiki had meant Levi or Faustite? One of them was dying—probably soon to disappear, about which Reiki would hear exactly nothing for at least three months because he had no right to expect anything when the lack of obligations between them went both ways—and both of those boys had better things to do than deal with whatever bullshit Reiki thought he was on during any given day. Especially Faustite, given the ticking clock that loomed above his head like the Sword of Damocles and the uncertainty about when it might or might not run out of time.
Better not to think too much about it. A tall ask for Reiki, who constantly thought too much about basically everything, but who was he helping by dwelling so much on all of those garbage feelings? Nobody except his own self-pity, an entity who only needed help in shutting the ******** up sometimes.
Exiting Mirrorspace and stumbling out into one of Destiny City’s many twisting alleyways, Reiki wanted to let himself have a tantrum. Once again, he’d wound up somewhere other than where he most wanted to go. Sure, he typically enjoyed being within the general vicinity of Scandals—a couple blocks off, but close enough that he’d likely see some wristbands from the bar out on the sidewalk—but frankly, he’d wanted to find himself in his and Haruhi’s apartment, in his own room. He’d wanted nothing more than to power down, curl up in some blankets with his Best Girl, put on something like Clueless or Legally Blonde, and spend the rest of the night pretending that he wasn’t Reiki Rokugin, wasn’t Murikabushi of Hunger, wasn’t really anybody.
As he skulked out onto the sidewalk, though, Reiki felt like kicking himself for that kind of selfishness.
A bench sat nearby, and somebody sat on the bench. Getting closer, he recognized them from Scandals, although he didn’t know their name. One of the many regulars who’d given Miss Sayuri average tips during one of her numbers, but who seemed like overall decent people. And right now, they seemed more than slightly out of it, slumping hard against the bench in order to stay vaguely upright while the long parts of their hot pink undercut flopped all around their pale face with the absolute vivacity of a broken, cut-stringed marionette.
“Hey, sweetie, hey.…” God, Reiki really wished that he knew their name. Kneeling in front of the bench, between their haphazardly spread legs, he reached up to gently brush their hair aside, then to check their pulse (present and it didn’t feel very weak but Reiki admittedly wasn’t sure what to look for or not). “Sweetie, can you hear me?”
The got a groan of assent and their doll-like blue eyes fluttered open. Unfocused, for sure, but at least they hadn’t lost consciousness or anything. (With a private sigh of relief, Reiki noted the little pin on their jacket that confirmed: they used they/them pronouns.)
“Can you tell me your name?”
Nodding slowly, they mumbled, “Aiden.… Aiden McClain.…”
“Okay,” Reiki said gently. “My name’s Murikabushi. I’m here to help.”
“Tired.… And my head.…” Limply, Aiden tried to gesture at their head, but mostly pointed at the wall behind them.
“…Did someone hit you there?”
They shook their head, then winced for having done so. “Just hurts.…”
“Okay. I’m sorry it hurts. I can’t fix that, but I can take you to people who can. Did someone…” ********, how to ask about youma without sounding like a ******** lunatic? Especially to someone who seemed so out of it? “Did you notice anything weird before your head started hurting?”
This time, Aiden groaned in a way that sounded like shaking their head. “Nothing—nothing happened? I just…… Was this guy? At the bar? He wouldn’t listen when I told him ‘No’……”
A chill dropped into the pit of Reiki’s stomach, taking his heart along with it for the ride. ******** Negaverse officer who’d drained too much or some youma would’ve been so much easier to handle than Some Guy At The Bar. But……this wasn’t about Reiki; it was about Aiden and getting them the help they needed.
“Do you think he put something in your drink?”
Softly, Aiden made a sound like I don’t know. “Didn’t see.…? But—sick? I feel…?”
“It’s okay,” Reiki told them, nodding in case it helped reassure them any, keeping his body language as open as possible. “You’re doing great, Aiden. Thank you. I’m gonna take you to the ER, if that’s okay? You should really get checked out?”
He waited on them to nod before moving to stand up. Thankfully, they did, but it was just a matter of kindness. People might have had any number of reasons for not wanting to go to the ER, and if Aiden hadn’t wanted that…… Well. Arguing with them in this state might not have been Reiki’s most favorite thing that he’d ever done? But he would’ve at least tried to change their mind instead of carrying them off against their will.
Now, he just needed a deep breath to steady himself so they could go.
