|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2024 12:34 pm
Quote: The Fireflies (6) : In the warm summer nights, little glowing lights begin to bob and dart through the city. Fireflies are mating, so this isn't uncommon in itself; in the past few days you've probably seen hundreds of fireflies. What makes these lights so unique is that they seem to change color; you might see a blue one, a green one, a red one. They flicker randomly, and something just seems off with them. If you come into contact with one, you will find yourself with a strange electric jolt. They cannot be caught, and will flicker away if you pursue too aggressively. This isn’t the first time they’ve appeared in Destiny City, but no one’s been able to tell where they came from or where they’re going. No matter how quickly you chase them, they always seem to disappear before you can find any answers.
Tonight though, it seemed as though her homeworld…had spilled over to Destiny City.
It was uncanny how much like her own fireflies these seemed to be, and she wasn’t sure…if this was something that she had started…or if it was one of the city’s…strange happenings that…always seemed to happen.
If it was her fault…she wanted to get her bugs back home...there was no sense them being here…that…honestly. THe more she thought about it, the worse it seemed. If she had caused bugs to come here…become an invasive species…
Albireo felt sick and rather faint at the thought, and as she chased one of the critters, she wasn’t at all looking where she was going and stumbled over someone sitting on the ground.
She hadn’t meant to, but…
“I am so sorry! Are you all right?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2024 4:58 pm
"Do I look alright," was what Ashton was going to say, but mostly she'd just gotten a bunch of dirt in her mouth as someone's knees slammed into her upper back and toppled her halfway over while her mouth had been open and she'd been bent over already, so what actually came out was something along the lines of an incoherent slide of noise as she shook her head like a dog.
It was not his most dignified moment. He was probably just going to have to live with it, as he had to live with a lot of things. Oh well! She made a face, spitting out whatever sidewalk roadstuff had gotten in her mouth, and roughly scrubbed one hand across her lips to try and get more of it off. "I'll be fine."
The face he was making didn't particularly look like he was too sure or enthused by that, but, again, that was life a lot of the time. It was summer in Destiny City. Her best hopes were to not have anything too incredibly embarrassing happen with all the wild, seasonal magic flying around.
"Were you trying to catch one of these fireflies? I swear they're ******** with me, I've been trying on and off for an hour."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2024 2:59 pm
“I really am sorry…” Albireo muttered, wincing a little but not really seeming to focus on the poor civilian in front of her. “I just…want to see if they’re mine...I have…fireflies like this on my homeworld…or…fireflies that are different colors and I was just…I was afraid I had done something…”
Carefully, slowly she reached out to one, and grinned as her fingertips managed to touch it, but then she withdrew her hand swiftly as…
“It shocked me!”
The disgust in her voice was impossible to miss and she stared at the small bug with a hurt expression. “Okay. So I didn’t cause this. That’s. Good, I guess. Careful. They hurt.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2024 8:43 pm
Maybe he should've warned her about that. It wasn't as if Ash was in uniform as Aschera; she didn't have any "orders" -- but if her own curiosity had gotten her mildly shocked, well, it was only fair to see it happen to other people. She was due a little schadenfreude from the world.
He hadn't actually taken a particularly good look at the woman before, but he was doing so now, as soon as she said homeworld. That outfit -- oh. This was a senshi. Not a Negaverse senshi, of course, for plenty of extremely obvious and observable reasons; but, still, a senshi. Who didn't know Ashton was what he was, because how could she? Becoming Aschera didn't leave some lingering aura or brand on him; it all went away with the uniform and the power when it was dismissed.
"They do that," Ashton said, and sounded reasonably sympathetic about it, all in all. "It's probably fifty percent of the whole '******** with me' I'm measuring. Why would you've caused them, anyway? I've been assuming it was just --" what was the word? What was the phrase she was trying to find? Well, it wasn't coming to mind, so it wasn't helpful at the time being. "You know. This place gets very weird around holidays, doesn't it."
That wasn't a question, and he wasn't bothering to do anything like make it sound like one. It was a pure objective statement of fact: Destiny City was weird at the best of times, and around the Star Festival, or Halloween, or the culturally indiscriminate winter holiday block, it got particularly weird.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2024 9:02 pm
Huh. Albireo really hadn’t thought about that, and the idea…well it made sense. Truthfully, she had been so isolated lately that the idea of things happening in the city were just…things. She had been happy being a stay at home wife to Tavi and Bri and…well?
It was time to step out and be Albireo again. Act like the Senshi she was. She couldn’t just rely on her wife and husband to save the day…sure she…wasn’t as strong as either of them but…
Maybe. She could be if she kept trying?
Maybe not as strong as Cybele but…back on par with Siegfried. Cybele had managed to find more power, and that…
Why couldn’t she?
“You know what? You’re right. This place gets very weird…so how about…if you’re up to it…I take you up to my homeworld. It’s called Albireo. You can see some rainbow fireflies that aren’t dicks.”
She was smiling and held her hand out, feeling…excited to share her place with a stranger. A civilian who wasn’t involved in anything but.
Could become a friend. Maybe. “What do you say? I promise I’m not an axe murderer. There’s not really…animals up there. But there are bugs…and the fireflies are so pretty.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2024 9:11 pm
Objectively, theoretically, maybe, Ash should've turned it down. In theory this woman was the enemy.
In practice, though, he really didn't care that much about the Negaverse's line on things, she didn't know he was Negaverse in the first place, and if he willingly turned down the chance to see foreign space fauna and flora it would've been best to assume he was dead. It was sort of like a sports rivalry, right? What were two big sports teams that hated each other? Something along those lines. Ashton had never willingly watched a sports game in his life and did not intend to do it just to make his mental sidelines of dialogue any more accurate.
"Absolutely," she said, smiling right back, and took -- Albireo? -- 's hand. "You had me at space bugs."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2024 9:13 pm
Albireo grinned and withdrew her Senshi phone, giving one last dirty look at the fake fireflies and taking a moment to make sure that she had the civilian’s hand tightly, before taking them both up into space.
Albireo, here we come.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
