|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 1:43 am
Quote: The Meteor Shower (3) : It wouldn't be a star festival without a meteor shower! Right on time, a beautiful array of shooting stars graces the night sky. This time of year is unnaturally clear and it's incredibly easy to see the stars. Most meteor fragments appear to be little white or yellow lights streaming across the sky, but if you watch closely enough you may find that some of them seem to be a whole rainbow of colors. The scientists have reported that it's just different components burning up as they enter the atmosphere, but there's something undeniably magical about it.
Had Lete been a better girlfriend/date-entity/whatever, maybe she would have kept that more clearly in mind as she sat here, criss-cross applesauce style, on a picnic table out in Ramsett Park, jotting down some ideas in a journal about things she wanted to do for her datemate coming up soon. Before Starfest was over, she really wanted to take Demeter to see that dragon-guy who came around to sell cool, magical things. See if maybe he had any cool, magical presents that Demeter might like and then get one for them. She wanted to bake Demeter something special, definitely with some strawberry flavoring to it because they liked having their flavors be seasonally appropriate. She wanted to kiss them under a rainbow meteor shower, just like the one happening right above her gay little head right now.
Lete sighed wistfully as she looked up at the falling rainbow lights. She didnât like denying Demeter anything, and she didnât like the guilt that twisted through her stomach as she knew she was doing something that Demeter might be very unhappy about.âŚâŚ But ever since the scary beyond all reason Negaverse lady had brought out the <******** Chaos cannon against the Calamitous Hollow, Lete had beenâŚâŚkind of scared about powering up.
Sheâd still done it, of course. But most of her time had been spent squirreling away in Mirrorspace, or tending the garden sheâd built on her island in the Mirrorscape, wondering if Mirrorspace could really keep them all safe. If the scary beyond all reason Negaverse lady ever decided she was tired with this alliance thing, then would she that big ******** Chaos cannon on Mirrorspace? Could she do that? Because Lete had felt pretty sick from the onslaught of all that raw, Chaotic power, and she had some extremely powerful concerns about all of this!!!
So, since she hadnât been draining a lot of energy recently, she was double-dipping tonight. Both of her mirrorshards sat out on the table beside her, one on each side of her hips. Plenty of people had gathered to watch the meteor shower, which meant there were plenty of people for the mirrorwraiths to go work over. Excellent news for an enterprising young Lete who really needed to catch up on doing her ******** job.
Having found herself a cute, golden-colored star charm also felt, in Leteâs mind, like a sign of good things to come.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 2:02 am
The meteor shower was always lovely, and Pergamon found himself pausing in the park to watch it. Rainbow meteors were one of the little wonders of Destiny City, the types of....not everyday magic, but sort of everyday magic that permeated the city.
How many other places could boast that kind of thing? And yes, he knew there was a scientific explanation, of sorts--it was a little beyond him, dammit Jim he was a historian not an astronomer or astrophysicist--but it still felt magical, regardless. Plenty of things had a papered-on ordinary explanation, and some of those things were, undoubtedly, still related to all the magic in Destiny City.
So, therefore, the meteors might be, too, and he liked to think, now that he knew they could be, that they were.
There was one little problem with this particular park's meteor shower viewing, though--he could see someone in black, with flowing, transparent overlays on what definitely looked like a magical fuku, and he also swore he saw a strange, shimmering shape flicking through the crowd.
As Murikabushi had warned. Energy draining via mirrorwraith. Which meant the woman in the frilly outfit was probably a Dark Mirror Senshi.
Pergamon sighed. He would have liked to have a nice evening watching the meteor shower, but apparently that wasn't going to happen.
He sauntered over to where she was sitting.
"So. You're one of the Dark Mirror Senshi I was warned about," he said, casually, leaning against the end of the table. "I hate to interrupt your reading, but I am going to need you to call off your wraiths. A bit rude to drain the people here to watch the meteors."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 2:21 am
Feeling an Order aura somewhere nearby would never not put Lete on edge, a bit. It wasnât powerful enough to be Demeter, so there was, in Leteâs mind, an increased chance that the baby senshi or baby Knight attached to the aura might come and try to start some kind of ******** problems with her. Maybe they would make the smart decision and leave well enough alone, butâŚâŚ
Nope.
Leteâs face fell into a flat, thoroughly unimpressed expression as she looked from her journal over to the pink, fancy brocade-encrusted hip that had leaned against her picnic table perch. With all the practice that had come from an entire life of beng a bratty youngest sibling/cousin, she maintained that expression as she looked up toward the Knight whoâd decided to be really rude and come give her a hard ******** time. She could out-brat Leandro when she felt inclined to do so. This incredibly pink baby Knight and his crescent moon symbols didnât scare her.
