|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 6:50 pm
Quote: The Meteor Shower (3) : It wouldn’t be a star festival without a meteor shower! Right on time, a beautiful array of shooting stars graces the night sky. This time of year is unnaturally clear and it’s incredibly easy to see the stars. Most meteor fragments appear to be little white or yellow lights streaming across the sky, but if you watch closely enough you may find that some of them seem to be a whole rainbow of colors. The scientists have reported that it’s just different components burning up as they enter the atmosphere, but there’s something undeniably magical about it.
Since he still hadn’t found the way out, Reiki had endured his daily visit to Mirrorspace with all the enthusiasm of a bored Hot Topic cashier. Part of him wondered whether or not Mirrorspace could sense that something was up with him. Whether it could tell that he was less “pulling away” from it and more “already out the door in spirit, too bad for the irksome realities of the situation that as yet needed addressing.” Maybe it could.… Maybe it wouldn’t be happy about that, when it figured out that he wasn’t going through a phase or being needlessly dramatic about it.
But most of Reiki didn’t care what Mirrorspace thought as he left, coming out of a mirror that someone (probably Prince Remarque) had stashed in an alleyway pretty close to Yuki’s place. Reiki breathed deep the smell of the city—even the nauseating parts like exhaust fumes and a sour mixture he felt pretty certain must have come from stale piss and vomit (given the neighborhood, very possibly vomit from some kind of Pride Month-themed drinking contest or Drag Race viewing party). Nauseating, yes. Unpleasant, definitely. But it was real, so much more vibrant and alive than the sterility and never-ending sameness of Mirrorspace.
Equally real was the star-charm that Reiki spotted in the alley: glittering in a rainbow gradient that went from the top star to the bottom one. For safe-keeping, Reiki stashed it in his subspace pocket. Better not to risk losing something so pretty.
—The sky up there was real, too. More than that, it lit up with a meteor shower. Using a dumpster and a fire-escape for help, Reiki bounded up onto the roof of a nearby office building, to get a better look at the colors flaring up all across the sky. He didn’t understand the magic that made these rainbow meteor showers happen, but damn if he didn’t love watching the results.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 7:18 pm
Faustite didn't ask the universe for a ******** pride flag. He stared up at it with lidded unamusement bordering on bald irritation, but no explanation came unbidden just because Faustite's blazing bitchface was aimed up at the sky.
There was a magic to these festivals, he knew. He had his theories on it, but any theory needed evidence to support its suppositions, which meant Faustite had to spend more time in Destiny City than he would have liked. He endured weird fireflies and a blooming tree that never should have borne fruit, and now a rainbow-colored meteor shower streaked the sky. These were phenomena that happened at no other time of the year. They coincided with one of the city's most popular festivals. To Faustite, that couldn't be coincidence.
Just as the General ruminated on it, he felt a curious, sisterly darkness nearby. Up on the rooftops, he should have had enough vantage point to spot them nigh immediately, but this part of the city was so interspersed with short, abandoned buildings and built-up exorbitantly expensive ones that fell into disarray in the past half-century that Faustite struggled to find them until he should have been right on top of them.
As Faustite leapt from one roof to the next, nearly slipping off the greased gables of one, this whole search reminded him of the time that he ran into Murikabushi in the industrial district. They'd danced around a smokestack, antagonizing each other at the time, but it was the same sort of childish hide-and-seek antics. But it was exactly its childishness that appealed to him, wasn't it? Like a part of the life he should've had was restored to him.
Once he finally rounded a frustrating and decrepit structure that was most surely condemned, Faustite spotted a strong set of violet and red, and more importantly, a posture that he recognized easily. He slowed his gait as he approached, suddenly stricken by an apprehension that he couldn't explain.
"You're still alive," he observed at last as he stopped short by a dozen feet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 7:52 pm
Watching the sky with childlike wonder probably rated in someone’s book as a waste of time for a senshi (never mind one who, as Reiki did, liked to try and help people as much as he could with his magical girl status). Maybe this diversion counted as ridiculously immature……but on the other hand, who cared? Reiki had wanted to go to space since he’d been a child, and meteor showers were, in some small way, space coming to him instead.
Feeling a Negaverse aura flare up on his senses, Reiki considered finding a hiding place, so he’d have the element of surprise on his side in case he needed to be other than nice to this one.… But in the end, he didn’t move. Partly, he didn’t feel like giving up his good view of the meteor shower, and mostly……well, the aura felt powerful enough to belong to the Negaverse operative he most wanted to see. And he knew that Faustite wasn’t the Negaverse’s only General. In all likelihood, he wasn’t the Negaverse’s only General-Sovereign, either. So, maybe waiting to see what would come wasn’t the smartest idea……
But tonight, Reiki’s desire for something nice paid off.
