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 Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2025 1:17 am
Ekstrom looked on at the fading shades of orange in the distance, the sun on its last leg as it finally dipped beneath the horizon after what felt like, at least to her, an incredibly long day. Work and school had spread her thin, what with how she was trying to finish up by the end of the fall semester. Pairing that with her Knight life and all that it entailed, and there were bound to be some days that just felt longer or more challenging than others. Sometimes both, and those usually saw her promptly pass out after taking Lulu out for her evening walk.
Today hadn't been quite that bad, thankfully.
Her eyes slowly crept skyward, toward the quickly darkening sky, passing over thinning clouds, and then the moon, and then, with a quiet, painful twist of her insides, just past where she knew a Herald was locked away.
She still had nightmares about it. The storms leading into it, the actual night, and then what happened after. Once she got home it became an intensely private panic from which she somehow managed to find her way out of and recover from, slowly but surely setting her rhythm back to an almost believable normal. There was no way things could ever go back to whatever "normal" was prior to that night, though.
The saying about life going on came to mind, and the corners of her lips tugged up into the smallest of smiles. It was a bittersweet expression, though one that was interrupted when she felt an aura just nearby.
The Knight looked in its general direction, scanning the streets below from her perch on the edge of the roof of a low-rise building.
"Oh?" She mused, the tone in her voice one of interest as she spotted the oncoming chibi senshi. A smile broke across her features when she realized that she looked familiar. She slipped off the edge of the roof, landing rather gracefully on the sidewalk just below with the relative ease that came with practice.
"Evening!" she said in her usual cheerful greeting. "Remember me?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2025 9:59 am
Saiph normally preferred to power up solely after dark, but today, she’d decided to go out just after dinner and do a quick patrol while there was still light enough to see. Most people seemed to have opted to stay home as she didn’t really see anyone out and about. She couldn’t really feel anyone either and that was honestly pretty great. It gave her a chance to let go and use the more fun abilities that being a senshi granted her.
Like running faster and jumping higher.
Which she did, racing through the streets and leaping up to seize onto some of the shorter streetlights and hang for a moment before letting go. It was good exercise and just moving around felt good.
By the time the sun started to sink, Saiph felt pleasantly tired and relaxed. At least, until she glanced up at the eye and her eyes unerringly went to the little pinpoint of light where the Hallow was imprisoned. The snake scar on her arm seemed to itch whenever she was reminded of the Hallow’d existence. Rubbing the skin absently, she forced her gaze away and made herself continue walking. She didn’t like to think about the Hallow. Or the fight that everyone had had to seal it away. It had all come so close to failure… If they hadn’t all worked together…
Saiph forced the thoughts away, only just realizing that there was a knight very close by when said knight suddenly landed on the ground near her. Annoyed with herself for not paying better attention, the chibi senshi nonetheless smiled at the cheerful greeting before studying the knight for a moment.
Then, “Oh! You’re Ilmare’s friend! Hello!”
Well, this was just weird now. She’d been thinking about the Hallow and the fight and suddenly here was the knight that Ilmare had purposely sought out during the battle. Though she was pleased to see someone that she recognized, even if she didn’t really know the older girl, Saiph couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. And faced with another reminder of That Night, her scar really began to itch.
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2025 7:33 pm
Relief washed over her at the senshi's reply, and she peered around her, wondering if the Mauvian that had been with her that night might also make an appearance. She only looked for a second, though.
"You look good," she said, hoping her brief pause would pass for looking the senshi over. She did look good, though! All things considered. The night they'd met had been about as chaotic as things could possibly get for anyone in their line of work. She doubted anyone walked away without some kind of scar, physical or otherwise, and for someone so young she could only imagine what she's had to deal with since.
"If you don't mind some company, I was thinking about doing a round of patrols through a few parks around here."
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2025 2:45 pm
Did she mind? If she were being honest, no. No, she didn't. Especially when she couldn't feel anything gross creeping around. This would be a an easy patrol and many the knight had heard from or scene Ilmare since the fight. Granted, she'd gone years without seeing or hearing from the corrupt before, but after that night... Silence didn't really spark any joy.
Therefore, she grinned, gave a nod and said, "I don't mind at all! Did Ilmare ever actually introduce us? If not, I'm Saiph."
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2025 8:39 pm
"Ekstrom," she said, extending a hand to formalize the greeting a little bit. "I don't remember an actual introduction," she went on, but then shrugged. "It wasn't exactly a good time for it, so that's fine. Speaking of her, though." Her lips twisted into a lopsided sort of line as she thought about the senshi. "I haven't seen her since. I've been hoping to run into her but so far no luck."
She nodded toward the path behind the senshi, indicating the direction she intended to go before actually going. "Just a little worried about her, I guess. Things after were pretty–" The memory of the aftermath of that evening cut her off, and she furrowed her brows in a visible effort to push them back. She could go the rest of her life not reliving any of those nightmares..
"Uh. Hectic," she finished after a beat, then regarded Saiph with a soft, somewhat hesitant smile. "How've you been holding up since?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 9:36 am
Giving the extended hand a firm shake, Saiph felt her smile falter just a bit. Well… s**t. She’d really hoped that Ilmare had at least reached out to the knight. They’d seemed fairly close during the fight. “Oh hell,” she muttered, falling into step with Ekstrom. “I hope she's okay, but I was really hoping to hear something. Even if it was nothing more than she made it back here in one piece.” The Chibi couldn’t forget how Ilmare had protected her. Again.
“Hectic is a good word for it,” she murmured, one hand unconsciously moving up to brush against the snake scar travelling up her left arm. At least this time, the branding hadn’t been accompanied by an unnatural boost in power. “Cuan and I got home okay. We haven’t really talked much about it. We can both see the prison when we look at the sky, though.” The words were hesitant, almost fearful. As if openly talking about it would free the Hallow and bring it crashing down on their heads. But, in thinking about the Hallow, she was reminded of its scales and that association sent her brain back to her talk with Almadel and she brightened. Glancing over at Ekstrom, she grinned a little.
“I got to meet the guy who sent us all those things that helped us stay alive and get home, though. Y’know, Almadel? He’s kinda weird, but in a good way, I think? I liked him. I traded him some scales I’d picked up from the Hallow and he gave me this pretty feather that came from my planet.” For a moment, Saiph was all happy child, forgetting that she was fourteen and should be Acting Her Age. It was just so good to be able to talk to someone who would understand the weird stuff and who wasn’t also her cat. Cuan was great, but sometimes it was good to share experiences with other people. “Have you ever met him?” she asked, turning bright amber eyes on the Mercury knight.
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