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 Posted: Tue May 06, 2025 11:43 am
Imnolu was starting to get out and do things again. The fight with the Calamitous Hollow had left him exhausted on a level he'd never quite reached before. The whole dying and seeing the possible end of the entire universe staring into his soul hadn't helped one single bit. But he wanted to go, and to live, and make each moment they had left last. At the least. Of course he wanted to stop the Dark Star, but there was only so much they could do right now. Sighing to himself, he went to the kitchen and found Ryla there. Nothing had started cooking just yet... Maybe they could decide on something together. Or go out. That would be nice, though he preferred eating at home so he could wear his normal face. "Morning, Ryl," he greeted quietly. "Feeling any better?" Whatever Ryla had seen, it had taken more out of him than Imnolu seemed to have lost himself.
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2025 2:15 pm
"I'm fine," Rylafein said, which was a lie. "I've been fine," which was such a steaming heap of bullshit that he knew he'd be called out instantly. He'd spent a lot of time in his room, hadn't even powered up as Pyrrhus since they'd fought the Calamitous Hollow.
Since he'd found a despair so deep and complete he wasn't sure he could see a way out.
He hadn't bothered putting his hair in its usual bun; it was lazily tied in a ponytail, and long enough now to brush his thighs. Part of him considered cutting it; hair that long would be impractical in a fight. But he also wasn't above a little vanity, and it looked nice. At least powering up always styled it into something more practical and out of his way. If he bothered. He wasn't sure he felt like bothering.
He stared into the abyss of the refrigerator, sighed, and shut it.
"What about you?"
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2025 6:52 pm
Imnolu inhaled slowly and sputtered his lips on the exhale, reaching out to tug on Rylafein's ponytail just a little. Trying to feel some sense of mischief towards his cousin in a way that actually generated some bit of happiness. "Getting long. Looks good. Now stop lying about being fine, because I'm not fine, and I know you too well, and I can tell you're not fine. I might not be perfect at telling when you're lying to me—" I do all the dirty work—did you think I was offering hugs and stern lectures?! "—But as your itty bitty baby cousin, I'm very attuned to your mood. So... I'm gonna make you talk about it. Whatever it is. The dying bit? Because yeah, that sucked a**."
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2025 7:12 pm
Ryla rolled his eyes, looking over his shoulder with a hint of amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Thanks. Haven't cut it in a long time. Kinda worth it though, I think." Even if the length of it made him think of--hair far too long, that wasn't right, but so much else was--
He swallowed. turned around fully to face Imnolu, leaning back against the kitchen counter and crossing his arms.
He could try to lie. But honestly, what was the point.
"The dying bit, yeah," he admitted. "and...seeing him again. Like that." The thought of saying the words burned his tongue.
Tyndareus. Corrupted.
Like some kind of awful nightmare.
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2025 7:44 pm
Imnolu shifted to stand next to Ryla, bumping their shoulders together—sort of. Being four inches taller made it a little bit awkward to do. Three and a half if you listened to Ryla insisting he was ********, ********," he said, exhaling harshly. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I don't know how... What... what would draw him to that? If he was anything like Bernard... And from what I've heard about reincarnation, we tend to be similar to ourselves, so, what? Surely New Tyndareus wasn't sold into slavery as a child? This era seems so much more conscious of such things, and he's alive and well in Destiny City."
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2025 7:54 pm
Ryla casually bumped shoulders back with Imnolu; the gesture was practically ingrained, at this point, even if there wasn't a lot of feeling behind it.
A soft exhale passed his lips, and he sort of...stared at nothing in particular, as long as he wasn't looking at Imnolu.
"Similar sometimes. Different others. Depends a lot on the person, doesn't it," he said. "And I haven't even met this new Tyndareus. So it's hard to guess. Bad luck. Shitty circumstances. Maybe this version of him is just an a*****e." In all the ways Ryla was well aware he himself could be. From everything he'd sene of the Negaverse, he could have fit right in.
"Don't know enough about how they make Chaos Senshi." He scuffed his foot, briefly, against the floor. "Maybe Lianli or Huanxi know. They've been here longer. Might understand better."
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2025 8:05 pm
Imnolu exhaled slowly. "We should ask them," he agreed. "And once we figure out what's going on, we kidnap that stupid a*****e and drag him kicking and screaming out here until we can purge the Chaos from his soul and... I don't know what'll come after that, but we'll do it, we have to. I promise you that." Running a hand through his comparatively short hair, he hummed as his stomach rumbled. "Okay. Instead of dwelling on the thing we can't fix right now, but have a plan, sort of, how about we dwell on dinner and get some food? Our brains work better when they have the juice for it, cousin. Why don't we both get out of the house together, get some fresh air, and some delicious Chinese food?"
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2025 8:31 pm
Well. They had a plan. That was something, better than staring into the abyss and hoping. And honestly, Imnolu talking about kidnapping someone brought a very tired, but very genuine smile to Ryla's face.
"Yeah, I guess we just...gotta figure it out." And hope that it could even be done. But there were plans for Tyndareus, such as they were, and plans for food.
"And that sounds great. Let me go get my glamor bracelet and we can go."
Everything would probably feel less shitty when he was less hungry, anyway. At least for a little while.
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