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 Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 7:46 pm
The work never ended for a senshi, but that was really nothing new, in Murikabushi’s experience. The only truly new thing in his life was Yuki’s cute little time limit on how long per week his ******** could spend out and about as Murikabushi (including a provision that any time spent with Chaos peeps counted double, except for Hybris, whom—in all his weaponized uselessness and Timothee Chalamet-model self-insistent prettiness—Yuki had deemed more a threat to himself than anyone else). As Murikabushi rounded his patrol route into Prospect Park, he checked the running timer on his senshi phone.
……It felt like he’d been out here for longer than the timer said. Then again, he’d run into more than a few youma along the way. Felt like a more than normal amount of youma, but realistically, it probably hadn’t been that many. If Muri had felt like running the numbers, he’d likely fall within three standard deviations of the mean, just with a slightly unlucky draw tonight. None of them had done more than insult him and try to hit him, so Muri could live with that.
Coming toward the fountain and benches at the park’s center, Muri paused and tilted his head at what he found. On one hand, he felt a Negaverse aura—either a Lieutenant or a basic senshi, from the power signature—but it was distinctly retreating. On the other hand, the figure before Muri who remained on their feet had a power signature as well, that of a fellow White Moon senshi. But in a distinctly unexpected turn, another person lay on the bench, seemingly unconscious, while the other senshi seemingly rooted around in their pockets. Murikabushi didn’t want to judge too quickly, just in case he didn’t have a crucial piece of context here, but……robbing? A civilian? Sounded pretty Not Okay, to him?
“Hey,” Muri called to the other senshi, trying to just greet them until any extra context revealed itself or not. As he walked closer, more into the street-lamp light, Muri made out the fluffy tail and lupine-looking ears that marked a space senshi. So……okay, that made extra context far more likely to exist, Muri thought? But he still didn’t know what said context was. “Everything alright?”
Please just be trying to put a starseed back or something else that isn’t robbing an unconscious person.
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Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 8:28 pm
Madriu had not really considered what his habit of taking a "rescued your literal soul from Chaos" fee might look like to another person on his side. Mostly because he liked to think that he didn't actually care about anyone else's opinions. Grieve would get it. Anthy might make sad eyes at him, but he'd come around. Saiph....was a child, and so Madriu told himself that he would totally deal with her disapproval if it came because she was a kid and she just didn't get it.
All that being said, he still froze, when someone else called out to him. They were a level higher, and Madriu didn't want to guess at his chances in a fight if they took offense, so he took a breath.
"I chased off some ******** Lieutenant who drained this idiot until he passed out. As I ensured he didn't have his actual soul become Chaos munchies, I'm taking a rescuer's fee." He extracted the wallet from the civilian's pocket and began leafing through it, ears twitching as he pulled out the cash. The plastic pieces were a total mystery to him, but paper money was paper money.
"If you've got moral commentary, I'm not....interested..." He'd turned to look over at who he was addressing halfway through his sentence, and been struck--slapped, almost--with sudden recognition.
"Murikabushi?" Not Airan, no--this man was subtly different than the one he'd known--but he knew those colors, that fuku, and that symbol.
Well damn.
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Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 9:15 pm
Muri paused, tilting his head at the wolf-senshi before him. The earnest, sympathetic look lit up his eyes and wrinkled his brow without him entirely willing it to do so. It always just sort of happened, whether Muri wanted it to or not, but especially with anyone who happened to know Airan. “I’m sorry for not being the one you knew,” he said gently, coming closer to the wolf-senshi and the unconscious civilian, “and for not recognizing you? But yeah, I’m Murikabushi.… I haven’t had a lot of time to unlock any of Airan’s memories, so there are a lot of old friends of his who I don’t recognize yet.”
Daedalus, for one—at least, Muri hadn’t recognized him at first. Dagon, likewise. And now this strange wolf-senshi who honestly had a pretty good argument for rifling through an unconscious civilian’s pockets.
“As for moral commentary? Yeah, I did intend to ask you to stop, but……” Finally close enough to get a good look at the civilian, Muri trailed off. He blinked once down at the aggressively unimpressive, handsome enough but not particularly remarkable white boy face with its technically decent bone structure that it didn’t know how to carry. He blinked twice at the new-ish cut and style on the earthen brown hair, and at the way it had changed from the last time he’d seen this man but managed to be just as mediocre. Muri briefly narrowed his eyes down at his ex, then looked to the wolf-senshi and motioned for him to hand over the wallet. “You can get more out of this ******** if you let me help. Knowing him, he didn’t rightfully earn any of it in the first place.”
