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 Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 10:28 pm
Trying not to think about the things that Sailor Yuki Eiri, Negaverse senshi of b*****d boyfriends, had shaken loose with his magic was going to catch up with Reiki eventually. He knew this perfectly well enough. Throwing himself headlong into Pride Month would also catch up with him eventually, but, well. In his own best interests, Miss Sybil Disobedience had played the Mom Card—both invoking her status as one of his drag moms and getting Reiki’s Mom-mom involved to back her up—and his gig schedule for the month felt……much less jam-packed than last year’s.
So much the better for Reiki. Meant that he didn’t have to run on fumes quite as much as he had last year during Pride season, with the rush to make all his bookings and figure out how to be a magical girl.… Some part of him wished that he had been allowed to fill up his schedule as much as last year—but he needed to believe that it was all for the best. Much as Reiki didn’t really want to sit around with his feelings and figure out what to do about fixing the central problem, he knew that he kinda had to suck it up and do that, ideally sooner rather than later.…
But Levi didn’t know how to do it, and who the ******** else was Reiki supposed to ask? Most of his White Moon friends didn’t know any more than he did about the Dark Mirror, and it wasn’t like he could just hit Acubens or Remarque up like “Hey, I’m quitting, how do I resign from the Court and ******** off out of here”? Even if they did feel open to telling him—which he didn’t personally think was too likely to happen, considering how few Dark Mirror senshi there seemed to be out there—how could Reiki trust that anything they told him was true? Maybe there was a way, but he couldn’t ask Remarque and Acubens to act against the Court’s best interests and actively enable him in leaving.
So, in the meantime, it had to, from the outside, remain more or less business as usual. Come through. Keep it pushing. Patrol and make a nuisance of himself as much as he would normally—except tonight, a particularly acrid and identifiable scent gave Reiki pause on his usual rounds of traversing the city’s rooftops and alleys. It was faint, so probably a bit old news, but the fact that he could still smell it meant that the b***h who’d left it behind probably hadn’t left too long ago.… But then, why didn’t Reiki feel another Dark Mirror aura skulking around? White Moon only.
At least the answer quickly made itself obvious: horns and a fuku that Reiki recognized. “Daedalus!” He beamed in relief and happiness as he darted toward his friend, eager to hug Daedalus but also just—holding off for the moment? If Little Miss Spruce Smoke Surprise had been around, would Daedalus actually want a hug?
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 11:12 pm
Angelica was gone, at least, which meant that Daedalus had room to breathe and recover. And in the end, things had gone....not entirely terribly, at least. There were still plenty of things weighing on his heart, but...at least Angelica had just been overeager, it seemed. And that was...charming, in its way.
She wanted so badly to fight Chaos, she had just...gotten a little overzealous.
But the voice that called out to him was familiar, and he turned, and smiled, relieved.
"Murikabushi!"
At least this particular reincarnated old friend didn't hate him. That was sort of a relief. And he hated that he had to qualify in such a way, but....there it was.
"I'm glad to see you made it away from the bank alright. That was...something, wasn't it."
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2023 11:42 pm
“Oh, something is a good word for it, yeah,” Reiki said, then paused a moment to really just……drink in the sight of his friend, whole and intact, and seemingly not doing that badly. The faint, lingering scent of spruce still had Reiki’s nerves on edge, especially in light of how he’d last seen Daedalus. “The Negaverse senshi who carried you off—ugh, his magic was absolutely brutal for me? One of the worst things I’ve ever dealt with, and the first time I got drunk, I was eight years old and my uncle let me believe that I was basically drinking strawberry soda.”
In fairness to Rei-ojisan, the particular canned liquor he’d been drinking had felt little better than strawberry soda to an adult with a substance abuse problem. Something to be his hair of the dog but not something he’d really get wrecked on.…… The problem had been that Tiny Reiki had been eight, so even though the strawberry flavoring had gone down sweetly and without too much of a kick, the alcohol had hit him like a <******** TRUCK.
“Plus, then? I guess the General I knew in the Negaverse isn’t gone after all? Something more powerful now—General-Sovereign—and he tried to do something to this White Moon senshi I’ve only met once? Then she went and popped princess wings, which was all……” Incredibly disconcerting and painful for so many reasons, chief among them the fact that, even if it wasn’t Cybele’s fault or anything Reiki could justify blaming her for, her magic seemed to target Chaos indiscriminately. But—he sighed and shifted his focus back to Daedalus. “……Can I hug you? I’m so glad you’re okay, and I really want to hug you?”
