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 Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 1:35 pm
Quote: Engine 21 (12) : Once, Destiny City had a functioning train station. Over the years the tracks took their damage, and the cost to repair couldn’t be justified. So the city let it, and the station, fall into ruin. Of course there have been rumors that the train station was a hot spot for ghouls, stuck in perpetual transit. Lost souls with no place to go. It’s not uncommon for trespassers to come out of the station claiming they saw some frightful apparition wearing outfits right out of the mid 1900s. Sometimes, they even hear the whistle of a train, or the clattering of the track as a phantom train rolls in. Engine 21 was the last train to depart from the station, allegedly, and derailed on the way to the mountains. There were no survivors, but the legend differs in how many souls were lost. Some say, if you stand on the platform at 3:33AM you can hear their screams forever cemented in an endless loop, reliving their deaths nightly. It’s not uncommon for people to say that the railroad crossings will mysteriously light up and lower despite no oncoming trains, and some have even said they’ve seen a phantom train speeding through the night. Maybe it’s just a ghost story, but maybe you’ve seen something, too. Okay. Look. Laeradr knew this totally looked bad, investigating ghost s**t, but ghost s**t was almost always magical s**t that he had to try to figure out. He hated it, though. Absolutely hated it. Ghosts were the one thing he completely refused to deal with! The issue here was deciding if it was actually ghost s**t or magic s**t. Once he got himself an answer either way, at least he'd know. And if it was pure ghost s**t, he would never, ever return to the creepy, run-down, dilapidated, probably should have been condemned fifty years ago, moldy old train station. He promised himself that over and over again as he made his way to that cursed place, hissing it under his breath. "Please no ghosts," he begged of God as he picked his way over some debris towards the tracks. Upon seeing another figure in the mist, however, he let out a girlish shriek, until the aura of a White Moon senshi hit him like a punch to the face. Ah. Okay. That one was not a ghost probably! Great and cool of him to make a fool of himself like that, then. "Hi," he said lamely into the dark, waving at the figure. "Sorry, thought you were a ghost."
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 2:10 pm
Given that he was now not under the Negaverse's extensively monitored gaze, Lionel felt a lot better about just...powering up and exploring. Especially since he remembered who he'd been as Lionel, but not whoever else he'd been--so Fionn Donne felt like a person he had to finish becoming, rather than someone he already was.
....It didn't make a lot of sense. he knew it didn't make a lot of sense. But ti was easier to go out and chase rumors about a ghost train while powered up, especially because Lionel was never gonna get Fionn put in jail for the night for trespassing.
So he was standing at the station, in the fog, squinting into the distance, when he heard a scream and whirled.
It hadn't sounded like the haunted sort of scream, and when he spotted someone else--a Knight? All in blues? Maybe?--he relaxed.
"You okay?" He asked the other, slightly fog-obscured figure. It seemed obvious what had happened, and Lionel would do his best to be....less than rude about it. "I'm alive, I promise, just a Senshi out for a walk."
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 2:38 pm
Laeradr relaxed another fraction when the guy thankfully chose not to react to the way Laeradr had initially reacted to his presence. At least, not like a jerk, anyway. "Out for a walk in a haunted train station?" he teased, smiling though it was clearly strained. "Guy like you seems like you'd be here to investigate. I'm glad I haven't seen anything ghostly myself yet, though I did only just get here. Have you seen much? Oh, I'm Laeradr, by the way." He shook his body out a little, showing off his outfit, and paying special attention to the way he shook his hips. "Squire of Neptune."
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 2:55 pm
"There are many reasons a man might be on a late-night stroll," Lionel said, a little airily. "But yes, I'm here to investigate. Dunno what I think I'm looking for, or what I think I can do about a ghost train, but....here we are."
He reached up and ran his fingers throguh his hair--he really had let it grow out the past few years, and he wasn't sure if that was on purpose or not anymore,. but he liked it, now that he was actually taking care of it.
A playful little smile crossed his lips, seeing the way Laeradr showed off--maybe that was something. It was entertaining, at the least.
"Lionel. Senshi of Betrayal." He swept a playful little bow, clearly amused. "Absolute pleasure to meet you, Laeradr of Neptune."
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 3:18 pm
Laeradr grinned at the bow, leaning forward on his cane, both hands on it like he was some kind of—well, he didn't even quite know what. Like some kind of Duke from an old-timey medieval setting cartoon or something? Whatever. It felt silly, and it distracted him from the creepy feeling this area gave him. "The pleasure's all mine," he said, putting airs into his own voice. "At least, as far as meeting you goes. As for any ghost activity—" CLANG CLANG, CLANG CLANG, CLANG CLANG! Laeradr jumped at least two feet in the air from the scare, an easy feat in powered form, and his cane clattered to the ground as he came back down and whirled to face the arms of the barriers. Moving downwards. Lights flashing. But no train. "Uh," he squeaked. "You see that too, right, Lionel?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 3:40 pm
Lionel laughed. Okay, alright, this guy was fun, and it was nice to be meeting him as friends, rather than as enemies, which would have made the whole situation very awkward.
There was a witty, flirty rejoinder on his lips, right up until that awful clanging drew his attention. He spun towards it, all tense lines, ready for a fight. Sure, no one had implied the ghost train was necessarily dangerous. But that didn't mean he was willing to assume this was just the ghost train.
"Yeah," he said, "I see that. But whatever it is, we can definitely handle it together." A Super and a Squire? No problem.
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 4:10 pm
"I actually vote for getting the heck out of here," he said, retrieving his cane even as he stood in a fighting stance, ready for whatever might come. Nothing further happened, as the moments dragged on, and then the bells finally quit their clanging and the arms rose back up to their upright and quiet position. "That was creepy and I hated it," he said with a soft huff. "Uh... So... What do you say we get out of here and go not deal with any more ghost stuff? It's cold out. Hot chocolate?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 4:13 pm
Lionel shook his head, a little, at the suggestion of running away. He was tense, letting the moments tick on, waiting to see if anything else came out of the tunnel. The idea of turning tail appealed, sure, but....
He'd put his head in the sand throguh a lot, and it had left him trapped int he Negaverse and miserable for nearly a decade. Seven wasted years of his life. Now that he was out, he wasn't exactly eager to run away again.
But nothing happened, and he relaxed, flashing Laeradr a smile.
"Incredibly creepy, yes," he agreed, "which means hot chocolate sounds like exactly the thing. Let's go find somewhere open late."
He was free, after all, and that meant free to enjoy the little pleasures. Like hot chocolate with a cute boy.
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