|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 9:51 am
Thursday might have been three days away but it felt like three weeks away. Whatever Aliez had done had helped–immensely–but there was still an ugly, agitated stretch of skin, red and inflamed, that stuck out like a sore thumb. It would have been more suspicious if Cassidy had swapped out his shorts for pants, but he’d have looked dorky wearing long socks with sneakers.
If it hadn’t been fall.
It was still warm from summer, but he could at least use the excuse of the changing seasons as camouflage to wear dark tights or tall boots.
Not that any of it mattered by the time Thursday came around; Aliez wasn’t going to care about how well he hid his injury in daily life. It wasn’t like he was going to be powering down in front of him.
It had taken a bit of practice between Monday and Thursday, but Cassidy figured he’d perfected the art of powering up and down. His leg hurt less while powered, despite the way his boots clung tightly to his legs. It chafed a little, but it wasn’t really unpleasant. It felt like a healing sunburn at its worst.
Lyon had figured out much since their last meeting but it wasn’t much to brag about–who was he going to brag to? So, he kept his praise to himself, and showed up to the rendezvous perfectly on time with a little skip in his step. He arrived just a little early, not because he’d planned it that way, but because he simply moved faster when he was powered up. Maybe he was excited. Maybe he was just being careful not to get caught in the wrong crowd.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 9:53 am
Aliez stayed in the shadows, farther away from the meeting place to make sure he wouldn’t be there first. Instead, he kept an eye on his ComTech’s GPS locator, letting it scan the area for anyone who would register with a power signature. He let out a small breath of relief when he noticed the ping of a knight making their way to the meeting spot, so he quietly moved out of the shadows to meet up with Lyon.
He came by himself this time. Well, if his little robotic companion counted as another being. He felt like it did, but it was complicated.
“It’s good to see you again, Lyon. How is your leg? Would you mind if I took a look?” he asked, gesturing to a large boulder that had been placed by the pathway. Likely it was too large to bother removing completely, but it made for a good place to rest.
While Lyon decided what he wanted to do, Aliez pulled out a small phone from his subspace and turned it over in his hands a couple times, clearly debating if it was a good idea, before handing it to Lyon.
“My contact information is there. It should be able to reach the device I use for communication.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:01 am
“Wow, trying to get me undressed already? You’re efficient,” Lyon said, too cheerful to have been serious. He accepted the phone, turning it over the same amount of times as Aliez had. It didn’t look special or anything, just a normal phone. Of course, it could have been a bomb, or had a tracking device, or a hidden microphone in it.
Aliez had a sweet face. He’d have been the perfect double agent.
The boulder was still warm from basking in the sun all day, and Lyon sighed contentedly as he sank down onto it. He placed the phone next to him, not yet ready to pocket it, and focused both hands on unlacing his boot. It doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would. I don’t even think it’ll scar.” Not that he was a professional or anything, he just had a good feeling about it. “What type of communication do you want to have, by the way? Should I text you memes or is this an ‘emergency only’ type thing?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:02 am
Aliez blinked curiously at Lyon, not understanding the comment about being efficient about getting him undressed. But he supposed it was a joke of some kind because he seemed in good spirits and not upset.
While Lyon settled and worked on his boot, Aliez crouched down in front of the boulder to get a better vantage point. He already had one hand on his Source Stone while the other hovered over Lyon’s injury. He technically didn’t need to see his leg, but he wanted to make sure his developing ability to sense ailments was actually accurate.
“You’ll probably want to be careful with using that. Maybe only when you’re Lyon. I don’t want it falling into the wrong hands,” he said a bit warily as he glanced from Lyon to the phone. “But… you can contact me however you wish. I do not know how engaging I could make conversation.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:02 am
A crystal? His mother would like Aliez. Lyon should have brought some of his own. Maybe next time. He tilted his head, watching as the alien did–
Something.
Lyon stayed perfectly still, although it was difficult to resist the urge to tap his foot while he waited. On a scale from one to ten, the pain was at a two. He was vague aware of it, more so when he turned his foot left or right or up or down.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I can talk enough for the both of us,” he said, smiling sweetly. “Anyway, I'm good at getting people to talk. You’re pretty engaging right now. I could think of a dozen questions for you. We’ll never run out of conversation topics. For example–what’s that crystal? What’s it doing? How’s your little robobaby? How many other aliens are there like you? What do you do for fun? What’s the most interesting place you’ve ever been? What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever seen?”
