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 Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 4:46 pm
There were a lot of Squires. Trier had noticed that those were who she normally met up with, there had been the other Page but…
Mostly Squires. She wasn’t sure if that was normal or just the way she had been traveling on her would be patrols but…
Tonight there was someone on her level, and she was almost eager to go and see who it was, hoping for someone nice, and hoping for someone she could chat with and perhaps even befriend.
It was another woman, and Trier was pleased about that…so far everyone she had met other than Lourdes, had been men, and while…that was fine in theory, the idea of this being more of a male dominated thing was as disheartening as everything else that was male dominated.
The other Page was about as tall as she was, though her outfit…was very different. Different colors, a vastly different style to anyone else she had met.
“...What sort of a Page are you? I’ve not…seen those colors or that symbol before…I’m Trier. Page of Saturn.”
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 7:02 pm
Waipoua had sensed whoever it was that was coming, but didn't feel it urgent enough to acknowledge them ahead of time. Even in her civilian life she wasn't usually the first to approach any social interaction unless it was related to work, and that had permeated into her life as a knight as well. The attitude had suited her just fine up to now, and probably saved her a lot of trouble, too, if she had to guess. What interactions with the other side she had weren't pleasant, so by generally just...not engaging...she had probably skirted around a lot of those sorts of interactions.
That it probably also meant that she skirted a lot of interactions with presumably friendlies didn't bother her in the slightest, though the word "networking" had been circling her mind more often in recent weeks thanks in no small part to Turkana's awakening.
"Cybele," she started, turning away from her staring contest with the distant darkness to finally regard the other Page. "And we're either new or rare, but probably doesn't matter either way. I'm Waipoua."
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 7:06 pm
New? What did that mean? “How can you be new…like, you’re a new Page or…Cybele as a whole is…new? How is that possible?” This was something new. New information. Blarney’s info dump hadn’t…covered this, unless it had and she had forgotten. He had…it had been a lot after all.
“It’s nice to meet you, Waipoua…you’ve…been around long?”
She had her own dry way of talking, but she wasn’t sure that this other Page…really wanted to talk. She was brisk, in a different way than Trier herself was. “If I’m bothering you please just tell me, I will happily see myself off…it was just nice to run into another Page. And another woman. It seems like most of what’s out there are male Squires…and it gets old.”
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 7:25 pm
She blinked, having wondered the same thing herself for a little bit when she was new to the knight thing as a whole but eventually dropping it in favor of more...productive thinking. Because to her it made very little difference whether her "brand" of knight was new or rare—the point was that she was a knight, and was supposed to be... doing... something.
"No idea," she replied honestly, and with a shrug. "I'll probably figure that out eventually, but for now I'm mostly just," she gestured vaguely at the air with her right hand. "Trying to figure things out. It's been a little over a year, I think?"
She knew exactly how long it had been. It was hard to forget the events surrounding her awakening considering the season that it happened in.
"And you're not bothering me. As you can see," she then gestured at the darkness before her. "I was just sitting, thinking about what I'm supposed to be doing as 'Waipoua, Page of Cybele.' I didn't get a textbook or anything. Did you?" She gave the seat next to her a pat, then.
"If not, then feel free to join me. Maybe we can try brainstorming together or something."
Not that she was the greatest with working in a group, but a year and some months in and such minimal progress made her wonder if maybe this was meant to be something of a team effort. It was a worth a shot, anyway, so why not?
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 7:30 pm
“Textbook? No. I got a mentor who talks in riddles, I met another Squire who has absolutely drank the kool-aid, and met another Squire who tried to jam the entire encyclopedia into my brain within ten minutes of talking to him…
She gave a little laugh, relaxing slightly and walking over, taking a seat next to Waipoua and sighing. “I've been at this for maybe six months? Have you…gone to your Wonder? The talkative Squire was very adamant about me doing that so I could find a ring? A signet ring or something? I haven’t done it but. I’ve been to a Wonder before. I wasn’t really impressed if we’re being honest.”
