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 Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 4:51 pm
Quote: feat. Kerberos and Thalassa!
Storming his way through North End Park, Thalassa at least knew, in general, what he didn’t know. Some place on Earth’s moon existed called the Celestial Theatre, and some people knew how to access it. Thalassa did not count himself among them, but that could change, very easily. All he needed to do was find the person whom he’d heard could assist him in repairing his current state of ignorance.
A few different auras were out in the park tonight, unfortunately. Most of them Order, several of them matching that of an Eternal senshi or a full Knight. Thalassa would have thought that the lunatic electrical storms would make people stay home, but then again, maybe some of them really bought into that magical soldiers of love and justice bullshit that Mauvians taught to senshi to see which ones were stupid and which ones would live.
After a few misses, Thalassa finally found the one he was looking for. He’d seen the little blue-haired eternal up at Princess Ganymede’s party to feed wayward space senshi and break into Queen Serenity’s private chambers or whatever. And apparently, this one knew what Thalassa needed to know.
Without fanfare, Thalassa climbed onto the bench beside Eternal Kerberos and perched there. “New Irit,” he said, and then took a deep breath that felt much more dramatic than the situation warranted. Alas, Thalassa had to work himself up to asking someone for assistance in any way that didn’t involve messing with them. “………You look well. Much better than someone regularly interacting with one of those Negaverse lunatics should.”
Despite his disparaging words about the Jet or whatever the Negaverse lunatic Kerberos was friends with thought it was, Thalassa’s tone was overall sympathetic. Or at least somewhat adjacent to that.
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 5:51 pm
Kerberos had not had as much interaction as he'd like with the Senshi from outer space. He knew they existed, knew they had survived for thousands of years, knew they were as varied as Sesnhi on Earth. But it had not occured to him, despite knowing that Irit had welcomed visitors from many world,s that he might find one that knew him.
So he definitely startled a little, being addressed by that name, and he blinked once, then twice, at the Senshi in front of him. He tried to place him in memory, but though he had lots of pieces, they were still only pieces--no matter how much time he spent on his world, he doubted he'd ever recover it all.
"I'm sorry, I don't recognize you," he confessed, "though I'm guessing you knew my previous self pretty well."
He smiled, a little wryly. "Regulartly interacting with Negaverse lunatics is part of the job I've set for myself, in this life. Maybe convincing some of them that staying isn't worth it, like it wasn't for me. But you're not one of them, so I doubt that's a service you're here for--so how can I help one of our esteemed visitors from outer space?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2025 11:19 am
……Oh, Kerberos was earnest, wasn’t he. His reaction to this greeting said as much, and it made Thalassa wrinkle his nose a bit. The fact that Kerberos apparently welcomed the chance to waste his time on dealing with Negaverse filth, trying to save their souls or whatever, didn’t help. Weird behavior all around, honestly, and it made Thalassa feel so much more inclined to start making up a story and taking New Irit for a ride.
Yeah, we were best friends until he slept with my younger brother—
Right. No. Bad idea right now. Not ******** around with people.
“I actually didn’t, really,” Thalassa said, each word more than a bit like chewing on glass when he so badly itched to mess with this credulous little child. “Met a few times? Mostly diplomatic business. Thalassa is a moon of Neptune and Kerberos is the moon of Pluto. Easier to deal with other worlds on the outer reaches of the Sol system. Best for our people to keep the relationships at least somewhat open and all of that, right.”
Phrasing aside, it wasn’t a question, not the way that Thalassa said it.
“Anyway……” He sighed in a way that would’ve been dramatic had he put more energy behind it. “I need help with this………Celestial Theatre thing? Murikabushi said that you helped him learn how to get there. But he wouldn’t help me because he’s, um……homophobic against aliens?”
If it weren’t clear from the uncertainty in how he said the words, Thalassa’s furrowed brow and bemused frown screamed Am I saying this correctly? when he turned that expression on Kerberos. The word homophobic was one of many that confused him on this strange little planet. Sometimes, people said it about things that sounded like genuine crimes or hatefulness that sounded like a waste of time and energy to be involved in. But then, other times, people said it was homophobic that some song they didn’t like personally played on the store radio while they were shopping.
Weird behavior. Impossibly weird.
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2025 12:06 pm
Huh. Well, learning a little more about Silver Millennium politics was a fascinating thing, and Kerberos nodded along with the explanation that Thalassa gave. It all made sense, really; they were the outer edges, they had to rely on each other. And Kerberos was pretty damn far out.
