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 Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2025 10:27 pm
Solaris & Realta
Sessrumnir & Ephesus & Lucien
Alastor & Amarynthos
Takes place shortly after The Anchor in the Storm
----
The storm lingered, dark and purple when lightning split the clouds. Not long after she and Encke had returned to the city, she'd sent out some texts after she powered down. Well. A barrage of them. All to Devyn. She hoped she wasn't waking him up, but man was about to get bombed with messages and dings if his sound was on.
Quote: Big big BIG bad Just got pulled into some other building or world or no idea Negas were there GSs Two Encke, Murikabushi, Kerberos also there Jet, Faustite, Aquamarine, Heliodor, and two other Negas World eating serpent imagery was in this place I have a weird giant spike now Meet me??? Please??? This is full SOS Please bring Sess Got these photos from there somehow No idea who sent them
The photos from the questionable unknown sender were sent. She'd also sent along a quick screenshot from Google Maps, a pin-point on a spot a little outside the city proper. The spot was a popular hiking area, with side roads cutting off from the main vein that meandered through the large nature preserve. These paved, but narrow, side roads eventually ended in small parking lots at the heads of various trails. Winter wasn't ideal for this place, no, but she knew the roads were cleared. The preserve was open year round, just not all trails or side roads were open.
Kyrie knew which ones were fine to access--she specifically sent Devyn the directions to the Blue Trail head, one she frequented a bit. It was deep enough off the main road where she didn't expect any vehicles to be noticed, and hoped far enough to reduce the change of energy signatures drawing attention.
As it was... she made sure to bring some backup in that regard. Locating Realta was easy enough, and it took one look at her face for the Mauvian to shoo her back to her van, interrogating her once they were inside. The questions didn't stop the whole ride over, and Kyrie had been grateful for it. It made her feel less insane about the whole situation--though she tried not to focus on the whole... dread of all of this.
Perched on a picnic bench she cleared the snow off of, Solaris didn't mind the cold as she looked over her field journal and the notes and sketches she'd collected in that... place. The torn pages and broken pencil were clear enough sign that no, it had all taken place. Wasn't some weird fever dream. The spike was still kept away in subspace, already aware she'd hit Alastor with a heavy amount of information. She could still hear the storm, though, and rolled her shoulders uneasily. Felt like she was being watched, but she shook her head, told herself it was just her nerves, fueled by her writing down more notes of events to try and keep the information fresh in her mind.
Back in the parking lot, her light blue van sat quiet and somewhat cold. She'd considered staying there, or staying powered down for the time being, but figured tossing around her energy signature wouldn't hurt for the moment in case they came by foot at all. Beside her, a lilac Mauvian sat, long tail twitching in her own quiet discomfort.
Solaris' phone was lit up and bright on the table in front of her, and the Mauvian scowled at the screen. "I just want to know how something or someone managed to send a message like this... I wonder if connecting it to the computers at HQ might be able to drag some information out... there should be some data in the backend of how this was transmitted... though why I can't get that from just your phone itself is just ridiculous..." Her terse mumbles made a corner of the senshi's lips twitch up. At least she wasn't the only one ticked off by all of this mystery.
"Magic?"
Her teasing quip received a downright disgusted deadpan look from Realta and Solaris laughed outright.
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Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2025 6:05 pm
Something had been unsettling about the storm that passed through. Even Elliot seemed to sense that there was something more to this storm, and had made his way over to the house to keep them, and more specifically Atticus, company.
A movie was on to try and drown out the sound. He didn’t really pay attention to what was put on, just whatever was recommended by the streaming app. It wasn’t so late that they should be worrying about sleeping, but Michael wasn’t sure if they would even be able to with the way the flashes of light and thunder still echoed in his head and deeper in his bones.
Michael knew that storms shouldn’t bother him. They usually didn’t. He was a Knight of Jupiter and storms were just that. They were dangerous, of course, but they were simply weather. Not anything created by man to kill each other with, so the reverberating booms that shook the house didn’t disrupt his already sensitive imagination.
When he felt the vibrations from Devyn’s phone, he glanced over at him, wondering who could be texting him so late. His mother, looking for a brunch date, perhaps? Or talking about her plans for Percy’s gallery that had seen a lot of success so far since opening.
The thought that it was something so innocent quickly went out the window when Devyn’s phone continued to receive messages. And after watching his husband read them, took the phone for himself when it was offered. Atticus had been terrified of the storm. He didn’t mind storms, usually. But this one felt wrong. And scary. Like there was something more to it than just strange weather phenomena.
He was content, cuddled close to Elliot as they hid under a blanket together on the couch, grateful that his boyfriend could anticipate his distress and came to soothe him as quickly as possible. Atticus knew his parents would keep him safe, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to fall asleep that night if it wasn’t in Elliot’s arms.
Of course, he was worried that he was being too clingy, as usual. He knew he didn’t have to worry about things like that, and Elliot gave no indication that he minded, but Atticus couldn’t help but feel like things were so wonderful that surely a rug was waiting to be pulled out from under him. The feeling wasn’t as bad as it had been in the past, but he hoped it would go away completely sooner rather than later.
When Devyn’s phone went off, Atticus curiously peered over the blanket to see if it was anything important. And because Devyn didn’t smile at the texts he received, Atticus knew it was something bad. Or at least concerning.
He wanted to ask. He pushed himself up a little to try and see Michael’s expression as well. They’d tell them if it was important, right? He really hoped everyone was okay.Lucien had been stretched out across Devyn’s lap, his tail flicking every so often as he dozed. Or tried to. Or at least pretended to. Having to get up suddenly when he felt Devyn shift from under him made it clear that something was amiss.
So he stood and waited to jump down to the ground before stretching and doing some quick grooming of his feet where the fur had been brushed the wrong way. All the while, his ears were alert for whatever his bonded planned on doing with whatever new information he’d received.
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Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2025 6:15 pm
“What happened?” Elliot had asked, because he knew both Michael and Devyn too well to think it was just some overexcited conversation partner. Devyn was already getting up and Michael was letting him, and in this storm that meant that something more important was demanding their attention. He hadn’t expected Devyn to tell him, but he’d caught the brief exchange between him and Michael. He’d expected a lie, or for Devyn to just brush the whole thing off.
