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 Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2025 3:48 am
Tianyi suspected he would never stop marveling at the stars. After twenty-one years of an unchanging eclipsed sky, the very concept of something like that was a marvel. How little he'd understood of the universe, on his isolated world. How little he'd been taught.
Perhaps no one had seen the point, when things on Tianyi proper were so dire. But he wished he'd known. Wished he'd understood how much was out there beyond the little world he was familiar with. Before it all disappeared. Not that he could have gone anywhere or seen any of it, but....
Well. That was all in the past.
And, anyway, he got to marvel at the stars now, and that was something.
So enraptured was he that he didn't even realize he wasn't alone--not until his wandering feet carried him close enough to almost bump into someone else, who was apparently also walking the wooded path Tianyi had chosen to "patrol"--for as much as his meandering wanderings counted for that.
"Oh, goodness!" Tianyi gasped, jolted down to earth very suddenly, "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I didn't bump you, did I?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2025 5:52 pm
It was finally starting to warm up a little, and Aberdonia was glad of that. Sure, it could periodically get cold in Destiny City, and the rare snowy morning was a great excuse to take a short break from school to go sledding with his baby sister and their cousin before curling up on the couch to halfheartedly work on their homework while secretly watching the snow fall, sipping hot cocoa. What was not fun was going out in a very WARM-weather fuku to patrol for trouble, in prolonged snowy weather. This was very much not the norm.
But the night was cold and clear, even after the snow had receded, and the stars were shining particularly bright tonight. And it was officially now "too warm for snow," which didn't mean it was warm, but also meant that he wasn't freezing, either. It also meant no homicidal magical snowmen, but that was a problem he hoped didn't happen again.
The Senshi of Papyrus paused his patrol along the wooded pathway through one of the parks near home to gaze up at the stars. A senshi, huh. Named after an asteroid. The other senshi he'd met also had an astronomical name, which sort of begged the question. Aside from magical heroes...what were the senshi? Where had they come from? Why the astronomical focus, if the naming convention really was a convention, and not just an accidental pattern? Did the skies hold an answer to any of those questions? According to his research, Aberdonia was a barren asteroid in the Koronis Asteroid Belt, and not a very well-known one, at that, so...why would a magical hero be named after something obscure like that? Was there something important about that asteroid he didn't know about?
So wrapped up was he in his thoughts about the asteroid that he almost missed the sound of footsteps on the path behind him. Flushing with embarrassment, Aberdonia turned around to face...a very strange person, with lavender hair, long, soft animal ears, curling horns, small, fluffy wings at their shoulders, and a long tail with a fluffy tuft at the end, dressed in flowing golden robes, their edges shaped almost like flower petals. What...?
So this was a whole level of weird that surprised him. The slight young...man? Looked like a senshi, but also not fully human. Was this an alien? Could aliens be senshi? Or was he just magic? That would also make sense. Actually, both made sense. Aliens would tie in with the astronomical vibes, but magic would also be perfect with the magical powers.
"Oh, no, you're good, you didn't bump into me. Besides, I was kinda blocking the path myself, woolgathering and watching the stars," he chattered, feeling a little awkward around the rather strange stranger. Coughing to conceal his nervousness, he offered his hand to the strange being. "I'm Sailor Aberdonia, Senshi of Papyrus. Who might you be?"Noir Songbird Look, he's new to this, and hasn't had a lot of explanations yet. Any guidance would be lovely. No, he doesn't yet know he's the reincarnation of an alien species himself. Or that his asteroid might be waiting for him. As clueless as Tianyi is, he does know a little more than Aberdonia. 8'D I am very okay with this being a casual conversation about their respective birth worlds and outer space. Once they find a nice park bench not covered in dew.
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2025 11:06 pm
Tianyi blinked at the extended hand for a moment, tilting his head to the side in confusion. His ears flicked, and it took him a moment to put together what he was probably supposed to do, so....he extended his hand, touching it to the stranger's.
"Um, hello," he said, "I'm Tianyi, of Kerria flowers. I'm...not really used to your planet yet, I'm sorry." His tail swished nervously, and he smiled, awkward and a little shy. "I was born after my world was cut off from the rest of the universe," or, well, as his world was being cut off, but that was a complicated question, and probably wouldn't exactly be helpful, "so I haven't met very many other Senshi before. Or been anywhere else. So this is all very new to me."
And maybe new to other people, too; he got the impression most Earth people weren't aware of the wider universe. Oh well, this couldn't be more awkward, probably.
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Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2025 5:30 am
"Your" planet. "My" world. The rest of the universe. Was this clearly very shy and probably poorly socialized senshi an alien? Science fiction had clearly gotten aliens very wrong. At least this alien seemed very polite, and just as lost for how to interact as he felt.