That familiar voice pulled his attention away from the meteor shower faster than most things (imminent danger for Reiki’s family might have done the trick faster, but very few other things would have). The wonder at the meteor shower melted, instead, into warm relief—even if he’d known that Faustite was still alright, getting the reminder eased Reiki’s mind considerably. “Not for lack of efficacy on the part of Cybele’s shiny new magic,” he said, turning and approaching Faustite himself. “Targeting all Chaos indiscriminately seems pretty unfair. Lete and the other Mirror-twink she was chilling with didn’t even do anything.”
They really hadn’t. They’d shared popcorn and gossip, as far as Reiki could tell, and had otherwise refused to take a side until Faustite had set the ten youma on everyone but the Negaverse operatives and Reiki.
“And you, I—” Reiki was giving himself mood-whiplash, going from the warm pink flush of remembering how Faustite hadn’t wanted the youma to hurt him, to the biggest question he’d been turning over in his mind since that night. “I heard from Kerberos, about them trying to cure you by dragging you out of the Negaverse. He said that you started going fully youma? ……He said you were gone.”
Which had obviously not happened, considering Faustite still stood here, himself. Half-youma, yes, but not full..
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 3:26 am
Faustite held up a finger and cocked it to the side on his emphasis. "'Chaos' is discriminatory and a misnomer." His hand curled once again at his side while the other followed his words with gesture after gesture. "Know some agents got puncture wounds. Had to take a few days to recuperate." He, too, had a pair in his leg and one between ribs whatever number was near the bottom, but they couldn't keep him in bed for it; he went out for several days looking for one particular Princess to fry, though they proved much too elusive when they wanted to ******** cowards, all. Nothing but a bunch of overamped magic-users that evaporated as soon as their magic was spent.
To hear that there were Mirror Senshi out and about doing nothing was irksome, but Faustite tried to suppress his sneer of disgust (it didn't work). He didn't know what the ******** they thought they were doing out there, but that wasn't his business. "Shouldn't have been there — any of you. Was business between us and the White Moon."
He remained while Muri approached, though his attention soon found the meteor shower. It was easier, he supposed, to look at a bunch of rocks falling through the sky and burning up in the atmosphere with psychedelic colors as opposed to the person who asked for a hard story to tell. The Youma General clicked his tongue, sending off a few stray sparks like flint and tinder. He sighed smoke through his nose. This was going to be a minute.
"Right," he said, and he stared at the ground for a moment, as if the admission alone was a source of shame. "Was going through a slow youmafication. Negaverse doesn't have a way to stop it. White Moon does, but their way's a complicated, isolating mess. Needs a Court and a Royal, but they squandered time jacking off at each other." He began to pace.
"Had a plan to ambush them after. Bring me back to the Negaverse before the White Moon had time to feed me their bullshit. One of them saw my fires gutter and thought it the signal, sprang the ambush, but damage control was too slow. Thought I ran out of time. Felt like I did.
"Planned to go to the Rift, where youma live. Only agents can go down there, but so many senshi followed. Jet, too, so I knew they were safe, but —" Faustite drew a breath and cast off the end of that sentence. "Turns out if you pump so much energy into someone, you can overpower the youma side and bring it back into balance.
"But there's no way to reverse the damage." He paused in his step, fiddling with the clasps on his vest until they came away and he could shrug it off. Next came the button-up, which was also cast aside. He was left in a nondescript black tank top and what felt like so much exposed skin. He pointed to a spot on his upper bicep where the black trailing up his arms had stopped abruptly, tucked under heavy burn scars at the edge of his human side. It was clear that skin had been sloughed off during the aborted transformation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2023 11:30 am
At Faustite’s correction, Reiki had to tilt his head in bemusement. He didn’t argue back. Didn’t know what he could’ve said back to that, really. In the whole past thirteen months since he’d gone to the Black Mirror with Levi and Soya, Reiki had never heard anybody on either side argue about the name ‘Chaos.’ He’d heard the way that ‘Order’ and ‘White Moon’ got used, he thought, more or less interchangeably—though personally, he liked the latter name better because it fit more with his sense of what did or did not make something appropriately magical girl pretty—and he had heard people spit the word ‘Chaos’ as if it were the worst slur they could imagine.
But, for one thing, he’d also heard it said more or less neutrally. Plus, he hadn’t heard any alternatives offered. Not in the same way that you heard some people saying “purification” and “corruption” when there seriously had to be less Catholic-sounding ways to phrase those concepts (for example, “leaving the Negaverse/Dark Mirror Court” or “joining the Negaverse/Dark Mirror Court”).… Not that any of it was really the point right now, though. Easy enough to just file it away to think about later. (Reiki was pretty sure that he hadn’t packed up his copy of Judith Butler’s Excitable Speech and taken it over to Yuki’s yet. When he got back to his and Haruhi’s place, he could reread their thorough unpacking how words gained certain connotations and levels of power, then marinate in them as pertained to the whole discussion of magical girl naming conventions.
