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 Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2025 10:04 am
For once, Saiph had looked forward to powering up and heading out into the city. Things had been so quiet and the few times they hadn’t, she’d come out fairly well. She couldn’t say that she was completely comfortable in her powered skin, but she was a little more at ease. Maybe it was the fact that, at least physically, she wasn’t a little kid anymore. Sure, the chibi aura still made her seem small to other people, but maybe that was an advantage. It made people underestimate her. She was learning that she kind of enjoyed that. In fact, she was feeling so good about the lack of Chaos tinged auras at the moment that she’d started humming to herself. She felt an Order aura nearby and paused to consider her options. Meeting more people would be a good thing. Cuan would approve of her making connections and allies. Most people she’d met had been pleasant enough. Only that one weirdo knight had been kind of annoying. Saiph still hadn’t decided if that had been an issue with him or if she’d just been out of sorts that day. She was prepared to call it a bit of both when she decided to go one and see if she could meet the owner of the aura she’d sensed. Walking briskly before breaking into a gentle jog, she trailed the aura. A half smile tugged at her lips as she felt herself get closer. A friendly greeting waited on the tip of her tongue as she ducked around a corner and froze. Seriously, she thought, smile fading slightly, this guy again?!? The planned friendly greeting gave way to an incredulous and mildly disappointed, “Oh. It’s only you.” Because standing not so far away was the same weirdo, out of shape knight that she’d just been thinking about.
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2025 11:32 am
This was met with a laugh that was half a snort, the page lifting his hands with a "what can you do" expression as if towards an unseen audience, amiably inviting them to join in the mockery of him. "Thank you. It's a pleasure to see you again too," he said. He was not smoking, but leaning back against the corner of a building as if in earnest contemplation of some scenic beauty, although he was in truth looking at nothing but a pile of garbage bags on a curb. "Glad to see you in one piece. Taken the heads off any youma lately?" This, with a pantomime of swinging a baseball bat. "We can compare notes and by notes I do mean numbers. They should let us put our initials in somewhere, like an old arcade machine."
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2025 11:59 am
Yep. Still weird. Taking a few steps closer, she glanced around before settling her gaze on the pile of garbage bags that seemed to hold Maus enthralled. There was, she thought, no way that he actually found them interesting. And while she couldn’t see any signs of smoking, she had to wonder if he was sitting here because he’d gotten winded or developed a cramp or something. His greeting was pleasant enough, though. She could give him that much credit. Even if she found his talk about comparing numbers ridiculous. “No youma since the one,” she answered civilly. “Even if there had been, I doubt that you’d do much better than me. You dipped out in the middle of the last fight because you were, in your own words, out of shape. Sorry, I just don’t see you winning at that particular game.” It was an honest enough assessment based on what she’d observed. Granted, maybe he was like, Super Knight when he was by himself, but she didn’t buy that either. The fact that he was sitting and chilling with literal garbage didn’t really up his esteem in her eyes either. Resting her forearms across her knees, Saiph tilted her head and studied Maus. It was impossible to tell his age, but she was certain that he wasn’t so far advanced that he was in danger of breaking a hip if she so much as glared at him. And the more she thought, the more she couldn’t decide if he was lazy or honestly just in worse shape than he’d originally implied. “Honest question,” she said. “Could you even last a whole fight? Like on your own if you couldn’t make an escape? Like, I’m not trying to be mean. Showing legit concern here. Y’know, since technically knights and senshi are supposed to have each others backs and all.” She’d decided that she didn’t care if he found her rude. Maybe he’d get annoyed enough to get up and go jog a mile or something. Actually. No. Scratch that, she was genuinely convinced that if Maus tried to jog a mile he’d kill himself. She’d rather not have that one on her conscience.
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2025 1:12 pm
"I don't know," he said cheerfully, as if the prospect of surviving a fight was of minimal concern to him. "Depends on who it's against, I guess. But you're pre-supposing that I can't make the escape. I'm slippery like a bag of eels," he informed her. "And a man who can't run a marathon might be able to sprint, you know. How's that old saying go - that if you're being chased by a bear, you don't have to outrun everyone, you just have to outrun the slowest person there?" This was a bit of a grim, self-centered philosophy to be spouted by an Earth Knight, which inwardly he enjoyed, as he supposed it gave it a certain zest. In truth, however, a few conversations with the woman whose mercy he'd thrown himself upon had made him think that maybe all that honor and virtue stuff was pure bullshit anyway. "Experience goes a long way," he added. "I've been dodging blows since you were in preschool, probably. It comes of having such a punchable face." This, with chagrin, as he smoothed down his mustache with both thumbs, as if having a mustache had been some curse he could not avoid, or as if the mustache was even what made his face so punchable, which was questionable.
