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 Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 3:15 pm
Quote: Predatory Puddles (11) : Summer rains aren’t uncommon, so finding puddles dotting your path isn’t in itself particularly surprising or abnormal. However, as you walk past them, you feel the sensation of being watched, like eyes are on you. If you look into the puddles, you don’t see your reflection--nor the reflection of anything familiar to you. Instead, you see strange, decayed buildings, and odd, rotting plants. Something is watching you through the puddles, but before you can investigate, between one blink and the next, it’s all gone. When you look back, the puddles are oddly non-reflective, and then in the next blink, they’re all gone. The feeling of being watched doesn’t fade, though.
At least he continued getting good money as a drag artist, which meant that he apparently didn’t mind going to get Lete another milkshake as long as it got her to be quiet about wanting to go back to Mirrorspace. (He didn’t say as much—not out loud—but Muri also wasn’t particularly subtle about his feelings, and Lete had spent her entire life as a Youngest Sibling, so she knew all the right buttons to mash with Elder Siblings in order to Get Things from them.)
Unfortunately, Lete was also easily bored without somebody there for her to bother. So, she’d given up sitting on the picnic table where Muri had left her and taken to wandering around the park with no direction in particular. Everywhere she turned, it seemed that she ran into a damn puddle or other. Here a puddle, there a puddle, and even worse? The more of them Lete found, the more she felt as though something was watching her. Maybe somebody? Did it really matter, though? She was Being Watched, and for all she happily filed this away in her mental stash of ideas for Things She Could Somehow Work Into Her Podcast, in the moment? It was getting on her nerves and starting to make her skin crawl.
The next puddle that came across her path, Lete decided that she was truly sick of this. Stomping over to it, she folded her arms across her chest. Pouting like a b***h who meant business (because she very much wanted to believe that she did), Lete leaned over and looked down into the puddle—and almost immediately rerk!!’ed back in horror and disgust. ……Not that this stopped her from leaning back in to take a second look, but?? What the ******** was going on with this puddle??
Instead of showing Lete her reflection, it showed her an image of the city, overrun with plants that teemed with decay and undead life.…… Literally: what the ******** was going on here, and why couldn’t Lete bring herself to look away.
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Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 10:27 pm
Fang wasn't quite sure what to think about the happenings of the Star Fest. It was similar as last year's, but it still felt... strange. He didn't like it. Too much weirdness, when he was trying very hard to have a normal life on Earth. Which just seemed... out of the question for him. He saw a Dark Mirror Senshi staring at a puddle, seemingly freaking out, and he made a concerned, sympathetic whimpering sound in the back of his throat. Being good friends with Murikabushi predisposed him to being nice to them—they just seemed like a misguided lot in general, unlike the bloodthirsty Negaverse. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly as he approached her from behind, trying not to scare her.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2023 2:22 am
The White Moon aura thought they were clever as s**t, creeping up on Lete. And in fairness to them, they pretty much were. Lete could feel them getting closer—more powerful than Lete herself, but still sneaking up behind her like some kind of coward, ugh, those White Moon senshi truly had neither manners nor dignity—but she still couldn’t bring herself to look away from the puddle.…… It felt like something would leap out and attack her. Like this scene of death and decay would somehow come to life if she looked away, or if she did something wrong, if she gave it the smallest inroad to sneak past her awareness or <********, she did not know……
And then someone said something behind her.
Lete perked up. She didn’t process what they’d said, or anything about their stance, their voice, them in general. She just swiped her hand down through the air, loosely following the contours of their face and called out, “Sensory Decadence!”
—The regret was instantaneous.
Once again, Lete felt her magic swell up within her, full of power, rushing to her fingertips and ready to defend her……until it didn’t. Had everything gone according to plan, her magic should have lashed out and hit the White Moon senshi—she realized, in the brief moment before disaster struck, that he seemed to have wolf ears and a tail, so was he the senshi of furries or something?—but instead, the magic smacked back at Lete and the entire world around her caught fire. All her senses flared up at once, and before too long, some brief staggering proved entirely pointless. Her body gave out, and she toppled to the ground. Part of her wanted to be happy that she’d landed in soft grass—but how could she be? When even the softness felt like thousands of millions of hornets made out of ******** fire attacking every single nerve ending and WHY, GOD, ******** WHY???
………The crimson star-charm that glittered near where one of her hands had fallen provided some solace, Lete guessed. But not nearly enough to cancel out the WHY GOD WHY inherent in her magic beating her up like this.Spotting an emerald green star-charm on the floor of the diner made Reiki feel optimistic about how tonight might go, now that he’d done his standard visitation to Mirrorspace and gotten freed from that obligation for the evening. As he closed in on the little park pavilion where he’d left Lete, though, that optimism quickly dwindled.
