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 Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2024 8:39 am
Saturn Pages seemed to love finding Cryptomelane while he was out in town, minding his own business and trying to work.
Tonight, he’d gone down to the gardens of Prospect Park, with their gratuitous decorative statuary and the inexplicable faux-Grecian columns that held up nothing and thus, served no purpose. They simply stood there, looking fancier and more elevated than a Destiny City park had any right to look. Likewise, the statues gave this part of the park an atmosphere more akin to an open-air museum, and perhaps that was what somebody at the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation had intended. Only the fountain full of people’s discarded coins—all of them likely thrown away on wishes that people wanted divine intervention to make happen for them, unwilling to work hard for themselves—kept the park looking like a park.
Cryptomelane frowned up at the piece depicting one of the city’s founders, or early mayors, or something similar. Really, what gave that statue the right to look so satisfied with itself? Or what had given the man himself such a right?
Nevertheless, Prospect Park sat near a decent number of bars and nightclubs, and so plenty of drunk people passed through. None of them paid Cryptomelane much, if any, mind—and so much the better for him. Very few of them lingered long enough to drain much energy off of, but each added to Cryptomelane’s energy orb for the night. Thus, he decided that he didn’t mind their presence in his general vicinity. They provided energy to help fuel the Negaverse and all of its endeavors, and none of them seemed to notice any ill-effects of being drained. Any who seemed like they might notice largely chalked it up to exhaustion kicking in along with whatever alcohol they’d consumed.
Before too long, though, Cryptomelane felt something thwap ever so gently between his shoulder-blades.
He heard some trembling voice tell him, “Hey! Hey, you can’t just take that energy from people! What gives you the right?”
Dimly, Cryptomelane supposed that he deserved such questions in return, if he was going to ask similar things about inanimate statues.
Outside his own mind, though, he silently whipped around to face his opponent. They’d denied him the same consideration, but Cryptomelane had to be better than such cowardice. He noticed the scarlet Saturn symbol emblazoned on a violet waistcoat as his hand dove into the Page’s chest. Twisting his hand, squeezing around the Page’s starseed, he took in some of the details of their face: skinny, pale but not unhealthy, a sort of elfin look about them with a long, black braid.
“If I may answer with a question,” Cryptomelane snarled, “who gave you the right to ask?”
He ripped out the starseed, admiring its beautiful, violet glow. As the Page crashed down to the cobblestone path, Cryptomelane noticed that their weapon was a silk folding fan.
Hrm. How quaint.
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2024 2:15 pm
Selenga enjoyed patrolling, most of the time. It tended to give him much needed privacy with his own thoughts, to be able to talk (quietly) with himself, and on occasion, take out some emotions on a particularly fighty type of Negaverse Agent. It seemed like tonight was going to be one of those nights, because he felt a Page and a Lieutenant nearby—and as he arrived on scene, peering at the downed Page (who looked so much like Kaifeng, the braid, the fan weapon, that his heart immediately leapt in his chest), the starseed in the Lieutenant's hands— Well, he wasn't exactly sure what came over him, but he growled and threw himself bodily at the Lieutenant's back, wrapping his spindly limbs around the guy's torso and (and this part, he felt rather silly for) shoving his flower weapon in the guy's face to try and annoy him.
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Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2024 12:56 am
As he considered the starseed, Cryptomelane knew that he ought to move it to his subspace pocket (the primer for new agents recommended keeping a supply of them saved up for future use, something that seemed quite smart to do). A rather pressing necessity, since Cryptomelane felt another Page’s aura coming closer. He didn’t ignore it, per se, because that would have been unconscionably reckless. But perhaps the Page would be smart and leave well enough alone.
Doing so also would have left Cryptomelane some time to appreciate the Saturn Page’s looks. They really did spring up like weeds, didn’t they? How many of these specific purple and red-wearing nightmares had Cryptomelane already encountered? Too many, he knew that much (and not all of them had gone down as easily as this one……some had beaten him, though he wouldn’t admit it).…… But, oh. Oh, the other Page out here tonight had some sort of delusion that they might come and play the hero.
Or at least Cryptomelane assumed so from the fact that the aura had gotten stronger, had come closer to him. Rolling his eyes, he stashed the starseed in his pumpkin bucket. Subspace would have been preferable, but—ack!
Cryptomelane grunted at the impact of a human body flying into his back with extreme prejudice. Whoever the Page were, they didn’t weigh very much. If Cryptomelane could get the right grip and exert the right leverage, then ********, what the—for the love of—!!
Whatever stupidity was being waved in his face, it made Cryptomelane flinch and hiss like a particularly upset kitten. Careful not to swing his pumpkin bucket around, lest the starseed go flying and end up who even knew where, Cryptomelane reached back like he meant to scratch the back of his own neck. Finding a ponytail, he gripped on tight and yanked as hard as he could.
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Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:26 am
Selenga gasped when his hair was yanked and tried very hard not to think about how he was going to have think about that later, and kept slapping Cryptomelane in the face with his flower. His free hand came up and pinched hard at the tendon in Cryptomelane's wrist, trying to force the Agent to drop Selenga's hair. Thank God for his insane leg and core strength keeping him upright on the Agent's back—riding horses for a living made this not too dissimilar from riding a very, very upset horse. "Give the starseed back," he snarled in the agent's ear, resisting the urge to just bite into it and tear it off.
