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 Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 6:16 am
“Fragile Tarnished, wouldst thou truly seek to rise so far above thy station?”
So, like, joining a magical girl team that handed out free tablets had been a super good life-choice, Nekoite felt pretty certain. Every time he broke out his tablet’s Notes App, he was grateful for the Negaverse and how much they cared about providing for their people. Okay, sure, he still wasn’t entirely clear about whether or not he should have been prioritizing the “learning how to be a Negaverse officer and not totally suck at it, Gitting Gud in general” part of things or the “world-eater serpent from outer space who’s coming to devour Earth” part of things? But as long as he filled his energy-draining quota, he at least wouldn’t get in trouble.
Messmer purred, his voice low and dangerous as he traced a long, skillful finger up the Tarnished’s bare chest.
(Mmm, no, that was the wrong word. Definitely the wrong word. Sure, Nekoite had heard all the advice about not editing stuff while you wrote it, but at the same time, a better word occurred to him almost as soon as he’d typed the first one—)
—up the Tarnished’s exposed chest.
(There, much better. So much more evocative already. Sometimes, Nekoite truly was ever so smart.)
Distantly, he felt Order senshi vibes coming through on the aura senses, but both of them also felt way, way above Nekoite’s own power level. One, he knew was probably not so much a threat? Database entries about the little one in the blue hair and pronouns said that White Moon Eternal Kerberos liked to hang out in North End Park, and that he was probably okay to deal with. Nekoite still kept his distance, though, parked on some playground equipment with his tablet and the fic he was writing (which he would probably shamelessly title with Hozier lyrics or some Richard Siken quote when it was ready to go on AO3, as was the way with fics that had tags like “Possessive Messmer the Impaler (Elden Ring),” “Consent Issues,” “Messmer the Impaler (Elden Ring) Has Mommy Issues,” “can you really call them mommy issues when marika is technically all possible kinds of parent???,” “FromSoft-Typical Gender Weirdness,” and “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat”).
Sure, General-King Jet had recently gotten energy donations from Kerberos. Then, he had written in the database about Kerberos’s willingness to work with the Negaverse in protecting Earth from devastation. But, like, if Jet came out tonight in search of spare energy, Nekoite figured that prior relationship probably meant Jet had dibs on asking for some from Kerberos. Better for Nekoite to practice in the way he currently was: draining little bits of energy off passers-by, then moving on and draining other little bits from different people. Tangling with an eternal from the White Moon probably counted as some of that unnecessary trouble that Queen Laurelite didn’t want people getting in.
Which was exactly why he resolved to ignore the second White Moon-flavored eternal senshi aura. Considering everything going on at the moment, they probably didn’t have the spare time or energy to care about one little Lieutenant, right? Nekoite could just stay right here, perched on top of this jungle gym, with swinging his legs and his cute little boots as he wrote his silly little gay Elden Ring stories and slowly built up an energy orb good enough to take back to Generals Arsenolite and Ashanite.
(—oh, wait, damn, how was Nekoite going to get this fic off his Negaverse tablet and to his civilian computer?
………eh, that was Future Nekoite’s problem. Present Nekoite needed to let Messmer press one of his talon-adjacent nails into the Tarnished’s tender flesh hard enough to let out a few drops of blood.)
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 6:20 am
Patrolling had a way of being draining in its own right. Encke didn't quite pause in it, though, no matter the circumstance. Easiest way to ensure the rest of the city stayed safe from whatever bullshit the Negaverse was up to this time.
There were arguments to be made that he didn't quite hear about as much of that bullshit in the last couple of weeks, but then, Order’s minor efforts to cooperate with each other were a newer drive. Encke didn't expect to hear much. He saw that some of the Dark Mirror might be worth talking to, but Encke wasn't particularly inclined to talk to any Chaos. They had spent years mining the Earth.
What made now any different?
Encke sighed when he felt the edges of a Chaotic aura – Negaverse senshi, he was fairly sure, and a base level feeling at that. Would probably be easy enough to chase them off.
So he would do that.
The patrol took a small shift in the direction of a senshi who was sitting on their tablet and writing … something.
Encke wasn't going to look that closely.
“‘ey. You,” Encke's approach was ultimately stern, “leave here.”
If they just left, Encke wouldn't expend the energy. Not worth using up his magic just to get a base level senshi to go when he could use it on a more significant threat.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 6:21 am
Nekoite tensed as he felt one of the Order auras approaching. This wasn’t really necessary, right? Unless……maybe they were coming over to share some intel about the whole situation? It would’ve made sense for Eternal Kerberos to only talk to Jet, Nekoite thought. They had an arrangement already, but perhaps some other Order senshi would talk to a different Negaverse operative? That made sense, right?
