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 Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 8:47 pm
Quote: Snowbunnies (2) : Winter seems to bring out the cutest of all rodents; this isn’t the first time that small, white rabbits have infested Destiny City. They’re small, rarely larger than a guinea pig, and have large eyes and wiggling noses. They are always pure white and seem to show up whenever there’s snow. They aren't menacing or evil, they're just everywhere. They seem strangely domesticated; they are sweet, curious, and friendly creatures that will eat anything you give them. They always seem cold to the touch, and when they shake, little snowflakes sprinkle off of them. While they seem to be social creatures who seem to appreciate anything warm and will cuddle up to steal body heat, they are too skittish and fast to be kept for pets. They can show up just about anywhere, either alone or--often--in pairs. They tend to wander off on their own without any trouble, but if you surprise them or try to catch or hurt them, they may bite. Their little teeth are enough to break skin, but after one bite they run away. The bite itself isn’t bad, but the effects are a bit unpleasant: for roughly two days after the bite, the injury is cold and the victim will feel random, cold, shooting pains. Their core body temperature will drop and they will often be sent into random fits of shivering. No medicine seems to help, and no amount of blankets or hot baths can soothe the chill. You're just going to have to deal with it and hope it gets better… Most experiences with the bunnies are perfectly pleasant, you just have to worry about them burrowing. There are holes peppering Destiny City, and with the fresh fallen snow it can be impossible to tell where they are hiding. The holes range from small holes to several feet deep, so can be a minor inconvenience to a potential hazard. On the bright side, sometimes you wind up covered in bunnies looking for warmth from their sudden guest. On the other hand, there are a rising number of trips to the hospital for twists and sprains. The bunnies always leave with the snow, so best to enjoy them--or avoid them--for as long as you can.
"So where did we want togo now? Did we want to look around, see if we get any ideas for last minute gifts or what?" Because she'd done her Christmas shopping but she was always up for looking into last minute stocking stuffers, especially for her partner. She had gotten him some new stationary, all very nice items, and some really good quality paper. Those were the basic things...she'd gotten other things as well for him.
With her district manager job Keely was making good enough money that she didn't mind spending, and splurging, a bit on family members this holiday season...more than usual anyway.
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Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 10:32 pm
Stepping out into the crisp winter air, Fiona couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction with her gingerbread chai tea latte warming her hands. The steam rose from her cup in delicate, swirling tendrils, a dance of warmth against the cold winter air. It curled and twisted, forming shapes that dissolved into nothingness. She glanced over at Keely, who sounded equally delighted with her drink choice as well. It wasn’t often that they had the chance to hang out like this, both being so busy with their own lives, but during the holiday season, iit was nice to at least find time to reconnect. “I’m fine just wandering around for now if you are. I heard that some vendors had set up a few stalls near the snow hill the city set up.” Breana had already been there earlier this month and said that there were a few unique things there to buy. “I do, however, need to get some new turtlenecks.” Her wardrobe was getting frightfully outdated and a few articles of clothes were showing their years of wear.
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Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 10:40 pm
Looking over to Fiona the white haired woman nodded her head once, a braid slipping over her shoulder and coming to rest just below her chest. Since growing her hair long Keely had taken to doing "viking braids" in her hair and at times asking her partner to assist, as some braids were a bit more difficult for her fingers to manage. It was nice to have a partner who didn't mind helping her, and who had learned how to braid hair in order to assist, it meant her hair was always done in some sort of style.
""That sounds like a good idea, especially if you heard good things." Glancing Fiona over, as if she could see this need for turtlenecks somehow, she nodded her head. "I wouldn't mind a few more sweaters either. I swear every winter just gets worse and worse in this city. How long till it's on par with the Arctic I wonder." Because every winter was something new, something worse, colder and more snow and people shut into their homes.
"Maybe I'll find a nice sweater for Derrick...or a scarf. Something knit maybe." Something made out of real hair so it wasn't something that you didn't breath in, like those fabrics made out of recycled plastics. The body simply didn't breath in certain articles of clothing and instead sweat, a lot, because the materials were just not right.
"Lead the way Fiona."