He’d been surprised when Devyn answered, “Solaris ran into something strange. She wants to meet up.”
Devyn looked like he was getting ready now. Michael looked like he planned to go with him. Lucien didn’t seem like he wanted to be left behind.
Atticus definitely didn’t want to be left behind.
Elliot watched the way he chewed his lips, so before either of the adults could say they’d be back soon, he asked, “Can we come?”
He expected the silence. He expected a no. He expected to prepare an argument, and to hit Michael with his biggest, most pleading eyes.
Devyn had looked at Michael, must have read his mind, and then nodded. “If you hurry.”
So, Elliot hurried. Atticus hurried. They piled into the car and Michael drove them. Not all the way, just some of it. They watched the storm through the windows. Elliot held Atticus’ hand the whole time. Devyn passed them his phone so they could see the entirety of Solaris’ message. Lucien stayed in the back seat with them, in Atticus’ lap so he could distract himself a bit.
Devyn had texted Solaris back to let her know that he and the family were on the way.
For the car ride over there, Elliot and Devyn did most of the talking, probably to keep things from getting awkward or giving anyone time to expect the worst. Elliot asked about the weather, which was his segue to start asking about other worlds, of which he knew Devyn could go on and on and on about. It was perfect, and it passed the time well enough.
Devyn talked some of Jupiter, of ancient Earth, of Alastor. Of a handful of other worlds he’d visited, and a few interesting facts about them. By the time Michael parked the car it felt like no time at all had passed. The storm seemed to have fizzled a bit.
They’d powered up halfway between the car and where they were supposed to meet Solaris, which wasn’t really that far of a trip, and Michael hadn’t been able to sense any energy signatures.
It didn’t stop Lucien from dampening their energy signatures, anyway.
Alastor hadn’t expected to hear laughter but that was better than the alternative. He was glad she wasn’t here alone. Was she in a good mood or cracking under the pressure?
The storms had left a strange tension in the air, even as far out from the city as they were. Alastor didn’t want to spook her, so as soon as he was reasonably close, he raised a hand in greeting.
“You’re in a better mood than I thought we’d find you. Any news?”
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Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2025 8:31 pm
"I'm beginning to believe she hit her head or some other medical concern," came Realta's dry response to Alastor's commentary as the others approached, though her tone and obvious annoyance would hopefully convey it wasn't a true concern... well. Not yet, anyway.
From where she sat, Solaris gave an amused snort, lifting a hand to wave to the group joining them. "Trying to not go into a doom spiral," she corrected, with the brightest, chipper-est tone she possibly could to highlight the fact she was genuinely trying to not freak out. She got up from where she was sitting, though, slipping off the bench and holding up her damaged field notebook and snapped pencil.
"Nothing good for news. Did all of you see the photos?" As she looked over at the three Knights and other Mauvian, her smile dampened into something more apologetic and grim. "Sorry to drag you out here. Good to see you, but... wish it was under better circumstances."
On the table, Realta began to clear off more of the snow from the table to give them room to put out things for all to see. For the moment, that chiefly consisted of Solaris' phone, the screen open to a series of photos, including the murals Solaris and the others had seen in that... strange place. "Whoever sent the information managed to keep the source hidden--I was just wondering if we might be able to dig into the data more to try and locate who sent it, maybe back at HQ?" Her question was directed to the other Mauvian present, though she paused to give him a gentle smile. "Pardon, I'm Realta." Tense as she was about the situation, she didn't want to forget her manners. As it was, she also gave warm greetings to the two Moon Knights, a fact that had the Savannah beaming. "And look at you two! Full Knights now, that's an amazing achievement."
Genuinely, Solaris wanted to focus on happier things like that. Focus on warm-fuzzy things like family, and achievements...
But she opened up her journal to the pages she'd begun to sketch the mural's she'd examined, aware her notes were all in the swirling, scrawling script of Solarian language. "I got some closer looks at two of the murals in that room---sorry. Um. I'll... back up," she sighed, lifting a hand to rub at her forehead briefly. Diving right into the information wasn't going to help anyone without some context.
"With this weird storm going on, I was out with Encke--Eternal Transcended of Plasma?--and... did you see how bad it got? I'm used to huge, violent storms back on my world, but I haven't seen anything to this scale on Earth... but the lightning was bad. It started striking in faster and faster frequency, then finally hit the city and everything went white.
We got... tossed. Not through the air but like... it was like something in front of us tore open? And we got tossed through. Landed in this pitch-black place, all smooth stone. Started lighting up a little as we moved around, but I managed to pull out my flashlight from subspace--" And she did so now, showing the ease in which she pulled the Solarian device out of the magical storage, directing it away from the group and towards the forest as she turned the compartment to turn on the light. Bright, blue-white light shot out, illuminating a good chunk of the area in front of it. "It works now, but before, in that place? It barely glowed. And Encke's Transcended marks didn't glow, either. We couldn't tap into our magic, and when I was trying to pull the flashlight out of subspace? It was like I was trying to force open a bunker door--uh, big, heavy heavy metal door from some of our military outposts," she tried to explain, her grasp of English faltering slightly in her attempt to sort her thoughts. "And it was like... I just barely did? Just managed to grab the flashlight and yank it out. When I tried to get my journal and the pencil out, something just... would not let me. It was like fighting against someone for my stuff. I think it was the same force that made none of our magic work? We also couldn't feel energy signatures, just a big... big overwhelming something there."
She took a breath, aware this was... a lot. "The Negas I mentioned in the text were there, and a few other senshi. These murals eventually showed up on the walls, though one of them had this giant... eyeball on it..." Again, Solaris paused, this time pushing a hand through her bangs as she sighed heavily, moving her hand to swipe over her phone and bring up the various photos, offering it to whoever wanted to take a closer look.
"Sorry. A... a lot happened." She probably should have taken the time to type out a report or something, would have been easier to keep herself organized...