He opened his mouth like he might say more, but his smile looked more playful than before. “I could go on. But you don’t have to actually answer any of those. If you’re worried about keeping engaging conversation, we could always start small. How are you doing, Aliez? Like, really doing. Not the polite ‘Oh, I’m fine.’ The real answer, the one that pops into your head first before you remember you have to use manners.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:02 am
Aliez felt his face flush a bit as the questions came tumbling from Lyon’s mouth. It was like a waterfall that kept pouring out more --
Until suddenly it stopped. And Aliez felt a little embarrassed that he’d felt flustered at all. He didn’t know Lyon very well, but the young knight didn’t seem cruel, just curious. Aliez could relate to that. He was rather curious as well.
When asked how he was really doing, he pressed his lips together, like he still wanted to answer a generic ‘Oh, I’m fine’ just to let the conversation continue.
“Stressed. But that’s become so normal that I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t,” he admitted, but held out his Source Stone for Lyon to hold if he wanted to see what it was.
“These are used to collect energy. Well… most just use them as a sleep aid, but we do sometimes have to collect energy for more important projects. I would never collect energy from someone without their permission, of course,” he quickly added, not wanting Lyon to think he would suddenly start stealing his energy from him. “I use its energy to help heal. To replenish what’s been lost. I suppose it’s similar to a rechargeable battery. Unfortunately, it’ll only heal other Velencians. So I’ve been taking classes to learn first aid for humans,” he shared, feeling a little sheepish about it. He didn’t want to sound like he was bragging.
“What about you, Lyon? How are you doing?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:03 am
Lyon watched Aliez’s lips, like he expected an ‘I’m fine’ and yet he was still pleasantly surprised when those words never blossomed.
Stressed was a good answer–not because Lyon was happy to have him in such a state, but because it was honest.
“Oh, I’m peachy. Thanks for asking.”
Leaning forward to examine the Source Stone, Lyon looked tempted to touch it. He kept his hands to himself, for now. “A sleep aid, huh? I’ve got some friends that could use one of those. It’s like a magical energy transfusion, huh? That’s cool. And taking classes, that’s cool too. So you don’t like Earth but you don’t mind humans?”
Or did his need to heal others transcend whatever disdain he might have had for the general population here?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:03 am
“It’s… complicated,” Aliez admitted quietly. “I want to help humans, and I will, because healing is… it’s what I’m meant to do. When I see someone in pain, or frightened, or broken, I can’t look away. I don’t think I ever could.”
He glanced down at the Source Stone in his hand, his fingers curling protectively around it.
“That doesn’t mean I have to like this world. Earth is… careless. People here have so much. Food, shelter, air that doesn’t choke them… and yet they still let others go hungry, or sleep on the ground, or die in the street. They step over suffering as though it doesn’t matter. As though life doesn’t matter,” he explained, his voice catching just a little.
“On Velencya, we would never abandon one of our own. We couldn’t afford to. But here… it feels like humans take everything for granted. The beauty, the kindness. Even each other,” he said with a small shake of his head, any hint of frustration in his words melting into grief.
“I’ll heal them anyway. Because it’s right. But that doesn’t mean I have to forgive this world for what it chooses to ignore.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:04 am
What a good answer.
Watching Aliez contemplatively, Lyon found himself nodding along as he spoke. It was a foreign thing–an alien thing, even–to hear about it from that perspective. Lyon didn’t think of himself as a particularly magnanimous person. Maybe not the least in his friend group, but certainly not the most. Who would he give that title to? Maybe Elliot. Did he have any enemies? He’d always been Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes. Even pulled his boyfriend right out of a dumpster. And now look at him! Rags to riches, heart of gold, adopted by Mr. Gallo! Maybe Atticus was a good example, though–Atticus, who had been on the receiving end of hardship, who didn’t have to tell Cassidy anything for him to know something, but who had trusted him with bits and pieces anyway.
