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 Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 4:57 pm
After everything with Fang and Valjean—and poor Haruhi, cleaning up the mess that incident had made of Reiki after the fact—part of Reiki didn’t want to power up at all. He didn’t want to stare in any given mirror and see the face of a stranger staring back at him, perfectly matching all of Reiki’s movements in some ******** up mirror game, refusing to break character and admit, the way Reiki so desperately wanted, that they were not one and the same.
(He knew they were. Intellectually, he recognized his reflection for what it was—but it didn’t feel right. Nothing about Murikabushi felt like anything Reiki could recognize as him.)
Unfortunately for his desire to ******** off from his (largely self-imposed) responsibilities, most of Reiki felt too bound to his sense of duty to seriously entertain that possibility. So, he’d powered up, paid Mirrorspace a customary visit, and left when he’d felt like it rather than waiting until he felt a sense of permission. After that, tonight’s patrol had led him out to Palisades Park. Not a lot of trouble had shown up. A low-threat youma here, a draining victim who needed a trip to the ER there, fairly standard stuff. But Reiki had the power to actually do anything about it all.
Maybe his efforts didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things—he was, after all, only one senshi and one who very much Did Not Do most of his actual “jobs” as a Dark Mirror senshi—but he had to believe that even little things like what he did made some kind of difference.
A good thing he’d come out too, he thought as a White Moon aura (about as powerful as his own) flared up onto his senses—and more so as he spotted the person most likely to own it. From his perch up on one of the inexplicable decorative columns near the park’s flower gardens, they (she?) looked fairly petite, near about drowning in all the floaty, pretty layers on that fairytale princess-looking dress. A senshi? Some new kind of knight? Reiki didn’t know—but he knew he wanted to know.
“Hey!” he called out to her, hopping down from the column and running to catch up with her. “Aurora! Little Princess, wait up!”
In lieu of knowing her name, she could get called after the princess in the Disney movie with Reiki’s first ever Disney Boyfriend. From what he could tell so far, her outfit looked cute; she deserved that kind of honor.
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Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 7:38 pm
Stirling had felt the chaos aura nearby, she had felt it and she had been silently hoping that whoever it was would just…go away. She was far too hungry to fight, and her money had run out and the cafeteria was obviously closed since it was night and…all she wanted was something to eat. Honestly, the only reason she was powered up now was in trying to figure out if it was worth hitting that 7-11 again, the guy had been so nice to allow her to take a few snacks without paying…and maybe he’d be nice again…but…then again maybe he’d have to be nice to someone else which, was completely fair and valid and she understood.
Sadly though, her hopes weren’t answered, which…that was kind of par for the course of her life so whatever.
Grimacing, she paused at the name and turned around, an annoyed, grumpy expression on her face. Her dagger was in her hand and she brandished it at the dark clad person…in…
…Damn that was a pretty outfit.
Why did chaos people always get such pretty outfits?
“It’s Stirling to you. You are?”
Of course her traitor of a stomach chose that moment to protest loudly that it wanted something and Stirling huffed, covering her middle with her free hand, still holding her dagger in the other.
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Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 7:58 pm
Reiki paused a few paces shy of her, spotting the dagger in her hand. So, a Knight, then. Either that or some kind of senshi of sharp pointy things, but she didn’t have nearly enough white in her outfit for that.
“I’m Murikabushi,” he said gently, keeping his hands where she could see them. “I’m a Dark Mirror senshi—senshi of hunger—but I don’t want any trouble. I saw you out here, I didn’t recognize your uniform or color scheme, and just……wanted to know what kind of Knight you are.”
Inasmuch as he felt comfortable calling her a knight when she was so young. Dammit, she would end up being another middle schooler out here on her own—except unlike Anser and Xenia, who Reiki knew to be adults and just thought of as middle schoolers because they couldn’t buy their own liquor yet (and because it annoyed Anser), this Stirling actually looked like she might’ve been in middle school. If not, then she couldn’t have been out of it very long.
And her stomach growled. Loudly. Oh, no, sweetie……
“I’m sorry if I startled you,” he told her with a sympathetic frown, “but if you don’t mind being around normal people powered up? There’s a really good diner around here. I’ll buy you dinner and a milkshake to apologize? Or we can get carry out for it if you don’t want to be around normal people while powered up for too long.”
Literal actual teenagers. Out here in a magical war. And whoever drafted them didn’t even make sure they ate properly. Honestly, it was so upsetting, these kids deserved so much better than that.
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Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 8:03 pm
What the hell was a Dark Mirror Senshi?