Either way, as the senshi approached, Nekoite looked away from his pad. Peering down at them, Nekoite racked his gay little brain for anything he could recall from the Negaverse’s intel database. Eternal senshi, magenta pants. Eternal senshi, magenta pants. Eternal senshi, magenta pants, the glowing marks across their skin that said they were a transcended senshi (something that Nekoite still didn’t really understand beyond knowing that it existed and some people could be that, but look, he was trying his best). Nekoite tilted his head bemusedly, silent for a long moment until the answer hit him—
“Oh! You!” He grinned brightly, shifting his pad so he was holding it close to his chest. “You’re Transcended Eternal Encke, aren’t you? Lots of people in the Negaverse have opinions about you!”
And sure, said opinions were largely very negative for various reasons, but under the circumstances, that was probably okay. Being careful with both his pad and the orb of energy he’d gathered tonight, Nekoite stood. He hopped off the jungle gym and moved to stand closer to Encke. All the while, Nekoite and his earnest smile radiated good vibes. Not an ounce of distrust or suspicion at all.
“Hey, so, have you heard anything about what’s going on with the weird storms and the Calamitous Hollow,” he asked, guileless in the extreme, cupping one hand around his energy orb. “General-Kings Jet and Faustite have been talking to some of you guys with the White Moon to collaborate? Because none of us can beat the thing alone and nobody wants to let the Earth get destroyed, right? And I don’t really know anything! But I can pass on a message if you want to help?”
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 6:22 am
Yes, them.
Encke's expression would be hard to describe as anything other than terse. Being recognized so readily didn't come as a surprise. The great year of 2025 would mark the sixteenth year of them being aware of this underground war. They were older than some of the agents were. Of course they knew them.
“I'm sure,” dryly replied Encke, watching as this agent approached. As much as he was known, this one wasn't. Were those spiky buns on his head?
He suggested the agent leave, and instead, he was approaching. It felt like Encke wasn't being properly understood, though at the very least it distracted him from continuing to fill that energy ball Encke recognized in the agent’s possession. He would let him finish. It was the polite thing to do.
Then, he sighed.
“Lieutenant,” Encke gestured, hinting at the lack of knowledge of the other’s name, “I'm not entirely convinced of that considering your people spend their time draining and taking souls. Feels like someone wants the soul of the planet destroyed.”
And it wasn't him.
Jet and Faustite, perhaps.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 6:23 am
Nekoite furrowed his brow in open, obvious confusion. Tilted his head, looking like some poor little bird on a nature program that didn’t understand why there was a camera being shoved in its face. Like, okay, Encke didn’t know his name, but that……? Made sense?? Encke was a very busy senshi and they didn’t have all day, and Nekoite hadn’t been out and about in the paint for very long? Honestly, sharing a name probably would’ve been more of a nuisance than not, and The Vibes coming from Encke increasingly felt like maybe this was also the smarter idea.
Everything else, though—that part distinctly was not clicking for Nekoite so much.
“But, like……why wouldn’t we want to protect the Earth from some world-eating monster, though,” Nekoite pointed out, thinking that he had a very astute point to make. “Even if we’re really as bad as you think—which we’re not!—then we’d have as much reason to destroy a world-eater as you do because we live here? And wouldn’t it make us look pretty bad if we let someone else do what you’re accusing us of?” He said, standing in front of Encke with an orb of energy, and the biggest, sparkliest eyes that totally failed to see the disconnect here. “Besides, like? Energy to save the planet doesn’t come from nowhere, right? And you guys with the White Moon don’t want to lift a finger to help on that front, while the Mirror senshi give all their energy away to God only knows what, so……?”
Nekoite shrugged by way of impressing upon Encke how perfectly logical his opinion was. This was the part where they understood each other and Encke wanted to cooperate instead of morally grandstanding when the lives of billions and billions of people who didn’t deserve to die to some world-eating serpent-dragon from outer space or whatever were on the line, right?
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 6:25 am
The lieutenant was clearly and obviously a newbie. This wasn't even necessarily a case of his level; he hadn't a clue what his own faction had been capable of. There was no perception of where an opinion of the Negaverse being just as bad might've come from. Of course they wanted to save Earth! They lived there! And energy didn't come from nowhere!
It shouldn't have had to come from their fellow humans. That was the sticking point, wasn't it.
“The word you're looking for is Mirrorscape, I believe,” muttered Encke at the cluelessness about the Dark Mirror, pinching his nose as he tried to process the right response to, well, that. “I'll give you that it is unlikely your side gives you a primer on the s**t they're capable of doing, but as someone who has spent fully half their life experiencing it, I promise you a slow death from your side is not more merciful than a speedy death from a mysterious space serpent.”
He dropped his hand from his face to glare at the lieutenant. “As I said. Leave here. Find other ways to get energy instead of using humans like resources. Science exists.”
Hell, there had to be something to the lightning itself. No way that couldn't be used.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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