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 Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 12:28 pm
Quote: The Meteor Shower (3) : It wouldnât be a star festival without a meteor shower! Right on time, a beautiful array of shooting stars graces the night sky. This time of year is unnaturally clear and itâs incredibly easy to see the stars. Most meteor fragments appear to be little white or yellow lights streaming across the sky, but if you watch closely enough you may find that some of them seem to be a whole rainbow of colors. The scientists have reported that itâs just different components burning up as they enter the atmosphere, but thereâs something undeniably magical about it.
Tonightâs patrol had been largely uneventful. A couple of youma that werenât anything worth writing home about. A lost child whose father had proven conveniently easy to find (heâd seemed a bit stressed, but it had been difficult to tell if that had been a general sort of state for him or if it had been specifically about his daughter wandering off from at one of the nearby City lantern festival setups). The heat and humidity both rankled deeplyâmostly on their own merits, but partly, Muri simply hadnât forgotten about his first time meeting Anser, how it had been just as hellaciously hot as all this and Gabe, one of the Scandals regulars, had passed out in the street, and Anser had assumed that Muri was the one responsible.
Still, though, Destiny City needed its magical girls, and Murikabushi had no desire to let anyone down by getting so wrapped up in his own head and his own negative feelings about extreme heat like this.
On the other hand, Yuki had established rules about all thisârules that Kiyoshi had agreed to and signed a little contract about and everythingâand they stipulated that he only had so much powered up time allotted to him weekly. Offhand, he didnât think he was cutting it too close with all the time heâd spent out on the town tonight. A quick pause to check the running timer on his senshi-phone said as much, too: a couple hours could add up quickly, but he hadnât gone out at all on a couple nights this week, because heâd been working on his âcontentâ with LiĂĄnlĂ and that had taken more than enough time, not to mention leaving Kiyoshi stressed out and tired at the end of a filming or editing session. Hard to tell if those sessions had really been paying off just yet, but Kiyoshi had been getting âcontentâ out of them and the little numbers on Magdalene Yotsuya Wildeâs social media accounts kept going up, so that was likely promising.
(He still didnât know how other drag artists lived like this, nor why they ever willingly chose to subject themselves to this kind of life. The jolts of dopamine from social media engagement could never replace the energy and vitality of a live audience. Having to stress out about word choice and using the correct anti-censorship replacements when discussing anything even remotely sensitiveâall of that about âcorn,â and âgrape,â and âsewer slide,â never mind needing twee little workarounds just to talk about anything queerâso your video wouldnât get flagged? It would never hold a candle to the freedom of performing onstage at Scandals.)
Considering Murikabushi had some time to spare out of his weekly allotment, he figured it likely wasnât a big deal if he stopped in North-End Park and watched the meteor shower that started up. Nearish to Keberosâs usual bench, he didnât feel Blossomâs aura, but just in case he was actually out as Kieranâmaybe meeting up with Orah and doing something cute together? Muri still didnât know what the status of things was there, but if it made them happy, then he wanted them to have every possible opportunity to spend time togetherâMurikabushi sat atop one of the picnic tables, rather than heading over to the bench. The rainbow-colored meteor showers that came up in this town sometimes never got old, and watching it as Murikabushi meant that heâd be prepared in case any trouble did decide to come his way. Fiddling idly with a little green charm heâd found earlier, he looked up in silent wonder.