And probably ask Kerberos, who remained Senpai to Reiki, whether he realized it or not.… Maybe also Dagon or Daphne or one of the other space senshi he’d met. Fang may not have known, given how he’d lost his entire civilization before he could learn very much, but Reiki knew plenty of others who might have had some helpful perspective on this.)
“Don’t know how Lete and the other one wound up there,” Reiki offered, knowing that it probably didn’t help much (and frankly, not disagreeing with the sneer from Faustite), “but I just wandered into the scene. I saw those girls with the phones and wanted to get them out of there before they got caught in anybody’s crossfire. And I don’t know about the twink, but……”
Reiki shrugged. “Cybele’s arrows weren’t Lete’s first exposure to how serious these things are? First time I met her, this lunatic White Moon senshi was acting like killing Dark Mirrors for existing would totally convince a different Mirror senshi to take her back.” Not the most accurate version of the story about Angelica, her motivations, or the drama between her and Sappho, but the most succinct version Reiki could think of, at the moment. “Lete just……doesn’t enjoy thinking about how this isn’t a game, or how people will die if you ******** up badly enough. You’d have better luck getting a hamster to understand Marcel Proust than asking Lete to take anything seriously.”
Shaking his head, Reiki gave himself a moment to consider whether or not telling Faustite about Lete was really ethical, since he was handing an assessment of her character to a Negaverse General-Sovereign.… But who knew? Maybe putting it out there that she was an abyss where serious thought went to die and mostly a threat to herself would get her left alone. “As far as she’s concerned, this war is a big party and she’s having a perfectly marvelous time. Y’know, except for all the White Moon senshi who object to her letting wraiths loose on people—which? Sis, you do this, then sit on ******** picnic tables, out in the open, reading erotica about lesbian werewolves. What did you think was going to happen?”
Truly, a question only Lete could answer (though Reiki suspected she would’ve said “Bold of you to assume that I was thinking”).
Also, nowhere near as interesting as Faustite’s explanation of what had happened. Hearing it from his side made much more sense out of the ******** that made everyone start fighting. “Made a mistake about the signal”……was actually a fair and logical take on everything, rather than the version Reiki had heard from Kerberos, wherein the one who’d made that mistake had……??? Jumped the gun for no apparent reason? Decided at the last minute that they didn’t want Faustite to purify, actually? Been totally out of their mind of Negaverse PCP or something? Of course, Kerberos couldn’t help his own positionality in all of this, nor how it affected what he knew or didn’t know. Plus, Reiki had asked him about it so soon after what had happened; he might’ve still been processing it himself.
“All of it sounds like a ******** mess,” Reiki said softly. “Giving very ‘Imagine a story where everything goes wrong, where everyone has their back against the wall, where everyone is in pain and acting selfishly because if they don’t, they’ll die. Imagine a story of need against need, where everyone is at cross-purposes.’ It’s very that.”
To say the ******** least.
Tucking his bangs behind his ear, Reiki decided to leave off two parts of that quote from Siken. First, “Imagine a story not of good against evil” because the entire situation with what had happened for Faustite didn’t sound like good and evil entered into it. If anything, haggling over which side’s intentions were good or evil probably contributed more to how everything fell apart.
Second, “where everyone is at cross-purposes” should have been followed by “and everyone is to blame”—but Reiki didn’t have it in him to blame any specific person for how all of this had gone and what had happened. Not Kerberos and the White Moon senshi who’d tried to help in the only way they’d known how. Not Albite, Heliodor, and Lilith’s Brother, who hadn’t been named, but Reiki sincerely doubted that they would’ve sat everything out while someone they loved was dying. Not anybody who’d been in on Faustite’s planned ambush, because of course they wouldn’t have wanted to let him go. Getting him cured so he wouldn’t die, then taking him back home to the Negaverse made perfect sense as a plan. Even if the entire process messed with his starseed or his memories, the people who loved him would want him to come home, no matter what shape he was in.
And certainly not Faustite, who’d been the primary victim in everything, whose blackened arms bore the scars from the whole process and whose life had been the one in the balance. Reiki stayed quiet for a long moment, taking in the sight of that damage, no matter how much part of him wanted to look back toward the sky and the meteor shower. That would’ve been nicer, but Reiki needed to see this. Needed to remember this clear, harsh reminder of the costs that this war had and what tolls it would exact from everyone who took part in it—even, despite what so many among the White Moon thought, if they were Negaverse or Dark Mirror.
There had to be another way than all of this—but. Later. Reiki could think about it later.
He could think about the morals, ethics, and basic-level feasibility of eradicating Chaos, the way so many White Moon operatives wanted, and whether or not there were other options <******** later.
