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 Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2024 3:02 pm
This new world was...strange. Madriu wasn't sure he really understood where he was, or what he was doing, or...any of it. He knew for certain that none of the people here looked like him--or like Arcalians--which meant that he was, by his guess, very, very far from home. So, he needed to stay out of sight, and look after himself, because there was no way to know who might look after him.
He was no stranger to having to scavenge for food and shelter--that had become the norm in the empty centuries on Madriu. And it hadn't been too hard to find an abandoned house--clearly neglected for years, probably dangerous, definitely falling down, but warm and sheltered enough for Madriu to start building himself a little shelter inside.
Food...was more of an active consideration. But apparently the inhabitants of this planet were quite wasteful, because he had discovered that he could often find perfectly good food in the garbage of their eating and food-selling establishments. He just had to be careful not to get caught.
Which was why, in the middle of the night, he was halfway into a large metal waste container, pawing for food that seemed relatively safe to eat.
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2024 7:08 pm
Saiph wasn't quite sure what she'd been expecting after indulging in such a long period of inactivity and finally powering back up.
Someone who felt and looked like a senshi dumpster diving had never made the bingo card. And yet, she thought, here we are. She wasn't entirely sure what the best course was here. Did she pass by? Say something? Hide somewhere and watch like some weirdo? For a moment, she was frozen. Then, the part of her that didn't currently hate all the things took over and she got a little closer before clearing her throat delicately.
"If you've lost something," she began, "I can help you look for it. If you like, I mean." Then, natural curiosity seized the wheel and she moved closer. "Have you lost something? You're up to date on your shots right? I don't know if senshi magic can help against tetanus."
She tried to imagine how that might look, a kid like her taking someone who looked like a wholeass grown up to the ER for a shot. Yeah, that might raise questions. Questions were to be avoided. It was safer for everyone that way.
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2024 7:41 pm
Oh. Good. There was someone else here. Strictly speaking, this was probably undignified, beneath a Senshi, et cetera, a dozen voices that sounded like all the others that had constantly told him to shape up, straighten up, be respectful....
Alas, a thousand years of scavenging had cured him of the ability to give a s**t.
"Didn't lose anything, don't need help." He came up out of the trash receptacle, ears twitching, and turned to face the person who'd spoken--a fellow Senshi. A young one, still a child. Still in training, likely. "I don't know what shots or tetanus are, but I'm sure I can handle it."
There was some sort of unidentifiable garbage on his jacket--disgusting. He took a moment to take a deep breath and focus, tugging on it and letting his fuku refresh itself.
"You shouldn't be out alone. There's Chaos here." Wherever here was.
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2024 8:06 pm
Didn't know what shots or tetanus were...?
"Well, don't you just live a blessed life," she snarked. Any further thoughts of sarcasm were cut off at the metaphorical knees the moment Saiph caught sight of the twitching ears. The mess from the dumpster was a very, very minor thing compared to those ears. Not cat-like... She could feel her brain erroring out.
Just what had been happening while she'd been out of service?!?
"I don't think you could handle tetanus," she began weakly. "It's pretty nasty even for people with immune systems from here. Why do you have wolf ears," she blurted out. Only the fact that this person didn't feel wrong kept her from slinging out magic in self defense. But just because he didn't feel wrong didn't mean he was right either.
"Of course there's Chaos here," she huffed. "I've been doing this for years"
She decided it was better to shut her mouth now. Let him wonder what she meant. With any luck, he'd think she meant that she talked to dog-dudes on the regular. She was almost sorry that Cuan hadn't come with her. Cuan would have lost her mind with this one. Then again, Cuan watched a lot of weird and questionable stuff. Maybe it was better that the sci-fi fanactic wasn't here.
This was not how her first night back in the saddle was supposed to go.
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2024 8:51 pm
Madriu's ears dropped, and he crossed his arms. At least he had a little more information, now--tetanus was a disease, and "shots" must be something that prevented it. He'd have to find a way to learn more, even if that was difficult.
"I've lived for significantly longer than I ought, so blessed might be one word for it, yes," Madriu deadpanned. He would have to think, to be sure how long--time had started to blur, after a while. That probably wasn't what she meant, of course, but....well. Anyway.
"I have wolf ears because I'm Madriuan. All my people have--" He stopped. That...was not the right word. "Had them." They'd had more contact with the wider universe, once. But perhaps in the centuries since they'd been locked off, they'd been...forgotten.
It only made sense.
"In any case--where is here?" He might as well ask, get himself oriented, get more information. "And how long have you been a Senshi for? I'm surprised you're not more used to seeing other species." Unless Madriu wasn't the only planet that had been closed off. Unless things had changed more than he'd thought they had. A sobering thought.
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Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2024 10:51 am
Saiph had inched closer and closer, fascinated by the other senshi (he had to be a senshi even if he had wolf ears). But even though she was getting distracted by watching his ears move, she noted how quickly he'd switched from have to had when talking about his people.
Which meant... he might be the only Madriuan left. No wonder he seemed cranky. And if he'd been alive longer than he thought he ought to have been. Oh. Oh hell.