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 3:12 pm
Laeradr finally felt like things were looking up for him. Meemaw had finally gone on the mend, and his life was just slightly less complicated for it. He breathed in the fresh night air, wishing he was on his boat instead, but enjoying the free time nonetheless, especially with the beautiful meteor shower that happened every year. Man, he loved it. The beauty of the world never stopped feeling so wondrous. Not to mention thta patrolling was easier for him now. He felt good about himself. A rare thing, to be sure. He perked up a little at the feel of an aura and scurried towards it, hoping to meet up with a friend unexpectedly or something. Then... well, hey, not exactly a friend, but someone who could be one! "Hey, nice to see you again!" he called out to the former Dark Mirror senshi, waving jauntily. "How's purified life treating you?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2024 2:28 am
The feeling of another powered aura coming his way made Muri tense up. Even knowing that they werenât with Chaos, he hadnât expected anybody to come join him. Honestly, a Chaos person randomly showing up would have been much more sensible, in his mind? Like, either they were coming out to North-End Park to meet with Blossom and get some help about whatever problems they had going on in their lives, or maybe they were one of Muriâs friends who were still with Chaosâsomebody like Hybris or Albiteâand they just wanted to say âhi.â Or maybe they wouldâve been Lete and come to have a tantrum and call Murikabushi a slut when he had slept with exactly one (1) guy since purifying, and the guy in question had been Yuki, his committed queerplatonic partner of several years.
(Time spent with any Chaos friends counted double against Muriâs weekly allotment of senshi time, except for Hybris, whom Yuki had deemed more of a harm to himself than anyone else. But for Albite or another friend, Muri would gladly accept that cost.)
Not that it mattered tonight, apparently, because the aura was all wrong. When he looked down from the meteor shower at whoever was talking to him, Murikabushi found himself blinking bemusedly at the Neptune Squire whoâd been a pain in the a** to him last year, when Muri had still been with the Court, whose hair was definitely nowhere as gorgeous as Leandroâs. Sure, heâd seen the Squire up on Daedalus, in the battle to clear the Chaos off of his friendâs world. His presence hadnât made that much of a difference to Muri, though, because their mission that day had been about Daedalus, and his world, and how everyone present had needed to work together to clear the Chaos. Folding his hands in his lap, Murikabushi considered how he wanted to approach this. Because the Neptune Squire did seem to be approaching him in good faith, but on the other hand, Muri had never heard two specific words out of him about their previous misunderstanding.
âOh, yâknow, itâs been pretty good,â Murikabushi deadpanned, his tone falling somewhere between pleasant conversation, dry witticisms, and shade thrown with merciless accuracy. âUsed to talk to my mom and my grandmother every day; now, I canât see them at all. Some Chaos peeps knew me outside of the geish, could figure out enough to go after the family and also me. Had to move a lot of my drag and my artistic work away from a live audience and onto ******** TikTok, which is a form of suffering I wouldnât wish on my worst enemy. If I decide to go back to PhD school, Iâll have to totally start over. People on ******** Instagram refuse to understand basic words when I say âI donât want to cosplay that character, heâs not femme enough for meâ and keep nagging me to dress up as Sebastian Michaelis and Gale Dekarios.
âThen, on top of all that, I have to talk about Drag Race to get Internet content engagement, so I go looking up speculation about season seventeen? And I find a thread in one of the posts on R-slash-Drag-Race-Tea where people are debating if my old socials have been dead because Iâm on that ******** showâsomething I used to be pretty vocal about not wanting to do because I donât trust reality TV producers with my personalityâor because I went to rehab.â
Which was all probably a lot to throw at someone, which was partially the point (so many people whoâd always been with the White Moon didnât understand exactly how much actually went into purification, and frankly, even some people who had purified didnât entirely appreciate the magnitude of what they demanded out of other people). But after saying all of that Muri was starting to feel a little bit guilty for teaching this guy a lesson that he probably hadnât expected when heâd come over and so pleasantly started a conversation. So, as a hopeful gesture of good faith, he reached into his subspace and pulled out, first, a cool bottle of water (proffered for the Squire to take, if he wanted) and second, a little plastic food container.
