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 Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2025 11:28 pm
There was a new resident in the house. This wasn't all that unusual, and in fairness, this new resident had been around for a little while already, but she was still new enough, and from outer space.
It had only seemed right to welcome her with a gift, so Soren had been spending some time in his workshop, crafting together a little mechanical butterfly with wings that actually moved, to welcome Kua'kua--Kalani--to her new home. Working from scrap metal and with hand tools meant that it wasn't perfectly polished, but he liked to hope that might be part of the charm.
He'd invited her to his workshop (a shed in the backyard of the house, fitted with space for him to work and store his tools and materials) in order to present it to her, and also to give them some time to talk, privately. New arrivals were always worth greeting and treating with kindness, and perhaps Soren could help her settle into the place she found herself.
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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2025 6:43 pm
Kua'kua - Kalani, when she was out of her uniform, it was difficult to remember after so many centuries only powered up on her home planet - was never one to turn down an invitation, especially one extended by a fellow non-Earthling Senshi. The Earthlings could be very...Earth-centric, she'd learned, but she couldn't hold it against them, not really. They were so young, and they were so preoccupied with finding new ways to kill each other that Kua'kua was almost grateful that the farther-flung civilizations were out of the civilian Earthlings' purview, difficult though it made adjusting to life here on Earth. She didn't think that she trusted the Earthlings to make fair trading contracts, or honor their peace agreements with other planets, because they clearly couldn't honor their agreements between their own countries - or even on a smaller basis between each other, if the Visual Story Machine in the living room was to be believed. Someone had explained that many of those stories were dramatized, or fictional in their entirety, but - the common threads of greed, betrayal, destruction and cruelty were too frequently featured to be anything other than an accepted aspect of 'human nature'. Human nature. If humans had any one kind of nature, Kua'kua hadn't been here long enough to see it. As far as she could see, the nature of humans was as varied as the nature of any of the Deep Space Senshi she had met. Some were basically good, some were basically bad, and some were neither, some were both. She didn't think 'human nature' meant anything, really, but she wasn't counting out the possibility she just didn't know enough humans yet. So Kua'kua did feel a kinship with these other homeless Senshi, so when the invitation came, she accepted it, and found herself making her way to Sailor Daedalus's shed. To Soren's shed, she corrected mentally, picking at her civilian clothes. Nothing felt like it fit - not the way her Senshi uniform did, anyway, but she would not put her new housemates and allies at risk by being powered up in their safe space. Kua'kua knocked gently on the door to the shed, the force nudging the door open beneath her hand. "Hello?" Kua'kua--Kalani--called out, golden eyes blinking into the dim light. "Soren?" Her eyes darted around the room, drawn by the curious shapes and materials scattered about the place. Was Sailor Daedalus some sort of mad genius, or was he simply mad? No, he couldn't be mad, she reasoned. At least, no madder than Grieve, or any of the other ancient, heartbroken, homeworld-less Senshi that found their way to Earth. He hadn't blown the house up yet, at any rate; and furthermore, he was an Eternal Senshi. One didn't reach that level by being insane in a way that mattered, she decided...unless, perhaps, one was the Senshi of Madness.
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2025 1:38 pm
"Over here," Soren beckoned her towards his workspace, fully oblivious to any additional "vibes" his choice of location might give off. Certainly there were half-finished projects scattered about, and a variety of collected scrap, but none of it was particularly dangerous, just the general workings of someone who desperately needed not to have idle hands.
He picked the little metal butterfly up off his worktable and turned to face her, offering it out.
"I get terribly bored if I can't tinker, so I made this. If you wind it, the wings will flap." Hopefully she liked little, decorative things. Not everyone did, Soren supposed, but hopefully the intent of the gift was well-received regardless.
"How are you finding Earth so far? Are you settling in?" It was difficult to ask if she was settling in well. Did any of them, at first?
