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 Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:22 pm
Lisse really…wasn’t a fan of outright asking his brother for assistance…but this was one of those times that…he felt it might be needed. Worth it to do so.
And thus, they had both powered up and Lisse had quickly swept them up to his Wonder, breathing in the smell of the tulips that were still blooming. Maybe they were magical tulips. It didn’t really matter one way or another but…
“Okay, so Tell me. How did you figure out Tulip.”
Hah. Tulips were just the subject of everything in Lisse’s mind today. Awesome.
“I mean, how did you find him–her? I’m not sure what gender the pig is but…it’s really cool? And I don’t want to be one of the only lame Knights without a Summons and I feel like maybe if I had mine, we could have done more, and maybe not been flattened so badly…” Honestly. It was kind of embarrassing how well and quickly they had been taken down but…
“I don’t want to have to deal with you losing your starseed again. That. Was literally terrifying.”
It was the first time he had really…brought it up, and now that he had…he wasn’t sure what else to say about it.
“...You are doing okay after that, aren’t you? Like…mentally and all that?”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:25 pm
Looking around, Halle offered a shrug and a wry grin. “I think you just have to find the like…totem, for it.” Lifting a hand he tapped the wooden bluebell earring he always wore now. “And I can’t even tell you how, hers showed up by chance…or well…”
Halle’s voice trailed off, “Maybe not chance. Don’t you think it’s kinda weird…or like, less weird and more incredibly appropriate, that it’s called Destiny City?”
The concern got another shrug. He hadn’t liked it, of course, but his brother was the one more upset about the whole starseed thing. And it’s not like Halle couldn’t understand that, he’d be pretty messed up too if it had been the other way around. He was just grateful it hadn’t.
“Yeah, it’s like it didn’t even happen.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:26 pm
“Destiny City, hm?” Lisse looked thoughtful, for some reason that was what caught his full attention. “Do you think we would have ended up here regardless someday? If we had stayed in Baliey? Would we have ever…found this part of ourselves?”
Wow, that sounded extremely stupid to be said out loud and he cleared his throat, nodding in response to Halle saying it seemed like the starseeding hadn’t happened. “That’s good. That’s good. I’d like to think that…we would have. You know. Found our way here somehow. I can’t…imagine not having this. Having Lisse to travel to? It’s like…so much of me. Even if I pretend it’s not.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:26 pm
“I mean, we basically reincarnated on Earth, but if we’d never moved to DC, nothing would’ve happened as far as I know.” There were warnings, of course. That even if they had managed to find their totem weapons back in Bailey, they probably wouldn’t have survived long. “And if that so-called arts and crafts junk hadn’t been on that exact street at that exact time…”
Another shrug. “And it’s not just us, it’s everything. And like…” he crouched down and swuinted up at the windmill, as if something might sparkle down at them like in a video game. “For a lot of us knights, and senshi too, our starseeds are connected to a specific, destined role, right?”
As he spoke, Halle grew a little flushed, he felt a little embarrassed talking about something so…outside of hard facts, numbers, and proven science. A couple years ago he would have never considered something of the sort outside of fantasy games. “So I think maybe, there’s something about the city that maybe like, amplifies that. And all the chaos is there too, trying to fight not just like, us, but destiny. To either destroy it or like, take control of it.”
Straightening up he coughed, “But anyway, what I mean to say is, you’ll probably find your summon exactly when you need to.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:27 pm
Lisse turned away and rubbed the back of his head, kind of wanting this conversation to be over, and giving a very unhelpful. “Well, I need it to just appear right now…so where’s my earring…was it glowing or anything like, how did you even know how to summon her?”
The desperation made his voice lean towards an almost whine, something he had worked very hard to stop years ago but. Big brother had something shiny, and now Luke wanted it.
Pathetic.
He began making his way towards the windmill, he had found his signet ring, and it was like, the only real structure on the Wonder that was still standing. There were some rickety walls past the tulips, and he hadn’t really explored them or cared…they were ruins and they obviously didn’t matter, most likely but…the windmill always kind of felt like home. It was nice.