ââŠâŠDâyou like garlic knots? My best guy made them so Iâd have snacks out on patrol.â Muri sighed, cracking open the container. âHeâs not magical, not that we know of, but Iâm lucky that I had him to land with on the other side of Ida-hime-sama breaking my starseed out of its little Dark Mirror Chaos-cage. A lot of people who purify out of Chaos donât have that. A lot of them donât have anything set up for whatâs going to happen next.â
A brief pause for consideration, then Muri concluded, âIn all honesty, despite the complaining? It has been really good, overall. That gossipy Reddit threadâs just had me in sort of a ******** up mood all day. Like, as if the entire situation werenât bad enough on its own? Some of the people arguing for âOh, yeah, sheâs totally in rehabâ were bringing up s**t about my aunt and my grandfather. Then, the side-account I have so work s**t doesnât throw off my mainâs algorithm balance? My comments kept getting downvoted and spammed with cigarette emoji replies for telling people off like âHey, dragging a queenâs family into this discussion isnât cute, you should leave them out of it.ââ
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Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 3:28 pm
... hooo-kay. That was clearly the wrong question to ask, but Laeradr listened attentively. The guy clearly had issues that needed to be heard, and honestly, he reminded Laeradr of a friend of his, as Leandro. "Yikes, man. I'm so sorry. That sounds like a lot. Also, like, Sebastian and Gale are definitely totally wrong for youâif you did anyone from Baldur's Gate 3, it should totally be Astarion? Like, hello, that elf is gayer than a maypole," he said, limping his wrist for emphasis. "Love him. Though, yeah, my favorite is Gale. Or Karlach. My first playthrough, Iâoh. Sorry. Um, did you want a distraction? Or to like... talk more about.... the weird thing with the cigarette emojis? Whichâohhh, now I get why they use those, since I was about to say it aloud. Uh." He slapped the side of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry again. Uh, I'm glad you have someone helping you. That s**t sounds like it sucks. Real bad. Those garlic knots smell amazing, though, and... as long as you're offering?" he said, hand wavering over the container for permission to grab one. "Oh! If it'll make you feel better?" He dug in his pocket for the two star charms he'd found earlier that night, pulling out one and dangling it towards Murikabushi. "Want one? They're super pretty this year."
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Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 6:46 pm
Murikabushi blinked at the star charm for a moment, then nodded. âThanks,â he said, taking the lovely little rainbow-looking one.
âŠâŠIt was a little bit offensive that this guy was proving so easy to talk to, when he wasnât being a hostile jackass to anybody with a Chaos aura. And despite ostensibly having very little in the way of a verbal filter, he apparently had enough tact to not say out loud how people online liked to use the cigarette emoji as a way of calling someone a homophobic slur without getting pinged for using hate-speech. He honestly reminded Muri more and more of Leandro, the more they talked, which made Muriâs heart sink somewhat as he held out the container of garlic knots.
Leandro used to love Yukiâs garlic knots. And Reiki hadnât been able to tell him anything before going off to become Kiyoshi becauseâŠâŠwell. What if heâd secretly gotten sucked into the Negaverse? What if he was a senshi and the Court had their hooks in him and Reiki hadnât known because the most reliable intra-Court communication he knew of either happened while people were powered down (he thought about BĂ©lĂ©nos, Sappho, and Acubens-oneesan, knowing that heâd once known all of their names but unable to remember anymore), or came from Lete and Hybris? Only one of whom actually made a decent conversation partner?
Too much had been at stake, no matter how much Murikabushi regretted not having been able to talk to Leandro ahead of time.
âI actually have done Astarion,â Muri said. âItâs why people know they can ask for Gale and Iâll know what theyâre talking about.â With a soft sigh, he counted off on his fingers: âAstarion was my first. Then, Shadowheart because sheâs the most popular companion romance by far. Then, Karlach because, ugh, hello? Love her, too. Plus, I had the red gloves and body suit from other outfits Iâve done. My Minthara is almost done, and doing a Dalyria was really easy. And Laeâzel is going to take more work. You need more advanced prosthetics for the Githyanki facial features. So, I havenât even started on her yet? And whether I do it or not is going to depend a lot on how expensive said prosthetics are.â
Much easier to do a Tiefling or a Drow or a normal elf when you already had the right color ears, the right color facepaint and contour situation figured out, and so on.
