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 Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2024 8:19 pm
Murikabushi hadn’t seen much of the Dark Mirror Court since he’d left—or, a bit more accurately, since Elsa had left—but in a lot of ways, that wasn’t really a huge change. He hadn’t seen a lot of the Court when he’d actually been able to use his old compact for anything. Not seeing any Mirror senshi out and about just felt different, on the other side of purifying, in ways that Muri didn’t know that he had words for. He hadn’t even run into Hybris in a while, which was, on one hand, sad because Murikabushi liked Hybris (and he was the only Chaos babe exempted from Yuki’s rule about time with them counting double against Kiyoshi’s weekly allotment of senshi time).
On the other hand, not running into Hybris was kind of worrisome. If he’d actually gotten hurt or killed or something, his posse of overprotective gal-pals probably would’ve made a huge mess in their outrage. But Hybris had also been erroneously purporting himself to be the Senshi of Eggplants for over a year, and considering the actual Senshi of Eggplants Aubergines (pretentious d**k) had been on Earth for a good six months? That confrontation would probably happen sooner or later, if it hadn’t already, and considering how badly Achird treated people who were trying to help his ungrateful a**, Muri didn’t expect it to go in Hybris’s favor. If it had already happened, it could’ve knocked Hybris out of commission for a while, maybe.
(Murikabushi really hoped that confrontation hadn’t happened yet. He didn’t put it past Achird to leave Hybris to die or something, and Muri really didn’t want that to happen. Hybris was just a little guy. He didn’t really try to make the world a better place, but he still improved it greatly by being so floppy and so dedicatedly useless.)
When a Dark Mirror aura cropped up on his aura senses—somebody close to his own power level, so it might have been Hybris—Muri was perched atop a used bookstore close to North-End Park. He’d picked up boba with the intent to share with Kerberos (one strawberry milk tea and one matcha milk tea), but Blossom hadn’t been at his bench tonight. Damn him and his perfectly reasonable point that keeping too regular a schedule would make it easier for the Negaverse to target him.…… Well. Sharing with a Dark Mirror senshi might not be quite as easy as it would’ve been a few months ago, but Muri had promised Remarque that he didn’t want any bad blood with the Court, and that he’d still try to look out for them.
Following the aura wasn’t difficult; the Mirror senshi wasn’t that far away. Peering down at her from the roof, Muri could instantly tell that she wasn’t Hybris. The silhouette was all wrong for him, more deconstructed ballet than Hybris’s sleek and floppy rich boy look. “Hey, sis,” Muri called down to her, trying to announce his presence and hopefully convey that he didn’t have any ill intentions before inviting himself down. He did jump down to get on the same level as her, though. “Everything alright tonight? Anybody giving you any trouble?”
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Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 6:26 pm
For a moment, Leona had thought it was going to be Corvina again. There was no reason for this thought, other than she was thinking about the Senshi, and idly hoping he was all right. The apple had been tasty, and she wanted to ask him what type it was…though…maybe he wouldn't know. He seemed a little…strange. Skin color aside. There were just people from Space. She got this. Nothing new.
When she looked up at the voice, the frown that crossed her face was just from disappointment. This wasn’t Corvina, but it was. Another guy in a skirt.
Interesting. “Nope. Unless you’re planning on giving me some, in which case, I warn you, my magic is pretty fantastic. Really sweeps people off their feet.” Not that she was going to tell the stranger what it was…if this turned…bad. He’d see.
“Are you planning on giving me trouble?” The question was an afterthought…but honestly? It was a good one.
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Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 6:41 pm
“Definitely not planning on any trouble, no,” Muri told her, making sure to get the important part of this conversation right out there at the start, the way he wished more Knights and White Moon senshi had done for him when he’d still been with the Court (which, in fact, really was that easy, but—Murikabushi wouldn’t help anybody by holding onto any bitterness over past incidents of bad behavior from others who were on his “side,” now).
Taking care with the cups of boba (and with himself), Muri hopped off the roof onto the building’s fire escape, then bounced down the metal platforms in the way that Yuki did while trying to get to the bottom of something in a FromSoft game without dying from the fall damage. From there, it was a pretty easy path to the ground. Once Murikabushi and the Mirror senshi of the evening were on the same level, Muri gave her a smile—and then an approving nod as he took in a better view of her fuku.
“My name’s Murikabushi,” he told her, “and for somebody in such an S-tier fuku, I’d much rather give you boba than trouble, if you want any?” He held up the cups. “I got the strawberry milk tea to share with a friend, but he’s not out and about tonight. I’d still like to share it with somebody, though, y’know?”
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Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 6:45 pm
Leona gave a little preen at the compliment and even went so far as to do a little turn. “It is grand, isn’t it? I’m glad to see that you have good tastes. And good manners. The last Senshi I met…tried to share food with me but threw the apple at me instead of just. Offering it.”
