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 Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2025 6:01 am
Quote: Starfish Scares (13) : Starfish live in the sea. They do not live in freshwater rivers, lakes, or reservoirs with no connection to the ocean. Starfish are also not social creatures. And yet, here they are–in hoards. They can be found near any water source–and far from it. These starfish seem to be a unique species that are eager to travel and don’t seem quite bound to water, though they will seek it out. The starfish will latch onto just about anything they can to hitch a ride, even though they’re fast. They secrete an itchy, oozy slime after they’ve latched onto something, and though it seems as though they can absorb nutrients from any living creature, these starfish have an odd penchant for blood. You might as well have a colorful leech stuck to you as soon as you think one of these things crawling your way. Their bites are sharp and will leave the nearby skin itchy and painful. They are a bit difficult to remove but they can be killed; as soon as they have perished, they will rapidly dry out and crumble. However, it’s far more likely that they’ll escape before you can get your hands on them. Be vigilant; these things are pests–and smart enough to cling to people and vehicles alike if it means getting to where they want to go.
So he’d elected to take a break in the early morning, get out of the house, enjoy summer in Destiny City, treat himself.
By going on a patrol as a senshi.
Which was, if anything, continuing to be a responsible adult. Logical, Khaz sometimes was not.
He’d at least waited to transform until he was in one of the local parks, in a copse of trees, so the odds were fairly low that he’d be spotted. Plus, insofar as he knew, most of the other Powered people weren’t small children or the elderly, so watching for an early morning transformation in broad daylight (or daylight just after sunrise) wasn’t really on anybody’s bucket list for the morning. Emerging from the copse, for the first time since he’d Powered up this year, his fuku actually fit the climate. Jogging away from the copse, any sweat he accrued was quickly wicked away by the material, which felt like linen. Nice.
Aberdonia slowed down, settling into a relaxed walk, opening his senses to any energy signatures that might be flaring this morning. Nada. Which, while that was boring on paper, still meant that things were relatively peaceful this morning, which was always nice.
Until he approached the public swimming pool, and found a squirrel frantically trying to chew a starfish off its tail.
What the…?
It was while he was stopped and staring at the squirrel and the starfish that he felt something clamp onto his heel, followed by an itchy, painful biting sensation. Aberdonia yelped and looked at his heel. Another starfish had clamped on, and looked like it was secreting some weird ooze, which was dribbling onto the skin around the starfish, expanding the itchy area.
Looking around, he snatched a large maple leaf off a nearby tree and started using it as a glove while trying to prise the weird invertebrate off his foot.
After a few minutes, the senshi managed to get it off, and hurled it as hard as possible away from himself. Where it promptly stuck fast to a tree. Ewww. He then turned to do the same for the squirrel, who, even if it was infected with something nasty, still didn’t deserve to have its blood sucked by weird starfish.
Not bothering to stop and wait for another biology-defying starfish to decide to snack on him, he sprinted back up the path a few dozen yards, taking a moment to survey the situation.
Now that Aberdonia was paying attention, dozens of starfish were attached to living things, plants, mostly, as well as the occasional animal. And they seemed to be clustering most densely around…
The public pool off to his left. It was currently empty, but it would open in a few hours. Once it opened…if the starfish were still here…nope. Not good. Not good at all.
Reaching into subspace, he retrieved his senshi phone and quickly scrolled through his contacts list, looking for someone he hoped could help. Near the top of his contacts list (Yasmeen’s magic wasn’t ideal for fighting off vampiric starfish that didn’t need to live in salt water, heck, how were they making it work in chlorinated water?!) was a name he hadn’t had a chance to see in a fight. Aruna. Aruna was experienced, and might help.
Not stopping to wonder what her power set was, he texted Aruna a picture of the starfish attempting to suck the life out of the squirrel’s tail, a picture of his heel, and a picture of them seeming to surround the public pool. Under the photos, he texted the address, and a request that she get here as fast as possible.
He just had to hope she’d see the message.