"Right, makes perfect sense," Kerberos said. "Outer planets together strong, or whatever they say." An absolute comedic butchering of the line from Planet of the Apes, but one: Kerberos had not actually seen any of those movies, and two: it wasn't like this alien would recognize it unless he'd gotten really, really into Earth pop culture, which was a technical possibility but seemed at least a little bit unlikely. Either way, though, that wasn't really the point.
The request, or rather the specific phrasing, made Kerberos wrinkle his nose, because something about it didn't sound right, until it clicked--ohhh.
Ohhhh, that was an attempt at modern slang, except picked up by someone who had no idea what it meant. Like if he'd tried to use "skibidi" correctly in a sentence just because he'd heard some of his younger employees do it. (Okay, so he did use other Gen Z slang, but mostly just to watch their faces when he deployed phrases like "rizz" or "aura farming" in a way that was more correct than they expected him to be capable of as their uncool thirty-year-old boss.)
"That'd be xenophobia," Kerberos said, "and I sincerely doubt he is, generally. But if you want to get to the Celestial Theatre, I can in fact help you. Just...be aware that it's basically a tourist trap? The console up there only knows so much. Also the cornerstone Code Piece is a snarky b*****d, but it's funny--and it might not talk to any random Senshi." He ran a thumb over the rainbow brooch at his waist.
"Are you looking for something specific?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2025 9:24 pm
Listening to Kerberos, Thalassa mostly resigned himself to nodding along. A nod in agreement about outer world planets standing together in strength. A nod to indicate that he heard Kerberos’s point about his word choice. Not that he didn’t care or anything, because Kerberos seemed quite knowledgeable and patient without being quite as cloying as Liánlí could get about things. There was much to learn about the time and place in which Thalassa had found himself, and Kerberos was a less annoying source for information than most.
“Well, I don’t know,” Thalassa pointed out mildly, to the word choice point specifically. “Haven’t heard people use ‘homophobic’ consistently enough to really gather what it means. Sometimes, they’re talking about violent assault on two women for being each other’s lovers because some idiots can’t mind their own business and see fit to have opinions about who entangles themself with whom. But other times, it’s like ‘Oh, the stupid phone app where I watch videos all day gave me one that I didn’t like, this is literally homophobia because I am personally inconvenienced.’”
But……the Celestial Theatre.
Kerberos’s question was easy on its face, but so difficult to actually answer. Especially because Thalassa itched to mess with him about it and make up some wild story just to see how funny his reactions would be.…… Then again, who was to say that Kerberos would even believe the truth? ******** if Thalassa knew, but he got the sense that outright lying to New Irit would probably not go well.
“As for the Celestial Theatre, I mostly want to learn how to get there,” he said, after considering his options for a moment. “I met this other reincarnated senshi at Princess Ganymede’s party to break into the Moon Palace. Tempesti, senshi of harpies. Didn’t know her previous self very well, but had to visit her world for diplomatic purposes a few times. While we were talking, I made up some nonsense about what the Tempesti of a thousand years ago had been like and what she’d done, and this new Tempesti’s reactions were very interesting. I don’t have her number or anything, but if I find her again, I’d like to use the promise of information to get her to come with me to the Celestial Theatre. Playing with her and seeing how she reacts sounds funny. Possibly also a game of wits, if the console thing undermines or contradicts anything I’ve told her.”
He pondered for another moment, then added, “The Cornerstone Code Piece doesn’t interest me unless it is also funny.”
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2025 2:29 pm
“Ah,” Kerberos said. The trouble with memetic nonsense, wasn’t it. “If you’d like some context—homophobia is a word for hatred of or discrimination against people for being attracted to the same gender. And it usually is serious. But some of us ridiculous gays like to use it for mild inconveniences, because how dare the universe be so unfair to us, a gay.” He gave the explanation deadpan, even as a smile threatened to tug at the corners of his mouth. If Thalassa was going to throw around ridiculous slang, he might as well understand it.
Thalassa’s explanation made him raise his eyebrows. Well, that was…interesting. And probably honest, because if Thalassa was going to bullshit him, Kerberos at least hoped he’d take a more noble angle.
“I can’t really condone screwing with the youth,” he said, “but I will also say that does sound kind of funny.” He took a breath. Exhaled. Unpinned his star brooch from his waist.
“The first time I went there, we’d been swept off a battlefield by an unknown force. Cosmos, I’m fairly certain, though she didn’t show that day. She does, sometimes, but only so often.” He fiddled the brooch between his fingers. “To get there now—you have to want it, or need some kind of help, and it’ll bring you there. So, uh, wish really hard with your heart?”
Probably that sounded ridiculous. Then again, a sincere wish had summoned Cosmos herself more than once, to save a soul mired in Chaos. So maybe it wasn’t so silly after all.
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