There were no qualms for her taking the boba, and she reached into subspace and pulled out a small pack of chocolate covered potato chips, holding them out in return. “They’re from this little place I like to go, but the candy is fantastic. I haven’t found anything I don’t like.”
And she wouldn’t, as she made most of it.
Punching the straw into the plastic that lined the top of the cup, Leona sighed. “I’m Leona. Nice to meet you.”
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Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 7:00 pm
Since his hands weren’t currently free to give her some polite applause for the little turn, Muri kept his smile warm and upbeat, and gave her a little nod. He hadn’t expected anything from her in return, but then she went and pulled out some kind of chips covered in chocolate? “Awww, thank you, that’s so sweet. I’ll share these with my best guy when I get home tonight, they look like exactly the sort of thing he’ll love.”
Granted, it was hard to go wrong when offering Yuki pretty fresh-made chocolate from any of the local places in town. But—hmmm. Muri really hadn’t expected Leona to give him anything in return. Maybe he had something else he could toss in for her, too?
The anecdote about what she’d dealt with from another senshi tonight, though, managed to distract him from thinking about that. Pursing his lips and tilting his head, Muri considered what Leona had to say.… Oh, he really hoped that Lanting’s enormous space-boyfriend wasn’t causing trouble for any Mirror senshi, especially when it sure seemed like Leona was just minding her own business. If Corvina was causing problems, then Muri would try to do something about it (which likely meant talking to Lanting, since Corvina didn’t like him, but whatever).
First, though, Muri had to be sure: “The senshi who gave you trouble? Would he happen to have been really big? Like, taller than me and built like he’s auditioning to be the centerfold model in some softcore skin magazine? Kinda pinky-purple skin, wild hair all over the place, elf ears, and a tiger tail? Possibly named Corvina?”
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Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 7:23 pm
“I mean, yeah that was him. And let me tell you, I gave him more trouble than he gave me, and he wasn’t a bad guy…super tall though. Like. I don’t know what kind of growth hormones the aliens have taken but like. He needs to chill on them.”
Leona gave a little laugh, though was a little surprised that…they knew one another. She hadn’t realized Order was such a tight knit group. Interesting.
“Anyway, he gave me an apple after and I gave him some candy in apology, and we’re cool. I wouldn’t mind meeting up with him again. Honestly, I half thought you were going to be him. But, should have known that he couldn’t get stronger so quickly.”
That wasn’t…how things worked. No matter how much you wanted them to.
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Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 7:44 pm
Well, that continuation of the story was a little bit anticlimactic, but Muri nodded along and eased some regardless. Better that Leona put Corvina in his place and he didn’t give her more trouble than she could handle. For one thing, good that she knew how to defend herself and had her magic to do it with as necessary.
For another, better that Corvina was trying to do something decent and just doing it really badly, as opposed to stalking some poor girl (who seemed really sweet) through the park, waiting for her to summon a Mirrorwraith so he could justify attacking her. Not understanding human social customs was a good sight better than Corvina’s whole <******** problem with Murikabushi.
“I think his people just tended to run really, really tall,” Muri said, chuckling a bit at Leona’s crack about alien growth hormones. “As I understand, they also had this whole warrior culture thing going on? I haven’t heard the whole story there because he has some very negative opinions about Murikabushi, the planet, and about what its people were like a thousand years ago. And telling him ‘Okay, but I’m not the Murikabushi of a thousand years ago’ doesn’t do much.
“Honestly, you probably made the best call about putting him in his place right out the gate. He seems to understand that better than he understands ideas like ‘Whoever you’re mad at from Murikabushi the planet has been dead for a thousand years and it’s really kinda bullshit to hold me accountable for what they did. I’m twenty-seven, I only powered up in 2022, I had nothing to do with whatever thing you’re actually upset about.’”
Though……oh, that was an idea. Thinking about Murikabushian black roses pinged something in the back of Muri’s mind, and he reached once more into his subspace pocket. When his hand came out, it held two Mirrorscape crystals, their color just as vivid as it had been back when he purified, all whirling black and purple.
“Here,” Murikabushi told her, holding his palm and the crystals out for Leona. “You sound like you’ve had a night, and you can actually use these, so……maybe the flowers they grow will look nice on your realm in the Mirrorscape?” Just so they could avoid confusion, Muri explained, “I used to be a Mirror senshi, too. But I didn’t leave because of anything with the Court. As much as I can, I still like to watch out for you guys. Y’know, keep other Order folks from attacking Mirror senshi for no reason, or talking about you guys like you aren’t even people.”
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Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 7:51 pm
Crystals! Leona’s eyes sparkled and she held her hands out, taking the crystals and slipping them into subspace before he could change his mind. The things he was saying…the whole…it wasn’t really resonating, but finally, she paused and looked up, frowning slightly. “...Why did you leave, if it wasn’t for anything with the Court? Were you just…tired of wearing black? I mean, I can’t say that the idea of having a whole planet or whatever for my own doesn’t sound great, but…”
She gestured to her outfit and again, did a little twirl. “This can’t be topped. I’m not like. Fanatic or anything…but I’m content where I am, content with my life…and I think my realm is neat…Corvina’s going to come and see it the next time we meet, provided I can find a mirror he’ll fit in…you should come too. If you ever want to see Mirrorspace again.”
