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 Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 12:26 pm
The night wasn't all that young anymore, and if the bodies slumped in the pool chairs and couches that littered the hotel rooftop were a bit more lethargic than usual, well, who cared? Hybris certainly didn't, even if he did feel rather weighed down by the pile of leather, sweat, and makeup that was currently slumped against him. A cute wraith, fat with energy bobbed obediently into its shared. The special one for the ballista had filled earlier, with a startling swiftness. The Mirror's weaponry truly was the hungry sort. The other wraith floated over, its fractured surface reflecting the shifting lights of the party, the inviting teal of the pool, and of course, the stars above Destiny City, brighter than they had any right to be. For some, this was a bit of a disappointment. "No storm yet?" A husky voice whined near Hybris's ear. "I was telling duPont at the last party, this time I'd be the one chosen." Hybris glanced over at her and noted the very ah... couture hairpiece made up of perhaps a dozen wire hangers. " Oh...well, maybe later," Hybris comforted the girl. his mild voice carrying clearly over the music. She groaned in response, "He's not going to show up. I already stalked the soc's, he's already at a different party. I've been dumped." "Were you actually together?" The note of surprise in his voice undeniable. " No! And now I don't have a chance... I was suppos...ed...t'b...shoooson." "How sad," Hybris replied helpfully, twirling the girls hair for her as she slipped into actual unconsciousness. A moment later, the second wraith, fuller than the one before, made its way into the waiting shard. Mouthing the filthier verses along to the music, the dark mirror senshi began to free himself, limb by limb, from the friends he enjoyed accompanying during the day, and enjoyed hollowing out at the night. For a moment, he considered powering down to attend the ongoing lightning party as simply Malory, just another DCU student out for a fun night. Maybe there would be a storm later. Maybe he'd be the one to get hit. He'd seen the results, the sinuous strike wrapping hungrily across tender flesh. It seemed painful, but maybe exciting enough to be worth it. But there were still people with enough energy to dance, and new people still trickling in. Straightening up, Hybris eyes the gathering with an affectionate smile. He'd wait a bit. It was so rare that the mirror asked him for anything, of course he'd have to deliver.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 12:50 pm
Eion quickly regretted all of his bluster, nerves, and 'I don't give a ******** what it is, just give it to me' that resulted in him choking down a Jaegerbomb with all the grace and aplomb of a sedated cat. He winced and coughed after every jagged gulp, cursing himself for the instant karma in a cup. Should've been nicer, maybe. Should've done whatever Waru would've done — probably smile more, say something nice, flirt a little, and end up with some divine s**t and an hour's worth of a** later.
Eion couldn't help himself, though. He ******** hated lightning. Unlike everyone else here, who was flying as close to the bitter dark sky as thy could manage.
He wasn't one for most of this s**t. Parties were one thing, but parties where the attendees were half-naked and wreathed in metal in the off chance they'd be struck by lightning? Eion would rather swallow down a pint of snake piss every day for the next month. Why do that s**t for free? Did they want to be internet famous? Did it confer some magical benefit? Was there a cult forming? Most importantly, did they know something he didn't?
Eion, dressed in all cloth and leather but for the few brass buttons on his double-breasted coat, huddled down on an empty stretch of brick parapet. It was strange to be at a party without one of the boys' arms to hang off of, but the rest of them were off working their nice with the White Moon. Eion supposed that, if there was some aspiring cult leader looking to make a god out of their Calamitous Hollow, then these parties where everyone competed for the Darwin Award would be the best place to start absorbing followers. He'd heard nothing of the sort in his time there, however.
And no matter how tipsy he got, his drink wasn't getting any better.
A handful of people were in the pool (wearing metal, of course). A handful of people were slumped over in their uncomfortable metal chairs, passed out from drink or something worse. A handful kept dancing. And a handful were like himself — sitting around, waiting to die. Or —
Oh. That one. The smell of burning hair was but a distant memory now, with so much of it regrown. Unfortunate that it's been so long. He withdrew a Sharpie from his coat, popped the cap off with his teeth, and wrote a quick phrase on the back of his Solo cup. After pocketing it again, he got up and laced a long and winding path around the people-piles where they muttered love and nonsense to each other, until he was much closer to the Dark Mirror senshi and his boneless brethren. Eion paused then, as if uncertain of the questionably conscious person nearby, but after giving her a quick sniff, she was decidedly out cold.