A lot of invective and possibly unfair judgment? Yes. But Greg had earned it when he’d two-timed Reiki and Justin, and hey, purifying probably meant that he’d saved Greg from getting youmafied. Wouldn’t do for a General-King to get vengeance on behalf of a boy who’d abandoned Chaos, would it. So, ******** Greg, he could make a donation to the “Keeping A Long-Suffering Space Senshi Alive” Foundation.
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Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 9:29 pm
Madriu took in this new Murikabushi, given the chance. He was still cute, in his way, even if he wasn't entirely Madriu's type. Carried himself with a certain confidence, which was a good sign.
"It's fine, I know you're not him," Madriu said. "I was kinda ready to start running into new versions of people I used to know." Ever since Grieve had mentioned Kaifeng's reincarnation, he'd known that he was really in a whole new world, as it were. But it was one thing to know, and another to have the evidence, irrefutably, in front of you.
Some of them had survived. Others--probably most others--had not.
And, if Madriu was honest, that was probably for the best. he wouldn't wish ten centuries of loneliness on anyone, much less his friends.
"Honestly, he should consider himself lucky, if he'd contracted me and the Nameless for protection back in the day he'd have paid a lot more than what I could rifle out of his wallet," Madriou said, but he had to admit, he was curious about Murikabushi's connection to this stranger. So, he proffered the wallet. "But sure, show me your secrets. Sounds like you know him, at least."
And really didn't like him. Well, good, then Madriu wouldn't feel bad about taking a heftier fee than usual.
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Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 10:17 pm
Murikabushi nodded, both to show that he was listening and because everything the wolf-senshi had to say made sense. Muri didn’t recognize the name “Nameless,” but from the context, they sounded like some kind of mercenary group, or maybe pirates for hire. Which, honestly, he could’ve seen Airan getting involved with. Even as a prisoner in the capital’s gilded cage, the senshi had needed to make diplomatic connections with other senshi, and if these Nameless had had senshi among their ranks, then Airan might well have worked with them in some capacity.
Kiyoshi-Muri wondered if Airan had gotten some wish fulfillment out of that (projecting fantasies onto people who were living with the freedom he wanted for himself), or if Airan had thought that the presence of other senshi meant that the group was working in the interests of the common people like he wanted to do. Or maybe some secret third thing. Or maybe all of the above.
“Yeah, you could say I know him all too well,” Muri admitted as he took the wallet……and then immediately remembered that space senshi probably wouldn’t be able to tell Taylor Swift from a hole in the wall, so the reference was probably lost on him. “We were engaged, at one point. He blew getting into law school after I put my own life on hold multiple times to help him. He leeched off me and off his rich-a** parents. Didn’t even do enough work to earn the do-nothing job his father’s connections got him into. Said he loved me, but only wanted some idea of me he made up in his head and wanted to fix me out of being passionate about my artistic calling. And as if that weren’t enough, he demanded monogamy, then cheated on me with a really sweet guy who didn’t know that Greg wasn’t single.”
Muri huffed as he started rifling through Greg’s cards. “I go back and forth about whether he’s the worst or the second-worst mistake I ever made in my life. Which is pretty damning because the only thing giving him competition is the fact that I Awakened as a Chaos senshi without knowing anything about any of this. I put that right eventually, thank <********>, but the fact that Greg was remotely as bad for me as Dark Mirror Chaos was? Mn, says a lot about Greg. So, kinda high-key ******** him, right.”
But. Cards, cards, cards. So many little pieces of plastic. Amex, Mastercard, ******** loyalty card for Trader Joe’s as if Greg ever did his own grocery shopping—Muri whipped that one out and handed it to the wolf-senshi. “This one might only be situationally useful? And the place it’s for can be kinda pricey? But they have some good food, and that card should help get you some discounts on it, so at least they won’t try to charge you, like? An arm, a leg, and your firstborn child for their cookies or their chocolate-covered strawberries.”
A whole passel of Target gift cards—seven of the little shits, all from the sort of sales where you got a free gift card for buying three packages of toilet paper or whatever. “These work as good as cash but only at this specific store. We can use my civilian phone to check how much they’re good for. Then, you just look for the red and white target-shaped symbol, and they can help you get whatever supplies you might need from that store.”