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:22 pm
Læraðr had been dealing with so much over the last few years. Everything was stressful, even with his generally upbeat attitude. With Meewmaw's health on a ******** roller coaster and someone needing to look after the kids of the family while the adults frantically tried to take care of everything they could with Meemaw's health and... her home and money and all the things he could not bear to think about (in the event of her death, he'd heard the grownups saying, still referring to himself as a kid even though he was technically a grownup, too)It was... a lot. And he didn't want to go try to save the ******** city, too, sue him. He just wanted to take care of his family for a bit. Had to, even. They relied on him. The city had plenty of protectors. Even so, the guilt at not doing so made him feel awful, so tonight, he'd dragged his a** out here this night to try and do something. And it was a good thing, too—he found some Chaos Senshi dragging a mostly unconscious person with him, and for the first time, he unleashed his magic. "Leave him alone," he snarled, cane moving swiftly in his hands. amorremanet As he taps and twirls it in his hands rhythmically, a rush of sound sweeps through the area. It doesn't sound like any kind of music anyone has ever heard and it's strange and otherwordly. It's a little hard to think while it plays because it's so unusual and disorienting. The magic affects every enemy within an eight foot radius, and can last for up to 30 seconds.
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:42 pm
Thank ******** Reiki and Aiden hadn’t moved too far from the bench.
On one hand, Reiki had been cursing himself for not moving faster. He didn’t know as much as he could have about the various things someone could have put into Aiden’s drink, but he knew that all of them needed medical attention, preferably sooner rather than later. Even if they were perfectly easy to survive without a doctor’s intervention, they could pass out of someone’s system and make it that much harder to figure out what had happened to them. If they wound up with holes in their memory from the incident—very likely, in most cases, as far as Reiki knew—then they might not even get some explanation they could use to fill things in.
On the other hand, though, the music. It swooped in out of nowhere, crashing down on Reiki right as he started to move away from the bench with Aiden held close to his chest. He couldn’t describe it. Maybe it was what merfolk song sounded like if you were underwater? Made it hard to hear the voice behind him, snarling commands, but thankfully, that little b***h got through just enough for Reiki to know where to look.
“What in the <********> do you think you’re doing,” he barked at the interloper of the night, glaring over his shoulder at……some stuck-up ******** in some fancy outfit that almost looked like he’d wrapped himself in a queer men’s pride flag, with all the blues and greens. Under most circumstances, Reiki would have appreciated the sense of style and how good he looked……but down in his arms, Aiden groaned. Softly, Reiki promised them, “Hey—Aiden, hey, you’re gonna be fine.”
Snapping his head back around to the one with the twirly staff, Reiki clocked the Neptune symbol. Ugh, one of Pendour’s juniors then, and apparently, he’d learned absolutely nothing from her example about how to be a decent ******** person. “You wanna shut the ******** up, Ocean Eyes? They need medical help, not your goddamn bullshit.”
As evidence of how much Aiden needed exactly what Reiki said, they made a few soft noises of protest, of trying to resist something……and then threw up. Thankfully, it landed on Reiki, rather than on them. Not his most favorite experience in the universe, but at least his fuku would clean itself up when he powered down. With the splash of vomit smeared and dripping down his bodice, overlay, and chest-bow—and Aiden still very much in his arms, cradled close because Reiki was not breaking a promise that he’d made to help someone—he turned to face the little Neptune weirdo head-on.
Honestly, why couldn’t it have been Pendour? At least she was chill and would’ve understood.
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 7:20 pm
Oh, geez. Oh, no. He turned his head, taking in a breath of air before it started reeking of puke, cancelling his magic the moment he realized the stupid Chaos Senshi was telling the truth. Yuck. "What else am I supposed to think," he growled, turning back to them with fire still snapping in his ocean eyes, "When you, a Chaos senshi, are holding up someone that can barely stand? Huh? How am I meant to tell in the difference, in the second I need to make a decision, of which kind of senshi you are? Just the kind that drains? Or the kind that murders?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:09 pm
“Surprised you can think for yourself at all around those preconceived biases about Chaos rats,” Reiki snapped—but ******** this.
Reiki had no obligation to entertain this overgrown child if he wanted to have a tantrum about not being allowed to play Big Damn Heroes tonight.
Moreover, Aiden needed for Reiki to not to that.
He had been here and done this before with Sailor Untitled Goose Game. Gabe had gotten lucky that Reiki and Anser hadn’t fatally ******** him over by getting in their little pissing contest about who was or wasn’t on the level in how they wanted to handle the civilians. They’d wasted enough time when his heat stroke had been ******** serious. Aiden may not have had that kind of time to begin with, and they probably had even less, after Ocean Eyes had swooped in and summoned the ******** up Cthulhu music from spooky Neptunian Hell.
If Ocean Eyes wanted to know what specific breed of Chaos rat he had on his hands? Reiki was the sort who ducked into the alley, bounded up onto a dumpster, then a fire escape, and then the roof, before finally taking off in the direction of the Medical Center, running along rooftops so he could move at his full pace and didn’t get held up by traffic.
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 8:49 pm
Læraðr groaned. Preconceived biases, who the ******** was this guy? As if there weren't people dressed like him who wouldn't happily murder, if given the chance. If you wore the uniform, he thought derisively, you deserved to get treated like you were wearing it. Even so, if this guy was telling the truth about getting the civ to a hospital... Better to make sure nobody else would delay them. That guy looked in bad shape. So he hopped up after them, chasing them all the way down to the hospital.