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Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 12:34 pm
The firm pinch made Cryptomelane wince, but with his teeth grit, he kept his grip on the Page’s hair. Snarling right back at his assailant, he tugged harder, as if he meant to yank the ponytail clean out of the Page’s scalp. Pain didn’t bother Cryptomelane, not really. He knew better than most that pain was transient, and that the physical variety of pain mattered the least of all. What did physical pain matter when compared to the onslaught of accusations one could not disprove even when one was innocent, or being made to distrust one’s own perceptions of the world?
“If you want it so badly,” Cryptomelane hissed at the Page, “then try. harder.”
Honestly, it was almost offensive, how many of these White Moon idiots felt so entitled to have their way about things.
Glancing back over his shoulder, though, Cryptomelane did give the Page one thing he’d wanted. He let go of the Page’s hair, only to grab his calf instead. With that anchor keeping them together, Cryptomelane threw the force of his own legs into moving backward, trying to crash into a tree behind him in the hopes that the Page would take the lion’s share of the pain.
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Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2024 12:18 pm
Selenga was a little bit peeved that his wrist pinch didn't work to make the guy release his hair—and yelped in pain at the yank that followed. "Trust me, I will," he growled, leaning in and—and—stars of pain exploded behind his eyelids as they screwed shut from the suddenness of being slammed into a tree. "b*****d," he gasped, tightening his grip and refusing to let go. But then, an idea sparkes—he'd seen the agent slide the starseed into his stupid little pumpkin bucket, so he kicked at it, hoping to make it fly up—and the starseed out.
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Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2024 2:07 pm
While the nerve pinch didn’t get Cryptomelane to let go of the intrepid little Page’s hair, the kick that flew toward his pumpkin bucket did. No—no—he had already lost another starseed recently (willingly surrendered, he reminded himself without prompting, gave it up and ran away like some coward……some weakling……)…… Even considering the starseeds racked up and stashed in his subspace, Cryptomelane couldn’t afford to let this one go.
In his panic, he dropped not only the Page’s hair but also the pumpkin bucket. The Page’s kick connected, punting Cryptomelane’s pumpkin bucket away. From the force of it, the pumpkin bucket sailed over to the fountain and spun upside down. Glittering in the lamplight, the Saturn Page’s starseed dropped from the bucket. Both the starseed and the pumpkin bucket plummeted into the water, into the morass of wishing coins. Cryptomelane gasped and his eyes went wide, and part of him was just glad that the Page on his back couldn’t see (probably).
“No!” Cryptomelane snarled, more anxiety than he wanted to admit sneaking into his voice. With both his hands freed up, he clawed at the Page’s legs, trying to get a solid hold so he could rip them off and toss the Page down to the ground. He didn’t manage to grab on properly, but—he couldn’t let the starseed go. Not without a fight. “No!”
With the Page still on his back, Cryptomelane tore off toward the fountain. He’d scramble in there and dig through every single coin to retrieve the Saturn Idiot’s starseed if he needed to do that.
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Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2024 4:01 pm
Selenga decided to jump off the Agent's back, now that the seed had been freed. He needed to try to find it—or... starseeds would zip back in if the subject was close enough. He looked to the Page on the ground and made a quick decision, throwing the Page over his shoulder and hauling a** to the fountain. Carefully, he dumped the page in and started kicking everything about, hoping against hope that the seed would just... manage to get kicked near enough to the Page that it would just woosh in and then he wouldn't have to worry so much anymore. He completely ignored the Agent at this point—as least, physically. He didn't need to start hitting or kicking him again.
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Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2024 4:21 pm
“No!”
Fury blazed through Cryptomelane as his own scheme turned against him: trying to tear the Page off of him only helped the Page in escaping, which put him right in place to snatch up the Saturn Page. Even with the added weight of another person, the Ida Page moved fast enough to beat Cryptomelane to the fountain. (Now that Cryptomelane could see him, he perfectly recognized the Ida colors and symbols that had been present on Page Sonora, but recognizing the Knightly faction to which this Page belonged didn’t help him feel better about the impending loss that throbbed in the air before him.)
The Saturn Page had barely been in the water two seconds before their starseed, loosed from Cryptomelane’s grip and hold, rushed back to them. Coughing and spluttering, the Saturn Page returned to life—and seething, Cryptomelane retreated into the trees. After powering down, back into Preston, he stormed through them, looking for the potential exit that was the furthest from the site of this horrific failure. He’d need to go to a different park, a different hunting ground. He’d need to double his quota for tonight, just to prove that he was not a failure, as this loss to some jumped up, ponytailed Ida Page suggested.
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Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2024 4:29 pm
Selenga relaxed as the Agent finally accepted defeat and ******** off to who knows where—Selenga certainly didn't care. He looked over the Page, carefully ensuring they were safe and well enough to make their way home, and then made his own way home. He needed a good, long sleep after tonight.
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