Stirling squinted at the guy through her glasses, as though doing so would make the answer obvious. It did absolutely nothing and she huffed. “I’m a Squire of Lysithea…what the hell is a Dark Mirror Senshi? You with the Negaverse too?”
He didn’t…well he didn’t have the holes…or the crazy long hair that they all seemed to…so…that was odd.
“...You didn’t startle me, I just. Had hoped you’d ignore me and I wouldn’t have to fight or whatever…but if you’re offering to buy us food…”
She really shouldn’t but…damn she was hungry…and if she was going to get dinner and a milkshake? Well…that would almost be worth it. “You carry money while powered up?” She didn’t. There was no point and her wallet vanished upon changing so…that could prove an issue. “Or are we going to dine and dash because we’re not…actually people, people right now?”
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Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2023 8:48 pm
Fair questions for someone who hadn’t met a Dark Mirror before; Reiki couldn’t begrudge her that. “Not with the Negaverse, no,” he said, shaking his head. “The Dark Mirror Court is a different group entirely.” Not that it really mattered when all of them were Chaos, and no, Fang hadn’t meant it to come out that way, he never would’ve said anything like that if he’d been in his own right mind. But……wasn’t it true? “We mostly keep to ourselves. We’re supposed to drain people, but I don’t see why we have magical superpowers if we’re using them to cause harm to people who don’t have them.
“Sort of proof of how we keep to ourselves? I didn’t know Lysithea had Knights of her own, so…it’s nice to actually meet one.” The fairy-tale whimsy in Stirling’s outfit definitely felt appropriate for a Knight belonging to the senshi of unicorns. “I’ve only actually met her once, but she helped a really good friend of mine get out of the Negaverse, and that means a lot to me.”
Motioning for Stirling to follow, he started leading the way toward Gertrude’s. “What do you mean by ‘we’re not people people,’ exactly?” She could’ve meant a lot of things. And maybe Reiki was sensitive about the issue right now because he couldn’t shake the thought that Faustite dying would thrill all the people who thought his life was worth less because he was half-youma. But that wasn’t Stirling’s problem, so Reiki explained, “I’ve had a lot of encounters with people end with me needing to power down and go get food. Easier to keep extra cash in my subspace. And it’s pretty easy, since I exclusively get cash tips at work.”
Hard for bars full of drunk queers to tip a drag artist with PayPal or Venmo, not unless they did it when they went home. That, also, wasn’t Stirling’s problem and……eugh, he didn’t know? If she had parents, maybe they’d get uncomfortable with him admitting to being a drag queen around her.
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 5:51 pm
“You’ve met Lysiteha? She’s freaking awesome isn’t she? She’s going to be helping this one corrupted Senshi I met get un corrupted so I just think that’s neat.” Stirling seemed to mellow after hearing that and she wrinkled her nose at the next question. “I mean, we’re in disguise! I’m not going to be sent to juvie for whatever I do while I’m Stirling, since Stirling has no records and no…whatever. Not like real me has much going for me either, but nobody’s going to blame real me for what Stirling does by dining and dashing once or twice…or if I have to get myself some candy at the corner store, nobody’s going to come arrest Stirling if I switch back to normal me. Easy peasy. We’re not our real selves….that might actually. Be a better way to explain it.”
Looking up at the Dark Mirror Senshi, Stirling nodded. “If you have cash though, that’s even better! Lead the way and feed me!”
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Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2023 3:16 am
Okay, that explanation of what Stirling had meant made sense. She had several points in there, for sure—though a lot of them sounded, to Reiki, like further reason to look out for her. The mentions of things like using magic glamours to get away with shoplifting could’ve indicated pretty chaotic life, and even if they didn’t? It probably, hopefully wouldn’t hurt for Stirling to have another adult, helping Lysithea and whoever else look out for her.
“Only met Lysithea that once so far, and it was pretty low-key?” Reiki shrugged as a stop-light decided to hold them up. “So, June and July are really big months for my line of work. Booked solid, usually months in advance, tons of events to do. Then, last year, I got powered up into a senshi right before that hit, so I running around with a schedule like ‘patrol, nap, host a brunch show, run to the library for storytime hour, tiny break for lunch—most of which is actually spent walking my dog—private engagement I’m working with a couple friends, slightly longer break for dinner, head out for my usual Friday night show, patrol, nap, process starts over again.’”
The light changed and with a sigh, Reiki resumed leading the way toward Gertrude’s. Maybe ‘best’ was a matter of opinion, but it was his favorite diner in town.