“I’m sorry you can’t reverse it,” Reiki said finally, aiming his soft, earnest expression at Faustite’s face instead of at his arm. “Speaking strictly for me, though? Damaged or not, I’m happy you’re still here. And—I don’t know who ‘Jet’ is?” Negaverse and not a senshi, so he’d have to be one of their Agents, like Faustite. But Reiki hadn’t even heard the name before, so all he had to go on here was Negaverse Agent, Faustite seems to trust him (which was enough for Reiki on the whole, but also not very informative). “But I’m glad he was there for you, that he helped.
“And…all of this?” Reiki hummed and gestured at Faustite’s general person, briefly pondering how to phrase what he was thinking. When he settled on the words, he kept his voice down to ask, “Good to know it’s not just senshi who can choose not to unleash their full power when they get a royal level-up. The way your aura felt at the bank—not hard to imagine some people would take that as a threat or an act of war, even if all you were doing was going to 7-11.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2023 11:32 am
"Sounds like the White Moon with their a**-backwards logic," Faustite muttered. Murdering all of the girl's Courtmates to make her come back to the murderer sounded like one of their emotional manipulation tactics. Wouldn't have surprised him if magic came into it, too, and the murderer had magic that lent to either torture or death. Would've been classic for them.
Faustite curled a hand against his hip. "Lete sounds like cannon fodder." It was likely the kindest use for her, since her body would meatshield the more important people behind her. Shame that they would have to live with the trauma of seeing parts of her sent this way and that, but no one signed up for a war and thought they would get through it without any bad experiences. Even when they didn't sign up for a war, and the war just happened to involve them, they seldom escaped without any bad experiences.
Faustite would be happy for Lete's inevitable death if her life was spent saving Murikabushi from certain doom, but he doubted that fate would play out that way. Usually it was his favorites that died first, though he was thus far lucky that he lost exactly zero husbands to murder. Faustite would have time to add Lete to the Database if he considered her worth adding at this juncture.
As Muri worked his way around to Faustite's story, Faustite's pacing grew perceptibly more energetic. The appraisal of the situation was spot-on, and he could do nothing more than nod; it was exactly all that he had said. Everyone had their own aims going into that night, whether that aim was something as purely selfish as wresting a longstanding General away from the Negaverse, or as simple as supporting Faustite himself in his efforts to survive. But intentions so seldom mattered to him when weighed against action, and that was a concept that Heliodor struggled with terribly — whatever his intentions, his actions (inadvertently) delivered a better result than the intended one, and his sulky actions thereafter communicated his remorse for the incident more clearly than all his whining afterward. But that boy's skull was as impenetrable as Albite's.
It was interesting to him, too, that so many wanted to dwell on what had happened and how it transpired. That there would be so much to analyze after the fact was, at times, perplexing for how it arrested anyone's continued actions. Sure, they could each sit about a table and chat on about this senshi's intentions and that knight's reason for showing up out of the blue and why did so much of the White Moon stand around staring at each other like they were about to get into a fistfight rather than bail someone out of the Negaverse, but Faustite struggled to waste all that analysis on a satisfactory result.
Muri's apology, or show of empathy, was waved off. "I'll get used to it." Just as he had gotten used to the grate, and before that, the pipes. "More annoyed that my shoes are different." Not that he could question Metallia's choices for it now.
"Jet's, mm," Faustite paused, taking into account Murikabushi's penchant for talking. "He makes himself apparent." Typically by way of his aura, but if they crossed paths, Murikabushi would learn that in time. Better that he let Jet make his own entrance, for Faustite thought that most of the man spoke for himself. Faustite's opinions need not be aired.
He almost smiled at the assessment of his power. "One day I'll kill her," he assured Muri, though perhaps death for death wasn't much of an assurance. Senshi weren't so much the paragons of power on the battlefield, but Faustite was one in aura only at the moment. He would need to learn what to do with the strangely-shaped weapon Metallia gave him, and that was a task that promised months of training with wrists that had been broken too many times to be reliable anymore. "Might just go to 7-Eleven that way," Faustite mused. "See what that cute cashier boy has to say." That was the one that allowed Albite to make those abominable slushies that upset his stomach afterward.
At last Faustite stopped, arms crossed over his chest, as he became fed up with his own baseless apprehensions. "There's a ******** rainbow meteor shower," he observed as suavely as he could. "No better time for that first date."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 2:31 pm
Much as Reiki didn’t want to agree with Faustite about Lete and what fate she’d probably meet in the war, he couldn’t help but frown in an uneasy way that betrayed how he also couldn’t disagree. This ambivalence found itself expressed in a grimace and a nod. “Either she’ll get herself hurt and figure out that she can’t always expect someone to rescue her from consequences,” he supposed, “or……yeah, she’ll end up exactly the way you’re saying.”
There were probably a lot of other options on a spectrum between those two, but Reiki didn’t want to deal with it right now.
