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 Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 7:45 am
Nis had opted, for the moment, to take a break from prowling and patrolling in favor of climbing a tree and sitting on one of the lower branches and swinging her legs carelessly. It wasn’t that she was neglecting her duties. It was more she wanted a little break and as she couldn’t sense anything remotely wicked, she thought she’d earned a small respite. If something changed, she’d simply leap from her perch and take care of it.
Not that she thought anything was going to change. It was a remarkably quiet night, all things considered.
Now, there was a rather bright and clean aura nearby and Nis was waiting to see if the owner would head her way or go off on their own sidequest. Either was fine by her, but she wouldn’t mind possibly meeting someone new and adding to her list of acquaintances. It was always nice to have friends you could call on in a pinch.
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 9:06 am
Demeter felt pretty good about herself tonight. She'd stopped a fresh-faced Lieutenant from draining a poor civilian just by showing up and being intimidating! That word almost never applied to her! She did suppose she'd also run the other way if someone approached her with the muffin tin they'd forgotten to take out of their subspace, but that didn't usually occur. She kept her subspace both clean and full of actually useful items, and a dirty muffin tin was neither clean nor useful. Skipping along, she felt the aura of a squire nearby and stopped to look around, humming pleasantly to herself. "Hello?" she called.
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 9:32 am
Soon enough, the aura’s owner approached and Nis saw that it was a senshi. Well, that was fine. Senshi were usually friendly and interesting to talk to. Still kicking her feet idly, Nis waved a hand to draw the girl’s attention up into the tree and smiled.
“Hello! Up here!”
From her perch, she took a moment to study the girl in the moonlight and took note of the little cap and rather jack-o-lanterny looking bag at the senshi’s hip. She was rather Halloween-ish, wasn’t she… Nis had never heard of a senshi of Halloween before and dismissed that notion, however amusing it might be. So, what might she be? Senshi of pumpkins? Gourds? She was simply dying to know.
“I’m Nis. Forgive me for being forward, but I have to know what the context is behind the cute pumpkin bag and your hat. Just what are you a senshi of?”
Lively interest flickered over her face as she considered for a moment before jumping down and landing lightly on her feet. Thankfully for her pride, her landing had been smooth and nothing had snagged. It would have hardly helped matters if the tree had kept hold of her skirts.
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 9:57 am
Demeter looked up and grinned, waving at the Squire. Oh, she was pretty. Demeter shoved that thought to the side, though, and prepared to jump up into the tree, but before she could, the Squire came sailing down majestically. "Hello! I'm uh, Demeter. Senshi of Agriculture! I guess the stuff that gets harvested in fall is sort of the bigger deal, when it came to my outfit? But springtime, when you plant the seeds, and tending to the stuff throughout the summer, and all of the everything else about it is important, too. In fact, my bag is supposed to produce a few extra seeds to help encourage new growth. Like, do you have any plants on your wonder you're trying to grow, or something? If there's seeds involved, I can duplicate a few of them in my bag and boom, now you have a few more for the garden to try to grow! It's so cool."
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 10:13 am
Blinking a little at the sudden outpouring of information, Nis couldn’t help but smile at... Demeter’s? enthusiasm. And if her magic was related to agriculture, then the name and the overall motif of her outfit made perfect sense.
“I see,” she replied slowly before shaking her head and re-focusing. “Wait, I’m sorry. Did you just say that your bag can duplicate seeds found on homeworlds? And they’ll be viable? I didn’t think such a thing was possible…”
Not that she’d paid much attention to what sort of plants that she’d found on her wonder. She knew there were trees and shrubs and that they seemed to be slowly blooming and coming back to life the more she visited. But she’d never really looked to try and identify anything. But if this girl had a means to copy seeds guaranteed to grow. Well.
“That is a potent power, little senshi,” she said in a voice heavy with respect. “I suspect you may end up being quite popular with those of us who want to help our homeworlds heal. Most of my trees and shrubs seem to be doing all right, but I haven’t looked too terribly close. I’m afraid I’ve been more concerned with my lake and caves. There are memories up there and I’ve been trying to soak them all up.”
She laughed a little at this because it was ridiculous, but also true. And she had a feeling that Demeter would probably understand.
