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 Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 5:57 pm
A youma?
Reims could sense it close by. He frowned with concern, because a youma close by definitely wasn’t ideal. He’d tracked down Evan’s food truck with his app before he headed out for the evening, and sent him a text that he was in the area and might stop by.
But it was getting late… maybe Evan had already left. If he hadn’t been delayed by that other Squire he’d met--
But as he came into view of where Evan’s food truck usually was -- it was right there!
Along with something lurking in the shadows nearby. A big something. With glowing green eyes.
And it was too close to the food truck. Reims could feel his blood turn cold, his eyes darting between the figure in the shadows and the food truck with its engine still rumbling and light pouring out of the front window.
He… he hadn’t been waiting for him this whole time, had he? And now he was potentially in danger--!
Reims darted forward with his sword brandished like a baseball bat. The green eyed youma had already caught sight of him, and when he was close it swiped at him with long talons attached to molting and decaying wings. Its face didn’t even look like an animal. Instead, some amalgamation of bird and beast.
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 6:35 pm
Almost as soon as Reims arrived, another energy signature flared up nearby. From behind the food truck, an Eternal Senshi–who was visibly surprised to see a Squire there–bolted to the youma.
He almost tripped over himself in surprise but caught himself well before he was too thrown off balance. He saw the Squire swing, he saw the youma lash out.
The youma was disgusting and Malus’ low opinion of it showed on his face. On most evenings, he would have tried to coax the youma away, tried to find some semblance of humanity left behind. He’d already given up on that when the youma tried to attack him through the open food truck window. He’d fended it off, with a hot pan, and there were a few knives and sandwiches scattered around outside the food truck from where he’d put up a good effort.
He thought he’d scared the youma off. Instead, it had just been lured away by another Squire. Malus hadn’t wanted to power up in front of it, just in case it shared eyes with another or would remember his face. He was grateful the Squire had shown up when he did.
“Careful!” he called, but didn’t clarify if he meant the youma, or his magic.
Quote: Eternal Sailor Attack: Trail of Glass Large, colorful glass spikes begin to rapidly pop up in a ten foot radius around Sailor Malus. The glass spikes grow at all angles and can grow up to eight feet tall and vary in thickness. The landscape becomes extremely dangerous to travel through as sharp, exposed edges. Thin glass can be easily broken but spikes will continue to grow over any area it can for the 45 second duration of the magic. This magic moves with Malus; the glass spikes will only grow in areas he is actively in, but will remain for the duration of the magic. These spikes are meant to hinder movement but can cause damage; a character may become sliced or skewered by the spikes and can either feel the sensation of pain (but suffer no actual damage) until the magic ends, however all damage is at the player's discretion. A player may also choose to take lasting damage, but this is entirely up to them. This magic can be used once.
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 6:41 pm
A Senshi?
Reims stared in momentary surprise, but he couldn’t look over at the other for very long. Not when the youma was still trying to attack them. And not when the Senshi was using his magic.
It was impressive and breathtaking to experience. A strange flutter of excitement filled his chest as the glass spikes shot up from the ground, effectively slicing through the youma. Almost impaling him as well, but he quickly jumped back in time, thanks to the Senshi’s warning.
There were gashes in his sleeve from where the youma had caught him with its talons, but any pain he felt was dulled by adrenaline and, as he looked from where the youma was quickly being turned into dust to the open window of the food truck, panic.
He knew it was probably rude of him to leave the Senshi to finish off the youma, but he had more important things to worry about. He already had a horrible, sinking feeling in his gut at the sight of the food and knives scattered on the ground--
Reims turned on his heel to dash up to the truck. He dropped his sword and his hat fell off as he jumped up to try and get a better look through the order window.
“Ev--!” he started as he held himself up by his forearms on the counter to peer inside. His face drained of color as he observed the workstation in disarray but with Evan nowhere in sight.
Maybe-- maybe he escaped! Maybe he ran to avoid the youma?? If the youma managed to get his starseed or energy, his body would still be there, right? There was still hope then--
“Please, I need your help,” he called to the Senshi in his panic, dropping back down to the ground and looking desperately around for any sign of his friend. “A civilian is missing-- he owns the food truck. Short. Black hair.” That was good enough to start with, right?
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 6:47 pm
The senshi froze; his eyes snapped from the Squire to the truck and then back again. “Okay,” he said, but hadn’t fully snapped back yet. Ev meant Evan, probably. Did he know any Squires of–
What was that symbol? No, he didn’t even know the symbol.
He was as desperate to get out of Malus’ uniform as the Squire seemed to be to find Evan, but Malus needed to clean up before Riker–
He stopped moving for a split second and it felt like his brain fizzled out. Of course he’d assumed Riker knew more than he wanted to say out loud, he’d had an inkling that he wasn’t just some oblivious civilian in all of this. Maybe Riker suspected him of the same. He’d dropped clues, but only enough that he could have feigned ignorance in a worst case situation.