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 12:01 am
Daedalus smiled, wryly. "It was difficult for me, too. Perhaps moreso because....ah," he sighed. Did he really need to dump this on Murikabushi? Probably not. "Extenuating circumstances, shall we say."
Murikabushi didn't need to know that Langite was Merak, returned to him and taken away again. Murikabushi didn't need to know that things had only gotten more complicated between them every time they met. That was Daedalus's burden to carry, and Murikabushi had so many of his own, he didn't need Daedalus's too.
And it seemed that the battle had been a myriad of things, not least the emergence of a Princess. Something worth celebrating, though Daedalus supposed it was unlikely they'd had time to do so. "I'm glad your friend is alright," even if he was still with the Negaverse, dangerous and powerful, "and...yes, I think I would very much like a hug."
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 12:37 am
That phrase “extenuating circumstances”……felt like it was doing an awful lot of heavy lifting—which, frankly, made it all the more imperative for Reiki to give Daedalus a good hug. If Daedalus didn’t want to tell him what the extenuating circumstances in question were, that was his choice and fair enough (Reiki didn’t really want to try and haggle over the semantics of who and what Faustite was to him, or explain the 21st century Terran concept of “it’s complicated”).
But……whatever struggles Daedalus was dealing with, he didn’t have to suffer them alone. Even if he didn’t want to share exactly what had happened, Reiki could curl his arms around Daedalus’s shoulders, and hold him close, and try to somehow convey in this embrace that Daedalus didn’t have to be alone anymore.
“I’m sorry. For whatever happened with you and him,” Reiki said softly. “And—as much as I’m upset with him about it, like?” He squeezed Daedalus, carefully in case ******** Spruce Spice had made a mess of him too (rabid little b***h) but also……because Reiki needed the solid contact with someone. “Some of it was for the best, I guess? I just……” He huffed softly, putting his chin on Daedalus’s shoulder. “It’s his magic’s fault—or maybe to his credit—that I…? I realized I can’t do this anymore? The Dark Mirror thing, I just can’t, and—?” Shaking his head meant nuzzling Daedalus’s shoulder, which Reiki thought about exactly not at all. “I don’t know how yet? But someone from my Court says it can be done, I just……”
Another sigh, because this whole concept was so much Easier Said Than Done. “I need to find one of the senshi who’s already done it. Because the one who told me about it didn’t know what to do.”
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 1:15 am
Daedalus exhaled. "Nothing much now," he said. "He hauled me off, we talked, he drained some of my energy...things have been tenser since, but." Ah, it was silly to dance around it. "He calls himself Langite, now. But in the past, I knew him as Sailor Merak. and I loved him."
The hug, at least, was uncomplicated. He could wrap his arms around his friend and be held, and take comfort in another person, in a way he had rarely allowed himself before.
He reached up to stroke Murikabushi's hair, an offer of additional comfort. "But there is a way," he said, "and that just means that you need to find it. I can also ask around; perhaps someone I meet will have the knowledge you need."
If he could save his friend from Chaos, maybe that would be hope that he could save Langite, too.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 1:33 am
……Oh. Oh, no.
Reiki made a miserable little noise, hearing the truth of things with Daedalus and that Negaverse senshi—Langite and Merak, Reiki committed to memory, in case he needed to know those names while punching that smug son of a whore in the face, someday—and just……oh, no. Part of Reiki now felt kind of terrible for having joked, even in his own head, about Langite looking like the douchebag boyfriend from a BL manga full of consent issues. It……didn’t feel nearly as comfortingly funny, knowing that Langite had, in his past life, actually been Daedalus’s lover.
“I don’t know the names of any senshi who left the Mirror, but……if you find any, I’d really appreciate the tip.” Reiki sighed softly, leaning his head into Daedalus’s touch. “And…whenever Langite ever comes around? And decides to stop being such a jerk? It’s a lot easier to get out of the Negaverse. You’ll need a Princess or Cosmos to get the Chaos out of his starseed, but……I guess the Negaverse is more direct about how it taints a starseed with Chaos or something?”