For the most part, he didn’t even mind Lete. Exasperating as she could be, she also had plenty of qualities that he personally found more endearing than not. Even so, if she didn’t stop ******** around and get her head out of the clouds, preferably sooner rather than later? Yeah. Yeah, “cannon fodder” was exactly how Lete would end up. Probably in a particularly gruesome or appalling fashion, and almost certainly in a way that Lete wouldn’t expect (maybe in a way that would make her tear up and wibble about how she was the victim in this situation, even if a mountain of evidence to the contrary existed).
Reiki didn’t cherish the idea—didn’t wish it on Lete and didn’t enjoy the fact that he would have wished it on some different people involved in this war—but……come on, seriously? Reiki hadn’t exactly planned on getting into a war when he’d walked through the Black Mirror either, and he’d still gotten his head around the actual reality of the situation.
But far more interesting things were happening, right here and now, than whatever Lete’s whole deal was. From Faustite’s new shoes (while Reiki appreciated the look of them, he gave them an appraising look and mentally docked several points from the great cosmic magical costume designers for sticking Faustite with those uneven heels; Reiki even enjoyed wearing heels, but not if they lacked balance. Honestly, that was just asking for Faustite to fumble and fall during a significant moment), to his advice about whoever Jet was (someone who needed to introduce himself, apparently……could’ve meant a lot of things, but, well. Reiki could just try to keep his mind as open as possible beyond inferring that Jet was someone Faustite considered a friend), to his promise that he’d be the one to claim Cybele’s life someday (……Reiki nodded for that idea, and managed a small smile? But the entire idea did still leave him ill-at-ease. Maybe Cybele had been one to outsource her dirty work before, but who knew what she might fight like, now that she had a princess power-up? As far as Reiki understood, Senshi Princesses and General-Sovereigns could go toe-to-toe with each other on a level that most people involved in this war could only dream of doing, and Tama had once explained that half-youma were more vulnerable to magic than humans or Mauvians.…… If Cybele kept herself limited to lashing out like a wild animal, then Faustite would probably handle her easily, but if she whipped out that indiscriminate bullshit princess magic on him again……
Better not to think too much about that possibility. Better not to call it down on anyone, least of all Faustite, by thinking it into existence. Better not to worry that someone might feel a General-King’s aura at the 7-11 and decide that Faustite was doing some manner of unspeakable atrocity to the cashier boy, who was apparently cute enough to get a mention.)
Better, instead, to focus on Faustite’s ask……statement……reminder about the date that Reiki had agreed to before, whatever the proper word was. Smile softening, out of the nervous tension that surrounded the question of Faustite trying to kill Cybele and into something warmer—something fond—Reiki nodded.
“Haven’t been on one of those in a while,” he said, idly fussing with his tiara, “and never with a boy quite so memorable.” Most of the places where Reiki had ever gone on first dates……almost definitely weren’t safe for half-youma, certainly weren’t when one considered Faustite being literally on fire. In light of that, it just seemed prudent to ask, “Any preference on how you want me for it? Dolled up like this, or powered down, I mean?”
Not too long ago, even given that Reiki generally trusted Faustite not to hurt him, he wouldn’t have considered powering down for anybody from the Negaverse. Miss Jada had even offered him the opportunity to do that once—and in retrospect, to learn plenty of Negaverse senshi’s civilian aliases in the process—and Reiki had blanket refused. But……this was different. One-on-one, rather than a whole group thing where Reiki would have remained massively out-numbered no matter how much Miss Jada would’ve liked to pretend that they could all just watch Star Trek and get along without it being massively stressful. And, well.
Reiki didn’t know how, yet? But soon, he’d figure out how to leave the Court. Then, “Reiki” would probably not, strictly speaking, exist anymore.… Whatever it did or didn’t do to his memory or who he was? The Reiki he was right now didn’t mind the idea of letting Faustite meet him properly before he went away.
Maybe he really wanted that, though that mostly only mattered if Faustite also wanted it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2023 5:43 am
All the preceding topics suddenly didn't matter. He couldn't even remember what they were. He didn't care to remember. Murikabushi may not have said yes to the question of the date, but he certainly implied it for asking how Faustite wanted him — with power, or without. That was more than enough to bring a delighted smile to the boy's face, a smile that he then tried to cover up with a spread of fingers.
The question was a difficult one. To power down was an identity reveal for them both, which put their civilian names and backgrounds at risk. But Murikabushi hadn't caused any trouble for the Negaverse that Faustite knew of, nor did he appear to have plans to sell Faustite out. Still, if the White Moon got ahold of the civilian identity of a General-King, they would be certain to set a trap for that. Muri knew him as a General before that, though, and had ample opportunity to call in any White Moon friends to finish him off when he was slowly being burned to death from the inside out. More concerning to him were any ties Eion had to his boys' civilian identities, but he was often careful for that purpose, and often at those boys' houses where prying eyes wouldn't make a connection between them.