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Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 10:56 pm
“I honestly don’t disagree with you.” Every winter there was some sort of storm, some phenomenon that was left unexplained like a science experiment gone wrong and the City was trying to cover it up. “Although, compared to previous years, this one feels kind of mild.” The large ski hill was manmade and intentional even if it was four hundred feet long. “Fortunately, as long as we don’t enter another ice age, I doubt it will get as bad as my homeworld.” The entire landscape was coated in a sheet of ice with sharp lances jutting out of the ground in odd angles, some reaching between eighty to a hundred and twenty feet high easily. That was just the surface. Below the crust where the wind chill was harder to reach, were the cities frozen in time, sculpted out of water frozen hundreds of centuries ago. To date, she had yet to see a plant grow that she didn’t bring there; like the frostflowers that thrived in that climate. Transplanted from Destiny they now reside in a small patch of frost garden to be admired. Fiona motioned with her head for Keely to follow her across the street she shifted back to the topic of her cousins partner. “How are things going between you and Derrick?” She asked out of genuine curiosity. Her eyes up ahead rather than on the path she narrowly missed stepping into a bunny’s burrow, almost causing it to collapse on the little critters inside.
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Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 11:08 pm
"Yeah but that could just mean the city is concocting something new still - something we'll face next year. I'm not sure I want to take this year being mold as a good sign." Not if it might mean the city was working on it's next plans, to have a mild year meant a lot was going into next year. It worried her, as it always did, this city was a mess and she'd move if she could but family was here...work was here...and so was Derrick and she wasn't about to move from this city. She was a knight now and she would deal with this city, and whatever it threw her way.
"Perhaps but I wouldn't tempt the city. If it hears that it might take it as a challenge and try and do just that...throw this city into an ice age - only us." It didn't sound possible, it wasn't scientifically, but the magic here might just make it possible - an ice age just for them.
Following her cousin, keeping her eyes drifting between looking up and ahead and looking down at the ground. As cute as the bunnies were they also caused trouble, they left far too many holes in the city, so when she saw her cousin nearly hit a hole she was reaching out for Fiona. "Careful, those bunnies are really out to test us all."
Keeping a hand on the others arm, just incase, Keely smiled softly. "We're doing good. He's being preped to take over his bosses buisness." And she was now a district manager for d**k's sporting goods, so they were doing well. "I think we're going to be planning a vacation for this year, it'll be the first one but I think it's really needed. What about you - dating anyone Fiona?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 11:41 pm
Fiona flashed her cousin a thankful smile for the warning. “I’m glad you two are doing well,” she flashed Keely a genuine smile. “I’m-” Fiona’s voice trailed off into a long pause. She probably should have seen that question coming and yet when her cousin asked, it knocked her off guard a bit. Clearing her throat she tried once more, “I umm… no. Not since Fionan.” Unable to look at her cousin, she instead fixated her gaze on the small vent hole in her cup lid. “I had an ice skating partner for a short while but that ended a couple of years ago.” Nathaniel was a skilled skater but had a partner of his own and had to take a step back from competitions. They still met on occasion but that was it. “You know me, I’m the Senshi of Cold for a reason.” Magically… physically… emotionally… she embodied the sphere in all but touch, though one could say her actions have a tendency to be just as sharp or frigid. Fiona attempted a smile but it didn’t reach her eyes. For anyone that knew her it’d be easy enough to tell that she was simply existing not living and had been like this for a long while now. “Breana is seeing someone though,” well she never put a title to their relationship but they acted as more than just friends. “He’s a Knight, similar to you, but of Pluto. I approve of him, he has done a good job keeping her safe and vise versa from what I’ve been told.” So long as he was with her twin, Fiona was comfortable enough to not feel compelled to tag along, morse so after he became a Squire and had magic of his own to use.
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Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2025 4:31 pm
Sighing at her cousins answer she wasn't surprised, and she worried for her cousin. She might have family but her cousin didn't have anyone else in her life aside from family. She needed more, at least Keely thought so. "Fiona, don't you think you'd be happy dating someone....that maybe you should try and go on a date here or there, maybe you'll find someone?" Moving her hand up her cousins arm, so it rested on her shoulder.
"Just because you're the senshi of cold doesn't mean it needs to take over your life, that you should be alone." Far from it if you asked Keely, her cousin needed someone at her side, Fiona needed someone to make her smile and bring her happiness. Keely was almost considering taking her cousin out to a speed dating event or maybe get her an account on some dating site, or an app, and see if she didn't get some luck. She was certain that she, and maybe Derrick, would follow her to a speed dating event..or any first date really. They would, of course, keep their distance but be there incase anything happned, just to keep Fiona safe, it would be a way to make sure things went well for everyone involved. Keely held her tongue though, for now, and didn't offer to outright help her cousin find some warmth and love in her life.