Thinking about what she was supposed to be doing. Wasn’t that just a mood.
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 7:41 pm
Waipoua smiled sympathetically as Trier went on to explain a bit about her experience so far, and even scooted a bit to make sure she had room and was comfortably seated as opposed to perched on the end. Normally she wouldn't care all that much, but she felt almost bad after she was done speaking.
"I have. I wish I could go a little more often, but there's some kind of timer between visits or something. Plus between work and everything, I just don't have a lot of room for all of this."
And then she frowned.
"What do you mean, a ring? As in a regular one?" She raised one of her hands, spread her fingers apart, and wiggled them questioningly. "That would slip onto my finger?" She sounded rather sour now, and looked it as well when she went on with a slightly curled lip and furrowed brows. "Mine's a huge forest. How am I supposed to find a ring there?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 7:45 pm
“Truthfully, I have no idea. I still haven’t gone to get mine…and he kind of. Ticked me off in the end. He was saying how we shouldn’t reveal our identities to others but. How and why would I trust someone to protect me–he was offering, saying that I shouldn’t go out alone, mind you–if they refuse to know who I am and trust me with who they are? That. Bothers me. And then he took the fact that I told him I had siblings to say they would be safer if nobody knew who I was…and no. I don’t. Believe that.”
It felt wrong. Sounded wrong.
“If someone was another Knight, wanted to help me, I feel like trust is important and that just felt like an extreme lack of it. So. Here I sit. Still Wonder-less and ring-less. But. I suppose I’m just. Being dramatic.”
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 8:05 pm
"Your...mentor?" she asked, one brow now raised rather severely at the notion of trust's role in this...dual identity life they now tangentially shared. If she was being quite honest, she rather sided with them, whoever they were. She wasn't one that was quick to trust, however she was very firm believer in taking a logical approach to perceived obstacles. This wasn't exactly the sort of thing that seemed doable while going solo. The Negaverse alone was a massive organization, never mind Chaos itself as an entity, and they weren't in some kind of action movie or series where poetic justice is doled out to the "bad guys" at the end.
"Why not take someone else with you, then?" she suggested, her expression relaxing a little bit. "If you don't trust whoever that is, then bring along someone you do trust. That way you get a chance at your ring, and that guy," she waved her hand dismissively now, "can rightly go ******** himself."
Waipoua sighed, turning her attention back to the darkness now. "Chaos'll pick us apart one by one if we don't trust at least one other person involved in this."
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 8:10 pm
“No, no, some punk a** Squire that I ran into earlier. My mentor is like. Eh. Chill? Too chill? He was there when I awakened, and there was like this giant cloud literally raining on me. He didn’t have much of a choice but to take care of me, even if I did avoid it for…several months. I’m here now. But. I absolutely believe that. Trusting people. I just. In almost a single breath he told me never to go out alone and then nooo, we can’t know who we are because reasons. His work around was to buy me a burner phone. I swear he was a child. He couldn’t have been more than eighteen. If he had told me that he was uncomfortable like. Befriending someone older? That would have been a completely different story, but I swear he was younger than my baby brother so…yeah.”
Obviously, her desire was to keep him safe but. ******** that. He could keep himself safe.
“He was absolutely full of Blarney.”
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 8:16 pm
She snorted.
"Blarney?" she repeated, turning to Trier again, a small smile playing at her lips. "Well, then leave it at that. If you run into him again, show him you're fine trusting some people along the way and doing this knight thing the way you think it should be done." Which a part of her really wanted to be able to offer some kind of help, but she was likely just as equally helpless as Trier was all things considered.
"You can start with me, if you want," she offered anyway, because what could it hurt?
Networking, right?