They couldn't go much of anywhere with him as a youmafied officer, however. Even if he wore the cincher to bank the flames, the presence of those flames were echoed in his irises and his hands were still black as night. He could blame that on blackwork tattoos and fake nails, sure, but his eyes were far harder to explain away. Worse yet, the aura might attract irritating opposition, and Murikabushi wasn't much like Albite; Faustite couldn't imagine him having a grand old time punching face in with a datemate.
After a moment's deliberation, he shifted his weight to the other hip. "Powered down," he decided at last. "Don't have to worry about interference." He supposed that included youma, too, since they seemed to understand that Eion was a General, even if he wasn't in uniform for it.
"Anywhere you like going? Can teleport us close before I don glamour." He paused, then added, "It looks weird and only lasts three hours, but no one can tell who I am." That was about all he could explain for it. He didn't much care for Eion, though the glamour had so many uses. It didn't look quite like Elex, like something was imperceptibly off, and it certainly didn't look like Faustite. He'd been part youma llong enough that human no longer felt like status quo, but a false pretense donned to ensure that the rest of the world might ******** off while he and a boy got some alone time. By and large, it worked every time.amorremanet i am suddenly struck by the idea of them trying to have a nice cute date in the park and damn near everything tries to interrupt — youma, stranger dark mirrors, stranger wms chasing youma, agents looking for energy, etc etc
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2023 2:43 pm
Reiki’s first though came hand-in-hand with a thought that made him feel more than slightly gross: Faustite had a nice smile, when he let himself do it.
Which was a silly thing to feel gross about, Reiki tried to remind himself as he nodded, as he reciprocated that smile with one of his own (no less eager, though with a shy duck of the head and a quick glance down, away). Hands smoothing down his skirts, Reiki steadied his nerves, told himself again that he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Appreciating such a(n as far as Reiki knew) rare sight didn’t come close to suggesting aloud that Faustite could have stood to smile more. Didn’t count as trying to change him or deliberately and unduly influence any of his behaviors.
Maybe the next part was wrong, at least by someone’s definition. Even though Reiki himself had suggested it, he felt something snag in the back of his mind as he closed his eyes and bowed his head to power down. Something that sounded like any number of his friends, warning him that, even if he knew that what he wanted did not include staying with the Court, it was so very dangerous to let anybody from the Negaverse see him as anything but Murikabushi. Something that sounded like Kerberos, probably making one of his big, sparkly, doll-eyed expressions of concern, wondering if there was something that Muri wanted to talk about.
Something that sounded like a cold b*****d Saturn Knight—or maybe an obnoxious, jumped-up Neptune Squire—snapping how they’d known that Chaos rats were all the same.
The shimmer flared up quick and swiftly died away, revealing an outfit that, in several aspects, very strongly resembled Murikabushi’s fuku. Black thigh-high stockings. A little black jumper-dress high enough to leave a slip of thigh visible. Pretty pink petticoats and a chest-bow (with a silver, heart-shaped buckle over the knot instead of a silver brooch). Pumps with little bows and rhinestones on the toes (these, unlike Murikabushi’s, were entirely pink). No extra layer of skirts sat below this dress’s skirt, though. Frankly, even for a set of coords like this, an extra skirt would’ve been excessive; the dress already had a basic black underlayer and three tiered layers done in wavy box-pleats (vs. the sharply angled box-pleats of Murikabushi’s purple skirt), black organza with a pattern of stitched-on pink hearts. The same organza and hearts covered the chest bow’s underlying pink fabric.
Reiki’s new outfit even had detached bell-sleeves like the way that Murikabushi’s Mirror overlay had developed after he’d powered up to super senshi. He’d made them ages before he’d learned that magical girls were real, though. Black and opaque, with pink ribbon both lining the swishy wrist-line and tied around the middle of Reiki’s biceps, keeping the sleeves in place.
“……Sort of won the lottery,” he said, half-laughing and smoothing out this new skirt, “when it comes to my fuku aligning with my usual sense of style.” Not that it would last when he wound up wearing white. Not that this win had been enough, in the long-run, to make up for everything about being in the Court that left Reiki feeling ill and miserable. Shoving those thoughts aside into the Shadow Realm for the time being, he looked back to Faustite with another smile. “It’s Reiki, by the way? When I’m like this. And, uh……where I like to go?”
He blushed and held his chin, idly tapping on his index finger on his cheek, trying to think of places he went as himself that weren’t school (library-dates could be fun, but not if someone doing a summer session class needed academic advice and turned to Reiki, even though they wouldn’t currently be in one of Obaasan’s classes), work (if Reiki got called to come backstage and save tonight’s show at Scandals despite not being part of it, he’d go, and he didn’t know how comfortable Faustite would’ve been with getting dragged back there; it could be a huge, overwhelming mess even if you were prepared to deal with it), Yuki’s (dangerous, given Reiki and Haruhi were going to move there and then ******** off from the Court), or therapy. Anywhere people would, for however long Faustite’s glamour lasted, please not need Reiki to fix their problems for them or talk about his own.