"You're all alone, aren't you," she said softly, sympathy writ large over her face. Still, he was asking her questions and if he wanted to focus on that, she would try her best to be helpful.
"Well, here, specifically, is Destiny City. It's just a city, though. But the planet we're on is called Earth. And I've been a senshi for four or five years now, I'm what's known in polite company as a Chibi Senshi."
As for other species, well, she knew he didn't mean Earth lifeforms. But he acted like seeing people from other worlds was a completely normal occurrence. Which for him, it might have been at one point.
"As far as I've ever seen, people are the only sapient species on Earth. Other than Mauvians. I've have a friend slash guardian who's Mauvian and she's never said anything about other species that I can remember."
Which really meant nothing since Cuan was very young and might not have known herself.
"My name is Saiph by the way and I know you said you don't need help and I don't want to trample boundaries, but I really, really think you need to talk to some of the older senshi or a Knight or Mauvian or something. Like you said, Chaos is here. I'd prefer it is it didn't eat you alive because you don't know how things work here."
The words had tumbled out in a rush, but rang with sincerity. Saiph was in over her head on this one and she didn't mind admitting it. Besides, Cuan would kill her if she let an actual real life alien guy come to harm on her watch.
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2024 10:59 pm
Madriu's ears wilted, when she pointed it out. It was something he had known, had come to live with, but that didn't make it easier.
"Yeah. I have been for a long time," he said, looking away. Her sympathy was almost too much to bear. He didn't need sympathy. He needed his people back, his family, his Anthy--but no sad-faced Chibi was going to fix that. They were all gone.
Earth, though. That was good to know. He was...pretty damn far from home, then. Star systems away, really. He'd never thought much of Earth, back when he'd had more contact with the wider universe--Knights came from there, or had their base there, or something, he wasn't a Knight and most of his exposure to them had come from associating with the Nameless and the Knights in that messy little band of mercenary ********, he missed them too.
"I know what Chibis are," he said. "I used to be one. Lotta Senshi I know started out that way. Most worlds want their magical protector Awakened as early as possible." She could consider that a history lesson, if she wanted, he supposed. "But it sounds like that's not the case anymore. You've only got the two species running around?"
How much had happened? How many worlds had fallen, like Madriu?
"I'm Madriu," he introduced himself, because it was polite or whatever, "and don't worry about me. I'll figure things out for myself." He paused, briefly. "....Have you heard of a Sailor Arcalís?" Maybe Anthy's reincarnation was here, if there were so many Senshi.
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Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2024 6:26 pm
Well, Cuan would find that interesting, at least. That chibis weren't some new need. It mad her sad though. All those kids who may not have gotten the chance to be a kid. She definitely wondered if the cat who'd woken her up had been in the right after all.
"As far as I know? Yes, only the two. But I'm just one person. Like I said, maybe one of the older senshi or knights will know something more."
Saiph nodded to acknowledge his introduction and then snorted in mingled irritation and amusement. What was with grown ups thinking that they didn't need or shouldn't ask for help? It was just silly.
"If I didn't worry or care," she began somewhat acerbically, "I wouldn't be much better than the Negaverse. You have someone standing in front of you," she continued, "who has zero horses in this race and is more than willing to help you look for answers and advice that might be useful and you're being all stubborn and stoic."
Sighing loudly to signify her annoyance, Saiph relented slightly and Madriu asked about Sailor Arcalis. Planets didn't have more than one senshi, so they must be another alien and probably someone who had been Madriu's friend.
"I haven't, but I also didn't know people like you existed."
She went silent, chewing on her thumbnail as she thought. She hated the thought of someone disliking her, but she decided she'd take the risk and drive her point home.
"But that doesn't mean another senshi hasn't," she wheedled. "Honestly, there's no shame or harm in letting me try to help. And really, would you rather me or some crazy Negaverse senshi who wouldn't care about you and only see you as someone to corrupt or kill?"
It was the best and only argument she had. Sure, Ilmare had been kind to her in that weird village. But that was a one-off. She knew other corrupted senshi wouldn't have been so kind. Who knew what their reaction to an honest to goodness alien would be.
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Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2024 10:18 pm
Madriu nodded, filing away that little bit of knowledge. What that suggested about the state of the universe was...bad. And he could hope that maybe Saiph just wasn't aware, but that seemed a little less than likely.
He took a breath. She was a child. She probably honestly meant well. Butt he concept of tying himself down with debts on a strange planet with people he didn't know--no, Madriu was not interested in that.
His ears flicked, unhappily, pointing down and back, and his tail swished in discomfited agitation. "I'm not your responsibility. I'm not anyone's responsibility. And I want to get by on my own."
Not pleasant, no, but none of the people he wanted to be close to--that he would be willing to trust--were around anymore.