“He was throwing knives at it, the youma didn’t get in the truck,” Malus said quickly. “He’s okay, you don’t have to worry. Are you friends?”
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 7:02 pm
He saw him? He was okay?? How was he not supposed to worry when he had no idea where he was?
Reims grit his teeth as he paused from rushing into the bushes where the youma had been lurking, about to start calling Evan’s name. This Senshi saw him throwing knives at the youma, but wouldn’t tell him where Evan went?
“Yeah,” he snapped at the Senshi with the cool glass magic. No matter how cool his magic was, Reims couldn’t help the irritation that welled up in his panic. How was he supposed to know that Evan was okay? What if he had been injured and needed help?
“He’s really important to me, so I’d like to find him in one piece. Please. If you saw which way he went--”
His heart was racing. If he hadn’t been distracted before. If he hadn’t stopped -- he might have been there before all of this happened.
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 7:11 pm
Who did Evan know that he was really important to? Was he really important to Riker? Oh, he looked so worried. Malus almost blurted out his identity. “Hey,” he tried to sound reassuring. “He’s okay, I promise. Just take a breath, okay? And show me your arm. Your sleeve is all torn up, are you bleeding? There’s a first aid–”
He cleared his throat. “I’ve got a first aid kit, I mean. He’s fine, I promise. But let me worry about you for a minute. Please. And–anyway, you wouldn’t want him to see you covered in blood, right? I’m sure he’d just worry. And if he asks, what are you going to tell him happened? Oh, I mean. Unless he knows you’re a Knight.”
He tried not to sound too fussy–he should just fess up and say that he was Evan! He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more but the words just wouldn’t come out. But…
Riker kept a lot of secrets, too. All of those injuries he had probably could have come from fighting. He could have been reluctant to try and explain that to Evan.
And yet, with a brother like Riker’s, Malus couldn’t help but worry things weren’t just that simple.
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 7:20 pm
“You know him? A friend of his?” Now it was Reims’s turn to try and figure out if this guy was a friend of Evan’s or if he was just lying.
He said Evan was okay. And he-- oh… he seemed to know that Evan would worry. Reims still felt like he was on high alert, and had maybe been pacing a bit as he tried to figure out which way to start looking for Evan. But when his arm was mentioned he glanced down at it.
“Oh…”
There was a gash or two that soaked his jacket with blood. The white shirt underneath was already saturated.
“This is nothing,” he shrugged, reaching up to tug at the fabric, hoping to use it to mop up some more of the blood and wincing as he did so.
But it was nothing. He’d had so much worse than a couple gashes from sharp talons. The scratches across his cheek were shallow, but there would be bruising that usually lasted much too long, in his opinion.
He was still on edge, but with nowhere to go, he relented. At least for the moment. And started trying to tug off the sleeve of his jacket with no luck in tearing the fabric. Not with one hand at least.
“I… n-no… he doesn’t know. I just wanted to make sure he was okay. I was supposed to meet him, but…” This was okay. It wasn’t as though this Senshi knew who he was, just as he didn’t know the Senshi. He didn’t want to freak Evan out by showing up as a knight, anyway.
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 7:25 pm
Well, that was that. Malus was only expecting Riker. He’d seen the text message. His expression softened again, but Riker seemed so much more honest like this. He wondered if it was because he didn’t know who Malus was, or if it was because he thought Malus didn’t know who he was.
“Okay, that’s not nothing, I can smell the blood.” Well, he could see it, but he was making a point. “Don’t lie about when you’re hurt, if you don’t take care of it you’ll get an infection and have to go to the hospital and that’s embarrassing. When the doctors start asking you ‘how did this happen’ and ‘why didn’t you come in’ and you don’t have an answer? And you don’t want to scar.”
Well, maybe he did; he didn’t know what the kids thought was cool these days.
“He’ll be worried if you don’t show up, especially if there was a youma in the area. Come on. Let’s go inside. We’ll power down so we don’t attract any attention. There’s a sink in there and better lighting, let me fix you up real quick. Don’t argue, the faster we get that looked at, the faster you can spend more time worrying about your friend. You–that thing didn’t get you on the face, that doesn’t look fresh. Was that another youma or did someone else do that to you?”
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 7:58 pm
It was embarrassing to go to the hospital? Yeah… it probably was. Definitely not what normal people had to deal with. The amount of times he’d been to the hospital…? Well, it was enough to make his ears burn and cheeks flush a bit.
He shrugged, but it was half hearted.