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Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 8:43 pm
“Honestly, it’s simpler this way,” a line rehearsed so many times that even now she had begun to believe it. “The last thing I want to do is start a relationship out on a lie. I don’t want have to hide who or what I am. To sneak off somewhere and power up just to leave them wondering if I’m a coward and ran away or if I’d been kidnapped,” or worse, killed. “I’ve been through that already once, and I wish I would have trusted my gut instead of listened to a mauvian I’d never see again.” It was years after the fact that Fiona had learned that her Ex had awoken as a senshi as well. With him by her side she might have felt more confident in her role but for a lengthy time she was patrolling alone, which was terrifying. Having her sister awaken as the Senshi of Heat only exasperated those anxieties. “I’m happy that you have Derrick, and Breana has Indra. Truly, I am.” She placed a hand on her cousin’s shoulder and gave it a reaffirming squeeze. A bunny hopped out of a snow burrow and stopped in front of them. It’s beedy eyes blinking at them curiously before disregarding their existence and jumping into another hole and disappearing just as abruptly as it arrived. “Of the few Senshi and Knight’s I’ve met, most were one-time encounters,” that is, with the exception of Kemi, who was not quite human, and Beira. “Those that weren’t…” her voice trailed off into a shrug. Needless to say, neither party made an effort to remain connected, at least not without several months, if not longer, between communications.
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Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2025 10:54 am
"Then date a senshi or a knight, you power up ofen enough so you can make some connections." Like she'd managed to do somehow, because she had been dating a knight for years now. "You know you don't need to be alone in the world. Being a senshi shouldn't mean not dating or giving up parts of your civilian life, it's something to balance with it." It wasn't soimething which should take over but it was a part of a whole, something to blend in.
"So I heard, and you should seek them out. You were happy when you two were dating, Everone in the family saw you were happy." Even if it had started as a joke, given their names, they had been good together. She knew her cousins words were true, her cousin was indeed happy for herself and Breana, but she needed her happiness as well...she just needed to reach for it. Someone had to get her to go for it, and Keely was going to try and be that person.
"Mmm, you should get out there and try and make contacts, exchance numbers with other knights and senshi....or reach out to your ex...." Or just stalk his social media and find out if he was single, she didn't think it would be good to say that to Fiona though, but Keely was most certainly thinking it. Maybe her and Breana should stalk Fionan online? Anything to help her cousin find some happiness...to find the comfort she needed in this all. She deserved it.
"That was one of those bunnies...right? The ones making all the holes in the city." They were cute, and yet dangerous, they were like many things in this city. At least the bunnies didn't attack people outright, their holes were just a danger. "I wonder how they interact with the normal wild rabbit population in the city."
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 8:06 pm
Fiona felt her chest tighten at Keely’s casual suggestion, her heartbeat momentarily faltering before she forced herself to keep moving, her expression unreadable. “Yeah…” she said, her gaze following the snow bunny as it bounded across the sidewalk before vanishing into a burrow, completely unbothered by their presence. She let a moment stretch before speaking again, her tone even. “Unless you want an unexpected case of chills, I wouldn’t try picking one up,” she advised, her voice carrying an almost amused caution. It was the kind of warning that suggested she had either learned this lesson the hard way or had witnessed someone else make the mistake. Thoughts of things she wanted to say, to open up about and confess to her cousin, cycled through her mind. Things she dared not bring up to Breana for reasons she couldn’t quite articulate. “I don’t power up all that often. Usually only when my sister asks but the last couple of times almost ended with me getting corrupted.” No by choice, of course, but that little tidbit of information was probably unknown to Keely. “I’ve only come in contact with a couple of people who aren’t agents; Kemi and Beira.” Her voice trailed off, her thoughts comparing the circumstances of both encounters. “Kemi is sweet. She’s not from here though, and by here I mean Earth. She has fox-like traits and traveled here from her homeworld. Beira…” She paused, drew in a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. “We met on a couple of occasions. The first time was when we were running from some owl-like monster, we hid inside the ice rink for a while until it went away. The next time was several months later when he asked for help finding something on his wonder.” “I feel like I made a mistake asking Eleonora to join us, she was quite vocal about how cold it was,” being the Senshi of Heat it was probably to be expected. “I think she was trying to joke around but I don’t know if it was taken seriously.” The worry she felt grew until it became paralyzing and Fiona had come to stop mid-step, her eyes focused on some arbitrary spot on the ground; unassuming