Of course, the thing that Muri actually wanted was lodged way in the back, like the wallet equivalent of the thing you needed falling to the bottom of your bag. “And this,” he said, as he pulled it out, “is Greg’s ATM card.” Muri sighed, giving the wolf-senshi an earnest look. “It’s only gonna be a one-time thing, since he’s at least smart enough that he’ll cancel the card when he notices it went missing. And it might not work, if he’s changed the code on it. But knowing Greg, he probably hasn’t, so we just need to find one of the machines for it. Then, we can get you some extra cash.”
Since the wallet had been cleared of anything useful, Muri artlessly shoved it back into the inner pocket of Greg’s jacket. Once that was done, though, he smiled at the wolf-senshi. “Helping another senshi survive the Hellscape of twenty-first century capitalism is a much better use of his parents’ money than whatever Greg’s been doing with it lately. And it shouldn’t take long to find an ATM, if you want.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 11:18 pm
Madriu may not have recognized the specific reference, but he did get the general valence of how Muri was talking about this loser even before the specific explanation came through. And the specifics made his ears dip back, and he glared disdainfully at the unconscious figure on the bench.
"Yeah. I knew a man like him, once." He hoped that for all Greg's faults, he was only superficially like Eithien. He hoped that Greg had never raised a hand to this Murikabushi, had only toyed with his heart, which was crime enough. He also very genuinely hoped that Murikabushi never had to murder his particular problem partner, because the look of shock on Eithien's face when Lex sunk the knife into his chest was never going to stop playing behind his eyes, he was pretty sure.
It had been a thousand years. If he wasn't over it by now, he was probably never going to be over it.
"So...you can leave Chaos?" That was news. Good news. If Chaos could be taken out of people, maybe it could be taken out of worlds, too. "You'll forgive me for not understanding. The Chaos here and what I have experience with...they're really, really different."
But being presented with someone who could apparently very easily afford everything Madriu was taking from him made him pause, for a moment. Consider.
"And, uh. I appreciate all the help. Do you think....is there a way I can tell people who probably can't afford what I'm taking from them? I don't want to accidentally steal someone's last bit of money, or something. And I get it if there's not a foolproof way, but....anything that can help."
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Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2024 12:13 am
Listening to Madriu perfectly well, Muri motioned for him to follow. It wouldn’t be too long to exit the park and get onto a sidewalk, and from there, the nearest ATM probably wasn’t far. Still, they could walk and talk, and having some motion while talking was generally better for Muri.
“No worries,” he said, giving Madriu a small, earnest smile. “You’re not the first long-surviving senshi I’ve met. That honor went to Daphne. Then Fang, Dagon, Daedalus, Helene, Achird—I don’t know if any of their names mean anything to you? …Helene’s might? Kaifeng has sort of mentioned that his last incarnation did something about getting some troublesome cousins out of danger, and they were involved with some kind of pirates or miscellaneous doers-of-stuff for hire? Not that there can only be one group like that but maybe there’s overlap? And those two are sort of attached to each other, so maybe……?”
Muri shrugged. “Anyway, the real point is: the current state of Chaos is a whole-a** mess, and please, no worries about not knowing your way around it yet.” Tucking his bangs back behind his ear, Muri led them out of the park, onto the sidewalk. “It is possible to leave Chaos, if a senshi or a Knight gets Awakened into it. You need help from either Cosmos or a Royal senshi to do it. Maybe a Royal Knight could also help? But I’ve only met one Royal Knight, and the question didn’t come up, so I don’t actually know?
“As for the factions themselves? Senshi can get Awakened into the Negaverse or the Dark Mirror Court. Negaverse senshi have really long hair, usually down to the floor, plus cracks in their chests and foreheads. Dark Mirror senshi will feel different, in the aura—it’s more of a chilled out feeling, but sort of like something nefarious lurking below the surface? They’ve also got gauzy overlays on their fukus, and they might get fighty? But other Mirror senshi might run away into a mirror rather than fight.
“Then, as I understand, Agents—the Lieutenants and Captains and Generals—are Knights who got Awakened into the Negaverse. At least, when they purify, they turn into Knights, so ‘Agents are Negaverse Knights’ seems logical? You might also run into Agents who are what they call half-youma? It’s sort of a misnomer for complicated reasons that would take a while to explain, but the important point is, half-youma agents usually look sort of monster-y. They don’t have weapons but do have abilities like being literally on fire and able to attack people with it.”
Muri paused briefly, peering ahead down the street. No signs that specifically mentioned an ATM, but the 7-11 that didn’t seem to mind crazy magical nonsense might’ve been around here? A few blocks away yet, he thought, but still, they would have an ATM at the 7-11.