“Fell down the stairs,” he mumbled. “Corner of the bannister is really sharp.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d used that excuse and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Best thing was that no one really pressed when he said it. They might look at him like they didn’t believe him, but how could they prove that he hadn’t?
“Didn’t come in because we can’t afford the medical bills,” he answered the second part of the Senshi’s questions with another shrug.
But he hadn’t expected the Senshi to suggest powering down like it was nothing!
Reims stared at the man as though he was insane. He had to be, if he was so willing to just let anyone know his identity! And he had the audacity to tell him not to argue!
He frowned, brows furrowed with frustration and confusion because-- why was this Senshi suggesting they go inside? He hadn’t answered if he knew Evan or was a friend of his…
If his face wasn’t red before, it was now. He stared at the Senshi, still hesitating, as though thinking the longer he wanted, the easier his thoughts could decipher things without asking.
And this Senshi was asking him to put a lot of trust into him after just meeting.
Reims looked around to make sure no one else was nearby to see, and then lifted a hand to cover the bruising and scratches on his face.
“Fell down the stairs,” he mumbled as he let the power of being a Squire go so it was just Riker in his old hoodie and jeans standing in front of the Senshi.
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:13 pm
Malus looked at him for a moment longer and then sighed heavily. His shoulders slumped like the air had all just slipped from his body, and he looked at the teenager not quite as if he were exasperated. Not upset. He understood.
“I can’t believe that answer works for anyone. The last time I ‘fell down the stairs’ I broke two fingers and a tooth, but I didn’t get scratched on the way down. Just say a TikTok gone wrong, everyone knows the online trends are crazy. Most people won’t even know how to ask for more information. Roll up your sleeve, quick. Don’t get blood on your jacket.”
He pulled his sash from his waist and draped it around Riker’s neck. “You have to hold that or I’ll lose it, sorry. I want to make sure it’s wrapped up. I don’t have anything more hygienic. Come on,” he said, and gestured for him to follow him to the food truck. He walked quickly, but between one step and the next Malus disappeared, and the back of a short, black haired man replaced him.
Evan was only trying to hide his face a little, just for a minute, while he collected himself. He was embarrassed that he didn’t just say ‘Hi, Riker,’ right off the bat and now he had to figure out how to recover from it. Getting Riker’s arm fixed was more important, and the first aid box was in the kitchen so he ducked his head by the window as if to buy himself just a few seconds more. A stool in the kitchen was already in place so he could reach the kit, and as soon as he got it he laid it out on the counter and started pulling things out.
Now, it was impossible to hide who he was.
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:24 pm
Riker kept his head down and he did as he was told. His face was burning, embarrassed by… everything. Everything he said. Everything he thought. He didn’t regret trying to fend off the youma or trying to make sure Evan was okay, but he realized now that he likely crossed an uncrossable line.
Now Evan was forced to reveal something to him that he’d otherwise kept a careful secret.
He stepped into the back of the familiar kitchen, reaching behind him to shut the door so no one would bother them. His sleeve had been rolled up, and he grimaced at the sight of the wound left by the youma, just above his elbow.
It was starting to ache now. And he was worried about moving it too much, lest he agitate it enough to start bleeding more.
With his free hand, he absently stroked the fabric of the sash that had been draped around his neck.
“That magic was pretty cool,” he mumbled to the ground. He felt awkward and out of place. A flare of anger for things that had clearly happened a long time ago. If falling down the stairs was unbelievable, then why did people keep using it? Although he supposed his advice about saying it was a TikTok gone wrong could probably work too.
“I’m sorry. For forcing your hand. Making you show me--…”
He knew it probably wasn’t enough to just apologize. He should have left when he was told Evan was okay. He should have trusted-- no… it had been a complete stranger, of course he wasn’t going to trust him. But in retrospect he wished he’d been a little more trusting. Maybe then Evan wouldn’t feel like he had to cut ties with him for knowing his identity or something. He knew it was important -- it was important to him. So it must have been for others, too.
But Evan must have figured it out at some point, otherwise why would he suggest powering down? Evan couldn’t even look at him. He was probably so mad. Or disappointed. Or… all of the above.
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:31 pm
Evan paused and finally looked up. Perplexed, he blinked as if he’d been shaken out of a stupor. He had a slew of supplies in hand and as soon as Riker was inside he gestured with his head for Riker to join him in the corner.. “Come over to the sink. It’s going to be a little cramped but I want to wash your arm off. I’ve got butterfly stitches if it’s deep. They hold the skin back together. And superglue works well. If you’ve got anything bad. But the faster we get it cleaned and wrapped, the faster it can start healing.”
He paused for a split second and shook his head. “Sorry, I mean, I just really want to get that taken care of before your adrenaline wears off. It’s okay, you didn’t force me to do anything. I could have sent you running in the wrong direction and powered down but this was more important to me.”