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Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2025 1:16 pm
“The pleasure’s all mine, Ms. Realta,” Lucien lowered his head in greeting, nodding along with the suggestion to dig into more data. “I’m Lucien.”
It was incredibly strange that Mauvian technology could be hacked into, and a thought that had Lucien frowning with displeasure. If they weren’t in such a dire situation, he might have suggested shoring up their security. As it turned out, whoever sent them the photos give them something solid to work with. And for that, he was reluctantly grateful. Already anticipating the cold, Sessrumnir had removed his cape to drape over Ephesus’ shoulders before Amarynthos could remove his own. He didn’t want either of them to freeze, so he figured it was a good enough compromise.
He stood quietly with his arms crossed over his chest as he listened to Solaris and Realta. He stayed close to the boys and Alastor, of course. With everything going on, he definitely didn’t want some weird storm tearing them apart while they were out and about.
“Don’t apologize,” Sessrumnir quietly reassured her with a shake of his head. “The most important thing is that you’re okay. I’m hoping Encke and the others were as well?”
Well… except for the Negaverse. They could all be trapped there for all he cared, but he wasn’t going to say it in front of the teenagers.
“It almost seems like whatever it was was trying to absorb whatever energy it could,” he surmised, although he knew he only had the information she gave him. But for transcended markings to lose its glow? Batteries losing power he could understand, but transcended marks were magic. Ephesus was grateful for Sessrumnir’s cape. He tried smiling at Solaris, and gave both her and Realta a little wave, but for the most part he was pressed against Amarynthos’ side as they listened to Solaris relay the information she obtained for all of them. He’d even adjusted the cape so he could put some of it over Amarynthos’ shoulders, just to make sure he was warm as they stood in the snow.
“That sounds really scary,” he said quietly as he shivered. “Do you think that… um… was it a snake? A dragon? That’s not real, is it? Why would you be brought there…? Was it a warning maybe? Or… um… maybe we can do something to scare it away again.”
Somehow he doubted that would be the case. Things weren’t that easy. But he was relieved that they were brought along and not just left in the dark, especially when it was something so important.
How did they even start? They had to have a lot of people, but then what? The spike or whatever it was… they needed six of those to replicate the images. Where were they supposed to find more? How could they make them?
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Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2025 5:33 pm
Amarynthos side eyed Sessrumnir with brief amusement, because he would have given Ephesus his cape and had just been reaching to do so when Sessrumnir beat him out. It didn’t matter much, not when Ephesus was offering to share. He gathered his cape and wrapped his arm around Ephesus’ waist so he could share a bit of extra warmth.
He’d smiled at Realta’s praise, and maybe another time he’d have been happy to bask in it. For now, he was just glad they trusted him and Ephesus to join them in this conversation.
There was plenty that he’d have liked to say but he didn’t want to interrupt the others. He loved to talk but it was never at the expense of listening.
His eyes drifted to the current speaker, occasionally drifting only to watch everyone’s expressions.
Alastor listened thoughtfully but he was particularly careful not to look like anything she’d said was particularly worrying. Ephesus already said it sounded scary, he didn’t want to send him into some existential crisis.
‘Huge, violent storms’ were common enough to Alastor that the words hardly fazed him. Between the poor weather of his world and Jupiter, he didn’t much fear the weather. It was inconvenient. His chest ached in the worst weather. He felt a faint throb tonight but it was hardly of note when they had much bigger things to focus on.
The storm had seemed unusual here but it hadn’t seemed that bad. He trusted Solaris’ account even if he hadn’t seen the worst of it.
He’d met Encke before so he could put a face to the name but there were few others in her list that he could identify. He was more glad that she’d been in such close quarters with six enemies and still managed to walk out unharmed. Shaken, maybe, but they didn’t get credit for that.
He wanted the answers to Sessrumnir’s questions, and Ephesus’. He was surprised Amarynthos hadn’t asked any, only because he always seemed like he was thinking deeply.
“What were you doing before you wound up there? We were all inside,” Alastor explained, sounding just a little too conversational. He seemed interested but unshaken, and only Sessrumnir might realize that there was a small part of Alastor that seemed excited. He must have known Sessrumnir was aware of this, he’d made a promise to hide less from him and the necklace he’d gifted had been a bit more honest of late. He shared a brief, half-heartedly apologetic look before he returned his eyes to Solaris.
He couldn’t help it. He worked very hard to deny himself such primal tendencies. Yes, he wanted to fight a giant snake. Yes, he’d have been happy to fight a dragon.
No, he didn’t want a world eating monster on their doorstep. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt and this sounded like far too serious a matter to waste time or energy savoring a hypothetical battle.
“Did you see anything strange in the storm or did you just fall through empty space to get there?”
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Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2025 12:54 pm
"Physically..?" The slightly pitched up answer to Sessrumnir's question on how the others were, or at least Encke's condition, was far less an actual confirmation and more a... um... estimation. With an obvious question of her own in that. "I'm not familiar with the others to reach out and ask, we all got separated before we got out--Encke and I wound up in the same hall that branched off the main room, and then in a room beyond it we got thrown back to the city. I've got no idea if any of the others got hurt in any of that, but at least while in the room folks were... in one piece. Stressed, and uh... oh. The Negas were fighting--kinda? Sounded like their unity is more than a little rocky individually in spots. Heliodor and Aquamarine weren't getting along, I guess, and uh... Jet said Aquamarine only needed to follow his orders, not Faustite's. Another General declined to follow the latter's orders because of... a delay in communication methods?
I missed stuff, trying to take my notes on the murals, but was more shocked they were disagreeing so openly with one another in front of White Moon folks. Content aside, just that part was wild to me." Once more, she thought of her own experiences dealing with Solarian militaries--even from different countries and regions, there were similar expectations in behavior in the field. Seeing a military force like the Negaverse operating so differently from her expectations built from such was... very strange to her. Though... she was, in that moment, reminded of Celadon's advice of the cons of such expectations when working with groups. Something else she'd need to keep tucked away as food for thought for later, apparently.
