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 Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 1:02 am
Daedalus had to admit to himself, finally, after several hours wandering, that he was....very lost.
Wherever Langite had teleported him, he was nowhere near anything he knew. He had lost his way entirely, and the more he wandered, the more lost he was getting.
It was late, he was exhausted, and having had a home since he'd made it to Earth, the prospect of sleeping rough was not a pleasant one. And, frankly, he didn't enjoy the idea of having to power down, and sleep, in an unknown space and around unknown people.
Perhaps he would just...keep walking until he found somewhere familiar. That seemed...reasonable. Maybe.
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 1:35 am
Vanya hadn’t been able to sleep, which had been incredibly annoying. Still was incredibly annoying, if Farbauti were perfectly honest with himself. He’d tried sleepytime tea, he’d tried putting on a podcast hosted by someone with an aurally pleasing voice and a cool accent, he’d tried vibing to Legally Blonde………but the last of these had really sealed the deal on Vanya not getting any sleep. Normally, Legally Blonde provided Vanya the same comfort that other people got out of warm, fluffy blankets and drowning themselves in chocolate after a bad day.
Tonight, Legally Blonde had just made Vanya get nervous, on a soul-deep level, about Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Cheryl from work had gifted him opening night tickets, which was great……but Vanya didn’t have anyone to go with, which was significantly less great. He didn’t normally mind the opinions of other people when it came to his cinemagoing habits, but……a twenty-four-year-old man going to see Greta Gerwig’s Barbie by himself sounded kinda like a recipe for disaster, really. If Vanya didn’t end up catching some bullshit from an overzealous parent buying into bigoted garbage and assuming he was some kind of ““groomer,”” whatever they meant by that, then maybe he’d run into a different flavor of bigots. Maybe they would correctly identify Vanya as A Known Gay and picking him out to get violent with.
Because unlike certain Dark Mirror senshi running around, Vanya did not have a fabulous bone in his body, nor the confidence to just be so out there like that guy was every time Vanya ran into him, nor anything that made people think twice about messing with him. Even since getting Awakened as a senshi, Vanya just……only knew how to fight anybody on the Internet. Not even on his real personal accounts.
So, here Farbauti found himself: powered up in the middle of the night, getting closer than he liked to morning, running around the streets near his shitty apartment and trying to make sure that there wasn’t any trouble going around.…… There wasn’t, as far as Farbauti could tell. At least, there hadn’t been any so far.…… The only aura he even felt right now was another White Moon senshi for once, probably around his own level, and……y’know, maybe it would be okay? If Farbauti simply followed that aura to its source? And maybe they could do the strength in numbers thing?
………Except the senshi Farbauti found looked like they’d had a pretty bad night. Also like they might have been some kind of dragon, and?? At least Farbauti could be kinda good at this part of being a senshi. “Hey,” he called as the dragon senshi ambled past the alley Farbauti had lurked in. Wandering out of it, keeping his hands in the open where the dragon senshi could see them, Farbauti asked, “……Are you okay?”
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 1:47 am
Daedalus blinked. He hadn't even noticed another White Moon aura, and it gave him a moment's pause before he turned and got a good look at the Senshi.
There was something familiar about him--about his face, his uniform, his colors--but Daedalus couldn't quite place it. This must have been the reincarnation of someone he'd known, he was sure of that, it was just a question of who.
"Ah," he smiled, a little wanly. "Actually, I'm....quite lost," he said. "I was teleported away from a battle by a Negaverse Senshi, and I have no idea where I am."
A sheepish little shrug. "Daedalus of Progress, by the by."
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 11:02 pm
“Oh,” Farbauti said, feeling……more than a little bit stupid for it. And feeling worse about the hesitancy on his part in coming closer to the other senshi. It was stupid to be so……weird? The senshi seemed really out of it, and he was alone, and aside from having the horns that marked him as Probably Not Quite Exactly Human, he seemed? like he was probably okay? “Well, uh.…”
Farbauti held up a hand to wave ‘hi.’ “I’m Farbauti of, uh. Rage—but?! I promise I’m not, like? I don’t know, unhinged and dangerous or anything?” Getting more within personal-conversation range, Farbauti looked up with a small smile. “……I’m really new to all this, but—? I live around here? And I could help you try to get home? Or—my place is nearby, if you want to rest a little or get something to drink or something?”
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 11:18 pm
Daedalus blinked. Tilted his head to the side. Then, lit up with recognition. Yes, that was right, he did know those colors and that style.
"Ah! Farbauti! The one I know was ah, quite a bit taller. And blue." Another friend who had died, and been reincarnated. But at least this was still someone he knew. Even if this version was very different, and seemed a little bit scared of his own shadow.
"I would appreciate the help," he said. "A safe place to rest would be...ah, helpful. I'm not sure how long I've been wandering for, and, ah. I gave up some of my energy, so...." He still looked more than a little sheepish. Hopefully, Farbauti wouldn't judge him for his foolishness.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 12:56 am
Without entirely meaning to mirror Daedalus, Farbauti tilted his head right back. He……Daedalus? had known some other Farbauti? “……Wouldn’t that make you, like? A thousand years old or something?”
—Which Farbauti cringed at as soon as he’d said it. “********, I’m sorry, that was really rude.” Shaking his head and swishing his mess of hair around didn’t really help him calm down any, nor help him feel any less Bad about being rude. Maybe………maybe Farbauti needed to just focus on……motioning in the direction of his place, then sticking close to Daedalus in case he needed some extra support or somebody to lean on while they walked. “And—I’m sorry I’m not the right Farbauti who you knew? But……I’m trying to learn? I mean, I can’t really do anything about being taller or being blue, but? I’m trying to learn about the rest? And how to do this whole……magical senshi guardian thing?”