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2025 2:33 pm
”Yeah, that’s a great philosophy and all,” she retorted. “But not if you’re the slowest person in the equation. And sprinting is hardly going to help you if you’re so winded after a few moments that the bear can catch up. And seriously, who the hell came up with that bag of eels thing? That’s a terrible metaphor.” Okay, maybe she was being slightly unfair. He wasn’t stupid so maybe he could weasel his way out of a bad situation. But then she remembered the Hallow’s prison. The only reason any of them had survived that was because they’d all worked together. And gotten incredibly lucky. Against something like the Hallow, Maus would have stood no chance. “Also, do you realize that you’re making yourself sound super old? If that’s the angle you’re going for, fair. And I don’t doubt that people have wanted to punch your face for as long as I’ve been alive, but don’t ask me to believe that you can escape unscathed every time. That’s just lying to yourself and doing a bad job of it.” She went silent for a moment, mentally rolling her eyes at Maus and his claims. Been dodging blows since I was in pre-school my a**, she thought. Nobody was that good outside of a story book.The more she thought about it, the more she became both amused and annoyed. And after another moment, amusement took the upper hand in the fight and she snorted a laugh. “Please. You might talk a decent game, but that doesn’t do s**t if you’re too wheezy and out of shape to follow through on anything. I could land a punch on you easy, though I wouldn’t aim for your face since that’d be cruel if it’s apparently such a tempting target.” Straightening up from her crouch, Saiph stretched and looked up at the sky. Well, at the tops of the buildings anyway. There was too much cloud cover to really see the sky. Then, she laughed again, clearly amused by Maus’ nonsense.
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2025 2:41 pm
"I doubt that very much," he said, without sounding offended at all. "You gotta learn to look past the superficial parts or you're going to making challenges to the wrong kind of person. I am, in fact, so sure that you couldn't do that that I'm willing to make a bet. I won't even ask for a headstart. What are we playing for?"
He was not, actually, all that confident that he could evade her entirely. He was not oblivious to the greater strength of her power signature, for one. But he also knew that he was a deceptive little s**t, and that he'd played up how out of shape he was and that this might mean that he could now perhaps make her realize that it was easy to persuade people to underestimate you, and use that to your advantage. Even keeping her at bay for a minute or two was probably more than she was expecting.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 10:55 am
Saiph’s laughter stopped abruptly as she turned her head to stare at Maus, one eyebrow arching slowly. He looked serious. He sounded serious. But she couldn’t believe he actually was serious. All of his smiles and lazy, flippant words had her half convinced that he was replying just to reply. A sort of face saving offer. He was probably expecting her to laugh it off and decline. A tiny, grudging smile tugged at her mouth as she gave him a steady look, trying to gauge his sincerity. This wouldn’t be a sweep by any means, she’d seen him wielding that rebar, after all. But, the chance to drive it home to him that he really really needed to work out was too tempting. “There is,” she began slowly, clearly thinking this out and pointing off into the distance, “a kid’s playground about a block over that way. All the usual equipment you’d find. More importantly, it’s on some pretty soft ground, so we won’t be damaging each other. Let’s say… hmm. Groundrules are no launching playground sand into faces because I know what the local cats and toddlers do in there; no face, head, wrist, ankle or crotch shots, but legs, arms and torso are legal. If I win, you have to train with me for a week.” She paused, eyebrow going up again, clearly challenging him. Then, she grinned, eyes twinkling with mischief. “I considered asking you to stop smoking for a few days, but that seemed mean. Any thoughts on rules or your own bet?” She had no doubts that Maus was going to try to be sneaky. She wasn’t sure he’d outright attempt to cheat, but if he did, she wanted them where the least amount of hurt could be caused. As far as she was concerned, this was a fun, silly little bet. Inconsequential, even. But she still fully planned on winning.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 12:07 pm