“So, by the time I actually met Lysithea, I was running on empty and all we did was talk. She……seemed a little bit uncertain? Not in a bad way, just like I might have caught her at a moment where she was figuring some things out for herself.”
Everybody had those moments at one point or another, even senshi who had knights of their own. Especially given how getting out of the Negaverse had been such a mess for her—or at least, he’d inferred that from how her memories had been affected—it made sense to Reiki that maybe Lysithea had just been having one of those times in her life.
“Even without pulling off any big amazing feats that night, she left an impression. Struck me as someone who really cares about helping people as best as she can, no matter what. Not enough people like that.
“Plus, like I said?” He shrugged, turning the last corner that would get them there. “She got one of my best friends out of the Negaverse. How he got dragged there isn’t my story to tell, but……Lysithea gave him the way out that he needed, and it means the world to me that she did. His smiles are actually for real now. He can laugh again. It’s so good to finally see him happy—and here’s our place.”
Leaning against the wall by one of the windows, Reiki pointed at the menu hanging there. “Gertrude’s serves breakfast all day, or they have all kinds of sandwiches, pastas, soup, whatever tickles your fancy—and thirty? I think they’re up to thirty flavors of milkshake. The mint-chocolate, strawberry cream, and dark chocolate cheesecake ones are pretty good, but……it’s your milkshake, so pick what you want.”
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Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2023 7:47 am
Stirling nodded, looking pleased on behalf of her Princess, even if she hadn’t done anything for this guy, he still obviously saw how great she was and that was just the truth. “She’ll help anyone I think! She really is nice. A little upset right now, but she’s going to be taking me to the zoo! She ended up getting a broken arm trying to save someone the other day so, she’s kind of sad but, still! I’ve never been to the zoo before!”
He didn’t need to know of course but…damn. Stirling was simply excited about it. She hadn’t ever been to the zoo before…and…she was really excited for it.
The smell coming from the diner was enough to win her over, but the idea of all of the milkshakes…now that. That just sounded amazing. “...Do they have a dark chocolate cheesecake with strawberries? Because I want that if they can make it! And chicken tenders! That sounds so good to me right now? Oh! With honey mustard to dip them in! Hey, do you want to be friends?” The prattle he made about work went right over her head, it wasn’t that she didn’t care...but the conversations about Lysithea and the food were so much more appealing.
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Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2023 2:15 pm
Hearing that Lysithea wasn’t doing so well right now, Reiki frowned sympathetically. Ugh, that sounded awful. Even if Stirling wanted to keep moving on to being excited about the zoo—which was fair enough, honestly; getting to go there for the first time, and going with her Princess, sounded like a really special experience for both of them—Reiki made a mental note to look into that.……
He’d probably have to ask Monoceros about it? Or at least send any well-wishes through him, since he knew her better? And as much as Reiki liked the idea of getting Yuki to make “get well soon” cupcakes or something for her, he’d probably want to buy her something sealed, so she’d know that he hadn’t done anything shady with it—or, like, even if she and Monoceros trusted him, other White Moon senshi or Knights didn’t have reason for that, and sending a card like “I wanted to bake you something (well, have someone I know do it for me because I’m helpless in a kitchen, soz), but I figured something with a seal was better so you wouldn’t have to worry about ~*oooh, secret nefarious Dark Mirror tricks*~ while you’re recovering”……?
Maybe that would work. Reiki would just have to ask ‘Ceros about it later.
“They do have an actual dark chocolate cheesecake, yeah. And if you want some, please, get some. It’s what friends—and more specifically, friends with cash—are for, right?”
Smiling, Reiki quickly grabbed his clip of spare cash out of his subspace, then held open the door for Stirling. Fortunately, Gertrude’s had a register right up front with seats beside it. So, if she wanted to dine in while dressed up, then Mandy, the green-pigtailed hostess currently at the register, could get them a table, or if Stirling only wanted to get the food and go, then they could have a seat while waiting. “Lady’s choice on dine-in or carry out,” he told her. “And if it’s the latter, then ladies first on ordering.”
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Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2023 5:34 pm
Stirling grinned and wrinkled her nose as she thought for a moment, but only a moment. “Let’s eat here! I think that sounds like a lot of fun, and if you want, we can go ahead and do some fun after? Maybe try out our powers or something cool? Work of my strawberry chocolate cheesecake milkshake?”
She waggled her eyebrows and grinned, utterly eager and utterly excited. “And the chicken tenders, and the fries. I’m going to go all out, but I will need a workout after if you’re up for it!”
Hopefully, Stirling would be…but if not…they could simply raincheck…and that would simply mean another meal on another night…which still wasn’t a bad idea.
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