All that hurt, and he still turned out good. Atticus didn’t have any enemies, but he did have people who hurt him.
Aliez probably wasn’t talking about either of them–not when he thought of Earth and all its bad people. Probably not anyone Cassidy knew.
But, there were eight billion people on Earth. There were a lot of rotten apples in the bunch. Must have been easy to generalize.
“I know some good humans. Maybe I’ll introduce you, you know. If you’re in the market for new friends. The kind of people that care about the world. That appreciate their food and their house and their air. Don’t give up on us. Maybe we just need a good teacher, huh? Maybe you could teach us how to be as good as you are on Velencya. Oh–but then, would you do the same thing for criminals? Not like, jaywalking. What about murderers? Do you have those on Velencya? Would you heal a murderer here on Earth just because they were hurting or looked scared?” he asked, almost looking like he was enjoying the questions.
There wasn’t anything malicious about it, he just couldn’t help himself.
And anyway–his leg felt fine! His boot was off and sitting on the ground, giving a clear view of his injury beneath the sheer stocking. Aliez was much more interesting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:04 am
Aliez flinched at the question.
“Murder is… terrible,” he said carefully, fingers still around his Source Stone, but he lowered it down to his lap, caressing it with his other hand now. “Taking a life should never be easy. It should never be done carelessly.”
He hesitated, chewing at the inside of his cheek.
“But… why did they kill? Was it to protect themselves? Someone they loved? Was it anger, or desperation, or justice they would never be given otherwise? Would it be a burden they take upon themselves to do in order to save countless others with one life as sacrifice?” he asked, his voice wavering. “I don’t know if I could ever decide that in a single moment. I don’t think I’m supposed to.”
Aliez glanced up then, expression both earnest and unsettled.
“I’m not a judge. I’m not here to weigh every sin on a scale and decide who deserves mercy. I’m a healer. If someone is bleeding, if they’re scared, if they’re begging not to die--... I’ll do what I can. Every time… Even if the world hates them. Even if I don’t understand them. Because if I choose not to, and they die because of my inaction… what does that make me?”
He paused then, drawing in a shaky breath. “I would like to meet your good humans. I have no intention of giving up.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:05 am
Another good answer. Lyon found himself nodding along as he listened. It felt inappropriate to be impressed with Aliez; it wasn’t like he was under examination, and he certainly wasn’t some performance that needed to be appraised.
He wanted to ask ‘What happens if you save someone who is just going on to hurt more people’ but he didn’t. He could have.
Aliez looked something between shaken and hurt. Like even in this hypothetical situation, he’d already had to make a tough call.
It would have been cruel to do as much.
“Sorry,” Lyon said instead. “I guess that was a little unfair to dump that on you. For what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s a wrong answer. I was just curious. I’m not as good as you. Or my other friends. I can think of a few who would see someone hurting and try to help them–like you. Like, even if they were a bad person, maybe they could be redeemed? But I don’t know if I’m like that. I’ve never had to make a decision like that. I probably never will,” he said, more to reassure Aliez than because he’d ever put any thought into the actual possibility.
“You put a lot of thought into that question, huh? Sounds like it was important to you. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get you worked up.”
Aliez’s breath still seemed a little shaky and Lyon didn’t want to chase away his friend. He flashed a charming, apologetic smile. “Velencya sounds really neat. You sound really neat. I’d love to pick your brain sometime. Maybe I should get hurt more often, huh? Then you could take care of me and we talk more often.”
He sounded like he was teasing–but he sounded like he was being honest, too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:05 am
“You don’t have to get hurt for us to talk,” Aliez quickly reassured Lyon before he got any ideas into his head. Aliez certainly didn’t need to be healing or helping or whatever. He didn’t mind just sitting around and talking.
Oh, but that wasn’t the purpose for their meeting right then. It was to make sure Lyon’s wound was healing properly.
He dug through his bag to pull out a little, aluminum container. The container itself might have been normally used for lip balm or face cream, but it had a creamy lotion in it when Aliez twisted off the lid.
“This is some lotion from our experiments. It’ll help with the healing,” he explained, handing it over to Lyon after he dabbed some of the white cream onto his fingers. He applied it gently to Lyon’s legs, around the edges of the wound first, and then even more gently over the places where the skin was still working on healing.