He also needed a moment to think about Madriu’s more serious question. Muri could respect not wanting to screw over people who were already struggling, and he wanted to give Madriu reasonably solid advice. Helping a senshi who was new to Earth survive and live in a way he could feel good about—that was both serious and important.
“There isn’t a completely foolproof way to tell who can or can’t afford your rescuer’s fee,” Muri said with a pensive sigh. “People wanting to look wealthier is a huge business in the twenty-first century. It muddies the waters, can make it harder to tell for sure. You might run into somebody who’s ostensibly flashing a lot of really expensive jewelry, but if you look closer, it’s all cheap knock-offs and they’re actually broke.
“But some things to watch out for…if somebody’s wearing a heavier coat, something made for winter, even though it’s summer? That’s a good bet that they don’t have housing right now. If you see people hauling around a bunch of empty drink cans or scrap metal, maybe in a shopping cart? They’re probably recycling it for spare cash. If you see twenty-somethings doing weird dances with fancy phones? Look close at their clothes. If they’re dressed in a more toned down way—few accessories, streamlined look, very chic—they probably come from enough wealth to know that you don’t want to hype up how rich you are, these days. Flaunting signifiers of wealth makes people think you’re overcompensating; wealthy parents teach their kids that they look classier by looking understated. The ones who have a ton of accessories, or who brag about who designed their shirt or purse or whatever? They’re the ones who are probably not very wealthy, but they want people to think they are.
“Which—I know all of that is a lot, and a lot of it is ‘This is a reasonable bet but not a foolproof way to tell,’” he said with a hopeful smile, “and I’m sorry? But……if there’s anything else I can maybe help with? I’ll try?”
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Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2024 12:54 am
This was the most in-depth understanding of the Chaos on this world that Madriu had yet gotten. Saiph and Cuan had been helpful enough, but this Murikabushi clearly knew plenty about what went into it--maybe not surprising since he'd been Chaos for a time. And he was enjoying walking and listening to Murikabushi talk; he knew so much, and it felt....nice, to get to learn without feeling like he was being judged somehow, or like it was embarrassing to need help.
"Yeah, Kaifeng and Helene used to be...." Madriu wiggled his fingers. "It's a little difficult to say they were friends or allies, but they did help us out a lot, mostly because Kaifeng's cousins were problem causers. Being fair, so were the rest of us." He sighed, a little nostalgically. "Met that bunch of bastards because my partner hired them to kidnap me--which sounds odd, but I..." Why was it so easy to just []i]talk about things with this guy? "...Spent a lot of my life not able to make my own choices about where I was going, if that makes sense."
It was the shorter reason, at least.
"Anyway, yeah, I did know Helene and Kaifeng. I understand they're finally ********, which is an improvement over their previous situation to a degree that I am not sure it's possible to quantify."
He shut up, though, to listen to all the details about the Chaos factions--about how one became one, and how one left. He was able to categorize the girl who had broken into his home, now--Dark Mirror, with her fancy gauzy overlay.
"I've met a smattering of people that match those descriptions," he said, "and I had kind of a vague idea, but....thanks for explaining." He meant it genuinely--the more he knew, the more he understood, the better he could do.
Further, having all this context for how things worked economically here....it mattered. Showier probably meant poorer--interesting, but it made sense. A desire to flaunt what you'd barely gotten had been characteristic of some people he'd known--people who often lost it just as quickly because they had no real sense of how to save, or do anything but instant gratification.
Or because their next round of necessary expenses required selling off whatever fun thing they'd acquired, which sucked.
"I appreciate it, and I knew there probably wouldn't be easy answers. But I'll think about it all the same." His ears flicked down. "There was one lady...she had...way more cash in her bag than I'd ever seen on anybody else before. But it felt....weird, you know? Like, why would one person be carrying so much more, when you have those convenient plastic card things? So...I left it." It was the first time he'd sort of felt wrong about his little "business."
"Anyway, I....we can call each other with these, right?" Madriu held up his phone. "Can I maybe message you if I have a question?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2024 2:54 am
Listening to Madriu and his stories—or more accurately, hints of stories that he could have told at some other time, given the opportunity—felt so easy and calming. On some level, Murikabushi supposed that that was probably the “raised in the untamed wilds of an academic library by a pack of feral historians” part of him coming out again. Perhaps it was also some kind of resonance from meeting an old friend of Airan’s? But that was an incredibly complicated possibility and, if Muri were completely honest with himself, he didn’t really understand enough about anything related to past lives and the reincarnation cycle to judge whether or not he had the right idea.