"Um--but right! You mentioned the energy absorption," she said with a sudden jerk back to the previous topic the Jupiter Knight had brought up. She nodded her head rapidly. "I think you're on the right track with that. When we were moving around, we caused lights to start moving with us, and touching the walls also seemed to spark up the murals to light up. So yeah, would make sense if us being there allowed the place to start drawing in some energy to.... I guess power back on?"
She eyed Alastor curiously at his tone before shrugging it off and shaking her head. "We were outside, no idea about the others. But we were just talking, not fighting anything, using magic, whatnot. I mean, I showed him my flashlight cuz Solarian tech, but nothing else," she amended with a small shake of the item in question. "No, didn't see anything--the lightning overpowered anything else, it just felt like... the air was wrong? Like something... tore? And we just fell through, and were there. It was the same coming back."
It was Ephesus' question that made her pause, though, offering the blonde a sympathetic smile as she knew she couldn't offer anything... positive in response. "I think... it was real. Is real. There were stories on my world, and a lot of others, about horrible storms in space that would make people and places vanish, and different beasts that would devour everything. I figured they were like um..." She frowned, trying to recall the Earth term before finally it popped to her tongue, "Bogeyman! Like bogeyman stories different peoples on Earth have. Or um... those Lady in White stories? Similar concepts, warnings to tell naughty kids to behave and such, but different origins and depictions based on whatever culture or place they're from? I got the sensation this giant serpent was like that place's version of those stories?"
Unfortunately, they had more in the way of proof that it did exist in some form or another...
Holding out her hand, she mentally and magically reached into subspace, fingers closing around the hilt of the large, two-foot spike as she pulled it out of storage. The greenish tint to the metal was difficult to see in the lower light, making it look all the darker.
Carefully, she held it out towards the others. "We uh... we found this, in a room at the end of the hall. The room had the same hexagon there, and one of the circles was glowing... think it represented this spike's spot. Looks like the same ones that were in the murals."
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Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2025 6:41 pm
The look Sessrumnir returned to Alastor was that of very slight exasperation, but primarily understanding and support. He knew Alastor loved a good fight, but he also trusted his husband to prioritize the safety of others.
He also expected him to not prioritize his own safety due to being invincible or some bullshit like that.
“Interesting that they’d be fighting so openly,” Sessrumnir hummed thoughtfully. “I always thought the Negaverse operated like a military organization. I was in the military for a handful of years,” he explained to Solaris before continuing.
“When there’s two or more officers of equal rank in the same place, the hierarchy is determined by ‘date of rank.’ Jet has been a General King for longer than Faustite,” he shared, although he didn’t sound like he was very happy to do so. “I believe he’s also been in the Negaverse for years longer.”
Or at least they’d encountered Jet much sooner than they even heard of Faustite. The other name that Aquamarine was fighting with didn’t ring any bells, but Sessrumnir knew they could at least cross both that officer and Faustite off the list of people to use against Jet or Aquamarine.
“What do you mean there was a ‘delay in communication’?” he frowned, wondering what was going on. The Negaverse wasn’t exactly the prime example of organization, but it was always good to find more weak points to dig into.
The spike was interesting, of course. He stepped closer to inspect it with the others.
“Looks smaller than I thought it would. Maybe the serpent in the murals was just a metaphor. Or was eating tiny worlds,” he suggested, hoping to ease some of the tension, despite having a bad feeling that they were out of their league in dealing with something like this. “That sounds like Sessrumnir,” Ephesus quietly observed as he huddled close to Amarynthos, grateful for the extra warmth from his shared cape.
And then realizing that he wasn’t being very clear, his cheeks flushed and he tried to do a better job of explaining.
“Um, the lights… the ones that follow where you walk and when you touch the walls. Um… that’s like Sessrumnir. Right?” He peered up at Amarynthos first, and then Sessrumnir, hoping that his memory wasn’t playing tricks on him. Even though he knew what he’d experienced there.
The thought that this world devouring creature really was real was terrifying. Ephesus chewed nervously on his lip, and glanced up at the sky as though expecting a giant creature to appear. His heart felt like it was racing, but if he held tight to Amarynthos, it wasn’t as bad. He felt a little guilty for probably cutting off the circulation in his boyfriend’s arm, though.
“This… um… the serpent. Do you think there’s a way we could, um… negotiate with it? I mean-- oh. Sorry, I know that sounds really stupid. But, I mean. Maybe there’s something we could offer. Maybe it just, um… maybe it needs a lot of energy to get home or… I mean, it must be lonely if it’s the only one out there-- Um, it is the only one out there, right?” he squeaked with growing distress, shrinking further against Amarynthos as if maybe hiding would erase anything stupid that he’d suggested.
Oh, but it didn’t stop the tears from filling his eyes. He blinked them furiously to try and keep them from getting out of hand. He couldn’t help it! It was really, really scary thinking that Earth could be eaten! Although Lucien perked up at the mention of Solarian technology, he dutifully remained quiet and contemplative. There was a lot of information to process and potentially not a lot of time. Naturally, when Solaris produced the spike, he moved closer to inspect it.
While he had very limited dealings with the Negaverse, he knew that some of those names weighed heavier than others, especially on a personal level. It didn’t seem as though Sessrumnir was yet willing to divulge information that did not benefit their current dilemma.
“Ms. Realta, have you had a chance to run any tests on this?” he wondered, curious about the color. “It looks like the metal has been oxidized. I wonder if the material is something we could find on Earth. Although I suppose it would be difficult to replace the orb.”
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2025 11:29 am
Amarynthos didn’t really feel cold. Maybe it was the capes, or being close to Ephesus, or just because hearing Faustite’s name always made him feel hot. The memory of his flames was seared into Amarynthos’ mind but he had a good poker face. He wasn’t the only one who’d had bad run-ins with him. And Jet had–
Well, he’d done his damage, too.
He didn’t mind if the Negaverse had problems if it kept them busy.
Ephesus looked to the sky, so Amarynthos did too. Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t anything there. Maybe a little surprisingly, Ephesus was much stronger than he looked. His arm was tingling uncomfortably but not so much that he felt the need to move. Instead, he smiled reassuringly at Ephesus.