“You don’t have to apologize for your curiosity. As long as you’re careful. I suppose I’m a bit of a hypocrite since I’ve often let my curiosity get the better of me. I would love for Velencya to be shared with everyone. It’s a beautiful world with giant crystals that resonate with energy to keep everything running. It was very strange experiencing things like weather and extreme temperature changes here. I do not do well in the Spring seasons, it seems,” he said as he scrunched up his nose at the thought of being sick with pollen allergies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:06 am
Once again, Lyon found himself watching Aliez intently. The cream was fascinating, but he supposed he shouldn’t let strange guys just rub weird stuff all over him. Even if it did feel good. The cream itself didn’t seem like some magic cure-all, but the way Aliez applied it felt more like a massage than a medical treatment.
Whatever tension was left in Lyon’s shoulders melted away.
More interesting than the lotion was Velencya.
“You don’t have weather?”
Well–duh, obviously, he’d just said that. Lyon didn’t backtrack; he was too astounded to take it back. “I don’t think anyone does well in Spring, so I can’t blame you. Although,” he looked at the flowers adorning Aliez’s uniform. “I wouldn’t have guessed you weren’t a spring person. Are those flowers magic, or cosmetic? They’re cute. They make you seem really gentle. I mean, you make you seem gentle, but they definitely help.”
Lyon was, he thought, a delightful patient. He sat still, he did as the doctor instructed.
His only downside was the infinite stream of words spilling from his lips.
He could be quiet.
But why?
“I bet you could get lots of people to donate energy to you just by batting your eyelashes at them. Hey, the last time we spoke, you said you were trying to get enough energy to fix your world. How much energy would that take? Like, if everybody on Earth donated a little bit of energy one night, would that be enough? Or does it not work like that?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:06 am
Aliez blinked in surprise at the compliment about the flowers he kept with him. His free hand reached over to brush against one of the flowers, and then gently pulled it from where it was kept safely in the pouch.
“A friend of mine -- another Velencian -- he works with flowers, so I often stop by to bring some with me. The pollen from these don’t agitate me as much,” he explained, lifting the white flower with many petals to his nose to smell, before holding it out for Lyon.
“I believe these are carnations. They last a long time, especially if they have fresh water. Make sure you put it in some when you get home,” he said, clearly intending for Lyon to take it. “Keeping them by my side helps to remind me to stay calm, even when I don’t feel that way. As for energy…”
He hesitated now, glancing down to the Source Stone that he’d attached to his wrist.
“It’s complicated. Every drop matters. It’s difficult to explain, but it isn’t as simple as everyone donating at once. Our world is… fragile. Not weak, but it has to be maintained carefully. Too much energy can overwhelm the systems, and too little… well… then Velencya fails. Every day is a balance. Adjusting and repairing and storing what isn’t immediately needed.”
He glanced back up at Lyon then, a little strained but grateful for his curiosity.
“The people of Earth -- the Senshi and Knights -- they’re wary of us. Things happened that we couldn’t control. Things that happened when we were backed into a corner. It’s why we’re under the… protection of the Negaverse. As long as we’re useful. We asked for help before. Most didn’t give it. I don’t blame them. But it makes it harder to want to ask for help again.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 10:07 am
Instinctively, Lyon leaned forward to smell the flower. Bright, and fresh, and with a soft fragrance that made him think of spring showers. And then, Aliez was offering it to him.
Of course he immediately accepted. Who wouldn’t be delighted to receive flowers? Lyon’s face lit up with boyish charm. He tucked the flower behind one ear, wearing it proudly as he listened to Aliez’s words.
“You know,” he began, “I was going to ask if you knew about flower language, but I guess that seems sort of silly given the fact that you’re sort of, you know, grappling with the fact that you’re between a rock and a hard place with the Negaverse breathing down your neck.”
Too bad, he’d have liked to tease Aliez.
Lyon didn’t know much about the Negaverse. Reims’ history lessons included an overview but never really specifics. Lyon was still piecing things together.
“What happens if the Negaverse doesn’t think you’re useful anymore?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