……Was it a sad reflection on Reiki’s life that he had so much trouble, coming up with places he liked that fit that description?
……Maybe. But it sounded like a sad reflection that Reiki could deal with later.
“There’s a little diner over in the gayborhood,” he finally suggested. “Jefferson Park’s the closest big landmark—” Excluding Scandals anyway, but Reiki didn’t know if Faustite knew the bar from a hole in the wall. “—a few blocks off from the right place, but it’s a nice walk.”Strickenized me @ brain-fog & muri like "was this really so hard, was the extended '404: brain not found' error really ******** necessary" crying emotion_bigheart
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2023 4:36 pm
Faustite couldn't help himself but chuckle in disbelief. "You look exactly the same." Normally there was an air of distinctly-less-impressive around anyone who gave up their power, whether due to bags under the eyes and a few zits, or awkward clothing, mussed hair, maybe they powered up in their pajamas, but Murikabushi — Reiki — suffered no such imperfections. He was actually quite surprised that he never encountered Reiki on the street somewhere and immediately pegged him for Murikabushi, so striking and obvious was the similarity. "Small wonder no one's found you out."
He was dimly aware of the challenge of being seen with Reiki, though it wasn't of a powered variety. People who were seen together tended to look like each other, he noticed. They dressed to similar vibes, which Faustite took to be expected in today's society. Maybe in a few years' time, couples or friends or interests or whatevers would be expected to go out in matching outfits, such that any onlookers would be able to tell who belonged with whom. Faustite was about to ******** that all kinds of up.
But there was no helping it. He nodded to Reiki's suggestion; he'd been through Jefferson Park enough times to be able to visualize it, and there were plenty of twisting little coves and glades in there that he could don his glamour with relative ease.
It left the problem of how to get them there without burning Reiki, however. This took a moment of contemplation before Faustite remembered his much more robust cape in his sovereign's uniform, and decided that was sufficiently fireproof that it would do. "Hold still," he instructed as he shifted to gain more power, then started wrapping the thick cape around Reiki's arm like a tourniquet that would guarantee someone to exsanguinate. When it seemed thick enough, he took up Reiki's arm and recalled the location.
An instant, almost imperceptible shift — little more than the wind being blocked by trees where it was once free to brush their skin, and they were there. Faustite let go and took a cursory look around. So far, no one in sight.
"Don't laugh," he warned. Not that watching skin crawl over his arms, legs, face, and clothes was anything but moderately horrific.
At the outset, Eion was shorter than Faustite. This was due entirely to the deceptive nature of footwear, for Eion wore chucks that had seen one too many Sharpies, which was quite unlike Faustite's extravagant, if mismatched, boots. Where Faustite wore an outfit that was both put together and bespoke for how it fit him — and his avian frame — perfectly, Eion fought a strange battle between paint splattered leggings that hugged every inch of his legs to a pair of green and black coats that were undeniably a few sizes too big, leaving the boy to look like a strange, unsuitable mannequin. The rest of him was decidedly plain, compared to his usual appearance — coal black eyes to match coal black hair, which had more wave to it than Faustite's did, and a closed demeanor that hinted at being uncomfortable in his own skin.
"It's Eion," he admitted, finding Reiki even taller than before. Hands found his pockets to hide from the sudden cold of a normal human body as he inwardly cursed his genetics. "Think the entrance is that way," he added with a quick nod.amorremanet no worries! a done tag is a delightful tag heart
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 1:35 pm
If Reiki had been inclined to laugh at any of what was happening around him, it would’ve been the experience of having his arm wrapped up in Faustite’s cloak. It came out of nowhere, and it hit him like absurdist humor: so ostensibly nonsensical that laughter felt the only sensible response. He smothered the impulse, though, as his brain caught up with Faustite’s. Experiential knowledge flared up in his memory, telling him that yes, this behavior did make sense and yes, it was necessary. He nodded as well, however briefly, just to confirm that he would hold still and not cause Faustite to set someone on fire when he didn’t intend to do so.
Maybe Reiki’s hand didn’t show the evidence anymore—between Kerberos’s magic, taking the cream Faustite had left as an indication of what to use, and having had several months in the interim, Reiki had gotten lucky with the burn in the long run—but he still recalled the pain, and the smell, and the desperate attempts to explain the injury away without either of his families getting too suspicious. And he recalled how Faustite had been so upset about Reiki deliberately doing something that had gotten him hurt, even if it had come out of a moment of carelessness and being distracted by Faustite seeming so unwell.
The process of watching Faustite’s glamour—of watching Eion—coalesce into being……Reiki doubted he’d forget that, either. Even seeming, from the outside, so seamless, the way the skin crawled onto him struck a chord inside Reiki that screamed wrong and unnatural. But then……that probably made sense, didn’t it? Faustite had only become Faustite through horrific means. At least, what precious little Reiki had heard sounded horrific; Faustite only being fifteen at the time made it even worse. Covering up the evidence of that horror, letting Faustite pass as fully human for his three hours, that probably required at least some degree of horror.