Evan turned the sink on with his elbow–clearly something he had a lot of experience with–and added, “It’ll be cool, but be gentle putting it under. I’ve got antibiotics too. I’ve got everything. I’m paranoid about something bad happening in my truck so I tried to be prepared. I was going to use the fire extinguisher on it when it got in the window but those things are such a pain to replace. I have to get my knives though, some of those are really good. You came right in time, I think you showing up is what scared it for long enough for me to get out and power up. Otherwise I might have gotten stuck in the back of the truck and had to power up right in front of it.”
Seriously, gently, he said, “Thank you, Riker. You did a good job looking after me. So let me look after you, now. I’m sorry for bullying you into powering down, I just don’t want anything else creeping around while you’re hurt.”
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:42 pm
Well, it was a relief that Evan was talking to him again. It was enough for Riker to relax his tense shoulders a little. He did as instructed and moved over to the sink to put his arm under it, immediately hissing at the shock of pain from the contact with the water. He shook his head to indicate that it was fine! He just needed a moment to get used to it.
Not wanting Evan to have to mess with too much blood, he reached over to try to scrub some off of his skin that had already dried some. The sink wasn’t a pretty sight.
“Sorry, I can clean up when we’re done,” he mumbled, clearly embarrassed for making an even bigger mess. He also felt guilty for not showing up sooner. Maybe if he had, Evan wouldn’t have had to throw his knives.
“I can go out and get them. Or… I can wash this if you wanted to,” he suggested, especially if they were expensive knives.
He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he waited for the water to turn clear in the sink as he gingerly scrubbed around the gashes.
“Reims… my name when I’m like that,” he mumbled awkwardly, and then shrugged because it wasn’t that big of a deal. Evan hadn’t even asked so maybe he was just oversharing and being obnoxious.
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:49 pm
“Riker,” Evan sighed, faintly exasperated. “Gentle, be gentle. Don’t hurt your arm more. I’ll clean up, stop worrying about those things. It’s okay to let someone else take care of you. That adrenaline is going to wear off and you’re going to regret putting so much energy into all this. I’ll clean up, I do it every night anyway and I hadn’t even gotten started. You can sit here with me while I do that if you want. And I can drive you home–or close to it–so you don’t have to walk back. It’s okay. Be nice to yourself. Just let the water run down your arm, you don’t have to scrub. The alcohol is here,” he placed a bottle within reach and opened it, “But I think you can just use soap. But be gentle, please. You’re so hard on yourself.”
He sighed, but it was only partly at Riker. He was a hypocrite, he knew what it was like. Maybe that’s why he was so desperate to try and curb the behavior in any way he could.
“I’ll get the knives in a minute. Nobody’s going to rob me while I can run them over. I know you’re big and tough but tell me if you get light headed. If I bleed too much I need a Dr. Pepper. The sugar’s good for you. You can have any soda on the menu, I won’t make you drink my favorite. I’ve got more leftovers tonight than I wanted, I hope you’re hungry.”
His mind was all over the place but he was trying to reel him in. He was supposed to be the adult here, he needed to focus.
“You need to keep your strength up, especially if you’re a Knight. Where’s your Wonder? I couldn’t see your symbols very well out there, I don’t know if I recognized them. But to be fair, I don’t really get out so much. I don’t like going out on my own, I get too stressed. I’m Malus. When I’m like that. Senshi of Glass.”
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Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 9:34 pm
“I am being gentle!” Riker let out a strained breath of exasperation. Not necessarily a snap, because he was trying very hard not to take out his pain and frustration on Evan, but…
Was he really not being gentle? This was how he usually handled his injuries. Then again, he also usually had to rush through making sure anything was hidden or bandaged up so he wouldn’t be bothered. Thankfully there were plenty of reasons to have bruises that weren’t just falling down the stairs or TikToks. Playing baseball was definitely a way to get injured. He absolutely wasn’t going to tell his teammates something like falling down the stairs. That was usually for adults who didn’t really care, but were asking out of obligation.
Still, he tried being softer with his touch. Sitting down sounded like a good idea. He didn’t want Evan to freak out if he ended up getting too dizzy, although he wasn’t really keen to let him know he felt that way now. Not because he didn’t trust him, but because he didn’t want to be seen as weaker than he already was.
And… Riker did trust Evan… which just reminded him of all the things he said when he didn’t know it was Evan. He hoped some of the blood loss helped keep his ears and face from burning too dark.
“Thanks… I like Dr. Pepper,” he reassured him, still frowning at the sink as he washed his arm off, trying not to get frustrated that it was taking longer than he would have liked.
“Glass? No wonder your magic is cool. Uh… Ganymede. Sorry, I would have gotten here sooner but… ran into a Lysithea knight.”
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