Honestly, Reiki probably should have learned his lesson about telling Lete to sit on a picnic table and wait for him to get back. Admittedly, the first time, he hadn’t really known what to expect with her, and frankly, he sort of felt like the promise of a damn milkshake (one paid for by somebody else, no less) ought to have been enough reason for Lete to behave herself. But even though he now had precedent that said Lete’s “wild card” status meant she might ******** off and do something egregiously stupid, Reiki still found himself surprised and disappointed when he and the two milkshakes he had in to-go cups returned to the tables and a significant lack of Lete.
At least aura senses meant that finding the little brat wasn’t that difficult. Sure, not Reiki’s most favorite thing he’d ever done in his entire life. And yes, the presence of a White Moon Super aura did concern him—for all he knew, it might have been Angelica and her wild-a** hate-boner for an entire faction, all because she refused to get a grip, get a life, and get ******** over it about a romantic misunderstanding that had happened over a year ago, at this point—but Reiki breathed a sigh of relief when he closed in on both Lete’s aura and the White Moon senshi’s. Reiki recognized that predominantly orange fuku. He recognized those ears and that tail and that wild mane of hair.
“Fang! Hi!” Reiki called out, and smiled brightly……until he got close enough to see the rest of the scene: Fang on a pathway in the park, puddles all around him; and Lete, crumpled over in the grass, looking seriously worse for wear and more pathetic than Reiki had ever seen her. Hard to tell what, exactly, was going on with her? But from the outside, it seemed like she wanted to curl either in on herself or away from the grass. Her hands twitched randomly, tugging half-heartedly at the seafoamy green overlay that hung off of her fuku like sleeves. Every step that Reiki took toward her and Fang made her flinch and whimper, and the whimpering in turn made her grit her teeth like she desperately wanted to avoid crying.
She didn’t succeed in avoiding that, and when the tears spilled out onto her cheeks, she shrieked like she was playing The Wicked Witch of the West—not Elphaba in Wicked, but the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz, deeply important distinction—and someone had just doused her in water for her big death scene. Sure, she tried to choke back on the sound. She desperately fumbled to try and cover her ears, too. But it really didn’t seem to accomplish anything (or if it was accomplishing something, then Reiki had no earthly idea what that something was).
Looking down at her and drinking in the scene, Reiki wondered what the Hell was so goddamn hard for Lete to understand about Sit on this picnic table, don’t instigate anything, just wait for me and be nice to people. His smile dropped into a pensive, bemused frown. “Fang, is everything okay?” Well. Obviously not, since Lete was on the ground and not in a good way, but Reiki had to make sure that Fang wasn’t also hurt. “I mean, you clearly didn’t do anything, this isn’t how your magic works, but—”
A necessary clarification: some White Moon people didn’t like any Dark Mirrors, and after that run-in with Michel? Reiki didn’t know what Fang remembered from that night, if anything? But it probably didn’t hurt to make sure that Fang knew Reiki wouldn’t suspect him of hurting a Dark Mirror on purpose when he was in his right mind and uninfluenced by certain Valjeans who would remain nameless, but that was beside the point and furthermore, it Was Not Fang’s Fault, period, end discussion.
“What happened,” Reiki asked Fang gently, keeping his expression soft and sympathetic. “What did she do?”
The most obvious logical conclusion here was that Lete had done <******** something, and since Fang was clearly the only responsible adult who’d been present for whatever she’d done……? Only made sense to ask him for his side of things.
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Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2023 12:58 am
Fang winced, ears folding back when the Dark Mirror Senshi shouted her magic and it backfired, making her collapse. He crouched near her, but didn't reach out to try to help—it was magic, it would fade when it would fade. His ears perked back up when he heard someone else and he looked up at Murikabushi with big, sad eyes. "Shh," he whispered, holding a finger to his lips. The senshi seemed in an awful lot of pain. "Fang scared her. She use magic, hurt self." He wanted to help badly, but there was nothing he could do.
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Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2023 11:53 pm
Hearing Fang’s explanation, Reiki wanted very badly to groan, but he knew that doing so wouldn’t help any. Lete’s magic, from what he’d seen, seemed to set the senses on fire like a goddamn flambé. Everything flaring up all at once, no wonder it was painful. Too much additional noise would just cause more problems—as much as Reiki wanted to chew her out right ******** now for throwing around yet another attack on someone, totally unprovoked, and causing a ******** mess about it.
As she calmed down and at least progressively stopped twitching and making little noises of pain, Reiki did allow himself to sigh. “Lete, hey,” he said, keeping his tone soft like he’d done for………Amsvartnir.……… Months ago, at this point, but—oh, this grotsky little—“Hey, Fang? Can you please carry these milkshakes? I’ll carry her, get her out of the road.… Sorry I don’t have one for you, but I’ve got other stuff to share, if you want?”
And the longer Reiki held on to the milkshakes, the likelier it was that he’d grip them too hard and get the milkshakes all over his hands.
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 12:25 am
Fang hesitated, not sure if moving Lete would be good or bad—but the fear of cars won out and he nodded, taking the shakes into his hands and allowing Murikabushi to do what he needed, skittering backwards out of the road and back into the park. "Careful," he called out quietly, biting his lip. The guilt welled up in his chest—she wouldn't have hurt herself if he had not scared her. He pushed it down. Something else had already had her on edge, after all, and sometimes things like this just happened. He wanted to help her, very much, but Murikabushi probably knew best how to do that right now.