So he turned his cup to face the bejeweled boy. That[i]I know you[//i], it read.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 1:11 pm
In the middle of summoning another wraith, Hybris found himself confronted with a smaller figure. Birdlike in his fragile lines and wide eyes, aggressive in his plumage. Familiar. Even before he read the message scrawled on the cup, he knew he'd seen the boy before. Accompanied by Miss Fifteen. But not nearly so loud and mouthy. Not loud at all, it seemed. Could he speak? Hybris briefly considered signing back, but decided it'd be more interesting in the moment not to. " Do you know me?" He gave the boy a soft, confused, smile, "But then how could I forget you?" Behind him, the newly summoned wraith floated toward the bar.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 1:21 pm
Eion fixed him with a flat stare. He cast a glance back — a flicker of a shadow in his periphery, maybe, past the stack of people. Could've been a cloud passing over the stars. He looked up, but saw only starry sky. A wraith, then? But when he looked back, he couldn't find it again. Whatever, as long as the boy wasn't sending that thing all over him.
He turned his attention back to the sweet-talker. Easily, he signed with his free hand. He wasn't pretty, he wasn't tall, he wasn't buff, he wasn't handsome, he wasn't on fire.
Eion was already in a rare mood; to hear a boy talk to him so after committing such venomous crimes against him had put Eion in a tight spot for any sort of reveal. 'Hey, I bullied you once, but you seem nice, can we be friends now?' only worked in those ******** up AI-generated otome games. Frustrating.
Seeing no better spot, Eion decided that the unconscious girl was as good a seat as any. Once again, he pulled out a black Sharpie and popped the cap with his teeth, then wrote strategically across the bare arm of the unconscious girl:
You first. Tell me what you know about this storm bullshit.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 1:42 pm
The signing had Hybris's confusion become clearer still, even as his smile dimpled. The boy looked, in his eyes, like somebody with a lot of nice cracks running through him. The kind that like to split right open and give open access to the juicy bits, fistfuls just ready for the taking. In other words, he was a type. There was a certain delight in watching the boy find the next useful surface, DuPont's Never-Girlfriend, using her as a notepad. He wondered what she'd say about it next time. Maybe this was also being chosen. "Oh..." he settled back, leaning to look more closely at the slashes of sharpie across skin, then looking up at the writer in solemn consideration. "It's very bad. There's a giant snake, eating up all the stars in the sky," his voice was pitched low and confidential. "But there's warriors who were chosen to fight it, raising swords like lightning rods, mystical weathervanes circling at the hilt. Even now they're chasing after the next storm, hoping against hope that they find it before it finds us." His eyebrows rose, voice shifting into something more smiling once more, "At least...that's how I like to think of it. What do you think of the storms? You don't seem very fond of them."
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 1:58 pm
Eion heaved a sigh that said spare me the bullshit; I haven't had enough to drink. If this was the White Moon propaganda, they had much to learn about making any part of it palatable. What happened to writing normal s**t? Or making up something just uncanny enough to stick in the mind and seem like a plausible conspiracy theory?
Or was it really out of the Dark Mirror? That sucked; he hadn't figured them for the Earth's Only Saviors act. How annoying.
Eion spared a glance at his unconscious chair, then pinched the lip of his cup between his teeth as he searched himself. He didn't trust that this girl's tits were big enough to hold his cup of shitty alcohol without spilling it all over the place. When he was nearly done patting himself down, he found the finely abused pocket notebook tucked into the side of his birch-patterned leggings and drew it out. He flipped to a blank page, fished around more for the pen that he oft stuffed into one of his feathered boots, and started writing real sentences on a real medium.
No, I don't ******** like them, he wrote. Getting hit by lightning sucks. He underlined sucks several times.
I can tell you're with the Dark Mirror. Are you just ******** around gathering energy or does your Court have a plan? He handed the notebook off to the smiling boy, then decided it was time to polish off his awful drink, since its abhorrent taste was doing nothing to quench any burgeoning boy feelings.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 2:13 pm
Eyes briefly dipping to the far less interesting notebook, Hybris made a sympathetic sound, "It does seem painful." His eye flicked up, "even if you seem no worse for the wear. Did it leave a pretty mark?" Leaning further back in his seat, Hyrbis hid his smile behind the small notebook. Was this one like Alexis? The means of getting whatever bit of gossip out of him were so far much less exciting; but not everybody could walk that line between tolerant indulgence and evoking the distinct feeling they're thinking about where to apply the first knife of many. Not handing the notebook back, Hybris instead tapped it lightly against his cheek. "We're gathering extra energy for a weapon against it. The Mirror doesn't seem to enjoy this sort of visitor."
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 2:24 pm
Eion shrugged, a little affronted by the question. His wasn't the purple s**t that people were hoping to get struck by these days. His was meted out by some a*****e senshi with a power complex who apparently committed too many sins in his past lives and decided he had to make up for all of them at once and become space Jesus in this life instead. And he couldn't see them anyway.