“It’s okay,” he promised. “That doesn’t sound stupid.”
Ephesus had a big heart. Of course he’d sympathize with something dangerous because he found a way to care about it.
Amarynthos doubted it would be so simple, but he wished things could work like that. It would have made things so much easier.
Alastor waited until Lucien had a chance to inspect the spike before he asked Solaris if he could hold it for a moment. When she passed it over, he took a few seconds to get a feel for it, but he seemed neither impressed nor relieved. He’d been around magical artifacts before, he had a trove of them. He wouldn’t claim to be an expert but he didn’t feel powerful when holding it.
He felt–
Incomplete.
For a moment, he turned it over in his hands. He held it by the hilt but it didn’t have the right weight to be a sword. It was too smooth, too polished to have ever seen combat. There were no hammer marks, no imperfections.
He’d have guessed it was decorative only if Solaris hadn’t come with the information she’d obtained.
The orb hardly seemed like a functioning pommel, so Alastor held that up and squinted into the sea of stars trapped within.
He didn’t recognize them but he hadn’t really thought he would.
“Doesn’t look like they took any shortcuts making this. But I don’t get the impression this has been used before. There’s no scrapes, no dents, no marks or residue. Doesn’t make sense to use it and then clean it up. This,” he tapped the orb. It was cool to the touch, and sounded more like crystal than glass but he couldn’t assume. “I don’t understand this part. It looks decorative, but you don’t put that on a tool you’d hammer into the ground. Seems like that’s where you’d be hitting it if you were going to drive a stake in.”
He shrugged before returning it to Solaris; if Realta hadn’t had time to examine it yet, he hoped she’d know soon.
“I used to travel, from my world to others. Back when the universe was a bit more lively.” He nodded to Solaris, she knew. “Everyone had stories. A lot more speculation than certainty. I’ve heard about all sorts of monsters. But I’ve never seen one, not like what you’re describing. Storms, sure. Those are everywhere.” Between Solaris, Sessrumnir, and himself, they had plenty of experience already. “I’ll check my library, I’ll see if I can’t find something written, at least. I used to collect books.”
A distant fondness in his voice, he’d thought of Percy.
”I liked the ones with stories the most. I’ve got plenty of those. I don’t know if I’ll have something related to this, but I can check.”
He didn’t have to say it out loud; the look he gave Sessrumnir said enough.
His Wonder was a place of learning. They might have something more useful than fairy tales and legends.
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2025 5:25 pm
Solaris' attention immediately snapped to Sessrumnir as he brought up his background, eyes bright with intrigue as he offered his input on Earthling military practices insofar as he'd experienced. "Makes sense for seniority, I didn't know Jet'd been a General King longer... or just an agent for longer," she added on a hum, head tilting slightly as she considered that. The youma-attributes muddled her ability to judge Faustite's approximate age... though as she thought of what she'd seen of Jet, she quickly gave up attempting to guess his, either--her grasp of how to gauge human ages was horrific.
"Still, the open disagreements was interesting to see. Especially after how quickly the Negaverse mobilized with Heliodor's capture--"
"Who's what now?"
Solaris' teeth clicked shut hard and she very, very quickly moved on from that subject for the time being. One ******** at a time. She wasn't even going to attempt to bring up the s**t she'd been learning about Faustite lately....
"Uh! Right! Communication delay! Uh... Faustite wasn't speaking--he uh..." And she nearly ran into her own... run-ins with him lately, and his youma speaking for him. "He was moving his hands around, and the corrupt with him was translating, as was uh... Murikabushi? Who apparently used to be from the... 'mirror court'? Not sure what that was about, but the apparent friendliness between him and Faustite makes me disinterested in being overly friendly or offering info any time soon to him."
She'd said there was a lot that happened, right? Yeah... there was.
As she handed the spike to Alastor, she smiled somewhat to Ephesus' preference for a more peaceful solution. "It'd be nice if that were the case, and if we could just give it enough energy to shoo it back home..." She saw the way he shrank into Amarynthos and her heart went out to the youth. If anything, she was grateful in the moment he hadn't been one of those brought up there. Ignoring even the uh... company that'd also been present, but the idea of him witnessing the visions she'd briefly seen, or dealing with that overwhelming sensation of being watched...
She didn't even bring up the lingering sensation looming over her.
But his point of bringing up Sessrumnir's wonder, and Alastor's siding with that made her hum a bit. "I can check if any archive I can access on my world has anything, but... if you guys go hit up a better library, mind if I come along? Maybe we can find out more on that sort of... light-tracking tech, and funneling energy through it?"
She took back the spike with a small sigh, eyeing the thing uneasily before moving to set it on the table. Picking up her phone, she poked at it a couple times before bringing up the camera app, taking the moment to snap a few photos of it.
"One of the murals did show the serpent looking kind of smaller," she finally remarked, straightening and shifting back to the specific photo in question. "Kinda reminded me of Mauvians--small cat form, but also bigger humanoid form. Maybe this thing was similar in being able to take on different forms?"
On the table, Realta's tail was lashing, pearlescent eyes narrowed viciously at Solaris once she quickly realized the senshi was not going to clarify that whole Negaverse mobilization and capture. She wasn't letting the interrogation go for the time being, but she gave a heavy sigh, focusing instead on Lucien with a slightly strained smile. At least he was asking proper questions for them to try and solve some of this riddle. If only one part of.... a billion...
"No, not yet. I wonder if we could bring it to HQ to try and scan it with some of the tech we have there? Hm..." Her head tilted somewhat, ears flicking as her mind whirled and roamed. "There's... also a computer back on the Moon... I wonder if it might have a list of minerals on other worlds, if we can't locate a similar enough one here on Earth? It's just a thought," she clarified hastily, ears briefly moving backwards. "It had a lot of information on other worlds, but I'd only seen it briefly a few years ago... ah... right after that incident with the Velencians, actually..." Her words faded into a mummer, gaze flicking to Solaris in general consideration. That'd been right before she'd come to Earth, too. That asteroid had been destroyed, sending waves of energy across the cosmos...