"Anyway, I don't know if Arcalís is like me." He hoped, truly, that Arcalís had gotten to rest, these last thousand years. He deserved that kindness, no matter how much Madriu wanted to see Anthy again. "But fine, maybe someone else would know." Ugh, the idea of asking a virtual stranger for help ground up against everything he was, and it made his skin crawl to think of it. "If you could just. Ask around. I'd appreciate it. But I already know to watch myself around your world's weird Chaos people. Ran into one, she sucked, don't want to repeat the encounter."
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2024 10:03 am
Saiph visibly relaxed when he mentioned having run into a someone from the Negaverse and disliking the experience. Smiling brightly, she nodded as Madriu spoke.
"They feel so wrong," she murmured. "Still gotta be careful though since they can grab you and corrupt you and if they're strong enough, Cuan says it's impossible to fight back."
Shaking herself to be rid of the unpleasant thoughts, Saiph snorted again and wrinkled her nose at the older senshi. "Well, I don't want you as a responsibility since I ain't your momma! But senshi should be able to help each other as friends or at least allies, right?"
Suddenly sensitive to the thought that Madriu wasn't strange and stoic so much as hyper independent, Saiph decided she needed to be careful. He seemed so unhappy with the thought of anyone helping him. It seemed weird to her, but she didn't know what his life had been like. He had his reasons and she would do her best to respect that.
"No strings attached," she stated. "I just like trying to be helpful and I can't resist learning new things."
Pausing, she pulled out her phone and began typing a reminder to herself to ask Cuan about a Sailor Arcalis. And alien senshi. Then, struck by a thought, she looked up.
"Mind if I add you to my contacts? We should swap info so I can tell you if I find anything out for you. And I promise I won't text you randomly or anything. You do have a phone, right?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2024 11:48 pm
Madriu felt a moment of physical illness, at the thought that the Negaverse could apparently just...take you. Remake you. Turn you into one of their walking puppets.
He was used to Chaos, but he was used to his homeworld's Chaos. The way it worked was different--it withered crops, dried up the sky, created storms the likes of which he'd never seen before. But it dfidn't...corrupt people. Not like this...Negaverse.
"Mm. Allies, I guess," Madriu admitted, ears flicking back down. He'd had those, before. The Nameless. They'd even sort of been friends, if he was willing to stretch. And then, Anthy...
He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
"...Fine. You seem very serious about this." His ears drooped, and his tail swayed a little, guiltily. "But no. I don't have a phone. I....don't even know what that is." Some sort of communication device, it seemed? But not one he was at all familiar with.
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Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2024 6:47 pm
Saiph tossed her own phone towards him and grinned.
"Damn right, I'm serious about this. I want to help and protect people. It's a feeling deep inside, you know? And this is a phone. Pretty handy for keeping in touch."
Moving a little closer, she eyed his tail. How on earth did he sit down without it getting in the way? Somehow, she rather thought he'd find it pretty rude if she asked. Much as she might want to. He was her first alien after all.
"The cats can make 'em special for you. Henshin pens too, if you need one. If you want, no pressure on this, I can meet you somewhere in a few days and bring Cuan. She'd be happy to whip up a phone for you, but only if you want. See this little icon?" she asked, now close enough to point out things on her phone. "Don't touch it now, but if I ever needed help, I could push that and it would send an alarm out along with my location. Like i said, pretty handy. And the cats are always working on upgrades to help us do our jobs better."
She personally found the phones useful enough. But Madriu might not. But she'd at least made the offer and gotten him to reluctantly allow her to help.
It was something.
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Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2024 3:47 pm
Madriu caught the odd little device, turning it over in his hands. Sleek and elegant, and seemingly quite straightforward--it reminded him of some of the things he'd seen out of Mercury, the fancy technology the elites on Arcalis had loved to import to show off their power.
"You know," Madriu said, idly, "that kind of attitude is always what a Senshi was supposed to be. Not everybody always lived up to it, but I think you've got the idea, kid." He nodded along with her explanation, careful not to touch any of the things on the screen itself, just so he didn't set anything off by accident. Once she was done, he offered the phone back to her. Getting one of his own seemed like a good idea--maybe there would be some way to ask if anyone had seen Arcalis that way. Even if Anthy wasn't around anymore, meeting his reincarnation...would probably do something to soothe some of the empty ache that had settled in Madriu's chest since they'd been parted.
"I think I'd like to meet Cuan, yeah," he agreed. Knowing a Mauvian was always helpful, and it was pretty unlikely he'd find any of the ones he met before, unless it was by pure luck. So no reason to not at least get some help from a new one. "I'm set up not far from here, so we can meet here again?" Probably with less garbage-diving next time.
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Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2024 4:14 pm
It was a silly thing, but Saiph felt a little ball of warmth in her chest when Madriu almost-sort of praised her. But it was nice to have an adult acknowledge her like that.
Practically beaming, she took her phone back and tucked it away safely.
"Back here works just fine for me. I can be back with Cuan in three days."
She'd be back hell or high water just to see the guardian cat's reaction to Madriu. She had a feeling that it would be interesting. Possibly even enlightening. In the meantime, she was mentally cataloging this area so she could find it again easily.
"I'm glad I met you," Saiph said earnestly. "And I promise I'll bring Cuan to meet you."
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