The Lantern Festival (7) : Scientists have been hard at work trying to understand the strange, glowing qualities of the luminescent caterpillars found in the caves by the reservoir. The caterpillars still shrivel up if they are taken out of the caves but their glowing secretions have been processed into an organic paste that can withstand the outside world. The city is selling paper lanterns infused with various seeds. The glow paste is full of minerals to support healthy plant growth without risking damage to the environment; all lantern purchases come with a small packet of activating power that will heat the paste up enough to mimic the effects of a candle without the concerns of flammability. When the glow paste loses its heat, the lantern will return to the Earth and upon the first rain (or any contact with water) the paper will dissolve and the seeds may begin to grow. All proceeds from the lanterns are put right back into the community to support local conservation and environmental protection efforts.
There was something… nostalgic? About watching the humans setting glowing lanterns free to drift up into the sky and shrink until they disappeared. It was a uniquely human thing, not something he’d ever seen from his own people, but they truly were lovely to watch. It kind of made him feel a kind of way about how he’d have liked to show his people this custom and watch them make it their own. It would have been something he could have enjoyed from his temple, sitting out on the veranda over the garden watching the tiny glowing lights float up over the sprawling city at night. Even know, he could so clearly picture the sweet perfumed air full of the scents of flowers and incense, the thick heat of Cernunnos in summer, and the sweet iced drinks his attendants used to make him.
Yeah, definitely a nostalgic feeling. Bitter sweet, as long as he didn’t allow himself to think too deeply on what he’d lost and would never have again. Cernunnos would rather sit here, perched on top of an abandoned picnic table, and just shallowly enjoy the Star Festival all the humans were so fond of. Truthfully, he was sort of fond of it too, by now.
It had been… almost two years now, since he’d appeared in Destiny City, yanked away from a dreamless slumber and a world gone crazy. He’d been so confused… both by the strange place and the strange customs he’d found here, on top of how he’d even ended up here in the first place. And even stranger things seemed to happen here, all outside of the hidden war that was being waged by those with powers. Cernunnos still felt weirdly disconnected from all of it, set apart from the history and conflict that was all wrapped up in it.
Soft ears perked as someone nearby let go another lantern and he watched it rise up over the trees as he leaned back on his arms, letting his legs dangle over the edge of the table.
Some day… maybe some day this place would stop feeling like such a foreign place, even as it scared him to consider it. Forgetting what his old life and world had been like. All that, fading into memory as he became more and more Earthling, and less and less Cernoi.
Storm had been watching the lanterns and actually bought a couple. He’d moved close to a picnic table. Which had someone just sitting there alone watching the lanterns as they floated through the air. Storm considered for a moment before he smiled and greeted the senshi, “Aloha.”
He said as he made himself at home beside the other, offering them a lantern, “Would you like one?” They were so whimsical to watch and he’d just decided he wanted to join in on releasing one as it wasn’t something he’d gotten to while he was back home in Hawaii. Typically if his family did anything it was little paper boats floating out to sea. So this was something similar and nostalgic feeling to him.
“I couldn’t help but notice you were alone, and thought you might enjoy releasing a lantern with me.” The dark mirror senshi added, “I’m Storm by the way, senshi of volcanic lighting” He hoped the other really didn’t mind him intruding on them but worse case he’d just retreat and see if someone else was interested in the second lantern.
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:12 am
The small senshi started as he was pulled out of his thoughts by a strange voice, turning to blink wide, dark eyes at the stranger that had joined him. Part of him was concerned about how someone had managed to just walk up on him without him noticing, while another was concerned about the dark colors this man wore, and the odd feeling in his head that wasn’t, quite, a chaos feeling that he recognized.
“Um…” He hummed as his ears pressed back into his hair, staying very carefully still just in case this person was someone easily provoked by movement. “Sure?”
Well… if he was being offered something from someone chaos aligned and it didn’t seem immediately dangerous, he should probably take it, if only to keep them happy and not murdery.
“Ah… I’m Cernunnos. Senshi of… Freedom, I guess? I wasn’t… expecting company. Not that you’re not like… welcome? As long as you’re not going to try and hit me. I just didn’t realize there was a senshi… like you…. Around here. Or that you set off lanterns like the regular humans…”
That was another thing… maybe it was just dark and the man hadn’t noticed the ears and horns yet? Was he used to seeing people dressed in weird costumes? Well, maybe that was a dumb question, considering what most powered people wore here on Earth…
Storm looked a little concerned he’d caused the other to be startled, “Thank you.” He said when the other said sure, turning over the lantern to them. He was curious and tilted his head, “Ah nice to meet you Cemunnos! I’m Sailor Storm, Dark Mirror senshi of Volcanic Lightning.”
He decided sitting down nearby the other senshi might be okay but he chose to sit on the ground since he wondered if the other was concerned with the chaos aura he had. “Yeah … I mean there’s a fair bit of us from the dark mirror. I don’t know if we rival the number of corrupt senshi.” He said thoughtfully.
There was another pause when he thought about the words regular human. “I mean we are regular humans. We’re just not … the order side. I don’t know anyone who wasn’t born here on earth in the faction.”