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2023 6:32 pm
Although Lete had heard the sound of people talking, somewhere above her head, she hadn’t been able to piece together what was being said. Not really. One voice, she didn’t recognize at all, and the other one, she felt fairly certain was Muri’s. The strong arms peeling her off the pavement and hoisting her up princess style were definitely his. If Lete hadn’t been able to tell from the weary, dramatic sigh that sounded well and truly done with her s**t, then she would’ve clocked it from how her head lolled into a very nice chest with a very lacy bow.
On the plus, her magic had worn off, turning the world down from “eleven magnified by several powers of ten” to something much more manageable. On the other hand, though, Lete wanted very badly for Muri to just take her to Mirrorspace and let her take a nap on his realm. As he gently eased her onto a picnic table, Lete could’ve happily taken a nap right there instead, if Muri was gonna be a little b***h about not wanting to go play in Mirrorspace. Maybe not the most comfortable nap that she’d ever taken, but it would’ve been a huge improvement on being, like, awake. Or cognizant of anything. Especially when Muri was radiating so many Extremely Disappointed Older Sibling vibes.
Even without all her senses flaring up like they had, Lete felt like ******** s**t.
More accurately, she felt ******** s**t that had gotten run over by a series of very large trucks, pancaked in a stampede, microwaved in the toxic cesspit at a 7-11 or a gas station, and then left out in the sun a day-and-a-half too long. Everything felt heavy and slow. She kept fighting her eyes, trying to make them just stay closed, while they patently refused to do so. Letting her hair fall across her eyes only helped so much, and with all the No, I Wanted The Opposite Of This energy of a fourth grader on the first day of school, Lete let out a soft, piteous groan.“You’ll live, princesé,” Reiki huffed, crossing one of his legs over the other. “Basic stage magic is usually only such a ******** in specific contexts where it goes very, very wrong.”
As Reiki well knew from experience.
Maybe he wasn’t giving Lete his best bedside manner ever? But he wasn’t being too harsh with her either, he felt. Sighing softly, he looked to Fang. “Can I have the one with the pink straw back, please? It’s strawberry flavored, if you want to try a sip first. Or I can just get you a sandwich out of my sub—”“Heuuunnnnngh,” Lete groaned, no more certain than anyone else what the ******** sort of noise she was making. “I’m down here dying and you’re just drinking your milkshake?”Reiki closed his eyes. Took a deep breath. Held it for a count of ten before letting it out. He didn’t owe Lete jackshit. He didn’t. He categorically did. not. owe her ******** anything. Certainly not any kind of in-depth explanation of what button she was pressing right now and how he would be sorely tempted to metaphorically break her symbolic fingers if she didn’t shut the ******** up and leave it alone.
Outwardly, though, he kept his tone measured and even as he told her, “You’re not dying; your magic backfired. It’s the same thing we’ve talked about with how your magic sometimes doesn’t go off correctly. And yes, until you’re ready to join us for the rest of the conversation? I am drinking my milkshake and sharing a sandwich with Fang.”“Who the ******** is Fang?!”“My friend, that’s who. The one you tried to attack before magically punching yourself in the face.”Lete whimpered. “He snuck up on me.…”“White Moon Knights have attacked me while I’ve had barely conscious civilians in my arms, people I was getting to the ER.” Or they’d just given him an utterly miserable ******** time while he’d had a barely conscious Fang in his arms, but who was counting. “And I still manage not to throw my magic at them unprovoked. It’s not hard, and I know damn well that your family raised you better than that.”
Not that he could say more about it without risk of Fang learning something that might’ve proven dangerous for Lete, Leandro, and their family. But……seriously? The Esparzas were an amazing family, Gabi had a whole massive network of support with all of them, and they had definitely raised her better than how she was choosing to act right now.
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2023 10:27 pm
Fang didn't want to try a sip of Muri's milkshake—Muri may have been fine with it, but Fang had learned a lot about germs and didn't want to get his friend sick on accident, so he handed over the shake, ears twitching as he listened to the argument. "Lete right," he said to Muri, brow furrowed in confusion. Why was he blaming Lete? That didn't seem right—Murikabushi was a righteous person, usually got all the details before saying these kinds of things, at least... Fang thought so. Then again, he didn't really know much about Lete himself, so if she had such a pattern of behavior.... Still. "Lete looked..." He made a blank face and waved his hand in front of it, then mimicked a frightened expression. "Then, when scare her, accident, wanted to help? She attack. Fair—many Order attack first, ask ques tions later. Michel asked question first, Muri no attack. Fang ask question first—but Lete was already..." He made the blank expression again, this time swaying for emphasis as he waved his hand in front of his own face and maintained the blank face. His wisp, who had shown up sometime in the middle of Fang's explanation, followed his swaying motions. "Spooked."
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