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 8:31 pm
Aruna had taken to patrolling through the night and into the morning on her days off, rather than trying to toss and turn in her bed in another sleepless night. Anything was better than the still occuring nightmares, so she figured she may as well be productive. When her phone buzzed, it made her pause and frown, not having expected anything. Had someone managed to get themself in trouble this early in the morning already? She hoped it wasn't the case, but checked her phone anyways. The name at the top of the message made her lips quirk into a small smile, though it vanished almost immediately when she saw the content. Wonderful. Just wonderful. ‘Don’t touch them. I'll be right there. Hang tight.’She sent the message off quickly and took to the rooftops, feeling feather light almost as she moved. It was still exhilarating to her, even after a year of being a senshi, and possibly even more so now that she had leveled up again. Eternal Sailor Aruna. That's who she was now. The sheer raw power that the upgrade had given her was incredible, and she marvelled at it secretly. Landing just a few feet away with a fwoosh of skirt fabric, Aruna straightened herself up and brushed her skirt off as she gave Aberdonia a smile and small wave. He hadn't seen her since her power up, she realized, and it made her just the tiniest bit giddy to show off. “Of all the weird things…..still not the weirdest or most terrifying thing I've seen around the holidays in this city though.”elfstar89 Aberdonia waved as she arrived. “If not for the living snowman at the beginning of the year, I’d have so many damn questions right now.” Pausing, he took a longer moment to really look her up and down. Small feathered wings adorned her butt, and her skirts seemed longer and more elaborate, with bracers, belts, and shorter gloves and boots. He whistled softly. “Check you ooouuut, Aruna, the glow-up really suits you,” he congratulated his friend. They hadn’t known each other long, or particularly well, but he was already feeling comfortable enough around her to consider her a friend. Unfortunately, they couldn’t spend the morning patting her on the back. Maybe he could get her a smoothie or something else breakfast shaped for helping out with this little infestation. “Sooo…these things don’t seem to need salt water, seem fine in open air and chlorinated water, and will attach themselves to anything alive. I think they prefer blood to sap. They bite, and they secrete this itchy ooze when they attach themselves. Got any ideas? I don’t think we should leave them to their own devices, given how popular the public pools are,” he added, quickly bringing her up to speed on what he’d worked out so far. Unfortunately, he’d been standing still long enough that one of the starfish was aggressively and speedily crawling toward them. Oh heck, no. “Oh, no you don’t,” he snarled. “Papyrus Protection!” A wall of papyrus shot up between them and the starfish, centered on Aruna. There was a muffled slam and a faint sucking sound as the starfish began to attempt to leech sap from the reeds. “Spiffy, I think, with that, we’re going to have to move fast for our own sakes. Got any ideas? I have two more rounds of shielding magic, and I can act as a distraction or a lure or something.” She wrinkled her nose as she thought about it all. especially the gameboard. That thing still haunted her at times. The Senshi of Landslides couldn't help the smile as she was praised, however. “It's a….recent upgrade. You like it?” She didn't have time to talk further as the creatures started converging on the pair. If she wouldn't have been so tired, she would have laughed as the starfish ‘fwomped’ against the barrier. Shaking her head, Aruna assessed the situation. ”No using yourself as bait. You sound like another friend of mine….” She sighed deeply and shook her head again. ”I can likely smash a number of them in one go if I'm lucky. If I'm not lucky, be ready with another barrier.”Stepping forward, Aruna slammed her foot into the ground. ”Rocky Sweep!” A landslide manifested almost like a wave from her, slamming into the creatures. She nodded to herself as she watched some that got hit particularly well seem to crumble. ”Looks like they're not super strong. Just plentiful and fast.”elfstar89 “Gargoyles and gameboards, huh? Remind me to strongly consider never wandering around alone during the holidays,” he replied dryly. “I remember the snowman, though, it took an unreasonably long time to warm up again.” Aberdonia nodded appreciatively at Aruna’s question. “You look good in it,” he confirmed. “Okay, so no being live bait, got it. I can do shields–” At which point, he heard a stomp, and saw an ethereal landslide flow away from her into the starfish, some of which died and crumbled to a sandy dust on the ground. Well. Questions answered as to the nature of what her magic could do and how it worked. It could hit a lot of targets…but would it be as effective if the starfish were too far apart? And she didn’t want him using himself as bait, either… “Sooo…if I’m not going to be bait, just shielding…and it looks like your magic works best if we try to corral the starfish closer together…” he mused aloud, “maybe we should just circle around the pool slowly, and have you dust the starfish every time we get a big enough crowd? I can throw up shields if some of them get too close, but we can just kind of do a sweep around the perimeter, and try to get rid of the starfish. Worst comes to worst, if some wind up in the pool, we can always finish up by hopping the fence, fishing out anything chilling in the pool, getting rid of the remainder, and running for it before management shows up. Sound good?” One of the annoyances he had about battles was that he had defensive magic, and he wasn’t much of a fighter, much more of a runner. Which was fine in a big