He did, however, know enough about histories and the keeping of them to start thinking that maybe, somebody ought to spend time with any space senshi who were willing to talk about their stories. Maybe, with their consent, somebody could’ve stood to interview them about their own personal histories, and their worlds, and their cultures, to help them preserve more about their worlds and the way things had been a thousand years ago. Maybe it wasn’t the single most important venture for anybody to invest their time and effort in……but maybe it didn’t need to be the single most important venture in order to be worthwhile. Maybe assembling records and oral histories—or whatever could be reconstructed out of digging around on their worlds, again with their permission only—could help somebody, or at least open up the possibility that someone, in another time, would remember their cultures and their people.
……Muri would need to talk to Yuki about that, get some input from his best guy. Possibly ask a Mauvian if he needed to write up a proposal for IRB review, just to make sure he’d conduct any interviews or research trips in the most ethical possible fashion. (Idly, he thought that the answer he’d get from Mr. Sparkles the Death-Dealer would probably amount to “I don’t give a s**t, what are you doing about getting me food” but that was neither here nor there.)
In the meantime, Madriu’s story-hints got a chuckle on one hand, and earnestly sympathetic sparkly eyes on another. “That makes a lot of sense, yeah,” Muri agreed. “I don’t know how similar your situation was or not to Airan’s? But considering he spent a lot of his life held hostage in the capital by the Murikabushian ruling elites, it makes a depressing amount of sense that other senshi had similar situations happen. And even if it didn’t fix the underlying problem for you? I’m glad that at least you had a partner who could find creative ways to help you like that.”
Part of Muri wanted to ask if Madriu meant “partner” in the romantic sense, the buddy cop movie sense, or some secret third thing. But without knowing whether or not the partner in question was still alive, that felt……potentially really dicey. Possibly a good way to hurt rather than help.
What Madriu had to say about the hip-attached love-birds known as Helfeng, though—that earned a giggle. “The two of them not actually getting together before explains so much about how attached at the hip they are in this Kaifeng’s lifetime,” Muri said, nodding. “Not that Helene is particularly forthcoming about how he feels, like, ever? But a b***h can understand if he feels like ‘I missed out on all of this before, I’m not going to waste any time now.’”
Huffing softly (and being careful not to drop the ATM card), Muri combed his fingers through his long bangs. “The two of them also keep a dry house—no alcohol except for cooking, I mean—which I appreciate. I don’t personally need that kind of space? But some of the most important people in my life do, and……this century’s Kaifeng might be an acquired taste? But being fair, so am I, and at least he’s an acquired taste who cares about trying to make spaces that are more accessible for more people.”
Seeing Madriu take out his phone, Muri smiled. “You can absolutely message me for anything,” he said. Had they not finally rocked up to the 7-11’s door, he would’ve taken his phone right out to share numbers. “I’ll give you my number once we hit up the ATM. Any questions, or if you just want someone to hang out with for a while? Hit me up. And—hey, if you ever need a meal? *I* can’t cook for s**t. But my partner—? He isn’t powered up, he’s only involved in any of this because I was really bad at not admitting the senshi stuff to him? But he knows about senshi who don’t come from Earth and he can cook, so……”
With a shrug, Muri held the door open. “We’d love to have you over sometime, if you ever want?”
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2024 3:10 am
Madriu's ears flicked, and he exhaled. "My planet--Madriu---was subservient to its star, Arcalis. Part of keeping my people compliant was keeping me hostage. But Sailor Arcalis was the one who helped me. He....pretty vehemently disagreed with the way his people treated mine, and with the whole situation, and he did so much to help make things better for Madriu and my people" His entire expression softened, just talking about Anthy. "I haven't found him again, yet. But I hope I will."
Be he reincarnated or still alive, Madriu would be happy just to see him again.
Helene and Kaifeng were...interesting. Madriu wondered if this Kaifeng had managed to break the attachment to drink that had characterized his past self, or if going dry was a new development for the very assiduously sober Helene. He'd probably have to ask the Knight or Senshi in question, though--no reason for Murikabushi to have all the dirty details.
He took in the building they'd come into--he'd surveyedf places like this from the outside, before, and slipped in in his human guise with some of his stolen cash, and frankly, Madriu liked these places. Lots of food, especially things that were shelf-stable and didn't need to be kept cold. Also, premade sandwiches and similar.
"I appreciate that, thanks," Madriu said, "and I'd love to come by for dinner." Better than struggling to feed himself, at the very least.
He'd gotten lucky, finding Murikabushi again. And not just because he apparently knew how to make the palstic cards--or at least this specific plastic card--give out more of the cash that Madriu needed to survive.
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