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 8:21 pm
“I mean, that was his name. I wanted to shout that back at him, but I tried to have some restraint.” Glancing over, Trier gave a small smile, nodding. “Yeah. I’m good with that. Maybe you and I should work on ourselves while we’re at it. I want to be a Squire by the time I see him next. Rub it in his face. Honestly, my Mentor too but…not sure that’s going to be possible. I kind of want to talk to him about the wind wolf…have you dealt with it at all? It’s. Awful.”
She pushed her sleeve up to show the barely scabbed over wound from the fang of the creature? Ghost. Whatever.
“I absolutely don’t recommend. But. I want to know how it shows up and all that jazz so. Meeting with my mentor tomorrow but…you and me the day after? Maybe we can figure out how best to…showcase…”
She summoned her pin and brandished it, rolling her eyes. “This bad boy in a fight. Terrified, aren’t you?”
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 8:35 pm
"Blarney," she repeated, committing it to memory while wondering if she might have a different interpretation of what he had to say. From what Trier was saying, he didn't sound like the kind of person whose company she would enjoy, but she was also a firm believer in forming her own opinion about people. Being the sort who had plenty of rumors swirling about her all through her life, hearing things directly from the source mattered a lot to her. "I'll remember that, thanks."
And as the conversation carried into plans to meet again in the future, as...allies, she supposed, was the word, she sat up and gently stretched out her arms and rolled her shoulders. "I'll take your word for it," came her comment on the wind wolf encounter. She hadn't had the displeasure of running into it herself, and now certainly didn't want to.
"Day after, day after..." she murmured half to herself as she summoned her cell phone from her subspace and navigated to her calendar, looking up when Trier showed off her "weapon."
Waipoua snorted, clearly amused, then turned to show the aged stick of wood slung across her back. "This is mine. I tried to use it once on something and it snapped in half, so it's mostly just a decoration," she explained, then turned back to her phone.
"Looks like.... the day after tomorrow works for me." She turned her eyes to Trier then, extending her phone to her on an open contact page. "But we should exchange numbers, in case plans change."
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 8:42 pm
“Really?” Trier eyed the stick and shook her head. “That’s…rather rude. Giving you a bait and switch. Here you go, a useful looking weapon, but surprise. It’s a dud. I think I’m happier with my…actual dud…at least it’s not…pretending to be what it’s not.”
Her eyes moved to the cell phone and she frowned slightly. “How did you get it to stay? Mine keeps vanishing when I try to keep it with me, but, here’s my number.”
She rattled it off to Waipoua, and then glanced around. “I don’t feel anyone else. Are you going to be absolutely scandalized if I show you who I am?” Not that she was even anyone special. But. She supposed she should ask anyway, just in case. Just because her new Page friend was on her side about things didn’t mean she actually wanted to share identities.
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 8:56 pm
"I..." she squinted thoughtfully, thinking back to the first time she had both been Waipoua and had access to her cell phone. "I remember picking it up off the ground once after dropping it, running from a youma as just regular me," she started, slowly. "The next time I became Waipoua, it disappeared, so I tried putting it down first some other time after that, and it worked."
She typed the number into the device and started to type "T" for "Trier" when she very suddenly offered to share her identity.
The Page considered it for a moment, shrugged, and then dismissed her own mantle so she was just her regular self again.
"No. Probably safer to save a regular sort of name in my phone, too. My b–" she cut herself off and very quickly course-corrected to, "situationship isn't the jealous type, but I'd rather he not ask any questions." Or look at her like he had questions, because she would absolutely tell him to mind his business.
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2026 8:59 pm
“Huh. Good to know, I’ll try that next time.”
Trier closed her eyes for a moment and Sabrina replaced her, giving a little grin and pulling her own phone from her pocket, opening a fresh contact and handing it to her new friend.
“Situationship, hm? If you ever want to spill the tea, I’m a great listener, and I do know how to deal with situationships when they go bad. All of my younger brothers have so. I’m pretty much a pro. Sabrina, by the way. I’m Sabrina. It’s nice to meet you.” Her other hand was extended even as she offered the phone, and then she realized she looked idiotic and lowered her extended hand.
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