battle, like with the Calamitous Hollow, just less so in a smaller one. Perhaps his best asset in smaller battles was his observation skills and tactical thinking. Which wasn’t a bad thing, but would mean changing his thinking about battles. She would tell him about the gameboard and gargoyles later, she decided. Especially if the former was a regular occurrence from what she remembered. Just thinking about that awful thing made her skin chill. “That sounds like a solid plan. I've got a few more attacks left in me, so let's get to it.” She nodded towards the pool and started making her way around it with him, attacking the creatures repeatedly. Finally, they all seemed to be cleared out. Aruna was tired, but it felt fulfilling to clean up a mess like that. As she turned to give Aberdonia a weary smile, she felt something bite down on her leg, just above the top of her boot. How long had that thing been there, siphoning her energy? A faint “oh” escaped her as the edges of her vision went blurry. When was the last time she had slept? The last time she ate? She had been going nonstop lately. Her vision swam as she felt her energy dwindling, and suddenly the ground was very close. Far far too close. Before she made contact, she was already out cold. Hitting the ground with a light ‘thud’, Aruna passed out. elfstar89 Aberdonia felt a little glow of gratification at Aruna’s agreement to his battle plan. Maybe this was it, his path forward with battles: defend people using magic, hit things with mundane objects as necessary, and offer up workable strategies. In spite of the situation, he grinned a little. “Right beside you,” he agreed, walking with her, adjusting his pace to match hers with only slight effort. Their progress was steady, wiping out starfish in clusters. Each time a landslide overwhelmed them, they turned white and crumbled into a sandy dust. Two more times, the starfish got to within attachment and biting range, and, each time, he repelled the normally marine invaders with his shield. Which they sucked on until the shield disappeared, at which point, they found a landslide waiting to sweep them away into whatever Great Beyond awaited these monsters. Which didn’t feel like youma. Huh. Odd, that. At long last, even the ones in the pool were gone, lured out by the easy-looking snacks perambulating around the fenced-in perimeter. Aberdonia stretched, a little tired out and magical energy spent from their efforts. He was seriously impressed. If this was what the third…stage? Level? Degree? Whatever…of what senshi were like, he could see why they were nothing to mess around with. Would he be like that one day, just as a great defender? With these thoughts filling his mind, still stretching, the more junior senshi turned around to see his friend wobbling, eyes zoned out, right before she collapsed to the pavement, sighing softly before she dropped. “Hey, Aruna! Are you okay?!” he asked, dropping to kneel beside her. She’d been fine a moment before. What had happened? It took him a moment to find her pulse, fumbling a thumb underneath her glove. Pulse was a little fast, which wasn’t good. Aberdonia started looking her over…to find a starfish clamped around her calf, just above her boot. How long had that been there?! With a cry, the senshi snagged a fallen leaf and ripped the starfish off the other senshi, promptly throwing it away, following it, and aggressively stomping on it until it finally died and crumbled away. Hurrying back to Aruna, he cradled her. “Hey, come on, I need to know where I can take you so you can actually fekking recover,” he said to her, gently jostling her to try to get her conscious enough to help. Wherever they went next, a hospital probably wasn’t going to be super supportive of a magical superhero carrying another one when said superheroes were supposed to be terrorists. Aruna's conscious swam in and out, fuzzy around the edges and dizzy. She mumbled the name of her apartment complex as she forced herself to sit up, wincing. Her head had knocked against the pavement and she knew she would feel it later. “Sorry….” She gave Aberdonia a weak smile as she rubbed at her leg, doing her best to ignore the throbbing in the side of her head. “Didn't notice that one….didn't mean to scare you.” She tried to force herself to her feet but her legs decided she needed to sit a little longer. Her head was throbbing and spinning, a truly awful experience in her opinion that she hadn't felt since her last concussion. “Just…..just give me a moment for everything to stop….spinning.” Her eyes closed as she tried to focus on her breathing, grounding herself as best she could. “If we power down, would you be okay walking me to my apartment? I….try not to go home while powered up. Risks and all that….”elfstar89 Aberdonia sighed. “Don’t do that to me, okay?” he said as he offered her a hand…well, both, really…to help her get to her feet. “Feel free to lean on me, okay?” He paused a little at her request. “Are you okay with me knowing your real identity, and vice versa? There’s also a risk that we could expose each other in the future, so it’s not like the whole process of getting you home is risk-free,” he replied. It took him a moment to notice something he felt he should’ve noticed sooner. Underneath the glamor, she looked a bit paler than she should, especially her lips. Add in the faint circles under her eyes…. “Aruna. Honey. Be real with me. When was the last time you slept? Or ate? Because the closer I look at you, the more you look way worse than a fainting and concussion should leave you. Like. Death warmed over, or like a maiden who gave herself to Death, only Death’s affections are hitting harder than they should,” he snarked gently. “You know what, we’re finding something to eat and drink on the way home. My treat. No arguments. If you want some kind of justification, then tell yourself the treat is so that you don’t have