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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2025 7:46 pm
Kalani blinked in surprise at the offered gift, reaching out to take it, so gently, like it might shatter if she took it too quickly or roughly. It was a beautiful little thing, and it fascinated her immediately, golden eyes shining as she examined it. "Thank you," Kalani whispered, twisting the winding tool gently. She blinked again as it flapped, then couldn't help the little laugh that escaped her - pure delight. She loved this little thing, and she cradled it to her chest protectively, gingerly. "This is--thank you," Kalani said again, shaking her head at herself and her repetition; she didn't have a deep enough grasp of the English language to express how much the little gift meant to her. It was just - so unexpected and sweet. "I...am glad to not be living in the park anymore," Kalani said, as she twisted the crank again so that the wings began to flap once more. "It is very kind of you and your friends to allow me to stay here." She understood that here on Earth there was something called 'rent', which people were expected to pay, in exchange for the blessing of having walls and a roof. She planned on contributing to this 'rent' concept, as soon as she figured out human money and how to acquire some. "Earth is..." Kalani sighed softly, and shrugged lightly. "Very different from my home. But...in some ways, it is better than I could have imagined. I have gone with others to help clear the Chaos remnants from their homeworlds, and it--being allowed to assist with such an endeavor means much to me." More than anything, it gave her hope - hope that someday, Chaos could be similarly cleared from her own homeworld, somehow. "May I ask - how long have you been on Earth?" Kalani asked, tilting her head slightly at Soren. "Does it ever stop feeling so...alien?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2025 1:51 am
Soren perked up, and it was obvious all over his face that he was thoroughly pleased with how enchanted Kalani was by his gift. That was the best part of making little things like that--the joy people got from something that was relatively simple for him, but still delightful.
"You're very welcome," he said, warmly. "Making things like that brings me joy, and I'm glad to share it."
He nodded, briefly. "I was never living outside, but the first home I shared space in was not so...lively," he said. To say the very least. But that was in the past. He simply hoped the Knight he'd lived with was doing better, for herself if for no other reason. "Everyone here is so warm. And so many come from complex circumstances, so it feels...easier."
Yuki was, of course, the exception, but he wasn't Awakened yet--if he ever would be. He might well be perfectly ordinary, and yet he welcomed so many deeply unordinary people into his life. A rare person.
"I have been here for two years, three next spring. Earth feels...much more like home, now. My world is still important to me, of course, and seeing it come back to life has brought me more joy than I can express. But I have much that I treasure, here."
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Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2025 9:27 pm
"Your world is - it has come back to life?" Kalani felt a pang deep in her chest, an ache that was equal parts envy and hope. So it was truly possible, then. Sure, she had been part of group battles against Chaos, but--that was different than a world returning to itself. "What of the--" Kalani stopped, blushed lightly, looked down at the butterfly. "I apologize. I do not mean to overwhelm you with questions. I just..." Kalani peered back at him, golden eyes glinting in the dim light. "Do you believe that the people may...I do not know the word. Taui, on my planet, but that is not quite right. That sentient life may..." she gestured, struggling for the word in English. "Do you think that people may walk your planet again someday?" Kalani finally asked, giving up on finding the word 'evolve', at least for now. "That is my dearest wish for Kua'kua. That her people be restored, after..." Kalani looked back down at the butterfly. She knew it wasn't possible - that it almost definitely wasn't possible, but... But she was here, on Earth, when by all rights she should have been dead, with her people, centuries ago. If this was a miracle and not a cruel curse - which she still went back and forth about - then perhaps she could dare to hope for another one.
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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2025 9:35 pm
"It ha,s yes," Soren said. "Animals begin to return, and plants are growing again. In truth, I think it's healthier now than it was a thousand years ago. The air is certainly cleaner than it used to be." With no one to ravage them, it really did seem that his world was doing...better.
"As for the people....I don't know. None have appeared yet. I don't know if they ever will--I've yet to hear of living people reappearing on any world, I'm sorry to say." It was the last hurdle, in some ways. "Perhaps people will be able to move there. Resettle. But as I understand, animals only started appearing on worlds a few years ago. Not long before Senshi like us started appearing, at that."
Perhaps they were connected. It was difficult for Soren to say without more evidence.
"One never knows what the future may hold," he said. "I would not have expected my world to recover as well as it has."
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2025 12:59 pm
Kalani nodded, the words ballooning the hope in her chest, almost enough to beat back the ever-present melancholy. Almost. "Perhaps...if this great darkness is still moving through the universe...perhaps recovered planets could offer a sort of....refugee space. If we can find the people in time..." Kalani trailed off, her expression going wistful and sad again, before she shook her head and refocused. "Ah, well. Never mind. I am sure if that were reasonable, or possible, someone would have thought of it already." Kalani waved one hand absently, shaking the thought away, though the other hand still held the butterfly, so gingerly. "How did you...if it is not too painful," she said, which seemed to be how she started every question to fellow homeless Senshi, "may I ask how you began your planet's recovery? Where did you even...begin?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2025 12:36 am
Soren exhaled. "I would like that. To offer safety to people who might need that, if we could find and help them." But so many world had been cut off...it would certainly be an undertaking. "Do not discard the idea simply because it seems impractical. Many on my planet thought any kind of change to the hierarchies we lived under was impractical--impossible, even. And yet, even though we did not succeed, we still made things better."