“I’m sure it’s somewhere in there. That’s where my ring was so…I’m hoping this will hold true too.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:27 pm
“It was one of those things where as soon as you pick it up, you know what to do,” Halle sighed, following his brother. Magic really was convenient, at least when it was working for them. And ultimately their wonders were trying to help them. Hopefully it’d be enough to give them a needed counter to that general’s own bag of tricks.
“Magic and going with your gut do tend to work pretty well together.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:28 pm
The words magic and then gut brought images to Lisse’s imagination that he would rather forget. Reims and Yvoire with their guts spilling out. He gave a slight shudder and took a few swift steps, stopping at the door of the windmill cottage and opening it, holding it for his brother.
“I hope mine’s an earring too. We’ve done the whole twin thing pretty good so far…yay magic. But.”
With a sigh he gestured. “Yeah I’m. So lazy I’ve hardly done anything up here since finding my ring. I come up here and just…vibe? I like the critters. I like the critters a lot. I have this huge rabbit and the ears look like wings and they are like…living warm marshmallows. Twenty out of ten points.”
His eyes scanned the room he had found the signet ring in, hoping that something would cause a spark but. Nothing.
“I’ve never bothered to go upstairs in here…the stairs have always been…kind of sus? But maybe it’s up there? What do you reckon?”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:29 pm
Reaching up, Halle touched his earring again, the smooth warmth of the wood a comfort as always. Not quite the same as having a twin, but it felt nice, to have someone like Tulip with him, always. “I don’t know if you’ll be able to pull off an earring as well as me, though,” he joked mildly, looking around the building.
It was, in small, subtle ways, improved from the last time he saw it. But apparently it was all the wonder ever so slowly fixing itself, without much help from its knight. Apart from sharing vibes. Halle tamped down the frown that wanted to shoot out and laserbeam his brother’s forehead.
At least he’d been visiting. And the wonder did benefit from it, even if not with dramatic results so far.
“I’d like to see them,” Halle said, idly wondering if there would be some crossover between their wonders.
The stairs…looked okay, actually. “When you visit, I’m pretty sure the place fixes itself a little faster. And you’re a Knight now, that…when our code gives up more power, moves us up a rank, it seems to help our wonders out too. Like the creatures that began showing up. I bet the stairs are okay now, even if they weren’t before.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:29 pm
Lisse rolled his eyes. Of course he could pull off an earring just as good as his brother. Better, even. But…that was interesting news, and as he carefully put his foot on the first step, gingerly adding more weight to it, it did seem stable enough to hold him.
“...That kind of seems like magically cheating. I’m not mad at it, but it really cuts into my need to become a handsome as hell carpenter. I was thinking when I grew a beard I’d start wearing the plaid shirts and everything. Become the real handsome twin. Rugged and swoon worthy. All the boys will want me.”
Maybe not the boys he thought he wanted. But some would. He knew it. Lumberjack core was…sexy for twenty somethings. And soon–eventually he would be a twenty something.
“Let me test them first, it’s my wonder, if I break my arm on it, that’s just what’s coming to me.” He looked back at Halle and gave a mock salute, carefully climbing up the stairs, wincing a few times as they seemed to want to give way but, making it to the top and opening the door carefully, stepping inside and coughing slightly.
“Dusty as heck but, come on up. The inside floor looks fine, no visible holes, at least.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:30 pm
“Well, it fixes itself faster when you’re actually like, trying to help it along,” Halle couldn’t help the slight lecturing tone. “So maybe you should start shopping for flannel after all.”
A bit more helpfully he added, “Plus there’s things you can use to make things grow and get nicer a little faster. I’ve got this little bell…” His voice trailed off to watch Lisse climb the stairs, just in case he was totally wrong and his little brother came crashing down.
But no, it looked like the real dangers up there were allergies.