There was a lot about the process that Reiki didn’t understand. There was a lot that he still felt very inclined to be Upset At Langite about. But……he had to believe, for Daedalus’s sake, that things with his lover’s reincarnation were not hopeless and broken forever.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 4:47 pm
Daedalus nodded, and smiled, in a way that was thoroughly tired--but at least Murikabushi couldn't see the way exhaustion wrote itself on his features. The longer he got to pretend he was alright, the better, honestly. It wasn't his job top worry people--it was his job to help others carry their burdens.
"I'll ask around," Daedalus promised. It wasn't as if he had many contacts, but he could still do his best to help his friend. "And...that's good to know. I'm not sure if he'll ever come around, though." He exhaled. "He seems...to firmly believe that Order intends to destroy this world. It's as if....he has everything entirely backwards."
But perhaps that was the Negaverse's way of holding onto its people. Convince them of a backwards version of the situation, make them afraid for their homes...
All terribly familiar tactics.
Daedalus sighed.
"I hope I can make him understand the truth."
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:03 pm
Hearing Daedalus’s take on what Langite seemed to believe, Reiki made a soft, discontented noise. That kind of propaganda coming out of the Negaverse made all too much sense, and part of him had to wonder how much of it Faustite had ever heard, back when they first got their claws in him……when he wasn’t yet half-youma……when he was just a teenager and they decided to feed him starseeds like ******** candy.
“Even if he learns the truth, it might not be enough,” Reiki pointed out, voice gentle as he tried to balance what he was saying by giving Daedalus a reassuring squeeze. “Aside from how Chaos works on a person, and aside from how the Negaverse works people over? If somebody doesn’t feel like they have anywhere else they can go, they might stay somewhere they don’t really want to stay……even somewhere that’s hurting them to stay in. Helping show him the truth of all this can help, but……” Reiki took a deep breath. “If Langite feels like he’s burned all his bridges and can’t choose something other than the Negaverse, he could go feral and just try to take out as many people as he can on the way down or something horrible and nihilistic like that.”
……Which, all things considered, probably meant that Reiki could not get away with beating Langite up in a dirty alley if he ever hurt Daedalus again. Which was probably fair, because that sounded like an incredibly irresponsible use of magical girl powers in the first place, but……oh well. If that ever happened, he’d simply need to handle it then. Specifically, he’d need to cope like an adult and find some better way of dealing with whatever he felt about the situation than violence.
As the still-lingering spruce scent helpfully reminded him: choosing violence over personal grudges was what immature, arrogant little bitches did.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:31 pm
Daedalus nodded. That was...true. Soemtimes,t he facts weren't enough; sometimes, people knew and didn't care, or disbelieve,d or felt trapped, or....ah, it was painful. Especially to think of Langite being trapped like that.
"I hope it wouldn't go that badly," Daedalus said, frowning, "especially if I can convince him slowly. Learning you've been lied to...it's difficult. People resist. But I have to believe there's a way to save him."
He stepped out of the hug, but reached up to put his hands on Reiki's shoulders and squeeze.
"Ah, but that's all for the future. And we'll have an easier time dealing with that once you're out of the Mirror."
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:39 pm
“Right,” Reiki agreed, giving Daedalus a smile that he hoped was more reassuring than not. “And hopefully, that will happen soon. There are enough senshi in this town, somebody has to know what I need to do.”
Not that there weren’t other complications. He’d need to talk to the family—especially Haruhi, with how much ne didn’t really enjoy being a Dark Mirror senshi either. He’d need to talk to Sibyl and Cherry. He’d need a White Moon Mauvian to help him figure out how to get all of the prior auths for his ADHD meds submitted to insurance—and, for that matter, help him set up his new civilian medical insurance—because if Reiki had to go through the entire humiliating process of getting an ADHD diagnosis all over again when he’d had it on his official file since he’d been six years old? ……Gurl, a tantrum would be imminent. He’d need to talk to Yuki, because Reiki was fortunate to have someone he could turn to, or at least he really hoped that he could do that.…… Whatever happened to his memories from getting out, whatever happened to how people perceived him, he really, really hoped that he could work things out with Yuki and not have to lose his Gorgeous. And Cersei………
There had to be something that Reiki could do there.… Some way to maybe help everything be okay with her.…… But.
One step at a time. Otherwise he’d never get anything done.
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