"I think... I think we should also speak to Caedus about this spike," she ventured slowly, thinking fondly of the man she'd met when she'd first awakened on Earth from her long, long sleep. "The Velencians have an incredible amount of technology and knowledge of different crystals and minerals, from what I understand. He might have some insight to this spike's composition, or perhaps even the orb's?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2025 7:11 am
Sessrumnir frowned, in silent agreement with Realta that Solaris shouldn’t have brought up something she didn’t want to talk about. The idea of capture made his stomach twist into knots. Not necessarily because of the idea of causing harm to the Negaverse, but the risks involved for whatever Senshi and Knights were too great. Especially since most of them were just making things up as they went.
Things of that nature never turned out well.
“Probably wise not to offer information to someone friendly with the Negaverse,” Sessrumnir frowned once more, watching as Alastor inspected the spike more closely. “It sounds like they were using at least a form of ASL. American sign language,” he explained. It had been several years since he’d had a student who needed the additional assistance, but they had other means of communication and not just ASL. Sessrumnir was rusty with it, but could probably pick up the jist of things.
“The Dark Mirror Court is a group of Senshi aligned with Chaos. You’ll be able to tell when you meet them. They don’t have holes in their chest or forehead like corrupted Senshi in the Negaverse, although the Dark Mirror is corrupted in their use of Chaos. They can travel through mirrors. If you see any mirrors around the city, either break them, or if you want to mess with them, put tape or something over the surface so they can’t pass through,” he suggested, not trying too hard to hold back a smug little smirk that tugged at the corner of his lip.
“They use creatures, not quite like youma, to take energy and feed the place between the mirrors. Don’t know too much about them, myself. But they’ve been around for a while, hiding in the shadows. Strange that someone would leave Chaos only to help Chaos.”
Ephesus had a big heart, and while he wished reality allowed them to make peace with this monster, he would fight for that. Alastor seemed excited to get into a fight, though.
“We’ll make sure we explore all of our options,” he nodded to his son, then back to Solaris when she suggested visiting better libraries. “It couldn’t hurt with more eyes,” he said, but turned his attention to Alastor to make sure he was in agreement.
“If you’re going to speak to Caedus, Oberon might know where to find him. He’s been bringing him supplies for as long as he first showed up, fresh out of the Rift. He might be a little overprotective, though. He’s still angry about how everyone abandoned Caedus on the Hilltop.”
Now wasn’t really the time to reminisce, but he was also disappointed with how others handled the situation. How he, along with Princess, ended up being the one protecting Caedus’ starseedless body while Oberon got his hands burned while trying to get the starseed back.
Others had jumped in, of course. But not before Oberon admonished them for abandoning Caedus. Perhaps they had a change of heart. Or maybe it was convenient. Or maybe there were ulterior motives. He wouldn’t put it past many of their allies to want to give Caedus’ starseed to Lyndin if they had the chance.
Absently, he reached for the orb hanging from his neck. When all hell had broken loose, he’d felt the Chaos seeping into him, trying to change him. He was afraid it would have won, but the necklace had kept him grounded. He hadn’t even known Alastor back then, or that he even existed. But somehow his husband had already been protecting him. Epheus was quiet for a little while, figuring it was probably for the best, anyway. Amarynthos was sweet and encouraging as always, and Ephesus greatly appreciated that. He was trying to do better about being practical, but having a space creature that they could count on to protect the Earth sounded a lot better than one that wanted to eat it.
He wanted to ask about so many things. The Negaverse’s involvement. The Dark Mirror Court. About the stories Alastor and Solaris knew. About the books Alastor collected. More about the names he’d heard mentioned but couldn’t always put faces to.
He thought he felt Amarynthos tense at Faustite’s name, so he pressed his forehead against his boyfriend’s shoulder. Amarynthos had been hurt protecting him. He remembered how it felt under the water. The heat. And then the color red. Amarynthos had almost died, had it not been for some otherworldly magic his dads managed to uncover on Sessrumnir.
He wanted to hug Sessrumnir as well, whom he knew had his family torn apart by Jet.
But for now, they had things to discuss.
“What if, um…” Ephesus squeaked quietly, already aware that his ideas weren’t that great. The others indulged him, but his heart was heavy knowing that peaceful means of resolving the dangers they faced were unlikely.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, standing up a little straighter so he wasn’t in danger of knocking Amarynthos over. He was a Knight! He could handle things like this. If he started crying or getting upset, people would just stop telling him things. So he needed to pretend like he didn’t care as much, or something.
“The orb with the stars… what if it’s a location? Um… I mean, I guess that’s pretty stupid too,” he deflated a bit. “But, like… in, um, the Two Towers with the, um… all seeing orb. Oh, but that probably wouldn’t be good if anything trying to hurt everyone could see us,” he mumbled. Maybe next time he could convince himself to just listen and not say anything.
He couldn’t help his curiosity, though. He wanted to help. He wanted to do anything but sit around and wait for destruction. Even if it wasn’t much. Maybe he could… make everyone sandwiches to bring with them for their research trips. That would be one less thing they’d have to worry about, at least.
Lucien’s tail flicked, not quite as irritable as Realta, but in clear agitation. He sifted carefully through the information that was provided. He could focus on the task at hand, but there was a lot to go back to.
“I have heard of these Velencians but have not been able to meet any yet,” he admitted, although he didn’t look like he was too upset about it. All in due time.
“Whatever research we can manage will certainly be beneficial in coming up with a plan, but the problem still lies with the fact that, from my understanding, the Negaverse would likely be working towards a similar goal. Do you believe that they will attempt to save the Earth from this world devouring serpent all on their own, or have you considered the possibility of sharing information to reach a common goal? It is not in my nature to agree to help Chaos in any form, unless they wish to purge it from their starseed. But perhaps this unforeseen danger could make them desperate enough to seek help from those they would typically try to harm.”
He paused and puffed up a bit, turning to the two teenagers.
“That was not permission for the two of you to go talking to the Negaverse. Leave that to us.”