"I'm happy to play for bragging rights," he said. "But it's a good thing you didn't pick the smoking thing, because I do that all the time. I do that right now. The hard part is keeping it up." And he reached, as he said it, as if to pull up his sleeve, before remembering that he was powered up and it was substantially harder to do so. "I swear there's a nicotine patch under there," he said instead, which wasn't strictly true. But it was true that there had been one there yesterday. "I don't know about your rules. Doesn't sound very realistic," he said skeptically. "Like you're basically making this into a game of glorified tag, like I'd hesitate to throw a brick at an agent's head, but I get it. Let's nor murder each other. The playground, you said? I know where you mean. I guess if that's our arena, you have to land a punch on me there." And he turned as if to nonchalantly walk in that direction, even giving her a "go ahead" brush of his arm, before abruptly launching instead into a sprint, and taking the precaution, as he did so, of throwing the trash bag across the sidewalk in front of her as he did. Maybe this little cheat was his effort at injecting back in the realism that her anti-murder rules had established.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 2:15 pm
”Dude,” Saiph protested, “I’m not trying to kill you. This is an amusing wager, not ******** battle royale…” She subsided as he continued speaking and nodded her agreement that any blow she landed would have to happen in the playground to count. She was less comfortable with the idea of braining someone with a brick, but let it slide for the moment. “Seems like we have a deal..” She would have continued, maybe insisted on shaking on things when he gestured for her to move. Annnd then took off ahead of her, but not before leaving an obstacle in her path. Sighing a little, she stepped around the bag and took a second to consider things. Okay, so he was going to pull sneaky little tricks to give himself an edge, good to know. But the way he tore off running just made her shake her head in mock despair and mutter under her breath, “Dude. You’re only going to wear yourself out before we even hit the playground.” There really hadn’t been any need to race off since nothing counted until they were both in the ‘arena’. Well, whatever. She could get there quickly enough doing nothing more than walking briskly. And even better, she wouldn’t arrive already tired and out of breath. And just to make things fun, she could take the roofs to get there. There were plenty of smaller buildings around that area. It would give her a decent view just in case he had any little surprises planned for her.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 2:28 pm
eldritch stardust ASPECT OF EARTH: As upholders of virtue, Earth Knights have a saintly presence and seem to be always followed by sunlight, even at night. They have increased sensitivity to movements around them, and can always tell when someone is trying to sneak up on them -- which means there is no advantage to fighting them any way but honorably. The presence of his energy signature was enough to betray that he was in the area. Certain instincts had persisted beyond the purification threshold, and one of them was for remaining low and sneaky, much like what was now his namesake. But he wasn't here to try and entirely evade her - that wouldn't be any fun; he could simply power down and slip away if it meant that much to him - and so it was only after a few seconds that her rooftop watching bore the fruit of seeing him step out into the open, moving at a brisk pace that seemed to suggest he was trying to get himself into a place where he himself could not be snuck up on. Which, in fact, he couldn't. He suddenly and inexplicably seemed to seem a little saintlike as he stood there, as if standing in a pool of invisible but still decidedly-present light. He seemed to have guessed her tactics - in truth only because he'd done a few patrols with Joy, and she had a catlike preference for the high ground as well, which he found distasteful - and ran his eyes upwards. "You see what I mean about how you're pre-supposing that I couldn't escape in the first place, but I think I made my point already on that ground. I've got no magic," he called out pleasantly as he looked for her, his eyes zeroing in on any slight movement of the light - and, it must be said, without sounding all that winded. "So you've got the advantage of me."