and non-judgemental as if she thought by looking at Keely she’d feel the weight of a judging gaze. “I got the feeling like he was unhappy and so I waited to see if he would reach out again but I haven’t heard from him in nearly a year,” leading her to believe that her assumption had been correct. “I know I could have - should have” she amended. “Should have reached out to him, but… like Fionan I just - I just let things be.”Fiona fell silent, the shame felt like a heavy weight upon her shoulders and a noose about her neck. One that grew tighter with each word until the warm tears pricked the corner of her eyes; so long as she didn’t blink they wouldn’t fall but her guard was down and she felt completely vulnerable. “Sometimes I wish I was more like my sister,” Fiona worried her lower lip between her teeth. “Or at least have her level of confidence... I can’t help but worry about what people think of me.” “I want to meet people, to make friends… I just expect it to end before giving it a chance to become something.” Genuine happiness felt like such a foreign feeling; undeserved for misdeeds on how she treated someone who was honestly good. “I miss him, Fionan. He made me feel seen and cared for. I loved him… and I hurt him.” Fiona looked up at her cousin, hot trails of tears falling freely. “I have no right to ask for his forgiveness, Keely. Let alone a second chance. He deserves someone better, and I hope that he has found someone deserving of him.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2025 9:57 pm
"So I've heard, they are rather adorable though." How could someone not find them adorable, troublesome as they may also be, they were bunnies and they were small and all white. "I take it you either picked one up or you heard people at work talking about it?" She questioned. Keely could see her cousin trying to pick one of the bunnies up, they were just that adorable, she could also see her hearing about it from work, from customers, who had tried picking one up and fallen victim to the cuteness of them. "Liek a rose with thorns..." Shaking her head as a bunny peeked it's head up from it's burrow...only to dart right back down.
"I see, so what you're saying is that I should power up with you...to act as a wingman of sorts." She said smiling at her cousin. "I'll keep you safe and if we encounter anyone else, especially any good looking males, I'll hang back a bit." She said smiling, almost joking but not quite, she was determined to see her cousin happy and she would find a way to assure that.
"You two both need to talk - together. Not just wait for someone to make a move." Sighing she ran her hand through what of her hair she could, considering it was braided up rather nicely, that was still something she loved about her own partner. He'd learned to braid hair in order to help her, because it was not just time consuming but it was a whole damn workout on her arms otherwise. With her hair as long as it was Keely found braiding it as she, and her partner did, to be far easier...plus it looked good as a nice added bonus. "You never asked if he was unhappy though. That's part of being in a relationship, you need to communiucate. Maybe it was just being so young...and you two just went with the flow and didn't learn how to properly have a relationship. But I think you're both older and should sit down to talk properly." Stepping up behind her cousin and pulling her into a hug, letting his chin rest on the others shoulder.
"You two were both happy then. You should try again, it might make you both happy. You two are too alike sometimes...I think that confidence is an issue you both have, but one of you needs to overcome it and reach out." She knew one of them needed to reach out - they both deserved to be happy. That was the thing...Keely was certain neither of them were happy, she'd seen them whe nthey were together ,and she was certain Fionan wasn't happy either, even if she hadn't seen him since the breakup. She wasn'tg even sure how that had happened...she couldn't exactly picture either starting that sort of talk. So how on earth it had happened she was clueless about. "You shouldn't compare yourself to your sister, you aren't her and she isn't you, I'm sure you have some traits she wishes she had. Just focus on being you - a happy you." Shaking her head as she let go of Fiona. "And that means reaching out to Fionan and talking to him."
Wiping her cousins tears she was hugging the other to herself then, petting her hair gently. "And if he isn't? If he isn't happy because it's not you? You should reach out...to see how he is doing and know for certain on things. Please, try for this for yourself. " Closure at least, if nothing else, but Keely had a feeling that couldn't be how things ended. She had a feeling things would end well for her cousin, and for Fionan. "For me, and for Breana, but most importantly for yourself and Fionan. I want you to reach out and talk - tell him everything. Let him know what you've just old me and talk through the break up and see if a second chance is possible because you do deserve it. You can't keep punishing yourself and thinking so little of yourself. I swear I'm going to get a watering can and try and grow you some confidence." Trying to ligthen the mood as best she could, still holding the other to herself.
"Don't think I'll let you go out powered up without me joining you from now on, even if you and Fionan wind up together again, I wanna keep you safe. No being corrupted...I'm not losing my cousin." That was simply not allowed.
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