âYou must be new,â Lete deadpanned, doing her best to look extremely Over It in the face of someone who radiated BPE: Big Professor Energy. âMirrorwraiths donât hurt anybody. They canât drain enough to kill somebody like the Negaverse freaks can do. They just go borrow some energy and then come back when theyâre done. Likeâoh!â
Perfect timing on one of her wraithsâ parts, honestly. Picking up the Mirrorshard on her right-hand side, Lete sat up a little straighter. She raised the shard so the wraith would have an easier time landing on it, then slipping through, back into Mirrorspace. Even full of energy, the poor baby was barely tangible, so difficult to see. Only right before it slipped back into the Mirrorshard did Lete put together that this oneâs shape resembled a luna moth.
But once it was gone, she looked back up at Mr. Big Tough Knight In The Pretty Pink Outfit. She made her eyes go all big and sparkly and earnest, the way that sheâd learned to do from watching Leandro beg things Meemaw for things that his mama had already told him he couldnât have, back when they were kids. Even jutted out her lower lip a little bit to help sell the image of herself as really being innocent, and sweet, and nobody that a big, strong knight with such a very intimidating book weapon needed to concern himself with.
âThere, see? Easy peasy. And when the other one comes back, I pinky promise I wonât send anymore out tonight, okay?â
At least, not in this park.
Butâjust in case this guy was the kind of BPE man who wasnât swayed by somebody being cute and innocent, she decided to add on, âBesides, like? Mirror senshi are in a really precarious position out here in these streets, yâknow? A lot of your friends in Order, like, attack us on sightâso, like, thank you for not doing that? And the Negaverse will come for us if we step out of line in ways they donât like? Itâs all very âfrom each according to their ability, to each according to their needs,â yeah? Like, weâre just redistributing a little bit of energy to Mirrorspace so we can be safe and protect ourselves, okay?â
No, this extremely valid Marxist argument had not worked out in her favor before. But the last time sheâd tried it had been, like, two whole years ago, and sheâd used it on a really mean Saturn Knight and a super judgmental dragon-senshi from outer space. This professor-looking guy had cute taste in Knightly apparel, so maybe he would be more reasonable.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 2:36 am
Pergamon sighed. He didn't like assigning the label of "annoying" so quickly--not least because it was a word he'd heard directed at him far, far too often--but this particular Dark Mirror was really working very hard to earn it.
"I am new, yes, but that doesn't mean I'm an idiot," he said, just as deadpan as she was. He watched the luna moth-like creature, all shimmering and mirrored, approach and then disappear into the shard of glass the Senshi held, and he frowned. That was...fascinating. Clearly these creatures weren't like youma; they didn't seem to have the same substance, or the same hunger. But still, it was draining people, and he wasn't exactly about to stand around and let that happen.
Also, there was something inherently insulting about calling him "new at this" and being all brusque and snarky, and then attempting to turn on the puppy eyes. Like she thought he was very stupid and very manipulable. Which, given the circumstances, she probably did think.
Also, her deployment of Marx was so bad, he swore he felt his eye twitching. Not his area, of course, but he'd read it, and was clearly much more familiar than she was.
"That's not what the means," he said, and he brought up his journal, snacking her solidly on the arm with it. "You are not going to win me over by pretending to be pathetic. Take your wraiths back and leave, now, or I will chase you and the single worst interpretation of Marx I have heard in years out of this park myself. Zero points."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2025 2:55 am
For a brief, glimmering moment, Lete really hoped that the Big Strong Knight In The Pretty Pink Outfit would believe her totally valid argument, and be swayed by her extremely well-honed rhetorical skills, and then back off because he was a nice Order person like Demeter, and not a stupid a*****e jerk like everybody else.
And then his book whacked her in the arm.
Lete whined at the impact. Solid though the hit was, it didnât hurt her body as much as it did her pride. The pouty face returned with a vengeance, this time with some slouching and extremely upset sulking eyes. âOh, so youâre like a real jerk-off, arenât you,â she bit back at him without remotely pausing to consider whether or not this made any logical sense as a response to whatever he thought he was on about right now. âBig tough guy from a big tough faction who gets everything handed to them? And you still wanna pick on a totally innocent Mirror senshi who hasnât done anything wrong? I canât believe I thought your outfit looked cute!â
Demeter wouldâve understood and taken Leteâs side, if theyâd been here to do so.
Alas, and unfortunately for Lete, they were not present to defend bun from being persecuted by this really awful Knight guy, who sucked and was horrid.
At least the second of her Mirrorwraiths came back quickly (and without her actually doing anything, not that it mattered to this heinous, stupid, extremely judgmental p***k of a man). When it landed on the surface of her other mirrorshard, looking like a little tiger with fairy wings, Lete gave the pretty pink knight a look that was equal parts smug and well, there, are you HAPPY now??? (which, yes, she assumed he probably was). Either way, she stored both mirrorshards back in her subspace and started stomping away. The sidewalk wasnât far from the picnic table where sheâd set up shop tonight, and there were plenty of mirrors stashed in the alleys around here.
Except once her little boots hit the pavement, Lete was seized by a wild idea. She turned back toward Mr. Big Tough Pretty In Pink Knight.
âAnd I wasnât reading, jackass,â she called to him. âI was writing down ideas for how to spoil the cool, smart, awesome hottie who loves me! Maybe you wouldnât be such a bully if you would go find one for yourself!â
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