to be carried, either whole or in part, all the way home.” Aberdonia popped out his civilian phone as she got to her feet, quickly tapping in a search for her apartment complex. “Look, there’s even options for food between us and your place. We can do breakfast, okay?” She knew there would be repercussions one of these days, but she also knew she had plenty of people who would protect her. Glancing around to make sure no one was near, she let her henshin drop and she leaned heavily against Aberdonia. She gave him a weak smile and laughed softly. “Halia. My name is Halia.” Ah. Up close, she supposed there was no way to miss how awful she looked. Channelling her best sass, despite her exhaustion, she couldn't help but give him a little grief. “It's not nice to tell a lady she looks like she's on deaths door, you know.” But still, she was smiling. “I….haven't done much in the way of sleeping lately. Not…. not since the battle.” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, leaning on him as they walked. “I get these nightmares…same one every single time I try to sleep….” It was the first time she had spoken about them to anyone. Maybe it was because she was so exhausted, or maybe it was because she hit her head. Either way, she let herself finally tell someone. “Every time I close my eyes, I'm back there….bodies all around me. Every single time, I'm the only one standing …..instead of the carnage that was there, all of the bodies are people I know and love and care for. And lately two new faces have started showing up too. And it terrifies me. So I just…..don't sleep if I can help it.”elfstar89 After a moment, he dropped his own transformation, settling onto the pavement in rather more mundane sandals, yoga pants, and loose-fitting T-shirt, very casual and comfortable for the weather. “Khazran,” he said, offering a shoulder to lean on. “But you can call me ‘Khaz’ for short. Do NOT sweat the ‘kh’, it’s not really a sound that most English-speakers can do.” He showed her his phone. “Any preferences on food? We can talk as we walk. I prefer something not too greasy, but, in this case…starving person’s choice.” As they started walking along slowly, to not overtax Halia, he considered what she said about the nightmare. “That…sounds like you need to talk to someone about all of this. Not sleeping because of fear, I get, but that doesn’t make it okay. You’ve gotta take care of yourself, not ignore the problem and wait for it to go away, because this sounds like a PTSD thing, and PTSD does NOT go away on its own. Also, have you looked into any of those new sleep apps on the market? Or considered looking into something that would help you with any anxieties? I haven’t read up on psych, I’m mostly focusing on chemistry, so I’m not totally sure, but I think you should probably talk to someone about all of this.” She shook her head, having no preference. “I could also make us something at my apartment. Fridge is fully stocked and stuff.” She gave him a tiny smile. “Nice to meet you, Khaz.”She listened quietly as he spoke, almost babbled really, but it brought a smile to her face anyway. “It's alright. It's something I need to work through and I'm…..okay, I'm not doing a very good job about it. But there are people relying on me. This really sweet newly awakened Earth Page, for example. He's so reckless, right? And he means well, but….it worries me so deeply to see him making mistakes I made, but without the same protection I had.” She ran a hand through her hair, making her bangs stick up. “And I just….I want to make sure I'm there, no matter what, if he needs me. Especially with how casually he seems to talk to Chaos. Not that I'm one to talk, but I have friends that could rescue me. All he has is…..me.” She sighed again and shook her head, wincing a bit at the movement. “Sorry. I'm sure you don't need me complaining at you about things. I promise I'll take care of myself. Really. I'm just…..I'm not good at asking for help.”elfstar89 “Uh-huh, and can you help people when you’re so short on resources that you pass out from a nibble from a sangrivorous starfish?” he asked critically. “As for the new guy…there are other ways to help. Get him connections to the rest of us, ask the rest of us to help look out for new people, the same way you’re doing for me. He’s probably not the only one talking to Chaos in a casual way, but, given how you’ve pointed out that not all Chaos agents are inherently evil…maybe dialogue isn’t the worst option, you know?” he suggested. After all, Murikabushi had advocated respecting the Negaverse’s desire to protect the planet, and Yasmeen had also indicated that she’d found herself being friendly to Chaos agents during the fight with the Calamitous Hollow. Sure, he’d like Chaos to not win just as much as the next person, but maybe the path forward was through having a reasonable conversation. Maybe they weren’t ready for peace, but maybe they could at least have a discussion that would lead to something of a ceasefire. It was a nice thought, but probably as unachievable as getting the old jerks back in the old country to acknowledge that generations of warfare was going to leave generations dead in the street, so maybe they should seriously consider giving Middle East peace a serious go of it. Khaz sighed. “Just talk to people around you periodically. Even if you can’t get yourself to treat yourself, ask the rest of us if we can hang, maybe catch some food or a movie or something together. Nobody is in this fight alone, unless they’re jerks of the highest magnitude, and if we don’t know you need help, we can’t give it to you, okay? Just…promise me you’ll check in with us regularly, okay?” He smiled at her more gently. “Speaking of which…I’ll probably stick with some fruit and a yogurt, if you’ve got any, something fairly light on the stomach for me. How about you?”
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