Pausing, Leona slowly began to shake her head. “That wasn’t a threat, and if you think like, it’ll revolt with you coming to visit, we won’t do it. But…I don’t know. People should make their own choices. I’m not going to judge. Unless they throw things at me, and then I attack.”
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Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 8:33 pm
One of the suggestions from Leona made Muri laugh good-naturedly. “I actually wish I were still wearing black,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite colors to wear, and some Order senshi get cute fukus where they’ve got a little white dress or a white bodysuit, with a dark-colored robe or something overtop of it? That would’ve been amazing……but, eh.” Muri shrugged. “I’m making my peace with the color scheme issue and doubling down about looking cute in black by daylight.
“As for why I left? Long story short, I had a personality conflict with Mirrorspace itself.”
Which, as far as summaries go, skipped over pretty much everything in favor of being pithy. And Leona sounded like she just wanted to understand, so she really deserved better than that.
“I used to visit Mirrorspace a lot, starting as soon as I could get there on my own. I was totally experiencing Order senshi envy—y’know, they get entire planets. Those planets can have cute little animals on them. They get access to all kinds of histories and they get to go to space and so on and so forth, which is stuff that I love. And I wanted to get to know Mirrorspace more, and understand what its deal was as much as I could. Every time I went, though, I had this feeling like……Mirrorspace’s deal seems to be protecting its senshi, and offering the Court safety? But the protection Mirrorspace offers didn’t feel like it worked for me, personally.”
There wasn’t any way around admitting at least some fault in this whole situation, so Muri didn’t try to pretend he was innocent by saying, “I’m not saying this is a good personality trait of mine or anything? It’s not. But to me, it felt like Mirrorspace decided what my own best interests were without asking me what I thought about that. When I feel like that’s happening, I see red and start biting people. So, getting that from Mirrorspace, I was angry all the time, then feeling miserable and guilty for being so angry, then feeling broken because nobody else I knew felt this way about Mirrorspace, so like, why did I? Something had to give and it didn’t seem fair to make Mirrorspace change when obviously, I was the one with the problem.”
With a soft sigh, Muri fussed with his long bangs, tucking them behind one ear and off his face. “But I don’t think anybody is wrong for liking the life they have with the Court, or for liking Mirrorspace. There are a lot of kind, wonderful people in the Court who are just trying their best to be happy. Some of them left Order because they didn’t want to fight anymore. Some of them just don’t think they should have to be chained down by things that some other Sailor Whoever did a thousand years ago, which, like? Yeah, they shouldn’t have to deal with that. I just chose what felt right for me, personally.”
Leona’s offer, though, definitely didn’t sound like a threat? But it did make Muri gently bite on his lip while he tried to consider all the different moving parts of that question.
“I think I might still need some time before I can feel okay with being around Mirrorspace itself again,” he said gently, after letting himself think. Honestly, he wouldn’t be shocked if the feeling were mutual, considering he sure had said some things during the whole struggle of wills to get his Mirrorseal. “It’s sort of like how you need space after a breakup, y’know? But showing Mirrorspace to Corvina sounds like a good way to help him understand more about what the Court’s whole deal is. And hey, if you ever feel like visiting space? My home-world might be sort of an acquired taste, but I really like it. I’d be happy to take you for a visit sometime.”
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Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2024 5:36 pm
An issue with…Mirrorspace? That…was a strange reason, and she didn’t quite understand it but…Leona supposed that everyone had their quirks and reasons, and now she was simply nodding along to be polite, though when he invited her to see Space.
“Oh absolutely. I would love to come up there, and my offer to see my realm isn’t going anywhere, so no worries on needing your time and space. I get it.”
Leona reached up and scratched at her head for a moment, trying to figure out if she wanted to say anymore, and what it was that she wanted to say.
“Look, so long as you did what’s best for you…with the whole leaving thing. If you feel good about it, then good! I’m glad you’re happy with your choices!”
She meant it. There was no shade being thrown. You couldn’t force anyone to stay where they didn’t want to…and so long as he wasn’t making an enemy of her…well. Go off.
“I should…be heading out soon though…if that’s all right?”
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Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2024 6:16 pm
“Thanks for keeping an open mind,” Murikabushi told her earnestly, with a small smile. He didn’t expect understanding or open-mindedness from most people who were still with the Court, especially the ones whom he hadn’t met before and who had no reason to believe him, so it was genuinely nice to get some. “But—yeah, you and me both, honestly? About heading out. It was really nice to meet you, though, Leona. Get home safe tonight, yeah?”
Hopefully, she had a mirror at home that she could just walk through. That honestly saved so much time and risk.
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