âAnother good thing about my best guy,â Muri said, âis he keeps me from overdoing it. I was actually about to power down for the night. ButâŠâŠas long as youâre okay with dogs, we could keep hanging out?â
His biggest contention was that he hadnât heard an âIâm sorryâ out of the Neptune SquireâŠâŠâŠbut that was now technically invalid as a complaint. Sure, it had been for the wrong thing, but making a huge stink about it now feltâŠâŠkinda mean. And like it wouldâve taken more energy than Muri really wanted to invest in being mean.
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Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2024 6:55 pm
Laeradr beamed at the confirmation of permission, then daintily plucked a garlic knot from the pretty little pile and popped it in his mouth. Mm! God, he loved these things. They tasted... Huh, they tasted just like... He tilted his head slightly as he chewed a little more slowly, savoring the taste and trying to figure out... Ah! They tasted exactly like Yuki's garlic knotsâhe felt a pang in his chest, biting his lip after swallowing the garlic knot. Reiki had gone missing recently, and his stomach churned to think of what had happened to him. Kidnapped? Youma food? Nobody knew. Pushing back the sudden wave of emotion, he took a deep breath and nodded. "I'd love to see pictures," he said enthusiastically, "and I freakin' love dogs. I just can't have one of my ownâhouse is crowded enough as it is, haha. So yeah, I'll meet your Mr Garlic Knot Guy who also has a dog. As long as he's cool with you bringing home very handsome magical strangers." He said the last in a bit of a sing-song, rising on the balls of his feet briefly, excited to be making a new friend. A moment later, he reached out with his senses, and, feeling no other nearby auras nor seeing any prying eyes looking their way, dropped down on his full feet and let normalcy wash back over him. Leandro grinned at him, dressed in cut off jean shorts (so short the pockets stuck out from the bottom) and "Gettin' Bi" crop top. "Cute enough for ya?" he asked with a wink.
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 4:18 pm
Murikabushi expected a lot of things when the Neptune Squire powered down, but he didnât expect to find himself staring, somewhat slack-mouthed, at somebody he recognized immediately. The outfit alone wouldâve been suggestiveâsure, plenty of people in the world wore similar things, but the Squireâs civilian gear looked so similar to the things that a certain Esparza liked to wearâbut there was no mistaking the face. Murikabushi knew his old friend too well to think he was anybody else, or to mistake someone else for him.
Leandro ******** Esparza, as he lived and breathed.
It stung a bit, to look at him in his cut-offs and his silly crop-top, knowing that he wouldnât recognize Kiyoshi when he powered down, butâŠâŠthey were going home anyway, so hopefully, they could clear that all up in a way Leandro would actually believe. Trying to go âLeandro, you beautiful idiotâ right in the middle of the park wouldâve been rude and drawn a lot of attention onto them that neither of them needed (and Murikabushi didnât want it, though he couldnât say for Leandro). Taking a deep breath, Muri powered back down into Kiyoshi, his fuku melting away into a cute but fairly low-key outfit: a black jumper skirt overtop of fluffy rainbow petticoats and a black t-shirt that said âI Canât Even Think Straightâ with little designs of glittery, rainbow-maned cartoon unicorns.
âHeâll be fine with meeting you,â Kiyoshi said with a smile, getting up and smoothing out his skirt. For one thing, theyâd met before, so it wasnât like it would be a huge new thing for Yuki. BesidesââYou arenât remotely the strangest new friend Iâve brought home recently.â Grieve was probably winning that contest, hands down. Either way, as Kiyoshi started leading the way toward home, he said, âIâm Kiyoshi, by the way. Or Magdalene Yotsuya Wilde on social media.â
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Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 4:34 pm
Leandro quirked a brow, but remained (mostly) silent about that, nodding and smiling. "I'll be sure to look you up when I get the chance, then. Nice to meet ya, name's Leandro, and you look beautiful in that outfit."
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