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 10:57 am
Demeter nodded in answer to the questions rather than answering verbally. It seemed Nis had the right idea of it. "Haha, yeah, I should really post something on the database or connections app," she admitted, shrugging. "I want to help people. And honestly, helping others will be way better than digging up my own stuff on my world." She shrugged, sighing. "The first and only time I went to my planet? I kinda... found my skeleton. From the Demeter before me. Iiiin... a pile of ash and mostly burned logs surrounded by a circle of large stones like a campfire. I decided I didn't want to know more of the story than the environment gave me and haven't been back yet. It's too crazy, you know? Anyway, let me know if you want me to come take a look at the plants!"
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 11:34 am
”Well, I suppose helping others is a virtue,” Nis murmured, a flicker of concern crossing her face. She’d found her own skeleton? That was certainly unpleasant, but completely forgoing the good bits of having your own world? Still. It wasn’t her place to make demands or ultimatums. All she could do was provide gentle nudges.
“But… what if what you gleaned from the environment wasn’t the entire story?” she asked softly. Granted, she wasn’t sure what other possible interpretations there might be, but it had been so long ago. Thinking quickly, she veered tack a little. “It’s up to you, of course and it does sound distressing, but I wouldn’t discount future visits entirely. There may be good things up there waiting to be found as well. In any case, I believe that you should keep your eyes open for a gentleman named Almadel, if you haven’t already met him. He tends to show up during the summer and he has some remarkable insight when it comes to homeworlds.”
It was all she felt safe saying since she had no idea how far travelled the Merchant was or what he might know about Demeter’s world. Maybe something, maybe nothing. But she still considered him a valuable resource.
Taking her cue from the senshi, she accepted the rapid course change and nodded agreeably. Who better to let her know how her plants were faring than a senshi of agriculture, after all?
“Now, that is an offer I think I’ll have to take you up on sometime. But after I’ve made the place a bit more livable, I think. It’d be rather rude of me to haul you up when I don’t even have a proper place to offer to you to sit! Or much in the way of eatables, for that matter.”
She made a mental note to see to that the next time she was at her Wonder.
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 8:47 pm
Almadel? The name sounded familiar... Well, she'd be on the lookout for him, then. Maybe it wasn't the whole story, sure, but she didn't really want to find out, especially when she'd learned about the concept of actual, literal ghosts hanging around from a couple of her knight friends. She shuddered to think of it. If she ever went back there, she was taking a friend or two, thank you very much! "Haha, well, if you're sure. Here's my profile on the connections app," she said, pulling out her senshi phone. "So you can contact me! Oh, and, what kind of baked goods do you like? Muffins, croissants, cupcakes, beignets? Civ side, I run a sort of charity bakery that does its business all online, but I do special stuff for us fellow world-savers."
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 8:58 pm
Studying the profile, Nis committed it to memory since her magical means of communication was a bit... esosteric compared to a phone.
"Once I think things a bit more hospitable, I'll be pleased to bring you up," she promised, smiling at the girl's spirit. Then, because she wasn't often (okay never) asked about baked goods she enjoyed, the tall squire actually blurted out the truth without thinking. "Ah... lemon bars? Croissants are also good."
In point of fact, Nis could inhale a dozen croissants without stopping to breathe when the mood for devouring carbs took her. But Demeter didn't need to know that part. Rather than consider her greed, she smiled and shook her head.
"Aren't you the sweetest. You're going to end up spoiling the magical community if you're not careful."
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2025 9:10 pm
"I'll keep lemon bars in mind for you then! And hey, I mean, I gotta lure the bad guys away from their own bakers somehow, right? If the dark side has cookies, I gotta have better ones!" she said with a laugh. "Anyways, have a good night, kick some Negaverse butt if need be!"
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2025 1:34 pm
Startled into laughter, Nis decided that she liked this senshi. Demeter had a good sense of humor and whether anyone else would agree, the knight considered that important for maintaining sanity within the craziness.
"Well, if you're bringing the cookies, I'll have to start making pots of soup to share around," she replied with a grin. "Win 'em over with food. I like that."
Giving Demeter a friendly wave, Nis thought that she'd probably had as much of a break as was needed. It was time to get back to work.
"Same to you! Good hunting!"
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