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 9:10 pm
Reiki would’ve been content to just run off to the medical center without anybody stalking him and Aiden.… Well, maybe “content” was giving a bit too much credit to his emotional state right now, but either way, it didn’t matter. Here he ******** was, running toward the medical center over rooftops, carring some civilian who desperately needed help. Deja vu all over again. Only things missing were an incredibly sassy twelve-year-old and her magical attack-geese.
……Honestly, Reiki might have welcomed Anser. If she’d checked up on Gabe the way she’d implied she would, then at least she could vouch for Reiki to this ******** guy in the blues and greens. But since she wasn’t here to tell Ocean Eyes that Reiki was okay (nor were Kerberos, Monoceros, Amsvartnir, Ida, Encke, Pendour, Demeter, literally anybody who might’ve stood up for him)—“Do you chase after all the gorgeous femboys who are trying to help anybody in this town,” he snarked, casting the briefest of glances toward the little Neptune knight, “or am I some uniquely stalk-able kind of special?”
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 9:23 pm
"Well, better someone that halfway believes you hanging around than someone else who's just as trigger-happy," he said cheerfully. "Better two people making sure this guy makes it to the hospital, than just you and getting caught by someone less likely to listen." And if you try anything, someone's here to protect the actual vulnerable person, he added in his head, but he was sure it could be read in his razor sharp smile.
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 9:35 pm
“Not that it’s any of your business?” Reiki paused mid-thought, but only because they came up on the need to jump from one rooftop to another. As soon as they touched down, though, he picked back up again: “But I’ve got plenty of people in your faction who’d vouch for me. I don’t drain people. I don’t kill. I barely use my magic unless I literally can’t avoid it—”
Another rooftop jump, and this time, Reiki let himself sigh heatedly. Was it over the interruptions or the fact that this Neptune Knight guy thought he was ******** special for doing something Anser had already done back in July? ……Mmm, yes. Both. Exactly.
“Anyway, my magic can be a ******** horror-show if I use it on the wrong person. Like, ‘triggered a Negaverse officer who happened to be addicted to starseeds, getting I don’t know how many souls extinguished completely because of his ensuing relapse and causing untold damage not only to all of their families—plus any potential families their reincarnations could have had and now never will, because of me—but also crazy amounts of damage to him, his husbands, and their entire ******** family’ horror-show. Hence, an abundance of caution and trying to only use it as a last resort.”
Maybe it wasn’t necessary to throw a pointed glare at Ocean Eyes, but Reiki did it anyway. “So you’ll ******** forgive me for not appreciating some jumped up little Squire coming out of nowhere like he knows anything ********> me.”
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 10:02 pm
Læraðr startled enough at that revelation that the Chaos Senshi got a decent way ahead of him before he was able to sprint up again and get caught up. "And you'll forgive me for not trusting you by the same token," he said with false brightness. At least the hospital was in view now, not that far away. "...Do you think he'll be okay?" he finally asked quietly.
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 10:15 pm
Reiki rolled his eyes at the little knight’s presumption. “Maybe if you do anything to indicate that you’re sorry for acting like everyone wearing black is some omnicidal maniac,” he deadpanned. “But until that happens, I’m kinda the wronged party in this equation, soooo…”
The question about Aiden being okay, though, was more serious. On the last rooftop before the hospital, Reiki actually paused so he could give it a serious, appropriately earnest answer: “In all likelihood? Yeah. They said someone put something in their drink, but also seemed to indicate they left the bar before the guy could hurt them. Most of the things people use as roofies—they can really ******** you up? You can die from them, just like any drug? But they haven’t lost consciousness—” Proving that point, Aiden groaned softly and waved a hand at the Neptune Knight, sort of lazily, like saying ‘hi’ to a friend at the mall. “—so the biggest lasting damage……”
Reiki sighed heavily. “It’s likely to be stuff they have to work on in therapy. Like, disorientation from any gaps that s**t might put in their memory, or the inability to feel safe after a trauma like this…… But we got them here quickly, even while bitching at each other, so……that makes for a much better prognosis.”
And it’d be even better once they got Aiden into the ER and handed off to people who could actually help. To that end, Reiki took care in jumping off the roof and crossing the street, but made sure to move quickly.… Man, he really hoped that Bernadette, Terrence, or one of the other nurses he’d dealt with multiple times was on-shift tonight. Partly, it would shut this interloping Squire up real ******** quick, since they might react with recognition to seeing the tall, long-ponytailed weirdo in black and purple, who had a penchant for bringing in people who needed help. But most importantly, it’d definitely ease the process of getting Aiden checked in so they could get the help they needed.
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