Then to Realta he nodded. “We should visit HQ and see what information we can obtain, yes. That is a good plan. I would like to explore as many options as possible, including visiting this Velenican you speak of, if you believe he has access to even more information than us Mauvians.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2025 5:47 pm
Alastor listened as Solaris spoke with one raised brow. Heliodor’s name meant little to him but Realta’s inquiry, and Solaris’ response, made him note the name. A question to file away for another time. She and Sessrumnir exchanged plenty of information worth filing away, but little that he felt the need to comment on immediately. Before he could reassure Ephesus, Amarynthos had taken it upon himself.
Amarynthos tilted his head at Ephesus, like he was trying to see what had caused the sudden shift in him. He had nothing to apologize for, he was just being hard on himself. He squeezed Ephesus’ hand reassuringly. “It’s not stupid,” he protested softly. “We don’t know what it is, it might be a location. Or it might be an all-seeing orb. But maybe we’re just too small for it to see us. No matter what it is, it’s a good idea to be safe. Alastor, can I borrow your phone for a second?” he asked, and Alastor obliged without any question.
When Amarynthos had his phone, he said a word of thanks and then tasked himself with taking a few pictures of the stars trapped in the orb, and he played around with trying to zoom in and get it from different angles. He didn’t move the spike from where it sat on the table; he had a good angle without touching it. When he was satisfied with the shots, he texted them to both himself and Ephesus before passing the phone back to Alastor, who dismissed it.
“We can look into that,” he said, half to Ephesus and half to Lucien. “No need to go talk to anyone in the Negaverse, so don’t worry about us. We can stay busy in libraries, too. But I don’t know, we’re pretty good at making friends. Maybe we’ll go look for some Velencians, too!”
If he was pretending to be a little over enthusiastic to try and perk up Ephesus’, Alastor pretended not to notice.
“All right, that’s a good plan. You two are pretty approachable, I bet you’d have better luck than me,” he said, though Alastor had never had an issue when it came to striking up conversation with strangers. He smiled, and made sure Ephesus could see so he’d know that Alastor was proud of him, before turning to Solaris.
“Oberon’s been spending some time on my homeworld. He’s spoken of Caedus a few times. I’ve never met him but I understand he’s a bit cut off from the rest of their troops? He may be lacking in information compared to some of the others, but if he’s not in contact with them, he might not know which secrets they mean to keep. I’d be interested to know what he had to say about it all.”
Lucien, as expected, had good ideas. The Mauvian needed no instruction but he posed good questions worthy of deep consideration. Could the Negaverse be trusted? Not really, no. But he liked to think that if it came between saving their world or working together, they’d choose the solution that kept them alive longer.
He didn’t trust the Negaverse, he didn’t trust anyone afflicted with any form of Chaos. But he’d do whatever he had to if it meant protecting this planet.
As Sessrumnir held the necklace in his hand, it pulsed, warm and bright. Alastor didn’t say anything, but maybe he knew what Sessrumnir was thinking. They didn’t have to speak with words when it was so easy to speak through the necklace.
Sessrumnir often reached for it when he was stressed, or worrying, or sometimes when he was just drifting in his thoughts.
Alastor would always be there to keep him grounded.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2025 4:07 pm
Solaris didn't even try to hide the grimace and heavy sigh--yes, it was a slip-up, but not because she was trying to hide info from them. She'd explain the whole... kidnapping a traitor senshi and plan to kill him but that plan got literally blown up thing another time. When she wasn't trying to keep focused on the whole... world-ending threats apparently looming over Earth.
Sessrumnir's continued explanations at least were extremely welcomed and helpful, blue eyes focused intently on him as he spoke to not miss a word to tack away inside her mind for later. ASL? Oh. She could guess a primary use of sign language, given how Faustite himself didn't speak verbally, and made a mental note to look up stuff online at some point. It sounded like a useful thing to know, at least, even the general basics--there were plenty of humans whom she'd likely be able to communicate with easier if she did. Plus the whole... speaking silently part was incredibly useful... and being able to translate what the General King was saying for herself had its own sort of advantages--
Her mind whirling away off on trains of thought skittered back to the present as her wings flexed and resettled, unable to keep back the look of disgust as the Knight explained they were... more Chaos senshi. Which, made sense from the way the others had spoken about that Eternal, but... The Solarian drew herself up straight, head tilted back somewhat and nose wrinkled as if catching a foul odor. Or looking down at something on the ground in disdain. "More trai--mmm. Right. Lovely," she said primly, doing what she could to keep all the venom she felt out of her voice and words more controlled, resulting in a tighter tone. Kyrie tried to keep her more hostile and--at times--vicious aspects well, well tucked away. They were parts of her born from over nine billion reasons to hate Chaos with every fiber in her being, along with those that willingly aligned with it. No one around her remotely deserved to bear the brunt of that storm of emotions, and she was pointedly aware of the gentleness of some especially near her in that moment.... a trait she genuinely prayed would never be tarnished or given reason to fade. Her skin crawled at the idea of more Chaos leeching into the planet, but the aspect of mirrors was... almost intriguing, and she made herself focus more on that than the whole... Chaos senshi part....
At her back, her wings flexed, feathers puffed up and ruffled in a distinctly if I'm bigger I'm scarier instinct that had no actual application, looking more like pale-peach puffs than anything actually intimidating. As she took a few breaths, she walked around the table a little, taking more photos, forcing herself to cool off. She was standing on the opposite side from the others when Sessrumnir brought up Oberon, and she tilted her head somewhat. "I... don't think I've met him? Could you introduce us?" She glanced between him and Alastor, at least aware... slightly of the Hilltop incident, as relayed to her by Realta and Metis. Something she definitely wasn't here for or part of--maybe a benefit to her for this meeting..? Only time might tell.