Aberdonia felt his ears burn slightly. Here was this perfectly nice alien senshi, and he was surprised that this person wasn't conforming to his expectations of the universe, if alien life existed.
No.
Now that he knew alien life existed. No going back. Aliens were real, they were here on Earth, and they were clearly just as much a part of the universe as Earth was. No reason to bring preconceptions into the conversation.
"It's very nice to meet you, Tianyi. It's fine, really, we're all new to the planet at some point," he added warmly. True, if you considered newborns newcomers to the planet, which he did. Even if the Eastern ideas of reincarnation were a thing, those souls were generally born as new people with no memories of the past, who had to learn the rules all over again. Virtually nobody got a free pass from experiencing the planet for the first time, amongst those who spent any time here.
"I'm new to all of this myself, so I haven't really met very many senshi, either. Ummm," he began, looking for the right words. Which probably didn't exist. Oh, well. In for a penny, in for a pound. "You said something about another world? Can you tell me about your world? Also...are there a lot of senshi in outer space? I'm sorry, I didn't get a lot of explanation about what all of this is about," he added hastily and clumsily. "Please excuse me for being rude and invasive, I just haven't met someone in your circumstances before."
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Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2025 8:58 pm
Huh. Tianyi hadn't considered that even people born on a planet might consider themselves newcomers to it, but he supposed it made sense, in its way. Or maybe most people came to Earth from elsewhere? But that seemed unlikely, all things considered. Probably if that was the case, Tianyi wouldn't need a glamor to cover his ears and wings and tail.
All very confusing. But everything was confusing all the time, so at least that wasn't new.
"Still, my arrival was a bit more recent than yours, I think," he said, lightly. "I don't...have a lot of answers for things, my planet was very isolated by the time I was born. Chaos, I think. It was all very messy." His ears dropped, a little. "I don't know how many are out there like me, but I do know a lot of Senshi have been reborn here on Earth, which is unusual. But maybe it's because a lot of worlds died all at once?"
He tapped his foot against the ground.
"Anyway, you're not being rude. I understand there are definitely other Senshi like me here, ones who are from other worlds, but if you're very new to being a Senshi, you probably wouldn't know." Probably the Mauvians were very overworked. It wasn't like they'd only have one Senshi to look after, in these circumstances. "So, um. I only know so much? But I'll answer whatever questions you have, as best I can?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 1:03 am
Aberdonia paused at that statement. "Reborn on Earth" "because a lot of worlds died all at once." Sooo...reincarnation was a thing, and there must have been a lot of it. Home planet had probably once mattered to a given soul, but that had clearly gone out the window at some point in time, which was both wild and terrifying to consider. How effed did a planet have to be for a soul to do its transmigration on a new planet--wait, scratch that, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. A planet would have to be very effed for souls that were native to it to get reborn elsewhere. And if there were a lot of worlds' souls getting reborn on Earth, it would make sense that a lot of worlds had died all at once. Which was a horrifying detail to consider.
Wait. Had his soul originally come from another world, too? Did that mean his homeworld was dead, too? The thought chilled his blood. In another life, he might have lived on an asteroid that was now nothing more than a hunk of space rock. Which was just so sad in so many ways.
"Ummm, I was born here 16 years ago, so, yeah, it's very possible you're newer to life on this planet than I am, if you consider newborns who know nothing about the planet as 'newcomers'."
He paused, trying to find his words.
"Senshi and outer space and the names senshi carry...are senshi just randomly named after heavenly bodies, or is there a more specific connection between a senshi and the heavenly body that shares their name?" he asked awkwardly. "I know that 'Aberdonia' is an asteroid in this solar system, but not much more than that."
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 10:46 am
If Tianyi looked a little shocked at the question, well. It was strange, to him, to be confronted with someone who so clearly knew so little of...anything about Senshi.
Everything was already so wrong, even to Tianyi's ever-isolated knowledge. Senshi sohuld not all be being reborn on a single world, so far from their homes. And the idea that a Senshi wouldn't know anything of what it meant, fundamentally, to be a Senshi...
"Things are very strange on this world, aren't they," he said. "I'm surprise the Mauvian that Awakened you didn't tell you anything. Mine did so much to help me understand, until he...well, he was very old, and..." Tianyi sighed. "That isn't...really the point. Yes, there is a very important connection. Every Senshi is the appointed guardian and protector of their world. Their world is what gives them the power--the destiny--to be a Senshi. Normally, you would be born there, since you're so deeply connected to it, but things are very wrong now. You shouldn't be here--I don't mean that offensively, I'm sorry! But you should have been born on Aberdonia and taught how to be its Senshi from an early age. Mauvians can tell as young as seven."