Following, Halle looked around. “Maybe save the flannel for later and buy a maid uniform first.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:31 pm
“Nah, you’d look better in the maid outfit, Halle. I’ll save that for you…ugh I wish there were like a senshi who had cleaning magic, that would be amazing, don’t you think? Just invite her to all homeworlds and let her go…”
He paused and then shook his head. “Wow. That was really misogynistic of me, um. Let them go crazy because I’m not going to assume a maid is a woman. It’s not nineteen fifty.”
Lisse gave himself a mental slap on the wrist and then looked at his brother. “...I wouldn’t put it past you to have some kind of dustpan or collapsible broom in your subspace though. If you do, now’s the time to show off.” It was dusty. And filled with cobwebs which in turn held more dust.
Gross. “Or like. A mask so we don’t breathe this stuff in and get sick?”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:31 pm
“Are you saying I’m the neater twin, or implying I have the nicer legs?” Halle laughed quietly, and his shoulders kept shaking as his brother spiralled over magical maids and addressed his sins of misogyny. Lisse had to virtually be handcuffed to a task to stay on it, but Halle figured he’d get there eventually.
Pulling out a paper face mask from his subspace, he offered it over. “I’ve been keeping them just in case.” The smile he’d been wearing turned decidedly grim, “Just in case we run into that guy’s science project again.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:32 pm
“I’m saying that if there were a thing at school and you had to wear a maid outfit, I could see you jumping to sign up for it. Especially if your girlfriend asked you too.”
He didn’t play the Tilly card often, but really, he had wondered why she wasn’t with them in all of this. She was just as capable of a Knight as the rest of them were but…it didn’t really matter.
Reaching out, he took the mask, slipping it on. “...that’s not a bad idea, actually. It would make sure we’re not tko’d by the spores or poison or whatever…or would at least buy us a little time…” Carefully, he made his way further into the room, looking around with some interest. “No broom though, hm? What a let down, coming from you. Do you think this was where the last Knight lived? Seems like it. I bet they kept it cleaner than it is now.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:33 pm
Halle’s eyebrows jumped up, first at the idea of him jumping to sign up for some sort of maid cafe, then further and further at him having a girlfriend. Buckling down another laugh, he asked, all seriousness, “Oh, which girlfriend?” As if he had several, and all of them might like seeing him in a little skirt.
The broom talk had him rolling his eyes though, “Yeah, pretty thoughtless of me not to bring cleaning supplies to your wonder, that you haven’t tried cleaning for over two years.” This was what happened when the elder twin was off his leash and not fussing over something or on the brink of an anxiety attack, he thought he was funny.
“Have you inspected the rest of your wonder? Like, all the way to the borders? There’s a few more small buildings in my forest.” Mostly conveniently placed maintenance sheds, but he’d also found the occasional tiny cabin.
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 6:34 pm
Lisse looked over at his brother for moment and scoffed, shaking his head and not bothering to answer. The whole thing made him feel horribly jealous and he wasn’t about to tell his brother that. But.
s**t.
“I’ve never bothered to come up here, so why and when would I have needed or wanted to clean it? You’re the one who’s always boy scout prepared with everything in your magical Mary Poppins bag, not me. And no. I’m not perfect like you and haven’t really explored any of my Wonder, thanks.”
His anger was rising, and Lisse was doing all he could to tamp it down. Why did Halle always have to do this? Act so superior, even if that wasn’t what he was doing consciously, he sure was doing it just by asking such questions when he knew the answer to it. No, Luke didn’t explore. He hadn’t found the need to, the desire to. He was content with his tulips, with the large, lop eared rabbits that were seemingly everywhere. He liked exploring the area around his windmill, the things he could see. It felt right to stay close, at any rate.
Drawing in as deep a breath as the mask would allow, he moved away from Halle and began to dust off a chest at the foot of what had been a bed. Right now it was an empty bed frame that had fallen on one side. The chest was in good shape though, and the lock on it was easy enough to pull off. Maybe there would be treasure in here, maybe there would be something else cool. He didn’t know…but he did know that this would have been less invasive on his own.
…More boring though, he supposed.
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