Before everything had been destroyed by Chaos, but...that had been out of anyone's power to control.
"My world did not start to recover until I had purged the Chaos from it," he said, "but once it was gone, the change was...speedy. Plants first, then insects, then larger creatures. A miracle, in its way, but one that I have helped make with my own hands."
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 2:02 pm
"A miracle still," Kalani murmured. Maybe someday she would feel that her life was a miracle as well, but that day was far from this one, so far that Kalani could not yet see it. "Where did you...how did you prepare? To purge the Chaos from your world?" Kalani asked, glancing up at him from the little butterfly. "I have joined others in their attempts to fight the evil from their worlds. But..." Kalani grimaced. "I do not know how to start, and had already made some small progress before inviting others to join them in their battles."
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 5:17 pm
Soren nodded, a small smile on his face. Every bit of restoration for his world made it feel like yet another step closer to what they could have had, the sort of world his people had deserved.
He could not make it for them. But he could make it for others.
"I waited, for a time, until I'd regained my full power, but once I was ready, I had to find its vile source," he said. "In hindsight, it was obvious--an area that used to be an open park, that was suddenly closed off in the days leading up to my world beginning to fall apart." He sighed. "Once I had tracked it, I...put out a request. Asked for any able hands, to help me destroy it. I knew I could not do it alone, particularly since my physical condition had deteriorated greatly." He touched his fingers to his chest, and smiled a little tiredly. "My lungs are badly damaged, from a childhood among smoggy factories breathing poison air. The Chaos caused my illness to get much worse, but it has lessened greatly since it was purged."
He still struggled to catch his breath sometimes, or found himself wheezing and coughing after vigorous activity, but he was better, now. Could expect a much longer life than he'd feared he would have. (A long life that he was still not sure he knew how to deal with. But, one day at a time.)
"Able hands arrived. The people of this world are eager to help us save ours. When you are ready to confront the thing that is killing your home, I am certain you will have plenty of assistance."
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2026 2:03 pm
She did, actually, believe him about that last sentiment. She had been deeply surprised, and deeply touched, to see how many people had answered the call for help, both on Tempesti and on Dagon. At the thought of Dagon, she couldn't help the slight shudder; she could only hope that whatever awaited her on Kua'kua, it would not be so frightening as the giant skeletal creature they had faced on that planet. "Did you...did you know how to fight it? Before you actually went and fought it. Was it possible for you to do..." Kalani gestured vaguely as she tried to think of the word in English. "To--discover information about it before taking people there? Did you have a way to...to protect them, beyond their own magical capabilities?" Kalani had imagined, for one single solitary second, the idea of bringing Earthlings - or other far-flung Senshi like Soren and the others - to Kua'kua. She had one perfect image of them all working in tandem together, vanquishing the blight. And then she had remembered what had happened to the rest of the Kuanians, and her heart hardened. She could not risk the Chaos claiming more lives, or - worst of all - being transported to Earth. Not when so many people were finding a home here. Not when it seemed to be some kind of - gathering point for the forces of Order within the universe. But if she had a way to protect them...to ensure they did not become infected with what had killed her planet...
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2026 5:48 pm
"I probably could have done more research," Soren admitted, "but I didn't. Which is a sentence I have said many times in many different contexts." "Soren, have you thought this through at ALL," was a question he was all too familiar with. Particularly if it pertained ot his personal safety, the answer was usually "no."
"I found little monsters congealing into a larger one, and knew I could not combat it with only the two sets of hands that were present--mine and Murikabushi's. I had some idea already of what my world was doing, and what was wrong with it, but in that fight...there were a number of unexpected factors. No one took ill after, as far as I know, though. Whatever was in the air that day was unpleasant, and unpleasantly magical, but it didn't linger."
He exhaled.
"I suspect that even if the Chaos has not previously been something you can fight," he said, "as it wasn't on my world--it was pollution, first--it will become such as it gains power. And purging that thing will allow you to purge it all, and all its remnants." He frowned, a little. "If you're alright to talk about it--you don't have to--what form did it take?"
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