He’d only met at least one, now maybe two beings from actual space Magion had known him though - able to name him and all without introduction. Stretching a bit he was curious, “I’ve only met one person who wasn’t from earth. But she knew me apparently in the past . . . So I guess that leads me to the question, are you one of those from space?” He asked curiously, as he looked at his lantern he’d sat on the ground pulling out the little packet that’s supposed to activate the heat and let it lift into the air
Cernunnos eyed the man with a bit of a raised eyebrow, but chose to let it go, shifting his thoughts to the lantern and the concept of a Dark Mirror senshi.
"I haven't met one of you before, and I've met some of them, so either there are less of you or you just don't get out much." He said with a one shouldered shrug. "Nothing wrong with that of course. But it does make me curious. What is a Dark Mirror senshi, anyway? I've only heard things second hand."
Tilting his head, he flicked his soft ears and raised his eyebrows.
"I figure the horns and the ears and stuff would have been a give away that I'm not from around here." Cernunnos said, amusement in his voice. "I've never seen another person like me here, so I assumed all humans looked sort of the same. But yeah. I'm from Cernunnos, thus the name. I arrived... last year, I think? I don't know, it's hard to measure time here."
LP
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2025 8:16 pm
Whimsical Blue
Storm smiled as he listened to the other speak saying they hadn't met one of him before. "Well, I guess we're dark mirror because we're awakened when we're tossed into a mirror. Not sure about the dark part though."
He rolled his shoulders a bit, "Perhaps we're more Chaos aligned than typical white moon but I don't think we're as chaotic as Corrupted Senshi in the negaverse." Though he hadn't met too many of them either.
He was trying not to look enamored by the flick of the ears. "I mean it should but I've also seen some convincing cosplays." He was thinking about the channels on youtube he watched who would stream some conventions and a lot of those costumes - at least on camera looked fairly convincing.
"Oh, and yeah I mean all humans typically do look the same on the rare occasion you get something that gives one of us a weird trait but largely non-functioning tails or perhaps two heads. Extra fingers or missing a limb sometimes happen too."
He seemed to think, "Yeah time is something interesting when trying to measure it. Each day/night cycle typically doesn't change in speed but doesn't mean it doesn't speed up or slow down." He was trying to figure out the best measure of time was.
"I'd say best measure of time is seasons, if I'm being honest. We end up with Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Not to mention there's all most always a star festival this time of year - you could use that as a measure of time, or Christmas or some other holiday."
He started playing with a little amber star charm that he'd attached to his left hand bracer earlier. "Also sorry for the ramble. I uh study weather and enjoy the whole science behind it." He said sheepishly when he realized he was just rambling.
Nodding along gamely, Cernunnos listened with amusement to the man explaining time to him. After a solid year here, he'd come to see DC in all of her seasons, and Hati had taken the time to explain each of them to him. Cernunnos had seasons to, so that wasn't so strange to him, but it was still hard to measure the length of a day here, the length of a season, to what he'd known on his world. Were the days the same length? The years? Who was to say. But it was cute that the guy was trying to be so helpful about it. Definitely different than the corrupted senshi he'd run in to, the members of the Negaverse that gave him such a hard time when they decided to, for no more reason than because he existed.
"Tossed into a mirror?" He echoed. "Like, physically picked up and throw? That doesn't sound like much fun... and painful, actually. Mirrors are hard glass, and glass is sharp when it gets broken. I'm glad to see you aren't any worse for wear for it."
"So... since you aren't as chaotic as the Negaverse Senshi, then what sorts of magic do you have? Can you drain people of energy too? Pull out their starseed?" That was one of the worst parts of the Negaverse... that they could reach inside of you, and pull out the part of you that was immortal.
LP
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 12:27 am
Whimsical Blue
Storm thought back to when he was awoken "Actually, it wasn't that bad the mirror's surface felt like liquid to me when I passed through." He said trying to figure out the best way to explain it. "I ended up in some realm that had a path leading me back out and I was as I am now." He felt like it might be a terrible explanation but hoped it eased Cernunnos' mind.
There was a sheepish grin, "So we can drain energy, we have these mirror shards that can summon a wrath. That typically feeds on energy to take back to mirrorspace." He briefly brought out his that he hadn't used for the night. Making a note he probably should try to gather some energy later. There was a pause, "Really we only gather enough to keep everything going, I try to make sure personally I'm not knocking anyone out with the energy that's drained. They're just usually a little more tired."
"We don't pull out starseeds though that's a bit rough. We'd rather people join us and can't do that if we dispatch them like pulling a starseed does." He cringed a bit at the thought.
There was a pause, "We also have a place in mirrorspace -- I'm not at a rank I can claim a spot yet; but we can make our own little paradise there."
"Otherwise we have the same typical senshi magic I believe. I'm the senshi of volcanic lightning. I find it fascinating to see how much powers vary in what they do and how they look." He said excitedly though because he did enjoy finding out what others do.
"OH also I can walk through mirrors. I'm still kind of clumsy at it but I'm getting better. But like say I'm at a bakery and I need to get across town to a clothing shop before it closes. If there's a mirror I can pop through it and end up at the clothing shop as long as I know where I'm going." He didn't want to mention the amount of times he fell on his face trying to mirror walk. That was kind of embarrassing.