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 3:41 pm
Well, he didn’t sound as winded as she’d hoped, but he had been sitting for who knew how long before she'd come across him originally. That was a pity, but she was determined to enjoy their little bet. The sudden, saint-like glow was something new though and she found herself watching him with great interest. Her only answer to his speech was an audible snort as she decided to take a few steps back before running towards the edge of the roof and leaping, managing to land gracefully a few feet away. “Good trick,” she said laconically, indicating the glow. “I fail to see how that counts as ‘not magic’, though. Do all knights glow like that or is it a you thing?” If he was so determined to play teacher, maybe she could get him to explain knight stuff for her. She’d met a few, sure, but she didn’t really get how they worked. And she’d prefer that to the weirdly condescending s**t. “Follow up question: do you talk like that to everyone or am I getting special treatment because you think I’m just a dumb kid?” The playground was so close now and she saw literally no reason to stall or try anything underhanded. Turning her back, she skipped over before jumping into the grass with both feet, face thoughtful as if she was testing the ground. It wasn’t slick with dew yet and as far as she could tell, no gophers had troubled the place. The only sand was a pit under the swing set and a second, larger patch under a large, rounded jungle gym. Seeming pleased, she nodded to herself. Turning back, she grinned at Maus. “Well? You coming in so we can start this or what?” Part of her had already decided that he was probably going to wander off, all in the name of teaching her some silly lesson about pre-supposing. If he did, she’d made up her mind to not care. Whatever happened, she was going to enjoy being on a playground again.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 3:48 pm
He actually thrust his thumbs into his belt in lieu of putting them into any pockets, rocking back on his heels as if without a care in the world and meandering into a patch of soft ground that still wasn't quite within swinging range. "You're supposed to be punching me," he pointed out mildly. "I'm waiting. As for whether I think you're a dumb kid - no. I think you're a kid, and all kids are dumb. All adults are dumb too, but we're dumb in a different and entirely separate way. I think you're a little too inclined to trust appearances and get cocky about it and I'm putting you on your guard. That's all."
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 7:57 am
Blinking a little, Saiph considered this and thought that this was probably the most honest answer he'd given her yet. And while she might not like it, she found herself grudgingly respecting it. But rather than say so, she shook out her arms and cracked her neck. Then, she began carefully circling him, wondering how he would play this. Yes, she was supposed to be punching him, but after his little lecture, she wasn't going to just charge in blindly. And, she decided, she wasn't going to use her magic. It wasn't fair for one thing. This little spar was meant to be friendly. Using her magic would be an unfair advantage. Finally, she moved, drawing up her fists and throwing a barrage of strikes at Maus. She didn't expect them to connect. She just wanted to see if she could drive him back, force him to move.
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 11:14 am
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, he did. He moved, not with any grace or expertise or.particular poise, but with a scrambling efficiency that - like his namesake - always seemed to put him a few inches out of a pounce. It was a scrappy sort of evasiveness, as if taught by the coarseness of experience rather than the refinement of education, and it did not care about fighting a fair fight, as at the first opening he attempted to ankle sweep her to the ground, and at every other moment he was trying to get some obstacle between himself and her. It was a good thing she'd called a ban on pocket sand, as he unquestionably would have been trying to blind her. As it was he didn't hesitate to push a swing at her with enough force to hurt, if it made contact.
And he stopped talking. No little quips or clever one liners, no lectures, no commentary. It was as if even this silly wager had untapped some deadly serious part of his soul, and his attention was wholly on eluding her strikes. It was just as well that the goal wasn't to land one of his as there was an uncomfortable suggestion in his demeanor that he would not have been very kind or very sportsmanlike in his attempts.
He was not perfect, however, and while he had to keep succeeding, she only had to succeed once. He would leave an opening, after a minute or two, although he wasn't really wheezing (which wasn't to say he was displaying the peak of athletics) and the question might boil down to more basic scales of power, speed, and experience than his being out of shape.
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 3:49 pm
The ankle sweep had half succeeded, causing her to stumble and curse his name as she could only hope she hadn't broken anything. Additionally, it only galvanized her to keep moving forward, keeping an eye open for anything that would let her swoop in and knock him on his a**. Her disgruntlement was only amplified by the swing that crashed into her side. That actually made her pause for a moment, double over and turning the air blue. ********, that was going to leave a bruise... Looking up, her eyes were grim as she briefly considered lifting her ban on attempted murder. Only she was determined more than ever to not stoop to his level. To win clean. Because, the more she saw how Maus operated? ******** deserved to have his a** handed to him by a teenager. But she stayed quiet, going on the hunt again and this time doing her best to drive him into exhaustion. And she thought that he was slowing down a little. Not that she trusted him... But now, they were close to the pull up bars and she had a flash of inspiration. Backing off for a moment, acting as if her side was bothering her, she waited a breath then ran, wanting to build up enough speed to leap, getting behind Maus before jumping again and seizing the pull up bar, swinging her entire body. Sure, this could fail horribly and she'd yeet herself into empty space and have to hope that Maus wouldn't be so much of a s**t that he wouldn't call an ambulance. She'd accepted that. But if it worked... He'd be on the recieving end of a full body cannon ball. She just needed him to be slow enough. Closing her eyes, she swung hard and let go of the bar. Just let him be slow enough, she thought.
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