Part of him still really, really worried about Ash coming to find him and telling him she’d made a mistake……but that hadn’t happened yet, so? Probably better to just work on learning things.
“And I’m sorry that my place isn’t much either,” Farbauti added, directing them down an alley that would take them right to his place. “It’s safe, and there’s food and water and stuff—” Definitely enough leftover orders from earlier that they could hopefully find something Daedalus might enjoy eating. “—and it’s mine? But it’s nothing fancy or anything.”
The most valuable things in the apartment were Vanya’s violin, his laptop and the external hard drives with his assorted short films on them, and his autographed vinyl copy of Queen’s A Night At the Opera. Which he didn’t suppose Daedalus would really have the context to understand if he was—??? “So, are you, like……? From outer space?”
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 1:39 am
"A thousand years," Daedalus said, "is that how long it's been?"
That was...almost shocking. The sheer weight of the number of years he had been asleep in that coffin, with no awareness of the outside world...it made his chest ache. But it was also an answer, finally, which no one else had quite been able to provide.
A thousand years.
No wonder all his friends were dead and reincarnated.
He let Farbauti talk, and nodded a little. "How long have you been a Senshi? It's...a stark learning curve, and I imagine quite a bit more difficult in this day and age." He wondered how much of old systems of mentorship survived. At least Guardian Cats were eternal; hopefully Farbauti had a good one.
He followed as Farbauti led, glad for the chance top have somewhere to rest indoors. If it wasn't too much of an imposition, perhaps he could sleep here, and find his way back to Bellatrix in the morning. "Trust me, whatever you have is probably better than some of the places I slept, growing up. But yes, I am in fact from space."
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:37 am
Farbauti nodded, despite not being entirely certain himself. “That’s sort of what I’ve gathered, but…? There’s always room for me to be wrong, y’know? Especially since I’ve only been doing this senshi thing for a couple weeks and, like?” He shrugged, sighed. “A lot of that time, I’ve had to spend at work instead of running around and actually doing the senshi thing.”
He had to keep his little apartment and do his laundry somehow, after all, and he couldn’t stand to part with any of the monetarily valuable things that he owned. (Plus, one of them—namely, his laptop—definitely wouldn’t get as much now as it might’ve done when he’d first left Louisiana.)
At the end of the alleyway, Farbauti paused. Taking a deep breath, he pointed right across the street at the boxy, unimpressive building that contained, among other things, his apartment. “My place is just over there,” he said. “I’m gonna power down so there won’t be any trouble with the neighbors or anything? But……you don’t have to if you don’t want. Even with the horns, this city can be pretty weird. If anyone sees us, they might think you’re an actor or a live-action roleplay gamer or something.”
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:22 pm
"A few weeks?" Daedalus frowned. "Well, you're doing well for only a few weeks' worth of experience." And also, Daedalus felt a surge of responsibility. "We can exchange numbers with Senshi phones, yes? You can have mine, and call me if you ever need help."
It was his duty, probably, to look after a Senshi who was, one, the reincarnation of his old friend, and two, very, very lost. Also, Farbauti was helping him, and one good turn deserved another.
When they stopped, he gave it a brief moment of consideration, but--he didn't know how close Langite was, or how far he'd wandered. Better not to take any risks. So, he powered down, glad for the glamor that Julienne had given him.
"I can look human," he said. "A Mauvian was kind enough to help me on that front. So no need for any...ah, subterfuge."
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:21 pm
Hearing the praise—even if it was incredibly relative—Farbauti smiled. Not a very big smile by any means, but a genuine one. When he powered down, back into his basic black tee, pajama bottoms, and sneakers, Vanya kept the smile up, because……it meant a lot to him. For someone who apparently wanted to be his friend to think he was doing a good job, even though he was ignorant and fumbling around a lot about trying to learn all this senshi business.
“Mauvians are great like that, huh? And yeah, I’d love to swap numbers.… The more connections, the better, right? There’s another like us who I met before a Mauvian found me, I’m still trying to find her again? Much easier if you don’t lose track of people, right?” Vanya said, leading Daedalus-or-whatever-his-name-was-now across the street, and pausing at the door’s keypad so he could punch in his code to get them in the building. At least the elevators were working today, so Daedalus wouldn’t have to go up to the twelfth floor.
Leaning against the back wall of the compartment, he added, “……I’m Vanya when we’re like this, by the way. And, uh……I don’t know what you like to eat? But……I work at a restaurant, right? And when people forget orders, or send someone huge quantities of food as a prank, or whatever, I get to take a lot of them home. There’s a pretty wide variety of stuff to pick from in my fridge, thanks to that. All open to you.”
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:48 pm
"Mm, yes. We as Senshi have always been lucky to have our Mauvian companions--even moreso in this day and age, I suspect. Perhaps one can help you find the Senshi you're looking for."
He followed Farbauti inside, taking in the building--there was something almost comforting about it being a little run down; like the places he'd lived for most of his life, but safer. Probably. he hoped.
"Ah. Soren," he introduced himself. "I mostly eat meat, but I'm sure we can find something." As long as it wasn't all vegetables or anything like that, he sohuld be fine.
Much better of than he was before he found Vanya, at least. He could guarantee that he would be fed and safe tonight. That wasn't always something one could be certain of. In the morning, he would let Bellatrix know he was alright and find his way back to her house, but for now, he had a friend and he had a couch to sleep on--and that was plenty for the night.
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