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 Posted: Sat May 10, 2025 11:28 pm
Elkurud had not yet encountered all that many familiar faces, but then, he had only bene on Earth for a short time and much of his time had been consumed by the impending arrival of the creature called the Calamitous Hollow.
But they had survived that. The Hollow was re-imprisoned, and it was much easier to wander with a weight off his shoulders. And, frankly, Elkurud had worked a lot of places; there were plenty of potential familiar faces. Or, in this case, a familiar pair of antlers.
"Achird! Is that you?" Elkurud had visited Achird occasionally; the political intrigues on that world had required his services on more than one occasion. And he'd dealt with the Senshi before; his general evaluation was that Sailor Achird was arrogant and full of himself, but he'd always been nothing but peasant because that was how you treated paying clients. No need to cause problems.
"What luck, that we've both managed to make it this long."
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 8:21 pm
Achird's ears twitched at the call, and he turned, brows raised. Then he realized who he was seeing and he smiled. "Elkurud! Lucky, indeed," he replied easily, relaxed. "It is nice to see the familiar face of someone who doesn't hate me." Perhaps that was a low bar to clear, really, but he said it with enough ease, enough lightness in his tone that he hoped it passed off well as a joke. "Have you been on Earth long? I must say, I miss the forests and meadows of home," he said feelingly. "Everything's too... much, here, even with the nice parks. The parks are just so... contained, don't you agree?"
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 9:59 pm
Elkurud raised his eyebrows, amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Run into some unfriendly faces, then?"
...He could imagine there were people less than pleased to see Achird. He'd never exactly had a pleasant attitude, and Elkurud had always felt subtly looked down upon even by the people paying him money for his skills.
But they had paid, and Elkurud was never one to turn down a customer.
"Only a few months," he said, "but it is...different, here." He sighed. "I remember a greener Earth. Still, I'm glad to be on a world that's alive again. Even if I'd like more plants." He smiled, wryly. "And you? How has Earth treated you?"
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 10:18 pm
"Yes," he groaned with frustration lacing his voice. "I don't suppose you remember Daedalus? He instigated a fight the moment he saw me!" Scoffing, Achird kicked at a pebble and shook his head. He wasn't even intentionally misrepresenting the situation—in his mind, that was really just what had happened. He hadn't even punched Daedalus back after the piece of s**t punched him first! He'd shown excellent restraint! Now he scowled and kicked another pebble, then took a deep breath and tried to shove it away. He didn't want to dampen the time he was getting with Elkurud too much. It was nice to be with someone who would understand him on some level. "Earth itself has been... rather fine. Almost pleasant. Other than what I've mentioned. The fellow senshi I'm living with and I had a fight the other night, but..." He cleared his throat. "Because of that, I did meet a lovely woman. She..." His breath caught in his throat and he coughed, embarrassed with himself. "Well. I'm glad I've met her, and I intend to meet with her again. You.... You were with the, uh, cattle senshi? Amateru?" He winced internally—his mother would've cuffed him for that in private, scolding him for forgetting such an important detail about a very fine acquaintance who did excellent work politically speaking. But, well.... As long as he was being impertinent... Earth was his home for now. The memory of his mother and what she approved of could fade. For the first time since he'd fell to Earth, he really started to feel free. To feel alive. Like he could just... But he was still the only Achirdan left. He had to preserve their culture somehow. It was his responsibility, he was the senshi, the sole survivor. Could he just drop it all? Was it even possible, after so long locked into what he was berated into being? No, probably not. He had to stay above it all. As the only one... He forced his thoughts away from all of that. "How was it, when you first realized you liked him? Like this? Wanting to see him again, with a queasy stomach that somehow felt thrilling instead of sickening?"
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 10:51 pm
Elkurud's eyebrows went up.
"....I can't say that surprises me, no." Some of the wealthy on Daedalus had tried to hire him and his people. Unfortunately for them, Elkurud had standards, and infiltrating labor unions went against them. "I only really knew him by reputation, personally. But reputation always said that he was...passionate."
To say the least.
And Achird absolutely seemed like someone who would have pissed Daedalus off.
Still, Elkurud decided it was best not to mention such. No need to damage a client relationship, or a potential one.
The detail about a woman was...of interest, certainly. The gossip kind, probably, but gossip was always good to keep abreast of.
"Amateru of Cattle, yes. And it sounds like you may have found someone you're at least...interested in? I'm thrilled for you." Seeing him be awkward about it was...well, it was a new side to the usually arrogant, somewhat priggish Senshi of Aubergines.
"It was...a lightness. The thought of being near him, of seeing him again, made me feel happiness and nerves all at once, and the thought of being parted from him for an extended period made me feel a sort of loneliness I'd never known before."
And if Achird was asking him such things, perhaps this lady was more than simply "of interest."
How charming. In the past, Elkurud might not have thought it possible. But it had been a thousand years, and so much had changed. Perhaps this had, too.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2025 8:50 pm
Passionate was certainly one of the words one could use to describe Daedalus. Not one he would pick... Elkurud's description of being in love almost scared him. It sounded so serious. Here was Elkurud, talking about the senshi he was going to marry (the last time Achird had heard any gossip, anyway), and the way he spoke about Amateru was the way Achird would speak of Karakorum, now that he had the words for it. "Well." He cleared his throat. "You paint a very pretty picture. One I am hoping to paint in my own words, one day." Where in the world had that come from? Yes, Achird adored literature, and he frequently read poetry, but being a fan of something and being good at creating it on your own were two very different things. And yet, that had just come out of his mouth. It sounded good. At least to him. "Anyway. It was lovely to see someone I recognized. Thank you for the talk. It was very informative."
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