Ephesus and Amarynthos talking about the orb triggered a reminder, though, and she perked up. Especially to hear they could approach things from a non-Negaverse interactive route, which was a win-win in her book. "One of the Negas--uh, Jet, that one--mentioned seeing a vision of a white ceiling with moving stars and planets, and um... Kerberos, he said it sounded like some Celestial Theatre? I don't know if maybe you guys can compare anything you find about the stars to that? And hey, Ephesus?" She cracked a grin to the young Knight, corners of her eyes crinkling in a far cry from her previous foul expression moments prior. "No ideas are stupid. You're offering ideas others might not have thought of, or comparisons that others might not know of. Those are great things, and can sometimes be detrimental to figuring out a missing piece of a puzzle. Especially with stuff like this, where there's a lot of missing pieces... any piece can help, be it to check off what doesn't fit to narrow the list down, or open up a new route that does work and can lead to solutions."
The Savannah's ears went back at the reminder of what'd happened that night, of the attack on Caedus... that Cadet having her starseed stolen and shattered in front of her and another Velencian... "Oberon's right to be angry about that. I'm glad to hear Caedus has firm allies he can rely on still." Her tail lashed more, her own memories of the night unkind. But she recalled how Metis had later described how the starseed had looked to her magical sight... and her heart once more went out to the man carrying it.
Refocusing on matters she could assist with, at least, she huffed, mentally tucking away the concerns and anger into a little box to deal with later. Lucien's query about the Negaverse also looking into things, and their potential role in (hopefully) protecting the Earth, definitely wasn't her favorite idea but--"It's a fair thing to ask and consider, Solaris," the Mauvian bit towards the senshi already bristling again beside the table. She said nothing, pressing her lips tight, and Realta let out a soft sigh as the other just crossed her arms silently. Lucien was right to question such things, and she knew there was logic in his considerations. "Loath as I am to have any sort of... truce, I doubt that's even remotely the correct term but others fail me currently... if we can formulate a way of sharing information in trade, we might be able to benefit. You said there were multiple hallways off the main room you were in, yes? And the secondary room you entered, showed it correlated with one point of the hexagon?" When Solaris nodded, Realta hummed. "If all the halls ended the same, I wonder if each room held a spike? They might not have, but we'll need to speak with some of the others who were also pulled there to ask their experiences and compare."
No, she didn't want to work with Chaos agents, but if they had tools to help stop this creature from harming Earth... what choice did they have? Unless they could craft more themselves...
She gave another small huff and nodded to Lucien. "We can start with examining the spike at HQ, see what we can find on it before speaking with anyone else. At least see if we can bring more information to the table, it might give us leverage to trade for additional information if the need arose--not necessarily with Caedus, mind, I more mean in general."
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Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2025 7:57 pm
For just a moment, Sessrumnir tensed as he held the necklace. He didn’t look at Devyn, but his shoulders relaxed in a way that only Devyn would notice.
He must have noticed Sessrumnir becoming agitated, and Alastor was unfairly good at controlling his heart rate.
“They know of the Celestial Theatre?” he asked with a frown and slight alarm. The tension was back, but for a different reason now.
The Celestial Theatre was supposed to be a safe haven, but now the Negaverse might be trying to get to it as well? Sessrumnir clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth with annoyance.
“I can get the word out to Oberon, yes,” he nodded in agreement, although he wasn’t too keen on revealing that he was his younger brother.
“I’ll get in contact with Ganymede, too. She might have some ideas about what’s going on. We’ll see how far our contacts can reach to get any information and then get back with you. The faster we move on this, the better. Thank you for letting us know what’s going on.” Ephesus was grateful for the reassurance, and especially for Amarynthos and Solaris’ enthusiasm. He knew he was probably just scared and worried that he wouldn’t be able to do anything to help save the world from being eaten, but the support from those who cared about him was enough to help him relax.
“Thank you,” he smiled softly at Solaris, and then looked up at Amarynthos and Alastor to nod in agreement.
“We can look for some Velencians.” He and Amarynthos hadn’t been around when everything happened with the fight Sessrumnir and Realta dealt with, but they could at least try to be useful. Lucien sniffed indignantly when Amarynthos promised they wouldn’t look for the Negaverse to talk to. His tail swished a couple times, but he settled and nodded to show he trusted them to be careful.
“I believe we all have plans for moving forward. We should start our research as soon as possible, so please let me know if you’re available now, or if you need time to prepare,” he said to Realta, puffing up proudly once more because he very much looked forward to working on getting whatever information they could.
“I can send messages to Soleiyu and Lucasta, who may be able to assist. Although I am unsure if they will be able to join us. They may need to research remotely, depending on what’s going on. Shall we all keep in touch with any findings?”
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2025 6:56 pm
A tiny smile appeared on Amarynthos’ face. Nothing about this was any sort of laughing matter but Lucien’s little huff was enough to keep him from drifting into a haze of dread. He didn’t know how much time they had to get any of this done, or if they were blowing this way out of proportion, but he’d rather be overprepared than under. Once more, he squeezed Ephesus’ hand reassuringly.
They could look for Velencians. And if they ran into some Negaverse Agents–well, they’d just do what they could to help there, too. The others in the group already seemed like they were carrying an impossible weight on their shoulders. It was just in his nature to want to help.
He was sure Ephesus felt the same way.
As Amarynthos tried to read Ephesus, Alastor read Sessrumnir, and bumped ankles with him as if that might help keep him from getting too overwhelmed. Alastor kept grounded easily and did what he could to offer something for Sessrumnir, too.
He didn’t know of the Celestial Theatre beyond what Sessrumnir had filled him in so he wasn’t sure how much of a problem it was if the Negaverse knew. They couldn’t get there, anyway.
Alastor didn’t really want a truce with anyone; it was better than war but he didn’t want the boys to lower their guards. They were new to this, they were too trusting. They had good hearts and he hoped they never changed.
Lucien was clever and good at–well, herding cats–so he trusted that whatever needed to be done there could be easily accomplished. “We should all keep in touch with findings. Especially if we don’t know what’s going to be useful. We should do nightly updates.”
If not just to make sure no one was getting overwhelmed or had gotten in some sort of danger while on the quest for answers.
“And if anyone feels like they’re in over their head, don’t bottle it up.” He caught Solaris’ gaze but only held it for long enough that she’d know he was serious about it. “Reach out and we’ll figure something out.”
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