He scuffed his foot against the ground.
"So, no. It's not random or coincidental. Not at all."
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 12:39 pm
Aberdonia blinked, trying to process all of that. Senshi were fundamentally aliens, from an Earth perspective, but they'd been meant to be the native-born protectors of their homeworlds. It made sense. It made too much sense. And his homeworld, while it was still in this solar system, was just a hunk of space rock. It had to be functionally dead for him to have only ever known this planet.
All of these froze his blood.
What had happened to Aberdonia for him to be an Earthling?
"Ummm," he said, at a loss for words. "That's...honestly so terrifying that I have no words."
Karaka seemed to have been born on Earth, too; was her homeworld dead, too?
What had Aberdonia been like, if he was its senshi?
"Is there anything--wait. No. I'm sorry. If there were anything that could be done to fix things, I don't think you'd be here, either. But is there any way to see our homeworlds?" The thought of seeing Aberdonia, of understanding it, even if there was no way to fix things, pulled at him gently. Maybe he'd understand things a little better if he could only see what the Senshi of Aberdonia had been destined to protect.
He was also tempted to ask Tianyi about his homeworld, but he had a feeling that Tianyi might not be ready to have that conversation. Not if he was a fresh arrival. Whatever had happened to push Tianyi to go to Earth must have been really bad, and really painful, and that wasn't a beehive of emotion Aberdonia was willing to kick over.
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2025 1:18 pm
Tianyi blinked. Terrifying? He supposed so. Grim, certainly, if that wasn't all you'd ever known. And maybe it had been terrifying for him, too, when he learned that there was so much more out there than he had ever seen. But so many things had been so scary, then, it felt like it all rolled into one big ball of "everything is wrong and I was wrong all along."
"Oh, yes, you can absolutely go see your homeworld! And as I understand, there's plenty to be done to fix them. One of my housemates had to fight a huge sludge monster on his world, but her was able to purge the Chaos infestation and now it's coming back to life, which is really very wonderful."
He wondered what Tianyi was like, unpoisoned. That was not a world he'd ever seen.
He produced his cute little Senshi phone form subspace, holding it up.
"I haven't been back to my world yet, but there's an...app? I think my friend said it was called?" Probably an earth Senshi knew that word. "So you just tap it and it'll take you to Aberdonia!"elfstar89 tianyi like /delivers existential crisis, but at least is cute about it?
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Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2025 5:36 pm
Aberdonia, seeing Tianyi pulling out his phone, blinked and did the same, flipping it open, and listening to the other senshi. It was possible to go home...or, well, to the place his soul had once called home. It was possible to fix things. That was wild. Combat might have to be done, but things could come back to life.
That was...extremely encouraging. And begged an awful lot of questions about how any of that worked. Magic seemed like the obvious answer. But before he could even begin to figure out the right questions to ask about how to fix his asteroid, he'd actually need to visit the thing.
Aberdonia didn't see an app that matched the one on Tianyi's phone, but something thrummed inside as his thumb brushed over the big central button. His gut told him that that button was his way home, and his gut seemed to be telling him an awful lot of random, but useful, information since becoming a senshi. So it would be worth a try. Later. When he could prepare for whatever chaos he might find on Aberdonia. And when he might be able to do it without his school or his family freaking out over him being gone for a while.
"That's cool," he said, brain already buzzing with nebulous plans for the trip home. "Are there only certain times you can go, or any other conditions to going home?" he asked curiously. It seemed like a good thing to get an idea on, so he was armed with at least a little knowledge ahead of time.Noir Songbird Tianyi is unspeakably cute about existential crisis. 8'D
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Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2025 4:51 pm
Tianyi tucked his phone back into subspace once the demonstration was done. It seemed Aberdonia hadn't had a cat to give him the fancier model, but surely it would still work the same. Mostly. Just less slick and fancy.
Goodness, Earth technology was nice.
"I don't know the rules very well," Tianyi admitted. "You might want to ask a Senshi who has a little more experience with that type of thing. I got some explanations, but...." He waved a hand, a slightly embarrassed smile on his face. "There's plenty of very experienced Senshi out there who would be glad to help you!"
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 7:05 pm
Aberdonia nodded. "It still helps, though."
He glanced down at his phone and winced. "Aaannnd it looks like it's later than I thought. I'd love to stay and chat and ask more questions, but I should probably make my way homeward. Thank you so much. It may not seem like a lot, but you've given me a lot to think about, and I would enjoy talking to you again."
Nodding politely to the alien senshi, he turned and began to make his way homeward, his mind full of his asteroid, what secrets it might hold, what it was like, and what the wider world must have looked like, before things went so horribly, awfully south.
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