It’d be more unsettling if that had looked completely normal, Reiki told himself—and pushed the thought aside by giving Eion a small, soft, earnest smile.
“It’s nice to meet you like this.” Which might have been enough. But seeing the palpable discomfort (though not sure if he should more openly acknowledge it, or how to phrase it if he did), Reiki added, “Thank you…for letting me have that chance.”
Didn’t entirely seem fair, Reiki thought as he headed out of their little glade and nodded in the same direction that Eion had.… Didn’t seem fair that, in order for them to spend this time together, Faustite had to don Eion like a mask while Reiki got to finally take off the mask of Murikabushi.… But Reiki didn’t get to think too much about that, nor about getting to the diner.
Finding a youma out in the park was as common as breathing. The one out here tonight looked not entirely unlike an incredibly shaggy-furred, all-black honey badger, Reiki thought. Bigger than a normal honey badger, though. Wider, with longer legs and a teeter-totter, gamboling gait that inescapably reminded Reiki of a baby queen trying on her first pair of pumps. The tail coming off the thing reminded him more of a moray eel than any tail he’d ever seen on a mammal. Maybe the snout was a longer, as well? Whether it was or not, as the youma bounded toward them, it opened its mouth wider than seemed possible—some kind of unhinging jaw?
Also, there were the wings: sizable black bat wings, like the ones attached to Albite’s back, but significantly more raggedy-looking, as if they’d seen better days.
One of Reiki’s hands dropped, reaching instinctively—protectively—for Eion’s arm. The other dove into one of his skirt’s pockets, curling around the henshin pen. Even trying to duck out of the youma’s path, Reiki didn’t doubt that they might come over anyway. Could youma still recognize General-King Faustite when he’d put on the face of Eion?
Dusting a youma in front of the half-youma Boy Who Reiki Liked really didn’t strike him as a good start to a romantic date, even if done to protect him. Not that he wouldn’t protect Eion if necessary, but Reiki really, really hoped that it wouldn’t be.Strickenized muri plz calm down, snarky, snooty, and easily disappointed honey badger youma just wants to say “hi” =(
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2023 4:49 pm
"I guess so." It didn't seem like much of a chance to him. Maybe it was analogous to how someone might feel meeting someone else's ventriloquist doll, but that wasn't quite right. It was Faustite living inside of Eion, like wearing a wax visage or an intricate mask. Eion was how he passed for normal, how he blended in, as a default-looking boy with no backstory to lean on and no real traces of history to him. Surely a sham if examined too closely, but given how rare his sightings and how banal his activities, what purpose did anyone have looking into him?
Maybe it was sarcasm. Maybe it was a snide comment to underpin the fact that Faustite wasn't human anymore and would never be human, so seeing such a sham was nothing more than a poor taste curio, a means of distancing himself, in an experience that was supposed to connect him to someone else. A way for Reiki to say, you're pulling away, now we've walked ourselves back to introductions.
The thoughts had entangled him, leaving him following Reiki with a quiet acquiescence while he tried to separate himself from the monumental amounts of baggage that found their way into his orbit. Thus, when he did finally see the youma, it was long after Reiki noticed it. Likewise, it took him even longer to realize that he wasn't in a position to do anything about it.
A youma wouldn't recognize Eion, much in the same way that an officer wouldn't recognize Eion as someone holding any rank. And if he powered up, flashed his medals and told the furry little menace to ******** off, that would blow the three hours he would otherwise have had with Reiki. Date over, thanks for the memories, time to take a boy home because Eion neglected to realize that they began their date at 11:59 and the clock just struck midnight as they disembarked. That would leave command of the situation in Reiki's hands, who could presumably dodge back and forth between transformations as necessary.
Unfortunately, control the situation would mean dusting the youma. Send it back to the Rift for its crimes of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That sort of sucked all around.
On the other hand, the way that Reiki strove to protect him was so plainly delightful that he wasn't sure what to do or how to feel. Either he should feel rightly awful that this situation developed with him in it, or he should feel overjoyed for the simple fact of being protected by a boy, however extraneous that protection may be. It didn't matter to Eion if it was a pointless gesture, however; the simple fact of the gesture's existence was more than enough to say that, at least to Reiki, Eion was worth protecting. Even from his own kind.
"Hey," he called to the winged little youma, "piss off. Try that one street with all the bars, maybe. This one's mine." He didn't expect it to do much, but maybe youma were intuitive in a manner that agreed with glamour.amorremanet Ink from an Old Friend ;;Description ;; Magical ink that has been mixed with black and white pigments and tattooed over half of Faustite's body. Benefit ;; For the duration of his glamour, Eion will be perceived by youma as if he were powered up. The item's magic charges when he is Faustite.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