Eion held his hand out to receive his notebook, but Mirror Boy was holding onto it for some reason. Oh — was this because he wanted to see the mark? Eion didn't know whether to be annoyed or flattered; only his boys got to see much of that mark, and some of them quite liked to touch it. Was it cheating on them to let him look at it? Was it kind of racy?
After deciding he'd never figure it out in the end, Eion twisted on his unconscious seat and tugged at the hem of his coat and tank top. They both came up readily, revealing a vicious arc of lightning that reached from his right shoulder to his left hip. The scar had long since paled in its age. He didn't hold the pose for longer than a second.
Show and tell over, he twisted back and signed quickly with one hand — can I have that back now — before beckoning for the notebook.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 2:36 pm
When Eion twisted back, he'd find the senshi's hand raised, index finger reaching...toward nothing, now. Still smiling, if a little chagrined, he handed back the notebook and signed smoothly, It suits you. Thank you for showing me.Cracks just waiting to split a boy apart. it was probably even nicer when it was fresh, but even as a faded scar, it held a sort of drama that Hybris enjoyed. Even if he didn't think he'd enjoy something so permanent for himself. Maybe he should stick to indoor parties for the time being.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 2:46 pm
Eion snatched back the notebook, thoroughly nonplussed to learn only now that this boy knew sign language. This entire time he'd been played the ******** fool because he was used to no one knowing hat he was signing at them, and here he was, discovering that, no, actually, half the ******** city can read and sign so fluently that he could've walked up to the first five strangers after he was injured and begged them to teach him how it was done. Fabulous! Terrific! ******** embarrassing!
Embarrassing enough that he felt heat fill his face as if he weren't Eion anymore, and in his tipsy uncertainty, he had to glance down at himself for reassurance that he still looked human. Luckily he did — no loose fires poking out, no scraps of char peeking around the folds in his skin.
But none of that washed the compliment from his mind, which was possibly the most infuriating part of this entire exchange.
The notebook was hastily pocketed. His pen was… Lost to the people-sea, or whatever. He reminded himself that he had to do better than this. He was a ******** in the Information branch. This was supposed to be his tea and milk. Yet here he was getting all ******** flustered over some no-name, low-rank Dark Mirror senshi.
Whatever. One last push. He had to make this worth something.
What weapon?
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 3:18 pm
Clearly watching that flush travel, Hybris lounged with a complete lack of apology or regret. The boy was clearly unhappy but maybe not only unhappy? It was a fun reaction. What if he switched to BSL? Would that ruffle the other's feathers to their utmost? Hmmm...maybe next time. Flexing a booted toe, he considered the question and decided that it was fine to tell the truth. A ballista. Enjoyably large, and the last word was accompanied by a playful little wiggle of of the fingertips. The Mirror made it, we're just helping power it.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 3:29 pm
What? Eion squinted at the boy in inebriated confusion. You're going to shoot it? Waste all its damned energy… He paused, then waved the thought away.
It took only a brief sweep of their immediate area to find someone's half-drunk liquor abandoned near an unconscious hand. Eion picked it up by pinching the rim with one hand. Cheers to the Mirror being a good ******** shot, then.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 3:41 pm
As if summoned by the topic at hand, a plump mirrorball of a wraith glided toward Hybris, who lifted a piece of a mirror, index finger lazily stroking its surface. "Isn't it all just some type of magic?" Hybris sighed, voice low as began to speak out loud once more. opening his mouth to go on, there was a small commotion behind him. Turning his head he noted the body on the floor. Glancing back at the boy, he gave a little tsk tsk. "It's because you distracted me," Hybris sulked with a smile. "Don't you think you owe me a name?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 3:50 pm
Eion watched the wraith. He didn't spend much time studying how the Dark Mirror drained energy; anything involving reliance on objects or third parties often disinterested him for the sheer inefficiency of it. But to see the wraith come back so opaque and energy-loaded reminded him of a cursed water balloon.
I'd say yes, but some magic has more consequences than others.
He knocked back the rest of someone else's drink. Tasted like pineapple upside-down something-or-other with a decidedly upbeat aftertaste. Certainly more warming and welcoming than the dog vomit he was drinking before.
He made to stand, but was stopped by the treacherous prettiness of the boy before him. Against his better judgment, he fingerspelled his name before rising: E-I-O-N.
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 4:05 pm
It was true, wasn't it? But Hybris had a great deal of faith in the Mirror, at least in regards to his own wellbeing. "Eion?" He tried out the name. "Eion." First one pronunciation and then another, eyes trained and watching for Eion's reaction. Finally, once satisfied and before the other could go, the dark mirror held out his hand to Eion, "I'm Hybris. Of Reflection."
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